Marine conservation effort in U.S. Virgin Islands aids key fish species, Oregon State research finds

Peer-Reviewed Publication

OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY

 

IMAGE: RED HIND IN CUBA. view more 

CREDIT: SCOTT HEPPELL

CORVALLIS, Ore. – A more than 30-year marine conservation effort in the U.S. Virgin Islands helped aid the recovery of a fish species important in commercial, recreational and subsistence fisheries, a new Oregon State University study found.

Red hind, a species of grouper in the Caribbean, historically experienced intense fishing pressure, which led managers to implement progressively restrictive fishing closures in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

In a study just published in Frontiers in Marine Science, researchers at Oregon State and the University of the Virgin Islands found that the fishing restrictions at the location they studied helped lead to a more than 35% increase in average fish size and the recovery of the population to a benchmark considered sustainable for many fish species.

“This is a management and conservation success,” said Claire Rosemond, an Oregon State doctoral student and lead author of the study. “The recovery of the red hind population at the spawning aggregation tracks management decisions, so it appears that fishing restrictions are helping to accomplish the intended goal of recovering the red hind population and fishery.”

Globally, more than 200 species of marine fishes, including red hind, reproduce by forming spawning aggregations at specific times and locations. The predictability of these mass spawning events makes the aggregations susceptible to intense fishing pressure.

Locations of many fish spawning aggregations in the Caribbean have been known and fished for decades. This has led to population collapse of several important species, including red hind, which are an important source of income and food for local people.

By the late 1980s, the red hind population at a spawning site near St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands showed signs of decline with a decrease in average fish length and an extremely skewed ratio of females to males because fishing disproportionately removed the larger males.

This led fisheries managers in 1990 to establish the Red Hind Bank Marine Conservation District to protect the fish spawning site by seasonally closing the area to fishing during the months of peak spawning activity (December through February). In 1999, the district was permanently closed to fishing.

The just-published research focused on that spawning site. The scientists used historical data collected by other researchers between 1988 and 2009 and gathered their own data during several trips to the U.S. Virgin Islands between 2018 and 2020.

During those trips the resarchers caught, measured, and released 1,203 red hind. The mean size of the fish they caught was almost 16 inches, more than four inches longer than the mean size reported from data from 1988-89. Meanwhile, the female to male ratio at the spawning aggregation became less skewed over time.

By a measure known as spawning potential ratio, the red hind are now at a benchmark considered sustainable for many fisheries, the researchers note, but that does not mean that continued recovery is guaranteed.

“To me the take home message is this management measure worked, but it also means this management measure is currently working, so at this point in time let’s keep it the way it is,” said Scott Heppell, a co-author of the paper who is a professor in the Department of Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Sciences at Oregon State in Oregon State’s College of Agricultural Sciences.

The recovery of the red hind population at the spawning aggregation site is due in part to management decisions, fishers adhering to closures and long-term monitoring.

“The Marine Conservation District is a conservation success due to the participation of people from many different sectors,” Rosemond said. “I think management agencies and fishers would be excited to know that their work and potential sacrifices, like not fishing in closed areas, have paid off.”

Richard Nemeth of the University of the Virgin Islands is also a co-author of this paper.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Puerto Rico Sea Grant College Program, and the Department of Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Sciences funded this research.

---

JOURNAL

Frontiers in Marine Science

DOI

10.3389/fmars.2022.93140 

ARTICLE TITLE

Demographic recovery of a reef fish population over 30 years of spawning aggregation site protection

Practices leverage telehealth to enhance access to abortion services

Remote delivery in reproductive health care: Operation of direct-to-patient telehealth medication abortion services in diverse settings

Peer-Reviewed Publication

AMERICAN ACADEMY OF FAMILY PHYSICIANS

 

IMAGE: HOW DO DIRECT-TO-PATIENT TELEHEALTH ABORTION SERVICES OPERATE IN DIFFERENT PRACTICE TYPES AND SETTINGS? view more 

CREDIT: ANNALS OF FAMILY MEDICINE

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the delivery of many health services, including abortion, prompting researchers in Seattle to examine the feasibility of telehealth to improve access to this important care. Researchers conducted 21 interviews with clinical staff from four practice settings: independent primary care practices; specialized family planning clinics; online medical services; and primary care clinics within multispecialty health systems. Across all practice settings, the researchers found similar operational procedures for remote medication abortion services, with each site following five basic steps for care provision: patient engagement, care consultations, payment, medication dispensing and follow-up communication.

Though the overarching structure of services remained consistent across clinics, each site adapted services to their specific setting, local laws and regulations, and the needs of their patient populations. Service sites used multiple methods of medication delivery, including on-site pharmacies, medication dispensing protocols, and partner pharmacies. Family planning and health system clinics mailed medications from clinic stock or internal pharmacies, while independent clinics and online services often used mail-order pharmacies. The authors assert that these findings demonstrate the feasibility of offering abortion services in a variety of medical settings and highlight the potential variations that can be made to adapt the service to patient needs.

---

JOURNAL

The Annals of Family Medicine

DOI

10.1370/afm.2821 

ARTICLE TITLE

Remote delivery in reproductive health care: Operation of direct-to-patient telehealth medication abortion services in diverse settings

Researchers recycle CDs into flexible biosensors

Peer-Reviewed Publication

BINGHAMTON UNIVERSITY

 

IMAGE: A GOLD CD’S THIN METALLIC LAYER CAN BE SEPARATED FROM THE RIGID PLASTIC AND FASHIONED INTO SENSORS TO MONITOR ELECTRICAL ACTIVITY IN HUMAN HEARTS AND MUSCLES AS WELL AS LACTATE, GLUCOSE, PH AND OXYGEN LEVELS. view more 

CREDIT: MATTHEW BROWN

BINGHAMTON, N.Y. -- New research from Binghamton University, State University of New York offers a second life for CDs: Turn them into flexible biosensors that are inexpensive and easy to manufacture.

In a paper published this month in Nature Communications, Matthew Brown, PhD ’22, and Assistant Professor Ahyeon Koh from the Department of Biomedical Engineering show how a gold CD’s thin metallic layer can be separated from the rigid plastic and fashioned into sensors to monitor electrical activity in human hearts and muscles as well as lactate, glucose, pH and oxygen levels. The sensors can communicate with a smartphone via Bluetooth.

The fabrication is completed in 20 to 30 minutes without releasing toxic chemicals or needing expensive equipment, and it costs about $1.50 per device. According to the paper, “this sustainable approach for upcycling electronic waste provides an advantageous research-based waste stream that does not require cutting-edge microfabrication facilities, expensive materials or high-caliber engineering skills.”

Also contributing to the research are BME Professor Gretchen Mahler; Melissa Mendoza, PhD ’22; and Louis Somma, MS ’22, as well as Assistant Professor Yeonsik Noh from the University of Massachusetts - Amherst. Nature Communications has honored the article among its Editors’ Highlights, showcasing the 50 best papers recently published in a research area.

Koh said she first considered the idea of converting the CDs into sensors while doing postdoctoral research at the University of Illinois.

“I had an idea: Maybe we could harvest the critical material from the CD and then upcycle to sensing systems,” she said. “I talked to Matt about my idea during the early stage of his dissertation research, and he wanted to continue this research.”

Brown investigated previous research on biosensors made from CDs, but he found that those sensors retained a rigid structure and had a more limited number of applications than he and Koh hoped to achieve. The first step is removing the metallic coating from the plastic beneath using a chemical process and adhesive tape.

“When you pick up your hair on your clothes with sticky tape, that is essentially the same mechanism,” Koh said. “We loosen the layer of metals from the CD and then pick up that metal layer with tape, so we just peel it off. That thin layer is then processed and flexible.”

To create the sensors, Binghamton researchers used a Cricut cutter, an off-the-shelf machine for crafters that generally cuts designs from materials like paper, vinyl, card stock and iron-on transfers. The flexible circuits then would be removed and stuck onto a person. With the help of a smartphone app, medical professionals or patients could get readings and track progress over time.

As Brown’s PhD advisor, Koh is thrilled to see something she speculated could be possible almost a decade ago is now a reality.

“I was so lucky to have Matt in the lab, because otherwise it would have stayed an idea from my postdoc research,” she said. “Some of my postdoc colleagues remember me talking about this idea to them, and they’re so excited about it.”

Brown is headed to San Diego to work for Dexcom, which makes continuous glucose monitors, but he has ideas about how the CD-to-sensor technology could be improved: “We used gold CDs, and we want to explore silver-based CDs, which I believe are more common. How can we upcycle those types of CDs with the same kind of process? We also want to look at if we can utilize laser engraving rather than using the fabric-based cutter to improve the upcycling speed even further.”

Like her former student, Koh would like to expand the CD-to-sensor research as well, possibly with the help of the campus community.

 “Maybe we can create a box on campus where we could collect CDs,” she said. “We also could have more generalized step-by-step instructions on how to make them in a day, without any engineering skills. Everybody can create those kinds of sensors for their users. We want these to become more accessible and affordable, and more easily distributed to the public.”

---

JOURNAL

Nature Communications

DOI

10.1038/s41467-022-31338-9 

ARTICLE TITLE

Upcycling Compact Discs for Flexible and Stretchable Bioelectronic Applications

Green tea extract promotes gut health, lowers blood sugar

Study shows potential to reduce risks of metabolic syndrome

Peer-Reviewed Publication

OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY

COLUMBUS, Ohio – New research in people with a cluster of heart disease risk factors has shown that consuming green tea extract for four weeks can reduce blood sugar levels and improve gut health by lowering inflammation and decreasing “leaky gut.”

Researchers said this is the first study assessing whether the health risks linked to the condition known as metabolic syndrome, which affects about one-third of Americans, may be diminished by green tea’s anti-inflammatory benefits in the gut.

“There is much evidence that greater consumption of green tea is associated with good levels of cholesterol, glucose and triglycerides, but no studies have linked its benefits at the gut to those health factors,” said Richard Bruno, senior study author and professor of human nutrition at The Ohio State University.

The team conducted the clinical trial in 40 individuals as a follow-up to a 2019 study that associated lower obesity and fewer health risks in mice that consumed green tea supplements with improvements to gut health.

In the new study, green tea extract also lowered blood sugar, or glucose, and decreased gut inflammation and permeability in healthy people – an unexpected finding.

“What this tells us is that within one month we’re able to lower blood glucose in both people with metabolic syndrome and healthy people, and the lowering of blood glucose appears to be related to decreasing leaky gut and decreasing gut inflammation – regardless of health status,” Bruno said.

Articles on the glucose results and lowered gut permeability and inflammation were published recently in Current Developments in Nutrition.

People with metabolic syndrome are diagnosed with at least three of five factors that increase the risk for heart disease, diabetes and other health problems – excess belly fat, high blood pressure, low HDL (good) cholesterol, and high levels of fasting blood glucose and triglycerides, a type of fat in the blood.

The tricky thing about these risk factors that constitute metabolic syndrome is that they are often only slightly altered and do not yet require drug management, but still impose great risk to health, Bruno said.

“Most physicians will initially recommend weight loss and exercise. Unfortunately, we know most persons can’t comply with lifestyle modifications for various reasons,” he said. “Our work is aiming to give people a new food-based tool to help manage their risk for metabolic syndrome or to reverse metabolic syndrome.”

Forty participants – 21 with metabolic syndrome and 19 healthy adults – consumed gummy confections containing green tea extract rich in anti-inflammatory compounds called catechins for 28 days. The daily dose equaled five cups of green tea. In the randomized double-blind crossover trial, all participants spent another 28 days taking a placebo, with a month off of any supplement between the treatments.

Researchers confirmed that participants, as advised, followed a diet low in polyphenols – naturally occurring antioxidants in fruits, vegetables, teas and spices – during the placebo and green tea extract confection phases of the study so any results could be attributed to the effects of green tea alone.

Results showed that fasting blood glucose levels for all participants were significantly lower after taking green tea extract compared to levels after taking the placebo. Decreased gut inflammation due to the green tea treatment in all participants was established through an analysis that showed a reduction in pro-inflammatory proteins in fecal samples. Using a technique to assess sugar ratios in urine samples, researchers also found that with green tea, participants’ small intestine permeability favorably decreased.

Gut permeability, or leaky gut, enables intestinal bacteria and related toxic compounds to enter the bloodstream, stimulating low-grade chronic inflammation.

“That absorption of gut-derived products is thought to be an initiating factor for obesity and insulin resistance, which are central to all cardiometabolic disorders,” Bruno said. “If we can improve gut integrity and reduce leaky gut, the thought is we’ll be able to not only alleviate low-grade inflammation that initiates cardiometabolic disorders, but potentially reverse them.

“We did not attempt to cure metabolic syndrome with a one-month study,” he said. “But based on what we know about the causal factors behind metabolic syndrome, there is potential for green tea to be acting at least in part at the gut level to alleviate the risk for either developing it or reversing it if you already have metabolic syndrome.”

Bruno’s lab is completing further analyses of microbial communities in the guts of study participants and levels of bacteria-related toxins in their blood.

This work was supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center at Ohio State.

Ohio State co-authors of both papers include Min Zeng, Geoffrey Sasaki, Sisi Cao, Yael Vodovotz and Joanna Hodges. Avinash Pokala and Shahabeddin Rezaei also co-authored the paper on glucose reduction.

#

 

Contact: Richard Bruno, Bruno.27@osu.edu

Written by Emily Caldwell, Caldwell.151@osu.edu; 614-292-8152

---

JOURNAL

Current Developments in Nutrition

DOI

10.1093/cdn/nzac068.010 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Randomized controlled/clinical trial

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Catechin-Rich Green Tea Extract Reduced Intestinal Inflammation and Fasting Glucose in Metabolic Syndrome and Healthy Adults: A Randomized, Controlled, Crossover Trial

World’s first HIV-positive to HIV-positive heart transplant performed at Montefiore Health System

Transformative surgery occurs almost a decade after the passage of the HIV Organ Policy Equity Act

Business Announcement

ALBERT EINSTEIN COLLEGE OF MEDICINE

NEW YORK (July 26, 2022) – The world’s first HIV-positive to HIV-positive heart transplant has been successfully performed at Montefiore Health System in the Bronx. The patient, in her sixties, suffered from advanced heart failure and received the life-saving donation, along with a simultaneous kidney transplant, in early Spring. After the four-hour surgery, she spent five weeks recovering in the hospital and now sees her transplant physicians at Montefiore for monitoring.

Montefiore is one of only 25 centers in the United States eligible to offer this complex surgery, having met prior surgical benchmarks and outcomes set by the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network. Its Heart Transplantation Team is internationally renowned for spearheading innovative methods, like transplanting a heart from a donor who died after their heart stopped beating– a novel approach that has the potential to save hundreds more people in need of a new heart each year.

“The goal of the Montefiore heart transplant team is to constantly push and establish new standards so that anyone who is appropriate for an organ transplant can benefit from this life-saving procedure,” said Daniel Goldstein, M.D., professor and Vice Chair, Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery and Surgical Director, Cardiothoracic & Vascular Surgery Cardiac Transplantation & Mechanical Assistance Programs, Montefiore and Albert Einstein College of Medicine (Einstein).

In 2013, the HIV Organ Policy Equity Act enabled people living with HIV to donate their organs to a HIV-positive recipient, but it has taken almost 10 years for this opportunity to become a reality for heart transplantation.

“Thanks to significant medical advances, people living with HIV are able to control the disease so well that they can now save the lives of other people living with this condition. This surgery is a milestone in the history of organ donation and offers new hope to people who once had nowhere to turn,” said Ulrich P. Jorde, MD, Section Head - Heart Failure, Cardiac Transplantation & Mechanical Circulatory Support, and Vice Chief, Division of Cardiology at Montefiore and Professor of Medicine at Einstein.

In the United States, there are between 60,000 and 100,000 people who could benefit from a new heart, however only around 3,800 transplants were performed in 2021.

“This was a complicated case and a true multidisciplinary effort by cardiology, surgery, nephrology, infectious disease, critical care and immunology,” said the patient’s cardiologist, Dr. Omar Saeed, who is also an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Einstein. “Making this option available to people living with HIV expands the pool of donors and means more people, with or without HIV, will have quicker access to a lifesaving organ. To say we are proud of what this means for our patients and the medical community at large, is an understatement.”

###

About Montefiore Health System
Montefiore Health System is one of New York’s premier academic health systems and is a recognized leader in providing exceptional quality and personalized, accountable care to approximately three million people in communities across the Bronx, Westchester and the Hudson Valley. It is comprised of 10 hospitals, including the Children’s Hospital at Montefiore, Burke Rehabilitation Hospital and more than 200 outpatient ambulatory care sites. The advanced clinical and translational research at its medical school, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, directly informs patient care and improves outcomes. From the Montefiore-Einstein Centers of Excellence in cancer, cardiology and vascular care, pediatrics, and transplantation, to its preeminent school-based health program, Montefiore is a fully integrated healthcare delivery system providing coordinated, comprehensive care to patients and their families. For more information please visit www.montefiore.org. Follow us on Twitter and view us on Facebook and YouTube.

Cocoa shown to reduce blood pressure and arterial stiffness in first real-life study

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF SURREY

Cocoa only reduces blood pressure and arterial stiffness when elevated, a new study from the University of Surrey finds.

Cocoa flavanols have previously been found to lower blood pressure and arterial stiffness as much as some blood pressure medication. However, how effective flavanols are in everyday life in reducing blood pressure has remained unknown, as previous studies in this area have been performed in tightly controlled experimental settings.

Surrey’s new research reduces concerns that cocoa as a treatment for raised blood pressure could pose health risks by decreasing blood pressure when it is not raised, paving the way for it to be potentially used in clinical practice.

In the first study of its kind study, researchers set out to investigate the use of flavanols, a compound found in cocoa, in lowering blood pressure and arterial stiffness in individuals outside of clinical settings.

Christian Heiss, Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine at the University of Surrey, said:

“High blood pressure and arterial stiffness increases a person’s risk of heart disease and strokes, so it is crucial that we investigate innovative ways to treat such conditions.

“Before we even consider introducing cocoa into clinical practices, we need to test if the results previously reported in laboratory settings safely translate into real-world settings, with people going about their everyday lives.”

For several days, eleven healthy participants consumed, on alternating days, either six cocoa flavanol capsules or six placebo capsules containing brown sugar. Participants were provided with an upper arm blood pressure monitor and a finger clip measuring pulse wave velocity (PWV) which gauges levels of arterial stiffness.

Measurements of blood pressure and PWV were taken prior to consumption of the capsules and every 30 minutes after ingestion for the first three hours, and then hourly for the remaining nine hours. Researchers found that blood pressure and arterial stiffness were only lowered in participants if it was high, and there was no effect when the blood pressure was low in the morning.

Significantly, effects were also, for the first time, identified at eight hours after cocoa was consumed. Researchers believe that this second peak may be due to how bacteria in the gut metabolise cocoa flavanols.

Professor Heiss added:

“The positive impact cocoa flavanols have on our cardiovascular system, in particular, blood vessel function and blood pressure, is undeniable. Doctors often fear that some blood pressure tablets can decrease the blood pressure too much on some days.

“What we have found indicates that cocoa flavanols only decrease blood pressure if it is elevated. Working with participants’ personal health technologies showed us how variable blood pressure and arterial stiffness can be from day to day and shows the role of personal health monitors in developing and implementing effective personalised care.”

The research was published in Frontiers in Nutrition.

---

JOURNAL

Frontiers in Nutrition

DOI

10.3389/fnut.2022.886597 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Randomized controlled/clinical trial

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Assessing Variability in Vascular Response to Cocoa With Personal Devices: A Series of Double-Blind Randomized Crossover n-of-1 Trials

Linking diversity at performing arts non-profits with marketing, funding, location

Peer-Reviewed Publication

IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY

 

IMAGE: EMPTY SEATS BEFORE A PERFORMANCE AT C.Y. STEPHENS AUDITORIUM, AMES, IA, 2022. view more 

CREDIT: CHRISTOPHER GANNON/IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY

AMES, IA – While arts and cultural organizations across the U.S. have increasingly prioritized diversifying their customer base, many struggle to know if their efforts are moving the needle.

Findings from a new study, published in the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, may be able to help. The researchers tracked changes in the racial makeup and income levels of customers at two dozen nonprofit performing arts organizations over seven years. They then investigated how marketing and other factors, like location and funders, impacted what they define as customer diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI).

“One of the missions of arts and cultural organizations is to serve the public, but the perception is that the arts are for wealthy, white people. Our study examines the role that marketing can play in promoting customer DEI,” said Young Woong Park, co-author and assistant professor of information systems and business analytics at Iowa State University.

The arts organizations participating in the study produced and presented ballet, opera, theater, and symphonies in mid- to large-sized cities in the U.S. Park and his research team first conducted semi-structured interviews with 33 professionals at the organizations to identify their DEI priorities and challenges.

The researchers then built a model to analyze 18 million credit and debit card transactions (provided by the performing arts organizations) from 2011-2017. They filtered the data to include only addresses from households within 31 miles of each venue and matched it with U.S. Census Bureau data to estimate the racial and income make-up of the customers. The model also allowed the researchers to link certain factors (e.g., program diversity, targeted advertising, funding sources, venue location) to changes in the customer base. 

The findings and recommendations

The researchers’ study found boosting diverse program offerings and investing in advertising to reach underrepresented groups improved both racial and income representativeness (i.e., the extent to which the proportion of non-white/low-income customers matches the proportion in the community.)

Government funding had the greatest positive effect on racial and income representativeness, followed by funding from foundations. Individual support exerted less influence, and high corporate support actually decreased income representativeness. An interviewee shared many of the corporate sponsors are luxury brands and financial services, which may be more motivated to get their product or name in front of wealthy attendees.  

The study also found higher ticket prices negatively affected both forms of diversity but especially income representativeness. The researchers pointed out a 10% targeted price discount can increase income representativeness by nearly 3 percentage points.

The existing customer base impacts DEI, as well. A predominately white, wealthy crowd reinforces more of the same, said Park.

One of the interviewees said, “Getting a diverse audience to see diverse work can be more difficult than providing the work itself” when the venue is surrounded by predominately white neighborhoods.”

The researchers explained barriers to a performing arts venue can be physical (long distance from neighborhoods where people of color live) or psychological (neighborhood is or appears to be racially or economically exclusionary).

They emphasized communities could boost DEI in the arts by being more strategic about where they invest in new venues.

“When cities are developing arts districts, they could locate arts venues in lower income or more racially diverse neighborhoods, which could act as both an economic stimulus for the community and as a commitment to serving neighborhoods in a more equitable manner,” said Park.

Park calculated nonprofit performing arts venues in predominately non-white census tracts attract 70% more people of color than venues in predominately white census tracts. For predominately low-income census tracts, venues attract 41% more low-income customers than venues in predominately high-income census tracts.

The authors state “demographic trends and mounting societal pressures will likely make customer DEI increasingly relevant” in the performing arts and other sectors in the U.S. They view their study as something that can open the door to more research and help people feel like they belong in more spaces.

Glenn Voss and Zannie Voss at Southern Methodist University co-authored the paper.

---

JOURNAL

Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science

DOI

10.1007/s11747-022-00883-6 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Data/statistical analysis

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Advancing customer diversity, equity, and inclusion: Measurement, stakeholder influence, and the role of marketing

Study on Sub-Saharan Africa: Lower chances of individual prosperity in regions far from the coast

The further people in Sub-Saharan Africa live from the coast, the greater the likelihood of a comparatively low standard of living. This is the conclusion reached by economists at the University of Bayreuth in a study of 17 African coastal countries.

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITÄT BAYREUTH

The further people in Sub-Saharan Africa live from the coast, the greater the likelihood of a comparatively low standard of living. This is the conclusion reached by economists at the University of Bayreuth in a study of 17 African coastal countries published in the Review of Development Economics. Proximity to ports attracts people with higher levels of knowledge and education, promotes the growth of cities and the expansion of infrastructure, and thus increases prosperity. To achieve similar standards of living, geographically determined disadvantages in regions of Africa far from the coast would have to be offset by targeted measures, which often do not happen.

The study draws on data encompassing 128,609 people in 11,261 locations in 17 coastal Sub-Saharan African countries. Overall, the data cover a 20-year period. The analysis reveals a statistically significant relationship between distance from the coast and the standard of living of private households. The closer people settle to ports, the more likely they are to own radio and television sets and motor vehicles. The farther they live from the coasts, the less likely they are to have full- or part-time employment. The scarcity of money, medicine, food, and water also increases with distance from the coast.

"Previously, in development economics research, there has been evidence that ports, as national and international trade centres, positively affect standard of living in the immediately adjacent inland region, and that more distant regions are significantly less likely to reap these benefits. We have contributed new evidence on this in other research as well. In our current study, however, we have for the first time been able to demonstrate significant correlations between people's individual prosperity and their distance from the coasts. Factors that play a central role and are significantly strengthened by proximity to ports are education and knowledge, urbanization, and infrastructure," says Prof. Dr. David Stadelmann, Professor of Economic Policy & Economic Development at the University of Bayreuth.

Using statistical calculations, he and his research assistant Frederik Wild have succeeded in clearly distinguishing the impact of coastal proximity on the prosperity of the population from the influence of other factors relevant to prosperity. These include, for example, climate and extreme weather events, people's access to rivers and lakes, the fertility of arable land, the risk of malaria, and landscape features that promote or hinder the movement of people and goods. The effects of demographic features such as the age structure of the population, settlement density, and proximity to major cities were also considered.

The two authors included data from surveys conducted by the Pan-African opinion research institute "Afrobarometer." Among other things, these included the assessment of organizations that serve cross-regional economic integration. "People in Sub-Saharan Africa who are farther from the coasts are more inclined to describe their respective regional economic communities – the Regional Economic Communities – or even the African Union as a whole, as helpful for their country. This expresses the expectation that regional economic integration can help strengthen trade in regions that are far from the coast and are thus disadvantaged," says Frederik Wild, who is studying trade integration in Africa as part of a research project in the Africa Multiple cluster of excellence at the University of Bayreuth.

The Bayreuth development economists emphasize that isolation from the coast by no means inevitably means people will be less prosperous. "Our research in recent years has shown that good governance also has a significant impact on the standard of living of the population. Political leaders at both national and regional levels can, for example, compensate for the economic disadvantages caused by unfavourable geographic factors by specifically strengthening access to educational institutions, developing infrastructure, providing advantageous investment conditions, and curbing corruption," Stadelmann explains.

---

JOURNAL

Review of Development Economics

DOI

10.1111/rode.12901 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

News article

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Coastal proximity and individual living standards: Econometric evidence from georeferenced household surveys in sub-Saharan Africa

Marmosets practise calling their mother in the womb

A study shows that newborn marmosets’ earliest vocalisations to call for their parents begin in the womb, with findings that may also apply to humans

Peer-Reviewed Publication

ELIFE

 

IMAGE: STILLS OF A MARMOSET FETUS AND INFANT view more 

CREDIT: GHAZANFAR LAB, PRINCETON UNIVERSITY (CC BY 4.0)

Baby marmosets begin practising the face and mouth movements necessary to call their family  for help before they are born, shows a study published today in eLife.

This finding may also apply to humans, as ultrasounds in the third trimester of pregnancy have shown developing humans in the womb making crying-like movements.

The first cries and coos of humans and other primates are essential to their survival. In addition to allowing them to call their family members for help, these vocalisations and interactions with their parents and other caregivers lay the groundwork for more complex communication later in life.

“We wanted to know how those very first neonatal vocalisations develop,” says lead author Darshana Narayanan, who conducted the study as a graduate student at the Department of Psychology and the Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University, New Jersey, US.

Narayanan and colleagues conducted ultrasounds two to three times per week in four pregnant marmosets for a total of 14–17 ultrasound sessions per marmoset, starting when the face first became visible on ultrasound and ending the day before birth. The team used the ultrasound scans to longitudinally track the head, face and mouth movements of the developing marmosets and compared them with the newborn marmosets’ movements when they called out.

Using frame-by-frame analysis, the team found that the developing marmosets’ head and mouth movements coordinated initially, but the mouth movement became distinct over time. Eventually, they became almost indistinguishable from movements made by crying newborn marmosets briefly separated from their mothers within the first 24 hours after birth. 

To verify that these movements were not generic head and mouth movements, the team also compared pre and postnatal licking movements and movements associated with another marmoset vocalisation called a “twitter”. Their results showed that the pattern of crying movements before and following birth was distinct from the licking or twitter movements.

“Our experiments show that marmosets begin practising the movements needed for important social calls even before they can generate a sound,” Narayanan says. She adds that studying these movements further in marmosets may help scientists learn more about the development of social vocalisations in other primates, including humans.

“Marmoset monkeys offer a special opportunity to study primate vocal development,” concludes senior author Asif Ghazanfar, Professor at the Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University. “Like humans, marmosets are very social and learn to vocalise through interactions with their parents.”

##

Media contacts

Emily Packer, Media Relations Manager

eLife

e.packer@elifesciences.org

+44 (0)1223 855373

George Litchfield, Marketing and PR Assistant

eLife

g.litchfield@elifesciences.org

About eLife

eLife transforms research communication to create a future where a diverse, global community of scientists and researchers produces open and trusted results for the benefit of all. Independent, not-for-profit and supported by funders, we improve the way science is practised and shared. From the research we publish, to the tools we build, to the people we work with, we’ve earned a reputation for quality, integrity and the flexibility to bring about real change. eLife receives financial support and strategic guidance from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, the Max Planck Society and Wellcome. Learn more at https://elifesciences.org/about.

To read the latest Neuroscience research published in eLife, visit https://elifesciences.org/subjects/neuroscience.

---

JOURNAL

eLife

DOI

10.7554/eLife.78485 

ARTICLE TITLE

Prenatal development of neonatal vocalizations

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

26-Jul-2022

Researchers confirm brain region’s role in mind-body communication

Findings could advance treatment for Parkinson’s disease

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF IOWA

University of Iowa researchers have confirmed in a new study that a specific region in the brain is critical to governing the mind’s communication with the body’s motor control system. The findings could yield advances in treatment for Parkinson’s disease, as declining motor coordination is a central symptom of the disorder.

In experiments with humans, the researchers pinpointed the subthalamic nucleus as the region in the brain that communicates with the motor system to help the body stop an action. This communication is vital because it helps humans avoid surprises and react to potentially dangerous or unforeseen circumstances.

The subthalamic nucleus is a tiny grouping of cells that is part of the basal ganglia, which is a key circuit in controlling movement. The basal ganglia takes initial motor commands generated in the brain and either amplify or halt specific parts of those commands as they pass from the central nervous system to the spinal cord.

“You can think of the subthalamic nucleus as the core region in this ‘halting’ of extra, unwanted components of compound movements, as it is the last relay station before the output nuclei of the basal ganglia, which then communicates these commands to the wider motor system,” says Jan Wessel, associate professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Iowa and the corresponding author on the study.

Previous research had indicated the subthalamic nucleus’ role in this stage of brain-motor control communication, but the hypothesis had not been directly tested in humans until now. To do that, the researchers used some ingenious techniques. First, they recruited 20 patients who have Parkinson’s disease, which affects motor control. These patients had implanted deep-brain stimulators, which the researchers used to activate or deactivate the subthalamic nucleus. They then tracked those changes to motor-control activity through a simple stop-action task, monitoring the brain-motor control responses through a technique called transcranial magnetic stimulation.

Parkinson’s disease patients are treated regularly with deep-brain stimulation, but the addition of transcranial magnetic stimulation allowed the researchers to confirm the subthalamic nucleus’ definitive role. Wessel partnered on the experiments with Jeremy Greenlee, professor and the Arnold H. Menezes Chair in the Department of Neurosurgery, who cares for patients with Parkinson’s disease.

“Deep-brain stimulation is the only method to causally and systematically influence the activity of deeply embedded brain nuclei like the subthalamic nucleus in awake, behaving humans,” says Wessel, also an associate professor in the Department of Neurology. “However, combining deep-brain stimulation with transcranial magnetic stimulation is a highly complicated and novel technical endeavor, especially in awake, behaving humans.”

The subthalamic nucleus–motor control link is important, Wessel says, because it puts to rest a central question in the brain’s communication with the body’s motor system, especially how an initiated action is suddenly halted. But it has potential benefits to patients, too.

“The subthalamic nucleus is a key therapeutic target in Parkinson’s disease,” Wessel says. “Indeed, just like it was done for the patient sample in our study, implantation of stimulation electrodes into the subthalamic nucleus is a highly successful treatment option for the motoric symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. Our study provides some mechanistic insights into this potential patient-care benefit.”

The study, “A causal role for the human subthalamic nucleus in non-selective cortico-motor inhibition,” was published online July 15 in the journal Current Biology.

Contributing authors, all from Iowa, include Darcy Diesburg and Nathan Chalkley.

The National Institutes of Health and the U.S. National Science Foundation funded the research.

---

JOURNAL

Current Biology

DOI

10.1016/j.cub.2022.06.067 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

A causal role for the human subthalamic nucleus in non-selective cortico-motor inhibition