Cancer screening rates are significantly lower in US federally qualified health centers

Study finds breast, cervical and colorectal cancer screening substantially lower in clinics serving underrepresented communities compared to overall national and state rates.

UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS M. D. ANDERSON CANCER CENTER

 

IMAGE: 

JANE MONTEALEGRE, PH.D.

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CREDIT: THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS MD ANDERSON CANCER CENTER

HOUSTON and ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. ― A national study led by researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and The University of New Mexico (UNM) Comprehensive Cancer Center found major gaps in breast, cervical and colorectal cancer screening use in Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) in the U.S., relative to overall screening rates in the country.

The findings, published today in JAMA Internal Medicine, revealed screening use in FQHCs was 45.4% for breast cancer, 51% for cervical cancer and 40.2% for colorectal cancer, compared to cancer screening rates in the general American population of 78.2%, 82.9% and 72.3%, respectively.

“FQHCs provide high-quality primary care to underserved communities in the U.S., which are disproportionately comprised of racial and ethnic minorities, people without health insurance, and those living below the poverty level,” said study author Jane Montealegre, Ph.D., associate professor of Behavioral Science at MD Anderson. “These findings highlight an urgent need to focus on scaling up evidence-based screenings in these populations to mitigate cancer disparities.”

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) offers guidance for the general population to get screened for breast, cervical and colorectal cancer based on age and family history. However, screening use remains suboptimal in many marginalized populations. About 30 million people in the U.S. who might not otherwise have access to medical services currently use FQHCs.

The study, led by postdoctoral fellow Trisha Amboree, Ph.D., examined screening information from the Health Center Program Uniform Data System from 1,364 FQHCs between January 1 and December 31, 2020. To understand screening in the general population, researchers evaluated data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, which includes the use of preventive health services for non-institutionalized U.S. adults over the age of 18, during the same time period.

Researchers found cancer screening use in FQHCs varied widely across states. Certain states, such as Maine and New Hampshire, achieved screening rates over 60% and others fell below 35%, including Utah, Wyoming and Alabama. Additionally, the study revealed underscreened populations served by FQHCs in specific states contributed to a large proportion of America’s overall underscreened population. Experts attribute these differences, in part, to the variability of state screening programs and policies around healthcare funding.

“FQHCs face financial constraints and staff turnover while trying to provide care in a fragmented health system. Implementing clinical preventive services such as cancer screenings will require additional support,” said corresponding author Prajakta Adsul, M.B.B.S, Ph.D., assistant professor of Internal Medicine at UNM. “With investments in implementation research in FQHCs, there is potential to mitigate screening-related disparities in medically underserved populations.”

Limitations of the study include self-reporting in the datasets and potential effects from the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The research was supported by the National Institutes of Health (R01MD013715, R01CA232888, R01CA256660). A full list of collaborating authors and their disclosures can be found here.

Read more in the MD Anderson Newsroom.

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JOURNAL

JAMA Internal Medicine

 

The aspirin conundrum: navigating negative results, age, aging dynamics and equity

GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER

WASHINGTON – A new study examining the role of aspirin in breast cancer treatment reveals critical issues related to health equity and aging that have broad implications for cancer and other disease intervention trials, say researchers from Georgetown University’s Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center. They outline their concerns in an editorial accompanying the study’s findings published April 29 in the JAMA (“The Aspirin Conundrum: Navigating Negative Results, Age, Aging Dynamics and Equity”). 

The study, called the Alliance trial, was launched after researchers noted that breast cancer survivors taking aspirin as part of another clinical trial for cardiovascular disease lived longer.  

To confirm the observation, a phase 3 clinical trial randomly assigned volunteers with nonmetastatic, high-risk breast cancer to receive either 300mg of aspirin or placebo daily. The outcome was a disappointment. The study was suspended at the first interim safety analysis because the results indicated futility – aspirin did not decrease the risk of cancer recurrence or improve survival.

In their editorial examining the trial, the Georgetown researchers, Jeanne Mandelblatt, MD, MPH; Candace Mainor, MD; and Barry Hudson, PhD, raise several important questions about the outcome.

For example, the authors point out that despite efforts to include various groups in the study, certain subgroups, like racial minorities and those with high exposure to systemic racism, may not have been adequately represented.

“Some individuals from these groups may experience chronic life stressors that affect inflammation, accelerate biological aging and contribute to disparities in cancer risk, recurrence and mortality,” they write, noting that these individuals could potentially benefit from aspirin, an anti-inflammatory drug.

Researchers say another issue with this and other trials is how chronological age and biological age might affect implications for a trial’s design and its results.

The results in the Alliance trial “raises the question of whether aspirin's lack of benefit could be partly explained by variations in biological age, including heterogeneity in immune and platelet function, inflammatory responses and host-tumor microenvironment interactions,” they write. “Thus, careful consideration of the intersectionality of aging, cancer and disparities will be critical in designing future oncology and other disease trials to advance health equity.”

Finally, the researchers say clinicians may find it challenging to integrate new findings into routine practice because the results suggest a lack of intervention efficacy along with the many unanswered questions.

Despite the fairly definitive negative result for use of aspirin to improve invasive disease-free survival among breast cancer survivors,  the researchers say, “...oncology and primary care providers may still consider discussing with each other and their patients the potential benefits and harms of aspirin used for other reasons.”

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Mandelblatt was supported in part by the National Institutes of Health at the National Cancer Institute Grants R01CA129769, R35CA197289 and R35CA283926 and National Institutes of Health at the National Institute on Aging Grants R01AG082348, R56AG068086 and R21/R33AG075008. Hudson  is  supported in part by the National Institutes of Health at the National Cancer Institute Grant R01CA276587. 

The funders did not have any role in the writing of this editorial or the decision to submit the editorial for publication.

The authors report the following disclosures: 

Mandelblatt is a member of the Alliance Cancer in the Older Adult Committee. She is  co-inventor on a pending invention patent application (PCT/US2022/028741) filed by Georgetown University titled “Use of RAGE inhibitors to Treat Cancer-Related Cognitive Decline” and licensed to Cantex Pharmaceuticals. Mandelblatt has waived her rights and will not receive any remuneration, consideration or revenue generated from this license or the patents and patent applications licensed thereunder. 

Mainor receives institutional clinical trial funding support from Pfizer and Cantex pharmaceuticals.

Hudson is a co-inventor on a pending invention patent application (PCT/US2022/028741) filed by Georgetown University entitled “Use of RAGE inhibitors to Treat Cancer-Related Cognitive Decline” and licensed to Cantex Pharmaceuticals. Dr Hudson is also a co-inventor on a pending Canadian patent application (CA3118711A1)  filed by the University of Miami titled “Method For Treating Breast Cancer and Chronic Diseases.” Development of this latter invention was supported by the Florida Department of Health, Bankhead-Coley Cancer Biomedical Research Program Grant no. 8BC06.

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JOURNAL

JAMA

DOI

10.1001/jama.2024.4828 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Commentary/editorial

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

The Aspirin Conundrum: Navigating Negative Results, Age, Aging Dynamics and Equity

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

29-Apr-2024

COI STATEMENT

The authors report the following disclosures: Mandelblatt is a member of the Alliance Cancer in the Older Adult Committee. She is co-inventor on a pending invention patent application (PCT/US2022/028741) filed by Georgetown University titled “Use of RAGE inhibitors to Treat Cancer-Related Cognitive Decline” and licensed to Cantex Pharmaceuticals. Mandelblatt has waived her rights and will not receive any remuneration, consideration or revenue generated from this license or the patents and patent applications licensed thereunder. Mainor receives institutional clinical trial funding support from Pfizer and Cantex pharmaceuticals. Hudson is a co-inventor on a pending invention patent application (PCT/US2022/028741) filed by Georgetown University entitled “Use of RAGE inhibitors to Treat Cancer-Related Cognitive Decline” and licensed to Cantex Pharmaceuticals. Dr Hudson is also a co-inventor on a pending Canadian patent application (CA3118711A1) filed by the University of Miami titled “Method For Treating Breast Cancer and Chronic Diseases.” Development of this latter invention was supported by the Florida Department of Health, Bankhead-Coley Cancer Biomedical Research Program Grant no. 8BC06.

 

Expanding health equity by including nursing home residents in clinical trials

REGENSTRIEF INSTITUTE

INDIANAPOLIS – Clinical trials are constantly being designed and study participants enrolled to determine if medical treatments and therapies are safe and effective. Much has been written about the importance of including diverse populations in these trials.

However, the nearly 1.4 million individuals who live in the 15,600 nursing homes across the U.S. have been largely left out of clinical trials, despite the prevalence of such common conditions as hypertension, depression, diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease in this population.

A commentary by faculty of Regenstrief Institute, Indiana University, UCLA and the universities of North Carolina, Colorado and Massachusetts, published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society (JAGS), focuses on the importance of including nursing home residents, a population with significant medical complexity, in clinical trials. The essay highlights the benefits and challenges of conducting research on medical therapies in nursing homes. The authors identify key elements for successful nursing home clinical trials and propose a nursing home clinical trials network, noting that ensuring diversity, equity and inclusion in any trial design is imperative.

“Among the questions we want to ask are: Is this therapy appropriate for a nursing home population? Does it work in a nursing home population but are there issues around implementation? Are there challenges to delivering it in a nursing home setting?” notes corresponding author Kathleen Unroe, M.D., MHA, M.S., a Regenstrief Institute and IU School of Medicine researcher-clinician. “Nursing homes were not built to facilitate research. We as researchers need to fit in. We need to appreciate the realities of providing clinical care in this setting and adjust and adapt our protocols to work within that system.”

Among the topics discussed in the commentary:

• The need for clinical trials in nursing homes
• Gaps that can be filled with these clinical trials
• Challenges conducting these clinical trials
• Next steps in conducting clinical trials in nursing homes
• A framework for making a nursing home clinical trials network a reality

“It is imperative that we build the science of nursing home care around testing, prevention, diagnosis, and treatment. It is a unique setting that merits more focus given the essential role it plays in the continuum of care for seriously ill adults,” said commentary co-author Susan Hickman, PhD, director of Regenstrief Institute’s Center for Aging Research and a faculty member of IU schools of nursing and medicine.

Citing a missed opportunity, the authors write, “Inclusion of nursing home residents in COVID-19 therapeutics trials might have identified specific issues relating to dosing, administration and monitoring, spurred creation of training materials specifically for nursing home staff, and promoted the development of consistent policies to identify appropriate candidates and deliver treatments promptly, safely, and optimally.”

Dr. Unroe adds, “Nursing home residents should have access to evidence-based therapies. When we choose not to do the hard work to test them in the nursing home setting, we are setting ourselves up for a much more difficult implementation.” She notes that “Conducting trials in the nursing home may generate generalizable knowledge that also would be highly relevant to people who are cared for in assisted living facilities or even the broader geriatric population living at home.” 

"Evaluation of medical therapies in the nursing home population: Gaps, challenges, and next steps” is part of a JAGS special collection, "A changing landscape for evaluation of new therapies for older adults and diverse populations: National and international perspectives."

Authors and affiliations:

Kathleen T. Unroe MD, MHA, MS1,2,3| Debra Saliba MD, MPH, AGSF4,5,6,7|Susan E. Hickman PhD2,3,8| Sheryl Zimmerman PhD9,10,11|Cari Levy MD, PhD12,13| Jerry Gurwitz MD14

1Division of General Internal Medicine and Geriatrics, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA

2Indiana University Center for Aging Research, Regenstrief Institute Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana, USA

3Research in Palliative and End-of-Life Communication and Training (RESPECT) Center, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA

4US Department of Veterans Affairs Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System (VAGLAS) Health Services Research and Development Service (HSR&D) Center of Innovation, Los Angeles, California, USA

5David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, California, USA

6Anna and Harry Borun Center for Gerontological Research, University of California Division of Geriatrics, Los Angeles, California, USA

7RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, California, USA

8Indiana University School of Nursing, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA

9School of Social Work, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA

10Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA

11Center for Excellence in Assisted Living (CEAL), School of Social Work, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA

12Division of Geriatric Medicine, University of Colorado School of Medicine Anschutz Campus, Aurora, Colorado, USA

13Denver Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Aurora, Colorado, USA

14Division of Geriatric Medicine, UMass Chan Medical School, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA

Kathleen T. Unroe, M.D., MHA, M.S. 

In addition to being a research scientist with the Indiana University Center for Aging Research at Regenstrief Institute, Kathleen Unroe, M.D., MHA, M.S., is an associate professor of medicine at Indiana University School of Medicine and a practicing geriatrician. Dr. Unroe is the founder and an executive officer of Probari, a healthcare start-up supporting nursing home care.

Susan Hickman, PhD 

In addition to serving as director and a research scientist with the Indiana University Center for Aging Research at Regenstrief Institute, Susan Hickman, PhD, is a professor at Indiana University School of Nursing, a professor of medicine and the Cornelius and Yvonne Pettinga Professor of Aging Research at Indiana University School of Medicine and co-director of the IU Indianapolis Research in Palliative and End-of-Life Communicating and Training (RESPECT) Signature Center.

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JOURNAL

Journal of the American Geriatrics Society

DOI

10.1111/jgs.18829 

ARTICLE TITLE

Evaluation of medical therapies in the nursing home population: Gaps, challenges, and next steps

 

Becker to study Channel Island deer mouse

GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY

 

IMAGE: 

MADELEINE BECKER CONDUCTING RESEARCH

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CREDIT: PHOTO PROVIDED BY MADELEINE BECKER.

Becker To Study Channel Island Deer Mouse

Madeleine Becker, a Mason doctoral student studying with Cody Edwards, Senior Associate Dean for Faculty and Academic Affairs, College of Science; Executive Director, Smithsonian-Mason School of Conservation (SMSC), Associate Provost for a Sustainable Earth, Office of the Provost, is set to receive funding for the study: “Controlling for time: disentangling evolutionary and conservation genomics questions using ‘time series museomics’ in the California Channel Island deer mouse.”

Becker will investigate evolutionary and conservation genomics in insular Peromyscus populations to uncover general patterns in isolated wild mammal populations while parsing the influences of founder effects, biogeography, lineage, and recent change. 

By sequencing genome-wide loci from samples spanning 120 years across the eight California Channel Islands, Becker will take a time-series museomics approach to disentangling signatures of island colonization, inter-island migration, and historically documented bottlenecks. 

Additionally, Becker will compare current population-level metrics of inbreeding and mutational load between islands and mainland mice as well as through time. By taking this unconventional approach in a well-studied mammal abundant in museum collections and the wild, she aims to extend the utility of islands as natural laboratories to test common genetic monitoring techniques and better understand baseline patterns of microevolution in isolation. This research will be valuable both in: 1) its evaluation of the success of conservation interventions implemented on the California Channel Islands specifically, and 2) by serving as an important reference point for ex situ conservation efforts hoping to replicate these measures or otherwise mitigate the harmful effects of genetic isolation and bottlenecks in threatened species.

Becker will receive $6,000 as part of an Ecological, Evolutionary, and Conservation Genomics Research Award from the American Genetics Association for this research. Funding will begin in May 2024 and will end in late April 2025.

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Robots can’t outrun animals. A new study explores why

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO AT BOULDER

 

IMAGE: 

THE MCLARI ROBOT DESIGNED BY ENGINEERS AT CU BOULDER POSES NEXT TO A SPIDER.

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CREDIT: HEIKO KABUTZ

The question may be the 21st century’s version of the fable of the tortoise and the hare: Who would win in a foot race between a robot and an animal?

In a new perspective article, a team of engineers from the United States and Canada, including University of Colorado Boulder roboticist Kaushik Jayaram, set out to answer that riddle. The group analyzed data from dozens of studies and came to a resounding “no.” In almost all cases, biological organisms, such as cheetahs, cockroaches and even humans, seem to be able to outrun their robot counterparts. 

The researchers, led by Samuel Burden at the University of Washington and Maxwell Donelan at Simon Fraser University, published their findings last week in the journal Science Robotics.

“As an engineer, it is kind of upsetting,” said Jayaram, an assistant professor in the Paul M. Rady Department of Mechanical Engineering at CU Boulder. “Over 200 years of intense engineering, we’ve been able to send spacecraft to the moon and Mars and so much more. But it’s confounding that we do not yet have robots that are significantly better than biological systems at locomotion in natural environments.”

He hopes that the study will inspire engineers to learn how to build more adaptable, nimble robots. The researchers concluded that the failure of robots to outrun animals doesn’t come down to shortfalls in any one piece of machinery, such as batteries or actuators. Instead, where engineers might falter is in making those parts work together efficiently.  

This pursuit is one of Jayaram’s chief passions. His lab on the CU Boulder campus is home to a lot of creepy crawlies, including several furry wolf spiders that are about the size of a half dollar.

“Wolf spiders are natural hunters,” Jayaram said. “They live under rocks and can run over complex terrain with incredible speed to catch prey.”

He envisions a world in which engineers build robots that work a bit more like these extraordinary arachnids.

“Animals are, in some sense, the embodiment of this ultimate design principle—a system that functions really well together,” he said.

Cockroach energy

The question of “who can run better, animals or robots?” is complicated because running itself is complicated. 

In previous research, Jayaram and his colleagues at Harvard University designed a line of robots that seek to mimic the behavior of the oft-reviled cockroach. The team’s HAMR-Jr model fits on top of a penny and sprints at speeds equivalent to that of a cheetah. But, Jayaram noted, while HAMR-Jr can bust a move forward and backward, it doesn’t move as well side-to-side or over bumpy terrain. Humble cockroaches, in contrast, have no trouble running over surfaces from porcelain to dirt and gravel. They can also dash up walls and squeeze through tiny cracks.

To understand why such versatility remains a challenge for robots, the authors of the new study broke these machines down into five subsystems including power, frame, actuation, sensing, and control. To the group’s surprise, few of those subsystems seemed to fall short of their equivalents in animals. 

High-quality lithium-ion batteries, for example, can deliver as much as 10 kilowatts of power for every kilogram (2.2 pounds) they weigh. Animal tissue, in contrast, produces around one-tenth that. Muscles, meanwhile, can’t come close to matching the absolute torque of many motors. 

“But at the system level, robots are not as good,” Jayaram said. “We run into inherent design trade-offs. If we try to optimize for one thing, like forward speed, we might lose out on something else, like turning ability.”

Spider senses

So, how can engineers build robots that, like animals, are more than just the sum of their parts? 

Animals, Jayaram noted, aren’t split into separate subsystems in the same way as robots. Your quadriceps, for example, propel your legs like HAMR-Jr’s actuators move their limbs. But quads also produce their own power by breaking down fats and sugars and incorporating neurons that can sense pain and pressure.

Jayaram thinks the future of robotics may come down to “functional subunits” that do the same thing: Rather than keeping power sources separate from your motors and circuit boards, why not integrate them all into a single part? In a 2015 paper, CU Boulder computer scientist Nikolaus Correll, who wasn’t involved in the current study, proposed such theoretical “robotic materials” that work more like your quads. 

Engineers are still a long way away from achieving that goal. Some, like Jayaram, are making steps in this direction, such as through his lab’s Compliant Legged Articulated Robotic Insect (CLARI) robot, a multi-legged robot that moves a little like a spider. Jayaram explained that CLARI relies on a modular design, in which each of its legs acts like a self-contained robot with its own motor, sensors and controlling circuitry. The team’s new and improved version called mCLARI can move in all directions in confined spaces, a first for four-legged robots.

It's one more thing that engineers like Jayaram can learn from those perfect hunters, wolf spiders.

“Nature is a really useful teacher.”

The mCLARI robot balances on a leaf.

CREDIT

Heiko Kabutz

The HAMR-Jr robot poses next to a cockroach.

CREDIT

Kaushik Jayaram

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JOURNAL

Science Robotics

DOI

10.1126/scirobotics.adi9754 

ARTICLE TITLE

Why animals can outrun robots

 

New insights into tree canopy light absorption and its climate implications

JOURNAL OF REMOTE SENSING

 

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ONCE THE ILLUMINATION AND VIEW ANGLES ARE DETERMINED, LESS CALCULATES THE PROPORTIONS OF THE FOUR COMPONENTS WITHIN EACH PIXEL (RED RECTANGLE) USING RAY TRACING AND SUBSEQUENTLY GENERATES THE FOUR-COMPONENT IMAGES. IN THE FIGURE, DIFFERENT COLORS SIGNIFY DIFFERENT COMPONENT, AND GAP FRACTIONS ARE CALCULATED BASED ON THE RATIOS OF THE FOUR-COMPONENT IMAGES WITHIN A PIXEL.

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CREDIT: JOURNAL OF REMOTE SENSING

Recent research has successfully quantified the directional characteristics of the clumping index (CI) in various vegetation canopies using the large-scale remote sensing data and image simulation framework (LESS) model. This study enhances our understanding of radiative transfer processes and could significantly improve ecological modeling and climate predictions.

The clumping index (CI) is critical for accurately modeling light absorption in plant canopies, affecting predictions of photosynthesis and climate dynamics. Traditional methods of estimating CI, however, typically ignore its variability with observation angle, leading to potentially significant errors in environmental assessments.

A recent publication (DOI: 10.34133/remotesensing.0133) in the Journal of Remote Sensing, dated April 12, 2024, delves into how vegetation canopies influence light absorption in various ways, a crucial aspect for understanding photosynthesis and climate interactions.

In the study, by employing the advanced large-scale remote sensing data and image simulation framework (LESS) model within the radiation transfer model intercomparison (RAMI)-V framework, the team meticulously calculated the CI across various viewing angles and vegetation types, such as coniferous and broad-leaf forests. This index measures how leaves within a canopy are clustered, affecting the passage of light through the canopy. Their findings highlight that CI is not a static trait but varies significantly with the zenith angle and the type of vegetation, changing with seasonal cycles and canopy structures. For instance, coniferous forests show minimal variation in CI with changes in the zenith angle, whereas broad-leaf forests display more pronounced changes. These directional characteristics of CI are essential for refining radiative transfer models used in global climate predictions, demonstrating a sophisticated approach to ecological modeling that accounts for the complex realities of natural vegetation.

Dr. Donghui Xie, the lead researcher from Beijing Normal University, emphasizes the study's impact: "By accounting for the directional variability of CI, we can significantly refine our models of how vegetation interacts with light, improving the accuracy of global climate models and ecological forecasts."

This study reveals how vegetation canopies vary in their impact on light absorption, crucial for photosynthesis and climate modeling. Using the LESS model to analyze the CI across different vegetation types, the research highlights significant variability influenced by factors like vegetation type and season. These insights enable more accurate climate predictions and inform sustainable forestry practices, enhancing ecological and environmental management.

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References

DOI

10.34133/remotesensing.0133

Original Source URL

https://spj.science.org/doi/10.34133/remotesensing.0133

Funding information

The work is funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant nos. 42071304 and 42090013) and the National Key Research and Development Program of China (grant nos. 2020YFA0608701 and 2022YFB3903304).

About Journal of Remote Sensing

The Journal of Remote Sensing, an online-only Open Access journal published in association with AIR-CAS, promotes the theory, science, and technology of remote sensing, as well as interdisciplinary research within earth and information science.

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JOURNAL

Journal of Remote Sensing

DOI

10.34133/remotesensing.0133 

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Analysis of the Directional Characteristics of the Clumping Index (CI) Based on RAMI-V Canopy Scenes

 

Team publishes perspective paper on net-zero emissions in the aviation industry

Focus on CO2-to-aviation fuel conversion

TSINGHUA UNIVERSITY PRESS

 

IMAGE: 

THIS PERSPECTIVE PAPER PROVIDES AN ANALYTICAL REVIEW OF THE CUTTING-EDGE METHODOLOGIES FOR CO2-TO- AVIATION  FUEL CONVERSION WITH AN ASSESSMENT OF THE CURRENT INDUSTRIAL MODELS.

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CREDIT: CARBON FUTURE, TSINGHUA UNIVERSITY PRESS

A research group of Prof. Fei Wei and Chenxi Zhang in Tsinghua University has published a perspective paper that evaluates the progression from deep-rooted fossil-fuel-dependent technologies to innovative strategies aimed at carbon neutrality, with a specific focus on the formulation of sustainable aviation fuel from CO2. The paper provides an analytical review of the cutting-edge methodologies for CO2-to-jet fuel conversion with an assessment of the practicality of current industrial models.

 

On April 10, 2024, their perspective paper published in Carbon Future, which focuses on basic and applied research in the field of carbon. Carbon Future is an international English-language comprehensive journal sponsored by Tsinghua University, committed to publishing cutting-edge progress in the field of carbon and creating an international academic exchange platform with multidisciplinary integration.

 

For several hundred years, the concentration of greenhouse gases has steeply increased in the atmosphere due to dependency on carbon-intensive energy sources. In particular, CO2 and CH4 have been especially challenging to reincorporate into the chemical industry because of high energy demands and current technological constraints. Amid this great challenge, numerous governments have adopted different strategies to reduce carbon emissions. “Among the diverse strategies employed for the recycling of carbon emissions, such as CO2 and CH4, for application in the chemical industry, the integration of renewable energy sources to transform carbon emissions into value-added products is a viable pathway. Therefore, committing to the development of renewable energy is not only the key to controlling CO2 emissions as a responsible country, but also an inevitable choice for energy independence” said Fei Wei, a professor at Tsinghua University.

 

The team notes the ways that countries are working in the area of renewable energy. The European Union’s Renewable Energy Directive III represents a seminal step in this direction, setting a precedent for the integration of sustainable energy practices within statutory mandates. They also note the accelerated research progress in China, especially in the area of photovoltaic (PV) technology. “A significant surge in solar PV and wind system endeavors has been witnessed in China, as evidenced by the investment in intellectual property, which accounts for the first place globally in this domain. In addition, the complete industrial chain of renewable energy provides development opportunities for CO2 to Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF)” said Wei.

 

Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) refers to a C8~15 liquid hydrocarbon fuel derived from non-fossil resources, that is, green jet fuel. Aviation fuel uses C-C and C-H chemical bonds as energy storage, and its energy density is 80 times that of commercial lithium-ion batteries. The huge gap in energy density makes it difficult for the aviation field to quickly achieve electrification, so SAF has become the main route to net-zero emissions in the world's aviation industry. By the end of 2020, a total of 65 countries around the world had implemented mandatory blending policies for SAF, and by 2027, ICAO's Carbon Reduction Offset Mechanism (CORSIA) will be fully enforced. The European Union (EU) Renewable Energy Directive stipulates that the proportion of SAF blending shall not be less than 5% in 2030 and 70% in 2050, of which the proportion of electric fuels produced through carbon dioxide capture (eFuel) shall not be less than 35% by 2050. And the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) provides a tax deduction for SAF, aiming to achieve 100% SAF as an alternative to fossil fuels for aviation fuel by 2050. The aviation industry's "green barrier" allows SAF to sell for four times as much as petroleum-based jet fuel, making SAF the "holy grail" of the energy sector and a precursor to the profitable process of green energy.

 

The 'CO2 to SAF (CO2AFTM)' technology harnesses CO2 as a carbon feedstock, integrating it with green hydrogen produced via electrolysis of water using renewable energy sources such as wind or solar. This process synthesizes liquid jet fuel that boasts a high energy density. “Sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) plays a key role in ensuring national energy security in the aerospace sector and achieving net-zero emissions in the world's aviation industry. This approach utilizes liquid fuel as a novel form of energy storage across seasons and years; concurrently, renewable aviation fuel is recognized globally in the aviation industry as a viable pathway for carbon reduction. The high added value of this process establishes it as an important, profitable industrialization method." said Wei.

 

The research team includes Guo Tian, Chenxi Zhang, and Fei Wei. They work at the Beijing Key Laboratory of Green Chemical Reaction Engineering and Technology, Department of Chemical Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China. Zhang also works at Ordos Laboratory and the Institute for Carbon Neutrality at Tsinghua University. Wei also works at Ordos Laboratory.

 

The research is funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, Beijing Nova Program, Key Research and Development Program of Inner Mongolia and Ordos, Ordos-Tsinghua Innovative & Collaborative Research Program in Carbon Neutrality and Ordos Laboratory.

 

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About Carbon Future

Carbon Future is an open access, peer-reviewed and international interdisciplinary journal, published by Tsinghua University Press and exclusively available via SciOpen. Carbon Future reports carbon-related materials and processes, including catalysis, energy conversion and storage, as well as low carbon emission process and engineering. Carbon Future will publish Research Articles, Reviews, Minireviews, Highlights, Perspectives, and News and Views from all aspects concerned with carbon. Carbon Future will publish articles that focus on, but not limited to, the following areas: carbon-related or -derived materials, carbon-related catalysis and fundamentals, low carbon-related energy conversion and storage, low carbon emission chemical processes.

About SciOpen 

SciOpen is a professional open access resource for discovery of scientific and technical content published by the Tsinghua University Press and its publishing partners, providing the scholarly publishing community with innovative technology and market-leading capabilities. SciOpen provides end-to-end services across manuscript submission, peer review, content hosting, analytics, and identity management and expert advice to ensure each journal’s development by offering a range of options across all functions as Journal Layout, Production Services, Editorial Services, Marketing and Promotions, Online Functionality, etc. By digitalizing the publishing process, SciOpen widens the reach, deepens the impact, and accelerates the exchange of ideas.

 

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JOURNAL

Carbon Future

DOI

10.26599/CF.2024.9200010 

ARTICLE TITLE

Fueling the future: Innovating the path to carbon-neutral skies with CO2-to-aviation fuel