Air pollution and depression linked with heart disease deaths in middle-aged adults

EUROPEAN SOCIETY OF CARDIOLOGY

Athens, Greece – 26 April 2024:  A study in more than 3,000 US counties, with 315 million residents, has suggested that air pollution is linked with stress and depression, putting under-65-year-olds at increased risk of dying from cardiovascular disease. The research is presented today at ESC Preventive Cardiology 2024, a scientific congress of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC).1

“Our study indicates that the air we breathe affects our mental well-being, which in turn impacts heart health,” said study lead author Dr. Shady Abohashem of Harvard Medical School, Boston, US.

According to the World Health Organization, air pollution is estimated to have caused 4.2 million premature deaths worldwide in 2019.2 Mental illness has also been linked with premature death.3 This study examined whether air pollution and poor mental health are interrelated and have a joint impact on death from cardiovascular disease.

The study focused on particles less than 2.5 micrometres in diameter, also referred to as fine particles or PM2.5. They come from vehicle exhaust fumes, power plant combustion, and burning wood, and present the highest health risk. To conduct the study, county-level data on annual PM2.5 levels were obtained from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).4 PM2.5 exposure was categorised as high or low according to World Health Organization (WHO) standards. The researchers gathered data on the average number of days (age-standardised) that county residents experienced mental health issues—including stress, depression, and emotional problems—from the CDC.5 Each county was then categorised into three groups based on these numbers. Counties in the top third reported the most days of poor mental health (PMH).4 Age-adjusted premature cardiovascular mortality rates (under 65 years of age) per county, were obtained from the CDC.6 County characteristics were sourced from the County Health Rankings project.

The study included 3,047 US counties, representing 315,720,938 residents (with over 207 million aged 20 to 64 years and 50% females) in 2013. Between 2013 and 2019, some 1,079,656 (0.34%) participants died from cardiovascular disease before the age of 65 years. The researchers analysed the associations between pollution, mental health, and premature cardiovascular mortality after adjusting for factors that could influence the relationships.7

Counties with dirty air (high PM2.5 concentrations) were 10% more likely to report high levels of PMH days compared to counties with clean air (low PM2.5 concentrations). That risk was markedly greater in counties with a high prevalence of minority groups or poverty.  The link between PMH and premature cardiovascular mortality was strongest in counties with higher levels (above WHO recommended levels: ≥10 µm2) of air pollution. In these counties, higher levels of PMH were associated with a three-fold increase in premature cardiovascular mortality compared to lower PMH levels. Further, one-third of the pollution-related risk of premature cardiovascular deaths was explained by increased burden of PMH.

Dr. Abohashem said: “Our results reveal a dual threat from air pollution: it not only worsens mental health but also significantly amplifies the risk of heart-related deaths associated with poor mental health. Public health strategies are urgently needed to address both air quality and mental wellbeing in order to preserve cardiovascular health.”

The levels of pollution across ESC countries can be viewed in the ESC Atlas of Cardiology:

https://eatlas.escardio.org/Data/Risk-factors/Enviromental-risk-factors/rf_avpmpol-average-annual-population-weighted-pm2-5-ug-m3.

 

Authors: ESC Press Office
Tel: +33 (0)489 872 075

Email: press@escardio.org

Follow us on X @ESCardioNews 

 

Notes to editor

Funding: There were no specific funds directed toward this study; however, Dr. Abohashem’s other research is partly supported by funds from Harvard Medical School and the American Heart Association.

Disclosures: None.

References and notes

1The abstract ‘Air pollution associates with poor mental health and amplifies the premature cardiovascular death in the United States: longitudinal nationwide analysis’ will be presented during the session ‘Young Investigators Award - Population Science and Public Health’ which takes place on 26 April 2024 at 11:30 EEST on the Open stage.

2World Health Organization: Ambient (outdoor) air pollution.

3Byrne P. Meeting the challenges of rising premature mortality in people with severe mental illness. Future Healthc J. 2023;10(2):98–102.

4CDC PLACES databases.

5CDC Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System.

6CDC WONDER databases.

7The analyses were adjusted for calendar year and county characteristics such as demographics, median household income, unemployment rates, violent crime rates, education level, food environment index, rates of health insurance, level of mental health provision, level of primary care provision.

About the European Association of Preventive Cardiology

The European Association of Preventive Cardiology (EAPC) is a branch of the ESC. Its mission is to promote excellence in research, practice, education and policy in cardiovascular health, primary and secondary prevention.

About ESC Preventive Cardiology          #ESCPrev2024

ESC Preventive Cardiology, formerly EuroPrevent, is the leading international congress on preventive cardiology and the annual congress of the European Association of Preventive Cardiology (EAPC) of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC).

About the European Society of Cardiology

The European Society of Cardiology brings together health care professionals from more than 150 countries, working to advance cardiovascular medicine and help people lead longer, healthier lives.

 

Medscape removes education courses for doctors funded by tobacco giant

Company acknowledges “misjudgment” following a BMJ investigation, but medics call for a global ban on industry-funded medical education

BMJ

Medical education provider Medscape has bowed to pressure and agreed to permanently remove a series of accredited medical education courses on smoking cessation funded by the tobacco industry giant Philip Morris International (PMI), The BMJ and The Examination have found.

The global company has acknowledged its “misjudgment” in a letter to complainants and says it will not accept funding from any organisation affiliated with the tobacco industry in the future. .

The move comes after an investigation by The BMJ revealed the PMI deal and the widespread protests among doctors and academics in reaction to the partnership.

According to an internal Medscape document seen by The BMJ and the Examination, Medscape had planned to deliver 13 programmes under a multi-million dollar deal with PMI - called the "PMI Curriculum" - as well as podcasts and a "TV-like series.”

Other PMI-funded programmes with different continuing medical education (CME) providers have also emerged in Saudi Arabia and South Africa.

This apparent global push by the tobacco giant into certified medical education has been met with alarm and calls for certification bodies to issue a ban. 

In response to the criticism, a spokesperson for Philip Morris International told The BMJ: “Health agencies around the world have recognized the beneficial role that smoke-free products can play to improve public health. We are concerned that known special interest groups are actively blocking medical education that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and medical community have determined are needed. These actions stand to prolong use and possibly increase consumption of combustible cigarettes—the most harmful form of nicotine use.”

But Tim McAfee at the University of California, San Francisco and former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Office on Smoking and Health, called PMI’s partnership with Medscape, “the ultimate example of the fox not only signing up to guard the hen house but offering to sit on the eggs. 

“It is a perversion of ethics surrounding continuing medical education to allow the very companies that caused and profit from the continuing epidemic of tobacco-related death and disease to be involved in any way,” he said.

Medscape claims that the course content complied fully with standards set by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), but Pamela Ling, director of the Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education at the University of California San Francisco, said if so, “then the standards need to be strengthened to ensure they don’t allow merchants of death to educate doctors.”

This view is supported in a linked editorial by Professor Ruth Malone at the University of California San Francisco, who says “health professionals, health leaders, their societies and professional organisations must demand that the bodies accrediting continuing medical education for clinicians enact policies banning content sponsored by tobacco-affiliated organisations.”

Health professional and patient organisations should also caution their members to be aware that the tobacco industry is attempting to influence patient care in favour of its products, she adds.

She highlights that Medscape is not the only company offering CME, and PMI may not be the only tobacco company working to influence health professionals in this way, and says similar offerings should be widely publicised and the relevant educational providers notified that tobacco industry sponsorship is unacceptable.

“The tobacco industry cannot be allowed to influence medical education, health practitioners, or patient care in this way as it desperately seeks to secure its future profits,” she concludes.

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JOURNAL

The BMJ

DOI

10.1136/bmj.q948 

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Investigation: Medscape caves in on courses funded by tobacco giant while medics fear global Philip Morris push into medical education

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

26-Apr-2024

Isabelle Anguelovski, selected by the U.S. government for the First National Nature Assessment

UNIVERSITAT AUTONOMA DE BARCELONA

 

IMAGE: 

ICTA-UAB RESEARCHER ISABELLE ANGUELOVSKI 

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CREDIT: ISABEL LOPERA / ICTA-UAB

Isabelle Anguelovski, researcher at the Instituteof Environmental Science and Technology of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (ICTA-UAB), in Span, is one of the authors selected for the first-ever National Nature Assessment (NNA1). The U.S. Global Change Research Program announced the selection of authors who will contribute to the drafting of this document, which aims to shed light on the current challenges posed by climate change and nature loss.

To better understand the full picture of what is happening with nature, the NNA1 will provide a holistic picture of America’s lands, waters, wildlife, and ecosystems and the benefits they provide to the economy, health, climate, environmental justice, and national security. The Assessment will also look ahead at how nature might change in the future, and what those changes may mean for our economy and people’s lives.

The diverse team that will number over 150 experts was selected by the 11 leaders of the chapters in consultation with federal leadership, and they come to NNA1 from a range of organizations across the United States —from universities to federal, and state government, national laboratories, businesses, and nonprofits.

Isabelle Anguelovski will be participating in the chapter on Nature and Equity, led by Chris Schell, Assistant Professor at the University of California, Berkeley. Together with the other authors, they will bring deep experience and expertise in fields like ecology, health, economics, nature-based solutions, urban systems, environmental justice, agriculture, engineering, and much more. The author team also includes Indigenous Knowledge holders with place-based knowledge reflecting local experiences with nature.

Over the next two years, NNA1 authors will take stock of what nature provides in terms of its inherent worth, culture, health, and well-being, jobs and livelihoods, safety, and more, while looking ahead to understand how these benefits might change in the future. The final report is expected in late 2026.

Isabelle Anguelovski is an ICREA Research Professor at ICTA-UAB. She obtained a PhD in Urban Studies and Planning from MIT before returning to Europe in 2011 with a Marie Curie International Incoming Fellowship. Her research examines the extent to which urban plans and policy decisions contribute to more just, resilient, healthy, and sustainable cities, and how community groups in distressed neighborhoods contest the existence, creation, or exacerbation of environmental inequities as a result of urban (re)development processes and policies. Between 2016 and 2022, she was the leader of GreenLULUs, an ERC-funded project which examined green inequalities in 40 cities in Europe, the US, and Canada and she now coordinates a new POC ERC, ClimateJusticeRead, on predicting and preventing green gentrification.

 

Traffic noise, a novel risk factor for cardiovascular diseases

New analysis involving Mainz University Medical Center published in Circulation Research

UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER OF THE JOHANNES GUTENBERG UNIVERSITY MAINZ

An international group of noise experts from the Copenhagen Cancer Institute (Denmark), the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH), the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Philadelphia (USA) and the Department of Cardiology at the Mainz University Medical Center have analyzed recent epidemiological data and found strong evidence that transportation noise is closely linked to cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease. As a result, the researchers call for traffic noise to be recognized as a risk factor for cardiovascular disease. The results of their analyses were published today in the renowned journal of the American Heart Association, Circulation Research.

Epidemiological studies have shown that traffic noise - such as road, rail, or aircraft noise - increases the risk of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, with high-quality evidence for the development of cardiometabolic diseases such as ischemic heart disease, heart failure, stroke, and diabetes. According to the WHO, more than 1.6 million healthy years of life are lost every year in Western Europe due to traffic-related noise.

Night-time traffic noise, in particular, leads to frequent interruptions and shortening of sleep, an increase in stress hormone levels and increased oxidative stress in the vascular system and brain - and thus to the increased formation of free radicals.  These factors can promote vascular disorders, inflammation, and high blood pressure, thereby increasing the risk of cardiovascular disease. In the current review, the international team of authors from Denmark, the USA, Switzerland, and Germany focused on transportation noise's indirect, non-auditory, cardiovascular health effects.

The authors provide an updated overview of the epidemiologic research on the effects of transportation noise on cardiovascular risk factors and disease, discuss the mechanistic findings from the latest clinical and experimental studies, and propose new risk markers to address noise-induced cardiovascular effects in the general population. A recent analysis on traffic noise and cardiovascular disease integrated into the review article impressively demonstrates that for every 10 dBA, the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases such as heart attack, stroke, and heart failure increases significantly by 3.2 percent.

The authors also explain in detail the possible effects of noise on changes in gene networks, epigenetic pathways, circadian rhythm, signaling along the neuronal-cardiovascular axis, oxidative stress, inflammation, and metabolism. Finally, current, and future noise protection strategies are described and the available evidence on noise as a cardiovascular risk factor is discussed.

"With an increasing proportion of the population exposed to harmful traffic noise even after the COVID pandemic has ended, noise control efforts and noise reduction laws are of great importance for future public health," summarizes the lead author of the paper, Prof. Dr. Thomas Münzel, Senior Professor at the University Medical Center Mainz. "It is also important for us that traffic noise is now finally recognized as a risk factor for cardiovascular disease due to the strong evidence."

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JOURNAL

Circulation Research

DOI

10.1161/CIRCRESAHA.123.323584 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Meta-analysis

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Transportation Noise Pollution and Cardiovascular Health, Circulation Research

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

25-Apr-2024

 

How the immune system learns from harmless particles

University of Bonn researchers demonstrate how tiny, innocuous particles strengthen the immune response

UNIVERSITY OF BONN

 

IMAGE: 

PROFESSOR ANDREAS SCHLITZER FROM LIMES AT THE UNIVERSITY OF BONN IS STUDYING IMMUNE CELLS TOGETHER WITH HIS WORKING GROUP.

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CREDIT: PHOTO: BARBARA FROMMANN/UNIVERSITY OF BONN

Our lungs are bombarded by all manner of different particles every single day. Whilst some are perfectly safe for us, others—known as pathogens—have the potential to make us ill. The immune system trains its response whenever it encounters such a pathogen. Yet researchers at the University of Bonn have now shown that even harmless particles help to improve the immune response and have published their results in the journal Nature Immunology.

An adult takes around 12 breaths a minute, filling their lungs with life-giving air. But they also breathe in all kinds of particles: harmless, germ-free organisms as well as fungal spores and pathogenic bacteria and viruses. “Whether we’re on public transport where people are coughing or in air-conditioned rooms where the air is full of fungal spores, our lungs are constantly being impacted by our environment,” says Professor Andreas Schlitzer, head of the Quantitative Systems Biology working group in the Life & Medical Sciences Institute (LIMES) at the University of Bonn. “It’s a challenge that the immune system in our lungs has to cope with throughout our lives. It has to adapt to ever-changing requirements, distinguish harmless particles from dangerous ones and react accordingly.”

However, the macrophages—cells of the innate immune system that are responsible for this task—know what they have to do. These “scavenger cells” identify pathogenic particles, destroy them reliably—for the most part—and store the attackers’ details in the immune system’s memory so that they can respond even more effectively next time. But what do the macrophages do with information on harmless particles? This was the question investigated by the working group led by Andreas Schlitzer, who is also a member of the Cluster of Excellence ImmunoSensation2 and the Life and Health Transdisciplinary Research Area at the University of Bonn. “The macrophages could simply forget all about innocuous particles because they don’t do us any harm,” Schlitzer explains. “However, we suspected that they retain information on them anyway and incorporate this knowledge into subsequent immune responses.”

Immune response modified by fungal spores

To test their idea, the researchers made mice breathe in beta-glucan, a sugar found inside the cell wall of a fungus called candida. “We’re exposed to these fungal spores all the time in our daily lives,” Schlitzer points out. “You get them in particularly high concentrations inside rooms with air-conditioning, for example, which are ideal places for them to live.” Although this particular fungus is perfectly safe for healthy people, it can put those with a weakened immune system—due to conditions such as HIV, for instance—at risk of serious illness.

The researchers then used high-dimensional single-cell technologies to study how the mice’s immune system reacted to harmful pathogens. They found that mice that were exposed to the beta-glucan first before being infected with legionella bacteria responded differently to the pathogens than those that were not. “The mice were resistant to the legionella infection or, to put it another way, managed to recover better thanks to their modified immune response,” Schlitzer explains, summing up the findings.

In order to adapt the immune response after coming into contact with harmless particles, macrophages use specific proteins that also play a role in diseases such as Alzheimer’s and obesity. Says Schlitzer: “If we’re able to modulate macrophages in specific ways, they could serve as ‘dials’ that we could tweak in order to treat these conditions.” This is what his working group will be researching going forward.

Institutions involved and funding secured

Besides LIMES at the University of Bonn, the study also involved the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), ETH Zurich, the Technical University of Munich, the University of Edinburgh, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, the University of Zurich, the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, the Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine, the Shanghai Institute of Immunology, the University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein​, the University of Exeter, East Tennessee State University, the Singapore Immunology Network and the German Center for Infection Research.

It was funded by various sources: an Emmy Noether Research Grant from the German Research Foundation (DFG); Collaborative Research Center 1454 Metaflammation and Cellular Programming; the Diet–Body–Brain (DietBB) research cluster; the European Research Council (ERC); the Wellcome Trust; the Medical Research Council Centre for Medical Mycology at the University of Exeter; a Sir Henry Dale Fellowship jointly awarded by The Wellcome Trust and the Royal Society; the Swiss National Science Foundation, the US National Institutes of Health (NIH); and a UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Postdoctoral Fellowship Guarantee.

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JOURNAL

Nature Immunology

DOI

10.1038/s41590-024-01830-z 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Animals

ARTICLE TITLE

Apolipoprotein E controls Dectin-1-dependent development of monocyte-derived alveolar macrophages upon pulmonary β-glucan-induced inflammatory adaptation

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

26-Apr-2024

 

NTU Singapore, ExxonMobil and A*STAR launch S$60 million corporate lab for low carbon solutions

Business Announcement

NANYANG TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY

 

IMAGE: 

(L-R) MR LIM LI-WEI, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, INDUSTRY CLUSTERS (MTC/USS/SNDE), INNOVATION & ENTERPRISE, A*STAR; DR NICK CLAUSI, VICE PRESIDENT OF RESEARCH, EXXONMOBIL TECHNOLOGY AND ENGINEERING COMPANY; MS GERALDINE CHIN, CHAIRMAN AND MANAGING DIRECTOR, EXXONMOBIL ASIA PACIFIC; MR HENG SWEE KEAT, DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER, COORDINATING MINISTER FOR ECONOMIC POLICIES AND CHAIRMAN OF THE NATIONAL RESEARCH FOUNDATION; MS GOH SWEE CHEN, BOARD CHAIR, NTU BOARD OF TRUSTEES; MR FREDERICK CHEW, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, A*STAR; DR PRASANNA JOSHI, VICE PRESIDENT FOR CARBON SOLUTIONS TECHNOLOGY PORTFOLIO, EXXONMOBIL ASIA PACIFIC; PROFESSOR LAM KHIN YONG, VICE PRESIDENT (INDUSTRY), NTU, AT THE LAUNCH OF THE CORPORATE LAB.

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CREDIT: NTU SINGAPORE

ExxonMobil Technology and Engineering Company (ExxonMobil), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore), and the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) have established the ExxonMobil-NTU-A*STAR Corporate Lab to develop solutions that would help lower carbon emissions, contribute to resource efficiency, and help build a more sustainable future. 

The Corporate Lab was officially launched today by Mr. Heng Swee Keat, Deputy Prime Minister, Coordinating Minister for Economic Policies and Chairman of the National Research Foundation (NRF). Corporate labs allow companies to draw on Singapore’s strong foundation of scientific capabilities to address real-world challenges. The partnership between industry and academia helps to strengthen the industry relevance of researchers’ R&D and enables innovative enterprises to stay globally competitive through gaining insights into new application possibilities.

Researchers in the S$60 million Corporate Lab will apply their expertise to advance global research efforts in lower-emissions technologies in five areas:

• Convert biomass into lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emission fuels for adoption in aviation, maritime and chemical sectors that are potentially more cost-effective and efficient;
   
• Carbon capture and utilisation using by-product industrial brines, such as desalination brine to produce alternative construction materials, turning industrial side streams into useful materials;
   
• Turn methane into low-carbon hydrogen and solid carbon materials: Develop new process technologies to produce hydrogen from natural gas, while identifying potential and new applications for carbon;
   
• Develop efficient carbon capture and carbonation technology for industry by-products: to produce solid carbonates for use in building and infrastructure applications;
   
• Large-scale application of carbon in concrete: Produce and validate concrete with carbon materials for large-scale deployment to enable, durable, and sustainable building and construction applications.

The new Corporate Lab - the latest addition to over 20 corporate laboratories across Singapore – is hosted by NTU’s Energy Research Institute @NTU (ERI@N) and A*STAR’s Institute of Sustainability for Chemicals, Energy and Environment (ISCE2), through the Industry Alignment Fund-Industry Collaboration Project (IAF-ICP) initiative and will work on joint research programmes over the next five years. These will be focused on helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and enhance resource efficiency.

The IAF-ICP initiative is a grant scheme under Singapore’s Research, Innovation and Enterprise 2025 (RIE2025) plan to increase the base of enterprises engaging in research and innovation activities in Singapore. It aims to foster industry-relevant public sector R&D efforts, and advances collaboration between public sector researchers with industry, with a line of sight to potential economic outcomes.

Working to meet Singapore’s and society’s growing needs for stable supplies of energy and essential products while also reducing greenhouse gas emissions in support of a lower-emission future, will require unprecedented innovation and collaboration at scale.

The research programmes identified by the Corporate Lab can contribute to Singapore’s energy security, unlock new socio-economic potential, and help support its progress towards a net-zero future.

NTU Vice President (Industry) Professor Lam Khin Yong said: “The partnership between NTU, ExxonMobil and A*STAR is an example of how close collaboration with academia, industry, and public agencies is crucial in developing innovative solutions to address real world challenges. This is in line with NTU’s long-term strategic efforts to tackle grand challenges facing humanity and will build on NTU’s deep expertise in sustainability to help amplify Singapore’s on-going efforts to develop low carbon solutions. The new corporate lab ensures that our research results have the opportunity to be translated into impactful, real-world innovations, bringing us closer to a cleaner and greener future.”

ExxonMobil Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd. Chairman and Managing director Geraldine Chin said: “I’m excited that ExxonMobil with its global leadership in energy and material technology, will continue to work with Singapore’s world-class researchers to accelerate research development for a lower-carbon future. Our involvement in the translational R&D stages can help scale up projects for commercial deployment. We look forward to collaborating with our corporate lab partners on innovative discoveries that can help change our industry and the world.”

A*STAR’s Assistant Chief Executive, Science and Engineering Research Council, Professor Lim Keng Hui said, “A*STAR’s collaboration with ExxonMobil and NTU signifies our shared commitment to achieving a carbon circular economy through technological innovations. The corporate lab combines ExxonMobil’s industry expertise with A*STAR’s and NTU’s cutting-edge research, to accelerate technological deployments for a more resource-efficient future in support of Singapore’s net zero goals.”

Singapore Economic Development Board Executive Vice President Lim Wey-Len said: “The Corporate Lab by ExxonMobil, NTU and A*STAR is a first in Singapore launched with a global energy player. The joint lab is a valuable addition to our ecosystem that will spur solutions for a greener future, while developing home-grown talent in R&D and sustainability here. Singapore is a location where innovation and diverse partnerships thrive, and we continue to welcome like-minded players to join us in developing low carbon solutions from Singapore for the world.”

Leading the Corporate Lab as co-directors are NTU’s Professor Xu Rong, School of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology and Research Director for Engineering and Physical Sciences, and Dr. Saifudin Abubakar, ExxonMobil  strategic portfolio manager for technology & engineering research, and advisor to the Singapore Energy Consortium.
 

Training home-grown carbon circular economy experts

The five research programmes undertaken by the new Corporate Lab are expected to generate several technical disclosures, patents, and prototypes. Additionally, it provides an excellent platform to train a talent pool of graduates, research engineers, postgraduates, and postdoctoral fellows in the emerging field of carbon circular economy.

The Corporate Lab will bring together more than 50 researchers, postgraduate and undergraduate students, and engineers from ExxonMobil, NTU, and A*STAR. The collaboration presents unique opportunities for our talent to grow practical skillsets and gain insights beyond research capabilities.

(2nd from left) Guest-of-Honour Mr Heng Swee Keat, Deputy Prime Minister, Coordinating Minister for Economic Policies, interacting with NTU’s Professor Xu Rong (1st from left), Co-director of the ExxonMobil-NTU-A*STAR Corporate Lab at the launch event.

CREDIT

NTU Singapore 

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University of Toronto scientists appointed as GSK chairs will advance drug delivery research and vaccine education tools for healthcare professionals

Vaccine-focused chairs announced during World Immunization Week 2024 will build tools for broader vaccine uptake and drive discovery in the next wave of vaccine design

Business Announcement

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO - LESLIE DAN FACULTY OF PHARMACY

The University of Toronto’s Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy has announced the appointments of two leading scientists as endowed GSK research chairs. These appointments represent the collaborative efforts between the two organizations to advance the field of pharmacy and drive positive change in patient care.

Anna Tadio, professor at the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto, and senior associate scientist at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) is the inaugural holder of the GSK Chair in Vaccine Education and Practice-Oriented Tools.  

Bowen Li, assistant professor at the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto, and the Canada Research Chair in RNA Vaccines & Therapeutics is the new GSK Chair in Pharmaceutics and Drug Delivery.

Among the most prestigious appointments in academia, endowed chairs are maintained in perpetuity. They enable continuous advancement in research and teaching and signify a long-term commitment to a specific area of impact.

“At GSK, we are committed to supporting innovative centers and thought leaders, and the collaboration with the University of Toronto's Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy aligns with our goals of positively impacting the future of pharmacy and supporting the development of next-generation vaccines and therapeutics,” said Dr. Bryan Tennant, scientific director, GSK Canada. “Congratulations to Dr. Taddio and Dr. Li on your appointments. This is a remarkable milestone in advancing pharmaceutical research and education, and we’re eager to see how your work will propel us toward a healthier society.”

GSK Chair in Vaccine Education and Practice-Oriented Tools

Earlier interventions and widespread vaccination can change the trajectory of diseases and reduce pressure on healthcare systems. Pharmacists play a pivotal role in promoting good health outcomes, and their significance only grows as community pharmacies are increasingly recognized as essential health hubs.

The GSK Chair in Vaccine Education and Practice-Oriented Tools was established by GSK and the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy in 2023 through a joint investment of $ 3 million. As the inaugural chairholder, Anna Taddio, professor, Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, will have a broad educational and research mandate and will focus on closing gaps in vaccine education for students and healthcare professionals, particularly pharmacists.  She will work to develop evidence-based models of vaccine care that health professionals can use across a range of settings and that build trust, address barriers, and improve health outcomes.

“Addressing barriers to vaccination is a crucial aspect of improving vaccine acceptance and, in turn, public health. We need to make important changes to how care is delivered that are directly informed by patient participation and experiences,” said Taddio. “This chair will help to further the work we are leading, creating and evaluating innovative and practical approaches that will drive how we educate providers to practice and support vaccination across the lifespan.”

A pharmacist and a scientist, Taddio is internationally recognized for her groundbreaking work developing evidence-based clinical guidelines focused on mitigating pain and fear during vaccinations and other needle procedures. In 2015, vaccine-administering recommendations developed by her team were written into Canadian immunization guidelines and adopted by the World Health Organization. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Taddio’s CARD system (short for Comfort, Ask, Relax, and Distract) was widely shared with healthcare networks and the public to help people feel more comfortable when receiving their vaccinations. The CARD system was implemented in specialized vaccination clinics across Ontario, including those run by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) in Toronto, Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health, and pop-up clinics at the University of Toronto.

GSK Chair in Pharmaceutics and Drug Delivery

Since its establishment in 2000, the GSK Chair in Pharmaceutics and Drug Delivery has earned a remarkable reputation for its dedication to advancing our understanding of drug discovery and delivery. With the appointment of Bowen Li, assistant professor, Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, the chair's legacy of groundbreaking research and innovation in pharmaceutics and drug delivery is set to continue.

Working at the intersection of biomaterials sciences, drug delivery, and immunoengineering, Li leads a cutting-edge research program dedicated to building nonviral delivery systems for nucleic acids, including mRNA, circular RNA, and CRSIPR-Cas9. This rapidly evolving, highly interdisciplinary area of biomedicine is focused on tapping the potential of RNA to encode therapeutic proteins to prevent or treat multiple diseases, infectious diseases, cancer, and genetic disorders.

“The next wave of vaccines and pharmaceuticals will revolve around RNA drugs. Unlike traditional and conventional small molecule drugs that can only reach a small number of disease targets, RNA drugs have the potential to target the entire genome,” said Li. “However, the full potential of RNA therapeutics is contingent on solving the challenge of delivering these molecules into target cells safely and efficiently. This chair will help us develop new and better ways of delivering these drugs, improving their bioavailability so that we can experience their full benefit.”

The Li lab recently developed a pioneering high-throughput platform integrating combinatorial chemistry with deep learning algorithms. This innovative approach enables the swift design, synthesis, and screening of versatile delivery vehicles for customized nucleic acids, with the goal of accelerating the clinical translation of next-generation medicines.

VIDEO: GSK Chair in Vaccine Education and Practice-Oriented Tools
VIDEO: GSK Chair in Pharmaceutics and Drug Delivery

 

Scientists discover higher levels of CO2 increase survival of viruses in the air and transmission risk

UNIVERSITY OF BRISTOL

 

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IMAGE SHOWS AN AEROSOL OF DROPLETS CONTAINING THE COVID-19 VIRUS BEING HELD IN THE AIR BY ELECTRIC FIELDS.

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CREDIT: ALLEN HADDRELL

The research, led by the University of Bristol and published today in Nature Communications, shows how CO2 is a major factor in prolonging the life of SARS-CoV-2 variants present in tiny droplets circulating in the atmosphere.

Lead author Dr Allen Haddrell, Senior Research Associate in Aerosol Science at the University’s School of Chemistry, said: “We knew SARS-CoV-2, like other viruses, spreads through the air we breathe. But this study represents a huge breakthrough in our understanding of exactly how and why that happens, and crucially, what can be done to stop it.  

“It shows that opening a window may be more powerful than originally thought, especially in crowded and poorly ventilated rooms, as fresh air will have a lower concentration of CO2, causing the virus to become inactivated much faster.

“But it also highlights the importance of our global net zero goals because the research indicates even slightly raised levels of CO2, which are increasing in the atmosphere with the onset of climate change, can significantly improve the rate of virus survival and the risk of it spreading.”

During the COVID-19 pandemic carbon dioxide monitors were used to help estimate ventilation in buildings, as both CO2 and the virus are present in exhaled breath. But this research has uncovered how CO2 itself actually makes the virus survive longer in the air. The researchers also found that different SARS-CoV-2 variants had different aerostabilities, with the latest ‘Omicron’ variant having an extended lifespan.

The researchers made these discoveries using unique bioaerosol technology they developed, called CELEBS – Controlled Electrodynamic Levitation and Extraction of Bioaerosols onto a Substrate, which allows the survival of different SARS-CoV-2 variants to be measured in laboratory generated airborne particles that mimic exhaled aerosol.

By varying the concentration of CO2 in the air between 400 parts per million (ppm) – the level in normal outdoor air) and 6,500 ppm, the team confirmed a correlation between increases in CO2 concentrations and the length of time airborne viruses remains infectious in air, compounding the risk of transmission.

Results showed increasing the CO2 concentration to just 800 ppm, a level identified as well ventilated, resulted in an increase in viral aerostability. After 40 minutes, when compared to clean air, around 10 times as much virus remained infectious when the air has a CO2 concentration similar to that of a crowded room (3,000 ppm).

Dr Haddrell said: “This relationship sheds important light on why super spreader events may occur under certain conditions. The high pH of exhaled droplets containing the SARS-CoV-2 virus is likely a major driver of the loss of infectiousness. CO2 behaves as an acid when it interacts with droplets. This causes the pH of the droplets to become less alkaline, resulting in the virus within them being inactivated at a slower rate.

“That’s why opening a window is an effective mitigation strategy because it both physically removes the virus from the room, but also makes the aerosol droplets themselves more toxic to the virus.”

Between now and the end of the century, recent climate science research has projected the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere is expected to reach more than 700 ppm.

Dr Haddrell added: “These findings therefore have broader implications not only in our understanding of the transmission of respiratory viruses, but how changes in our environment may exacerbate the likelihood of future pandemics. Data from our study suggests that rising levels of CO2 in the atmosphere may coincide with an increase in the transmissibility of other respiratory viruses by extending how long they remain infectious in the air.”

Co-author Professor Jonathan Reid, Director of the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Aerosol Science at the University of Bristol, said: “While there is much we still do not understand, we are now gaining a much more complete picture of the role exhaled respiratory aerosols play in transporting infectious viruses between people and the mechanisms that control their survival. 

“These findings can serve as a scientific basis for the design of mitigation strategies that could save lives in any future pandemic.”

The study was funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), the UKRI National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) rapid COVID-19 call, the Elizabeth Blackwell Institute (EBI), the University of Bristol, and the Health and Safety Executive PROTECT COVID-19 National Core Study on transmission and environment.

LOOKEE ITS A GREEN LANTERN

Image shows a top-down view of the suspended viral droplets, spanning around 2cm, in the unique CELEBS bioaerosol device.

CREDIT

Allen Haddrell

Scientists discover higher lev [VIDEO] | 

A video showing the viral droplets, which were suspended for different durations ranging from three seconds to 40 minutes, pulled through the CELEBS bioaerosol device and then tested for levels of infectivity.

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JOURNAL

Nature Communications

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

‘Ambient Carbon Dioxide Concentration Correlates with SARS-CoV-2 Aerostability and Infection Risk’

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

26-Apr-2024