Tuesday, January 02, 2024

 

RSV vaccines would greatly reduce illness if implemented like flu shots


Peer-Reviewed Publication

YALE UNIVERSITY





Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccines recently approved for people 60 and older would dramatically reduce the disease’s significant burden of illness and death in the United States if they were widely adopted like annual influenza vaccines, a new study has found.

A high level of RSV vaccination would not only potentially reduce millions of dollars in annual outpatient and hospitalization costs but would also produce an economy of scale with individual shots being delivered at a relatively modest cost of between $117 and $245 per dose, the study said.

The vaccines are currently covered by most private insurers without a patient copay because they are recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. Some Medicare beneficiaries can also obtain the shots at no cost, but only if they are enrolled in Part D of the program, which deals with drug benefits.

“RSV causes substantial morbidity and mortality among the elderly in the U.S. and globally, but this is the first time that RSV vaccines have been available,” said senior author Alison Galvani, the Burnett and Stender Families Professor of Epidemiology (Microbial Diseases) at the Yale School of Public Health. “We wanted to understand the potential impact of RSV vaccination in terms of averting illness, medical costs, hospitalizations, and deaths.”

RSV is a common respiratory virus that causes mild cold-like symptoms in most people, who usually recover in one or two weeks. But older adults and infants are more likely to develop serious RSV, which can be life-threatening. The current study looked only at the potential impact and cost of RSV vaccines for older adults.

Two RSV vaccines, Arexy and Abrysvo, were approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration earlier this year. RSV disease causes an estimated 60,000 to160,000 hospitalizations and 6,000 to 10,000 deaths annually in adults 65 and older, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). As of Dec. 1, just 14.8% of people 60 or older in the U.S. said they had obtained an RSV vaccine, CDC records show.

In conducting their study, the researchers created a model for RSV outcomes based on characteristics of the U.S. population 60 or older. Measured outcomes included the annual incidence of cases per 100,000 people requiring outpatient, inpatient, and intensive care, and the death rate for hospitalized patients. The researchers then calculated the medical care costs for these outcomes and lost productivity.

The researchers analyzed how these outcomes would be reduced if 66% of adults 60 and older received an RSV vaccine. That is the typical influenza vaccination coverage for adults 65 years or older in the U.S.

“It would be great if we could achieve even higher levels,” said Galvani, who also serves as the director of Yale’s Center for Infectious Disease Modeling and Analysis. “But if we can achieve that for flu, it makes sense that would be feasible for RSV vaccination as well.”

For comparison, the researchers also analyzed the impact of 100% RSV vaccination coverage. In each scenario, they factored in the efficacy of the vaccine at preventing the need for medical care and death. They looked at the impact of these levels of RSV vaccination over one year and then over two years.

They found that 66% vaccination coverage in the first year reduced outpatient care by 41.4% to 53.6%, hospitalizations by 57.6% to 60.5%, and RSV-related deaths by 58.5% to 60.4%.

Increasing vaccination coverage to 100% reduced outpatient care by 62.9% to 81.2%, hospitalizations by 87.4% to 91.7%, and deaths by 87.6% to 91.3%.

Based on these numbers, the maximum cost-effective price per dose for one season at 66% coverage was $118 to $127. The difference was small — $1 to $3 — for 100% coverage.

With the annual cost savings achieved from vaccination, a program where 66% of adults 60 and older are vaccinated for RSV would cost the U.S. health care system $6.4 to $7.1 billion for one season, and $9.7 to $10.7 billion at 100% vaccination, the researchers found.

The vaccines are intended to protect people over two RSV seasons, as clinical trials for the vaccine showed efficacy for that time. But the researchers felt that until real-world efficacy data are available, a one-season analysis was more appropriate.

“Within the next year or two years, as these vaccines are rolled out, we will get a lot of data on effectiveness and better analysis,” said Seyed Moghadas, the paper’s first author and professor of applied mathematics and computational epidemiology at York University. “This new data will help us better inform vaccination strategies for improved impact against RSV disease.”

If real-world data show strong efficacy over two seasons, Arexvy could be cost effective up to $235 per dose and Abrysvo up to $245 per dose, the researchers found.

These are important issues to understand, Galvani said. Some private insurers have not decided if they will cover the vaccines, and whether Medicare does depends on the plan, she said. People 60 to 64 are not eligible for Medicare and may not have health coverage, she added.

“Accessibility and cost are definitely concerns in the American health care system,” she said. “We hope that our results will inform decision-makers about the health and economic benefits of vaccination, as our results demonstrate the importance of making these vaccines accessible to everyone over 60 years to realize their full benefit.”

The research was published Nov. 30 in Clinical Infectious Diseases.

 

Targeted household cleaning can reduce toxic chemicals post-wildfire, Portland State research shows


Peer-Reviewed Publication

PORTLAND STATE UNIVERSITY




After the last embers of a campfire dim, the musky smell of smoke remains. Whiffs of that distinct smokey smell may serve as a pleasant reminder of the evening prior, but in the wake of a wildfire, that smell comes with ongoing health risks.

Wildfire smoke is certainly more pervasive than a small campfire, and the remnants can linger for days, weeks and months inside homes and businesses. New research from Portland State’s Elliott Gall, associate professor in Mechanical and Materials Engineering, examined how long harmful chemicals found in wildfire smoke can persist and the most effective ways to remove them with everyday household cleaners.

Wildfires create compounds called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which are formed in the combustion process at high temperatures. These compounds are highly toxic.

“They are associated with a wide variety of long-term adverse health consequences like cancer, potential complications in pregnancy and lung disease,” Gall said. “So if these compounds are depositing or sticking onto surfaces, there are different routes of exposure people should be aware of. By now, most people in Portland are probably thinking about how to clean their air during a wildfire smoke event, but they might not be thinking about other routes of exposure after the air clears.”

Public messaging is fairly consistent on what to do during a fire to reduce exposure to smoke — close windows and doors, run an air purifier and consider wearing a mask — but messaging is limited about what to do post-wildfire. Gall’s study published in Environmental Science & Technology looked at the accumulation and retention of PAHs over a period of four months on three different indoor materials: glass, cotton and air filters.

“We looked at a limited number of materials and we intentionally included some that are common in indoor environments,” Gall said.

Initial findings showed that levels of PAHs remained elevated for weeks after exposure. After materials were loaded with PAHs from wildfire smoke, it took 37 days for PAHs to decrease by 74% for air filters, 81% for cotton and 88% for glass. That reduction is significant but it takes time and means increased health risks from elongated exposure. However, laundering cotton materials just one time after exposure to smoke reduced PAHs on the material by 80%. Using a commercial glass cleaner on glass materials like windows and cups reduced PAHs between 60% and 70%.

Unlike glass and cotton, air filters can’t be cleaned and need to be replaced after an extreme smoke event.

“Even if there’s potentially some more life in them, over time PAHs can partition off the filter and be emitted back into your space,” Gall said. “While it may be a slow process, our study shows partitioning of PAHs from filters and other materials loaded with smoke may result in concentrations of concern in air. And while that partitioning is occurring, dermal contact and ingestion of PAHs from the materials may be important. One example might be holding and drinking from a glass that was exposed to wildfire smoke.”  

Gall said it was important to consider the effect of cleaning solutions available to the average person. Although the findings also open the door to additional questions. How do materials like drywall or ceramic respond to cleaning, for example? What if an individual has access to a washer but not a dryer, would PAHs still be reduced to non-toxic levels?

The good news is that although toxic compounds after a wildfire can long outlast the palpable smoke, simple household cleaning techniques are effective in significantly reducing exposure. Gall said future studies on this subject will focus on additional surfaces common indoors and cleaning techniques to reduce PAHs, as well as work to understand the extent of possible health impacts from exposure.

 

First dive survey of Lake Tahoe’s lakebed finds high amounts of plastic and other litter


Scientists teamed up with nonprofit Clean Up the Lake to collect and analyze litter found on the bottom of Lake Tahoe


Peer-Reviewed Publication

DESERT RESEARCH INSTITUTE




Plastic litter is a growing problem around the world, and new research shows that the bottom of Lake Tahoe is no exception. In one of the first studies to utilize scuba divers to collect litter from a lakebed, 673 plastic items were counted from just a small fraction of the lake.  

In the study, published in the November issue of the journal Applied Spectroscopy, researchers from DRI and the UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center teamed up with the nonprofit Clean Up the Lake to take a close look at the litter. First, scientists broke it down into categories based on use (such as food containers and water bottles), followed by the chemical composition of the plastic. The knowledge gained can help scientists better understand the source of large pieces of litter in the lake, as well as whether they’re a significant source of microplastics as larger pieces break down and degrade. Previous research found that the waters of Lake Tahoe contain high levels of microplastics, defined as plastics smaller than a pencil eraser. 

“There’s very little work on submerged plastic litter in lakes,” said Monica Arienzo, Ph.D., associate research professor of hydrology at DRI and one of the study’s lead authors. “And I think that’s a real issue, because when we think about how plastics may be moving in freshwater systems, there’s a good chance that they’ll end up in a lake.”  

To collect the litter, research divers swam transects along the lakebed near Lake Tahoe Nevada State Park and Zephyr Cove, covering 9.3 kilometers. They found an average of 83 pieces of plastic litter per kilometer, with the lakebed near Hidden Beach and South Sand Harbor showing significantly more (140 items/km and 124 items/km, respectively). No stretches of the lakebed surveyed were free of plastic litter.  

The most common plastic litter categories were food containers, bottles, plastic bags, and toys, along with many items that couldn’t be categorized.  

“There’s a lot of education we can do, as well as continuing to work on reducing the use of those plastics,” Arienzo says. “Because we have to start thinking about turning that plastic pipe off.”  

Arienzo and co-author Julia Davidson, then an undergraduate student working in Arienzo’s lab, also identified the types of plastic that made up 516 of the litter samples. Using an instrument that uses infrared light to fingerprint and identify the material, they found that the six most common plastics were polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polystyrene, polyester/polyethylene terephthalate, polyethylene, polypropylene, and polyamide. Collecting this information can contribute to Arienzo’s ongoing microplastics research in the region, helping to identify the sources of the small plastic fragments. 

“When we study microplastics, we only have the chemical information, or the plastic type,” Davidson says. “We don’t know where it came from—a plastic bag, toy, or otherwise— because it’s just a tiny piece of plastic. But now we can use this litter data to point to the dominant types of plastics and compare them to microplastic data.”  

The study can help inform efforts by Tahoe-area communities to address plastic litter, such as South Lake Tahoe’s 2022 ban on single-use plastic bottles and Truckee’s ban on single-use food containers. The research also highlights ways that scientists can work with nonprofits to collect data that can address local environmental concerns.  

“I think one of the things that's really cool about this project is the collaboration between DRI, Clean Up the Lake, and UC Davis at Tahoe,” Arienzo says. “It demonstrates the power of bringing together a nonprofit that really wants to clean up Tahoe, while collecting data in the process that can help answer scientific questions.” 

  

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More information: The full study, Polymer Characterization of Submerged Plastic Litter from Lake Tahoe, is available from Applied Spectroscopy at https://doi.org/10.1177/00037028231201174 

 

Study authors include: Julia Davidson (DRI), Monica Arienzo (DRI), Zoe Harrold (Clear Horizons Consulting), Colin West (Clean Up the Lake), Erick R. Bandala (DRI), Sadye Easler (Clean Up the Lake), Katie Senft (UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center) 

 

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About DRI  

The Desert Research Institute (DRI) is a recognized world leader in basic and applied environmental research. Committed to scientific excellence and integrity, DRI faculty, students who work alongside them, and staff have developed scientific knowledge and innovative technologies in research projects around the globe. Since 1959, DRI’s research has advanced scientific knowledge on topics ranging from humans’ impact on the environment to the environment’s impact on humans. DRI’s impactful science and inspiring solutions support Nevada’s diverse economy, provide science-based educational opportunities, and inform policymakers, business leaders, and community members. With campuses in Las Vegas and Reno, DRI serves as the non-profit research arm of the Nevada System of Higher Education. For more information, please visit www.dri.edu

 

About Clean Up The Lake 

Clean Up The Lake is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to activate local communities to take action to protect their environment both above and below the surface, starting in Lake Tahoe. The organization has completed its flagship project of a 72 mile SCUBA cleanup of Lake Tahoe's entire circumference in 2022 and has gone on to clean up over 69,000 pounds of litter in the Sierra region, primarily from beneath the surface of Alpine Lakes. The non profit has expanded from submerged litter cleanups to include aquatic invasive species surveillance and education, collaborations to bring litter-art sculptures and stewardship messaging to communities they work in and also a variety of youth programs for our future generations. To learn more about the organization or to donate, please visit cleanupthelake.org
 

Media Contacts:  

DRI 

Elyse DeFranco 
Science Writer 
elyse.defranco@dri.edu 

 

Clean Up The Lake: 

Colin West 
+1 (530) 562 7131 
colin@cleanupthelake.org 

 

 

Designing the ‘perfect’ meal to feed long-term space travelers


Peer-Reviewed Publication

AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY

Designing the ‘perfect’ meal to feed long-term space travelers 

IMAGE: 

THIS SALAD MADE UP OF SOYBEANS, POPPY SEEDS, BARLEY, KALE, PEANUTS, SWEET POTATO AND SUNFLOWER SEEDS COULD BE THE OPTIMAL MEAL FOR MEN ON LONG-TERM SPACE MISSIONS.

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CREDIT: ADAPTED FROM ACS FOOD SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 2023, DOI: 10.1021/ACSFOODSCITECH.3C00396





Imagine blasting off on a multiyear voyage to Mars, fueled by a diet of bland, prepackaged meals. As space agencies plan for longer missions, they’re grappling with the challenge of how to best feed people. Now, researchers reporting in ACS Food Science & Technology have designed the optimal “space meal”: a tasty vegetarian salad. They chose fresh ingredients that meet male astronauts’ specialized nutritional needs and can be grown in space.

Astronauts in space burn more calories than humans on Earth and require extra micronutrients, such as calcium, to stay healthy during extended exposure to microgravity. Additionally, future long-term missions will require growing food in a sustainable, circular way within the spacecraft or space colonies. While researchers have explored methods of growing food in space and what nutrients astronauts require to stay healthy, specific fresh meals have not been developed. So, Volker Hessel and coworkers wanted to optimize a space meal that meets those unique requirements of spaceflight and tastes good.

First, the researchers assessed combinations of fresh ingredients, using a method called linear programming, which computationally balances different variables to meet a specific goal. In this case, their model identified how well the combinations of different foods could meet a male astronaut’s daily nutritional needs while minimizing the water required to grow the foods. The team was also concerned about the sustainability of the foods in space, selecting ingredients that needed little fertilizer, time and area to grow and whether inedible portions could be recycled. Of the 10 scenarios the researchers examined, they found that a vegetarian meal made up of soybeans, poppy seeds, barley, kale, peanuts, sweet potato and/or sunflower seeds provided the most efficient balance of maximal nutrients and minimal farming inputs. While this combination couldn’t quite provide all the micronutrients an astronaut needs, those missing could be added in a supplement, the researchers suggest.

To make sure that the identified combination was tasty, the team whipped up the ideal space meal as a salad for four people to taste test here on Earth. One tester gave rave reviews and “wouldn’t mind eating this all week as an astronaut.” Other people were more muted in their praise, even though they went back for second helpings. In the future, the researchers plan to see what their computer model dishes up as options for female astronauts and expand the variety of crops in their database.

The authors acknowledge funding from a University of Adelaide scholarship stipend.  

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The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. ACS’ mission is to advance the broader chemistry enterprise and its practitioners for the benefit of Earth and all its people. The Society is a global leader in promoting excellence in science education and providing access to chemistry-related information and research through its multiple research solutions, peer-reviewed journals, scientific conferences, eBooks and weekly news periodical Chemical & Engineering News. ACS journals are among the most cited, most trusted and most read within the scientific literature; however, ACS itself does not conduct chemical research. As a leader in scientific information solutions, its CAS division partners with global innovators to accelerate breakthroughs by curating, connecting and analyzing the world’s scientific knowledge. ACS’ main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.

To automatically receive news releases from the American Chemical Society, contact newsroom@acs.org.

Note: ACS does not conduct research, but publishes and publicizes peer-reviewed scientific studies.

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Researchers receive USDA grant to study changing food spending patterns


Grant and Award Announcement

VIRGINIA TECH

Researchers receive USDA grant to study changing food spending patterns 

IMAGE: 

RESEARCHERS AT VIRGINIA TECH ARE STUDYING THE EFFECTS AND IMPLICATIONS OF THE CHANGING FOOD SPENDING PATTERNS ON THE PROFITABILITY AND WELFARE OF FARMERS, FOOD PROCESSORS, AND CONSUMERS.

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CREDIT: PHOTO BY SAM DEAN FOR VIRGINIA TECH.




After a long day, there’s the age-old question of do we eat out or stay in?

Over the last decade, that answer has increasingly shifted to eating out.

In that timeframe, households have increasingly spent more money on food outside of the home than what's spent on eating at home. In that same time, the farmer’s share of the food dollar eaten outside of the home has declined while the share of food eaten at home has increased.

With a more than $550,000 grant from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, researchers George Davis and Anubhab Gupta, in the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics in Virginia Tech's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, are studying the effects of the changing food spending patterns on the profitability and welfare of farmers, food processors, and consumers, or welfare through the United States’ food supply chain.

“Our project aims to look at the changing profitability and welfare effects in the food supply chain while recognizing that the effects will depend on the underlying market structure and consumer socioeconomic, demographic, and environmental factors,” said George Davis, professor in the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics and project lead.

The research team has four objectives:

  • Look at how the difference between retail food prices and farm prices have changed over time as spending on food at home and food away from home has changed
  • Determine to what extent consumers have benefitted from the change in eating food at home versus food away from home.
  • Consider what role the degree of competition within the food supply chain has affected profitability and welfare for the farmer, processors, and consumers as food spending patterns have changed.
  • Consider how alternative policies affecting food at home and food away from home spending will affect profitability and welfare throughout the food supply chain.

The project will combine well-established research areas that have not been joined before to understand important policy-relevant questions regarding price and quantity relationships, market structure, and welfare distribution throughout the associated market.

To achieve the objectives, the team will utilize public-use consumer expenditure survey microdata from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, NBER-CES Manufacturing Industry Database, and estimates from the literature.

“Our integrated framework will answer important policy and scenario questions related to socioeconomic and demographic profile of consumers, COVID-19, Ukraine war, etc. on welfare distribution throughout the food supply chain, while extending our knowledge on the four strands of literature and a unique way of integrating them,” Davis said.

 

Greener and feasible production: Enzymatic methods for mono- and diacylglycerol synthesis in the food industry


Peer-Reviewed Publication

HENAN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

Graphic abstract. 

IMAGE: 

GRAPHIC ABSTRACT.

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CREDIT: THE AUTHORS




MAGs, predominantly in 1(3)-MAG form, and DAGs, with 1,3-DAGs as the more stable isomer, are crucial in food, cosmetic, and other industries. While MAGs are vital emulsifiers, comprising 75% of global production, DAGs are known as functional cooking oils that can reduce body fat and serum TAGs. However, their natural concentration in oils is low, prompting extensive research into their chemical and environmentally-friendly enzymatic production.
Recently, a review published in the Grain & Oil Science and Technology journal on 2 November 2023, has shed light on the advancements in enzymatic production methods with special efforts on practical and industrial technologies such as comprehensive discussions on system designs and patent evaluations. This study presents these methods as a sustainable and efficient alternative to conventional chemical processes, emphasizing their role in revolutionizing industry standards.
This review presents an in-depth review of the last 15 years in enzymatic production of monoacylglycerols (MAGs) and diacylglycerols (DAGs), focusing on the advancements and varied pathways like esterification, glycerolysis, and more. It emphasizes how enzyme choice, substrates, and conditions affect the efficiency and quality of MAGs and DAGs, highlighting the role of reaction media in enhancing reaction homogeneity and product yield. The review also explores the practicalities of scaling enzymatic processes for industrial use, discussing the challenges of maintaining enzyme activity and the economic implications of enzyme use. Additionally, it evaluates numerous patents, reflecting a growing interest in this eco-friendly technology. The review underlines the transformative potential of enzymatic production in delivering higher quality, more sustainable MAGs and DAGs while acknowledging the ongoing challenges and the need for further innovation in this field.
The review's lead authors, Jiawei Zheng and colleagues, underscore the industry's increasing shift towards enzymatic processes over the past two decades. They note, "Enzymatic methods are not just alternatives but are becoming the standard due to their specificity, lower energy requirements, and ability to preserve sensitive components."
Transitioning to enzymatic production has vast implications for the food industry, offering safer and more sustainable emulsifiers and cooking oils. The ability to control reaction specifics leads to higher quality products, meeting consumer demands for healthier and more natural food ingredients. From the discussion of the practical considerations of technologies and potential possibilities, the reasonable economy for the production in plants can be expected.
The review anticipates further industry adoption and innovation in enzyme technologies. However, it also calls for continued research to overcome challenges like reaction efficiency and large-scale application, ensuring that enzymatic methods can fully meet global demand.
Reference
Funding information

The National Natural Science Foundation of China (31772000).
DOI
10.1016/j.gaost.2023.10.002
Original Url
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gaost.2023.10.002
About Grain & Oil Science and Technology
Grain & Oil Science and Technology (GOST, 
https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/grain-and-oil-science-and-technologyis a peer-reviewed Open Access (OA) journal and upon acceptance all articles are permanently and freely available on ScienceDirect. GOST publishes innovative papers in the fields of grain engineering (processing and storage of staple food grain and cereals), food science and engineering (food chemistry, biochemistry, microbiology, nutrition, food safety), oil science and engineering (processing and storage of oils and fats, oil chemistry for food use). Contributions written in English in the form of critical reviews, research papers, short communications, short reviews are welcomed.