How much microplastic are you drinking? New UBC tool can tell you in minutes

Low-cost, portable tool accurately measures plastic released from everyday sources like disposable cups and water bottles

University of British Columbia

 

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Dr. Tianxi Yang and student Peter Yang with the tool they created to test micro- and nanoplastics.

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Credit: Martin Dee

Micro- and nanoplastics are in our food, water and the air we breathe. They are showing up in our bodies, from testicles to brain matter.

Now, University of British Columbia researchers have developed a low-cost, portable tool to accurately measure plastic released from everyday sources like disposable cups and water bottles.

The device, paired with an app, uses fluorescent labeling to detect plastic particles ranging from 50 nanometres to 10 microns in size – too small to be detected by the naked eye – and delivers results in minutes.

The method and findings are detailed in ACS Sensors.

“The breakdown of larger plastic pieces into microplastics and nanoplastics presents significant threats to food systems, ecosystems, and human health,” said Dr. Tianxi Yang, an assistant professor in the faculty of land and food systems, who developed the tool. “This new technique allows quick, cheap detection of these plastics, which could help protect our health and ecosystems.”

Nano and microplastics are byproducts of degrading plastic materials such as lunchboxes, cups and utensils. As very small particles with a large surface area, nanoplastics are particularly concerning to human health due to their increased ability to absorb toxins and penetrate biological barriers within the human body.

Detecting these plastics typically requires skilled personnel and expensive equipment. Dr. Yang’s team wanted to make detection faster, more accessible and more reliable.

They created a small, biodegradable, 3D-printed box containing a wireless digital microscope, green LED light and an excitation filter. To measure the plastics, they customized MATLAB software with machine-learning algorithms and combined it with image capture software.

The result is a portable tool that works with a smartphone or other mobile device to reveal the number of plastic particles in a sample. The tool only needs a tiny liquid sample – less than a drop of water – and makes the plastic particles glow under the green LED light in the microscope to visualize and measure them. The results are easy to understand, whether by a technician in a food processing lab or just someone curious about their morning cup of coffee.

For the study, Dr. Yang’s team tested disposable polystyrene cups. They filled the cups with 50 mL of distilled, boiling water and let it cool for 30 minutes. The results showed that the cups released hundreds of millions of nano-sized plastic particles, roughly one-hundredth the width of a human hair and smaller. 

“Once the microscope in the box captures the fluorescent image, the app matches the image’s pixel area with the number of plastics,” said co-author Haoming (Peter) Yang, a master’s student in the faculty of land and food systems.  “The readout shows if plastics are present and how much. Each test costs only 1.5 cents.”

The tool is currently calibrated to measure polystyrene, but the machine-learning algorithm could be tweaked to measure different types of plastics like polyethylene or polypropylene. Next, the researchers aim to commercialize the device to analyze plastic particles for other real-world applications.

Dr. Tianxi Yang and student Peter Yang testing a cup for microplastics.

Credit

Martin Dee

The long-term impacts of ingesting plastic from beverages, food, and even from airborne plastic particles are still being studied but show cause for concern.

“To reduce plastic ingestion, it is important to consider avoiding petroleum-based plastic products by opting for alternatives like glass or stainless steel for food containers. The development of biodegradable packaging materials is also important for replacing traditional plastics and moving towards a more sustainable world,” said Dr. Yang.

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Journal

ACS Sensors

DOI

10.1021/acssensors.4c00957 

Method of Research

Computational simulation/modeling

Article Title

Cost-Effective and Wireless Portable Device for Rapid and Sensitive Quantification of Micro/Nanoplastics

 

The deadly cost of workplace rudeness

University of Florida

 

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Indiana University Kelley School of Business Indianapolis Assistant Professor Jake Gale and University of Florida Warrington College of Business W.A. McGriff, III Professor Amir Erez.

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Credit: IU/UF

Teams from the University of Florida, Indiana University, and other universities across the U.S. and Israel recently conducted five eye-opening studies about rudeness, uncovering that even mild instances of this behavior can significantly impair employees’ performance. This could have potentially life-threatening consequences in critical fields like health care.

“Many workplaces treat rudeness as a minor interpersonal issue,” said Amir Erez, Ph.D., W.A. McGriff, III Professor at the University of Florida Warrington College of Business. “Our research shows that it’s a major threat to productivity and even safety. Organizations should treat it as such.”

Erez and his fellow researchers, who published their findings in the Journal of Applied Psychology, evaluated teams in various settings (including a medical simulation) and found that exposure to rude behavior dramatically reduced team functioning. Surprisingly, the impact of rudeness was disproportionate to its intensity. In one study, relatively mild rude comments from an external source accounted for 44% of the variance in medical teams’ performance quality.

The studies also discovered that rudeness functions as a social threat, triggering defensive responses in team members. This causes individuals to become less prosocial and more selfish, hindering the cooperation and coordination essential for effective teamwork. Specifically, teams exposed to rudeness showed reduced information sharing and workload sharing, which are two critical components of team performance. In medical settings, this translated to poorer execution of lifesaving procedures.

“Our research helps us understand the effect rudeness can have on team dynamics, especially in urgent, intense situations like in health care,” said Jake Gale, Ph.D., an assistant professor of management at the Indiana University Kelley School of Business Indianapolis. “By understanding how rudeness triggers self-focused behaviors and impairs communication, we’re not just advancing academic knowledge; we’re uncovering insights that could save lives. It’s a powerful reminder that the way we interact with each other has real-world consequences, especially in critical situations.”

While the findings show that rudeness in the medical field could have deadly effects on patients, rudeness can also have severe implications for teams across various industries. Whether the rudeness comes from supervisors, colleagues, or even customers, it degrades team cooperation and coordination, leading to consistently negative impacts on team outcomes.

With this in mind, the researchers recommend that organizations seek to implement solutions that help teams prepare for dealing with perceived threatening situations like rudeness. Training aimed at building team member resilience and mindfulness, for example, may better prepare employees for dealing with these situations. 

“As our understanding of workplace dynamics evolves, our research underscores a critical point: in the quest for high-performing teams, sometimes the smallest courtesies can make the biggest difference,” Erez said.

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Journal

Applied Psychology

DOI

10.1037/apl0001213 

Article Title

Rudeness and team performance: Adverse effects via member social value orientation and coordinative team processes

 

Bringing environmental justice to disadvantaged communities

New National Academies report co-chaired by Ohio State professor

Ohio State University

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Not all communities in the United States face the same risks for environmental problems such as air pollution, noise and wastewater.  But how can federal agencies fairly identify which areas deserve the most help?

 

A new consensus study report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) offer recommendations for developing tools that can help answer that question.

 

“Our job was to create methods to identify disadvantaged communities that most need federal resources to address environmental justice issues,” said Harvey Miller, professor of geography at The Ohio State University and co-chair of the NASEM committee that wrote the report.

 

“This will shape where billions of federal dollars go to address these problems.”

 

The new report, Constructing Valid Geospatial Tools for Environmental Justice, is the result of hundreds of hours of work over two years by the 11-member committee, Miller said. NASEM selected Miller to co-chair the committee along with Eric Tate, professor of public affairs at Princeton University.

 

“We are at a hinge point in history, and the choices we make now will reverberate for generations,” Miller said in a personal note that was published as part of the final report.

 

“I sincerely hope that this report helps to move our nation forward toward a future with environmental justice for all.”

 

Geospatial tools – the focus of the report – are designed to integrate different kinds of health, social, environmental and economic data to come up with a composite score – a single number that can tell policymakers whether a community should receive special consideration for environmental funding.

 

One such tool is the Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool (CEJST) developed by the White House Council on Environmental Quality in 2022 in response to the Justice 40 initiative from the Biden administration.

 

Justice 40 requires that at least 40% of the overall benefits from federal climate and infrastructure investments go to disadvantaged communities.

 

The committee didn’t review only CEJST, but also considered a variety of existing environmental justice tools to identify what kinds of data were needed to build the best possible versions, Miller said.

 

“We summarized the state of the science on this and came up with what we believe is the best scientific approach for making these decisions,” he said.

 

For the report, census tracts were used to define communities. Committee members discussed the facets of disadvantage and data sources and how they could be brought together to create tools that will calculate a composite index score for each census tract. That score would determine whether a particular tract is eligible for Justice 40 funding.

 

The report includes a list of recommendations for developing the best possible tool, including creating and sustaining community partnerships that provide opportunities to identify local environmental justice issues.  The authors also recommended how to identify the indicators and datasets for measuring environmental issues, and determining whether tools that are developed reflect community lived experiences.

 

Another key recommendation is to choose economic measures that go beyond the federal poverty level to reflect wealth and variations in the cost of living.

 

“The wealth gap between high-income and low-income households is larger than the income gap, and that has an important impact on environmental justice issues,” Miller said.

 

The report also recommends using indicators that measure the impact of racism in policies and practices that have led to the disparities seen today.

 

“There are big variations in who is exposed to stressors in the environment like pollution, noise and toxic waste sites,” Miller said.

 

“And it is generally lower-income and minority populations that bear the brunt of environmental justice issues. Part of it is that they often can’t move away from the problem, like higher-income people can.”

 

While this report focuses on environmental justice, Miller said the committee’s approach could be used to develop tools in a variety of contexts.  The problem of deciding where to spend federal dollars to get the most impact is common to many different issues, and having a method to develop the right tools is important.

 

“We wanted to create a framework where when the government creates a tool to help decide where to make investments, people can look at it and know it is legitimate, it measures what it says it is measuring in the real world, and it is transparent how it was constructed,” he said.

 

The report was created under the sponsorship of the Bezos Earth Fund.

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DOI

10.17226/27317 

Method of Research

Data/statistical analysis

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Constructing Valid Geospatial Tools for Environmental Justice

 

AI tools like ChatGPT popular among students who struggle with concentration and attention

Researchers found that students who struggle with skills essential for academic success thought that using AI tools is particularly helpful for schoolwork

Frontiers

Since their release, AI tools like ChatGPT have had a huge impact on content creation. In schools and universities, a debate about whether these tools should be allowed or prohibited is ongoing.

Now, researchers in Sweden have investigated the relationship between adolescents’ EF and their use and perceived usefulness of generative AI chatbots for schoolwork. They published their results in Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence.

“Students with more EF challenges found these tools particularly useful, especially for completing assignments,” said Johan Klarin, a school psychologist and research assistant at the Department of Psychology at Lund University. “This highlights these tools’ role as a potential support for students struggling with cognitive processes crucial for academic success.”

The researchers, however, also mentioned that overreliance on these tools could hinder or delay the development of EFs and students' learning. “This should be carefully considered when implementing AI support in schools, and the effects should be studied longitudinally,” added project leader Dr Daiva Daukantaitė, an associate professor at Lund University.

Perceived usefulness

The researchers conducted two studies. The first had a sample of 385 adolescents, aged 12 to 16 and attending four primary schools in the south of Sweden. The second study included 359 students aged 15 to 19 who were enrolled in the same high school.

The studies revealed that usage rates of AI chatbots were around 15% among younger teens and around 53% among older students. One possible explanation is that older students are more often given complex assignments and therefore may use AI tools more frequently. The researchers also pointed out that the two studies were conducted at different times – ‘study two’ nearly a year after ‘study one’ – which could show that during this time, AI use got more popular in general.

More crucially, however, the studies showed that students who struggle more with EF, perceived generative AI as significantly more useful for schoolwork than their peers. A possible reason is that these students derive greater productivity improvements than their classmates, the researchers said.

Support or cheating?

“The line between cheating and using AI tools as an aid should be drawn based on the intent and extent of use,” said Klarin. Using ChatGPT to complete whole assignments or solve problems and submitting the results as one’s own, is cheating. Provided students engage critically with the generated content and contribute their own understanding and effort, however, can be considered a legitimate aid.

Responsible ways for students – especially those who struggle with EF – to use ChatGPT can include using it for research, idea generation, and understanding complex concepts. “Educators should provide guidelines and frameworks for appropriate use. Teaching digital literacy and ethical considerations is also crucial,” Klarin said.

Real-world feasibility of such teaching could be enhanced by using technology, facilitating peer support programs, and providing professional development for teachers to identify and support students with EF challenges, the researchers said.

Balancing AI and academic integrity

The results offer an initial attempt to understand the relationship between the use of AI tools in school settings and EF, the researchers said. “Our work lays the initial groundwork to inform educators, policymakers, and technology developers about the role of generative AI in education and how to balance its benefits with the need to maintain academic integrity and promote genuine learning. It also underscores the need for supportive measures for students, especially those with EF challenges. However, to gain a more comprehensive understanding, further studies are needed,” Daukantaité concluded.

Nevertheless, they pointed to the study’s limitations, which include the fact that students self-reported on their AI use, and that a generalization of results may not be possible because they focused on specific age groups, educational contexts, and carried out their research in a setting where every student receives a free laptop – factors that might vary between situations and countries.

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Journal

Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence

D

10.3389/frai.2024.1415782 

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Adolescents' Use and Perceived Usefulness of Generative AI for Schoolwork: Exploring Their Relationships with Executive Functioning and Academic Achievement

Article Publication Date

28-Aug-2024

 

Study shows robotic arm can be used to perform remote echocardiograms

Study shows that echocardiograms performed remotely using robot arm technology have similar accuracy to those performed in person by cardiologists, providing new options for patients with poor access

European Society of Cardiology

London, United Kingdom – 28 August 2024: New research presented at this year’s ESC Congress 2024 in London, UK (30 Aug – 2 Sept) shows that performing echocardiograms remotely using a 5G cellular network has similar accuracy to those performed in person by cardiologists.  

“Comprehensive echocardiographic exam with a 5G cellular network and robotic arm-based remote system is feasible with relatively good diagnostic accuracy,” said study author Dr Yu Liu, Zhongshan Hospital, Shanghai, China.  

Echocardiography is the test-of-choice for the initial evaluation of many cardiac diseases and requires the expertise of a cardiologist for interpretation. However, this expertise is often limited or unavailable in rural or indeed smaller urban areas. Robotic arm-assisted remote echocardiograms have been attempted for teleconsultation in previous studies1, 2, but analysis was limited to heart failure patients, primarily due to the network delay in telecommunications and the subsequent inadequate control of the robotic arm equipment.   

In this study, the authors assessed the feasibility and diagnostic accuracy of a 5G cellular network and robotic arm-based remote echocardiographic system in an outpatient clinic based 20 kilometres away from Zhongshan Hospital. A total of 51 patients were enrolled from the outpatient cardiology clinic. All underwent standard comprehensive echocardiography on a 5G cellular network robotic arm-based remote echocardiographic system, as well as a conventional echocardiographic platform (at Zhongshan Hospital) successively.  

The order in which patients were examined on the remote and conventional instruments was randomly determined. There was no interval between the two examinations, and examinations of the same patient were performed by experienced but different cardiologists, who were blinded to each other's diagnosis. The doctor who used the remote system was also randomly allocated and had not been previously specifically trained. The examinations were real time and diagnoses were made immediately after the examinations.  

From the 51 patients, the image quality was sufficient for diagnosis in 50 patients (24 (48%) female). A single patient was excluded because some key views could not be obtained using the remote system, meaning 98% of the examinations had been technically successful. 

Around one third (17 patients) had a heart problem identified using conventional in person echocardiography, including 10 with a primary diagnosis of valvulopathy (1 Barlow's syndrome, 1 bicuspid aortic valve and 8 less-than-moderate regurgitation), 2 cardiac surgery follow-ups (1 case of aortic valve replacement and septal myectomy, and 1 case of mitral valve replacement and tricuspid annuloplasty), and 2 hypertrophy cardiomyopathy (including 1 case of obstruction at papillary muscle level), 2 with abnormal left ventricular wall motion (including 1 case of apical mural thrombus), and 1 with congenital heart disease (secumdum atrial septal defect).  

Echocardiograms using the robotic arm resulted in the same diagnosis as conventional in-person echocardiography in 98% of cases (papillary muscle level obstruction was missed in one case). 

Time for image acquisition using remote echocardiography was significantly longer (around 50% longer) than conventional (24 mins 36 secs vs. 16 mins 15 secs). 

A previous version of the robotic arm has been cleared for clinical use in scanning the abdomen (China, Europe, Australia and Singapore), which requires less complex scanning manoeuvres.  However, the authors say a multi-centre study at a larger scale with both other local hospital and referral centres involved should be carried out before this new technology should be used. 

Although 5G technology is not available everywhere, lead-author Xianhong Shu, also of Zhongshan Hospital, said: “This system would increase the accessibility of better medical resources as patients may travel less to get diagnosis and medical advice from cardiologists based in referral centres.” 

She adds there are further potential advantages: “A remote robotic echo system may help protect more health professionals from the risk of exposure during pandemics like the COVID-19 as the cardiologist may not need to be in close contact with the patient if only echocardiogram consultation is required.” 

 

ENDS 

Notes to editors 

Funding: Zhongshan Hospital Special Funds of Intelligent Medicine 

Disclosures: The authors declare no conflicts of interest   

References and notes 

The abstract ‘Initial experience with a 5G cellular network and robotic arm-based remote echocardiographic system in an all-comers setting’ will be presented at the session “Innovations in telemedicine, robotics, and digital solutions” which takes place Friday 30 August at Station 8 – Research Gateway. 

1. Boman K, Olofsson M, Berggren P, Sengupta PP and Narula J. Robot-assisted remote echocardiographic examination and teleconsultation: a randomized comparison of time to diagnosis with standard of care referral approach. JACC Cardiovasc Imaging. 2014;7:799-803. 

2. Boman K, Olofsson M, Forsberg J and Bostrom SA. Remote-controlled robotic arm for real-time echocardiography: the diagnostic future for patients in rural areas? Telemed J E Health. 2009;15:142-7. 

About ESC Congress 2024 

It is the world’s largest gathering of cardiovascular professionals, disseminating ground-breaking science both onsite in London and online – from 30 August to 2 September. Explore the scientific programme. More information is available from the ESC Press Office at press@escardio.org. 

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. 

 

Bats are surviving and thriving on nothing but sugar

Scientists recorded the highest natural blood sugar levels ever observed in a mammal, now they hope it could help them better understand diabetes

Stowers Institute for Medical Research

 

video: 

The new study reports the highest naturally occurring blood sugar concentrations in mammals ever observed, a finding that suggests bats have evolved strategies to survive, and even thrive, with this extreme trait.

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Credit: Stowers Institute for Medical Research

KANSAS CITY, MO—August 28, 2024—Humans must regulate blood sugar concentrations to stay healthy and to fuel our cells. Too little or too much can cause serious health complications, and high blood sugar is a hallmark of the metabolic condition, diabetes. New research from the Stowers Institute for Medical Research may enable potential solutions to metabolic disease by turning to evolution and to bats.

Recently published in Nature Ecology and Evolution on August 28, 2024, the study led by co-first authors Postdoctoral Research Associate Jasmin Camacho, Ph.D., and former Stowers researcher Andrea Bernal-Rivera from the lab of Stowers Associate Investigator Nicolas Rohner, Ph.D., reports the highest naturally occurring blood sugar concentrations in mammals ever observed, a finding that suggests bats have evolved strategies to survive, and even thrive, with this extreme trait.

“Our study reports blood sugar levels that are the highest we have ever seen in nature—what would be lethal, coma-inducing levels for mammals, but not for bats,” said Camacho. “We are seeing a new trait we didn’t know was possible.”

Thirty million years ago, the Neotropical leaf-nosed bat survived solely on insects. Since then, these bats have diversified into many different species by changing what they eat. From insects, different lineages now specialize on diets ranging from fruits, nectar, meat, and everything in between—even just blood.

“Looking to animals that have existed for millions of years allows us to start to catalog changes that have happened over evolution,” said Camacho. “What makes Neotropical leaf-nosed bats so unique to study is that this group is comprised of many different species with very diverse diets, making it feasible to find answers about how diet evolves. The hope is that we can extend this understanding to other mammals, including humans, where there may be ways to learn how to better protect our own health.”

To uncover how bats diversified their diets, the team traveled to the jungles of Central America, South America, and the Caribbean to conduct fieldwork over several years. These catch-and-release expeditions were focused on performing glucose tolerance tests—measuring the concentration of sugar in blood—on nearly 200 wild-caught bats across 29 species after a single feeding of one of three types of sugars associated with diets of insects, fruits, or nectar.

“We saw various ways sugar is assimilated—absorbed, stored and used in the body—and how this process has become specialized due to different diets,” said Bernal-Rivera. 

The mechanism for maintaining blood sugar levels within a narrow, healthy range is called glucose homeostasis, which is typically regulated by the hormone insulin and is what goes awry in diabetes. Different species of leaf-nosed bats reveal a spectrum of adaptations to glucose homeostasis, ranging from changes in intestinal anatomy to genetic alterations for proteins that transport sugar from blood to cells.   

“Fruit bats have honed their insulin signaling pathway to lower blood sugar,” said Camacho. “On the other extreme, nectar bats can tolerate high blood glucose levels, similar to what is observed in people with unregulated diabetes. They have evolved a different mechanism, and it does not seem to depend on insulin.”

Although precisely how nectar bats are managing glucose is still under investigation, the researchers found potential clues for alternative metabolic strategies for glucose regulation. Bats with sugar-rich diets were observed to have longer portions of their intestines and to have intestinal cells with greater surface areas for absorbing nutrients from food, compared to bats with other diets. In addition, nectar bats, unique from fruit bats, have a continual expression of a gene responsible for sugar transport, a trait also observed in a species of hummingbird.

“This study establishes extremely important resources for the field,” said Nadav Ahituv, Ph.D., a bioengineering and genetics professor at the University of California, San Francisco. “It provides not only metabolic characteristics of various bat species with different diets, but also their intestinal morphology, and candidate genomic regions and protein structural differences that could be driving dietary adaptations.”

“The datasets will fuel future research that aims to differentiate mammalian dietary differences and could progress the development of novel therapeutics for a variety of metabolic diseases in humans,” said Ahituv.  

Additional authors include Valentina Peña, Sofia Robb, Ph.D., Jonathon Russell, Kexi Yi, Ph.D., Yongfu Wang, Ph.D., Dai Tsuchiya, Ph.D., and Oscar Murillo-García, Ph.D.

This work was supported by the National Science Foundation’s Postdoctoral Research Fellowships in Biology (award: 2109717), the Burroughs Wellcome Fund Postdoctoral Diversity Enrichment Program (award: G-1022339), the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Hanna H. Gray Fellows Program (award: GT15991), and by institutional support from the Stowers Institute for Medical Research. A portion of fieldwork performed for this study was supported by Contribución a la conservación del Bosque seco Tropical del Valle del Cauca (CVC permit: 1122) from the Institute for Research and Preservation of the Cultural and Natural Heritage of Valle del Cauca.

Neotropical leaf-nosed bat 

Thirty million years ago, the Neotropical leaf-nosed bat survived solely on insects. Since then, these bats have diversified into many different species by changing what they eat.

Jasmin Camacho, Ph.D., conducts field work in Belize 

“Looking to animals that have existed for millions of years allows us to start to catalog changes that have happened over evolution,” said Camacho.

Credit

Stowers Institute for Medical ResearchJournal

Nature Ecology & Evolution

DOI

10.1038/s41559-024-02485-7 

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

Animals

Article Title

Sugar assimilation underlying dietary evolution of Neotropical bats

Article Publication Date

28-Aug-2024

 

Protect your teeth with fruit: antimicrobial effects found in biomass compounds

A nonirritant, antibacterial solution to prevent oral inflammation may lie in citrus and coconut chemical compounds

Peer-Reviewed Publication

Osaka Metropolitan University

 

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Compounds found in citrus and coconut could be the solution to oral disease in children and the elderly.

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Credit: Osaka Metropolitan University

Periodontal disease is an inflammatory disease caused by a periodontal pathogenic bacteria infection that affects oral and internal health. Good oral care is essential for prevention, but most over-the-counter oral hygiene products are disinfectants that can be highly irritating. This makes them unsuitable for use by young children and the elderly, who are susceptible to periodontal disease.

To find an antibacterial that is easy to use and effective in preventing periodontal disease at all ages, Professor Shigeki Kamitani of Osaka Metropolitan University’s Graduate School of Human Life and Ecology led a research team in verifying the antibacterial effect of seven different compounds. Prunin laurate (Pru-C12) and its analogs were tested against the periodontal pathogenic bacteria, Porphyromonas gingivalis.

The results showed that while several of the compounds inhibited bacterial growth, Pru-C12, which can be derived from biomass such as that of citrus plants and coconut-derived components, had the highest antimicrobial effect.

“Pru-C12 is tasteless and hypoallergenic,” Professor Kamitani stated. “If its safety in humans is confirmed in the future, it could be an inexpensive antimicrobial solution.”

The findings were published in Foods.

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About OMU

Established in Osaka as one of the largest public universities in Japan, Osaka Metropolitan University is committed to shaping the future of society through “Convergence of Knowledge” and the promotion of world-class research. For more research news, visit https://www.omu.ac.jp/en/ and follow us on social media: X, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn.

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Journal

Foods

DOI

10.3390/foods13121917 

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

Animals

Article Title

Prunin Laurate Derived from Natural Substances Shows Antibacterial Activity against the Periodontal Pathogen Porphyromonas gingivalis