Low-income country cardiac imaging procedures remain down post-COVID

Peer-Reviewed Publication

RADIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF NORTH AMERICA

OAK BROOK, Ill. (September 21, 2023) – Declines in cardiovascular procedure volumes observed early in the COVID-19 pandemic greatly recovered in 2021 in the U.S. and other high-income countries, but not in facilities in lower-income countries, according to a study published in Radiology: Cardiothoracic Imaging, a journal of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).

“Cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of death for both men and women,” said lead researcher Andrew J. Einstein, M.D., Ph.D., director of nuclear cardiology, cardiac CT and MRI, and professor of medicine at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York. “Diagnostic procedures are imperative for the timely diagnosis and risk stratification of patients with suspected cardiovascular disease.”

Dr. Einstein and a team of researchers evaluated data collected by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) through the Non-invasive Cardiology Protocols Study of COVID-19 (INCAPS COVID and INCAPS COVID 2). The worldwide studies collected data from 669 facilities in 107 countries to determine the impact of the pandemic on diagnostic cardiovascular procedure volumes.

With 93 centers across 34 U.S. states participating, the study is one of the largest analyses of diagnostic cardiovascular procedures in the U.S. published to date.

Participating facilities reported diagnostic imaging volumes during March 2019 (baseline), April 2020 (early pandemic period), and April 2021 (recovery period).

Using the INCAPS COVID 2 data, the researchers evaluated the procedure volumes before, during and after the pandemic. The team also performed a statistical analysis on the factors associated with a return to pre-pandemic volumes in the U.S.

U.S. facilities submitted procedure volumes totaling 262,691, and non-U.S. centers submitted volumes totaling 930,235. Baseline procedure volume per center was higher for U.S. facilities compared with all non-U.S. facilities (951 versus 222) and non-U.S. high-income country (NUHIC) facilities (951 versus 300).

The worldwide volume of cardiothoracic imaging procedures decreased by 64% in April 2020 compared to March 2019. By 2021, low- and low-middle-income countries reported persistent and substantial declines in procedure volumes compared to 2019, while all other countries, including the U.S., reported procedure volumes near or at prior 2019 baseline volumes. Regional recovery in the U.S. was lowest in the South and West.

According to Dr. Einstein, the availability of telemedicine services and policies may have been one of the factors playing a role in the recovery. U.S. facilities reported a two-fold greater use of telehealth services compared with NUHIC facilities.

“Though further studies are needed to gauge the long-term impact of increased telehealth use on patient outcomes, studies have already shown that telehealth is associated with increased patient satisfaction, improved patient retention, and improved access to care for a wide range of patient populations and communities,” he said.

Dr. Einstein said a multi-faceted approach is needed to address potential excess morbidity and mortality from cardiovascular disease in economically disadvantaged regions, including strategies such as improving access to cardiovascular care including resources for diagnosis and treatment, improving healthcare worker training and increasing telehealth infrastructure.

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“Cardiovascular Testing in the United States during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Volume Recovery and Worldwide Comparison.” Collaborating with Dr. Einstein were Cole B. Hirschfeld, M.D., Sharmila Dorbala, M.D., M.P.H., Leslee J. Shaw, Ph.D., Todd C. Villines, M.D., Andrew D. Choi, M.D., Nathan Better, M.B.B.S., Rodrigo J. Cerci, M.D., Ganesan Karthikeyan, M.D., M.B.B.S., D.M., M.Sc., Joao V. Vitola, M.D., Ph.D., Michelle C. Williams, M.B.Ch.B., Ph.D., Mouaz Al-Mallah, M.D., M.Sc., Daniel S. Berman, M.D., Adam Bernheim, M.D., Robert W. Biederman, M.D., Paco E. Bravo, M.D., Matthew J. Budoff, M.D., Renee P. Bullock-Palmer, M.D., Marcus Y. Chen, M.D., Michael P. DiLorenzo, M.D., M.S.C.E., Rami Doukky, M.D., M.Sc., M.B.A., Maros Ferencik, M.D., Ph.D., Jeffrey B. Geske, M.D., Fadi G. Hage, M.D., Robert C. Hendel, M.D., Lynne Koweek, M.D., Venkatesh L. Murthy, M.D., Ph.D., Jagat Narula, M.D., Ph.D., Patricia F. Rodriguez Lozano, M.D., Nishant R. Shah, M.D., M.P.H., Amee Shah, M.D., Prem Soman, M.D., Ph.D., Randall C. Thompson, M.D., David Wolinsky, M.D., Yosef A. Cohen, B.A., Eli Malkovskiy, B.A., Michael J. Randazzo, M.D., Juan Lopez-Mattei, M.D., Purvi Parwani, M.B.B.S., M.P.H., Mrinali Shetty, M.D., Thomas N. B. Pascual, M.D., M.Sc., M.H.P.Ed., Yaroslav Pynda, M.Sc., Maurizio Dondi, M.D., Ph.D., and Diana Paez, M.D., M.Ed., on behalf of the INCAPS COVID 2 Investigators Group.

Radiology: Cardiothoracic Imaging is edited by Suhny Abbara, M.D., University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, and owned and published by the Radiological Society of North America, Inc. (https://pubs.rsna.org/journal/cardiothoracic)

RSNA is an association of radiologists, radiation oncologists, medical physicists and related scientists promoting excellence in patient care and health care delivery through education, research, and technologic innovation. The Society is based in Oak Brook, Illinois. (RSNA.org)

For patient-friendly information on cardiac imaging, visit RadiologyInfo.org.

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JOURNAL

Radiology Cardiothoracic Imaging

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Cardiovascular Testing in the United States during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Volume Recovery and Worldwide Comparison

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

21-Sep-2023

 

UCSF QBI, University College London, and Mount Sinai identify shared molecular mechanisms across SARS-CoV-2 variants that allow virus to thrive despite vaccination

Findings show viral proteins outside of Spike across Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta and Omicron SARS-CoV-2 variants are responsible for innate immune suppression and escape from human immune system barriers

Peer-Reviewed Publication

THE MOUNT SINAI HOSPITAL / MOUNT SINAI SCHOOL OF MEDICINE

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. and London, England – September 21, 2023 – In a study published online in CELL today, scientists at UCSF QBI, University College London and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai reported breakthrough findings on convergent evolutionary mechanisms shared by COVID-19 variants, allowing them to overcome both adaptive and innate immune system barriers. In the paper titled, SARS-CoV-2 Variants Evolve Convergent Strategies to Remodel the Host Response, scientists carried out an unprecedented, systematic comparative study using the most infectious COVID-19 variants, namely Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta and Omicron to identify specific viral mutations responsible for hijacking a common host pathway, thereby leading to increased transmissibility, infectivity and survival. Specifically, they discovered a convergence in potent suppression of interferon-stimulated genes through several viral proteins, including Orf6 and Orf9b, which serve as innate immune antagonist proteins capable of blocking innate host immune response. 

The study, led by the laboratories of Nevan Krogan, Ph.D., Director of the Quantitative Biosciences Institute (QBI) at the School of Pharmacy at UC San Francisco, Senior Investigator at Gladstone Institutes, was a collaborative effort that involved 16 institutions in six countries, including University College London (UCL) in London, England (Greg Towers and Clare Jolly) and Icahn Mount Sinai (Adolfo Garcia-Sastre and Lisa Miorin) among others. 

Separately yesterday, Dr. Krogan received special recognition as the recipient of the first-ever “Discovery | Innovation | Health Prize” from Research!America for his “trailblazing efforts to address future pandemic threats” and acknowledgement of his approach to building global collaborations in advance of future health threats as a preemptive strategy to protect human life, health, and opportunity. The award, which included a $200,000 prize, is intended to provide support for his vision for progress against pandemic threats.

“Unfortunately, we continue to see new mutations and strains of SARS-CoV-2 despite innovations in new vaccines,” said Dr. Krogan, who founded the QBI Coronavirus Research Group (QCRG). “We evaluated each of the viral variants in isolation and discovered that there was a common mechanism involving several viral proteins, including Orf6 and Orf9b, that potently suppresses innate immunity.  This finding is consistent with our investigation of early SARS-CoV-2 variants where certain viral proteins were highly expressed in infected cells which helped the virus infect our cells.  With our additional research across SARS-CoV-2 variants, we now see this as a crucial finding that, if targeted effectively, could be turned into a significant vulnerability for this virus, which also has important implications for management of future pandemics.”

In a second paper titled “Impact of SARS-CoV-2 Orf6 and its variant polymorphisms on host responses and viral pathogenesis” also published today in Cell Host & Microbe, the researchers further detailed the role of Orf6 in subverting important pathways involved in the host antiviral response.

“In this study we found that Orf6 is a major SARS-CoV-2 innate immune antagonist by selectively interfering with nucleocytoplasmic trafficking through direct interactions with the nuclear pore complex”, said Lisa Miorin, PhD, Assistant Professor Department of Microbiology at Mount Sinai. “We show that the absence of ORF6, or the introduction of ORF6 loss-of-function mutations, significantly influences the host antiviral responses resulting in SARS-CoV-2 attenuation in animal models.”

Adolfo García-Sastre, PhD, Professor of Medicine (Infectious Diseases),Microbiology and Pathology, Molecular and Cell Based Medicine and Director of the Global Health and Emerging Pathogens Institute at Mount Sinai added, “These observations provide a potential new way to address viral pandemics by targeting a common pathway that the virus uses for infectivity, a different approach from vaccines that are created to target mutated Spike proteins within individual variants.  By investigating the variant’s ability to suppress the host immune response we have uncovered what appears to be a mechanism that viruses use that can be exploited.”

Mehdi Bouhaddou, PhD, Assistant Professor Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) who contributed to the research during his prior post-doctoral fellowship at UCSF commented, “Similar to treatment regimens for HIV, we believe the future approach to managing pandemics will require a drug combination cocktail. Here, this could include a combination of vaccines and antiviral innovations to target the virus. Specifically, combination therapy approaches to target the adaptive immune response (e.g., vaccines, antibody treatments) and another inhibiting viral innate immune antagonist proteins (e.g., Orf6 and Orf9b) or activating the innate immune response, could be the most effective.  Perhaps with this approach, we may be able to get ahead of viruses before they reach pandemic levels.”

To understand the effect of viral mutations on viral replication and cellular responses, the researchers systematically studied the five SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern during infection in human airway epithelial cells. Their analysis pinpointed cellular pathways that are similarly modulated across variants during infection and represent putative targets for pan-coronavirus antivirals. They observed most of the variants improve their ability to inhibit the host innate immune response, which likely contributed to variant dominance by improving transmission. They reason this reflects a strong selection imposed by the human innate immune system on the virus, whose ancestor likely adapted to evade innate immunity in a non-human species. The researchers concluded that a major force in shaping SARS-CoV-2 virus-host adaptations is related to evasion of innate and adaptive responses, a finding that has also been shown in research evasion of innate immune responses in HIV.

 

About QBI: The Quantitative Biosciences Institute (QBI) is a University of California organized research unit reporting through the UCSF School of Pharmacy. QBI fosters collaborations across the biomedical and the physical sciences, seeking quantitative methods to address pressing problems in biology and biomedicine. Motivated by problems of human disease, QBI is committed to investigating fundamental biological mechanisms, because ultimately solutions to many diseases have been revealed by unexpected discoveries in the basic sciences. Learn more at qbi.ucsf.edu.

About UCSF: The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is exclusively focused on the health sciences and is dedicated to promoting health worldwide through advanced biomedical research, graduate-level education in the life sciences and health professions, and excellence in patient care. UCSF Health, which serves as UCSF’s primary academic medical center, includes top-ranked specialty hospitals and other clinical programs, and has affiliations throughout the Bay Area. Learn more at ucsf.edu or see our Fact Sheet .

About the Mount Sinai Health System: Mount Sinai Health System is one of the largest academic medical systems in the New York metro area, with more than 43,000 employees working across eight hospitals, more than 400 outpatient practices, more than 300 labs, a school of nursing, and a leading school of medicine and graduate education. Mount Sinai advances health for all people, everywhere, by taking on the most complex health care challenges of our time—discovering and applying new scientific learning and knowledge; developing safer, more effective treatments; educating the next generation of medical leaders and innovators; and supporting local communities by delivering high-quality care to all who need it. Through the integration of its hospitals, labs, and schools, Mount Sinai offers comprehensive health care solutions from birth through geriatrics, leveraging innovative approaches such as artificial intelligence and informatics while keeping patients’ medical and emotional needs at the center of all treatment. The Health System includes approximately 7,400 primary and specialty care physicians; 13 joint-venture outpatient surgery centers throughout the five boroughs of New York City, Westchester, Long Island, and Florida; and more than 30 affiliated community health centers. Hospitals within the System are consistently ranked by Newsweek’s® “The World’s Best Smart Hospitals” and by U.S. News & World Report's® “Best Hospitals” and “Best Children’s Hospitals.” The Mount Sinai Hospital is on the U.S. News & World Report's® “Best Hospitals” Honor Roll for 2023-2024.

About Gladstone Institutes: To ensure our work does the greatest good, Gladstone Institutes focuses on conditions with profound medical, economic, and social impact—unsolved diseases. Gladstone is an independent, nonprofit life science research organization that uses visionary science and technology to overcome disease. It has an academic affiliation with UC San Francisco. Learn more at gladstone.org.

Authorship and funding: This work was funded by grants from the National Institute of Mental Health and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, both part of the National Institutes of Health; the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency; the Center for Research for Influenza Pathogenesis; the Centers of Excellence for Influenza Research and Surveillance of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases; the Centers of Excellence for Integrative Biology of Emerging Infectious Diseases of the Agence Nationale de la Recherche (France); F. Hoffmann-LaRoche AG; Vir Biotechnology, Centre for Integrative Biological Signalling Studies (CIBSS), European Research Council (ERC) and QCRG philanthropic donors. Shokat is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator. A complete list of authors and full funding information is available in the bioRxiv paper.

About UCL – London’s Global University

UCL is a diverse community with the freedom to challenge and think differently. Our community of more than 41,500 students from 150 countries and over 12,500 staff pursues academic excellence, breaks boundaries and makes a positive impact on real world problems. We are consistently ranked among the top 10 universities in the world and are one of only a handful of institutions rated as having the strongest academic reputation and the broadest research impact.  We have a progressive and integrated approach to our teaching and research – championing innovation, creativity and cross-disciplinary working. We teach our students how to think, not what to think, and see them as partners, collaborators and contributors.  For almost 200 years, we are proud to have opened higher education to students from a wide range of backgrounds and to change the way we create and share knowledge. We were the first in England to welcome women to university education and that courageous attitude and disruptive spirit is still alive today.

We are UCL.

www.ucl.ac.uk| Follow @uclnews on Twitter | Watch our YouTube channel | Listen to UCL podcasts on SoundCloud | Find out what’s on at UCL Minds | #MadeAtUCL

Find out how UCL is helping lead the global fight against COVID-19 www.ucl.ac.uk/covid-19-research

 

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JOURNAL

Cell

ARTICLE TITLE

SARS-CoV-2 Variants Evolve Convergent Strategies to Remodel the Host Response

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

21-Sep-2023

 

Canadian older adults with COPD faced high levels of depression during the COVID pandemic

1 in 6 people with COPD with no history of depression developed it for the first time during the early stages of the pandemic, while 1 in 2 individuals with COPD and a pre-pandemic history of depression experienced a recurrence

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO

A new longitudinal study published online in the International Journal of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease found that older adults with COPD had a heightened risk of depression during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Researchers examined a sample of 875 individuals with COPD from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging, a national study of Canadian older adults. Using longitudinal data, researchers were able to differentiate between 369 respondents with COPD who had a pre-pandemic history of depression and 506 respondents who had never experienced depression prior to the pandemic. 

Among individuals with COPD who had no lifetime history of depression, researchers found that 1 in 6 experienced depression for the first time during the early stages of the pandemic. These findings highlight the toll that the pandemic took on many individuals who had been free from depression prior to COVID-19.

“Our findings highlight the substantial burden of COVID-19 on those who were mentally healthy prior to the pandemic,” said first author Aneisha Taunque, research assistant at the Institute for Life Course and Aging at the University of Toronto. “It is evident that the pandemic has had a detrimental impact on the mental health of many individuals, even those who had no lifetime history of depression.” 

When the analysis was restricted to those who had a history of depression prior to the pandemic, the prevalence of depression was substantially higher, with approximately one-half of these individuals experiencing a recurrence or persistence of depression during the autumn of 2020. 

“Older adults who have a history of depressive episodes are a highly vulnerable subset of the population, particularly those who faced numerous challenges with managing their chronic health conditions during the pandemic when access to regular health care was severely disrupted,” said co-author Grace Li, PhD candidate in the Sociology Department at the University of Victoria. 

“The COVID-19 pandemic further exacerbated the risk of depression among those with COPD,” says co-author Ishnaa Gulati, a Master of Public Health Student at the University of Toronto’s Dalla Lana School of Public Health. “There was already an established higher risk of depression among individuals with COPD when compared to those without COPD prior to the pandemic,” Gulati said. “When considering the mental health stressors during the pandemic, such as extended periods of lockdown, economic precarity, and concerns about contracting or spreading COVID-19, it is unsurprising that this group experienced major mental health challenges during this period.” 

Although there is a burgeoning body of research examining depression during the pandemic, very little research has specifically examined the vulnerabilities among those with COPD. Understanding the risk factors for depression in subpopulations of older adults can aid health professionals in more effectively targeting treatment.

The study’s researchers highlighted several risk factors for both incident and recurrent depression among those with COPD, including loneliness, family conflict, and functional limitations.

“We found that experiencing functional limitations approximately doubled the risk of depression among older adults with COPD,” said co-author Ying Jiang, Senior Epidemiologist at the Public Health Agency of Canada. “Physical activity is integral for maintaining functional status and reducing functional limitations among COPD patients, however many individuals with COPD are hesitant to engage in physical activity. Increases in time spent sedentary during periods of lockdown may have further ramifications for this population, potentially contributing to increases in depression.”

Women with COPD also had nearly double the risk of recurrent depression when compared to their male counterparts. 

“During the pandemic, many women experienced an exacerbation of gendered roles, such as increased time spent caregiving and doing household labour, which may have contributed to declines in their mental health,” said co-author Margaret de Groh, Scientific Manager at the Public Health Agency of Canada.

Among individuals with no history of depression, experiencing disruptions to healthcare access was associated with approximately double the risk of incident depression.

 “Many people with COPD encountered difficulties accessing pulmonary rehabilitation services during the pandemic, which are essential for supporting both the physical and mental health of COPD patients,” said co-author Andie MacNeil, research assistant at the University of Toronto’s Factor Inwentash Faculty of Social Work (FIFSW). “Our finding that disruptions to healthcare access were associated with incident depression highlights the reverberating consequences when healthcare is inaccessible.”

Senior author, Esme Fuller-Thomson, a Professor at FIFSW and Director of the Institute for Life Course & Aging says she hopes the study’s findings can help inform healthcare workers and social service providers about the pandemic’s impact on the mental health of people with COPD. “Future research should continue to examine depression among older adults with COPD to better understand the pandemic’s cascading impact, even in the post-COVID era,” Fuller-Thomson said.

 

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JOURNAL

International Journal of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

DOI

10.2147/COPD.S417218 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Observational study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Breathless and Blue in the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging: Incident and Recurrent Depression Among Older Adults with COPD During the COVID-19 Pandemic

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

13-Sep-2023

 U$A

Study finds firearm injuries increased in gentrified neighborhoods

Brigham researchers reported that gentrified neighborhoods had a 62 percent higher firearm injury incidence rate than non-gentrified communities with comparable sociodemographic characteristics

Peer-Reviewed Publication

BRIGHAM AND WOMEN'S HOSPITAL

• Brigham researchers reported that gentrified neighborhoods had a 62 percent higher firearm injury incidence rate than non-gentrified communities with comparable sociodemographic characteristics
• Understanding the reason for this increase is vital to reducing future firearm injuries

Gentrification can have a ripple effect on communities. While it can improve certain conditions in typically low-income areas, rising housing costs can displace residents, causing social disruption and other downstream effects. Investigators from Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a founding member of the Mass General Brigham healthcare system, conducted a study using national data to examine the relationship between the rate of firearm injuries and gentrification. Their findings, published in JAMA Surgery, show that gentrified neighborhoods have a 62 percent higher firearm injury incidence rate than non-gentrified neighborhoods with comparable socioeconomic characteristics.

“To prevent firearm injuries in these communities, we must understand where the behavior is stemming from,” said corresponding author Molly Jarman, PhD, MPH, of the Center for Surgery and Public Health in the Department of Surgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. “It’s vital we begin to investigate the factors causing social disruption and housing displacement, such as gentrification, to develop and implement targeted interventions to prevent firearm injuries.” 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that 45,000 firearm injuries occurred in the U.S. in 2020. Injuries from firearms are linked to attributes of socioeconomic disadvantage, such as income inequality and minority status, but not all neighborhoods at socioeconomic disadvantage experience high levels of gun violence. Jarman and colleagues conducted their study to identify factors that may put neighborhoods at greater risk for firearm injuries.

The team collected nationwide, urban U.S. Census tract-level data from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Social Determinants of Health database between 2010 and 2019. They used Rural Urban Commuting Area codes to capture urban neighborhoods at risk of gentrification for the analysis. A total of 59,379 urban Census-tracts were examined from this data set. The investigators also collected geographical firearm injury data from the Gun Violence Archive (GVA) from 2014 to 2019.

In the study, the investigators defined gentrification as a measurable value to identify and calculate the gentrified areas in their data sets. Their definition of gentrification was (a) an area in a central city neighborhood with (b) a median housing price that increased over the regional median value and (c) a median household income at or below the 40th percentile of the median regional household income. They identified 14,125 Census-tracts as gentrifying.

The team then compared the changes in rates of firearm injuries by identifying three financial categories with similar socioeconomic characteristics in the urban Census-tract data: low-income non-gentrifying, gentrifying, and high-income non-gentrifying. The team found that gentrified neighborhoods had a 62% higher firearm injury incidence rate than non-gentrified communities with comparable sociodemographic characteristics. They also found that neighborhoods undergoing the gentrification process experienced an additional 26% increase in firearm incidence than non-gentrifying neighborhoods.

“The process of social disruption and housing displacement due to gentrification puts people in the community in a high-stress environment,” said leading author Sarabeth Spitzer, MD, of the Brigham’s Department of Surgery. “The solution is complicated, but our findings reveal an opportunity to identify communities that may be at increased risk of firearm violence. Hopefully, this allows support and resources, such as community outreach and education programs, to target these areas and mitigate this risk.”

Limitations of the study include that the data set from the GVA contains data as far back as 2014 and provides geographical information only, withholding any identifiable information about who was involved in the reported firearm incident. The study was observational in nature and cannot show causality. As its next steps, the team plans to conduct an interventional study that tests the effectiveness of social support and firearm violence prevention strategies in gentrified communities.

Disclosures: Dr Spitzer reported receiving salary support from Brigham and Women’s Hospital, the Center for Surgery and Public Health, and the Gillian Reny Stepping Strong Center for Trauma Innovation during the conduct of the study. Dr Heindel reported receiving a fellowship award from the National Institutes of Health during the conduct of the study. Dr Jarman reported receiving grants from the National Institute on Aging and the US Department of Defense outside the submitted work and salary support from Brigham and Women’s Hospital, the Center for Surgery and Public Health, and the Gillian Reny Stepping Strong Center for Trauma Innovation during the conduct of the study. No other disclosures were reported.

Funding: This study was funded by The Gillian Reny Stepping Strong Center for Trauma Innovation.

Paper cited: Spitzer, SA. et al. “Gentrification as a Factor in the Incidence of Firearm Injuries” JAMA Surgery DOI:10.1001/jamsurg.2023.3939

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JOURNAL

JAMA Surgery

DOI

10.1001/jamsurg.2023.3939 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Data/statistical analysis

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Gentrification as a Factor in the Incidence of Firearm Injuries

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

20-Sep-2023

COI STATEMENT

Dr Spitzer reported receiving salary support from Brigham and Women’s Hospital, the Center for Surgery and Public Health, and the Gillian Reny Stepping Strong Center for Trauma Innovation during the conduct of the study. Dr Heindel reported receiving a fellowship award from the National Institutes of Health during the conduct of the study. Dr Jarman reported receiving grants from the National Institute on Aging and the US Department of Defense outside the submitted work and salary support from Brigham and Women’s Hospital, the Center for Surgery and Public Health, and the Gillian Reny Stepping Strong Center for Trauma Innovation during the conduct of the study. No other disclosures were reported.

 

Urban light pollution linked to smaller eyes in birds

Peer-Reviewed Publication

WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY

 

IMAGE: RESEARCHERS FOUND THAT SONGBIRDS INCLUDING THE NORTHERN CARDINAL (PICTURED HERE) THAT LIVE YEAR-ROUND IN THE URBAN CORE OF SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS, HAD EYES ABOUT 5% SMALLER THAN MEMBERS OF THE SAME SPECIES FROM THE LESS BRIGHT OUTSKIRTS. view more 

CREDIT: JENNIFER PHILLIPS, WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY

PULLMAN, Wash. – The bright lights of big cities could be causing an evolutionary adaptation for smaller eyes in some birds, a new study indicates.

Researchers found that two common songbirds, the Northern Cardinal and Carolina Wren, that live year-round in the urban core of San Antonio, Texas, had eyes about 5% smaller than members of the same species from the less bright outskirts. Researchers found no eye-size difference for two species of migratory birds, the Painted Bunting and White-eyed Vireo, no matter which part of the city they lived in for most of the year.

The findings, published in Global Change Biology, have implications for conservation efforts amid the rapid decline of bird populations across the U.S.  

"This study shows that residential birds may adapt over time to urban areas, but migratory birds are not adapting, probably because where they spend the winter--they are less likely to have the same human-caused light and noise pressures. It may make it more difficult for them to adjust to city life during the breeding season,” said Jennifer Phillips, a Washington State University wildlife ecologist and senior author.

The U.S. and Canada have lost 29% of their bird populations or 3 billion birds since 1970, according to previous research. Scientists believe that habitat fragmentation is the primary driver of the decline in birds, but the current study suggests that sensory pollutants like human-caused light may also play a role in the birds’ ability to cope with city life.  

For this study, Phillips worked with post-doctoral fellow Todd Jones and graduate student Alfredo Llamas of Texas A&M University, San Antonio, to study more than 500 birds from central and edge areas of San Antonio. They compared body and eye sizes of the birds and analyzed noise and light measurements during the day and night of each area.

There was no difference among the body sizes of birds in different areas, except for one species: the Painted Bunting. Upon further analysis, the researchers found that this size difference was mostly due to age. Younger, smaller male buntings, who cannot compete as well for mates as their more colorful elders, were more often found in the brighter, noisier central locations, which are likely less desirable. 

While other studies have looked at how urban light affects the timing of birds’ “dawn song” and circadian rhythms, this is the first-known study to show a connection to eye size.

The smaller eye size may enable birds to deal with the brighter and more constant light in city environments, said Jones, the study’s first author who is now a post-doctoral fellow at the Smithsonian’s Migratory Bird Center. Birds with bigger eyes can be somewhat blinded by the glare of city lights or be unable to sleep well, putting them at a disadvantage in urban areas.

“Humans may have some unintended consequences on birds that we don’t realize,” said Jones. “We don’t know if these adaptations could have good or bad consequences for the birds down the road, considering that urban environments aren’t going away anytime soon. It is also important to understand how to manage such environments for the birds that maybe aren't urban adapted.”

Phillips is leading a team to investigate the effect of both light and noise pollution across multiple bird species with support from a recent $2.1 million grant from the National Science Foundation. The team will set up controlled experiments to help determine how light and noise affects the birds’ stress levels, sleep hormones, song structure and aggression levels as well as whether these traits correlate to over-all fitness.

“We want to know whether patterns at molecular and behavioral scales affect fitness or not. Essentially, we're trying to understand what are the benefits and costs to these animals living in a sensory polluted world,” she said.

While researchers found that songbirds living in the urban core had smaller eyes than members of the same species living at the edges of the city, they found no eye size difference for migratory birds like the Painted Bunting (pictured here). The findings suggest that migratory birds may have trouble adapting to city life.

CREDIT

Jennifer Phillips, Washington State University

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JOURNAL

Global Change Biology

DOI

10.1111/gcb.16935 

ARTICLE TITLE

Phenotypic signatures of urbanization? Resident, but not migratory, songbird eye size varies with urban-associated light pollution levels

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

20-Sep-2023

Upgrading iron and steel plants could save equivalent of two years of global carbon emissions

Upgrading, or retrofitting, the world's iron and steel processing plants early could reduce carbon emissions by up to 70 gigatonnes by 2050, roughly equivalent to two years' net global carbon emissions, according to a new study led by UCL researchers

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON

 NEWS RELEASE 20-SEP-2023

Upgrading, or retrofitting, the world's iron and steel processing plants early could reduce carbon emissions by up to 70 gigatonnes by 2050, roughly equivalent to two years' worth of net global carbon emissions, according to a new study led by UCL researchers.

Published in the journal Nature, the researchers found that by upgrading the world’s iron and steel production facilities, carbon emissions can be reduced by 58.7 gigatonnes between 2020 and 2050, roughly equivalent to two years’ worth of net global carbon emissions. In addition, they found that by bumping forward emissions reduction retrofits five years ahead of when they would be typically scheduled, it would reduce emissions by 69.6 gigatonnes over that time frame. Iron and steel production contributes about 7% to total global carbon emissions.

To develop this schedule, the team created a comprehensive database of 19,678 individual processing units located in 4,883 individual iron and steel plants around the world, inventoried by their technical characteristics, including their locations, processing technologies, operating details, status and age.

Iron and steel production is a carbon emissions heavy process. The researchers found that as of 2019, the last year that data is available, 74.5% of the world’s steel was produced in coal powered plants that release considerable carbon emissions. Technologies exist to reduce these admissions, but upgrades are expensive and time consuming and so are usually only undertaken at the end of a processing unit’s operational lifetime.

Refining is also hard on the equipment, and the individual processing units within each plant need to be retrofitted periodically to prolong their operational lifetimes. Overall, 43.2% of global iron and steel plants have been retrofitted with new technologies or have otherwise enhanced their processes to extend their operating lifetime. The frequency of their retrofits depends on the technique they employ and how old they are, but typically they occur after 15 to 27 years of use.

The researchers found that if all currently operating processing units were upgraded to incorporate low-emissions technology at their predicted time of their refit, total emissions from the iron and steel sector could be reduced by 58.7 gigatonnes between 2020 and 2050, but if all the refits and upgrades were bumped forward and completed five years early, the total carbon savings would be 16% greater at 69.6 gigatonnes.

But the team also emphasises that mitigation efforts will have to take place at the individual facility level, and that the decarbonisation of the entire iron and steel industry depends on the efforts undertaken by every single plant. Because of the complexity and variety of methods involved in steel production around the world, there’s no one-size-fits-all decarbonisation technology or solution for the entire sector, and each processing unit should be upgraded individually according to its technical specification.

Senior author Professor Dabo Guan (UCL Bartlett School of Sustainable Construction) said: “Our results lend vivid background to the possibility of achieving net-zero carbon emissions in iron and steel production in the future. By retrofitting existing plants with low-carbon technologies, and improving scrap collecting and recycling, the iron and steel sector can dramatically reduce its carbon emissions. This study sheds light on the specific emissions reductions that are possible within the iron and steel industry.”

About 63% of the world’s steel production is from some type of blast oxygen furnace, while most of the remaining capacity is produced by electric arc furnaces. Upgrading the global inventory of blast oxygen furnaces will yield the greatest net carbon savings, about 74% of the total projected carbon savings. Upgrades to electric arc furnaces would account for the second highest net carbon savings, at about 16% of the projected whole, though this may be limited by the total amount of stock scrap available worldwide as the technique is dependent on recycling existing metals.

The researchers hope that this data can be used to identify improved ways to update ageing steel plants with emission reduction technologies in order to reach net-zero carbon emissions more quickly. Compiling this publicly available global database of iron and steel plants and tracking all their ages and technologies has significantly improved the detail of data around the carbon emission of global iron and steel production.

The researchers emphasise that because of the wide range of production methods and plant designs, the particulars of individual upgrades and mitigation effort of each processing unit will have to be done on an individual basis. Their research will help policymakers create a roadmap of when and how to upgrade iron and steel plants to meet emissions reduction targets.

The first author PhD student Tianyang Lei of Tsinghua University said: “Our study presents various CO2 emissions mitigation pathways at the plant level, optimizing when and how to retrofit each plant based on processing routes, latest retrofitting year, and operating lifetime, stressing the importance of early retrofitting with deep decarbonisation technologies for achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.”

The database reveals other insights into the iron and steel industry. Geographically different regions tend to use different technologies and techniques based on the available technologies and raw materials in the region. Some of the most carbon-intensive, coal-based production plants are concentrated in China, Japan, and India, while plants in the Middle East and North America which have greater access to natural gas resources use techniques that emit relatively less carbon dioxide.

The top five carbon emitting iron and steel plants contribute 7% of the total CO2 emissions from the global iron and steel industry but only make up 0.1% of the total 4,883 plants. They are: Anshan Iron & Steel (China), Posco - Pohang Iron & Steel (South Korea), Shanghai Baosteel (China), Jiangsu Shagang (China), Maanshan Iron & Steel Group (China). The researchers say that retrofitting these plants to lower their carbon emissions would demonstrate the feasibility for other, similar plants. 

The research was led by UCL and conducted in collaboration with Tsinghua University, Peking University and King's College London.

 

Notes to Editors

For more information or to speak to the researchers involved, please contact Michael Lucibella, UCL Media Relations. T: +44 (0)75 3941 0389, E: m.lucibella@ucl.ac.uk

Tianyang Lei, Daoping Wang, Shijun Ma, Weichen Zhao, Can Cui, Jing Meng, Xiang Yu, Qiang Zhang, Shu Tao, Dabo Guan, ‘Global iron and steel plant CO2 emissions and carbon neutrality pathways’ will be published in Nature on Wednesday 20 September 2023, 16:00 UK time 11:00 US Eastern Time and is under a strict embargo until this time.

The DOI for this paper will be 10.1038/s41586-023-06486-7.

 

Additional material

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06486-7

Please contact Michael Lucibella for a copy of the research paper under embargo

 

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JOURNAL

Nature

DOI

10.1038/s41586-023-06486-7 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Survey

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Global iron and steel plant CO2 emissions and carbon neutrality pathways

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

20-Sep-2023