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)
Tuesday, March 12, 2024
Pain in the pursuit of beauty: one in eight suffer chronic pain after cosmetic surgery, study finds
Men five times more likely to be affected by post-operative pain than women, according to survey of Norwegian adults
Ten per cent of respondents to a recent survey of Norwegian adults had undergone cosmetic surgery, with one in eight of these experiencing chronic post-operative pain, according to results published in De Gruyter’s Scandinavian Journal of Pain. The study is the first to examine the prevalence of cosmetic surgery among Norwegian adults since 2008. It is also the first to examine post-operative pain in adults undergoing various cosmetic surgery procedures.
Cosmetic surgery is becoming increasingly common worldwide but the prevalence of complications after cosmetic procedures, such as chronic post-operative pain, is not well understood.
Researchers, led by Silje Endresen Reme of the University of Oslo, conducted a short survey of 1,746 Norwegian adults, asking respondents whether they had undergone a cosmetic surgical procedure, if they had experienced chronic post-operative pain, and if they had sought treatment for this pain.
Ten per cent of respondents said they had undergone cosmetic surgery, highlighting the increasing popularity of such procedures. Of these, one in four was aged 18-29 and three in four were female.
One in eight reported experiencing chronic post-operative pain, defined as persistent pain that lasts longer than three months. Chronic post-operative pain was approximately five times more common in males than females. Two-thirds of those experiencing pain were aged 18-29, while those in other age groups experienced much less. Three out of four people who experienced pain sought treatment, suggesting that its effects were debilitating and bothersome.
While cosmetic surgeries are typically available from private clinics, those who experience post-operative pain are more likely to need care from public health systems, may not be able to work, and can experience decreased quality of life.
“Considering the increasing acceptance and popularity of cosmetic surgery, it is vital for patients to be well-informed about potential complications,” said Sophia Engel, lead author on the study. “Additionally, the public should be aware of the impact that chronic pain after cosmetic surgery has on the healthcare and social welfare system.”
Cosmetic surgery and associated chronic postsurgical pain: A cross-sectional study from Norway
Muscaris grapes: molecular secret of lychee note revealed
A team of researchers from the Leibniz Institute for Food Systems Biology at the Technical University of Munich has succeeded for the first time in identifying the odorants responsible for the characteristic lychee note of Muscaris grapes
A team of researchers from the Leibniz Institute for Food Systems Biology at the Technical University of Munich has succeeded for the first time in identifying the odorants responsible for the characteristic lychee note of Muscaris grapes. The new findings form the basis for further studies investigating the extent to which the aroma-relevant compounds are transferred from the grapes into wine. At the same time, they provide a scientific basis for the targeted breeding of innovative and resistant grape varieties with distinctly fruity aroma characteristics.
Bred in 1987 by the State Institute of Viticulture Freiburg, Germany, the white Muscaris grape variety combines the excellent fungal resistance of the Solaris variety with the intense aroma of the Gelber Muskateller, also known as Muscat Blanc. The characteristic aroma of Muscaris grapes is characterized by a distinctive, fruity lychee note, which also describes the bouquet of Muscaris wines.
No information on aroma-relevant compounds
Stephanie Frank, co-author and Senior Scientist at the Leibniz Institute, explains: "In the past, several studies had already looked at the composition of must and wine from Muscaris grapes. However, our literature research revealed no information about the odor-active compounds that contribute to the typical grape aroma of the modern variety."
"It was also previously unknown which odorants the Muscaris grape variety inherited from its parent variety, Gelber Muskateller," adds first author Xingjie Wang. "We were particularly interested in the molecular background of the unique lychee note," continues the PhD student from the Leibniz Institute.
Two odorants are crucial
To find out more about the molecular background of the special grape aroma, the Freising researchers carried out extensive investigations. As a comparative aroma extract dilution analysis revealed, Muscaris and Muskateller grapes differ only slightly in the odor-active compounds they contain. Of the 39 and 35 odorants identified, 16 exceeded their odor threshold concentrations.
Further experiments finally showed that the combination of two of the identified odorants is responsible for the distinct lychee note in the aroma of Muscaris grapes. These are the compounds (2S,4R)-rose oxide and geraniol.
"The results of our odorant analyses are groundbreaking for further aroma research on grape varieties such as Muscaris. The freely available study data also opens up new perspectives for the future of viticulture, as fruity wines are becoming increasingly popular," summarizes study leader Martin Steinhaus, who heads the Food Metabolome Chemistry research group at the Leibniz Institute.
Publication: Wang, X., Frank, S., and Steinhaus, M. (2024). Molecular Background of the Lychee Aroma of Vitis vinifera L. 'Muscaris'. J Agric Food Chem. 10.1021/acs.jafc.3c08298. pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/acs.jafc.3c08298
Funding: Xingjie Wang was supported by a scholarship from the China Scholarship Council (CSC) (grant no. 201906300007).
More information:
Grape varieties:
Muscaris is a relatively new grape variety with an intense aroma and good resistance to fungal diseases such as downy mildew, powdery mildew, and botrytis. Muscaris is early-ripening. The berries remain green, even at high must weights. They are particularly suitable for the production of dessert wine and dry wine. The cultivation area of Muscaris has increased in recent years, reaching 117 hectares in Germany in 2022.
Solaris is a white grape variety bred in 1975, whose fungal resistance originates from the Asian wild species Vitis amurensis. In fact, it has been proven that Muscaris has a similar resistance to diseases as Solaris.
Gelber Muskateller (also known as Muscat Blanc) is one of the most commonly cultivated white Muscat varieties. It is of Greek origin and has a long cultivation history in Germany. Its fungal resistance is low, however, it is highly appreciated for its floral and fruity notes. Muskateller grapes are often used as a blending partner for other white grape varieties to boost the aroma of the wine.
Information about the Institute:
The Leibniz Institute for Food Systems Biology at the Technical University of Munich (Leibniz-LSB@TUM) comprises a new, unique research profile at the interface of Food Chemistry & Biology, Chemosensors & Technology, and Bioinformatics & Machine Learning. As this profile has grown far beyond the previous core discipline of classical food chemistry, the institute spearheads the development of a food systems biology. Its aim is to develop new approaches for the sustainable production of sufficient quantities of food whose biologically active effector molecule profiles are geared to health and nutritional needs, but also to the sensory preferences of consumers. To do so, the institute explores the complex networks of sensorically relevant effector molecules along the entire food production chain with a focus on making their effects systemically understandable and predictable in the long term.
The Leibniz-LSB@TUM is a member of the Leibniz Association, which connects 97 independent research institutions. Their orientation ranges from the natural sciences, engineering and environmental sciences through economics, spatial and social sciences to the humanities. Leibniz Institutes devote themselves to social, economic and ecological issues. They conduct knowledge-oriented and application-oriented research, also in the overlapping Leibniz research networks, are or maintain scientific infrastructures and offer research-based services. The Leibniz Association focuses on knowledge transfer, especially with the Leibniz Research Museums. It advises and informs politics, science, business and the public. Leibniz institutions maintain close cooperation with universities - among others, in the form of the Leibniz Science Campuses, industry and other partners in Germany and abroad. They are subject to a transparent and independent review process. Due to their national significance, the federal government and the federal states jointly fund the institutes of the Leibniz Association. The Leibniz Institutes employ around 21,000 people, including almost 12,000 scientists. The entire budget of all the institutes is more than two billion euros.
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JOURNAL
Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemical Engineering
Americans' basic confidence in science and scientific expertise was unshaken by the Trump administration's attacks on scientific expertise, and has remained high during the last six decades, according to an analysis led by the University of Michigan.
Trump's attacks on scientific experts—exemplified by criticism of Anthony Fauci, former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases—increased the level of partisan polarization in the United States and made the question of scientific expertise more salient to many Americans. The proportion of adults who had no attitude about scientific expertise in 2016 dropped significantly during the four years of the Trump Administration.
"The proportion of Americans with a low level of trust in scientific expertise rose from 3% in 2016 to 13% in 2020," said lead researcher Jon D. Miller, a research scientist emeritus at the Institute for Social Research's Center for Political Studies. "But that increase was more than matched by a rise in the proportion of Americans with a high level of trust in scientific expertise, from 23% to 58%."
The views and actions of the Trump administration with regard to such topics as climate change, environmental protection and the COVID-19 pandemic were widely condemned as a Republican war on science. But even among conservative Republicans, the proportion with a high level of trust in scientific expertise rose more between 2016 and 2020 than the proportion with a low level of trust.
"When people aren't particularly interested in science, they tend not to have a high level of trust or distrust in it. But the pandemic gave everybody a new reason to be interested in science," said co-author Mark Ackerman, U-M professor of information, electrical engineering and computer science, and learning health sciences.
The study's analysis of changes between 2016 and 2020 was conducted against a background of data from a series of national public opinion surveys starting in 1957. These surveys show that Americans consistently express a high degree of appreciation of the benefits of science and technology and a relatively low degree of apprehension about their dangers over the last six decades.
In 2016, interest in science and technology, college-level study of science and technology, and level of education were the strongest predictors of appreciation of the benefits of science and technology—with trust in scientific expertise running a close fourth. Fundamentalist religious belief was by far the strongest predictor of apprehension about the dangers of science and technology.
The situation was similar in 2020, except that civic scientific literacy became a stronger predictor of appreciation of the benefits of science and technology, suggesting that a basic level of scientific understanding enabled people who were previously uninterested in science and technology to come up to speed with regard to current events, especially the COVID-19 pandemic.
"The Trump administration's contempt for scientific and technological expertise was rightly a cause for concern, but our study shows that the American public was by and large unaffected," Miller said. "But it will be necessary to continue to improve the public's understanding of science and technology to ensure that it is equipped to weather any future storms."
The study was published in the journal Science and Public Policy. Besides Miller and Ackerman, the authors are Belén Laspra and Carmelo Polino of the University of Oviedo (Spain), Glenn Branch of the National Center for Science Education, and Robert Pennock of Michigan State University.
A Halloween toy was among hundreds of plastic items found in the guts of dead sea turtles in the Mediterranean, a new study reveals.
Researchers examined 135 loggerhead turtles either washed up or killed as “bycatch” (accidentally caught) in fishing nets off northern Cyprus.
More than 40% of the turtles contained “macroplastics” (pieces larger than 5mm), including bottle tops and the Halloween toy – a rubber witch’s finger.
The research team, led by the University of Exeter and the North Cyprus Society for the Protection of Turtles (SPOT), say loggerheads are a potential “bioindicator” species that could help them understand the scale and impact of plastic pollution.
“The journey of that Halloween toy – from a child’s costume to the inside of a sea turtle – is a fascinating glimpse into the life cycle of plastic,” said Dr Emily Duncan, from Centre for Ecology and Conservation on Exeter’s Penryn Campus in Cornwall.
“These turtles feed on gelatinous prey such as jellyfish and seabed prey such as crustaceans, and it’s easy to see how this item might have looked like a crab claw.”
The study found at total of 492 macroplastic pieces, including 67 inside one turtle. It’s not clear why the turtles living in the same region contained such differing levels of plastic.
Turtles showed “strong selectivity” towards certain types, colours and shapes of plastic.
“The plastics we found were largely sheetlike (62%), clear (41%) or white (25%) and the most common polymers identified were polypropylene (37%) and polyethylene (35%),” said Dr Duncan.
“It’s likely that turtles ingest the plastics that mostly closely resemble their foods.
“We still don’t know the full impacts of macroplastic on turtles’ health, but negative effects could include causing blockages and limiting nutrition.”
The turtles in the study were found over a 10-year period (2012-22), and incidences of macroplastic ingestion did not increase over that period but remained stable. No difference was found between stranded and bycaught turtles.
While the study provides vital information about plastic pollution in the eastern Mediterranean, more research is now needed.
“Much larger sample sizes will be needed for loggerheads to be an effective ‘bioindicator’ species, and we recommend studies should also include green turtles – allowing a more holistic picture to be gathered,” said Professor Brendan Godley, who leads the Exeter Marine research group.
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Arctic sea ice is shrinking as the world continues to warm, and a new study led by researchers at Penn State may provide a better understanding of how the loss of this ice may impact daily weather in the middle latitudes, like the United States.
The researchers used climate models and a machine learning approach to tease out the impacts of ice sea loss on the future of large-scale meteorological patterns over North America. They reported in theJournal of Climatethat ice sea loss de-amplified these patterns and their impacts on temperature near the surface — meaning, for example, cold weather events may be less cold.
“The Arctic in general is the source of cold air for us when we have these really cold events,” said Melissa Gervais, assistant professor in the Department of Meteorology and Atmospheric Science at Penn State and lead author of the study. “As warming continues, we know that the Arctic is going to be less cold. What this work shows us is that the loss of sea ice also changes weather patterns that bring cold air to the middle latitudes. So, warming both depletes your source of cold air and makes it harder to transport.”
Sea ice acts like a blanket over the ocean, keeping warmer water from losing heat to the atmosphere, Gervais said. Once the ice is gone, heat from the ocean can enter the atmosphere and create a low-pressure system over where the ice had been, resulting in less transport of cold Arctic air to other parts of Earth, the scientists said.
As sea ice melts, the Arctic is warming at a faster rate than the rest of the planet, a process called Arctic amplification. And while it would be expected that less cold air would be transported from the Arctic to the middle latitudes under these conditions, the new study allowed the researchers to probe more deeply into the mechanisms responsible for these changes.
“Our research allowed us to dig a little bit deeper into what is going on,” Gervais said. “We were able to see that in addition to the impact of Arctic amplification, there also is an impact on the actual circulation or flow in the atmosphere.”
To test the impact on weather patterns, the scientists ran a climate model under two scenarios — one with ice levels consistent with the 1980s and 1990s, and the other with reduced ice levels expected by the end of the century.
They used self-organizing maps, a machine learning method, to classify patterns of daily weather in the troposphere, the lowest layer of Earth’s atmosphere where most weather occurs. They then explored how those general weather patterns translate into variables that are closer to the surface.
“Without using this machine learning method, we would not have been able to really robustly understand the processes involved,” Gervais said. “For studies like this, where we’re using a large volume of climate model simulations, we can’t find these patterns by hand.”
One weather pattern particularly impacted by the loss of sea ice involved cold weather anomalies over North America. The pattern is associated with strong cold anomalies, which reached roughly 29 degrees Fahrenheit under current sea ice conditions but warmed significantly under the scenarios with less sea ice, the scientists said.
“We found that when we lose sea ice, not only is that anomaly reduced, but it also actually becomes a warm pattern,” Gervais said. “So, the same pattern in the upper atmosphere is now actually bringing warmer temperatures near the surface.”
Lantao Sun, research scientist at Colorado State University and Clara Deser, senior scientist at the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) National Center for Atmospheric Research, also contributed to the study.
Toronto, March 11, 2024] — Little is known about the willingness of sexual minority adults—people who identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual, or other nonheterosexual orientation identities—to use digital health tools. A new study, published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research by Dr Wilson Vincent of Temple University, has shed light on this question in the context of public health screening and tracking. The research challenges assumptions about the uptake of such technologies, particularly amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dr Vincent notes that past studies have seldom looked into how willing sexual minority groups are to use digital health tools, particularly in relation to pandemics or non-HIV prevention measures. In the COVID-19 era, use of cutting-edge mHealth tools such as smartphone apps for screening, monitoring, and treating the virus has skyrocketed, marking a thrilling advancement in health care technology. Yet, how enthusiastic are people about embracing these new technologies?
To answer this question, Dr Vincent used data from the COVID Impact Survey, which was conducted during the height of the COVID-19 response in the United States and surveyed over 2000 people. A deep dive into this publicly available data set revealed that sexual minority adults showed a greater willingness to use digital health tools for screening and tracking compared to heterosexual adults. Interestingly, there were no notable differences in this group in terms of age, gender, or race/ethnicity. On the flip side, White heterosexual adults showed a disproportionately low willingness to use such tools.
The findings show how important it is to make digital health tools work for everyone. Diverse populations should be considered in the development and implementation of digital health strategies, particularly during public health crises. By understanding and meeting the needs of sexual minority adults, policymakers and health care workers can make health strategies better and fairer for all.
The study also highlights the need for ongoing research into the digital divide among different demographic groups. Gaining insights into the factors that shape one's readiness to interact with digital health tools can guide the creation of tailored interventions aimed at closing current disparities in health care accessibility and adoption. Future studies that delve into the various dynamics involved can help create health care solutions that work for everyone, no matter their sexual orientation or other demographic factors.
Please cite as:
Vincent W
Willingness to Use Digital Health Screening and Tracking Tools for Public Health in Sexual Minority Populations in a National Probability Sample: Quantitative Intersectional Analysis
JMIR Publications is a renowned publisher with a long-standing commitment to advancing digital health research and progressing open science. Our portfolio includes a wide array of prestigious open access, peer-reviewed journals dedicated to the dissemination of high-quality research in the field of digital health. JMIR Publications is celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2024 as the leading open access, digital health publisher.
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Willingness to Use Digital Health Screening and Tracking Tools for Public Health in Sexual Minority Populations in a National Probability Sample: Quantitative Intersectional Analysis
ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE
8-Mar-2024
CRT
No, an anti-racist program in schools didn’t stress out kids
A new study of how high school students respond to a program designed to increase the frequency and quality of conversations about race in school finds that the anti-racist intervention did not cause stress or feelings of alienation among study participants. The finding rebuts concerns that anti-racist programs are harmful to children and teens.
The study could serve as a blueprint for assessing anti-racist interventions.
“Young people are aware of racial injustice and related social issues, and schools are interested in helping students understand racial justice and develop the tools they need to discuss these issues in a meaningful way,” says Kelly Lynn Mulvey, co-author of a paper on the work and an associate professor of psychology at North Carolina State University.
“There are multiple programs that aim to help schools accomplish these goals,” Mulvey says. “In this study, we wanted to determine how effective one such program was. Did it help students understand racial justice issues? Did it make them more comfortable talking about these issues? Were there any unintended effects on the students?”
For the study, researchers from NC State, Duke University and Dickinson College worked in partnership with a public high school to assess the impact of a classroom intervention aimed at helping students understand and discuss issues related to racism. The intervention was conducted for 45 minutes once a week for 10 weeks. Specifically, the researchers did an assessment of 227 students before the intervention and three months after the intervention, aimed at capturing how engaged students were, how students related with staff, the extent to which students felt that they belonged in the school community, student stress, and the extent to which students perceived social inequality.
In addition, 67 of the study participants also completed daily surveys for three weeks during the intervention. These surveys were designed to capture daily fluctuations in each student’s stress levels and feelings of belonging.
“One of the key findings was that 60% of study participants reported being highly engaged with the intervention, and another 20% were passively/somewhat engaged,” says Jackie Cerda-Smith, first author of the paper and a Ph.D. student at NC State.
“Students in our study were actively interested in learning about and discussing issues related to racism,” says Mulvey. “And the highly engaged group demonstrated significant growth in their awareness of social inequality after the intervention.
“We also found that there was no increase in stress – or decrease in feelings of belonging – on days when students were involved in the anti-racism intervention,” Mulvey says. “That was true for all 67 participants who did daily surveys, regardless of how engaged they were in the intervention.”
“A lot of the opposition to addressing racism in schools hinges on the idea that anti-racist programming is somehow harmful or stressful for students,” says Cerda-Smith. “Our study finds that, at least with this program in this school, students are actually benefiting from these programs. What’s more, there is no evidence that the intervention is stressful or has an adverse impact on students’ feelings of belonging in their school community.
“Based on what we learned here, and on our interactions with the educators at this school, this study also underscores the value of partnerships between educators and the research community,” Cerda-Smith says. “We were able to capture real-world data on how students are responding to anti-racist interventions, which expands our understanding of this subject and gives teachers insights into their students. Hopefully, this will encourage more researchers and educators to pursue partnerships like this one.
“This study was particularly valuable for teachers at our partner school, because it took place during the pandemic when classes were being conducted online,” Cerda-Smith says. “Normal social cues that would help teachers determine how students were responding weren’t available, but our assessment gave them insights into students’ experiences with the intervention.”
“Another exciting component of this study was that we were able to capture student experiences in a variety of ways,” says Mulvey. “Many studies rely solely on pre-intervention and post-intervention testing to see what has changed. By having a subset of study participants provide data on a daily basis, we were able to better understand the effects of the intervention in real time. Further, we were able to capture student engagement with the intervention and see how that engagement related to outcomes. Previous work on this subject didn’t capture the role that engagement plays.
“This approach could serve as a model for future work aimed at broadening our understanding of anti-racist interventions, or other interventions in schools – such as interventions that focus on mental health or academic skills,” says Mulvey.
The paper, “A Novel Approach for Evaluating a Schoolwide Antiracist Curriculum Intervention,” is published open access in the journal AERA Open. The paper was co-authored by Paula Yust, an assistant professor of psychology at Dickinson College; Molly Weeks, director of research in Duke University’s Office of Undergraduate Education; and Steven Asher, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at Duke University.
The research was supported by a grant from the American Educational Research Association.
