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)
Thursday, January 16, 2025
Highlighting the dangers of restricting discussions of structural racism
University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing
image:
Derek Griffith, PhD, the Risa Lavizzo-Mourey Population Health and Health Equity University Professor in Penn Nursing’s Department of Family and Community Health; Professor in the Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy in the Perelman School of Medicine; and a Fellow and Senior Advisor on Health Equity and Anti-Racism in The Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics
PHILADELPHIA (January 16, 2025) – A new Health Affairs Health Policy Brief highlights the detrimental impact of recent state and federal policies that restrict discussions of “divisive concepts,” including structural racism. It warns that these policies undermine efforts to address health inequities and improve population health.
The article, was co-authored by Andrew Twinamatsiko – director of the Center for Health Policy and the Law in the Georgetown University O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law – examines the impact of policies that seek to prevent discussions of structural racism in educational and health policy contexts. These policies, often rooted in a narrow and individualistic definition of racism, ignore the systemic and institutional factors that perpetuate health inequities. It emphasizes the importance of addressing structural racism as a critical component of achieving health equity. The authors call on policymakers to:
Educate themselves on the facts about structural racism and its implications for health.
Support community-based initiatives that promote population health and health equity.
Propose laws and policies that encourage discussions of “divisive concepts” and highlight their benefits.
Organize across sectors and political party lines to advance health equity.
“By embracing a more nuanced understanding of racism and its impact on health, we can work towards creating a more equitable future for all,” said Griffith.
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About the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing
The University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing is one of the world’s leading schools of nursing. For the ninth year in a row, it is ranked the #1 nursing school in the world by QS University. Our Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) is among the top ranked programs in the nation according to the 2025 U.S. News & World Report’s Best Colleges rankings. Our School also consistently ranks highly in the U.S. News & World Report annual list of best graduate schools and is ranked as one of the top schools of nursing in funding from the National Institutes of Health. Penn Nursing prepares nurse scientists and nurse leaders to meet the health needs of a global society through innovation in research, education, and practice. Follow Penn Nursing on: Facebook, X, LinkedIn, YouTube, & Instagram.
Journal
Health Affairs
Article Title
‘Divisive Concepts’ Prohibitions: Implications For Health And Health Equity
Article Publication Date
16-Jan-2025
Climate change driving ‘cost-of-living' squeeze in lizards
Desert lizards are facing a ‘cost-of-living’ squeeze as global temperatures continue to rise, a new study finds.
Desert lizards are facing a ‘cost-of-living’ squeeze as global temperatures continue to rise, a new study finds.
For a lizard, the 'cost-of-living' is tightly linked to its body temperature, which dictates both how much food it needs and whether it can go outside to feed. Desert lizards are especially challenged because food is sparse, and it is often too hot to forage.
Published today in Science, the study found climate warming can ‘squeeze’ desert lizard energy budgets by increasing the food they need just to survive while decreasing their time to find it.
Lead author and University of Melbourne researcher Dr Kristoffer Wild said climate warming will affect species differently based on when they forage and illustrates the importance of tailoring conservation strategies to safeguard species populations.
“Cost-of-living is a concept humans are all too aware of, but the same concept applies to ectotherms – or cold-blooded animals – such as lizards. We just need to switch the currency from money to energy and realize that for lizards these costs and their ability to meet them depend on temperature,” Dr Wild said.
“Our study reveals that as deserts heat up, diurnal (day-active) lizards face a squeeze—needing more food while having less time to find it. On the other hand, nocturnal (night-active) lizards may benefit from warmer nights that allow more hunting time.
“In other words, it’s like diurnal lizards paying higher bills with fewer work hours, while nocturnal lizards can counter high bills by gaining extra work hours during the warmer nights.”
The researchers were able to predict the cost of living with a model that combines physics with biology. Co-author and University of Melbourne researcher, Professor Michael Kearney said they were able to test their model predictions against historical field data to quantify how climate warming impacts desert reptiles across continents.
“We were able to reconstruct, within two or three degrees, what a field biologist observed in the middle of the Australian and African deserts more than 50 years ago,” Professor Kearney said.
“This gives us confidence to predict the direct effects of climate warming on these animals in the future.
“If we can better understand the ecological processes underpinning these cost-of-living pressures, we can better anticipate the species most at risk and act accordingly.”
The researchers also found that globally, areas that have had historically more warming will face more challenges in the future.
“We can anticipate future warming impacts to be more severe in Africa than in Australia, with African desert lizards requiring more food with less time to find it,” Dr Wild said.
Researchers said the effects of warming on energy budgets are further compounded by other factors associated with climate change including food availability and increased water requirements in arid environments.
“Importantly, we show energy pressures are greatest in summer and spring, which is the reproductive window for many species,” Dr Wild said.
“Our next steps will be to bring food and water resources into our calculations and translate the results into growth and reproduction, which will help us predict whether populations will survive further change under warming.”
Ornamental olive trees imported for sale in the UK can be over 100 years old, with many hiding places amongst their gnarly bark and the soil they’re transported in. This is incredibly risky in terms of importing pests.
Continental European snakes, geckos and Italian wall lizards are making their way to northern Europe undetected among imports of ornamental olive trees destined for gardens and green spaces.
These hitchhiking intruders can become invasive pests that cause extensive damage to the natural environment - as has happened in previously snake-free islands of the Mediterranean like Majorca.
They’re also a red flag for a bigger problem: the range of potentially serious agricultural and environmental pests being unwittingly imported to Britain and mainland Europe on ornamental plants and cut flowers, simply because they are difficult to detect in high-volume, fast-moving shipments of plants.
In a study published today in the journal Bioscience, researchers says that despite regulations and border checks, imported cut flowers and pot plants present a growing risk because the sheer volume of trade makes it difficult to monitor and control. Insects, fungi, reptiles, spiders and various agricultural pests are being transported live across the world on ornamental plants destined to brighten up our homes and gardens.
The multi-billion dollar global market for ornamental plants is growing fast and geographically expanding, and improved standards are urgently needed, they say.
The changing climate means that disease-carrying insects like mosquitoes, which decades ago would have arrived in northern Europe and died from the cold, might now survive. It is also enabling some ornamental plants themselves to become invasive pests as growing conditions change.
“Ornamental olive trees for sale in the UK can be over 100 years old, with many hiding places amongst their gnarly bark and the soil they’re transported in. This is incredibly risky in terms of importing pests,” said Professor William Sutherland in the University of Cambridge’s Department of Zoology, who was involved in the study.
He added: “Adult snakes and lizards are just the tip of the iceberg. If they’re getting through, what’s the chance of us spotting small insects and fungi – the things that really cause the problems? It’s inconceivable that officials can thoroughly check an import of a million roses from Kenya, for example.”
“The sheer volume of cut flowers and ornamental plants being traded at speed around the world makes it extremely difficult to intercept all the pests and diseases they carry. Even with the best of intentions, unwanted hitchhikers are getting through customs import checks all the time,” said Dr Silviu Petrovan, a researcher in the University of Cambridge’s Department of Zoology and a senior author of the paper.
Suppliers do not always operate within the law. Orchids and cacti are amongst the high-value plants sometimes illegally stripped from tropical habitats and included in shipments. Regulations to prevent the trade in protected wild plants are challenging to enforce on a large scale.
“Even with a global trade in cultivated ornamental plants, there is still a market for rare species taken from the wild, and this can lead to rapid species declines, as well as increased risks that wild pests and plant diseases may enter the supply chain,’ said Dr Amy Hinsley, a researcher at the Oxford Martin Programme on Wildlife Trade at the University of Oxford, who was involved in the study.
No joke
Petrovan, a frog specialist, became interested in the topic when he was asked to identify a live frog found in roses in a florists’ shop in Sheffield. At first he thought it was a prank, because he didn’t recognise it as any European species. When he realised it was a tree-frog that must have arrived with the cut roses from Colombia via Ecuador, he was stunned.
“Finding a South American tree-frog in a Sheffield florist was extraordinary. It made me realise that if you can get this type of fragile small vertebrate arriving alive in a flower shipment without being noticed at customs, just how hard it must be to detect very small agricultural insect pests or their eggs,” said Petrovan.
With no comprehensive international database on the types and numbers of pests found on imported ornamental plants, it is difficult to fully assess the extent of the problem. To gain a snapshot, the team analysed records of pests found in ornamental plants at customs in The Netherlands over 2017-2018, and reported to DEFRA in the UK over 2021-2023. In both cases, over 80% of the pests intercepted were insects.
Beyond the pests
The study highlights many other concerning environmental and health issues connected with the global ornamental plant trade, particularly in the countries growing the plants. These include:
environment-harming microplastics and agrochemicals entering the soil and water systems from the growing process;
the huge volumes of water required to grow flowers that might otherwise be used to grow food - the floriculture industry in Kenya, for example, is responsible for up to 98% of the water drawn from major lakes like Lake Naivasha. Concerns have also been raised on the ability of supplier nations to cater for their own agricultural needs;
the carbon footprint of chilling and transporting cut flowers between continents - estimated to be as high as 3kg of CO2 per flower;
large quantities of plants being taken from the wild, including critically endangered species of cacti, succulents and orchids.
But an industry that employs so many people is not all bad: the ornamental plant trade is important for economies worldwide and supports many people and their families in rural areas. In 2022 the export value of cut flowers and foliage was US$10 billion, and for live plants and bulbs was $13 billion.
“We absolutely don’t want to encourage knee-jerk reactions that might be well-meaning, but actually cause more problems than they solve,” said Petrovan.
He added: “We need to push to make the industry more sustainable through things like certifications and better regulation, and to work with those involved in the trade to better understand the risks and how to mitigate them.”
Alice Hughes, a researcher at the University of Hong Kong who was also involved in the research, said: “We need to be responsible consumers. While certification standards are being developed, buying plants rather than cut flowers can reduce many of the risks that stem from importing cut flowers. They last much longer and also reduce the emission costs.”
Plant seeds are being accidentally introduced into Europe in the soil of imported pot plants like this bonsai tree. In a few weeks with only light, water and nutrients, lots of other plant species appeared in the pots.
Credit
Johan van Valkenburg
The researchers say these adult lizards are just the tip of the iceberg. If they’re getting through customs import checks, what’s the chance of small insects and fungi – the things that really cause the problems - being spotted?
Credit
Felix Verschoor Ravon
European tree frogs are often accidentally imported with flowers coming into the Netherlands. The sheer volume of cut flowers and ornamental plants being traded at speed around the world makes it extremely difficult to intercept all the pests and diseases they carry.
Credit
University of Cambridge
Despite regulations and border checks, imported cut flowers and pot plants present a growing risk because the sheer volume of trade makes it difficult to monitor and control. Insects, fungi, reptiles, spiders and various agricultural pests are being transported live across the world on ornamental plants.
Understanding the environmental and social risks from the international trade in ornamental plan
Article Publication Date
16-Jan-2025
University of Calgary nursing study envisions child trauma treatment through a Marvel and DC lens
Clinically tested adverse childhood experience (ACE) questionnaires applied to cinematic superheroes and villains
University of Calgary
Perhaps you’ve heard the story of Peter Parker, raised by his aunt and uncle after the death of his parents only to see his uncle murdered by the same criminal the radioactive spider-bitten teen neglected to apprehend that very day. His guilt drives him to become Spider-Man.
But childhood trauma doesn’t always inspire super-heroics. Heath Ledger’s psychotic Joker, as seen in 2008 film The Dark Knight, recounts tales of horrific abuse by a father who disfigures him. It’s a stark contrast to his heroic nemesis Batman, who saw his parents gunned down in front of him as a young boy.
If you want to talk childhood trauma in a fictional setting, you’ll find no shortage of it in the cinematic universes of Marvel and DC.
This has inspired a unique study from the University of Calgary’s Faculty of Nursing, published inPLOS One, which applies real-life clinical questionnaires on adverse childhood experiences (ACE) to select Marvel and DC characters, heroes and villains alike.
ACE questionnaires are used by clinicians to measure potentially traumatic events that occur during childhood, such as abuse or neglect. In applying the ACE questionnaires to Marvel and DC characters, the researchers found that higher scores – which indicate a more challenging childhood – were not the determining factor as to whether a character became a hero or a villain.
These findings reinforce the notion that ACE scores are not accurate predictors of bad behaviour. Rather, they may indicate potential risks and illuminate areas where extra supports could be helpful.
“It’s an unconventional approach which may give us opportunities to talk to children about topics that are really difficult by using Marvel and DC characters as a way in,” says Dr. Jennifer Jackson, PhD, assistant professor in the Faculty of Nursing and one of the paper’s co-authors. “One challenge of mental health treatment is finding ways to talk about it, free of stigma, and this might engage millions of children who love the Marvel and DC movies. It’s a method for addressing child abuse and trauma, essentially, that’s non-confrontational and non-threatening.”
“It might even be inspiring,” notes Jackson. “‘Bruce Wayne’s parents died, and he didn’t become a villain, he became Batman. Maybe there’s hope for me, too.’”
The study’s initial hypothesis was that super villains would have higher ACE scores than superheroes. As the project developed several researchers from the Faculty of Nursing contributed, including assistant professor (teaching) Julia Wigmore (MN’16), the lead author.
“As someone who has used ACE scores in clinical practice and previous research projects, I’ve observed that high scores are associated with a greater risk of toxic stress and poor health outcomes,” says Wigmore. “I was intrigued by this idea that higher scores might also be associated with villainy... But instead, we found that childhood trauma doesn’t have to paint this dark path.”
The study incorporates 28 characters from 33 films, with ACE scores evenly distributed between heroes and villains and Marvel and DC universes with care paid to gender and racial diversity. Among the characters given the ACE treatment are Wonder Woman, Harley Quinn, Shang-Chi, Black Panther and his Wakandan foe Killmonger, and the gender-fluid Loki.
“It is great to see more diverse characters as superheroes,” says Jackson. “It increases the opportunity for a viewer to see a hero and think, ‘Hey, that’s me!’”
The research largely refutes the idea that villains are a product of their experiences says Jackson. “Black Widow has the highest ACE score but is a hero,” she notes. “Loki, on the other hand, was raised with loving parents in a life of royal privilege but he becomes a villain... Based on the films we watched, characters chose to be heroes, and that was what made the difference – not their experiences.”
Journal
PLOS One
Method of Research
Observational study
Article Title
Are adverse childhood experiences scores associated with heroism or villainy? A quantitative observational study of Marvel and DC Cinematic Universe characters
Article Publication Date
15-Jan-2025
Biochar reduces the risks of DDT-contaminated soil
Credit: Anja Enell, the Swedish Geotechnical Institute.
DDT soil pollution is still a major problem in many parts of the world. Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, have developed a new method to manage ecological risks from the toxin by binding it with biochar. When they mixed biochar into contaminated soil at a former tree nursery, DDT uptake by earthworms in the soil was halved. This method may enable the growing of certain crops on land that is currently considered unusable due to the environmental risks.
The legacy of previous generations´ use of the insecticide DDT still affects us today. During the 50s and 60s, the substance was used to control pests in forestry and agriculture, and although it has been banned for over 50 years, in Sweden alone there are thousands of sites where the soil is still DDT-contaminated. Many other countries around the world have the same problem.
The toxin has been linked to a variety of negative health effects in humans and animals, and it breaks down very slowly. It poses an ecological risk because it can be taken up by terrestrial organisms such as earthworms. When these are in turn eaten by birds and other animals, DDT begins to accumulate within the food chain, which means that the top predators are affected by the highest toxin concentrations.
For three years, researchers at Chalmers University of Technology have been testing a new method to reduce the ecological risks of the toxin, at a DDT-contaminated former tree nursery in southern Sweden.
“In our field experiment, we mixed the soil with biochar and grew different plants. We found that biochar binds DDT efficiently, so that it is not taken up by soil organisms,” says Paul Drenning, postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering at Chalmers, and the first author of the study.
Cheap and environmentally friendly solution on site
Biochar – which is similar to charcoal – is an environmentally friendly product that is cheap to produce. It binds contaminants and can improve soil health when added to soil. This practice can also be useful for climate change mitigation since it can contribute to long-term storage of carbon in the soil.
The researchers found that the amount of DDT taken up by earthworms in the soil decreased by an average of 50 per cent when the soil had been mixed with biochar. This indicates that the bioavailability of DDT to soil organisms had been reduced – meaning that the soil had become less toxic, with a lower risk of DDT spread via bioaccumulation in the food chain of animals, or by leaching into water.
This reduction in environmental risks could, in turn, lead to landowners being able to start farming again on land that is currently unused, pending decisions on how to manage the contaminated soil.
“Treating contaminated soil in large volumes is costly and complicated. A common solution is to dig out the soil and then transport it to a landfill for hazardous waste, but that means destroying good quality soils and is not a reasonable solution for large contaminated areas”, says Paul Drenning. “Treatment with biochar on site could thus make the land useful instead of being left uncultivated or degraded, and also at a significantly lower cost for both the landowner and for the environment.”
Long-term effect expected
Examples of crops that could be grown in the treated area are saplings of pine and spruce, hay for animal feed or bioenergy crops such as willow trees (salix). The treatment with biochar means that plants may take up less DDT from the soil as well, but they accumulate very little even without treatment.
“The reason why the contaminated land is left unused today is not that there would be health risks with crops, but that the landowner is obliged by regulation to address the ecological risks with DDT. While awaiting an investigation and decision on this, the land has remained unused”, says Jenny Norrman, Professor at the Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering and the leader of the research project.
Biochar decomposes very slowly in soil, and the researchers expect the effect of the treatment to last for a long time – perhaps for decades. They will continue sampling at the site for several years to follow the development. In parallel, they will explore how to scale up the experiment, to be able to mix biochar into the soil without having to dig out large volumes.
Great potential for the method
Using biochar for treatment of contaminated soil is uncommon today. As far as the researchers know, the method has not been tested before at forest nurseries in Sweden, or internationally in the same soil type and climate.
“There is a great interest in using biochar for stabilisation of both DDT and various other contaminants in soils, such as metals and polyaromatic hydrocarbons. Therefore, it is positive that we have been able to see a good effect in our experiment,” says Paul Drenning.
Soil is a valuable resource with a very slow rate of regeneration – a single centimetre of soil can take hundreds of years to form. In the European Union, 60-70 per cent of the soils are considered unhealthy due to degradation, with soil pollution being a major driver. Active work is now underway within the EU to better control soil pollution. The European Commission´s upcoming Soil Monitoring Law contains new, stricter rules for sustainable land management and remediation of contaminated areas, where consideration of soil health is expected to play a significant role.
The Chalmers researchers have also investigated several other aspects of soil health – such as different treatment effects on soil functions like nutrient cycling, water cycling and carbon storage – with positive results, in addition to the effect of biochar on DDT. Their field experiment is a demonstration of a general methodology which they have developed for evaluating the effects of gentle remediation options on soil health. It is designed to also be accessible for practitioners and decision-makers, such as landowners.
More about: the scientific study
The three-year study was conducted on a 23-hectare DDT-contaminated former tree nursery in southern Sweden. The researchers dug out soil from a 50x5-metre section, divided the soil into piles and mixed biochar into half of them. They set up 24 experimental plots and distributed the soil randomly to the plots, half of which with biochar-amended soil. The plots were planted with four different plants: pumpkin, grasses, legumes and willows. The researchers then used physical, chemical, and biological indicators to evaluate soil health and examine the effects of the plants and the biochar.
More about: biochar
Biochar is a soil improvement material with great potential for a variety of applications. It is similar to charcoal and barbecue charcoal, but biochar is produced specifically to be added to arable soil and has special properties that make it suitable for stabilising contaminants in the soil. It is produced by incinerating organic waste, such as residues from forestry and agriculture, in a process without oxygen, so-called pyrolysis.
The ability of biochar to bind pollutants is similar to that of activated carbon, a substance used for example to purify water and as a treatment when people have consumed certain toxins.
Through its porous structure, biochar can also help retain water, air and nutrients in the soil. Increasing soil fertility with coal is a technique that has been used for thousands of years around the world, for example through slash-and-burn farming.
More about: DDT
Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) is an insecticide introduced in 1942. It has now been banned for over 50 years, but it still remains in relatively high concentrations in soils around the world. An example of how it was used in the 50s and 60s to control pests in Sweden was dipping the cuttings in DDT, often in combination with DDT spreading on the ground.
DDT is an endocrine disrupting environmental toxin that has been linked to health effects such as cancer, cardiovascular disease and reproductive problems in animals and humans. Because it decomposes very slowly, it accumulates in the food chain of animals, thus affecting large predators the most – a group that can also include humans.
More about: The EU Soil Monitoring Law, expected to be adopted in 2025
There are an estimated 2.8 million potentially contaminated sites in Europe. To address this legacy of past polluting activities, the Proposal for a Directive on Soil Monitoring and Resilience (Soil Monitoring Law) calls on EU Member States to:
identify all potentially contaminated sites
map them in a public register
investigate the sites
address any unacceptable risks for human health and the environment.
The ultimate objective is to have all soils in a healthy condition by 2050, in line with the EU Zero Pollution ambition. To achieve the objectives, the Directive includes:
a harmonised definition of soil health
a comprehensive and coherent monitoring framework
sustainable soil management principles to guide soil management practices and remediation of contaminated sites.
ers dug out soil, put it in piles and mixed biochar into half of them. They then set up 24 experimental plots and distributed the soil piles to them in a randomized experiment. The results later showed that the amount of DDT taken up by earthworms in the soil decreased by an average of 50 per cent when the soil had been mixed with biochar.
CaptionThe three-year study was conducted on a 23-hectare DDT-contaminated former tree nursery in southern Sweden.
Credit
Chalmers University of Technology
The researchers dug out soil, put it in piles and mixed biochar into half of them. They then set up 24 experimental plots and distributed the soil piles to them in a randomized experiment. The results later showed that the amount of DDT taken up by earthworms in the soil decreased by an average of 50 per cent when the soil had been mixed with biochar.
