Thursday, September 07, 2023

 

Almost 6 in 10 female adolescents in India are anaemic, with 21 of 28 states reporting increased prevalence since 2015, per national surveys


Peer-Reviewed Publication

PLOS

Almost 6 in 10 female adolescents in India are anaemic, with 21 of 28 states reporting increased prevalence since 2015, per national surveys 

IMAGE: FIG 4. CHANGE IN THE PREVALENCE OF ANAEMIA AMONG ADOLESCENT WOMEN ACROSS THE STATES OF INDIA BETWEEN 2015–16 AND 2019–21. view more 

CREDIT: CHAKRABARTY ET AL., 2023, PLOS GLOBAL PUBLIC HEALTH, CC-BY 4.0 (HTTPS://CREATIVECOMMONS.ORG/LICENSES/BY/4.0/)




Almost 6 in 10 female adolescents in India are anaemic, with 21 of 28 states reporting increased prevalence since 2015, per national surveys.

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Article URL: https://journals.plos.org/globalpublichealth/article?id=10.1371/journal.pgph.0002117

Article Title: Is the burden of anaemia among Indian adolescent women increasing? Evidence from Indian Demographic and Health Surveys (2015–21)

Author Countries: India

Funding: The authors received no specific funding for this work.

 

Autistic and neurodivergent workers report experiencing unique pressures to mask traits, to avoid negative reactions from colleagues and employers


Peer-Reviewed Publication

PLOS

The workplace masking experiences of autistic, non-autistic neurodivergent and neurotypical adults in the UK 

IMAGE: MANY PEOPLE – PARTICULARLY THOSE WHO ARE NEURODIVERGENT – FEEL PRESSURE TO HIDE ASPECTS OF THEIR IDENTITY AND PERSONALITY IN THE WORKPLACE. view more 

CREDIT: THIS IMAGE WAS CREATED WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF DALL·E BY OPEN AI. BRIAN IRVINE OWNS THE IMAGE, INCLUDING THE RIGHT TO REPRINT, SELL, AND MERCHANDISE (USAGE RIGHTS IN HTTPS://LABS.OPENAI.COM/ABOUT). THE IMAGE IS DISTRIBUTED UNDER THE CC-BY 4.0 LICENSE (HTTPS://CREATIVECOMMONS.ORG/LICENSES/BY/4.0/).




Autistic and neurodivergent workers report experiencing unique pressures to mask traits, to avoid negative reactions from colleagues and employers

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Article URL:  https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0290001

Article Title: The workplace masking experiences of autistic, non-autistic neurodivergent and neurotypical adults in the UK

Author Countries: UK

Funding: The present study was funded by an Autistica research grant (REF: 7263) to AR and BH (https://www.autistica.org.uk/). Research at the UCL Centre for Research in Autism and Education is supported by Pears Foundation (https://pearsfoundation.org.uk/). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Medical cannabis use in Australian patients with chronic health issues linked to significant improvements in overall health-related quality of life and fatigue levels


Cannabis therapy also linked to improvements in anxiety, depression, and pain levels—though no changes in sleep disturbance levels reported

Peer-Reviewed Publication

PLOS

Health-related quality of life in patients accessing medicinal cannabis in Australia: The QUEST initiative results of a 3-month follow-up observational study 

IMAGE: CULTIVATION FACILITY OF LITTLE GREEN PHARMA. view more 

CREDIT: ARD JONGSMA (HTTPS://STILLWORDS.COM/) AND OWNED BY LITTLE GREEN PHARMA DENMARK, CC-BY 4.0 (HTTPS://CREATIVECOMMONS.ORG/LICENSES/BY/4.0/)




Australian patients with chronic health issues prescribed medical cannabis showed significant improvements in overall health-related quality of life and fatigue in the first three months of use, along with improvements in anxiety, depression, and pain. Interestingly, cannabis therapy did not seem to improve reported sleep disturbances, according to a study published September 6, 2023 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Margaret-Ann Tait from the University of Sydney, Australia, and colleagues.

Since 2016 in Australia, medical cannabis has been approved for prescription to patients with health conditions unresponsive to other treatment. Tait and colleagues surveyed a group of Australians with chronic health conditions prescribed medical cannabis to better understand any changes in patient-reported outcomes following cannabis treatment in this population.

The authors used survey responses from 2327 Australian patients with chronic health issues prescribed medical cannabis (THC and CBD dissolved in a medium-chain triglyceride (MCT) carrier oil) between November 2020 and December 2021. Patients were surveyed about their self-reported health-related quality of life, pain, sleep, anxiety, and depression prior to beginning cannabis therapy, after two weeks of treatment, then once a month for three months.

63 percent of the surveyed patients were female, with an average age of 51 years (range 18-97 years). The most-reported conditions being treated were chronic pain (69 percent); insomnia (23 percent); anxiety (22 percent); and anxiety/depression (11 percent); half of patients were being treated for more than one condition. Patients reported significant, clinically-meaningful improvements in health-related quality of life and fatigue measurements across the three months surveyed. Patients also reported clinically meaningful reductions in pain and significant improvements for moderate-severe anxiety and depression. However, though many patients were prescribed cannabis for insomnia, there were no overall improvements in patient-reported sleep disturbance.

The authors did not measure adverse effects as part of the study, though 30 patients formally withdrew from the study due to “unwanted side effects”. Regardless, these results suggest medical cannabis may be effective in helping manage previously-untreatable chronic conditions. The authors also note that more research and development of the cannabis oil products used in this study may be needed in order to successfully treat patients with insomnia and sleep disorders.

The authors add: “Within the first three months of medicinal cannabis therapy, participants reported improvements in their health-related quality of life, fatigue, and health conditions associated with anxiety, depression, and pain.”

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In your coverage please use this URL to provide access to the freely available article in PLOS ONEhttps://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0290549

Citation: Tait M-A, Costa DS, Campbell R, Norman R, Warne LN, Schug S, et al. (2023) Health-related quality of life in patients accessing medicinal cannabis in Australia: The QUEST initiative results of a 3-month follow-up observational study. PLoS ONE 18(9): e0290549. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0290549

Author Countries: Australia

Funding: The University of Sydney received funding from Little Green Pharma Ltd. to support CR and MT to conduct this study. The funder played no role in the study design; in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; nor in the decision to submit the article for publication. The study was independently investigator-led and all authors had full access to all data (including statistical reports and tables) in the study and take responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis.

Commercialization of cannabis linked to increased traffic injuries


Peer-Reviewed Publication

INSTITUTE FOR CLINICAL EVALUATIVE SCIENCES




Ottawa, ON, September 5, 2023 – Annual rates of emergency department visits for cannabis-involved traffic injury increased by 475 percent over 13 years, according to a new study from The Ottawa HospitalBruyère Research Institute, and ICES.

The study examined cannabis-involvement in emergency department (ED) visits for traffic injuries between 2010 and 2021 and looked for changes after the legalization of cannabis in October 2018 and following the commercialization of the legal market (expanded cannabis products and retail stores), which overlapped with the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Our findings highlight a concerning increase in cannabis-involvement in traffic-injury emergency visits over time, with even sharper spikes following the phases of legalization and commercialization,” says lead author and ICES post-doctoral trainee Dr. Daniel Myran, who is also a family physician and fellow at the Bruyère Research Institute and The Ottawa Hospital. “Conversely, alcohol-involvement in traffic injury ED visits did not increase over the study period, which suggests that legalization of cannabis has played an important role in rising rates.”

While documented cannabis-involvement in traffic injuries ED visits were very rare, the data raise concern about potential broader increases in cannabis-impaired driving which may have accelerated after legal market expansion. 

Published in JAMA Network Open, the researchers examined medical record data of 947,604 ED visits for traffic in in Ontario, Canada. They included records from January 2010 and December 2021, but excluded ED visits from individuals who were younger than 16 (minimum legal age of driving) at the time of the ED visit.

Key findings include:

  1. The number of cannabis-involved traffic injury ED visits increased significantly. Annual rates of visits surged by 475 percent, from 0.18 visits per 1,000 total motor vehicle collisions in 2010 to 1.01 in 2021.
  2. Legalization of non-medical cannabis with restrictions was associated with a 94 percent increase in the rate of cannabis-involved traffic injury ED visits compared to the pre-legalization period. The subsequent phase of commercialization, which overlapped with the COVID-19 pandemic, saw an even greater increase of 223 percent in rates compared to the pre-legalization period.
  3. Male sex (assigned at birth), living in lower-income neighborhoods, being aged 19-21, and having a prior cannabis-related ED visit were associated with higher rates of ED visits.

“The observed increase in cannabis-involved traffic injuries might reflect broader trends in cannabis-impaired driving,” says Dr. Myran. “The study highlights the need for enhanced prevention efforts, including targeted education and policy measures.”

One limitation of the study is that ED staff may have been more aware of the potential for cannabis-related traffic injuries after legalization, leading to higher levels of testing for cannabis. The researchers believe that this would not have explained all the observed increase due to the severity of traffic injuries, which would be thoroughly investigated despite policy or testing procedure changes.

The authors caution that it is too soon to understand the impact of cannabis legalization on road safety particularly because of the enormous decline in driving and mobility during the pandemic, which overlapped with much of the legalization period.

The study, “Cannabis-involvement in traffic injury emergency department visits after the legalization and subsequent commercialization of non-medical cannabis” was published in JAMA Network Open.

Author block: Myran DT, Gaudreault A, Pugliese M, Manuel D, Tanuseputro P.

ICES is an independent, non-profit research institute that uses population-based health information to produce knowledge on a broad range of healthcare issues. Our unbiased evidence provides measures of health system performance, a clearer understanding of the shifting healthcare needs of Ontarians, and a stimulus for discussion of practical solutions to optimize scarce resources. ICES knowledge is highly regarded in Canada and abroad and is widely used by government, hospitals, planners, and practitioners to make decisions about care delivery and to develop policy. For the latest ICES news, follow us on Twitter: @ICESOntario

The Bruyère Research Institute supports investigators who contribute to a better, more responsive health care system that delivers the best care to patients, residents, and families. The Institute provides solutions to improve the health and health care of aging and vulnerable Canadians. To learn more, visit http://www.bruyere.org.

The Ottawa Hospital (TOH) is one of Canada’s top learning and research hospitals where we are guided by our vision to provide the world-class and compassionate care we would all want for our loved ones. Our multi-campus hospital, affiliated with the University of Ottawa, is home to the Regional Trauma Centre and Cancer Centre, and to discoveries that are adopted globally. Backed by generous support from the community, we are focused on reshaping the future of health care to improve the health of our diverse population of patients from Eastern Ontario, Western Quebec, and Nunavut. For more information about The Ottawa Hospital, visit OttawaHospital.on.ca.

The University of Ottawa is home to over 50,000 students, faculty and staff, who live, work and study in both French and English. Our campus is a crossroads of cultures and ideas, where bold minds come together to inspire game-changing ideas. We are one of Canada’s top 10 research universities—our professors and researchers explore new approaches to today’s challenges. One of a handful of Canadian universities ranked among the top 200 in the world, we attract exceptional thinkers and welcome diverse perspectives from across the globe. www.uottawa.ca

 

Experiencing negatively-perceived emotions might prompt people to withdraw from a social group - specifically, shame for individualistic societies, but anger for more collectivistic cultures

Peer-Reviewed Publication

PLOS

Shame and anger differentially predict disidentification between collectivistic and individualistic societies 

IMAGE: EXPERIENCING NEGATIVELY-PERCEIVED EMOTIONS MIGHT PROMPT PEOPLE TO WITHDRAW FROM A SOCIAL GROUP. view more 

CREDIT: GERALT, PIXABAY, CC0 (HTTPS://CREATIVECOMMONS.ORG/PUBLICDOMAIN/ZERO/1.0/)



Experiencing negatively-perceived emotions might prompt people to withdraw from a social group - specifically, shame for individualistic societies, but anger for more collectivistic cultures

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Article URL:  https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0289918

Article Title: Shame and anger differentially predict disidentification between collectivistic and individualistic societies

Author Countries: Germany, Japan, Canada

Funding: The authors received no specific funding for this work.

 

The sense of order distinguishes humans from other animals


Peer-Reviewed Publication

STOCKHOLM UNIVERSITY




Remembering the order of information is central for a person when participating in conversations, planning everyday life, or undergoing an education. A new study, published in the scientific journal PLoS One, shows that this ability is probably human unique. Even the closest relatives of humans, such as bonobos, do not learn order in the same way.

“The study contributes another piece of the puzzle to the question of how the mental abilities of humans and other animals differ, and why only humans speak languages, plan space travel, and have learned to exploit the earth so efficiently that we now pose a serious threat to countless other life forms”, says Johan Lind, associate professor in ethology and deputy director at the Center for Cultural Evolution, Stockholm University. Since September also associate professor of ethology at Linköping University.

Already earlier research at Stockholm University has suggested that only humans have the ability to recognize and remember so-called sequential information, and that this ability is a fundamental building block underlying unique human cultural abilities. But previously, this sequence memory-hypothesis has not been tested in humans' closest relatives, the great apes. The new experiments now show that also bonobos, one of the great apes, struggle to learn the order of stimuli.

In the recently published book The Human Evolutionary Transition: From Animal Intelligence to Culture (Princeton University Press), ethologists Magnus Enquist and Johan Lind at Stockholm University, and Stefano Ghirlanda, researcher in psychology at Brooklyn College, New York, have launched a new theory for how humans became cultural beings. A central idea concerns the difference in how humans and other animals recognize and remember sequential information.

“We have previously analyzed a large number of studies that suggest that only humans recognize and remember sequential information faithfully. But, even though we analyzed data from a number of mammals and birds, including monkeys, there has been a lack of information from our closest relatives, the other great apes”, says Johan Lind.

In a series of experiments, memory abilities of bonobos and humans were tested by having them press computer screens to, among other things, learn to distinguish between short sequences, including pressing right if a yellow square comes before a blue square, or by pressing to the left of the blue square appears before the yellow square.

“The study shows that bonobos forget that they have seen a blue square already five to 10 seconds after it has disappeared from the screen, and that they have great difficulty learning to distinguish the sequences blue-square-before-yellow-square from yellow-square- before-blue-square, even though they have been trained for thousands of trials”, says Vera Vinken, associated with Stockholm University, now a PhD student in Great Britain at the Biosciences Institute, Newcastle University.

In contrast, the study shows that humans learned to distinguish the short sequences nearly immediately. However, it still remains to be shown exactly how our closest relatives can remember and use sequential information.

“We now know that our closest relatives do not share the same sequential mental abilities with humans. But even if the results indicate that their working memory works in principle in the same way as in rats and pigeons, no one has yet demonstrated this in practice”, says Magnus Enquist, professor emeritus and one of the founders of the Center for Cultural Evolution.

The new results provide further support for the sequence memory-hypothesis, that during human prehistory an ability to remember and process sequences evolved, a necessary mechanism for many uniquely human phenomena such as language, planning ability and sequential thinking.

 

Grasping entropy: Teachers and students investigate thermodynamics through a hands-on model


Simple model uses everyday materials like dice and buttons to effectively demonstrate the concept of entropy to students.

Peer-Reviewed Publication

AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF PHYSICS

This hands-on model leverages known conditions of a simple system of hard particles to demonstrate how entropy is related to the number of accessible microstates by observing the degrees of freedom available to each particle. 

IMAGE: THIS HANDS-ON MODEL LEVERAGES KNOWN CONDITIONS OF A SIMPLE SYSTEM OF HARD PARTICLES TO DEMONSTRATE HOW ENTROPY IS RELATED TO THE NUMBER OF ACCESSIBLE MICROSTATES BY OBSERVING THE DEGREES OF FREEDOM AVAILABLE TO EACH PARTICLE. view more 

CREDIT: T. RYAN ROGERS




WASHINGTON, Sept. 6, 2023 – Though a cornerstone of thermodynamics, entropy remains one of the most vexing concepts to teach budding physicists in the classroom. As a result, many people oversimplify the concept as the amount of disorder in the universe, neglecting its underlying quantitative nature. 

In The Physics Teacher, co-published by AIP Publishing and the American Association of Physics Teachers, researcher T. Ryan Rogers designed a hand-held model to demonstrate the concept of entropy for students. Using everyday materials, Rogers’ approach allows students to confront the topic with new intuition — one that takes specific aim at the confusion between entropy and disorder.

“It’s a huge conceptual roadblock,” Rogers said. “The good news is that we’ve found that it’s something you can correct relatively easily early on. The bad news is that this misunderstanding gets taught so early on.”

While many classes opt for the imperfect, qualitative shorthand of calling entropy “disorder,” it’s defined mathematically as the number of ways energy can be distributed in a system. Such a definition merely requires students to understand how particles store energy, formally known as "degrees of freedom."  

To tackle the problem, Rogers developed a model in which small objects such as dice and buttons are poured into a box, replicating a simple thermodynamic system. Some particles in the densely filled box are packed in place, meaning they have fewer degrees of freedom, leading to an overall low-entropy system.

As students shake the box, they introduce energy into the system, which loosens up locked-in particles. This increases the overall number of ways energy can be distributed within the box.

“You essentially zoom in on entropy so students can say, ‘Aha! There is where I saw the entropy increase,’” Rogers said.

As students shake further, the particles settle into a configuration that more evenly portions out the energy among them. The catch: at this point of high entropy, the particles fall into an orderly alignment. 

“Even though it looks more orientationally ordered, there’s actually higher entropy,” Rogers said.

All the students who participated in the lesson were able to reason to the correct definition of entropy after the experiment.

Next, Rogers plans to extend the reach of the model by starting a conversation about entropy with other educators and creating a broader activity guide for ways to use the kits for kindergarten through college. He hopes his work inspires others to clarify the distinction in their classrooms, even if by DIY means.

“Grapes and Cheez-It crackers are very effective, as well,” Rogers said.

The article, "Hands-on Model for Investigating Entropy and Disorder in the Classroom," is authored by T. Ryan Rogers. It will appear in The Physics Teacher on Sept. 6, 2023 (DOI: 10.1119/5.0089761). After that date, it can be accessed at https://doi.org/10.1119/5.0089761

ABOUT THE JOURNAL

Dedicated to the strengthening of the teaching of introductory physics at all levels, The Physics Teacher includes tutorial papers, articles on pedagogy, current research, and news in physics, as well as history, philosophy, and biography. See https://pubs.aip.org/aapt/pte.

About AAPT

AAPT is an international organization for physics educators, physicists, and industrial scientists with members worldwide. Dedicated to enhancing the understanding and appreciation of physics through teaching, AAPT provides awards, publications, and programs that encourage teaching practical application of physics principles, support continuing professional development, and reward excellence in physics education. AAPT was founded in 1930 and is headquartered in the American Center for Physics in College Park, Maryland.

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Wednesday, September 06, 2023

 

Ag tech can cut billions of tons of greenhouse gas emissions


Peer-Reviewed Publication

CORNELL UNIVERSITY




ITHACA, N.Y. - As the Earth’s human population grows, greenhouse gas emissions from the world’s food system are on track to expand. A new study demonstrates that state-of-the-art agricultural technology and management can not only reduce that growth, but eliminate it altogether by generating net negative emissions – reducing more greenhouse gas than food systems add.

In fact, employing additional agricultural technology could result in more than 13 billion tons of net negative greenhouse gas emissions each year, as the world seeks to avoid dangerous climate extremes, according to research published Sept. 6 in PLOS Climate.

The work was led by Benjamin Z. Houlton, the Ronald P. Lynch Dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Cornell University, and Maya Almaraz, associate research scholar at Princeton University.

“Our study recognizes the food system as one of the most powerful weapons in the battle against global climate change,” said Houlton. “We need to move beyond silver-bullet thinking and rapidly test, verify and scale local solutions by leveraging market-based incentives.”

The world’s food system network generates between 21% and 37% of the planet’s greenhouse gas emissions each year. With the global population approaching 10 billion by mid-century, greenhouse gas emissions of the global food system – if left unchecked – could grow to 50% and 80% by 2050, according to the paper.

Previous research has indicated that changing diets around the world is a key to reducing greenhouse gas in the food-system sector. But Houlton and Almaraz believe the emission reduction could be much greater.

If the entire human population adopted a so-called “flexitarian” diet by 2050 – which is promoted by the EAT-Lancet Commission (a group of world experts who established a nutritious, healthy and sustainable diet) – the scientists estimated a gross reduction of 8.2 billion metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions, which falls far short of the net negative emissions goal.

“Our study examines both dietary change and agricultural technologies, as various options for slashing emissions,” Almaraz said. “This included an analysis of carbon sequestration.”

In contrast to the marked benefit of agricultural technology in realizing massive sector-wide negative emissions, dietary changes had little effect on carbon sequestration, according to the study. “We only looked at about a dozen technologies,” Almaraz said. “But there are even more under development, which hold a lot of promise for the food system.”

The new model showed that the most effective way to reduce emissions is to boost soil modifications for crops (biochar, compost and rock amendments), develop agroforestry, advance sustainable seafood harvesting practices and promote hydrogen-powered fertilizer production.

In a process called “enhanced weathering,” for example, silicate rock dust can be added to crop soils every five years to accelerate the formation of carbonates. This process devours carbon dioxide, which can sequester several billion metric tons of carbon per year, according to the paper.

Through agroforestry, planting trees on unused farmland can impound up to 10.3 billion metric tons of carbon annually, while seaweed can be farmed at the ocean surface and then buried in the deep sea, removing up to 10.7 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide.

Supplementing livestock feed with additives could reduce methane emissions by 1.7 billion metric tons and applying biochar to croplands may reduce nitrous oxide emissions by 2.3 billion metric tons.

Food-system environmental action needs to start regionally. Houlton said that anaerobic digesters have been converting manure from New York’s dairy farms into electricity since the mid-1970s, reducing emissions, supporting energy self-sufficiency, and assisting in water quality improvements. The biogas resulting from the waste becomes energy that local electric companies can easily use, but this approach must avoid gas leaks and financial incentives are still necessary. “We need a portfolio of solutions that are effective locally but have global impact,” he said.

“If people choose to switch to healthier diets, as suggested by EAT-Lancet – and if they can afford it – great,” Houlton said. “But to get the world to net negative greenhouse gas emission – a global imperative to avoid the most dangerous climate impacts – we need to rely heavily on agricultural technology and management techniques.”

Early work on this research was conducted by Houlton when he was the director of the University of California, Davis Institute of the Environment while Almaraz was a postdoctoral researcher at the World Wildlife Fund/ National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis at University of California, Santa Barbara.

In addition to Houlton and Almaraz, co-authors on the research, “Model-Based Scenarios For Achieving Net Negative Emissions in the Food System,” are Xingen Lei, professor of animal science and associate dean of research and innovation (CALS); doctoral student Yanqiu Zhou; Michael Clark, University of Oxford; Iris Holzer, Erin Manaigo, Benjamin S. Halpern, Courtney Scarborough all from the University of California, Davis; Laura Rasmussen, University of Copenhagen,; Emily Moberg and Melissa Ho, World Wildlife Fund; Edward Allison, WorldFish, Penang, Malayasia; Lindiwe Sibanda, Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, Nairobi; and Andrew Salter, University of Nottingham.