Sticky-tape module designed to let robots know when floors are clean
By Ben Coxworth
September 24, 2021


A diagram of the module
Singapore University of Technology and Design

Increasingly, robots are being used to autonomously clean floors and other surfaces in places like airports and hospitals. You have to wonder, though … how do they know when a floor is sufficiently clean? A new module could soon tell them.

Currently in development at the Singapore University of Technology and Design, the unit includes a roll of white adhesive tape, a stepper motor which pulls out short lengths of that tape, a motorized spring-loaded "plunger" of sorts that presses down on the pulled tape, and a USB camera for visually examining the tape.

A robot utilizing the device starts by imaging a length of the tape in its clean, unused state. That same section of tape is subsequently pressed against the floor (sticky side down), then examined once again via the camera. By counting the number of pixels in which dirt particles are now visible (but that weren't there previously) the robot is able to assign a "dirt score" to that area of floor.

The bot can then clean and reassess that area repeatedly, until its score is satisfactory – the scoring scale ranges from 0 to 100, with 0 being the dirtiest and 100 being the cleanest.

There are some limitations that still need to be addressed, though. For one thing, floors with coarse textures tend to retain dirt particles, keeping them from sticking to the tape. The system may also falsely detect dirt when transitioning between sections of floor with different textures.

Down the road, it is hoped that the module will additionally be able to assess microbial density, so the robot will know whether or not the floor needs to be sterilized. The scientists are also developing algorithms that would allow cleaning robots to visually identify which areas of a floor are likely to be dirtiest, so they can receive the most attention.

A paper on the research, which is being led by PhD student Thejus Pathmakumar, was recently published in the journal Sensors.

DNA aids scientists in measuring the age of lobsters

By David Szondy
September 26, 2021

DNA can help determine the age of lobsters so fisheries can be better managed
YAYImages/Depositphotos

Scientists at the University of East Anglia have found a way to accurately measure the age of lobsters using changes in their DNA. The new study made in collaboration with the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (CEFAS) and the National Lobster Hatchery is aimed at producing a better understanding of lobster life cycles and better managing lobster fisheries.

A popular inhabitant of the dinner plate, the lobster is a very strange creature in many ways, which isn't surprising for an arthropod that diverged from the evolutionary lines that led to humans hundreds of millions of years ago. One major question is, how do lobsters age?

It's not an easy question to answer because the age of a lobster is very hard to determine. Partly, this is because lobsters have hard shells that they regularly molt to give themselves more room to grow, so the only thing left is soft tissue. The other is that, unlike many other animals, lobsters don't stop growing nor do they deteriorate with age. Instead, they seem to keep growing, don't weaken, and maintain fertility.

Exactly how long a lobster can live isn't certain. Some estimates put it at up to 100 years. Possibly, this may be due to an enzyme called telomerase, which repairs repetitive strings of DNA. Unfortunately, there isn't a lot of hard data because of the lack of an age measuring stick.


A rough rule is to gauge a lobster's age by its size, but environmental factors can have a major effect on this. A well-fed lobster in warm water can end up much larger than a hungrier, colder one. In recent years, there have been advances in measuring lobster age using growth rings in the eye stalk and stomach, but this isn't practical with a live lobster.

Instead, the East Anglia team looked at measuring the changes in lobster DNA over time. Taking European lobsters of known age that had been raised from eggs, the researchers looked at how much ribosomal DNA (rDNA) in the claw tissue methylates, that is, transfers one carbon atom and three hydrogen atoms (CH₃) during gene expression.

What they found was a strong correlation between the lobster's age and the rDNA changes. In addition, they could use this same DNA clock to estimate the age of wild lobsters. This is of much more than scientific interest. The world lobster market is worth well over US$5 billion, and since all lobsters are caught wild, the fisheries require careful management. However, much of their lives remain a mystery and knowing something as basic as their age could be a powerful tool in conserving stocks.


"It is crucial to be able to estimate how many lobsters of particular ages are present in a given area so that they can be sustainably harvested," says Dr. Eleanor Fairfield. "We wanted to develop a new, non-lethal method of determining the age of European lobsters that could be of better use for lobster fisheries management. The European lobster was an ideal species to study because it is economically and ecologically very important."

The research was published in Evolutionary Applications.

Source: University of East Anglia

Facebook acknowledges Instagram's damage to teen mental health, but says there's good stuff too

The good doesn't negate the bad, but it's still there, I guess.

By Amanda Yeo on September 27, 2021

Facebook admitted Instagram does make some teenagers' mental health worse, but claimed it improves others.

 Credit: Fabian Sommer/Picture Alliance Via Getty Images

Earlier this month, The Wall Street Journal published a report stating that Facebook's own in-house research revealed Instagram has a significant negative impact on teenagers' mental health. Now Facebook has responded, basically saying it's a matter of interpretation.

In a blog post published on Sunday afternoon, the social media giant claimed The Wall Street Journal's Sept. 14 article had mischaracterised Facebook's research, as well as left out important context.

"Suggesting that Instagram is toxic for teens is simply not backed up by the facts," wrote Facebook researcher Pratiti Raychoudhury.

On the face of it, the facts certainly look damning. The Wall Street Journal viewed several internal Facebook documents discussing the issue of teen mental health, the company having performed various focus groups and surveys between 2019 and 2021. Among the documents cited was a 2019 presentation on Instagram, which stated, "We make body image issues worse for one in three teen girls."

However, Facebook alleges that in context this simply meant Instagram makes body image issues worse for girls who already have such issues, not one in three teen girls overall. This still isn't great by any means, but at least it isn't as bad as it could have been.

"And, among those same girls who said they were struggling with body image issues, 22% said that using Instagram made them feel better about their body image issues and 45.5% said that Instagram didn’t make it either better or worse (no impact)," wrote Raychoudhury.

Of course, Facebook doesn't state what percentage of teenage girls it surveyed self-reported having body image issues, which seems like a relevant bit of info. One in three of 30 percent is a much different statistic to one in three of 90 percent.

Facebook was unable to provide Mashable with this information when reached for comment, but a spokesperson stated not all surveyed girls who reported body image issues were asked about Instagram's impact.

Still, as the slide shared by Facebook indicates, more surveyed teen girls with body image issues thought Instagram made this problem worse than better. But Facebook also noted that Instagram was good at other things, with surveyed teens stating Instagram made other issues such as "sadness" better in situations where they had "felt sadness in the past month."


"Body image was the only area where teen girls who reported struggling with the issue said Instagram made it worse as compared to the other 11 areas," wrote Raychoudhury. "Our internal research is part of our effort to minimize the bad on our platforms and maximize the good. We invest in this research to proactively identify where we can improve — which is why the worst possible results are highlighted in the internal slides."

SEE ALSO: It shouldn’t be teen girls’ job to mitigate harm on Instagram

Facebook further addressed The Wall Street Journal's concerning revelation that the company's research found 6 percent of American and 13 percent of British teens who reported suicidal thoughts traced their origins to Instagram.

"When we take a step back and look at the full data set, about 1% of the entire group of teens who took the survey said they had suicidal thoughts that they felt started on Instagram," said Raychoudhury.

According to Facebook, 1296 American and 1309 British teens participated in the relevant survey, which means around 26 reported that their suicidal thoughts began on Instagram. The company acknowledged that any number above zero is not good, but also claimed 38 percent of surveyed teenage girls who experience suicidal thoughts stated Instagram makes the problem better for them.

Facebook's general defence to all of The Wall Street Journal's revelations basically boiled down to the good outweighing the bad, with more surveyed teens considering Instagram's impact to be positive than negative. The company also stressed that, in addition to contextual considerations of the data, their research itself should be put into context.

"This research, some of which relied on input from only 40 teens, was designed to inform internal conversations about teens’ most negative perceptions of Instagram," wrote Raychoudhury. "These documents were also created for and used by people who understood the limitations of the research, which is why they occasionally used shorthand language, particularly in the headlines, and do not explain the caveats on every slide."

Facebook characterised its research as evidence the company is taking steps to tackle Instagram's problems, citing steps it's undertaken such as providing links to eating disorder hotlines, banning graphic images of self harm, and allowing users to limit interaction from non-followers.

"We have a long track record of using our research...to inform changes to our apps and provide resources for the people who use them," wrote Raychoudhury.

Sadly, implementation of said changes has historically been slow. Instagram only announced it would start linking to eating disorder hotlines in February this year, after being in operation for over a decade and knowing of the issue for almost as long. Facebook also has a history of downplaying or ignoring the potentially negative influences of its services — it is a trillion-dollar company, after all. But at least it's something, I guess.

If you feel like you’d like to talk to someone about your eating behavior, call the National Eating Disorder Association’s helpline at 800-931-2237. You can also text “NEDA” to 741-741 to be connected with a trained volunteer at the Crisis Text Line or visit the nonprofit’s website for more information.

If you want to talk to someone or are experiencing suicidal thoughts, Crisis Text Line provides free, confidential support 24/7. Text CRISIS to 741741 to be connected to a crisis counselor. Contact the NAMI HelpLine at 1-800-950-NAMI, Monday through Friday from 10:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m. ET, or email info@nami.org. You can also call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255. Here is a list of international resources.

 

Exotic mix in China’s delivery of moon rocks

Reports and Proceedings

EUROPLANET

 

IMAGE: IMAGE SHOWING THE LOCATION OF THE CHANG’E-5 LANDING SITE (43.06°N, 51.92°W) AND ADJACENT REGIONS OF THE MOON, AS WELL AS IMPACT CRATERS THAT WERE EXAMINED AS POSSIBLE SOURCES OF EXOTIC FRAGMENTS AMONG THE RECENTLY RETURNED LUNAR MATERIALS. view more 

CREDIT: QIAN ET AL. 2021

On 16 December 2020 the Chang'e-5 mission, China's first sample return mission to the Moon, successfully delivered to Earth nearly two kilograms of rocky fragments and dust from our celestial companion. Chang’e-5 landed on an area of the Moon not sampled by the NASA Apollo or the Soviet Luna missions nearly 50 years ago, and retrieved fragments of the youngest lunar rocks ever brought back for analysis in laboratories on Earth. Early-stage findings, which use geological mapping to link ‘exotic’ fragments in the collected samples to features near the landing site, have been presented by Mr Yuqi Qian, a PhD student at the China University of Geosciences, at the Europlanet Science Congress (EPSC) 2021 virtual meeting.

The Chang'e-5 landing site is located on the western edge of the nearside of the Moon in the Northern Oceanus Procellarum. This is one of the youngest geological areas of the Moon with an age of roughly two billion years. The materials scraped from the surface comprise a loose soil that results from the fragmentation and powdering of lunar rocks over billions of years due to impacts of various sizes.  

The study presented by Qian suggests that ninety percent of the materials collected by Chang’e-5 likely derive from the landing site and its immediate surroundings, which are of a type termed ‘mare basalts’. These volcanic rocks are visible to us as the darker grey areas that spilled over much of the nearside of the Moon as ancient eruptions of lava. Yet ten percent of the fragments have distinctly different, ‘exotic’ chemical compositions, and may preserve records of other parts of the lunar surface as well as hints of the types of space rocks that have impacted the Moon’s surface. 

Qian and colleagues from Brown University and the University of Münster have looked at the potential sources of beads of rapidly cooled glassy material. They have traced these glassy droplets to now extinct volcanic vents known as ‘Rima Mairan’ and ‘Rima Sharp’ located roughly 230 and 160 kilometres southeast and northeast of the Chang’e-5 landing site. These fragments could give insights into past episodes of energetic, fountain-like volcanic activity on the Moon.

The team has also looked at the potential sources of impact-related fragments. The young geological age of the rocks at the landing site narrows the search, as only craters with ages less than 2 billion years can be responsible, and these are relatively rare on the side of the Moon that faces Earth.  The team has modelled the potential contributions from specific craters to the south and southeast (Aristarchus, Kepler, and Copernicus), northwest (Harding), and northeast (Harpalus). Qian’s findings show that Harpalus is a significant contributor of many exotic fragments among Chang’e-5’s sample haul, and these pieces of rock could offer a way to address persisting uncertainty about this crater’s age. Some fragments may have been thrown into Chang’e-5 landing area from nearly 1,300 kilometres away. 

Modelling and review of work by other teams has linked other exotic pieces of rock to domes rich in silica or to highland terranes, mountains of pale rock that surround the landing site.

“All of the local and exotic materials among the returned samples of Chang’e-5 can be used to answer a number of further scientific questions,” said Qian. “In addressing these we shall deepen our understanding of the Moon’s history and help prepare for further lunar exploration.” 

CAPTION

Image zooming in on the location of the Chang’e-5 landing site while showing nearby impact craters that were examined as possible sources of exotic fragments among the recently returned lunar materials.

CREDIT

Qian et al. 2021

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DOI

https://doi.org/10.5194/epsc2021-447 

 

Observations confirm that aerosols formed from plant emitted compounds can make clouds brighter

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF EASTERN FINLAND

An observational study by Finnish research groups confirms a prevailing theory that volatile organic compounds emitted by vegetation form atmospheric aerosols which make clouds more reflective. Brighter clouds reduce the amount of solar radiation reaching the Earth’s surface, thereby cooling the surface. Emissions of organic compounds from vegetation increase with increasing temperature, thus having the capability to slow down climate warming.

Atmospheric aerosols scatter and absorb solar light, and influence the formation of clouds. However, these processes are not yet completely understood, which leads to significant uncertainties when estimating the role of aerosols in climate change. In order to reliably estimate the effect of humans on climate change, we need to be able to separate the effects of natural and anthropogenic aerosols.

The study by Finnish researchers, published in Nature Communications, estimated the impact of volatile organic compounds emitted by boreal forests on aerosol concentration and cloud properties. The analysis was based on aerosol observations at the Hyytiälä SMEAR II station in Finland and remote sensing observations of cloud properties over Southern Finland from NASA’s spaceborne MODIS instrument. The observations showed that biogenic aerosols formed from volatile organic compounds reduced the amount of solar radiation reaching the Earth’s surface by scattering more radiation back to space. Furthermore, these aerosols increased the amount of cloud droplets and made clouds more reflective. Both processes become stronger as temperature increases, indicating that these natural aerosols can slow down the warming of climate. The magnitudes of the radiative effects of these processes are similar and their combined effect is significant when compared with the radiative effect of anthropogenic aerosols in the boreal region. Therefore, this natural mechanism needs to be considered in more detail in climate model simulations.

The long-term and versatile observations from the SMEAR network and NASA’s comprehensive satellite observations enable this kind of breakthrough research.

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JOURNAL

Nature Communications

DOI

10.1038/s41467-021-25850-7 

ARTICLE TITLE

A. Significance of the organic aerosol driven climate feedback in the boreal area

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

24-Sep-2021

VACCINE HESITANT ARE NOT VACCINE RESISTANT

Trajectory of COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy Over Time and Association of Initial Vaccine Hesitancy With Subsequent Vaccination

Aaron J. Siegler, MHS, PhD¹; Nicole Luisi, MS¹; Eric W. Hall, MPH, PhD¹; et alHeather Bradley, PhD²; Travis Sanchez, PhD, DVM¹; Benjamin A. Lopman, PhD¹; Patrick S. Sullivan, PhD, DVM¹

Author Affiliations Article Information

JAMA Netw Open. 2021;4(9):e2126882. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.26882

COVID-19 Resource Center

Research Letter 

Public Health

September 24, 2021

Introduction

Vaccine hesitancy is a critical barrier to achieving high COVID-19 vaccine coverage.^1,2 The stability of hesitancy over time is unclear, as is the association between hesitancy and eventual vaccine receipt. Moreover, despite widespread use, the validity of self-reported COVID-19 vaccine receipt has not been established. Using a population-based, serosurvey cohort in the US, we assessed the association between baseline vaccine hesitancy and vaccine receipt at study follow-up and explored the validity of vaccine self-report.

Methods

This cohort study, combined with study methods published elsewhere,³ follows the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) reporting guideline. The study was approved by the Emory University institutional review board. All study participants completed an online informed consent procedure.

As described elsewhere,³ participants were recruited from a national address-based frame. At baseline (August 9 to December 8, 2020) and follow-up (March 2 to April 21, 2021), surveys measured COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy, and biological specimens measured antibody response. Validation analysis compared anti-spike IgG (Platelia Total Antibody Assay; Bio-Rad) with self-reported vaccination status. Vaccine self-report was assessed with the question, “Have you received a COVID-19 vaccine?” with responses of “Yes, one dose,” “Yes, two doses,” and “No.” Vaccine hesitancy was assessed with responses of “very unlikely,” “unlikely,” or “unsure” categorized as hesitant and “likely” or “very likely” categorized as willing. Sociodemographic variables, including race and ethnicity, were self-reported and were collected as part of the cohort study. Design weights were adjusted using classification and regression tree analysis and a raking procedure. Weighted estimates and 2-sided 95% CIs were developed in SAS statistical software version 9.4 (SAS Institute), with alluvial plots conducted in R statistical software version 4.0.5 (R Project for Statistical Computing).

Results

Of 4654 baseline respondents (2727 women [59%]; mean [SD] age, 50.7 [17.2] years), a total of 3439 (74%) completed follow-up (Table). Alluvial plots show the path of persons from baseline hesitancy status to follow-up vaccination status, with the widths corresponding to proportions observed (Figure). Among persons hesitant to vaccinate at baseline, at follow-up, 32% (95% CI, 27%-37%) reported receiving 1 or more vaccine doses, 37% (95% CI, 32%-42%) reported being likely to be vaccinated, and 32% (95% CI, 27%-37%) remained unlikely to be vaccinated. In contrast, among persons likely to be vaccinated at follow-up, 54% (95% CI, 50%-57%) had received 1 or more vaccine doses, 39% (95% CI, 36%-43%) remained likely to be vaccinated, and 7% (95% CI, 5%-9%) reported being unlikely to be vaccinated. Baseline vaccine willingness was higher among persons with a bachelor’s or graduate degree than among persons with lower education (76% [95% CI, 72%-78%] vs 65% [95% CI, 61%-69%]), and at follow-up these differences were reflected in vaccination, with vaccination rates of 54% (95% CI, 51%-58%) vs 43% (95% CI, 39%-47%). For Hispanic individuals, baseline vaccine willingness was similar to that of non-Hispanic White individuals (71% [95% CI, 64%-78%] vs 69% [95% CI, 66%-72%]), yet at follow-up fewer Hispanic individuals than non-Hispanic White individuals were vaccinated (31% [95% CI, 25%-38%] vs 51% [95% CI, 47%-54%]). Because not all participants were eligible for vaccines at follow-up, we conducted a sensitivity analysis restricted to participants reporting vaccine eligibility and found that among persons hesitant to vaccinate at baseline, at follow-up 51% reported receiving 1 or more vaccine dose, 22% reported being likely to be vaccinated, and 27% remained unlikely to be vaccinated.

Self-reported vaccine receipt indicated substantial validity compared with the reference standard detection of anti-spike IgG among 1949 participants (excluding 378 with natural infection and 868 without full dosing or with unknown vaccine manufacturer). Self-report had 98.2% (638 of 650 respondents) positive predictive value, 97.3% (35 of 1299 respondents) negative predictive value, 94.8% (638 of 673 respondents) sensitivity, and 99.1% (12 of 1276 respondents) specificity.

Discussion

This cohort study found that COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy is not a stable trait precluding vaccination but, instead, is labile. Hesitancy decreased between late 2020 and early 2021, with nearly one-third (32%) of persons who were initially hesitant being vaccinated at follow-up and more than one-third (37%) transitioning from vaccine hesitant into vaccine willing. Early plans regarding vaccination frequently deviated from later action in vaccine seeking. Self-reported vaccination status was congruent with biological tests, indicating that it is a valid metric. Changes in hesitancy have not alleviated health inequities in vaccines received, and further studies are needed to explore the reasons why vaccine hesitancy is changing over time by group. Our analysis is limited in that vaccines were not available to all respondents until April 19, 2021, and our follow-up period ended before this date.

Conclusions

Vaccine hesitancy is waning, yet inequities in receipt remain. There is a clear public health opportunity to convert higher vaccine willingness into successfully delivered vaccinations.

Back to top

Article Information

Accepted for Publication: July 25, 2021.

Published: September 24, 2021. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.26882

Open Access: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the CC-BY License. © 2021 Siegler AJ et al. JAMA Network Open.

Corresponding Author: Aaron J. Siegler, MHS, PhD, Department of Epidemiology, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, 1518 Clifton Rd, Atlanta, GA 30322 (asiegle@emory.edu).

Author Contributions: Dr Siegler had full access to all of the data in the study and takes responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis.

Concept and design: Siegler, Luisi, Sanchez, Lopman, Sullivan.

Acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data: All authors.

Drafting of the manuscript: Siegler, Hall, Sullivan.

Critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content: All authors.

Statistical analysis: Siegler, Luisi, Hall, Bradley.

Obtained funding: Siegler, Lopman, Sullivan.

Administrative, technical, or material support: Luisi, Sanchez, Lopman.

Supervision: Siegler, Sanchez, Sullivan.

Conflict of Interest Disclosures: Dr Siegler reported receiving grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Woodruff Foundation paid to his institution during the conduct of the study. Dr Sanchez reported receiving grants from the NIH during the conduct of the study. Dr Sullivan reported receiving grants and personal fees from the NIH during the conduct of the study, grants and personal fees from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and grants from Gilead Sciences outside the submitted work. No other disclosures were reported.

Funding/Support: Salesforce donated licenses and system development, and the Kaiser Family Foundation provided design contributions. This study was supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (grant 3R01AI143875-02S1 to Dr Siegler).

Role of the Funder/Sponsor: The funder had no role in the design and conduct of the study; collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of the data; preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript; and decision to submit the manuscript for publication.

Additional Contributions: We appreciate and acknowledge the contributions of our study participants. Mariah Valentine-Graves, MPH, Palmer Ramsay-Hipp, MPH, Radhika Prakash Asrani, MPH, and Ryan Zahn, MPH (all from Emory University), provided project management support, including participant management; they were not compensated beyond their normal salaries.

References

1.

Gharpure  R, Patel  A, Link-Gelles  R.  First-dose COVID-19 vaccination coverage among skilled nursing facility residents and staff.   JAMA. 2021;325(16):1670-1671. doi:10.1001/jama.2021.2352
ArticlePubMedGoogle ScholarCrossref

2.

Murphy  J, Vallières  F, Bentall  RP,  et al.  Psychological characteristics associated with COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and resistance in Ireland and the United Kingdom.   Nat Commun. 2021;12(1):29. doi:10.1038/s41467-020-20226-9PubMedGoogle ScholarCrossref

3.

Siegler  AJ, Sullivan  PS, Sanchez  T,  et al.  Protocol for a national probability survey using home specimen collection methods to assess prevalence and incidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection and antibody response.   Ann Epidemiol. 2020;49:50-60. doi:10.1016/j.annepidem.2020.07.015PubMedGoogle ScholarCrossref

 

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused the biggest decrease in life expectancy since World War II

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD

The COVID-19 pandemic triggered life expectancy losses not seen since World War II in Western Europe and exceeded those observed around the dissolution of the Eastern Bloc in central and Eastern European countries, according to research published [27 September], led by scientists at Oxford’s Leverhulme Centre for Demographic Science.

The research team assembled an unprecedented dataset on mortality from 29 countries, spanning most of Europe, the US and Chile – countries for which official death registrations for 2020 had been published. They found that 27 of the 29 countries saw reductions in life expectancy in 2020, and at a scale which wiped out years of progress on mortality, according to the paper published today in the International Journal of Epidemiology.

Women in 15 countries and men in 10 countries were found to have a lower expectancy at birth in 2020 than in 2015, a year in which life expectancy was already negatively affected by a significant flu season.

According to the study’s co-lead author Dr José Manuel Aburto, ‘For Western European countries such as Spain, England and Wales, Italy, Belgium, among others, the last time such large magnitudes of declines in life expectancy at birth were observed in a single year was during WW-II.’

But, he says, the scale of the life expectancy losses was stark across most countries studied, ‘22 countries included in our study experienced larger losses than half a year in 2020. Females in eight countries and males in 11 countries experienced losses larger than a year. To contextualize, it took on average 5.6 years for these countries to achieve a one-year increase in life expectancy recently: progress wiped out over the course of 2020 by COVID-19.’

Across most of the 29 countries, males saw larger life expectancy declines than females. The largest declines in life expectancy were observed among males in the US, who saw a decline of 2.2 years relative to 2019 levels, followed by Lithuanian males (1.7 years).

According to co-lead author, Dr Ridhi Kashyap, ‘The large declines in life expectancy observed in the US can partly be explained by the notable increase in mortality at working ages observed in 2020. In the US, increases in mortality in the under 60 age group contributed most significantly to life expectancy declines, whereas across most of Europe increases in mortality above age 60 contributed more significantly.’

In addition to these age patterns, the team’s analysis reveals that most life expectancy reductions across different countries were attributable to official COVID-19 deaths.

Dr Kashyap adds, ‘While we know that there are several issues linked to the counting of COVID-19 deaths, such as inadequate testing or misclassification, the fact that our results highlight such a large impact that is directly attributable to COVID-19 shows how devastating a shock it has been for many countries. We urgently call for the publication and availability of more disaggregated data from a wider-range of countries, including low- and middle-income countries, to better understand the impacts of the pandemic globally.’

Life expectancy, also known as period life expectancy, refers to the average age to which a newborn live if current death rates continued for their whole life. It does not predict an actual lifespan. It provides a snapshot of current mortality conditions and allows for a comparison of the size of the mortality impacts of the pandemic between different countries and populations.

 

Leverhulme Centre for Demographic Science

The Leverhulme Centre for Demographic Science (LCDS) was set up in 2019 to build an internationally recognized and interdisciplinary centre of demographic science that will disrupt, realign and raise the value of demography in science and society. For more information about the Trust, please visit www.leverhulme.ac.uk and follow the Trust on Twitter @LeverhulmeTrust

 

The University of Oxford

Oxford University has been placed number one in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings for the fifth year running, and at the heart of this success is our ground-breaking research and innovation. Oxford is world-famous for research excellence and home to some of the most talented people from across the globe. Our work helps the lives of millions, solving real-world problems through a huge network of partnerships and collaborations. The breadth and interdisciplinary nature of our research sparks imaginative and inventive insights and solutions.

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JOURNAL

International Journal of Epidemiology

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Data/statistical analysis

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Quantifying impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic through life expectancy losses: a population-level study of 29 countries

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

27-Sep-2021

 

Play ball! (It’s good for you)

UNIVERSITY OF MONTREAL

Boys who participate in sports in early childhood are less likely to experience later depressive and anxiety symptoms – known as emotional distress – in middle childhood, a new study led by Université de Montréal psychoeducator Marie-Josée Harbec.

Published today in the Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics, the study also suggests that  boys who experience less emotional distress in middle childhood are also more likely to be more physically active in early adolescence.

In the study, “we wanted to clarify the long-term and reciprocal relationship in school-aged children  between participation in sports and depressive and anxiety symptoms,” said Harbec, who did the work as a doctoral student supervised by UdeM psychoeducation professor Linda Pagani.

“We also wanted to examine whether this relationship worked differently in boys and girls between the ages of 5 and 12,” said Harbec, who along with Pagani practices at CHU Ste-Justine chuldren’s hospital.

“There’s widespread evidence of a crisis these days in childhood physical inactivity, and this may ultimately have implications for later mental and physical health,” she added.

Harbec and Pagani examined the sporting and physical activity habits reported by the kids at ages 5 and 12 years, as well by their parents, and also looked at symptoms of emotional distress from ages 6 to 10 years that were reported by the kids’ teachers.

“We found that 5-year-old boys who never participated in sports were more likely between the ages of 6 and 10 to look unhappy and tired, had difficulty having fun, cried a lot, and appeared fearful or worried.” said Pagani, the study’s senior author.

“Also, boys who exhibited higher levels of depressive and anxious symptoms during middle childhood were subsequently less physically active at 12 years old. For girls, on the other hand, we did not find any significant changes.”

Collaborating with researchers at McGill University and the Childrens Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute, Harbec and Pagani examined data from a Quebec cohort of kids born in 1997 and 1998, part of the the Quebec Longitudinal Study of Child Development done by the Institut de de la statistique du Québec.

Parents of 690 boys and 748 girls they looked at had reported their past-year participation in sport at age 5 and their weekly level of physical activity at age 12; their teachers assessed emotional-distress symptoms observed in school from ages 6 to 10. The data were stratified by sex to identify any significant link between physical activity and emotional distress.

Many confounding factors were ruled out, said Harbec.

“Our goal was to eliminate any pre-existing conditions of the children or families that could throw a different light on our results, such as child temperament, parental education or family income,”  she said.

 

Girls and boys function differently

Boys who engage in sport in preschool might benefit from physical activities that help them develop  life skills such as taking initiative, engaging in teamwork and practicing self-control, and build supportive relationships with their peers and adult coaches and instructors, the researchers said.

“Conversely, boys who experience symptoms of depression and anxiety might be more socially isolated, and have a decreased level of energy and lower feelings of competence, which could in turn negatively influence engagement in physical activity,” said Pagani.

For girls, depression and anxiety risks and protective factors work differently, said Harbec. Girls are more likely than boys to seek help from and disclose emotional distress to family, friends or health providers, and psychological support from these social ties protects them better.

“Also, because more girls experience emotional distress than boys, this gender-related risk may have led to early identification and intervention for girls,” and so protect them from further damage, said Harbec.

About this study

“Physical activity as both predictor and outcome of emotional distress trajectories in middle childhood’,” by Marie-Josée Harbec et al, was published Sept. 27, 2021 in the Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics.

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JOURNAL

Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Survey

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Physical activity as both predictor and outcome of emotional distress trajectories in middle childhood

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

27-Sep-2021

FOR PROFIT MEDICINE

Patients at higher-rated dialysis centers more likely to get on kidney transplant waitlists

Study supports including kidney transplant accessibility in dialysis center ratings

Peer-Reviewed Publication

BRIGHAM AND WOMEN'S HOSPITAL

Dialysis centers, the gatekeepers of kidney transplantation waitlisting, produce more data and inspire more policies today than ever before. However, existing Dialysis Facility Compare (DFC) quality metrics for these centers have not included longitudinal metrics, such as time to transplantation waitlisting, which incentivize coordinating care across the spectrum of dialysis centers, nephrologists, hospitals, and transplant centers. A new study by a team of Brigham and Women’s Hospital researchers aimed to fill this gap by investigating potential associations between patient, facility, and waitlisting characteristics and a center’s DFC ratings. By combining data from the U.S. Renal Data System (USRDS) to DFC center ratings between 2013 and 2018, researchers found that higher-rated facilities yielded a 47 percent higher likelihood of waitlisting for patients. Results are published in JAMA Network Open.

“Historically, quality metric programs have focused on specific sites of care, so our objective was to focus on the continuum of experience for the patient,” said Thomas Tsai, MD, MPH, of the Brigham’s Center for Surgery and Public Health (CSPH) in the Department of Surgery. “We wanted to know if current quality measurements reflected the full continuum of care, and if patients receiving care at higher-rated centers were more likely to be listed for kidney transplantation.”

Patients with end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) no longer have viable kidneys that effectively filter blood; thus, without treatment, dangerous biowaste levels persist inside the body. For these patients, there are few treatment options: dialysis, kidney transplantation or conservative kidney management. Kidney transplantation is often the best option for patients, but to receive a transplant, patients must be referred by their dialysis center to a national waitlist managed by the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS). ESKD diagnosis is life-threatening, which further emphasizes the importance of quality intervention after diagnosis — quality which is measured by the Medicare DFC star system. The star system accounts for nine separate health statistics, including deaths, hospitalizations, blood transfusions, and then ranks facilities to get final ratings.

To assess existing quality metrics of dialysis centers, researchers used the USRDS data and — after excluding patients that attended unrated centers or had already received transplants — 507,581 year-long patient experiences were captured from 6,661 unique facilities. The researchers used these data to then determine whether patient, facility, or kidney transplant waitlisting characteristics were associated with corresponding dialysis center ratings.

By comparing 5-star and 1-star facilities, the team found those higher-rated facilities to be associated with a 47 percent increased likelihood of waitlisting for transplantation. Additionally, the team found Black patients were less likely to be waitlisted than white patients, and they were more likely to be at 1- and 2-star facilities. Furthermore, the team found that both urban facilities and nonprofit facilities boasted higher likelihood of waitlisting, despite facilities in urban settings having higher likelihood of 1- and 2-star ratings.

The authors hope that the integration of waitlisting rates into current DFC ratings will incentivize greater referral rates and, in turn, increase overall nationwide facility quality.        

“At the end of the day, we’re struggling to empower patients to make good, informed decisions about dialysis facilities,” said lead author Joel Adler, MD, MPH, of the Brigham’s CSPH and Division of Transplant Surgery. “For patients experiencing this system and deciding based on these quality metrics, it’s crucial that we integrate variables like waitlisting rates, which can radically change patient outcomes.”

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Conflict of Interest: Co-author Rachel Patzer, PhD, reported being cochair of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Technical Expert Panel on Practitioner Level Measurement of Effective Access to Transplantation (2021). No other disclosures were reported.

Funding: This work was supported by the American Society of Transplant Surgeons (CareDx Enhancing Organ Donation & Transplantation grant to Adler).

Paper cited: Adler, JT. et al. “Association of Public Reporting of Medicare Dialysis Facility Quality Ratings With Access to Kidney Transplant, JAMA Network Open” Journal DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.26719

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JOURNAL

JAMA Network Open

DOI

10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.26719 

ARTICLE TITLE

Association of Public Reporting of Medicare Dialysis Facility Quality Ratings With Access to Kidney Transplantation

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

24-Sep-2021