Modern computational tools may open a new era for fossil pollen research

SMITHSONIAN TROPICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE

Research News

 

IMAGE: RESEARCHER INGRID ROMERO LOOKING FOR FOSSIL POLLEN IN A LIGHT MICROSCOPE. view more 

CREDIT: DOUG PETERSON

One of the best sources of information on the evolution of terrestrial ecosystems and plant diversity over millions of years is fossil pollen. For palynologists--the scientists who study ancient pollen--a common challenge in the field is the identification of plant species based on these fossil grains. By integrating machine-learning technology with high-resolution imaging, a team from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI), the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the University of California, Irvine and collaborating institutions was able to advance this goal.

Pollen is resistant to disintegration, even when exposed to elevated temperatures or strong acids. This allows it to preserve in sediments for millions of years, making it an invaluable record of how the different groups of plants have evolved and the environmental factors that have played a role in this evolution. In order to achieve this, researchers must first be able to identify what they are observing under the microscope.

To help improve the efficiency and accuracy of fossil pollen identifications, scientists developed and trained three machine-learning models to differentiate among several existing Amherstieae legume genera and tested them against fossil specimens from western Africa and northern South America dating back to the Paleocene (66-56 million years ago), Eocene (56-34 million years ago) and Miocene (23-5.3 million years ago).

The models classified existing pollen accurately over 80% of the time and also showed high consensus on the identification of fossil pollen specimens. These results support previous hypotheses suggesting that Amherstieae originated in Africa and later dispersed to South America, revealing an evolutionary history of nearly 65 million years.

"We do not know the biological affinity of the majority of types of deep-time fossil pollen," said STRI paleontologist Carlos Jaramillo, co-author of the study. "This study shows that with the right tools, we are able to taxonomically classify fossil pollen beyond what has been previously possible."

However, over a third of the fossil specimens did not present biological affinity with any existing genera, suggesting that part of this ancient diversity may have went extinct at some point during the evolutionary process.

"These new tools reveal the vast amount of taxonomic information that pollen can offer and that has been hidden from researchers until now," said Ingrid Romero, doctoral student at the University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign and lead author of the study.

This new approach improves the taxonomic resolution of fossil pollen identifications and greatly enhances the use of pollen data in ecological and evolutionary research. It also narrows down the range of options for experts in fossil pollen identification, allowing them to save time and invest their energy on the most challenging specimens.

"Fossil pollen analysis is a very visual science and computer vision algorithms augment expert identifications and can assist palynologists with challenging visual classification problems," said Surangi Punyasena, associate professor at the University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign and senior author of the study. "The machine-learning models that our colleagues Shu Kong and Charless Fowlkes developed are truly remarkable. Our hope is that other researchers apply these techniques and that as a community we expand the ecological and evolutionary questions that are addressed by the fossil pollen record."

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Members of the research team are affiliated with STRI, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Carnegie Mellon University, the University of California, Irvine, Université de Montpellier, the University of New Brunswick, Missouri University of Science and Technology and Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso. Research was funded by the National Science Foundation, grants NSF-DBI-Advances in Bioinformatics (NSF-DBI-1262561 and NSF-DBI-1262547), and NSF-IIS-Information and Intelligent Systems (NSF-IIS-1618806).

The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, headquartered in Panama City, Panama, is a unit of the Smithsonian Institution. The institute furthers the understanding of tropical biodiversity and its importance to human welfare, trains students to conduct research in the tropics and promotes conservation by increasing public awareness of the beauty and importance of tropical ecosystems.

 

Surprised researchers: Number of leopards in northern China on the rise

UNIVERSITY OF COPENHAGEN

Research News

 

Leopards are fascinating animals. In addition to being sublime hunters that will eat nearly anything and can survive in varied habitats from forests to deserts, they are able to withstand temperatures ranging from minus 40 degrees Celsius during winter to plus 40 degrees in summer.

Despite their resilience, the majority of leopard species are endangered. Poaching and the clearing of forest habitat for human activities are among the reasons for their global decline.

But in northern China -- and specifically upon the Loess Plateu -- something fantastic is occurring.

Numbers of a leopard subspecies called the North Chinese leopard have increased according to a new study conducted by researchers from the University of Copenhagen and their colleagues in Beijing.

"We were quite surprised that the number of leopards has increased, because their populations are declining in many other places. We knew that there were leopards in this area, but we had no idea how many," says Bing Xie, a PhD student at UCPH's Department of Biology and one of the researchers behind the study.

Together with researchers at Beijing Normal University, she covered 800 square kilometers of the Loess Plateu between 2016 and 2017.

The just-completed count reports that the number of leopards increased from 88 in 2016 to 110 in 2017 -- a 25 percent increase. The researchers suspect that their numbers have continued to increase in the years since.

This is the first time that an estimate has been made for the status of local population in North Chinese leopards.

Five-year reforestation plan has worked

The reason for this spotted golden giant's rebound likely reflects the 13'th five-year plan that the Chinese government, in consultation with a range of scientific researchers, implemented in 2015 to restore biodiversity in the area.

"About 20 years ago, much of the Loess Plateau's forest habitat was transformed into agricultural land. Human activity scared away wild boars, toads, frogs and deer -- making it impossible for leopards to find food. Now that much of the forest has been restored, prey have returned, along with the leopards," explains Bing Xie, adding:

"Many locals had no idea there were leopards in the area, so they were wildly enthused and surprised. And, it was a success for the government, which had hoped for greater biodiversity in the area. Suddenly, they could 'house' these big cats on a far greater scale than they had dreamed of."

Leopards are nearly invisible in nature

The research team deployed camera equipment to map how many leopards were in this area of northern China. But even though the footage captured more cats than expected on film, none of the researchers saw any of the big stealthy felines with their own eyes:

"Leopards are extremely shy of humans and sneak about silently. That's why it's not at all uncommon to study them for 10 years without physically observing one," she explains.

Even though Bing Xie has never seen leopards in the wild, she will continue to fight for their survival.

"That 98 percent of leopard habitat has been lost over the years makes me so sad. I have a great love for these gorgeous cats and I will continue to research on how best to protect them," she concludes.

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The uncertain future of the oceans

HELMHOLTZ CENTRE FOR OCEAN RESEARCH KIEL (GEOMAR)

Research News

 

The ocean plays a key role in the current climate change, as it absorbs a considerable part of the atmospheric carbon dioxide emitted by mankind. On the one hand, this slows down the heating of the climate, and on the other hand, the dissolution of CO2 in seawater leads to acidification of the oceans. This has far-reaching consequences for many marine organisms and thus also for the oceanic carbon cycle. One of the most important mechanisms in this cycle, is called the biological carbon pump. Part of the biomass that phytoplankton forms in the surface ocean through photosynthesis sinks to the depths in the form of small carbonaceous particles. As a result, the carbon is stored for a long time in the deep sea. The ocean thus acts as a carbon sink in the climate system. How strongly this biological pump acts varies greatly from region to region and depends on the composition of species in the ecosystem.

The study, which has now been published in the journal Nature Climate Change, is one of the most comprehensive studies so far on the effects of ocean acidification on marine ecosystems. Scientists at the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research in Kiel have now been able to show for the first time that ocean acidification influences the carbon content of sinking organic material, and thus the biological pump. Surprisingly, the observed changes were highly variable. The carbon content of sinking particles increased or decreased significantly with increasing CO2, depending on the composition of species and the structure of the food web. Since the underlying data cover a wide range of ocean regions, this seems to be a global phenomenon. These findings allow a completely new assessment of the effects of ocean acidification.

Dr. Jan Taucher, marine biologist and main author of the study, says: "Interestingly, we found that bacterial and animal plankton, such as small crustaceans, play a key role in how the carbon cycle and biological pump respond to ocean acidification. Until now, it has been widely held that biogeochemical changes are mainly driven by reactions of phytoplankton. Therefore, even modern Earth system models do not take into account the interactions we observe between the marine food web and the carbon cycle. Our findings thus help to make climate models more realistic and improve climate projections".

Up to now, most of the knowledge on this topic has been based on idealized laboratory experiments, which only represent ecological interactions and the dynamics of the complex marine food web in a highly simplified way. This makes it difficult to transfer such results to real ocean conditions and project them into the future. In order to gain a more realistic insight, the study summarizes several field experiments that were conducted with large-volume test facilities, so-called mesocosms, in different ocean regions, from arctic to subtropical waters.

Mesocosms are, so to speak, oversized test tubes in the ocean, in which changes in environmental conditions in a closed but otherwise natural ecosystem can be studied. For the present study, a large amount of data from five mesocosm experiments was synthesized to provide a more precise picture of plankton communities and biogeochemical processes within the ecosystem. A total of over ten thousand data points were included in the analysis.

The newly gained knowledge can now be used to implement the complex ecological interactions in Earth system models, thus contributing to further improve climate projections.

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Researcher found female candidates are more likely to discuss the economy than males

University of Colorado Denver studied the differences in congressional campaign narratives

UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO DENVER

Research News

 

IMAGE: THIS GRAPH SHOWS THE DIFFERENT TOPICS DISCUSSED BY EACH GROUP ON TWITTER. view more 

CREDIT: DESERAI CROW

In a new study published in Politics & Policy, Deserai Crow, PhD, associate professor at the University of Colorado Denver in the School of Public Affairs, found significant differences in rhetoric between both party affiliation and gender. Narratives from both Republican and Democratic candidates in 48 U.S. House campaigns from the 2018 midterm election were analyzed in this study.

While both Republican and Democratic candidates spoke mostly about the same issues, the frequency at which they were discussed varied. Democrats were more likely to discuss women's issues/abortion, campaign finance reform, education, environment, civil rights, infrastructure/transportation, and workers/wages. Republicans, on the other hand, were more likely to focus on immigration and spending/taxes.

After analyzing the data, Crow found that the issues campaigns focused on not only varied based on political affiliation, but by candidate gender. Female candidates were significantly more likely to talk about the economy, education, environment, and gun violence issues on their campaign websites than male candidates. On social media, female candidates were more likely to discuss taxes, the economy, and worker/wage issues than their male counterparts.

According to researchers, females also were found to regard the purpose of conversation different than males. Female candidates, for example, place higher value on the communication process rather than the outcome, while males tend to use more assertive or outcome-oriented communication tactics. Creating a social connection and enhancing relationships using affiliative language is more common in females.

"The data show that despite all of the media/social media conversation around issues like immigration, civil rights, and similar issues that capture media attention, candidates who are more likely to win talk about the kitchen table issues that affect voters' lives like healthcare, education, the economy, and similar topics," said Crow.

 

One other set of differences researchers saw that varied by gender was in the type of people, or narrative characters, that candidates used in their communications about policy issues. Some of the characters most referenced by female candidates included families, their home states ("Coloradans"), and citizens, suggesting that relational or familiar language was more frequently used by female candidates. In fact, female candidates were 20% more likely to discuss family issues on social media than males.

"It will be interesting to assess what candidates this election cycle focus on and who prevails, given the major upheaval during 2020 with protests against masks, Black Lives Matter protests, and similar concerns across the country," said Crow. "It's possible that we could see a major change this year and we will be exploring that as well."

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Solar Power = “Cheapest Electricity In History”

The International Energy Agency has a long history in fossil fuels. It is not the first, second, or third organization that would come to mind when thinking of renewable energy bulls or fans. However, its latest report indicates that solar power is now the “cheapest electricity in history.”

The International Energy Agency (IEA) said much more than this in its 464-page World Energy Outlook 2020, but when it comes down to it, this is the line that matters most. The past decade has shown tremendous growth in solar power and wind power worldwide, but the next decade is where they’ll really shine, because the key crossover points have now occurred (like solar becoming cheaper than every other electricity source, on average) or will soon occur (like electricity from new solar power plants becoming cheaper than electricity from existing fossil fuel power plants).

Solar is now ‘cheapest electricity in history’, confirms @IEA https://t.co/HdvSn8lDTP #renewables #ClimateChange pic.twitter.com/PQwmy8Q59D

— World Economic Forum (@wef) October 18, 2020

Like a couple of other major energy agencies, the IEA has long published absurdly pessimistic reports regarding renewable energy. The reason for that is up for debate, but there is no debating that’s been the case. The World Economic Forum writes, “The IEA’s main scenario has 43% more solar output by 2040 than it expected in 2018, partly due to detailed new analysis showing that solar power is 20–50% cheaper than thought.”

That’s not to say policies to support solar and stop subsidizing polluting fossil fuels aren’t important. There are always policies that could accelerate a transition and policies that could slow it down. Considering how tenuous our situation is with the global climate, there is still an urgent need for policies that hasten the transition, which means electing thoughtful, considerate, forward-looking politicians who believe in the importance of science and being guided by a service for the future of society rather than short-term financials gains of an upper financial tier of society.

“The IEA says that new utility-scale solar projects now cost $30-60/MWh in Europe and the US and just $20-40/MWh in China and India, where ‘revenue support mechanisms’ such as guaranteed prices are in place.”

Put into other words, solar power is considerably cheaper in China than in the US or Europe because the Chinese government more strongly supports the solar market and works to accelerate its growth.

It’s unclear at this point if the IEA’s forecasts will be shown to be obscenely pessimistic in years to come as we see how things play out, but whether they do or they don’t, no energy source will beat solar. “Renewables grow rapidly in all our scenarios, with solar at the centre of this new constellation of electricity generation technologies,” the global energy agency writes. “Hydropower remains the largest renewable source of electricity, but solar is the main driver of growth as it sets new records for deployment each year after 2022, followed by onshore and offshore wind.”

As I wrote recently, an average solar module came at a cost of approximately $2/watt in 2010, whereas the price of one today is 17.3¢/watt ($0.17/watt). As solar dropped to $1.50/watt and then $1/watt, you could of course see change in the market and could see solar power growth, but everything is better served with context, and solar prices alone don’t tell the story. The fact is that, at some point, the dropping cost of solar power makes solar more affordable than other energy sources. It passed up nuclear several years ago, then coal, and increasingly now natural gas (which is indeed still cheapest in some regions, if you exclude externalities) and wind power. The more you hit that crossover, the more solar power grows and other sources of electricity stagnate or shrink.

However, that’s still missing some important context. There are actually three main crossover points:

1. New utility-scale solar power plants becoming cheaper than new power plants from other energy sources.
2. New utility-scale solar power plants becoming cheaper than existing power plants from other energy sources.
3. Rooftop solar power systems becoming significantly cheaper than retail electricity from the grid — in stages.

Solar power plant at Disney. Photo by Cynthia Shahan/CleanTechnica.

The implication of the first matter is clear — it becomes illogical to build more expensive new power plants that also pollute when you can build cheaper solar power plants.

The implication of the second matter is that solar power will start shutting down existing solar power plants “prematurely” because it will offer cheaper electricity even taking into account all of the costs of project construction than continuing to operate a coal, nuclear, or natural gas power plant. The “crossover” point, of course, concerns averages. In reality, there are a rolling number of cases in which new solar power will outcompete an existing power plant. A mass wave of shutdowns does not occur when the country or global averages cross over. Instead, on a case by case basis, solar comes onto the grid because it’s either to best option for new power capacity or because it outcompetes an existing power plant. Keep your eye out in the coming few years for stories of coal, nuclear, and natural gas power plants shutting down early and being replaced by solar and wind.

Image courtesy of Tesla.

The third matter flows along the same river of logic, but it’s probably best to think about it in another way. Aside from regional or project-by-project variance, you have to recognize that buyers consider return on investment (ROI) and how soon they’ll get their money back and start making money on an investment. A 15 year payback shifting to a 10 year payback shifting to a 5 year payback results in a growing appeal to go solar. So, again, as costs go down, you can expect larger and larger portions of the market to decide it’s time to go solar.

In terms of rooftop solar, as I’ve also pointed out recently, “soft costs” become of larger importance as hardware costs come down. Solar options have much lower costs in several other countries than in the US, where we happen to have relatively high permitting and customer acquisition costs. However, it appears that Tesla has made some large cuts to these costs by building on its wickedly strong brand, almost non-existent need to advertise, Elon Musk’s bullhorn on Twitter, simplified system design (4 basic options rather than thorough customization), and certain financing benefits thanks to its growing car business. In a short chat with CleanTechnica, Elon Musk recently attributed some of these benefits as the key reasons Tesla’s solar power systems so sharply undercut the US rooftop solar price average. Tesla does spend a bit of money on referral benefits for Tesla owners, and by providing a $100 discount to solar panel buyers who use a referral code (feel free to use mine — ts.la/zachary63404 — if you’re now inspired to go solar and need a code), but these costs are relatively small compared to typical customer acquisition costs in the US solar industry, based on everything I’ve ever gleaned on this matter from years in the industry.

Image courtesy of Tesla.

In all of these cases, whether talking about utility-scale solar or rooftop solar, solar power has come down in price so rapidly that the top thing that could boost solar power adoption is probably just greater awareness. Not everyone reads CleanTechnica, after all. Word will get around, though. A good deal has an uncanny way of finding its way into people’s ears.

About the Author

Zachary Shahan is tryin' to help society help itself one word at a time. He spends most of his time here on CleanTechnica as its director, chief editor, and CEO. Zach is recognized globally as an electric vehicle, solar energy, and energy storage expert. He has presented about cleantech at conferences in India, the UAE, Ukraine, Poland, Germany, the Netherlands, the USA, Canada, and Curaçao. Zach has long-term investments in NIO [NIO], Tesla [TSLA], and Xpeng [XPEV]. But he does not offer (explicitly or implicitly) investment advice of any sort
.

 

Artificially sweetened drinks may not be heart healthier than sugary drinks

Research shows high consumption of both types of beverages associated with higher risk of heart disease

AMERICAN COLLEGE OF CARDIOLOGY

Research News

 

Sugary drinks and artificially sweetened beverages are associated with a higher risk of cardiovascular disease, which suggests artificially sweetened beverages may not be the healthy alternative they are often claimed to be, according to a research letter in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Research has shown that diets including beverages sweetened with sugar can have a negative impact on cardio-metabolic health. Artificially sweetened drinks have been suggested as a healthier alternative, but their impact on cardiovascular health is not fully known. In this paper, researchers looked at data from the French NutriNet-Santé cohort to investigate the relationship between the risk of cardiovascular disease and consuming sugary drinks and artificially sweetened drinks.

Records for 104,760 participants were included. They were asked to fill out three validated web-based 24-hour dietary records every six months. Artificially sweetened beverages were defined as those containing non-nutritive sweeteners. Sugary drinks consisted of all beverages containing 5% or more sugar. For each beverage category, participants were divided into non-consumers, low consumers and high consumers.

Researchers looked at first incident cases of cardiovascular disease during follow-up from 2009-2019, which were defined as stroke, transient ischemic attack, myocardial infarction, acute coronary syndrome and angioplasty. After excluding the first three years of follow-up to account for potential reverse causality bias, 1,379 participants had first incident cases of cardiovascular disease. Compared to non-consumers, both higher consumers of sugary drinks and of artificially sweetened beverages had higher risks of first incident cardiovascular disease, after taking into account a wide range of confounding factors.

In addition to a higher risk of heart health issues, Eloi Chazelas, PhD student, lead author of the study and a member of the Nutritional Epidemiology Research Team (Sorbonne Paris Nord University, Inserm, Inrae, Cnam) said the study may have further regulatory implications.

"Our study suggests artificially sweetened beverages may not be a healthy substitute for sugar drinks, and these data provide additional arguments to fuel the current debate on taxes, labeling and regulation of sugary drinks and artificially sweetened beverages," Chazelas said.

Researchers said to establish a causal link between sugary and artificially sweetened beverages and cardiovascular disease, replication in large-scale prospective cohorts and mechanistic investigations will be needed.

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The American College of Cardiology envisions a world where innovation and knowledge optimize cardiovascular care and outcomes. As the professional home for the entire cardiovascular care team, the mission of the College and its 54,000 members is to transform cardiovascular care and to improve heart health. The ACC bestows credentials upon cardiovascular professionals who meet stringent qualifications and leads in the formation of health policy, standards and guidelines. The College also provides professional medical education, disseminates cardiovascular research through its world-renowned JACC Journals, operates national registries to measure and improve care, and offers cardiovascular accreditation to hospitals and institutions. For more, visit acc.org.

The Journal of the American College of Cardiology ranks among the top cardiovascular journals in the world for its scientific impact. JACC is the flagship for a family of journals--JACC: Cardiovascular Interventions, JACC: Cardiovascular Imaging, JACC: Heart Failure, JACC: Clinical Electrophysiology, JACC: Basic to Translational Science, JACC: Case Reports and JACC: CardioOncology--that prides themselves in publishing the top peer-reviewed research on all aspects of cardiovascular disease. Learn more at JACC.org.

 

Researchers present findings on role of google search early in COVID-19 pandemic

A team at the George Washington University will present results of study exploring the role of Google searches during the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States

GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY

Research News

 

WASHINGTON (Oct. 26, 2020) - Non-generic queries in the online tool Google Trends may yield better insight into health information-seeking behavior, according to a new study by researchers from the George Washington University (GW).

Google Trends analyzes the popularity of top Google queries geographically and longitudinally. More recently it has been used as a surveillance and retrospective epidemiological tool to study the impact of COVID-19 around the world. However, studies focusing on the pandemic's impact in the United States have been lacking, according to the researchers.

"What's interesting about Google Trends is that it is a free platform that allows researchers like me to assess information-seeking behavior from a big data perspective," said King John Pascual, a third-year MD student at the GW School of Medicine and Health Sciences (SMHS) and first author on the study. "Just like with any big-data platform, if you have the right research questions, it can be a powerful epidemiological tool."

The study, conducted by Pascual and his mentor Ali Pourmand, MD, MPH, professor of emergency medicine at SMHS, utilized Google Trends to assess the extent of the public's perceived exposure to COVID-19 as it relates to disease prevalence during the early phase of the pandemic in the U.S. The team collected four weeks of search volume index (SVI) data from March 2020.

Out of the five queries analyzed, two that signal perceived exposure to the virus, "How do I get tested for coronavirus?" or "Do I have coronavirus?" had statistically significant differences in mean SVI between states with the highest and lowest numbers of COVID-19 cases. Generic queries such as "What is coronavirus?" or "How is coronavirus spread?" that do not necessarily reflected perceived exposure to the virus were not associated with the number of COVID-19 cases. The study findings imply how analyzing specific phrases, in lieu of those borne out by general interest, may yield more meaningful data about perceived exposure to a communicable disease on a population level.

"Early access to population health data is crucial and potentially lifesaving," said Pascual. "Digital tools such as Google Trends may help bridge the gap in knowledge and transparency."

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The findings will be available 24/7 on demand during the Research Forum at the American College of Emergency Physicians annual conference, the world's largest emergency medicine conference, Oct. 26-29. The abstract is also published in the supplement to the November 2020 issue of the Annals of Emergency Medicine: 

els-jbs-prod-cdn.jbs.elsevierhealth.com/pb/assets/raw/Health%20Advance/journals/ymem/YMEM764Sfinalv2.pdf

 

A simple, cost-effective molecular assay may help manage growing spread of drug-resistant gonorrhea

A multiplex assay based on high-resolution melting technology accurately identified antimicrobial resistant determinants in Neisseria gonorrhoeae, researchers report in the Journal of Molecular Diagnostics

ELSEVIER

Research News

 

IMAGE: TAKE EFFECTIVE MEASURES AGAINST ANTIMICROBIAL RESISTANT STRAINS OF NEISSERIA GONORRHOEAE. view more 

CREDIT: JUNPING PENG

Philadelphia, October 26, 2020 - A dual therapy treatment regimen of expanded-spectrum cephalosporins (ESCs) plus azithromycin (AZM) is the recommended standard of care for gonorrhea. A strain of the Neisseria (N.) gonorrhoeae that is resistant to the ESC and AZM combination has emerged around the world with the potential to make gonorrhea untreatable. The currently used screening methods for antimicrobial resistant (AMR) determinants are slow, expensive, and not widely available. In an article in The Journal of Molecular Diagnostics, published by Elsevier, researchers report a rapid and cheap method that can provide real-time surveillance to help control the spread of AMR strains of N. gonorrhoeae.

"N. gonorrhoeae has developed resistance to almost all classes of antibiotics that were previously recommended for treatment," explained lead investigator Junping Peng, MD, NHC Key Laboratory of Systems Biology of Pathogens, Institute of Pathogen Biology, and Key Laboratory of Respiratory Disease Pathogenomics, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China. "Timely determination and monitoring of AMR profiles are crucial for appropriately personalized treatment and maintenance of treatment effectiveness."

Current surveillance systems primarily depend on culture-based methods, which have high sensitivity but long turnaround times. Several nucleic acid amplification testing methods have been developed, but they are expensive and not widely available. Dr. Peng and his team have spent the past several years assessing the status of gonococcal AMR and the development of AMR screening technologies. They designed and developed a multiplex assay based on high-resolution melting (HRM) technology. Compared with other molecular methods that detect a single genetic mutation, HRM technology can detect the most frequent mutations associated with ESCs and AZM resistance in a single test. It uses a real time PCR system, equipment commonly found in most microbiological laboratories and clinical settings.

Forty-eight well-characterized N.gonorrhoeae clinical specimens and 15 non-gonococcal strains were selected for the initial assay establishment. The multiplex HRM assays were able to accurately identify different nucleotide variations of the AMR determinants related to ceftriaxone and azithromycin resistance. Then, results from 556 multiplex HRM tests of clinical isolates and samples were compared with results from whole gene sequencing and PCR sequencing of the same samples. Compared with whole genome sequencing, the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of the multiplex HRM assays for detection of AMR determinants were 98.6 percent, 99.2 percent, 98.6 percent, and 99.2 precent, respectively. The results were available within 90 minutes at a cost of less than $1.00 per sample.

This sequencing-free HRM assay may be applied to large-scale epidemiological programs for increasing surveillance of ESCs and AZM resistance and supporting identification and investigation of antimicrobial-resistant N. gonorrhoeae outbreaks in real-time. By application of this assay, gonococcal AMR surveillance could be enhanced significantly, resulting in improved management programs aimed at controlling the further spread of antimicrobial-resistant N. gonorrhoeae strains and pathogen eradication.

"Our team has been committed to the assessment of the current status of gonococcal AMR and the development of AMR screening technologies to provide scientific and technological support for the effective prevention and treatment of gonorrhea," observed Dr. Peng. This fast, simple, and cheap method could have significant implications in resource-limited countries with a high burden of disease,"

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 Dartmouth study examines well water testing promotion in pediatric primary care

THE GEISEL SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AT DARTMOUTH

Research News

 

Findings from a new study conducted by a team of researchers at Dartmouth's Geisel School of Medicine and published in the journal Preventive Medicine Reports, show that involving pediatric practices in the promotion of private well water testing can influence parental compliance.

More than 43 million people living in primarily rural areas of the U.S. rely on private unregulated wells for their drinking water--including northern New England, where 40 to 50 percent of the population depend on private wells. This puts families, and particularly vulnerable populations such as children, potentially at risk for ingesting harmful contaminants such as arsenic.

Inorganic arsenic, a tasteless and odorless metalloid, is known to contaminate 10 to 20 percent of bedrock wells in New Hampshire. This raises a significant public health concern given arsenic is associated with a myriad of health conditions, including bladder and other cancers, and growing evidence indicates impacts on children's health and development.

Yet, efforts to encourage well owners to periodically test their private wells, an activity that has fallen on the public health system (which lacks regulatory authority), have only seen limited success. Previous surveys in New Hampshire, for example, have reported that nearly 60 percent of residents hadn't tested their wells in at least three years and 15 percent had never had their wells tested. Lack of awareness among the physician community about the health risks of well water, parental confusion about which chemicals to test for, poor lab access, and the cost of testing have all been cited as reasons for poor compliance.

"We wanted to see if we could move the needle on testing by integrating it into the clinical environment as part of routine pediatric preventive care," explains Carolyn Murray, MD, MPH, director of the Community Outreach and Translation Core for the Dartmouth Children's Environmental Health and Disease Prevention Research Center and lead author on the study.

The research team conducted the study with 11 pediatric and family medicine clinics that are members of the Dartmouth CO-OP Primary Care Practice-based Research Network--a 250-member voluntary research organization of primary care practitioners located in New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine. Parents of children under 12 months of age who use a private well were eligible, and a total of 240 kits were dispensed (at no cost).

To determine the most effective practice approaches to achieve successful well water testing, two interventions (with two study arms each) were assessed. The first compared differences in testing completion when water analysis results were provided only to the parents versus being provided to both the parents and clinic. The second tested the effectiveness of doing after-visit parental reminders to complete testing versus not doing follow-up reminders.

"I'd say we were very successful at getting all of the practices on board with asking parents, 'Where do you get your drinking water?' and raising clinician awareness of the prevalence of arsenic in private wells," says Murray, who is also an assistant professor of medicine, community and family medicine, and of The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice at the Geisel School of Medicine. "What we did learn was that there's a lot more complexity to people's testing behavior beyond just cost and beyond just the doctor saying, 'You should do this.'"

Well water testing completion rates ranged from 10 to 61 percent across the practices and study arms, with an average of 29 percent. The study arm with both parent and clinic access to results and a follow-up system of reminders for parents was more than twice as likely to achieve test completion than other study arms. But having clinicians (versus other staff) distribute the kits, irrespective of study arm, was the strongest predictor of testing completion overall.

"I think our main takeaway was that we can engage primary care practices in screening for drinking water source and promoting well water testing," says Murray. "But we need to get more creative in how we work with clinicians and care teams on this important health issue. There's definitely room for improvement, but we're off to a good start."

Margaret Karagas, PhD, director of the Dartmouth Children's Environmental Health and Disease Prevention Research Center and senior author on the study, agrees. "This was a great translational research opportunity, building on our close partnership with the Dartmouth CO-OP to test implementation strategies to reduce environmental threats to children's health and the health of their families."

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Grant funding from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences supported this study.

Founded in 1797, the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth strives to improve the lives of the communities it serves through excellence in learning, discovery, and healing. The Geisel School of Medicine is renowned for its leadership in medical education, healthcare policy and delivery science, biomedical research, global health, and in creating innovations that improve lives worldwide. As one of America's leading medical schools, Dartmouth's Geisel School of Medicine is committed to training new generations of diverse leaders who will help solve our most vexing challenges in healthcare.

 

SwRI study offers more complete view of massive asteroid Psyche

Researcher made first observations of asteroid at mid-ultraviolet wavelengths

SOUTHWEST RESEARCH INSTITUTE

Research News

 

IMAGE: THE MASSIVE ASTEROID 16 PSYCHE IS THE SUBJECT OF A NEW STUDY BY SWRI SCIENTIST TRACY BECKER, WHO OBSERVED THE OBJECT AT ULTRAVIOLET WAVELENGTHS. view more 

CREDIT: MAXAR/ASU/P. RUBIN/NASA/JPL-CALTECH

SAN ANTONIO -- Oct. 26, 2020 -- A new study authored by Southwest Research Insti-tute planetary scientist Dr. Tracy Becker discusses several new views of the asteroid 16 Psyche, including the first ultraviolet observations. The study, which was published today in The Planetary Science Journal and presented at the virtual meeting of the American Astronomical Society's Division for Planetary Sciences, paints a clearer view of the asteroid than was previously available.

At about 140 miles in diameter, Psyche is one of the most massive objects in the main asteroid belt orbiting between Mars and Jupiter. Previous observations indicate that Psyche is a dense, largely metallic object thought to be the leftover core of a planet that failed in formation.

"We've seen meteorites that are mostly metal, but Psyche could be unique in that it might be an asteroid that is totally made of iron and nickel," Becker said. "Earth has a metal core, a mantle and crust. It's possible that as a Psyche protoplanet was forming, it was struck by another object in our solar system and lost its mantle and crust."

Becker observed the asteroid at two specific points in its rotation to view both sides of Psyche completely and delineate as much as possible from observing the surface at ul-traviolet (UV) wavelengths.

"We were able to identify for the first time on any asteroid what we think are iron oxide ultraviolet absorption bands," she said. "This is an indication that oxidation is happen-ing on the asteroid, which could be a result of the solar wind hitting the surface."

Becker's study comes as NASA is preparing to launch the spacecraft Psyche, which will travel to the asteroid as part of an effort to understand the origin of planetary cores. The mission is set to launch in 2022. Metal asteroids are relatively rare in the solar system, and scientists believe Psyche could offer a unique opportunity to see inside a planet.

"What makes Psyche and the other asteroids so interesting is that they're considered to be the building blocks of the solar system," Becker said. "To understand what really makes up a planet and to potentially see the inside of a planet is fascinating. Once we get to Psyche, we're really going to understand if that's the case, even if it doesn't turn out as we expect. Any time there's a surprise, it's always exciting."

Becker also observed that the asteroid's surface could be mostly iron, but she noted that the presence of even a small amount of iron could dominate UV observations. Howev-er, while observing Psyche, the asteroid appeared increasingly reflective at deeper UV wavelengths.

"This is something that we need to study further," she said. "This could be indicative of it being exposed in space for so long. This type of UV brightening is often attributed to space weathering."

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Read the study "HST Ultraviolet Observations of Asteroid (16) Psyche."

For more information, visit https://www.swri.org/planetary-science.