Research Brief: Study uncovers hundred-year lifespans for three freshwater fish species in the Arizona desert

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA

 

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A CENTURY-OLD BUFFALOFISH FROM APACHE LAKE, ARIZONA.

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CREDIT: UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA DULUTH

A recent study found some of the oldest animals in the world living in a place you wouldn’t expect: fishes in the Arizona desert. Researchers found the second genus of animal ever for which three or more species have known lifespans greater than 100 years, which could open the doors to aging studies across disciplines, such as gerontology and senescence (aging) among vertebrates. 

The study centers around a series of fish species within the Ictiobus genus, known as buffalofishes. Minnesota has native populations of each of the three species studied: bigmouth buffalo, smallmouth buffalo and black buffalo. The importance of this research is underscored by the fact that these fishes are often misidentified and lumped in with invasive species, like carp, and the fishing regulations in many places, including Minnesota, do not properly protect these species, and what could become a wealth of information about longevity and aging.

This new research from the University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD), recently published in Scientific Reports, was a collaboration between Alec Lackmann, PhD, an ichthyologist and assistant professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics of the Swenson College of Science and Engineering at UMD; other scientists including from North Dakota State University; and a group of conservation anglers who fish the Apache Lake reservoir in Arizona.

“There is likely a treasure trove of aging, longevity and negligible senescence information within the genus Ictiobus,” said Lackmann. “This study brings light to this potential and opens the door to a future in which a more complete understanding of the process of vertebrate aging can be realized, including for humans. The research begs the question: what is the buffalofishes’ fountain of youth?” 

Lackmann has studied buffalofishes before, and his research from 2019 went so far as to extend the previously thought maximum age of bigmouth buffalo from around 25 years of age, to more than 100 years of age by applying and validating a far more refined aging technique than had been used previously. Instead of examining the fish’s scale, “you extract what are called the otoliths, or earstones, from inside the cranium of the fish, and then thin section the stones to determine their age,” said Lackmann.

Approximately 97 percent of fish species have otoliths. They’re tiny stone-like structures that grow throughout the fish’s lifetime, forming a new layer each year. When processed properly, scientists like Lackmann can examine the otolith with a compound microscope and count the layers, like the rings on a tree, and learn the age of the fish. 

Results of the study include:

• Unparalleled longevity for freshwater fishes. Namely, three species with lifespans more than a century, with greater than 90 percent of the buffalofishes in Apache Lake more than 85 years old.
• The discovery that some of the original buffalofishes from the Arizona stocking in 1918 are likely still alive.
• A fishery of catch-and-release buffalofish angling that has not only increased our knowledge of fisheries, but also our understanding of how buffalofishes can be identified and recaptured across years, including uniquely-marked centenarians. 
• A robust citizens and scientists collaborative effort that has resulted in thorough and consistent scientific outreach and learning.

Buffalofishes are native to central North America, including Minnesota, but those in this recent study were found in Apache Lake, a reservoir in the desert southwest. Originally reared in hatcheries and rearing ponds along the Mississippi River in the Midwest, the government stocked buffalofishes into Roosevelt Lake (upstream of Apache Lake), Arizona in 1918. While Roosevelt Lake was fished commercially, Apache Lake’s fish populations remained largely untouched until anglers recently learned how to consistently catch buffalofishes there on rod-and-line.

When these catch-and-release conservation anglers noticed unique orange and black spots on many of the fish they were catching, they wanted to learn more about the markings, and found Lackmann’s previous research. An Arizona angler, Stuart Black, reached out and invited Lackmann to a fishing expedition at Apache Lake, where the fish collected would be donated to science.

By studying the fishes collected at the angling event and analyzing their otoliths for age, Lackmann found that some of the buffalofishes from the 1918 Arizona stocking are likely still alive today, and that most of the buffalofishes in Apache Lake hatched during the early 1920s. More importantly, they discovered that the three different buffalofish species found in the lake had ages more than 100 years. To their knowledge, such longevity across multiple freshwater fish species is found nowhere else in the world.  

For Lackmann, there are exciting possibilities for the future of studying this unique group of fish, with far-reaching implications.

“These long-lived species of fishes and individuals could be monitored so that we can further study and understand their DNA, their physiology, their ability to fight infection and disease, and to compare these systems across the continuum of age,” said Lackmann. “The genus Ictiobus has potential to prove of high value to the field of gerontology, and Apache Lake could become an epicenter for a variety of scientific research in the future.”

About UMD
One of five campuses that comprise the University of Minnesota System, the University of Minnesota Duluth integrates liberal education, research, creative activity, and public engagement and prepares students to thrive as lifelong learners and globally engaged citizens. With an enrollment of nearly 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students, the Duluth campus offers 87 undergraduate and post-baccalaureate degrees, and graduate programs in more than 24 different fields. See UMD’s Land Acknowledgement statement. Visit d.umn.edu.

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JOURNAL

Scientific Reports

DOI

10.1038/s41598-023-44328-8 

ARTICLE TITLE

Centenarian lifespans of three freshwater fish species in Arizona reveal the exceptional longevity of the buffalofishes (Ictiobus)

 

Two bee species become one as researchers solve identity puzzle

Peer-Reviewed Publication

CURTIN UNIVERSITY

 

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MALE XANTHESMA (XENOHESMA) BRACHYCERA

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CREDIT: N/A

A new study by Curtin and Flinders Universities has found that what were thought to be two different species of native Australian bee are in fact one.

Lead researcher Dr Kit Prendergast from the Curtin School of Molecular and Life Sciences said the study, based on native bee surveys at Perth locations of Wireless Hill, Shenton Park and Russo Reserve, fundamentally alters previous thinking.

“Essentially the research team used DNA sequencing to show that what we used to think of as two different species of bees are actually just the males and females of one, single species,” Dr Prendergast said.

“For many native bee species in Australia, their descriptions were based on only one sex. Identifying males and females as belonging to the same species solely through observation can be challenging, as both sexes of the same species often display noticeable differences.

“In this study, I collected what appeared to be the female of a bee species that has been described only from the male - a species at the time called Xanthesma (Xenohesma) perpulchra. The team then used DNA analysis to confirm these female bees were in fact the same species as the male.

“Surprisingly, their DNA also matched another species, that had only ever been described from the female – the Xanthesma (Xanthesma) brachycera, so we were able to prove that the two were in fact the same species.

“It appears both sexes had never been collected in the same place at the same time, and both were described in the early 1900s, well before the advent of DNA analysis.”

Dr Prendergast said the findings showed the value of DNA barcoding in accurately identifying males and females that belong to the same species. This is particularly crucial because males and females of the same species may have distinct appearances, while different species of the same sex can appear quite similar.

“Our findings are significant because being able to correctly identify species is fundamentally important to virtually every aspect of biological sciences,” Dr Prendergast said.

“Accurate species identification enables us to determine how many species are present in an area, helps us understand the evolution of life on earth, and how species are related. It also allows us to assess conservation needs.

“We hope this research is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the taxonomy of Australian native bees, and that it inspires agencies and government to invest in more taxonomic work, especially on the Euryglossinae, which is an important, yet understudied group of bees native to Australia.”

Co-authored by Dr James Dorey from Flinders University and published in the Australian Journal of Taxonomy, the research is titled ‘Xanthesma (Xenohesma) perpulchra and Xanthesma (Xanthesma) brachycera are conspecific based on DNA barcodes’ and can be found online here

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JOURNAL

Australian Journal of Taxonomy

DOI

10.54102/ajt 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Observational study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Animals

ARTICLE TITLE

Xanthesma (Xenohesma) perpulchra and Xanthesma (Xanthesma) brachycera are conspecific based on DNA barcodes’

Monitoring nuclear weapons stockpiles with radio waves

Peer-Reviewed Publication

RUHR-UNIVERSITY BOCHUM

 

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IN THIS CONTAINER, THE RESEARCHERS TESTED HOW ROBUST AND HOW REPRODUCIBLE THE RADIO FINGERPRINT IS. THE TECHNOLOGY DETECTS MOVEMENTS OF THE BLUE BARREL.

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CREDIT: RUB, MARQUARD

An international research team has proposed a new method for monitoring nuclear disarmament treaties. The IT security experts developed a mechanism that uses radio waves to remotely monitor whether any changes are being made in a specific room. The researchers describe how robust and secure the approach is in the journal Nature Communications, published online on 17 October 2023. Teams from the Max Planck Institute for Security and Privacy (MPI-SP) in Bochum, Ruhr University Bochum, the School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University, the University of Connecticut, Harvard University, PHYSEC GmbH, and Technische Universität Berlin collaborated on the development.

The researchers approached their project from a scenario in which State A wants to ensure that there are no changes in State B’s nuclear weapons stockpile – and to do so without permanent on-site monitoring. Specifically, a major threat is indicated by the removal of stored nuclear warheads to prepare them for deployment. “Our system uses two antennas to record a radio fingerprint of the room,” explains Dr. Johannes Tobisch, who earned his PhD on this research field in the CASA Cluster of Excellence at Ruhr University Bochum and MPI-SP and has since moved on to work in industry. One of the antennas emits a radio signal that is reflected off the walls and objects in the room. The other antenna records the signal. The recorded signal is characteristic: if the objects were moved only minimally, this would noticeably change the radio fingerprint. Major changes, such as the removal of a stored nuclear warhead, can thus be reliably detected.

Mirrors to guarantee security

However, this method can only work if state B measures the radio fingerprint at precisely the time when state A requests it. It’s therefore necessary to prevent State B from recording the radio fingerprint and sending the recording instead of a just-measured signal. “That would be like someone sticking a photo in front of a surveillance camera,” illustrates Johannes Tobisch.

For this reason, a setup with 20 rotating mirrors is initially installed in the room that is to be monitored. If the position of the mirrors changes, the radio fingerprint also changes. State A would record the radio fingerprints for different mirror positions during a one-time on-site visit and store them in a secret database. Periodically, State A could remotely request State B to send the radio fingerprint for a particular mirror position – and compare the measured data with the record in their secret database. If the data don’t match, there must have been a change in the room.

“Seventy percent of the world nuclear weapons are kept in storage for military reserve or awaiting dismantlement,“ outlines Dr. Sebastien Philippe from Princeton University the importance of such a technique. “The presence and number of such weapons at any given site cannot be verified easily via satellite imagery or other means that are unable to see into the storage vaults. Because of the difficulties to monitor them, these 9,000 nuclear weapons are not accounted for under existing nuclear arms control agreements. This new verification technology addresses this long-standing challenge and contributes to future diplomatic efforts that would seek to limit all nuclear weapon types.”

Setup in a field test

To test the idea, the researchers set up a container with movable barrels on the campus of Ruhr University Bochum, Germany, which they monitored using radio wave technology. Using this setup, they showed that radio fingerprints could be reliably reproduced for individual mirror settings. Different mirror settings also produced a variety of easily distinguishable radio fingerprints. If the researchers moved one of the barrels in the container, a few millimeters of displacement were enough to show up in the radio fingerprint.

The team also analyzed whether it’s possible to decipher how mirror positions and radio fingerprints correspond to each other using machine learning. Algorithms can indeed predict radio fingerprints if they recognize a number of mirror positions and the corresponding radio signals. Finding the connection, however, takes longer the more mirrors there are in the setup. “With 20 mirrors, it would take eight weeks for an attacker to decode the underlying mathematical function,” points out Johannes Tobisch, adding: “Because of the scalability of the system, it’s possible to increase the security factor even more.”

“The technology combines cyber-physical security assessments, previously only possible on data and security chips, with cross-system physics in a completely new way. This enables new levels of trust, especially for the Internet of Things,” says Professor Christian Zenger, head of the Secure Mobile Communication research group at Ruhr University Bochum and CEO of PHYSEC GmbH.

“This research project is an excellent example of how novel technologies at the interface between security engineering and radio technologies can be used to solve problems that are of great importance to society,” says Professor Christof Paar of the Max Planck Institute in Bochum.

“At a time of heightened geopolitical tensions and with a new nuclear arms race brewing, this work is particularly timely and relevant,” concludes Sébastien Philippe.

These adjustable mirrors are at the heart of the radio wave technology.

To ensure sufficient safety, several mirrors are needed. The researchers used 20 of them for their experiments.

CREDIT

RUB, Marquard

JOURNAL

Nature Communications

DOI

10.1038/s41467-023-42314-2 

ARTICLE TITLE

Remote inspection of adversary-controlled environments

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

24-Oct-2023

Huge 'blobs' inside Earth are from another planet, study suggests

Paris (AFP) – Scientists proposed a novel idea on Wednesday that could solve two of the world's mysteries at once -- one that passes over our heads every night, and one that sits far below our feet.

Issued on: 01/11/2023 - 

Remants of the planet Theia, which was destroyed in the collision that created the Moon, remain buried deep inside Earth, scientists have proposed 

© HANDOUT / NASA/AFP/File

The first mystery has puzzled everyone from scientists to inquisitive children for millennia: where did the Moon come from?

The leading theory is that the Moon was created 4.5 billion years ago when a would-be planet the size of Mars smashed into the still-forming Earth.

This epic collision between early Earth and the proto-planet called Theia shot an enormous amount of debris into orbit, which formed what would become the Moon.

Or so the theory goes. Despite decades of effort, scientists have not been able to find any evidence of Theia's existence.

New US-led research, published in the journal Nature, suggests they might have been looking in the wrong direction.

Around 2,900 kilometres (1,800 miles) below Earth's surface, two massive "blobs" have baffled geologists since seismic waves revealed their existence in the 1980s.

These continent-sized clumps of material straddle the bottom of Earth's rocky mantle near its molten core, one below Africa and the other underneath the Pacific Ocean.

Mysterious 'blobs' inside Earth from Moon-forming collision

 © Julia Han JANICKI, Valentina BRESCHI / AFP

Scientists have determined that the blobs are much hotter and more dense that the surrounding rock, but much else about them remains a mystery.

The new research on Wednesday indicates the blobs are "buried relics" of Theia that entered into Earth during their formative collision -- and have been hiding near our planet's heart ever since.

As well as creating the Moon, this collision and the remnants it left behind may have helped Earth become the unique life-hosting planet it is today, the researchers proposed.
'Very, very strange'

Qian Yuan, a geodynamics researcher at the California Institute of Technology and the study's lead author, told AFP it is "very, very strange" that no evidence of the Theia impact has been found.

It was during a class held by a planetary scientist discussing this mystery that Yuan first connected the dots.

"Where is the impactor? My answer is: it's in the Earth," he said.

The planetary scientist holding the class had never heard of the blobs. The research has since required experts in the often separate fields of space and geology to join forces.

Yuan said that when Theia smashed into proto-Earth, it was travelling at more than 10 kilometres (six miles) a second, a speed that allowed some of it to penetrate "very deep into the Earth's lower mantle".

A video developed by the team simulating this process illustrates how clumps of Theia's mantle tens of kilometres wide swirled inside Earth.

As the mostly molten Theia material cooled and solidified, its high level of iron caused it to sink down to the border of Earth's mantle and core, the scientists proposed.

Over the years it accumulated into two separate blobs -- officially called large low-velocity provinces (LLVPs) -- that are now each larger than the Moon, Yuan said.

Testing a theory based so far back in time -- and so deep under Earth -- is incredibly difficult, and Yuan emphasised that their modelling could not be "100 percent" certain.
'Why Earth is unique'

But if true, the implications could be immense.

Earth remains the only planet in the universe known to be capable of supporting life.

The Theia collision, which is believed to be Earth's last major accretion event, significantly changed its composition in just 24 hours, Yuan said.

"My feeling is that this initial condition is why Earth is unique -- why it's different to other rocky planets," he said.

Previous research has suggested that Theia could have brought water, the key ingredient of life, to Earth.

The blobs have been observed sending up "mantle plumes" -- columns of magma -- towards the Earth's surface, and have also been linked to the evolution of supercontinents.

Many have looked up at the Moon and wondered where it came from. It could have been a huge collision that inserted parts of a proto-planet beneath their feet, scientists say 

© Shammi MEHRA / AFP/File

Theia "left something in the Earth -- and that played a role in Earth's subsequent 4.5 billion years of evolution," Yuan said.

Christian Schroeder, an expert in both Earth science and planetary exploration at Scotland's University of Stirling, told AFP the theory "fits several strands of evidence".

"It is a very significant and exciting finding," said Schroeder, who was not involved in the research.

He emphasised that the mystery of the Moon's formation had not been solved.

But the research gives more weight to the Theia impact theory -- and provides "a credible explanation for these anomalies at the core-mantle boundary at the same time," he said.

The remnants of Theia potentially preserved underneath us "may be responsible for important processes on Earth ongoing to this day," Schroeder added.

© 2023 AFP

 

Scientists Locate Remains of Alien Planet Buried Deep Inside Earth

Pieces of the planet may also exist in the moon.

By Sissi Cao • 03/29/21 

  

An alien planet collided into Earth some 4.5 billion years ago. The New York Public Library

A Mars-sized planet that struck Earth 4.5 billion years ago and gave birth to the moon may have left two giant pieces of itself deep in Earth’s mantle, a new study suggests.

Scientists have long agreed on the existence of the planet, called Theia, and its role in creating the moon. The theory goes that Theia crashed into Earth early in its life and knocked loose a chunk of rock that would later become the moon. A new study led by Qian Yuan, a geodynamics researcher at Arizona State University (ASU), Tempe, suggests that the remnants of Theia is still inside Earth, probably located in two continent-size layers of rock beneath West Africa and the Pacific Ocean.

Seismologists have been studying these two rock layers for decades. They have found that seismic waves from earthquakes abruptly slow down when they pass through the layers, which suggests they are denser and chemically different from the surrounding mantle rock. Seismologists call them large low-shear velocity provinces, or LLSVPs. Together, they contain about six times the mass of the moon.

“They are the largest thing in the Earth’s mantle,” Yuan said when presenting his work last week at the 52nd Lunar and Planetary Science Conference 2021.

Based on isotopic evidence and modeling, Yuan believes the LLSVPs are actually remains of Theia itself. “You could say that these are the biggest and largest meteorites if they are mostly Theia’s mantle. It’s very cool,” he told Vice.

Shortly after the collision 4.5 billion years ago, Theia’s core merged with Earth’s, Yuan’s work suggests. His model then aims to identify the conditions under which Theia’s mantle would have sunk to where the two LLSVPs are today rather than mixing in with Earth’s mantle. Simulations showed that Theia mantle needed to be 1.5 percent to 3.5 percent denser than Earth’s to have survived the mixing and end up as separate lumps near Earth’s core.

The result is surprisingly consistent with findings of a 2019 study on Theia’s role in creating the moon led by Yuan’s coworker, ASU Tempe astrophysicist Steven Desch.

The age of the LLSVPs in question also fits the Theia collision theory. Over the past decade, geochemists have discovered that lavas on Iceland and Samoa contain an isotopic record of radioactive elements that formed in the first 100 million years of Earth history, a period during which the moon was formed, per Science Magazine. (The Earth is 4.54 billion years old.)

More evidence will come by when scientists obtain unaltered rocks from the moon’s mantle. These rocks are believed to exist in a large impact crater on the moon’s south pole, where NASA and China both plan to explore this decad

Hungary LGBTQ content law unenforceable at top photo show: museum

Budapest (AFP) – Hungary's National Museum said on Wednesday that it cannot enforce a government order barring minors from the World Press Photo exhibition under a controversial law targeting LGBTQ content.


Issued on: 01/11/2023 - 
The exhibition is a showcase of the annual competition that rewards 'the best visual journalism' around the world © ATTILA KISBENEDEK / AFP
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The exhibition -- a showcase of the annual competition that rewards "the best visual journalism" around the world -- started in September and runs until November 5 at the National Museum in Budapest.

On Saturday, the ministry of culture and innovation ordered the museum to enforce a law against "promoting" homosexuality to those below the age of 18.

But the National Museum told AFP that it "cannot legally enforce" the government order as it cannot ask for identity cards.

"The Museum relies on the cooperation and compliance of visitors," its press department wrote in an emailed statement.

"There are notices on the site that under 18-year-olds are not allowed to buy tickets, and there is also an under 18 restriction sign at the entrance to the exhibition," it added.

On Wednesday, a public holiday in Hungary, an AFP journalist saw dozens of people lining up outside the museum for the exhibition, including a few families with children, unaware of the age restrictions.

"They let us in without any trouble," said Premek Beran, a 48-year-old Czech visitor, who bought the tickets from a machine, including for his four children aged between 10 and 15.

The far-right Our Homeland party had complained about the exhibition, taking issue with a series of pictures on a community of older LGBTQ people in the Philippines.

"Our Homeland stands for the value of the traditional family model," its vice president Dora Duro has said.

'Nothing offensive'

World Press Photo executive director Joumana El Zein Khoury said she was "surprised" to hear about the decision to restrict access to the exhibition.

"There is nothing explicit or offensive in these images," she said.

Most exhibition visitors who spoke to AFP on Wednesday said they disagreed with the government order.

"It is disappointing and ridiculous," said a 34-year-old who only gave her name as Alexandra, adding it would further harm Hungary's image in Europe.

"They should have just covered the pictures," Rudolf Sarlos, a 68-year-old pensioner, told AFP.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban's nationalist government passed the law against "promoting" homosexuality to minors in 2021, drawing criticism at home and abroad, including from Brussels.

The law has hardly been enforced.

But in July, a bookshop chain received a hefty fine for not covering up the British graphic novel "Heartstopper" about two boys falling in love in high school.

© 2023 AFP

Pollution forces India to ban firework displays at Cricket World Cup

Mumbai (AFP) – India's cricket board on Wednesday said fireworks at Cricket World Cup matches in Mumbai and New Delhi will be banned due to hazardous pollution levels.


Issued on: 01/11/2023 

Blight night: Fireworks are seen at the end of the World Cup match between Australia and New Zealand at Dharamsala on October 28 

© Money SHARMA / AFP

The hosts will take on Sri Lanka at Mumbai's Wankhede Stadium on Thursday where a win will extend their unbeaten streak to seven and seal a semi-final spot.

But concerns about air quality dominated news in the commercial capital of India, forcing the Board of Control for Cricket in India to take action.

"BCCI is sensitive to environmental concerns. I took up the matter formally with the ICC (International Cricket Council) and there won't be any fireworks display in Mumbai, which can add to the pollution level," secretary Jay Shah said in a statement."

"The BCCI acknowledges the urgent concern surrounding air quality in both Mumbai and New Delhi. While we strive to host the World Cup in a manner befitting the celebration of cricket, we remain steadfast in our commitment to prioritising the health and safety of all our stakeholders."

According to India's National Air Quality Index, air in Mumbai was "poor", a ranking which it warns has the possible health impacts of "breathing discomfort to most people on prolonged exposure", when the team started training at 18.30 local time.

The concentration in Mumbai was four times above the recommended limit advised by the World Health Organisation.

"I mean, in an ideal world, you don't want a situation like this, but I'm pretty sure the concerned people are taking the necessary steps to avoid these kind of situations," India captain Rohit Sharma said Wednesday.

"It's not ideal, everyone knows that. But obviously, looking at our future generation, your kids, my kids, obviously, it's quite important that they get to live without any fear."

He added, "So, yeah, every time I get to speak outside of cricket, if we are not discussing cricket, I always talk about this, that you know we have to look after our future generation."

Mumbai is scheduled to hold another league game on November 7 between Afghanistan and Australia before they host the first semi-final on November 15.

Air in the Indian capital of New Delhi hovered between "poor" to "very poor" at different times of the day with the city awaiting its last World Cup match on Monday between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

Pollution in Delhi once hit severe levels during a Test match in December, 2017 when nine of the 11 Sri Lankan players came out wearing masks after the tea break and Indian bowler Mohammed Shami vomited on the pitch.

© 2023 AFP

China's smog problem explained

Beijing (AFP) – A thick haze has this week smothered Beijing and surrounding areas, with tens of millions of people in northern China under severe pollution warnings.

Issued on: 01/11/2023 

Pollution has been classified as "severe" in some areas has lowered visibility to less than 50 metres 

(164 feet) © Pedro PARDO / AFP

Here's what you need to know about the smog in northern China:

Just how bad is it?

China's weather office has said "foggy and hazy" conditions are prevalent in the capital Beijing, the megacity of Tianjin, and parts of the provinces of Hebei, Shandong and Hubei, home to more than 100 million people in total.

Many of Beijing's 22 million residents donned face masks on Wednesday morning as they snaked through streets shrouded in a grey haze.

The pollution in some areas has been classified as "severe" and has at times lowered visibility to less than 50 metres (164 feet).

Beijing has experienced five days with "unhealthy" pollution levels in the last week, compared to just three such days in the past three weeks, air quality monitoring firm IQAir's data showed.

IQAir said Beijing was the third most-polluted major city on Earth on Wednesday, just ahead of Bangladesh's capital Dhaka.

Beijing's concentrations of hazardous PM 2.5 particles were more than 20 times higher than World Health Organisation guidelines, the firm said.

PM 2.5 particles, if inhaled, can have serious health risks, linked to premature deaths in people with heart or lung disease, as well as a host of breathing and other health issues, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency.
Are things getting better?

A decade ago, Beijing routinely choked in off-the-charts smog that stoked public health anxiety and was dubbed the "airpocalypse" by Western commentators.

China declared "war on pollution" after winning the Winter Olympics bid in 2015, shutting down dozens of coal plants and relocating heavy industries.

That has brought significant improvements, but air quality often remains below World Health Organization standards and severe pollution is common in China's capital.

In March and April, Beijing experienced six days when pollution levels were considered "very unhealthy" -- meaning air quality had reached emergency levels, data from the US embassy showed.

Beijing also experienced five days of "unhealthy" pollution levels around October and November last year.

China is the world's biggest emitter of the greenhouse gases driving climate change, such as carbon dioxide.

A recent jump in approvals for coal-fired power plants has added to concerns that China will backtrack on its goals to peak emissions between 2026 and 2030 and become carbon-neutral by 2060.

What are the causes?

The capital's location plays a role. Nestled between deserts to the north and dense industrial clusters to the south and east, the direction of the prevailing wind can often determine whether the city sees blue skies or dense smog.

But the bad air is also man-made: highly-polluting heavy industry, the common use of coal burning for electricity and vehicle emissions, IQAir said.

Beijing's city government has blamed "unfavourable weather conditions" such as high humidity and unseasonably hot temperatures.

It has said that colder weather may help dissipate the pollution.
What steps have been taken?

The second-highest air pollution alert is in place in Beijing until the end of Thursday.

The alert orders businesses, builders and transport firms to cut their emissions as a matter of urgency.

Further curbs, such as temporary bans on the use of some high-emissions vehicles, will come into force if the highest alert -- already in force in parts of Hebei province -- is triggered.

Authorities have also urged residents to reduce outdoor activities and strenuous exercise during periods of high pollution.

© 2023 AFP

 

Ground breaking study reveals link between air pollution and incidence of Parkinson’s disease

Peer-Reviewed Publication

DIGNITY HEALTH ARIZONA

A new study led by researchers at Barrow Neurological Institute has found that people living in regions with median levels of air pollution have a 56 percent greater risk of developing Parkinson’s disease compared to those living in regions with the lowest level of air pollution.

The study, which will be published online on Monday, Oct. 30 in Neurology - the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology - was conducted to identify national, geographic patterns of Parkinson’s disease and test for nationwide and region-specific associations with fine particulate matter.

“Previous studies have shown fine particulate matter to cause inflammation in the brain, a known mechanism by which Parkinson’s disease could develop,” says Brittany Krzyzanowski, PhD, a researcher at Barrow Neurological Institute, who led the study. "Using state-of-the-art geospatial analytical techniques, we were, for the first time, able to confirm a strong nationwide association between incident Parkinson’s disease and fine particulate matter in the U.S.”

The study also found that the relationship between air pollution and Parkinson’s disease is not the same in every part of the country, and varies in strength by region. The Mississippi-Ohio River Valley was identified as a Parkinson’s disease hotspot, along with central North Dakota, parts of Texas, Kansas, eastern Michigan, and the tip of Florida. People living in the western half of the U.S. are at a reduced risk of developing Parkinson’s disease compared with the rest of the nation.

“Regional differences in Parkinson’s disease might reflect regional differences in the composition of the particulate matter. Some areas may have particulate matter containing more toxic components compared to other areas,” says Krzyzanowski.

Although the authors have not yet explored the different sources of air pollution, Krzyzanowski notes there is relatively high road network density in the Mississippi-Ohio River Valley and the rust belt makes up part of this region as well. “This means that the pollution in these areas may contain more combustion particles from traffic and heavy metals from manufacturing which have been linked to cell death in the part of the brain involved in Parkinson’s disease,” says Krzyzanowski.

The population-based geographic study identified nearly 90k people with Parkinson’s disease from a Medicare dataset of nearly 22-million. Those identified with having Parkinson’s disease were geocoded to the neighborhood of residence, enabling researchers to calculate the rates of Parkinson’s disease within each region. The average annual concentrations of fine particulate matter in these specific regions were also calculated. After adjusting for other risk factors, including age, sex, race, smoking history and utilization of medical care, Barrow researchers were then able to identify an association between a person’s previous exposure to fine particulate matter and their later risk of developing Parkinson’s disease.

“Population-based geographic studies like this have the potential to reveal important insight into the role of environmental toxins in the development and progression of Parkinson’s, and these same methods can be applied to explore other neurological health outcomes as well,” says Krzyzanowski.

Researchers hope the data from this novel study will help enforce stricter policies that will lower air pollution levels and decrease the risk for Parkinson’s disease and other associated illnesses.

“Despite years of research trying to identify the environmental risk factors of Parkinson’s disease, most efforts have focused on exposure to pesticides,” says Krzyzanowski. “This study suggests that we should also be looking at air pollution as a contributor in the development of Parkinson’s disease.”

The Barrow study was supported by the U.S. Department of Defense, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, and The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research.

Click here to read the full study.

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JOURNAL

Journal of Neurology

DOI

10.1212/WNL.0000000000207871 

ARTICLE TITLE

Fine Particulate Matter and Parkinson Disease Risk Among Medicare Beneficiaries

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

30-Oct-2023

CENSORSHIP 

Mainz 'surprised' after El Ghazi expresses 'no regrets' for Israel-Gaza post

Berlin (AFP) – German Bundesliga club Mainz on Wednesday reacted with "surprise and incomprehension" after player Anwar El Ghazi said he does "not regret" statements he made on the Israel-Hamas war.

Issued on: 01/11/2023 - 

 Anwar El Ghazi

The club suspended the Dutch international for a number of social media posts related to the conflict, but said Monday the player could return "soon" after he "explicitly distanced himself" from the statements.

El Ghazi, however, took to social media on Wednesday, saying "I do not regret or have any remorse for my position."

"Any other statements, comments or apologies to the contrary attributed to me are not factually correct and have not been made or authorised by me."

Mainz responded to El Ghazi's posts on Wednesday, also on social media, saying the club would "examine the matter legally and then evaluate it."

El Ghazi was suspended on October 17 for taking a "position on the conflict in the Middle East in a manner that wasn't tolerable for the club", Mainz said in a previous statement.

He had shared several posts on social media early in the conflict, including the phrase "from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free".

The slogan is seen by some (ZIONISTS AND THEIR APOLOGISTS) as a call for the destruction of Israel, while others say it appeals for equality for Palestinians and Israelis.

Mainz said Wednesday El Ghazi had "called in sick on Monday and was currently not in training."

Hamas gunmen stormed across the border from Gaza into Israel on October 7 and carried out the deadliest attack since the country was created in 1948.

In retaliation, Israel announced it would destroy Hamas and began a relentless bombardment of the Gaza Strip.

Israeli forces have recently stepped up their ground offensive in Gaza as part of the military response to the Hamas attacks that officials say killed 1,400 people, mostly civilians, while more than 230 people were taken hostage.

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza says at least 8,796 people, mainly civilians, have since been killed in Israeli air and ground strikes.