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)
Wednesday, March 05, 2025
PARACELSUSIAN HOMEOPATHY
Review supports introducing small amounts of food allergens during early childhood
A review in Clinical & Experimental Allergy concludes that exposing young children to small amounts of foods that they’re allergic to is safer than avoiding the foods altogether, which could be very dangerous if accidental exposure occurs.
The review notes that exposing preschool-aged children to small amounts of food allergens—called oral immunotherapy—can lessen the severity of a reaction following an accidental exposure. Also, delaying exposure until a later age misses the window of opportunity when oral immunotherapy is safest, and it prolongs unnecessary dietary restrictions. Also, after early childhood avoidance, some people who outgrow their allergy will not reincorporate the food into their diet due to fear and anxiety, thus potentially increasing their chance of redeveloping the allergy.
A growing body of evidence indicates that oral immunotherapy is safe and effective in preschoolers, but additional research is needed to clarify its impact on children’s health and quality of life.
“This research highlights a critical shift in how we approach food allergies—moving from strict avoidance to controlled exposure in early childhood, which not only reduces the risk of severe reactions but also helps prevent long-term negative consequences of living with food allergies,” said corresponding author Lianne Soller, PhD, of the University of British Columbia, in Canada.
Additional Information NOTE: The information contained in this release is protected by copyright. Please include journal attribution in all coverage. For more information or to obtain a PDF of any study, please contact: Sara Henning-Stout, newsroom@wiley.com.
About the Journal Clinical & Experimental Allergy is the official Journal of the British Society for Allergy & Clinical Immunology, publishing clinical and experimental observations in disease in all fields of medicine in which allergic hypersensitivity plays a part. Clinical & Experimental Allergy strikes an excellent balance between clinical and scientific articles and carries regular reviews and editorials written by leading authorities in their field.
About Wiley Wiley is one of the world’s largest publishers and a trusted leader in research and learning. Our industry-leading content, services, platforms, and knowledge networks are tailored to meet the evolving needs of our customers and partners, including researchers, students, instructors, professionals, institutions, and corporations. We empower knowledge-seekers to transform today’s biggest obstacles into tomorrow’s brightest opportunities. For more than two centuries, Wiley has been delivering on its timeless mission to unlock human potential. Visit us at Wiley.com. Follow us on Facebook, X, LinkedIn and Instagram.
The main principle of homeopathy, a unique scientific system of medicine established by Samuel Hahnemann two centuries ago, is that of 'similia' or 'simile' ( ...
Feb 18, 2019 ... Homeopath Ann Sorrell explores the life and career of Paracelsus, the Swiss-German philosopher, physician, botanist, astrologer and general ...
Paracelsus, is the man who pioneered the use of minerals and other chemicals in medicine. Mercury, lead, arsenic and antimony—poisons to most—were cures in his ...
Paracelsus's system, as far as we can learn it from his works, was a rude homeopathy, an attempt to discover specifics for the various diseases to which man is ...
The father combined his interests in chemistry and medicine with his patients' experiences in the mines and in the smelting plants and became an expert in ...
PARACELSUS - I despair that medicine, the holiest of arts, is now so debased these days. They are such literal-minded simpletons. They should seek to improve ...
Paracelsus introduced the use of chemical substances, such as minerals, into medicine. · Paracelsus theorized the constitution of matter based on three elements: ...
Because of their high metabolic rates, sea otters are especially vulnerable to disturbances that can increase their energy needs. New research in The Journal of Wildlife Management reveals how human activities affect the behavior and energy expenditure of southern sea otters.
By studying southern sea otters over 5 years at 3 sites along the coast of California, investigators found evidence that on average, the likelihood of a group of sea otters being disturbed (which affects their ability to rest) is less than 10% when stimuli such as small craft are more than 29 meters away, although this threshold varies by location, group size, and several other factors. Stimuli (such as kayakers) that are closer have a much greater likelihood of disturbing sea otters and increasing their energetic costs, potentially affecting their health and survival.
“People are getting too close, and this comes with a cost to wildlife. In many cases social media perpetuates false information and fuels public desire for up-close wildlife encounters, and for sea otters this public obsession puts them at particular risk,” said corresponding author Heather Barrett, MSc, of the Moss Landing Marine Laboratories at San Jose State University and Science Communications Director of Sea Otter Savvy. “Distance matters—there is a cost to cute—and this is why it is essential to respect the nap for sea otters. We only support non-disturbance wildlife photography, meaning no direct eye contact.”
Additional Information NOTE: The information contained in this release is protected by copyright. Please include journal attribution in all coverage. For more information or to obtain a PDF of any study, please contact: Sara Henning-Stout, newsroom@wiley.com.
About the Journal The Journal of Wildlife Management publishes original research contributing to fundamental wildlife science. Topics encompass biology and ecology of wildlife and their habitats with implications for conservation or management. Published research covers habitat use, genetics, demographics, behavior, population ecology, human dimensions, and contemporary conservation issues. Our aim is to support wildlife practitioners. Our journal welcomes theoretical advancements, quantitative analyses, modeling, and reviews offering a new synthesis. The Journal of Wildlife Management is a journal by The Wildlife Society.
About Wiley Wiley is one of the world’s largest publishers and a trusted leader in research and learning. Our industry-leading content, services, platforms, and knowledge networks are tailored to meet the evolving needs of our customers and partners, including researchers, students, instructors, professionals, institutions, and corporations. We empower knowledge-seekers to transform today’s biggest obstacles into tomorrow’s brightest opportunities. For more than two centuries, Wiley has been delivering on its timeless mission to unlock human potential. Visit us at Wiley.com. Follow us on Facebook, X, LinkedIn and Instagram.
Credit: Hiroaki Maeda from Tokyo University of Science, Japan
Hydrogen energy is emerging as a key driver of a clean, sustainable future, offering a zero-emission alternative to fossil fuels. Although it is promising, the large-scale production of hydrogen relies heavily on expensive platinum-based catalysts, and hence affordability remains a major challenge for the industry.
To surpass this, researchers from the Tokyo University of Science (TUS) have developed a novel hydrogen evolution catalyst, bis(diimino)palladium coordination nanosheets (PdDI), that offers platinum-like efficiency at a fraction of the cost. Their groundbreaking study, which was published on November 28, 2024, and made available online on January 27, 2025, in Volume 31, Issue 6 of Chemistry – A European Journal, has also been selected as a “Cover Feature” for the journal, highlighting its significance in advancing sustainable hydrogen production.
The study was led by Dr. Hiroaki Maeda and Professor Hiroshi Nishihara from TUS in collaboration with high-profiled researchers from the University of Tokyo, Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute, Kyoto Institute of Technology, RIKEN SPring-8 Center, and the National Institute for Materials Science, Japan. The discovery marks a breakthrough in the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) technology, which is a key process in green hydrogen energy generation. HER occurs in the process of electrolytic splitting of water for the generation of hydrogen. The HER catalyst electrodes, traditionally made of platinum, facilitate the conversion of nascent hydrogen ([H])—generated at the electrode surface during water splitting—into hydrogen gas (H₂). While platinum (Pt) as a HER catalyst is highly effective, its scarcity and high cost significantly increase manufacturing expenses, limiting its large-scale application.
Using a simple synthesis process and limited amounts of precious metals, the research team offered a highly efficient alternative for Pt catalysts. The team fabricated palladium-based nanosheets that could maximize catalytic activity while minimizing metal usage, drastically lowering the costs associated with H₂ production.
"Developing efficient HER electrocatalysts is key to sustainable H₂ production. Bis(diimino)metal coordination nanosheets, with their high conductivity, large surface area, and efficient electron transfer, are promising candidates,” says lead researcher, Dr. Maeda. “Additionally, their sparse metal arrangement reduces material usage. Here, we have successfully developed these nanosheets using palladium metal."
The team developed PdDI nanosheets (C-PdDI and E-PdDI) using two different methods: gas-liquid interfacial synthesis and electrochemical oxidation respectively. After undergoing the activation, the E-PdDI sheets exhibited a low overpotential of 34 mV as well as platinum’s overpotential of 35 mV, which meant that very little extra energy was required to drive the hydrogen production. The exchange current density of 2.1 mA/cm² also matched the platinum’s catalytic performance. The results therefore place E-PdDI among the most efficient HER catalysts developed to date, making it a promising low-cost alternative to platinum.
One of the critical aspects of any catalyst is its long-term stability. These PdDI nanosheets demonstrated excellent durability, remaining intact after 12 hours in acidic conditions, confirming their suitability for real-world hydrogen production systems. "Our research brings us one step closer to making H₂production more affordable and sustainable, a crucial step for achieving a clean energy future," explains Dr. Maeda.
Furthermore, by minimizing the reliance on scarce and costly platinum, PdDI nanosheets align with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): SDG 7—promoting affordable and clean energy, SDG 9—industry, innovation, and infrastructure. The implications of this study extend beyond laboratory experiments. The scalability, enhanced activity, and cost-effectiveness of PdDI nanosheets make them highly attractive for industrial hydrogen production, hydrogen fuel cells, and large-scale energy storage systems.
Additionally, replacing platinum-based catalysts with PdDI could reduce mining-related emissions, accelerating the transition to a sustainable hydrogen economy. Also, the density of palladium atoms is ten times lesser than Pt atoms, reducing the dependency on precious Pt metal, and approaching for a cost-effective production of electrodes. The replacement of Pt with PdDI nanosheets is expected to produce great outcomes in automobiles, hydrogen production, and electrode-supplying industries.
As research progresses, the team at TUS aims to further optimize PdDI nanosheets for commercialization, contributing to the development of an environmentally friendly hydrogen society.
About Tokyo University of Science Tokyo University of Science (TUS) is a well-known and respected university, and the largest science-specialized private research university in Japan, with four campuses in central Tokyo and its suburbs and in Hokkaido. Established in 1881, the university has continually contributed to Japan's development in science through inculcating the love for science in researchers, technicians, and educators.
With a mission of “Creating science and technology for the harmonious development of nature, human beings, and society," TUS has undertaken a wide range of research from basic to applied science. TUS has embraced a multidisciplinary approach to research and undertaken intensive study in some of today's most vital fields. TUS is a meritocracy where the best in science is recognized and nurtured. It is the only private university in Japan that has produced a Nobel Prize winner and the only private university in Asia to produce Nobel Prize winners within the natural sciences field.
About Junior Associate Professor Hiroaki Maeda from Tokyo University of Science Dr. Hiroaki Maeda is a leading researcher in coordination chemistry and electrochemistry, currently serving as a Junior Associate Professor at the Research Institute for Science and Technology, Tokyo University of Science. He earned his Ph.D. in Science from the University of Tokyo and has since made significant contributions to the fields of electrochemistry and coordination chemistry. With an impressive record of 53 refereed publications, 57 conference presentations, and five patents, Dr. Maeda’s research has gained widespread recognition in the world of electrochemistry.
Funding information This work was financially supported by JSPS KAKENHI (Grant number: JP19H05460, 22K14569, 22K05055, and 24H00468) and the White Rock Foundation.
Mechanism of changes in electron structure of catalyst through aluminum doping as well as high activity and high durability confirmation through experiments
Aluminum (Al) has been considered as a material susceptible to corrosion, but it will become key to core technology in producing clean hydrogen energy. Recently, a POSTECH research team succeeded in dramatically improving the performance of hydrogen production catalysts using this unstable metal.
This research was conducted by the team of: Professor Yong-Tae Kim of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, and Graduate Institute of Ferrous & Eco Materials Technology at POSTECH; Dr. Sang-Moon Jung of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Ph.D. candidate Byeong-Jo Lee, and professor Seoin Back's team of Sogang University. The research was recognized for its excellence and was published as the cover paper of "ACS Catalysis," an academic journal published by the American Chemical Society (ACS).
Hydrogen is being spotlighted as a clean energy source replacing fossil fuels, and water electrolysis all of which is used to mass produce hydrogen using water. In particular, researches on alkaline water electrolysis using alkaline solution as an electrolyte are being actively conducted, as it is cost-effective and suitable for mass production.
Water electrolysis requires a catalyst that accelerates 2 important reactions. One of them is "hydrogen evolution reaction" (HER), which produces hydrogen gas (H2) by combining hydrogen ions (H+) and electrons. Another one is "oxygen evolution reaction" (OER), which produces oxygen gas (O2) as hydroxyl ions (OH-) lose electrons. However, nickel-iron (Ni-Fe) is a based catalyst mainly used in oxygen production reaction; it has had difficulties in commercializing due to its lack of activity and durability.
The research team solved the problem using aluminum. Aluminum is generally known to be easily corroded in alkaline environments, but the research team overcame the problem by designing it to form a stable structure on the surface of an electrode. As a result, aluminum efficiently controlled the existing catalytic electron structure without corrosion, accelerating oxygen production reaction.
Experiments conducted in an alkaline water electrolysis cell showed the results that the nickel-iron-aluminum (Ni-Fe-Al) catalyst improved performance by approximately 50% compared to existing catalysts. The research team confirmed that the aluminum catalyst maintained high current density even at low voltage. Additionally it was proven to be applicable in a large-scale hydrogen production process, as it maintained excellent stability in a long-term operation.
Professor Yong-Tae Kim, the leader of this research, said, "This research broke the stereotypes of existing catalyst designs. By using this innovative approach of utilizing aluminum, we were able to drastically improve the performance of catalysts used in a hydrogen production system. I expect this research would substantially advance the age of hydrogen economy and become a new milestone of eco-friendly energy technology."
This research was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea, Ministry of Science and ICT, and Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.
WASHINGTON, March 4, 2025 – Seismology has revealed much of the basics about earthquakes: Tectonic plates move, causing strain energy to build up, and that energy eventually releases in the form of an earthquake. As for forecasting them, however, there’s still much to learn in order to evacuate cities before catastrophes like the 2011 magnitude 9.0 Tōhoku earthquake that, in addition to causing a tsunami that led to the Fukushima nuclear disaster, resulted in more than 18,000 deaths.
In recent years, research has focused on a possible correlation between the sun or moon and seismic activity on Earth, with some studies pointing to tidal forces or electromagnetic effects interacting with the planet’s crust, core, and mantle.
In Chaos, by AIP Publishing, researchers from the University of Tsukuba and the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology in Japan explored the likelihood that Earth’s climate, as affected by solar heat, plays a role. The study builds on one that a pair of the researchers had published in the same journal in 2022; that study connected solar activity, particularly sunspot numbers, with seismic systems on Earth to establish a causal effect.
“Solar heat drives atmospheric temperature changes, which in turn can affect things like rock properties and underground water movement,” said author Matheus Henrique Junqueira Saldanha. “Such fluctuations can make rocks more brittle and prone to fracturing, for example — and changes in rainfall and snowmelt can alter the pressure on tectonic plate boundaries. While these factors may not be the main drivers of earthquakes, they could still be playing a role that can help to predict seismic activity.”
Using mathematical and computational methods, the researchers analyzed earthquake data alongside solar activity records and surface temperatures on Earth. Among other findings, they observed that when they included Earth surface temperatures into their model, the forecasting became more accurate, especially for shallow earthquakes.
“That makes sense, since heat and water mostly affect the upper layers of the Earth’s crust,” said Junqueira Saldanha.
The findings suggest the transfer of solar heat to the surface of the Earth does affect seismic activity, however minutely, and that incorporating solar activity predictions into detailed Earth temperature models may help issue earthquake forecasts.
“It’s an exciting direction, and we hope our study sheds some light on the bigger picture of what triggers earthquakes,” said Junqueira Saldanha.
###
The article “The role of solar heat in earthquake activity” is authored by Matheus Henrique Junqueira Saldanha, Masanori Shiro, Yuji Yagi, and Yoshito Hirata. It will appear in Chaos on March 4, 2025 (DOI: 10.1063/5.0243721). After that date, it can be accessed at https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0243721.
ABOUT THE JOURNAL
Chaos is devoted to increasing the understanding of nonlinear phenomena in all areas of science and engineering and describing their manifestations in a manner comprehensible to researchers from a broad spectrum of disciplines. See https://pubs.aip.org/aip/cha.
###
Journal
Chaos An Interdisciplinary Journal of Nonlinear Science
Global warming is already reshaping our daily lives, with storms, floods, wildfires and droughts around the world. As temperatures continue to rise, a third of global food production could be at risk. Now, a new study in Nature Food offers a more precise picture of exactly where and how warming will affect our ability to grow food.
Researchers at Aalto University studied how future changes in temperature, precipitation and aridity will affect growing conditions of 30 major food crop species across the globe. They found that low-latitude regions face significantly worse consequences than mid- or high-latitudes. Depending on the level of warming, up to half of the crop production in low-latitude areas would be at risk as climate conditions become unsuitable for production. At the same time, those regions would also see a large drop in crop diversity.
‘The loss of diversity means that the range of food crops available for cultivation could decrease significantly in certain areas. That would reduce food security and make it more difficult to get adequate calories and protein,’ says Sara Heikonen, the doctoral researcher who led the study.
Up to half of the world’s food crop production may be affected
Warming will severely decrease the amount of global cropland available for staple crops –– rice, maize, wheat, potato and soybean –– which account for over two-thirds of the world’s food energy intake . In addition, ‘tropical root crops such as yam, which are key to food security in low-income regions, as well as cereals and pulses are particularly vulnerable. In sub-Saharan Africa, the region which would be impacted most, almost three quarters of current production is at risk if global warming exceeds 3°C,’ Heikonen says.
By contrast, mid- and high-latitude areas will probably retain their productive land overall, though zones for specific crops will change. These areas are also likely to see an increase in crop diversity. ‘For example, the cultivation of temperate fruits, such as pears, could become more common in more northerly regions,’ says Heikonen.
However, even if climatic conditions are favourable, other factors could hamper agriculture in these areas, says the study’s senior author, Professor Matti Kummu. ‘We showed that there’s climatic potential but, for example, warming might bring new pests and extreme weather events, which our model doesn’t include. So the situation isn’t really that black and white.’
Options for adaptation and mitigation
Many of the low-latitude regions threatened most by warming are already vulnerable in numerous ways. They face problems with food sufficiency, and economic and systemic forces make them less resilient than northern countries. Nevertheless, Kummu sees ways that these regions could, at least partly, meet the challenge.
‘In many low latitude areas, especially in Africa, the yields are small compared to similar areas elsewhere in the world. They could get higher yields with access to fertilisers and irrigation as well as reducing food losses through the production and storage chain. However, ongoing global warming will add a lot of uncertainty to these estimates and probably even more actions are needed, such as crop selection and novel breeding,’ he says. ‘But I always say that the modelling and analysis is the easy part –– understanding how to make the changes happen is the hardest part.’
While policy-makers in low-latitude countries should work to close those gaps, in mid- and high-latitude regions farmers and policy-makers need more flexibility, says Kummu. Warming will likely change which crops are grown in those areas, and further changes will come from the array of pressures on the global food system. Coping with those changes will require the ability to adjust and adapt as the consequences of climate change unfold.
‘If we want to secure our food system in the future, we need to both mitigate climate change and adapt to its effects,’ says Heikonen. ‘Even if the biggest changes are in equatorial regions, we will all feel the effects through the globalised food system. We need to act together to address these problems.’
