Air pollutants commonly found indoors could have an impact on creativity, NTU Singapore scientists find
IMAGE:
A TEAM OF SCIENTISTS FROM NTU SINGAPORE, IN COLLABORATION WITH GLOBAL AIR FILTER MANUFACTURER CAMFIL, HAVE FOUND THAT AIR POLLUTANTS COMMONLY FOUND INDOORS (MONITORED THROUGH VARIOUS EQUIPMENT ON THE BLUE TABLE) COULD HAVE AN IMPACT ON CREATIVITY.
view moreCREDIT: NTU SINGAPORE
Air quality in the office may affect our level of creativity at work, scientists at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) have found.
Working with the global air filter manufacturer Camfil on a shared research project, the NTU Singapore scientists found in a study that high levels of volatile organic compounds – gases released from products such as detergents, pesticides, perfumes, aerosol sprays and paint – affected the study participants’ creativity when they were asked to build 3D models with LEGO bricks.
Using a statistical analysis, the NTU team estimated that reducing total volatile organic compounds (TVOC) by 72 per cent could improve a student’s creative potential by 12 per cent.
TVOC is an indicator that refers to the volume of volatile organic compounds in the air. Indoor VOCs are emitted from interior decoration sources such as paints and carpets and household products such as detergents and air fresheners.
This study, conducted on the NTU Smart Campus, is part of a partnership between the University and Camfil to investigate the impact of indoor air quality on the cognitive performance of adults, test various air filter technologies in tropical weather conditions, and deliver innovative clean air solutions combined with optimised energy efficiency.
The findings detailed in the study, published in Scientific Reports in September, shed light on the importance of indoor air quality on our creative cognition, said the research team led by Assistant Professor Ng Bing Feng and Associate Professor Wan Man Pun, Cluster Directors for Smart & Sustainable Building Technologies at the Energy Research Institute @ NTU (ERI@N).
Asst Prof Ng said: “While most people would correctly associate indoor air quality with effects on the lungs, especially since we just emerged from a pandemic, our study shows that it could also have an impact on the mind and creative cognition, or the ability to use knowledge in an unconventional way. Our findings suggest that relatively low TVOC levels, even if well within the accepted threshold, could impact an individual’s creative potential.”
Assoc Prof Wan added: “This could have serious consequences for industries that rely on creativity for the bulk of their work. For instance, artists often use paints and thinners that release high levels of volatile organic compounds and may not know they need adequate ventilation to clear them from their workplace. The findings also point to how making minor adjustments in the office, such as reducing the use of aroma diffusers or ensuring adequate ventilation, could positively impact employees and their productivity.”
The study also aligns with the Health & Society and Brain & Learning research clusters under the research pillar of NTU 2025, the University’s five-year strategic plan.
The other scientists on the research team were NTU PhD graduate Dr Shmitha Arikrishnan, former NTU senior research fellow Dr Adam Charles Robert, who is currently a postdoctoral researcher at Singapore-ETH Centre, and NTU graduate Lau Wee Siang.
The study involved data gathering from study participants in an environment simulating an indoor workspace, with varying air quality depending on the different combination of air filters used. The air filters used (also pictured) are from Camfil, NTU’s industry partner for the study.
CREDIT
NTU Singapore
Assessing creativity through LEGO 3D models
To quantifiably assess creative potential in this study, the NTU team developed the Serious Brick Play method, which is largely adapted from the LEGO Serious Play framework. This tool involves expressing thoughts and ideas using 3D models built with LEGO bricks.
A typical LEGO Serious Play session involves a facilitator who introduces a challenge, to which participants respond by building a model using LEGO bricks. Participants then discuss their models and reflect on the building process, prompted by the facilitator.
In the Serious Brick Play method designed by the NTU team, participants do not discuss their models and share their reflections in a group. Instead, they provide written descriptions of their LEGO models. These written descriptions and LEGO models are then scored by a panel of judges for creativity.
Asst Prof Ng explained: “While the LEGO Serious Play framework has been used in various settings to unleash creative thinking and has even been used to support dementia patients, it does not have a quantitative assessment component and cannot systematically assess creativity. This is why we added a component to score participants on their creativity.”
The scoring guidelines for the participants’ LEGO models were developed based on the Creative Product Analysis Matrix model, which is used to grade creativity and has been validated in earlier studies, he added.
The NTU researchers tested the scoring guidelines to measure the degree of consistency among the different judges when they independently assessed the LEGO models, and concluded that the scoring guidelines provided were reliable.
The researchers also tested the Serious Brick Play method’s ability to measure what it was designed for through statistical analyses and found that the method was able to cover the key aspects of the Alternative Uses Task, a well-known tool that assesses creativity. Specifically, it assesses divergent thinking, a thought process used to generate creative ideas by exploring many possible solutions.
The researchers said that the Serious Brick Play method further assesses another thought process called convergent thinking, which focuses on coming up with a single, well-established answer to a problem.
“Divergent and convergent thinking are thought to be the central components of creativity, but most existing tools are designed around divergent thinking. Our Serious Brick Play method adds value by also covering the aspect of convergent thinking,” said Asst Prof Ng.
How the study was done
Over six weeks, the researchers gathered data from a sample size of 87 undergraduate and postgraduate students in a controlled environment simulating an indoor workspace. Every week across three 40-minute sessions, the study participants read a summary of a global issue – such as climate change, mental health, and poverty – and then offered a solution by building a 3D model using LEGO bricks. The participants were then asked to give a written description and explanation for their models.
In each session, researchers varied the air quality of the workspace using different combinations of air filters contributed by Camfil. This varied the level of pollutants in the air, including carbon dioxide, PM2.5 (air pollutants less than 2.5 micrometres in diameter), and total volatile organic compounds (TVOC).
The participants’ LEGO models and descriptions were then graded by seven randomly selected adults, who were trained to familiarise themselves with the scoring guidelines based on:
- Originality: whether the solution is usual or unusual,
- Fluency: the level of elaboration in the description of the solution, and
- Build: how sophisticated, complex, or aesthetic the solution is.
Link between TVOC levels and creativity
The NTU team’s statistical analysis of the participants’ average scores and indoor air quality data gathered from 18 sessions revealed that participants tended to turn in creative solutions with lower scores – an indicator of lower creative potential – when the workspace had higher TVOC levels.
Using a statistical model, the team calculated that reducing TVOC from an acceptable threshold[1] of 1,000 parts per billion to 281 parts per billion – or a 72 per cent reduction in TVOC levels – led to a 12 per cent increase in creative potential in the study cohort.
Less significant relationships were found between PM2.5 and creativity as well as carbon dioxide levels and creativity.
Asst Prof Ng said: “The results from this study indicate that creativity levels can be linked to the concentration of pollutants in a room. Improving the air quality could be an economical solution to improve occupants’ creativity.”
Having uncovered a link between TVOC levels and creativity, the research team is now studying how TVOC and other indoor air pollutants affect cognitive processes by measuring participants’ brain activity.
***END***
[1] According to the Singapore Standards SS554 Code of Practice for indoor air quality for airconditioned buildings, the total volatile organic compounds should be less than or equal to 1,000 parts per billion.
JOURNAL
Scientific Reports
DOI
Fresh Research for Fresh Air: Harnessing microbes for removing indoor pollutants
IMAGE:
MICROBIAL COMMUNITY PRESENT IN THE RADIAL-FLOW BIOPURIFICATION PROTOTYPE
view moreCREDIT: ALBERTO VERGARA-FERNÁNDEZ
Researchers in Chile have designed an indoor air purification prototype which uses microorganisms to capture and degrade pollutants, with efficiencies above 90%.
In the study, published in SCI’s Journal of Chemical Technology and Biotechnology, the scientists demonstrated that the system could operate for 8 months without any loss in efficiency.
As the demand for better insulation and energy efficiency in buildings increases, a lack of air flow has resulted in worsening indoor air quality, posing a risk to human health and the environment. Biofiltration systems, which pass air through a thin film containing immobilised bacteria and fungi, offer a potentially low-cost and effective solution.
Alberto Vergara-Fernández, Founder of Green Technologies Research Group at Universidad de los Andes in Chile and corresponding author of the study explained the rationale behind the research.
‘The first motivation was the search for a treatment system that was easy to install and did not depend on new pipes and installations for its use. In addition, it can be applied in different confined environments, from domestic to industrial under the same principle.’
The study focused on the removal of two pollutants of particular concern in indoor spaces, namely volatile organic compounds (VOCs) which can originate from building materials and household products such as paint; and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from wood-burning.
Current methods for the removal of these pollutants are largely limited to adsorption techniques, which use an activated carbon filter to capture the impurities. However, Vergara-Fernández explains a key issue with these systems - pollutants will accumulate on the activated carbon and form a new waste requiring disposal.
Explaining the advantages of the new prototype system, he said, ‘The main difference is related to the destruction capacity of the contaminants rather than the transfer of them to another phase, from which they must also be eliminated. Given the degradation of the contaminants and not just adsorption, the lifetime of the support is much longer, maintaining its high removal efficiency.’
The researchers used the fungus Fusarium solani and the bacterium Rhodococcus erythropolis to grow an initial microbial population for the system. After 8 months of continuous performance, further species were captured from the air, demonstrating the potential of the prototype for retaining airborne bacteria and fungi.
Vergara-Fernández explained how the high specialisation of the microbial flora developed in the bioreactor contributed to the efficiency of the purification system. ‘One of the main findings was the possibility of developing a highly specialised microbial consortium, which allows obtaining high elimination capacities in very short periods of operation time, maintaining good elimination capacities.’
Whilst there have been a number of previous studies using biological methods for the treatment of indoor pollutants under laboratory conditions, no commercial systems have been deployed on a large scale, possibly influenced by the large sizes required to achieve an acceptable removal efficiency.
Vergara-Fernández and the team hope that they can continue to develop their research to address this problem.
He explained, ‘The main challenges and limitations of the biopurification system, on which we are currently working, is the reduction in the dimensions of the equipment that makes up the system. We are developing a hybrid system that combines physical-chemical and biological technology, with the aim of reducing the inlet flows to the biological system’.
JOURNAL
Journal of Chemical Technology and Biotechnology
SUBJECT OF RESEARCH
Cells
ARTICLE TITLE
A radial-flow device for the biopurification of a model VOC- and wood-smoke- contaminated confined space
COI STATEMENT
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Radial-flow biopurification device prototype
Scanning electron microphotography showing multiple microbial species in the biopurifier after 8 months of operation: Aspergillus niger
Scanning electron microphotography showing multiple microbial species in the biopurifier after 8 months of operation: Aspergillus fumigatus
CREDIT
Alberto Vergara-Fernández
Research finds animated short videos are effective in sharing environmental health information
Air pollution is a major health risk that is only getting worse due to climate change. However, many health professionals feel they are not equipped to sufficiently address these impacts.
Published in the peer-reviewed journal BMC Medical Education, a University of Minnesota Medical School research team found animated short videos are an effective means for disseminating environmental health information to health professionals.
The research team created a two-minute educational video on the health impacts of air pollution and ways to mitigate risks. Between March and June of 2021, more than 200 practicing health professionals and learners viewed the video and took a pre-and post- evaluation survey. After watching the video, participant knowledge of the inequitable health impacts of air pollution significantly increased and their perceived comfort in identifying and counseling at-risk patients also significantly improved.
“Identifying at-risk patients who may be impacted by air pollution and providing counseling is not yet standard practice, and it is also not integrated into medical education. A major barrier is time. We created this video to overcome that barrier,” said Brenna Doheny, PhD, MPH, a postdoctoral associate at the U of M Medical School, Duluth Campus. “The results exceeded our expectations. A two-minute video can really make an impact in improving knowledge and confidence in applying that knowledge.”
The team suggests incorporating animated videos into health professional educational programs. Future research plans include evaluating videos as a patient education tool and producing videos on further environmental health topics.
“Minnesotans are already facing the health impacts of climate change. Just in 2023, I’ve taken care of patients admitted with breathing issues from wildfire smoke and worked with farmers to prevent heat strokes,” said Laalitha Surapaneni, MD, MPH, an assistant professor with the U of M Medical School and hospitalist with M Health Fairview. “Given our success, we look forward to creating and studying videos that can be easily accessed by patients.”
The production of the video was funded by the nonprofit Health Professionals for a Healthy Climate. The survey research was funded in part by a mini grant from the Institute on the Environment and a General Internal Medicine Clinical Research Analysis, Informatics, Data & Dissemination mini grant.
-30-
Along with Drs. Doheny and Surapaneni, the research team includes Scott Lunos, a senior biostatistician with the Clinical and Translational Science Institute, and Jack Inglis and Karly Boll. Inglis and Boll were medical students at the start of the project and are now residents at Hennepin County Medical Center.
###
About the University of Minnesota Medical School
The University of Minnesota Medical School is at the forefront of learning and discovery, transforming medical care and educating the next generation of physicians. Our graduates and faculty produce high-impact biomedical research and advance the practice of medicine. We acknowledge that the U of M Medical School is located on traditional, ancestral and contemporary lands of the Dakota and the Ojibwe, and scores of other Indigenous people, and we affirm our commitment to tribal communities and their sovereignty as we seek to improve and strengthen our relations with tribal nations. For more information about the U of M Medical School, please visit med.umn.edu.
JOURNAL
BMC Medical Education
METHOD OF RESEARCH
Experimental study
SUBJECT OF RESEARCH
People
ARTICLE TITLE
Short animated video increases knowledge and perceived comfort in clinical counseling on inequitable health impacts of air pollution among interprofessional health learners and clinicians
A trillion scents, one nose
Smell’s sensory magic emerges from intricate developmental mechanism that tailors each of nose’s sensory cells, mice studies suggest
IMAGE:
THE GENOME INSIDE AN OLFACTORY CELL’S NUCLEUS IS SHOWN AS A TANGLE OF COLOR-MARKED CHROMOSOMES WITH GENOMIC LOCATIONS OF OLFACTORY RECEPTOR GENES REVEALED ON THE RIGHT.
view moreCREDIT: LOMVARDAS LAB, COLUMBIA'S ZUCKERMAN INSTITUTE.
The mammalian nose is a work of evolutionary art. Its millions of nerve cells, each tailored with just one of thousands of specific odor-chemical receptors encoded in the genome, can collectively distinguish a trillion distinct scents. Those sensations, in turn, inform many behaviors, from assessing food options to discerning friends from foes to sparking memories.
Today, in the journal Nature, a research team led by scientists at Columbia’s Zuckerman Institute describes a previously undetected mechanism in mice—starring the genetic molecule RNA—that could explain how each sensory cell, or neuron, in mammalian noses becomes tailored to detect a specific odor chemical.
For example, there are sensory neurons in our noses that bear receptors uniquely tuned to detect ethyl vanillin, the main odorant in vanilla, and other cells with receptors for limonene, lemon’s signature odorant.
“How sensory cells in the nose make their receptor choices has been one of the most vexing mysteries about olfaction,” said Stavros Lomvardas, Ph.D., a Herbert and Florence Irving Professor at Columbia’s Zuckerman Institute and corresponding author on the paper. “Now, the story behind our sense of smell, or olfaction, is becoming clearer, and also more dramatic.”
The sense-refining drama he is referring to unfolds entirely within the minuscule confines of each olfactory neuron’s nucleus, where the cell’s chromosomes and genes reside. There, in a Squid Games-style, winner-takes-all competition, a developing cell’s myriad olfactory receptor genes vie with each other in a process that winnow them down, in stages, first to handful of finalists and then to a single winner. The prevailing gene is the one that determines the cell’s odorant sensitivity. In their study, Dr. Lomvardas and his team uncover details of the final stage of this process when the winner emerges from the finalist genes.
“It’s basically a battle between a 1000 contenders,” said Ariel Pourmorady, the paper’s first author and an M.D.-Ph.D. candidate at the Zuckerman Institute in the Lomvardas lab.
The action is exceedingly complex and involves a dizzying cast of molecular characters. Playing roles that either dial up or down each gene’s ability to produce olfactory receptors are a variety of gene-regulating molecules. By gathering into various alliances within the genome, these molecular players help turn specific genes on or off.
Also in the fray is another set of molecular hubs that reshape portions of the genome in ways that favor specific receptor genes. When his team first observed these in the genome in 2014, Dr. Lomvardas dubbed them “Greek Islands” because they reminded him of islands in the Aegean Sea.
“It turns out that the genome has a certain spatial organization in the nucleus and changes in this structure are pivotal when it comes to which genes are expressed into proteins, like olfactory receptors,” said Pourmorady. “We are learning just how important this process is within maturing olfactory cells.”
In their new Nature paper, the researchers summon a trove of data from mouse studies pointing toward RNA as the linchpin molecule in the olfactory system’s gene-choosing mechanism. RNA is most known as the go-between molecule that translates the genetic code embodied in DNA into protein molecules with specific cellular jobs, like detecting odorants. Using sophisticated techniques for analyzing changes in genome structure as cells mature, however, the researchers say their evidence points to a pivotal second role for the RNA.
“It looks like the RNA the cell makes during gene expression also is altering the genome’s architecture in ways that bolster the expression of one olfactory receptor gene while also shutting down all the others,” Pourmorady said.
Big gaps in this genome-controlling story remain, but the researchers say the outline
is becoming more defined. It starts with maturing olfactory cells, which initially express many receptor genes at those genomic hubs where gene-regulating molecules and complexes, including Greek Islands, converge.
Then the RNA winnows the contending olfactory-receptor genes down to one. The particular hub in each cell where the molecular stars align to produce the highest amount of RNA wins the competition. At this hub, receptor-gene expression soars. But, like a slinky saboteur, RNA from that same hub may wind its way to all the other hubs. In those locations, the RNA causes shape changes in the genome that shut down gene expression. The result is a nose’s worth of mature olfactory neurons, each of which bears on its surface only one odorant receptor.
“We are reaching the edge of science fiction when it comes to the molecular and genomic details we now can observe inside a single cell’s nucleus,” said Dr. Lomvardas. “We need to keep going back in to figure out the rest of this olfaction puzzle.”
###
The paper, “RNA-mediated symmetry breaking enablessingular olfactory receptor choice,” was published today in Nature.
The full list of authors includes Ariel D. Pourmorady, Elizaveta V. Bashkirova, Andrea M. Chiariello, Houda Belagzhal, Albana Kodra, Rachel Duffié, Jerome Kahiapo, Kevin Monahan, Joan Pulupa, Ira Schieren, Alexa Osterhoudt, Job Dekker, Mario Nicodemi and Stavros Lomvardas.
The authors declare no competing interests.
JOURNAL
Nature
METHOD OF RESEARCH
Experimental study
SUBJECT OF RESEARCH
Animals
ARTICLE TITLE
RNA-mediated symmetry breaking enables singular olfactory receptor choice
ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE
20-Dec-2023
No comments:
Post a Comment