Rising interest rates may trigger liquidity crisis and price falls in global stock markets – new research

Study comes as U.S. Federal Reserve pursues fastest tightening of monetary policy since 1980s

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF BATH

Global central banks responding to spiralling inflation with aggressive interest rate hikes may trigger a liquidity crisis, high volatility and price falls in global stock markets, new research from the University of Bath shows.

The study of banking stocks between 2003 and 2012, which encompassed the global financial crisis, also showed that uncertainty about central banks’ policy decisions adversely affected market liquidity as investors, spooked by fears of even tighter monetary policy, shifted their money to lower risk areas.

“The global financial crisis illustrated starkly how increased funding costs and changes in market liquidity can trigger stock market failures. Our research has demonstrated that excessive financing spreads can harm market liquidity, leading to increased asset price volatility and stock market uncertainty,” said Dr. Ru Xie of the university’s School of Management.

Xie, who co-authored the study Bank funding constraints and stock liquidity, with Professor Philip Molyneux and Binru Zhao from Bangor Business School, and Dr. Qingwei Wang from Cardiff Business School, said the research identified that uncertainty over central banks’ monetary policies reduced investors’ willingness to assume risk as it increased their fears of future asset price volatility – further reducing market liquidity.

“In financial crisis and periods of market uncertainty, investors switch funds to where they feel it is safer. This flight to safety can lead to a huge shortage of liquidity, which forces banks and financial firms to fire-sell securities to meet increased liquidity demand, which in turn depresses financial sector share prices,“ Xie said.

The research found, however, that proactive and prudent macroeconomic policies could play an important role in breaking the vicious circle of a liquidity crisis. Xie suggested that a more gradual approach to tighten monetary policy could offer one path to fighting the inflationary pressures preoccupying central banks currently.

“The key is finding a balance between addressing inflation and triggering a dangerous liquidity crisis. The risk is that ever-tighter monetary policy and interest rate hikes taken in very large steps will increase funding costs for financial institutions, and generate a liquidity crisis, which will increase the risk of global recession. Central banks, focused on rates and inflation, must also be aware of the dangers of a liquidity crisis,“ Xie said.

The U.S. Federal Reserve announced a 75-basis-point rate increase on Wednesday. That, combined with increases in March, May and June, has raised the central bank's overnight interest rate from near zero to a level between 2.25% and 2.50%.

Notes to editors

• For more information contact the University of Bath Press office at press@bath.ac.uk
• Click here to read the full research paper

About Bath

The University of Bath is one of the UK's leading universities for high-impact research with a reputation for excellence in education, student experience and graduate prospects.

Bath is 8th in the UK in The Guardian University Guide 2022, 9th in The Times & Sunday Times Good University Guide 2022, 8th in the Complete University Guide 2023, whilst Sports at Bath was rated in the world’s top 10 in the QS World University Ranking by Subject 2022. For graduate employability, Bath is in the world’s top 100 universities according to the QS World University Rankings 2022. Overall student satisfaction in the National Student Survey 2021 was 10% above the national average.  https://www.bath.ac.uk/corporate-information/rankings-and-reputation/

Research from Bath is also helping to change the world for the better. Across the University’s three Faculties and School of Management, our research is making an impact in society, leading to low-carbon living, positive digital futures, and improved health and wellbeing. Find out all about our ‘Research with Impact’ https://www.bath.ac.uk/campaigns/research-with-impact/ .

 

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JOURNAL

European Journal of Finance

DOI

10.1080/1351847X.2022.2098046 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Data/statistical analysis

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Bank funding constraints and stock liquidity

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

27-Jul-2022

Technique for the isolation of volatile food compounds optimized

Odorant analysis 2.0

Peer-Reviewed Publication

LEIBNIZ-INSTITUT FÜR LEBENSMITTEL-SYSTEMBIOLOGIE AN DER TU MÜNCHE

 

IMAGE: LABORATORY OF THE RESEARCH GROUP FOOD METABOLOME CHEMISTRY AT THE LEIBNIZ INSTITUTE FOR FOOD SYSTEMS BIOLOGY AT THE TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY OF MUNICH view more 

CREDIT: J. KRPELAN / LEIBNIZ INSTITUTE FOR FOOD SYSTEMS BIOLOGY AT THE TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY OF MUNICH

A research team from the Leibniz Institute for Food Systems Biology at the Technical University of Munich (LSB) has succeeded in automating an established method for the gentle, artifact-avoiding isolation of volatile food ingredients. As the team's current comparative study now shows, automated solvent-assisted flavor evaporation (aSAFE) offers significant advantages over the manual process. It achieves higher yields on average and reduces the risk of contamination by nonvolatile substances.

The optimized method is particularly important for odorant analysis. Odorants contribute significantly to the sensory profile of food and have a major influence on eating pleasure. Knowing the key odorants that shape the aroma of a food is therefore of interest both for analytical quality control and for targeted product development in the food industry.

Isolating volatile compounds from food - anything but trivial

However, isolating volatile compounds from food is not trivial. Many established methods lead to losses of labile odorants as well as to odor-active artifacts and are therefore unsuitable for odorant research. The manual SAFE technique developed in 1999 made it possible for the first time to easily isolate even thermally labile odorants from food without artifact formation. "This is an important prerequisite for using further analytical methods to identify the key odorants," says Philipp Schlumpberger, who contributed equally to the study with Christine Stübner. Both are currently working on their doctorates at LSB.

Today, manual SAFE is established worldwide as a standard procedure in aroma research. Nevertheless, the research team saw a need for optimization in ease of use, in the yields achieved, and in reducing the risk of transferring nonvolatile material, which can significantly interfere with subsequent analytical steps.

The valve is critical

"As we discovered, the problems are mainly associated with the manual operation of the valve on the dropping funnel. Therefore, we replaced it with an electronically controlled pneumatic valve. To fully automate the SAFE apparatus, we optionally extended it with an automatic liquid nitrogen refill system as well as an endpoint detection and shutdown system," explains Martin Steinhaus, section and working group leader at LSB.

As the team's study now shows, the installation of the automatic valve increased yields, particularly for lipid-rich food extracts and for odorants with comparatively high boiling points. In addition, operator errors, which can lead to contamination of isolates with nonvolatile substances in the manual version, are eliminated with the automated SAFE.

"In the meantime, automated SAFE has replaced the manual variant in our laboratories. Other academic and industrial research groups are already following our example,” says principal investigator Martin Steinhaus.

Publication: Schlumpberger, P., Stübner, C.A. & Steinhaus, M. (2022) Development and evaluation of an automated solvent-assisted flavour evaporation (aSAFE). Eur Food Res Technol. 10.1007/s00217-022-04072-1. https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s00217-022-04072-1.pdf

More Information:

Funding:

Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL. The study was partially supported by funds of the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) based on a decision of the Parliament of the Federal Republic of Germany via the Federal Office for Agriculture and Food (BLE) under the innovation support program (Grant No. 2816504314).

Videos on aSAFE:

Videos on automated and fully automated SAFE can be found on the Institute's YouTube channel at: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1iN8PyMGvarKilzgo_pQww

Contact:

Expert contact:

PD Dr. Martin Steinhaus
Head of Section I and the Research Group Food Metabolome Chemistry

Leibniz Institute for Food Systems Biology
at the Technical University of Munich (LSB)

Lise-Meitner-Str. 34
85354 Freising, Germany
Phone: +49 8161 71-2991
E-mail: m.steinhaus.leibniz-lsb@tum.de

Press contact at LSB:

Dr. Gisela Olias
Knowledge Transfer, Press and Public Relations

Phone: +49 8161 71-2980
E-mail: g.olias.leibniz-lsb@tum.de

www.leibniz-lsb.de

Information about the Institute:

The Leibniz Institute for Food Systems Biology at the Technical University of Munich (LSB) comprises a new, unique research profile at the interface of Food Chemistry & Biology, Chemosensors & Technology, and Bioinformatics & Machine Learning. As this profile has grown far beyond the previous core discipline of classical food chemistry, the institute spearheads the development of a food systems biology. Its aim is to develop new approaches for the sustainable production of sufficient quantities of food whose biologically active effector molecule profiles are geared to health and nutritional needs, but also to the sensory preferences of consumers. To do so, the institute explores the complex networks of sensorically relevant effector molecules along the entire food production chain with a focus on making their effects systemically understandable and predictable in the long term.

The LSB is a member of the Leibniz Association, which connects 97 independent research institutions. Their orientation ranges from the natural sciences, engineering and environmental sciences through economics, spatial and social sciences to the humanities. Leibniz Institutes devote themselves to social, economic and ecological issues. They conduct knowledge-oriented and application-oriented research, also in the overlapping Leibniz research networks, are or maintain scientific infrastructures and offer research-based services. The Leibniz Association focuses on knowledge transfer, especially with the Leibniz Research Museums. It advises and informs politics, science, business and the public. Leibniz institutions maintain close cooperation with universities - among others, in the form of the Leibniz Science Campuses, industry and other partners in Germany and abroad. They are subject to a transparent and independent review process. Due to their national significance, the federal government and the federal states jointly fund the institutes of the Leibniz Association. The Leibniz Institutes employ around 21,000 people, including almost 12,000 scientists. The entire budget of all the institutes is more than two billion euros.

+++ Stay up to date via our Twitter channel twitter.com/LeibnizLSB +++

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JOURNAL

European Food Research and Technology

DOI

10.1007/s00217-022-04072-1 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Development and evaluation of an automated solvent‑assisted flavour evaporation (aSAFE)

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

4-Jul-2022

COI STATEMENT

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Equity and exclusion issues in cashless fare payment systems for public transportation

Peer-Reviewed Publication

PORTLAND STATE UNIVERSITY

Researchers Aaron Golub, John MacArthur and Sangwan Lee of Portland State University, Anne Brown of the University of Oregon, and Candace Brakewood and Abubakr Ziedan of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville have published a new journal article in the September 2022 volume of Transportation Research: Interdisciplinary Perspectives. 

Rapidly-evolving payment technologies have motivated public transit agencies in the United States to adopt new fare payment systems, including mobile ticketing applications. The article, "Equity and exclusion issues in cashless fare payment systems for public transportation," explores the challenges facing transit riders in the U.S. who lack access to bank accounts or smartphones, and potential solutions to ensure that a transition to cashless transit fares does not exclude riders. Learn more about the project and read an open-access version of the final report.

The study asks: who is most at risk of being excluded by the transition to new fare payment systems and how would riders pay transit fares if cash payment options were reduced or eliminated? Researchers answer these questions using intercept surveys of 2,303 transit riders in Portland-Gresham, OR, Eugene, OR, and Denver, CO.

The article's authors explore existing research on emerging fare payment systems, as well as research on disparities in access to the various pieces of the new payment ecosystem, including credit and banking, Internet and smartphones. They then present qualitative and quantitative analyses used to investigate this topic, and conclude with a discussion of results and implications for policy and planning. The paper is based on a pooled-fund study supported by the National Institute for Transportation and Communities (NITC). Read more about the original study: Applying an Equity Lens to Automated Payment Solutions for Public Transportation. 

Photo courtesy of TriMet

The National Institute for Transportation and Communities (NITC) is one of seven U.S. Department of Transportation national university transportation centers. NITC is a program of the Transportation Research and Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University. This PSU-led research partnership also includes the Oregon Institute of Technology, University of Arizona, University of Oregon, University of Texas at Arlington and University of Utah. We pursue our theme — improving mobility of people and goods to build strong communities — through research, education and technology transfer.

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JOURNAL

Transportation Research

DOI

10.1016/j.trip.2022.100628 

ARTICLE TITLE

Equity and exclusion issues in cashless fare payment systems for public transportation

Environment: Costs of amphibian and reptile invasions exceeded US$ 17 billion between 1986 and 2020

Peer-Reviewed Publication

SCIENTIFIC REPORTS

Invasions by amphibians and reptiles – when species spread beyond the regions they are native to – are estimated to have cost the global economy at least US$ 17.0 billion between 1986 and 2020, according to a study published in Scientific Reports. The findings highlight the need for more effective policies to limit the spread of current and future amphibian and reptile invasions.

Species invasions can lead to damage including the displacement or extinction of native species, the spread of disease and crop losses. Ismael Soto and colleagues examined the worldwide costs of amphibian and reptile invasions using data from the InvaCost database, which compiles estimates of the economic costs of species invasions. Data was taken from peer-reviewed articles, documents on governmental, academic and non-governmental organisation webpages and documents retrieved from biological invasion experts.

The authors found that between 1986 and 2020 the total cost of reptile and amphibian invasions exceeded US$ 17.0 billion. Of this, amphibian invasions cost US$ 6.3 billion, reptile invasions cost US$ 10.4 billion and invasions involving both amphibians and reptiles cost US$ 0.3 billion. 96.3% (US$ 6.0 billion) of costs due to amphibians were attributed to a single species, the American bullfrog (Lithobates catesbeianus), while 99.3% (US$ 10.3 billion) of costs due to reptiles were attributed solely to the brown tree snake (Boiga irregularis). 99.7% (US$ 6.3 billion) of costs due to amphibians were associated with managing invasions, for example by eradicating invasive species. 96.6% (US$ 10.0 billion) of costs due to reptiles were associated with damages caused by invasions, such as crop yield losses. For amphibian invasions, 96.3% (US$ 6.0 billion) of economic costs were incurred by European countries while 99.6% (US$ 10.4 billion) of costs due to reptile invasions were incurred by Oceania and Pacific Island countries.

The authors suggest that the economic costs of amphibian and reptile invasions could be reduced by investing in measures to limit global transport of invasive species and to enable the early detection of invasions. This could reduce the need for long-term management of species invasions and the scale of damage incurred, they add.

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Article details

Global economic costs of herpetofauna invasions

DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-15079-9

Corresponding Authors:

Ismael Soto
University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice, Vodňany, Czech Republic
Email: isma-sa@hotmail.com

Phillip Haubrock
Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum Frankfurt, Gelnhausen, Germany
Email: phillip.haubrock@senckenberg.de

 

Please link to the article in online versions of your report (the URL will go live after the embargo ends): https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-15079-9

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JOURNAL

Scientific Reports

DOI

10.1038/s41598-022-15079-9 

ARTICLE TITLE

Global economic costs of herpetofauna invasions

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

28-Jul-2022

Scripps Research scientists discover new “origins of life” chemical reactions

The reaction generates amino acids and nucleic acids, the building blocks of proteins and DNA

Peer-Reviewed Publication

SCRIPPS RESEARCH INSTITUTE

LA JOLLA, CA—Four billion years ago, the Earth looked very different than it does today, devoid of life and covered by a vast ocean. Over the course of millions of years, in that primordial soup, life emerged. Researchers have long theorized how molecules came together to spark this transition. Now, scientists at Scripps Research have discovered a new set of chemical reactions that use cyanide, ammonia and carbon dioxide—all thought to be common on the early earth—to generate amino acids and nucleic acids, the building blocks of proteins and DNA.

“We’ve come up with a new paradigm to explain this shift from prebiotic to biotic chemistry,” says Ramanarayanan Krishnamurthy, PhD, an associate professor of chemistry at Scripps Research, and lead author of the new paper, published July 28, 2022 in the journal Nature Chemistry. “We think the kind of reactions we’ve described are probably what could have happened on early earth.”

In addition to giving researchers insight into the chemistry of the early earth, the newly discovered chemical reactions are also useful in certain manufacturing processes, such as the generation of custom labeled biomolecules from inexpensive starting materials.

Earlier this year, Krishnamurthy’s group showed how cyanide can enable the chemical reactions that turn prebiotic molecules and water into basic organic compounds required for life. Unlike previously proposed reactions, this one worked at room temperature and in a wide pH range. The researchers wondered whether, under the same conditions, there was a way to generate amino acids, more complex molecules that compose proteins in all known living cells.

In cells today, amino acids are generated from precursors called α-keto acids using both nitrogen and specialized proteins called enzymes. Researchers have found evidence that α-keto acids likely existed early in Earth’s history. However, many have hypothesized that before the advent of cellular life, amino acids must have been generated from completely different precursors, aldehydes, rather than α-keto acids, since enzymes to carry out the conversion did not yet exist. But that idea has led to debate about how and when the switch occurred from aldehydes to α-keto acids as the key ingredient for making amino acids.

After their success using cyanide to drive other chemical reactions, Krishnamurthy and his colleagues suspected that cyanide, even without enzymes, might also help turn α-keto acids into amino acids. Because they knew nitrogen would be required in some form, they added ammonia—a form of nitrogen that would have been present on the early earth. Then, through trial and error, they discovered a third key ingredient: carbon dioxide. With this mixture, they quickly started seeing amino acids form.

“We were expecting it to be quite difficult to figure this out, and it turned out to be even simpler than we had imagined,” says Krishnamurthy. “If you mix only the keto acid, cyanide and ammonia, it just sits there. As soon as you add carbon dioxide, even trace amounts, the reaction picks up speed.”

Because the new reaction is relatively similar to what occurs today inside cells—except for being driven by cyanide instead of a protein—it seems more likely to be the source of early life, rather than drastically different reactions, the researchers say. The research also helps bring together two sides of a long-standing debate about the importance of carbon dioxide to early life, concluding that carbon dioxide was key, but only in combination with other molecules.

In the process of studying their chemical soup, Krishnamurthy’s group discovered that a byproduct of the same reaction is orotate, a precursor to nucleotides that make up DNA and RNA. This suggests that the same primordial soup, under the right conditions, could have given rise to a large number of the molecules that are required for the key elements of life.

“What we want to do next is continue probing what kind of chemistry can emerge from this mixture,” says Krishnamurthy. “Can amino acids start forming small proteins? Could one of those proteins come back and begin to act as an enzyme to make more of these amino acids?”

In addition to Krishnamurthy, authors of the study, “Prebiotic Synthesis of α-Amino Acids and Orotate from α-Ketoacids Potentiates Transition to Extant Metabolic Pathways,” are Sunil Pulletikurti, Mahipal Yadav and Greg Springsteen. 

This work was supported by funding from the NSF Center for Chemical Evolution (CHE-1504217), a NASA Exobiology grant (80NSSC18K1300) and a grant from the Simons Foundation (327124FY19).

About Scripps Research

Scripps Research is an independent, nonprofit biomedical institute ranked the most influential in the world for its impact on innovation by Nature Index. We are advancing human health through profound discoveries that address pressing medical concerns around the globe. Our drug discovery and development division, Calibr, works hand-in-hand with scientists across disciplines to bring new medicines to patients as quickly and efficiently as possible, while teams at Scripps Research Translational Institute harness genomics, digital medicine and cutting-edge informatics to understand individual health and render more effective healthcare. Scripps Research also trains the next generation of leading scientists at our Skaggs Graduate School, consistently named among the top 10 US programs for chemistry and biological sciences. Learn more at www.scripps.edu.

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JOURNAL

Nature Chemistry

ARTICLE TITLE

Prebiotic Synthesis of α-Amino Acids and Orotate from α-Ketoacids Potentiates Transition to Extant Metabolic Pathways

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

28-Jul-2022

HKU Laboratory for Space Research put a positive spin on the Buckyball ‘C60’: Its potential for high level ionisation and as the origin for some of the Mysterious Unidentified Infrared Emission Bands seen in the Universe

Peer-Reviewed Publication

THE UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG

 

IMAGE: SOLAR SYSTEM ILLUSTRATION OF THE C60 AND SOME OF ITS HIGHLY POSITIVELY CHARGED CATIONS, REPRESENTING THEORETICALLY CALCULATED NORMAL MODES VIBRATION MOTIONS AND RELATIVE MOLECULAR SIZES (VOLUMES). C6010+, THE LITTLE BUCKY, IS THE ONLY CHARGED FULLERENE INHERITED FROM THE SYMMETRY OF C60. THE BOTTOM RIGHT CORNER IS THE THEORETICALLY PREDICATED IR FINGERPRINT OF THIS EXOTIC SPECIES (BROWN PROFILE), OVERLAPPED ONTO THE ASTRONOMICALLY OBSERVED EMISSION SPECTRUM OF TC1 PLANETARY NEBULA WITHIN THE SAME WAVELENGTH REGION. view more 

CREDIT: SEYEDABDOLREZA SADJADI AND QUENTIN ANDREW PARKER

Is there now at long last some plausible theoretical basis for the molecular origins and carriers of at least some of the most prominent so called ‘UIE’ (unidentified Infrared Emission) bands that have mystified astronomers for decades?

The theoretical astrophysicists and astrochemists at the Laboratory for Space Research (LSR) and Department of Physics at The University of Hong Kong (HKU) seem to think so (at least in theory) in a peer-reviewed paper just published in the prestigious ‘The Astrophysical Journal.’

A team led by Dr SeyedAbdolreza SADJADI, member of the LSR, and Professor Quentin PARKER, Director of the LSR in the Department of Physics, has now placed some interesting theoretical work into the mix. It identifies highly ionised species of the famous football shaped ‘Buckminster’ fullerene C60 molecule as plausible carriers of at least some of the most prominent and enigmatic UIE bands that have challenged astronomers since they were first discovered and studied over 30 years ago.

First, Dr Sadjadi and Professor Parker proved theoretically that C60 could survive, in stable states, from being ionised up to +26 (i.e. 26 of the 60 electrons in the buckyball being removed) before the buckyball disintegrates (Sadjadi & Parker 2021). Now they have shown, via applying first principles quantum chemical calculations, what theoretical mid-infrared signatures of these ionised forms of fullerene can be expected. The results are extremely interesting and provocative and may at last point the way forward to at least a partial resolution of this enduring astrophysical mystery.

Professor Parker said, ‘I am extremely honoured to have played a part in the astonishingly complex quantum chemistry investigations undertaken by Dr Sadjadi that have led to these very exciting results. They concern first the theoretical proof that Fullerene–Carbon 60–can survive to very high levels of ionisation and now this work shows the infrared emission signatures from such species are an excellent match for some of the most prominent Unidentified Infrared Emission features known. This should help re-invigorate this area of research.’

The HKU lead team found that some of these positively charged fullerenes show strong emission bands that match extremely well the position of key astronomical UIE emission features at 11.21, 16.40 and 20-21 micrometers (μm). This makes them key target species for identification of the currently unidentified UIE features and provides strong motivation for future astronomical observations across the mid infrared wavelength range to test these theoretical findings. They also found that the IR signatures of the group of these C60 cations with q = 1 − 6 are well separated from the 6.2 μm bands, that are associated with free/isolated aromatic hydrocarbon molecules (so called PAH’s, another potential carrier of UIE). This significantly aids in their identification from other potential carriers. This finding is particularly important for discrimination and exploration of the coexistence of complex hydrocarbon organics and fullerenes in astronomical sources.

Dr Sadjadi said, ‘In our first paper we showed theoretically that highly ionised fullerenes can exist and survive the harsh and chaotic environment of space. It is like asking how much air you can push out of a football ball and the ball still maintains its shape. In this paper we worked with two other leading astrophysicists and planetary scientists Professor Yong ZHANG and Dr Chih-Hao HSIA , both ex-HKU staff but still affiliated to the LSR, to determine the molecular vibrational notes of a celestial symphony, ie the spectral features that these ionised buckyballs would play/produce. We then hunted for them in space showing their notes/signatures are easily distinguishable from PAHs.’

The journal paper can be accessed here: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/ac75d5

 Images download and captions: https://www.scifac.hku.hk/press

For media enquiries, please contact Ms Casey To, External Relations Officer (Tel: 3917-4948; email: caseyto@hku.hk) and Ms Cindy Chan, Assistant Communications Director of Faculty of Science (Tel: 3917-5286; email: cindycst@hku.hk).

Reference:
1. It remains a cage: ionisation tolerance of C60 fullerene in planetary nebulae
Sadjadi, SeyedAbdolreza ; Parker, Quentin Andrew  in Fullerenes, Nanotubes and Carbon Nanostructures, vol. 29, issue 8, pp. 620-625; Pub Date:August 2021

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JOURNAL

The Astrophysical Journal

DOI

10.3847/1538-4357/ac75d5 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Observational study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

A Theoretical Study of Infrared Spectra of Highly Positively Charged C60 Fullerenes and Their Relevance to Observed UIE Features

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

27-Jul-2022

Space travel: Bone aging in fast forward

FAU researcher investigates the effects of zero gravity on the skeleton

Peer-Reviewed Publication

FRIEDRICH-ALEXANDER-UNIVERSITÄT ERLANGEN-NÜRNBERG

Long periods in space damage bone structure irreparably in some cases and can make parts of the human skeleton age prematurely by up to 10 years. This is what a sport scientist at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) has now discovered in conjunction with other researchers from Germany, Canada and the USA. Adapted training programs in conjunction with medication could provide better protection for astronauts on future space missions. The researchers have published their findings, which will now be also be used for treating rheumatic conditions in clinical practice, in the scientific journal Nature Scientific Reports.
Will humans one day fly to Mars? Such a mission has been the subject of debate for several decades and does not depend simply on technical requirements. “If human beings are in space for three years at a time, we need to keep an eye on the health risks involved as well,” says Dr. Anna-Maria Liphardt. “This already applies today for missions where astronauts are subject to zero-gravity conditions for usually no longer than six months.”

After space travel: Bones age by up to ten years
Liphardt is a sports scientist and gained her doctoral degree at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and the German Sport University Cologne and now researches the effects of rheumatic-inflammatory diseases on the human skeleton at Universitätsklinikum Erlangen. In conjunction with fellow researchers from Germany, Canada and the USA, she investigated how bone structure changes in space and recovers back on Earth in a long-term study. 14 men and three women were checked before their flights into space as well as six and twelve months after their return. The bone density and strength of the tibia and radius (shin bone and lower arm bone) were measured as well as the trabecular microstructure inside the bones. The bone turnover was also measured using biomarkers in their blood and urine.
The results are worrying: Even twelve months after the end of their missions in space, nine out of the 17 astronauts had not completely recovered and had a reduction in bone strength and bone mineral density of up to 2 percent. “This may not sound like much, but it corresponds to age-related bone loss of at least a decade,” explains Anna-Maria Liphardt. “For those affected, this means they will have to expect a much earlier onset of osteoporosis and susceptibility for fractures.” In contrast to aging on Earth, the inner structure of astronauts’ bones are affected more than the periosteum on the exterior surface. Some of the astronauts examined even have irreparable damage to the rod-shaped units or trabeculae. “We were able to demonstrate that regeneration is more difficult the longer the astronauts were in space,” says Liphardt.

Training and medication must be adapted
Astronauts with higher bone turnover before spaceflight also had more significant problems with bone regeneration. “Bone turnover is the process by which cells are broken down and new ones form,” explains Liphardt. “People with higher activity levels have a higher bone turnover and the challenge is to keep up these activity levels during missions in space.” Even though the ISS has various types of equipment such as a running machine, exercise bike and a weight training program for the astronauts to maintain their levels of activity, adapting the training programs during spaceflight to better meet the individual needs of the astronauts is crucial. Liphardt: “Developing new sports equipment that works in zero-gravity conditions and that does not take up much space is particularly challenging.”
Astronauts could also benefit from medication if it is taken during spaceflight in addition to exercise programs. This medication includes, for example, bisphosphonates, which are already successfully used for treating and preventing osteoporosis because they prevent bone degradation. “Bisphosphonates are already used by NASA, but we do not yet know enough about exactly how they work in microgravity,” explains Liphardt. “We recommend conducting further systematic research into the combination of medical therapy and physical exercise.”

Findings for clinical practice
The researchers’ study not only supplied findings for future missions to space. Muscle and bone loss due to a lack of activity are also key problems in chronic diseases here on Earth. “In the field of rheumatology, it is not always clear which damage is caused by the inflammation and which by inactivity,” says Liphardt. “Our study could thus also lay the foundations for new or adapted therapies.”
A new generation of high-resolution peripheral quantitative computer tomography (HR-pQCT) machines used during the study with the astronauts could be beneficial for these therapies. These machines are capable of producing high resolution images of the interior structure of bones. “An algorithm was used in older machines in order to generate the individual parameters of the microstructure from the images it produced,” explains Liphardt. “This led to imprecise results, especially in trabecular changes to the bone.” The Department of Medicine 3 at Universitätsklinikum Erlangen now has a latest generation HR-pQCT machine – which is set to benefit not astronauts but patients suffering from diseases of the muscular and skeletal systems.

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JOURNAL

Scientific Reports

DOI

10.1038/s41598-022-13461-1 

ARTICLE TITLE

Incomplete recovery of bone strength and trabecular microarchitecture at the distal tibia 1 year after return from long duration spaceflight

Exposure to urban greenness has unequal effects on men's and women's mental health

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITAT AUTONOMA DE BARCELONA

Exposure to urban greenness leads to greater mental health benefits for women, although they are less likely to use these green spaces as frequently for reasons mainly related to safety concerns. This is one of the main conclusions of a study led by the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (ICTA-UAB) that analyses the relationship between mental health and exposure to urban greenness with a deeper look into the differences in results depending on gender and sex.

The study, recently published in the scientific journal Health and Place, finds that the effects of urban greenness on mental health are unequally distributed in women when compared to men. Specifically, the results suggest that women benefit more from contact with green spaces for walking and leisure but are less likely to use them than men. This could be due to women's safety concerns in these urban areas, as well as gender norms and social roles. "It could also be explained by the fact that the quality and characteristics of these spaces are not designed and planned for women the same way as they are for men”, explains Marta-Beatriz Fernández Núñez, researcher at ICTA-UAB and first author of the study.

The research team, which includes scientists from the Forest Science and Technology Centre of Catalonia (CTFC), stresses that from a policy and planning perspective, there is a need to ensure greater gendered equity and justice in greenness. They therefore call on park planners and designers to carefully plan new greenness with the voice of female residents, especially children.

New planning programs should include designs for recreational, natural and safety features that particularly respond to their individual and sociocultural needs and preferences. "For example, addressing environmental and social cues in parks through better maintenance and design could help mitigate some of the most pressing safety issues for women," says Fernandez-Nunez. In addition, designers and planners could add pathways easy for strollers and playgrounds for kids so that both children and parents could benefit from urban greenness at the same time. Otherwise, cities risk excluding residents.

The study also highlights that the existing scientific literature does not adequately use the terminology related to sex and gender in association with mental health outcomes in an urban greenness environment. Therefore, they consider that future studies need to analyse in-depth the societal gender differences associated with mental health and urban greenness and use the right terminology for it to properly assign characteristics and uses of greenness with mental health outcomes and their pathways.

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JOURNAL

Health & Place

DOI

10.1016/j.healthplace.2022.102864 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Systematic review

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Gender and sex differences in urban greenness’ mental health benefits: A systematic review

Promising eco-friendly plug to treat nosebleeds

A team at the UPV/EHU-University of the Basque Country has used food industry waste to develop a nasal plug designed to tackle nosebleeds

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF THE BASQUE COUNTRY

 

IMAGE: IMAGE OF ONE OF THE NASAL PLUGS TO TACKLE NOSEBLEEDS DEVELOPED FROM FOOD INDUSTRY WASTE. view more 

CREDIT: NAGORE IRAOLA. UPV/EHU.

Nosebleeds, also known as epistaxis, are one of the most frequent otolaryngologic (ENT) emergencies worldwide. It is estimated that 60% of the world's population will experience an episode of epistaxis at least once in their lifetime, although only 6-10% of them will seek medical attention. There are several methods for treating epistaxis and one of the most popular ones with a high success rate is nasal packing. However, the choice of the most appropriate nasal plug is vital to the outcome of the treatment. The ideal nasal plug should promote haemostasis –the set of biological mechanisms to stop haemorrhagic processes– and be comfortable for the patient, thus reducing damage to the nasal mucosa.

Edorta Santos-Vizcaíno, a researcher in the NanoBioCel group and one of the authors of the work, pointed out that in this joint work by the UPV/EHU's NanoBioCel and BIOMAT groups, "we have shown that by-products from the food industry are a valuable, sustainable source of biomaterials that can be used to make safe, effective nasal plugs with great haemostatic properties".

"Using natural by-products of the food industry –soy protein and chitin– we developed a scaffold or spongy matrix that displays a series of very interesting physicochemical properties: it is capable of absorbing huge quantities of water or blood, it has a large surface area to bind and house cells inside it, it does not produce any kind of rejection against the material and, what is more, it partially degrades," said the UPV/EHU researcher.

Chitin is the basis of this new structure, i.e. the skeleton of the spongy material, while the soy protein is responsible for lining the structure to make the material highly biocompatible and in turn able to absorb large amounts of blood.

A green strategy

”The growing social demand to be environmentally friendly," said the UPV/EHU researcher, "led us to investigate whether the sponge-like material produced from soy protein and chitin could be used as a nasal plug for the treatment of epistaxis. To evaluate the potential of our material as a nasal plug, we analysed its use as a nasal plug in comparison with the current gold standard, Merocel®, made of synthetic materials", added Santos.

Both in vitro and in vivo tests on rats "show that the material developed has a porous microstructure with a great capacity to absorb water and blood. Our biomaterial was found to effectively promote blood clotting, displaying excellent red blood cell and platelet binding properties in comparison with Merocel®. All this is due to the intrinsic haemostatic properties of its natural components", said Edorta Santos. In addition, "we saw that it is able to shed weight in aqueous media and partially degrade within a few days when immersed in blood, a feature that is increasingly important for nasal plugs, otherwise its removal is invasive", added the researcher.

In short, "our material produced from food industry waste displayed superior mechanical and haemostatic properties compared with Merocel®", concluded Edorta Santos.

Research staff from both research groups agree that, "this work, carried out from a circular economy approach, demonstrates that a green strategy can be adopted to manufacture nasal plugs using upgraded by-products from the food industry; their haemostatic properties are even better than the gold standard in the clinical setting".

"In fact, we are currently in the process of applying for a European patent, and trying to find a company that is interested in the product with a view to bringing the idea to fruition, and willing to commit itself to this technology based on the concept of the circular economy," said Edorta Santos.

Nosebleeds, also known as epistaxis, are one of the most frequent otolaryngologic (ENT) emergencies worldwide. It is estimated that 60% of the world's population will experience an episode of epistaxis at least once in their lifetime, although only 6-10% of them will seek medical attention. There are several methods for treating epistaxis and one of the most popular ones with a high success rate is nasal packing. However, the choice of the most appropriate nasal plug is vital to the outcome of the treatment. The ideal nasal plug should promote haemostasis –the set of biological mechanisms to stop haemorrhagic processes– and be comfortable for the patient, thus reducing damage to the nasal mucosa.

Edorta Santos-Vizcaíno, a researcher in the NanoBioCel group and one of the authors of the work, pointed out that in this joint work by the UPV/EHU's NanoBioCel and BIOMAT groups, "we have shown that by-products from the food industry are a valuable, sustainable source of biomaterials that can be used to make safe, effective nasal plugs with great haemostatic properties".

"Using natural by-products of the food industry –soy protein and chitin– we developed a scaffold or spongy matrix that displays a series of very interesting physicochemical properties: it is capable of absorbing huge quantities of water or blood, it has a large surface area to bind and house cells inside it, it does not produce any kind of rejection against the material and, what is more, it partially degrades," said the UPV/EHU researcher.

Chitin is the basis of this new structure, i.e. the skeleton of the spongy material, while the soy protein is responsible for lining the structure to make the material highly biocompatible and in turn able to absorb large amounts of blood.

A green strategy

”The growing social demand to be environmentally friendly," said the UPV/EHU researcher, "led us to investigate whether the sponge-like material produced from soy protein and chitin could be used as a nasal plug for the treatment of epistaxis. To evaluate the potential of our material as a nasal plug, we analysed its use as a nasal plug in comparison with the current gold standard, Merocel®, made of synthetic materials", added Santos.

Both in vitro and in vivo tests on rats "show that the material developed has a porous microstructure with a great capacity to absorb water and blood. Our biomaterial was found to effectively promote blood clotting, displaying excellent red blood cell and platelet binding properties in comparison with Merocel®. All this is due to the intrinsic haemostatic properties of its natural components", said Edorta Santos. In addition, "we saw that it is able to shed weight in aqueous media and partially degrade within a few days when immersed in blood, a feature that is increasingly important for nasal plugs, otherwise its removal is invasive", added the researcher.

In short, "our material produced from food industry waste displayed superior mechanical and haemostatic properties compared with Merocel®", concluded Edorta Santos.

Research staff from both research groups agree that, "this work, carried out from a circular economy approach, demonstrates that a green strategy can be adopted to manufacture nasal plugs using upgraded by-products from the food industry; their haemostatic properties are even better than the gold standard in the clinical setting".

"In fact, we are currently in the process of applying for a European patent, and trying to find a company that is interested in the product with a view to bringing the idea to fruition, and willing to commit itself to this technology based on the concept of the circular economy," said Edorta Santos.

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JOURNAL

Materials Today Bio

DOI

10.1016/j.mtbio.2022.100273 

ARTICLE TITLE

Green hemostatic sponge-like scaffold composed of soy protein and chitin for the treatment of epistaxis