It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Monday, December 11, 2023
Children born moderately early are at an increased risk of developmental disorders, according to new research
Children born between 32 and 38 weeks’ gestation are more likely to have developmental disorders – such as language delay, cognitive impairment, ADHD and Cerebral palsy – compared with children born at full term, according to a major new study.
While many of the increased risks are small, because around seven percent of babies in the UK are born moderately preterm each year, they could have significant consequences at population level, the authors of the National Institute of Health and Care Research (NIHR) funded study say.
For the study, researchers at the Universities of York, Leeds and Leicester examined data from more than 75 studies from around the world, which involved a total of over eight million children.
Compared with children born at full term, the study identified an increased risk of most developmental disorders. Whilst risks decreased with each week of gestation, there was still evidence of a small increase in risk of several developmental disorders such as cerebral palsy, developmental delay, and cognitive impairment, even when children were born “early term”, between 37-38 weeks.
One of the most common disorders was language delay which affected 222 per 1000 children born between 32-36 weeks, compared with 47 per 1000 for full term children. Many children face low educational attainment during the primary school years, affecting 300 per 1000 children born moderately preterm, compared to 160 per 1000 children born at full term.
While the risk of cerebral palsy is relatively low for all children, the results of the study suggest it is 14 times higher for infants born at 32 to 33 weeks compared with children born at full term.
The review also found that difficulties faced by children born at 32 to 38 weeks persist through childhood, with evidence of increased risk and prevalence of cognitive impairment and low educational achievement persisting into the high school years.
Lead author of the study, Dr Katherine Pettinger from the Department of Health Sciences at the University of York, said: “It is important to remember that whilst our study shows an increase in risk for children born moderately early relative to their peers born at full term, many children will not experience any developmental problems.
“The reasons behind our findings are not yet clear, but babies born just a few weeks early have different brain maturation to full term children, and it is possible that birth between 32 and 38 weeks’ gestation may disrupt evolution of neural connections, potentially contributing to developmental disorder.
“Many babies that are born moderately preterm are delivered early for very good reasons, for example when the mother has a health condition such as preeclampsia. However, understanding the long-term implications of birth before full term may influence obstetric decision making in some cases. It is also vital that all healthcare professionals, and particularly paediatricians, are well informed of the potential consequences of preterm birth so that they can give evidence based information to families and so opportunities for early intervention are not missed. ”
According to current guidelines from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) children should be monitored up until the age of two if they were born before the age of 30 weeks.
The researchers do not recommend that all children born between 32 and 38 weeks’ gestation should also receive multiple routine health appointments as many will not show any signs of developmental disorders and this would place significant strain on NHS services.
However, the researchers are calling for more communication between schools, parents and health professionals and better support for teachers.
Dr Pettinger added: “The data tells us the effects of being just a few weeks early are still there at primary school age. It therefore makes sense for teachers to be informed if they have students who are born preterm and early term and receive training on how to support them.
“Further research is now needed to look at large scale population studies to explore how incidents of developmental disorders relate to gestational age and see if the patterns we observed in the present study are replicated. We also want to look at whether children are commonly affected by more than one disorder, as understanding which conditions are likely to co-occur can help to produce more tailored interventions for children.”
Risk of Developmental Disorders in Children Born at 32 to 38 Weeks’ Gestation: A Meta-Analysis
A dynamic picture of how we respond to high or low oxygen levels
A new study from Gladstone Institutes sheds light on the molecular workings at play when oxygen exceeds normal levels, with findings that may one day inform the decision to use supplemental oxygen as a medical treatment.
GLADSTONE ASSISTANT INVESTIGATOR Isha Jain, PhD, SENIOR AUTHOR OF THE NEW STUDY, DISCUSSES THE RESEARCH WITH FIRST AUTHOR KIRSTEN XUEWEN CHEN. THEIR FINDINGS EXPLAIN HOW BREATHING AIR WITH DIFFERENT LEVELS OF OXYGEN AFFECTS THE CREATION AND DEGRADATION OF DIFFERENT PROTEINS IN THE LUNGS, HEART, AND BRAIN OF MICE.
SAN FRANCISCO—December 8, 2023—It only takes holding your breath for slightly too long to understand that too little oxygen is bad for you. But can you also have too much? Indeed, breathing air with a higher oxygen level than your body needs can cause health problems or even death.
But with scant research on the topic, scientists have known little about how the body senses too much oxygen. Now, a new study from Gladstone Institutes has greatly expanded the scientific body of knowledge about the mechanisms at play, and why it matters for health.
Their findings, reported in the journal Science Advances, explain how breathing air with different levels of oxygen—from too little, to just right, or too much—affects the creation and degradation of different proteins in the lungs, heart, and brain of mice. Notably, the study also highlights a particular protein that may play a central role in regulating how cells respond to hyperoxia.
“These results have implications for many different diseases,” says Gladstone Assistant Investigator Isha Jain, PhD, senior author of the new study. “More than 1 million people in the US breathe supplemental oxygen every day for medical reasons, and studies suggest it could be making things worse in some cases. That’s just one setting where our work is starting to explain what’s happening and how the body responds.”
Understanding Oxygen’s Effects
Most prior research on oxygen levels has examined the molecular effects of too little oxygen. And even in that realm, most of the focus has been on how low oxygen affects which genes are turned on or off.
“Our study enters uncharted territory by using mice and looking downstream of gene expression at which proteins abnormally accumulate or degrade in response to different oxygen concentrations,” says Kirsten Xuewen Chen, first author of the new paper and a graduate student at UC San Francisco.
The research builds on the team’s prior work, which revealed that in response to too much oxygen, certain proteins containing iron and sulfur clusters become degraded, leading cells to malfunction.
“Now, we wanted to get a more dynamic picture of how proteins are regulated when oxygen levels are too high or too low,” Chen says.
To do so, the team exposed mice for several weeks to air with oxygen level of 8 percent, 21 percent (the usual level we breathe in Earth’s atmosphere), or 60 percent. Meanwhile, they gave the mice food containing a distinct form of nitrogen that the animals’ bodies incorporated into new proteins. This nitrogen isotope acted as a “label” that enabled the researchers to calculate protein turnover rates—the balance between protein synthesis and degradation—for thousands of different proteins in the lungs, heart, and brain.
“We’re grateful to our collaborators who are the experts in this technique, known as stable isotope labeling of amino acids in mice,” Jain says. “Without it, we could not have done this study.”
A Key Protein Builds Up
The researchers found that oxygen levels more dramatically affected proteins in the lungs of mice than the heart or brain. They identified certain proteins with abnormal turnover rates under high- or low-oxygen conditions.
One particular protein that accumulated in high-oxygen conditions, MYBBP1A, piqued their attention. MYBBP1A is a transcription regulator, meaning it directly affects gene expression.
“This caught our eye because prior research has shown that other transcription factors called hypoxia-inducible factors, or HIFs, play a big role in cells’ response to low oxygen,” Chen says. “Our work nominates MYBBP1A for a related role in hyperoxia signaling.”
MYBBP1A is involved in the production of ribosomes—cellular “machines” that build proteins. Further experiments surfaced clues that, in response to high oxygen levels, accumulation of this protein in the lungs may affect production of ribosomal RNA, a key component of ribosomes.
Jain’s team is now examining the precise molecular role of MYBBP1A during hyperoxia, including whether its response is protective or harmful. This work could set the stage for novel treatments that target the MYBBP1A protein or associated molecules in ways that counter the bad effects of hyperoxia—similar to widespread research efforts targeting HIF proteins in low-oxygen conditions.
First-of-Its-Kind Dataset
The new study presents a first-of-its kind dataset of protein turnover rates in different tissues of mice exposed to different oxygen levels. The team hopes its results will inspire other researchers to further investigate the effects of too much or too little oxygen on the body, which could transform the way we treat disease.
About the Study
The paper “In Vivo Protein Turnover Rates in Varying Oxygen Tensions Nominate MYBBP1A as a Novel Mediator of the Hyperoxia Response” was published in the journal Science Advances on December 8, 2023.
In addition to Jain and Chen, other authors of the study are: Augustinus Haribowo, Alan Baik, Andrea Fossati, Erica Stevenson, Michela Traglia, Alexander Pico, and Danielle Swaney of Gladstone; Yiwen Chen and Daniel Jarosz of Stanford University; Nabora Reyes, Tien Peng, Michael Matthay, and Abigail Buchwalter of UC San Francisco; and Sina Ghaemmaghami of the University of Rochester
This work was supported by the American Heart Association, the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, the National Institutes of Health (T32-HL007731, NIH DP5 DP5OD026398), the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub, the Sarnoff Cardiovascular Research Foundation, the UCSF Program for Breakthrough Biomedical Research, the Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program, and a gift from Dave Wentz.
About Gladstone Institutes
Gladstone Institutes is an independent, nonprofit life science research organization that uses visionary science and technology to overcome disease. Established in 1979, it is located in the epicenter of biomedical and technological innovation, in the Mission Bay neighborhood of San Francisco. Gladstone has created a research model that disrupts how science is done, funds big ideas, and attracts the brightest minds.
Reducing oxygen levels in critically ill children on mechanical ventilators in intensive care could save tens of young lives each year, finds a new study led by researchers at UCL and Great Ormond Street Hospital.
The study, funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research and published in The Lancet, also found that lower levels of oxygen would reduce the number of days children spent on machines supporting organs, saving the NHS £20million every year.
Lead author, Professor Mark Peters (UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health and Consultant Paediatric Intensivist at GOSH), said: “Giving the minimum safe dose of anything in intensive care appears to generate the best outcomes, so we wanted to test this approach with oxygen. We found a small benefit of lower oxygen targets that is unlikely to have been due to chance. But because so many children are treated with oxygen, this has the potential to improve outcomes and reduce healthcare costs in the UK and around the world.
“This could have particular implications in countries where oxygen is a scare resource, or in situations as we have seen in recent years, where health needs change, and oxygen demand quickly peaks.”
In the UK, around 20,000 children are admitted to intensive care each year and roughly 75% will receive additional oxygen through a ventilator.
Oxygen is one of the most common treatments used in emergency situations. Doctors and nurses adjust oxygen treatment based on how much oxygen their patient has in their blood. While very low oxygen levels are harmful, current research shows that slightly lower than normal levels may be the best target for very ill people.
The Oxy-PICU study is the largest randomised controlled trial ever conducted in paediatric intensive care units (PICUs). It was led by researchers from UCL and Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH), the Intensive Care National Audit & Research Centre (ICNARC) and the Paediatric Critical Care Society Study Group (PCCS-SG).
The researchers recruited 2,040 children from 15 NHS PICUs across England and Scotland. Each of the children required a mechanical ventilator and extra oxygen on admission to the PICU.
The children, who ranged from newborn up to 16 years, were randomly allocated to one of two groups, either receiving oxygen to the standard target level (saturation “SpO2” > 94%), or a reduced oxygen target (SpO2 88-92%). The percentages refer to the proportion of the oxygen-carrying capacity of the blood that is being used.
The researchers found that the children who received the lower level of oxygen were 6% more likely to have a better outcome, either in terms of survival or the number of days spent on machines supporting their organs.
The researchers anticipate that if the approach was scaled up across the NHS, it could save 50 lives, 6,000 ICU bed days and £20million annually in the UK alone.
The Oxy-PICU study is funded by the NIHR’s Health Technology Assessment programme and supported by the NIHR’s Biomedical Research Centres at GOSH and UCLH.
Lauran O’Neill, Senior Critical Care Nurse at GOSH, said: “This is a major milestone study, which was nurse-led, with research taking place at the bedside as part of normal clinical care. It’s a great example of a research-hospital vision as every child admitted to ICU was screened for inclusion into the study.”
Professor Marian Knight, Scientific Director for NIHR Infrastructure, said: “The main purpose of all NIHR health and care research is to save or improve lives in some way, whether by questioning what we currently do or introducing new practice.
“This landmark nurse-led study has challenged the accepted practice for providing oxygen to children in intensive care in a way that could have a global impact. We are proud to have supported Professor Peters and his team through both our Health Technology Assessment programme, our Biomedical Research Centre at GOSH, and with our remarkable NIHR research nursing staff.”
Dilly and Noah’s story
When two-year-old Noah Karunananthan was diagnosed with leukaemia in May 2022 after a trip to A&E at Hillingdon Hospital, his family were devastated. Noah lives with his mum Dilly, dad Sabe and twin sister Naima in Hillingdon, West London. In order to give him the medication he urgently needed, the doctors had to sedate him, and he was quickly transported for treatment at Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH).
Mum Dilly says: “We were told Noah had blood cancer but we didn’t know what kind it was - it was really overwhelming. But the team came in and looked after him, they told us everything they were going to do, every step of the way and he had 1 to 1 care which I thought was amazing.”
Noah was in the ICU for around 4 days to support his organs while he received care. While there, his parents consented to him taking part in the Oxy-PICU trial as part of his recovery journey. He was later transferred to the oncology ward.
Dilly said: “I was so stunned when we got to the ICU, it was like a spaceship. I was in awe of all the machines, in shock really, and exhausted as it was the middle of the night.
“He was started on the Oxy-PICU trial before the team took us there in the ambulance. He had the new treatment of lower oxygen saturation targets.
“Noah had a brain biopsy to extract a suspected fungal infection – this scared the hell out of us. What was amazing was how he recovered. For three months he’d had almost no facial expressions – we hadn’t seen him smile. But then his daily Occupational Therapist Mary came one day and you could see him try to smile at her toys. After that session we could see him slowly getting better.
“This September, we signed up to nursery and we were worried Noah may not be able to do a full day but he’s thriving there! This is the first time we have been separated for longer periods and I can see that he loves learning and exploring.
“If Noah, or we as a family, can help children, parents and families through research we are happy to. He was one of the first people to try many of the research projects we have signed up to and it makes us proud that Noah has been able to help give some answers that may have helped him and could now help someone else and it’s all part of our journey.”
JOURNAL
The Lancet
ARTICLE TITLE
Conservative versus liberal oxygenation targets in critically ill children (Oxy-PICU): a multiple centre, open, parallel group, randomised clinical trial
Female patients who speak Spanish, identify as Hispanic or experience food and housing insecurity at increased risk for depression, anxiety during radiation treatment
(Boston)—Depression and anxiety among people living with a cancer diagnosis is a growing clinical and research priority. However, the prevalence of mood disorders in those living with cancer varies due to a multitude of variables such as stage and type of cancer, treatment, age, race and ethnicity.
A new study by researchers at Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine has found that Spanish-speaking patients undergoing radiotherapy for breast cancer experienced higher distress levels at baseline compared to English-speakers and that this distress increased over the course of treatment in contrast to English-speakers' distress, which decreased over time. Additionally, those who identified their race as “other” and ethnicity as Hispanic similarly reported an increase in distress throughout treatment.
“Given that breast cancer remains the most common type of cancer worldwide, its impact on mental health continues to be highly researched as it can hinder treatment, recovery and quality of life. However, Black and Hispanic patients which comprise about 29% of the U.S. population, have been historically understudied in cancer research,” said corresponding author Corina Beiner, a fourth-year medical student at the school.
To better understand the changes in levels of depression and anxiety, the researchers surveyed English and Spanish-speaking females, age 18 or older, before and after they underwent radiation therapy treatment for breast cancer. Sociodemographic characteristics including race, ethnicity, marital status, education level, longest residency location, religion, housing and food insecurity were also collected. The survey ended with a standardized questionnaire to assess for depression and anxiety and the score was used as a marker of psychological distress.
Prior to treatment, Spanish-speakers had a baseline distress level higher than English-speakers. Overall, participants showed a decreased level of distress post-treatment, however, when analyzed by language, English-speakers had decreased distress while Spanish-speakers reported an increased level of distress. Once sociodemographic factors were adjusted by language, Spanish-speakers reported a significantly higher level of housing and food insecurity, which may explain their higher levels of distress. “For this reason, we believe it would be beneficial to screen all Spanish-speaking patients for risk factors that may increase their distress throughout treatment,” added Beiner.
According to the researchers, exploring the varying levels of depression and anxiety faced by these patients is warranted, particularly given that a diagnosis of mood disorders is linked to poorer survival outcomes. Prior knowledge that certain groups at a baseline may be experiencing more distress, can help guide initial changes to mediate these differences.
“Additionally, regarding radiation therapy, knowing that a portion of our patients are at an increased risk of developing higher distress levels throughout a course of treatment can drive interventions to combat this,” said senior author Ariel E. Hirsch, MD, professor of radiation oncology.
While further investigation is necessary to elucidate other reasons for this increase in distress throughout treatment, the researchers believe these results indicate an area for clinical need. “Patients at risk for increased depression or anxiety or increased distress throughout treatment may benefit from interventions prior to and throughout radiation therapy, such as preferred language education sessions or informational calls throughout treatment,” added Hirsch.
These findings appear online in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology and Physics.
Funding was provided by the ASCO Conquer Cancer Medical Student Rotation for Underrepresented Populations Award, which provides financial support for U.S. medical students from populations underrepresented in medicine who are interested in oncology as a career to experience a minimum 4-week clinical or clinical research rotation.
METHOD OF RESEARCH
Survey
SUBJECT OF RESEARCH
People
ARTICLE TITLE
: Depression and Anxiety Among English and Spanish-Speaking Patients with Breast Cancer Receiving Radiation Therapy
ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE
7-Dec-2023
Study: International scientists believe lack of women in physics tied to personal preference, but viewpoint ignores gender norms
Fewer women pursue careers in physics than biology, and scientists from around the world believe these differences come down to personal preferences, according to a new Rice University study of international scientists. The study’s researchers warn that merely chalking this imbalance up to individual choice may diminish the push for gender equality in the sciences.
“Scientists explain the underrepresentation of women in physics compared to biology in four national contexts” appears in a recent edition of Gender, Work and Organization. Using survey data collected from academic biologists and physicists in the U.S. (1,777 total), Italy (1,257), France (648) and Taiwan (780), the researchers examine how scientists’ social identities and the countries in which they reside shape their explanations of gender inequality in science.
Elaine Howard Ecklund, one of the study’s authors and the Herbert S. Autrey Chair, professor of sociology and director of Rice’s Boniuk Institute, said regardless of the scientists they surveyed, the decisions of women to not pursue careers in physics were interpreted by the respondents through a lens of individualism. The danger in this, Ecklund said, is ignoring the way preferences themselves are shaped by gendered processes. For example, previous studies have demonstrated that women are more likely to be excluded from professional networks because of their gender, penalized for being or potentially becoming mothers and not having sufficient access to professional mentoring — all of which are factors that can affect the choices they make for pursuing or avoiding a particular field of science.
“These barriers ultimately prevent women from entering, persisting and advancing in academic science along different points in the pipeline,” noted Di Di, one of the study’s lead authors from Santa Clara University.
Ecklund further noted how gendered processes are at work long before women make decisions about their field of study, families or other aspects of life. Prior research suggests women are influenced early on by their parents’ gender roles in the family and their occupations, which shape young women’s decisions to go into fields like science, technology, engineering, math and other gendered occupations. These occupational selections are viewed as individual choices by scientists surveyed for this study.
“When scientists draw on individualist arguments to explain gender inequality — thus ignoring these gendered processes — they may blunt initiatives that can promote women’s equity in STEM,” said Esther Chan, one of the lead authors of the study from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
Scientists explain the underrepresentation of women in physics compared to biology in four national contexts
Brazilians create sensor to monitor levels of widely used antibiotic in water and food
The device, which combines magnetic fluorescent nanoparticles, was designed at the Center for Development of Functional Materials, a research center supported by FAPESP and hosted by the Federal University of São Carlos.
Researchers at the Center for Development of Functional Materials (CDMF) describe in the Journal of Molecular Liquids the development of a sensor that detects metronidazole in organisms and the environment. Metronidazole is an antibiotic used in human and veterinary medicine. Accumulation of this drug in the body can result in various health problems, and levels in blood, water, meat and milk, among others, need to be monitored.
The sensor combined magnetic fluorescent multi-functional molecularly imprinted polymers (MFMIP) with a non-imprinted reference composite. Tests on water samples showed good sensitivity and practical advantages such as the possibility of real-time analysis and ease of handling.
CDMF is one of FAPESP’s Research, Innovation and Diffusion Centers (RIDCs) and is hosted by the Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar).
The first and last authors of the article are LaÃs Mendes Alvarenga and Luciano Sindra Virtuoso. The other co-authors are Cristiane dos Reis Feliciano, Bruno Giordano Alvarenga, Hauster Maximiler Campos de Paula, Yara Luiza Coelho, LuÃs Henrique Mendes da Silva, Luiz Fernando Gorup and Mariane Gonçalves Santos.
About São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP)
The São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) is a public institution with the mission of supporting scientific research in all fields of knowledge by awarding scholarships, fellowships and grants to investigators linked with higher education and research institutions in the State of São Paulo, Brazil. FAPESP is aware that the very best research can only be done by working with the best researchers internationally. Therefore, it has established partnerships with funding agencies, higher education, private companies, and research organizations in other countries known for the quality of their research and has been encouraging scientists funded by its grants to further develop their international collaboration. You can learn more about FAPESP at www.fapesp.br/en and visit FAPESP news agency at www.agencia.fapesp.br/en to keep updated with the latest scientific breakthroughs FAPESP helps achieve through its many programs, awards and research centers. You may also subscribe to FAPESP news agency at http://agencia.fapesp.br/subscribe.
Researchers have developed an adaptable algorithm that could improve road safety by predicting when drivers are able to safely interact with in-vehicle systems or receive messages, such as traffic alerts, incoming calls or driving directions.
The researchers, from the University of Cambridge, working in partnership with Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) used a combination of on-road experiments and machine learning as well as Bayesian filtering techniques to reliably and continuously measure driver ‘workload’. Driving in an unfamiliar area may translate to a high workload, while a daily commute may mean a lower workload.
The resulting algorithm is highly adaptable and can respond in near real-time to changes the driver’s behaviour and status, road conditions, road type, or driver characteristics.
This information could then be incorporated into in-vehicle systems such as infotainment and navigation, displays, advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and others. Any driver vehicle interaction can be then customised to prioritise safety and enhance the user experience, delivering adaptive human machine interactions. For example, drivers are only alerted at times of low workload, so that the driver can keep their full concentration on the road in more stressful driving scenarios. The results are reported in the journal IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Vehicles.
“More and more data is made available to drivers all the time. However, with increasing levels of driver demand, this can be a major risk factor for road safety,” said co-first author Dr Bashar Ahmad from Cambridge’s Department of Engineering. “There is a lot of information that a vehicle can make available to the driver, but it’s not safe or practical to do so unless you know the status of the driver.”
A driver’s status – or workload – can change frequently. Driving in a new area, in heavy traffic or in poor road conditions, for example, is usually more demanding than a daily commute.
“If you’re in a demanding driving situation, that would be a bad time for a message to pop up on a screen or a heads-up display,” said Ahmad. “The issue for car manufacturers is how to measure how occupied the driver is, and instigate interactions or issue messages or prompts only when the driver is happy to receive them.”
There are algorithms for measuring the levels of driver demand using eye gaze trackers and biometric data from heart rate monitors, but the Cambridge researchers wanted to develop an approach that could do the same thing using information that’s available in any car, specifically driving performance signals such as steering, acceleration and braking data. It should also be able consume and fuse different unsynchronised data streams that have different update rates, including from biometric sensors if available.
To measure driver workload, the researchers first developed a modified version of the Peripheral Detection Task to collect, in an automated way, subjective workload information during driving. For the experiment, a phone showing a route on a navigation app was mounted to the car’s central air vent, next to a small LED ring light that would blink at regular intervals. Participants all followed the same route through a mix of rural, urban and main roads. They were asked to push a finger-worn button whenever the LED light lit up in red and the driver perceived they were in a low workload scenario.
Video analysis of the experiment, paired with the data from the buttons, allowed the researchers to identify high workload situations, such as busy junctions or a vehicle in front or behind the driver behaving unusually.
The on-road data was then used to develop and validate a supervised machine learning framework to profile drivers based on the average workload they experience, and an adaptable Bayesian filtering approach for sequentially estimating, in real-time, the driver’s instantaneous workload, using several driving performance signals including steering and braking. The framework combines macro and micro measures of workload where the former is the driver’s average workload profile and the latter is the instantaneous one.
“For most machine learning applications like this, you would have to train it on a particular driver, but we’ve been able to adapt the models on the go using simple Bayesian filtering techniques,” said Ahmad. “It can easily adapt to different road types and conditions, or different drivers using the same car.”
The research was conducted in collaboration with JLR who did the experimental design and the data collection. It was part of a project sponsored by JLR under the CAPE agreement with the University of Cambridge.
“This research is vital in understanding the impact of our design from a user perspective, so that we can continually improve safety and curate exceptional driving experiences for our clients,” said JLR’s Senior Technical Specialist of Human Machine Interface Dr Lee Skrypchuk. “These findings will help define how we use intelligent scheduling within our vehicles to ensure drivers receive the right notifications at the most appropriate time, allowing for seamless and effortless journeys.”
The research at Cambridge was carried out by a team of researchers from the Signal Processing and Communications Laboratory (SigProC), Department of Engineering, under the supervision of Professor Simon Godsill. It was led by Dr Bashar Ahmad and included Nermin Caber (PhD student at the time) and Dr Jiaming Liang, who all worked on the project while based at Cambridge’s Department of Engineering.
Long-standing research has shown that consuming dietary protein stimulates muscle protein synthesis, which is a critical factor for building and maintaining skeletal muscle mass. Growing evidence has illustrated that animal- and plant-based protein food sources are not created equal in terms of their anabolic properties for triggering muscle growth and maintenance, primarily due to the quantity and quality of protein in these foods, as well as their different essential amino acid (EAA) content.
New research recently published in the Journal of Nutrition is one of the first randomized controlled trials to compare anabolic properties of whole protein foods when consumed as part of mixed meals. The study, “Higher muscle protein synthesis rates following ingestion of an omnivorous meal compared with an isocaloric and isonitrogenous vegan meal in healthy, older adults,” found that, despite having the same caloric and total protein contents, a whole food omnivorous meal with lean beef resulted in greater postprandial muscle protein synthesis rates than a whole food vegan meal in older adults. In fact, researchers observed a 47% higher muscle protein synthesis rate following consumption of the omnivorous meal with lean beef, compared with the whole food vegan meal that provided an equal amount of protein from plants.
“While studies have previously assessed the impact of consuming isolated proteins, this research aims to mirror a more real-life setting by understanding the effects of eating whole protein foods as part of a typical meal,” said Luc van Loon, PhD, professor of Physiology of Exercise and Nutrition, Department of Human Biology, Maastricht University Medical Center+, and principal investigator of the research study. “Given the importance of protecting lean body mass to maintain strength as we age and the growing interest in vegetarian and vegan lifestyles, this research is important to understand if protein food sources can be equally effective in supporting muscle maintenance and growth.”
Based on previous research comparing the ingestion of different protein sources, the researchers were able to calculate that 16 participants would be needed to complete the study and detect a potential difference in muscle protein synthesis rates following ingestion of the two meals. Accordingly, the clinical trials were conducted with 16 healthy, older adults (ages 65-85 years), in Maastricht, the Netherlands. On one test day, the participants ate a whole food omnivorous meal containing 3.5 ounces of lean ground beef as the primary source of protein, with potatoes, string beans, applesauce (made of 100% apples), and herb butter. The other test day included eating a whole food vegan meal of equal caloric and protein content, comprised of unprocessed, commonly consumed plant protein foods such as quinoa, soybeans, chickpeas, and broad beans, as the main ingredients. Importantly, both meals contained on average 36 grams of protein, which is aligned with evidence-based recommendations for stimulating muscle protein synthesis in older individuals (i.e., 0.45 g protein per kg body weight).
“We were interested in studying the impact of meal consumption on muscle protein synthesis in older adults given the significance of age-related loss of muscle mass and strength, known as sarcopenia, which is a growing public health concern globally,” added van Loon.
All participants refrained from sports and strenuous physical activities, as well as alcohol consumption, for two days prior to each of the two experimental trial days. Researchers compared post-meal plasma amino acid profiles and muscle protein synthesis rates, using blood and muscle biopsies that were collected frequently for six hours following meal ingestion. In addition to observing the 47% increased muscle protein synthesis rate over a 6-hour postprandial period, researchers noted plasma EAA concentrations were 127% higher following the lean beef meal, despite the vegan meal not presenting any selective amino acid deficiencies.
“Importantly, plasma leucine, which is an essential amino acid particularly important for muscle protein synthesis, was 139% higher in participants, after they ate the omnivorous beef-containing meal,” said Philippe Pinckaers, MSc., lead author of the publication. “While more research is needed over a longer timeframe, this study illustrates the potential impact of the food matrix and significance of amino acid bioavailability and biofunctionality differences between beef-containing and vegan meals.”
The study was funded by the Beef Checkoff, through the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, which was not involved in the study design, interpretation, or publication.
Higher Muscle Protein Synthesis Rates Following Ingestion of an Omnivorous Meal Compared with an Isocaloric and Isonitrogenous Vegan Meal in Healthy, Older Adults
COI STATEMENT
The study was funded by the Beef Checkoff, through the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, which was not involved in the study design, interpretation, or publication.
WIC participation helped families better cope with 2022 infant formula shortage
SPOKANE, Wash. – Families that participated in the WIC program—also known as the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children—were much less likely to use potentially unsafe infant feeding practices during the 2022 U.S. infant formula shortage than income-eligible families that did not participate.
Both WIC participants and non-participants reported being affected by the shortage at similar rates, according to a Washington State University study published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. However, the researchers found that WIC participants were significantly more likely to cope with the shortage by changing the brand or type of formula or by getting it from a different source. They were also less likely to use less healthy feeding practices, such as using dairy milk or milk alternatives, watering down formula or using homemade formula.
“WIC provides a safety net for infants and children, and early childhood WIC participation has long-lasting benefits for health, wellbeing and academic achievement,” said Namrata Sanjeevi, the study’s first author and a research associate in WSU’s Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine. “By examining how WIC participation could be related to infant feeding practices during the formula shortage, our study adds important findings on how WIC can support families during times of crisis.”
The study evaluated how participation in WIC impacted families’ experiences and coping strategies during the monthslong shortage, which started in February 2022 when a manufacturer recall added to existing pandemic-related supply chain issues. A federal nutrition assistance program that provides free formula and essential nutritious foods to low-income families, the WIC program serves more than 1.4 million babies, about half of whom were receiving formula produced by the affected manufacturer.
Although data on why respondents selected specific coping strategies were not available, Sanjeevi said these findings provide some evidence that more flexible WIC policies may have eased the burden on participating families during the shortage. Following the manufacturer recall, the federal government temporarily waived restrictions on WIC benefits that limited participants as to the type, size and brand of formula they could obtain. Sanjeevi believes the improved access provided by these waivers—most of which were in place through at least the end of 2022—may have kept WIC participants from using undesirable feeding practices. In addition, she said the program could have protected participants from the budget impact of surging formula prices, since formula is provided to them free of cost.
Data for the study came from the Household Pulse Survey, an online survey designed to measure U.S. household experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic, and were collected between December 2022 and February 2023. The researchers’ analysis is based on data provided by 1,542 respondents whose household income was at or below 185% of federal poverty level—the threshold for WIC participation—and who had children younger than 18 months. Out of those respondents, 881, or just under 60%, reported participating in WIC.
Senior study author Pablo Monsivais, an associate professor in the WSU College of Medicine, said this is consistent with federal statistics that suggest that only about half of the women who are eligible for WIC are enrolled in the program.
“We need to do more to understand and eliminate barriers that keep families from participating in this proven, cost-effective program,” said Monsivais, adding that research has shown that every dollar invested in the program saves almost $2.50 in medical, educational and productivity costs.
“WIC has been put under the microscope again and again,” he said. “Our study adds to the growing body of evidence that the program protects the health and wellbeing of low-income families and makes good economic sense.”
