It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Friday, November 13, 2020
Combined intimate partner violence that includes sexual violence is common & more damaging
VIDEO: WOMEN WHO EXPERIENCE SEXUAL VIOLENCE COMBINED WITH OTHER FORMS OF INTIMATE PARTNER VIOLENCE SUFFER GREATER DAMAGE TO THEIR HEALTH AND ARE MUCH MORE LIKELY TO ATTEMPT SUICIDE. THIS VIDEO EXPLAINS... view more
CREDIT: UNIVERSITY OF BRISTOL
Women who experience sexual violence combined with other forms of intimate partner violence suffer greater damage to their health and are much more likely to attempt suicide, according to a study led by researchers at the University of Bristol's Centre for Academic Primary Care published today [12 November] in the International Journal of Epidemiology .
Intimate partner violence - psychological, physical or sexual violence perpetrated by a current or former partner - is the most common form of violence experienced by women worldwide.
The study, conducted in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO) and University of Melbourne, found that all types of intimate partner violence were associated with long-lasting damage to health but combinations that included sexual violence were more common and markedly more damaging to women's physical and mental health.
Researchers analysed data from the WHO multi-country study on women's health, which has information from 16 different sites in 11 different countries on over 21,000 women who have ever had a partner. This new analysis assessed different combinations of psychological, physical and sexual intimate partner violence and their impacts on health.
They found that over 15 per cent of ever-partnered women had experienced a combination of intimate partner violence that included sexual violence. Those who had experienced this in the last year were ten times more likely to attempt suicide than those who had not. Women who had experienced multiple forms of abuse were also more likely to experience difficulty walking, difficulty with daily activities, pain or discomfort, poor memory or concentration, dizziness, and vaginal discharge, and to be taking sleeping pills or painkillers.
Study lead, Dr Lucy Potter a GP and NIHR In-Practice Clinical Research Fellow at the University of Bristol's Centre for Academic Primary Care, said: "We know intimate partner violence is damaging to health. What this study adds is the recognition of the profound harm caused by multiple forms of abuse, particularly when it includes sexual violence, and how we do not see this when all forms of abuse are lumped together as one experience. Practitioners and policy makers must appreciate the diversity of experience of intimate partner violence to tailor support appropriately.
"We also found that these health impacts persist over a year after the abuse ends. So, effective prevention and early intervention are vital to the health of individuals and families and health systems."
Senior author, Professor Gene Feder from the University of Bristol's Centre for Academic Primary Care, said: "Violence against women is a violation of human rights that damages their and their children's physical and mental health, with substantial health care and societal costs. It is an important cause of ill health among women globally and an indicator for Goal 5 - Gender Equality and Women and Girls' Empowerment - of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals.
"This study, analysing the impact of different types and combinations of intimate partner violence, shows the severe health impact when these include sexual or psychological abuse. These types of abuse are often not recognised by health care providers."
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Paper
'Categories and health impacts of intimate partner violence in the World Health Organization (WHO) multi-country study on women's health and domestic violence' by Lucy Potter et al. in International Journal of Epidemiology
IMAGE: THE WEST FAMILY SHARES A HOLIDAY MEAL WITH FAMILY MEMBERS THROUGH VIDEO CHAT. EXPERTS SAY THAT ALTHOUGH CELEBRATIONS WILL LOOK DIFFERENT THIS YEAR, THERE ARE STILL OPPORTUNITIES TO MAKE TREASURED... view more
CREDIT: ALL MULTIMEDIA IS AVAILABLE FOR FREE AND UNRESTRICTED MEDIA USE WITH COURTESY TO THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY WEXNER MEDICAL CENTER
COLUMBUS, Ohio - A new national survey by The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center finds that although a majority of Americans plan to take precautions at holiday gatherings, such as social distancing and asking those with COVID symptoms not to attend, many will also put themselves at risk. Nearly two in five report they will likely attend a gathering with more than 10 people and a third will not ask guests to wear masks.
This holiday season comes with a lot of worry and stress as families try to find ways to balance their desire to celebrate together with the risk of spreading COVID-19. While cases of the virus remain high, colder weather across the country is forcing gatherings indoors, where the virus can more easily spread.
"We're going to look back at what happened during this holiday season and ask ourselves, 'Were we part of the solution or were we part of the problem?'" said Dr. Iahn Gonsenhauser, chief quality and patient safety officer at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. "When you're gathered together around the table, engaged in conversation, sitting less than six feet apart with your masks down, even in a small group, that's when the spread of this virus can really happen."
Gonsenhauser says the safest solution is the one that people don't want to hear: find ways to communicate virtually and cancel in-person plans. However, if you do decide to have guests, it's important to have a plan in place and to communicate that plan to everyone attending. Consider wearing masks at all times, separating seating arrangements by household and assigning one or two people to serve the food. If you're moving your holiday plans outdoors, make sure to follow the same precautions you would indoors. And if you plan to travel or welcome out-of-town guests, stay informed about the COVID-19 rates and restrictions in both locations.
"If you have someone in your household who's high risk and you're in a low incidence area, you're going to want to think twice about having a celebration where people are coming from an area where there's a lot of virus in the community," Gonsenhauser said.
While celebrations will certainly look different this year, Gonsenhauser says it can also be an opportunity to make treasured memories with loved ones and experiment with new traditions. Try a virtual dinner or gift exchange or drop off surprise treats on friends' and family members' door steps.
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The COVID-19 pandemic: How US universities responded
George Mason University study finds large majority of universities studied made quick announcements following the World Health Organization's pandemic declaration
As the COVID-19 pandemic began in the United States, universities were forced to make difficult operational decisions to help slow the spread of the disease and protect their students, faculty, staff, and community members. Guidance from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention, the World Health Organization (WHO), and other agencies informed these decisions about non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPI)--the only interventions available at the early stages of the pandemic.
A new George Mason University College of Health and Human Services (CHHS) study found that most university announcements coincided with the WHO pandemic declaration on March 11, 2020. The study, published in PLOS ONE, was led by Master of Public Health student Kevin Cevasco, with collaboration from fellow Mason students *, CHHS global and community health faculty Drs. Michael von Fricken and Amira Roess, and Mason's Executive Director for Safety and Emergency Management David Farris.
"When the pandemic began, we realized how important it could be to track university decisions on NPIs," explains von Fricken, assistant professor of epidemiology.
For the study, the researchers created an original database of COVID-19-related NPI university policies. They included data from 575 universities that were four-year degree-granting institutions with more than 5,000 students. The researchers included universities from all 50 states and the District of Columbia, using the Department of Education Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) to select the data so they would have additional variables available for the study such as census information and private/public university status.
Cevasco and colleagues examined when and if universities made four types of decisions between February 25 and March 31, 2020: moving courses online, discouraging campus housing, canceling travel, closing campus, and remote working.
About 75% of universities implemented all five of these recommendations, 93% implemented four, and 98% implemented at least three.
Announcements about canceling university-sponsored international travel (including study abroad) were made earliest, with these announcements beginning February 25 and more than half canceling international travel by March 11. Of those universities who made international travel announcements, all had canceled international travel by March 26.
Announcements to move to remote learning also came quickly, with all universities making announcements between March 4 and March 20. Seventy-three percent of these announcements were made between the day of the WHO pandemic declaration (March 11), and the U.S. national emergency declaration (March 13). Announcements discouraging on-campus housing came soon after and were made by 82% of universities between March 9 and March 20.
"The timing of NPI decisions may have avoided the movement of millions of students back onto campus and ensuing instances of community spread," explains Cevasco. "We can also expect that university return-to-campus plans and management of on-campus cases may vary widely given university differences in spring 2020 closure decisions. Both could be important areas to study in future work."
The data collected for this study have been published by the authors under the article's supporting information and are available for future study purposes. The authors call for researchers to provide feedback to state and federal leaders for more clear and concise guidance that assists universities in making decisions.
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*Collaborating George Mason University graduate and undergraduate students included Hayley M. North, Sheryne A. Zeitoun, Rachel N. Wofford, Graham A. Matulis, Abigail F. Gregory, Maha H. Hassan, and Aya D. Abdo.
George Mason University is Virginia's largest and most diverse public research university. Located near Washington, D.C., Mason enrolls 39,000 students from 130 countries and all 50 states. Mason has grown rapidly over the past half-century and is recognized for its innovation and entrepreneurship, remarkable diversity and commitment to accessibility. For more information, visit https://www2.gmu.edu/.
George Mason University's College of Health and Human Services prepares students to become leaders and shape the public's health through academic excellence, research of consequence, community outreach, and interprofessional clinical practice. George Mason is the fastest-growing Research I institution in the country. The College enrolls more than 1,900 undergraduate and 1,370 graduate students in its nationally-recognized offerings, including: 5 undergraduate degrees, 13 graduate degrees, and 7 certificate programs. The college is transitioning to a college public health in the near future. For more information, visit https://chhs.gmu.edu/.
Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the a
Studies detail impact of mammal species decline in Neotropics
Group led by Brazilian ecologist shows defaunation wiped out 40% of the ecosystem services provided or supported by mammals, such as ecotourism, disease control and soil formation. Large-bodied mammals are disappearing fastest.
FUNDAÇÃO DE AMPARO À PESQUISA DO ESTADO DE SÃO PAULO
IMAGE: DEFAUNATION WIPED OUT 40% OF THE ECOSYSTEM SERVICES PROVIDED OR SUPPORTED BY MAMMALS, SUCH AS ECOTOURISM, DISEASE CONTROL AND SOIL FORMATION. LARGE-BODIED MAMMALS ARE DISAPPEARING FASTEST view more
In the first paper, published (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2212041620301157?via%3Dihub) in August in Ecosystem Services, the researchers estimate that defaunation has wiped out more than 40% of the ecosystem services provided by mammals, such as supplying animal protein for traditional populations and controlling disease, for example. However, small-bodied species are often "backed up" by others that perform the same ecosystem services.
Defaunation across the Neotropics has erased 56% of medium- to large-bodied mammal species, according to the second paper, published (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-72010-w) in September in Scientific Reports. The authors propose a novel Hunting Pressure Index (HPI) to indicate a site's vulnerability to illegal hunting, based on factors that inhibit or intensify the activity. They also show that the surviving mammals are the smallest.
According to Bogoni, the researchers were surprised by the findings of the first study. "We knew that while mammal species are declining very rapidly in the Neotropics, there are still 'backups': for every species that disappears, another survives to perform the same service," he said. "But this isn't the case for all species. There are families like Cricetidae [rodents such as rats, mice, voles, etc.] in which there may be 30 species in a genus and as many as 100 species in 'sibling groups', which are closely related in evolutionary and morphological terms. In other words, there are many overlapping species among small mammals and flyers [bats]. If we had confined our analysis to medium- and large-bodied mammals, the loss of ecosystem services would have been far greater."
Apex predators are cases in which there may be no such overlapping. "Only one backup exists in many places. Jaguar and puma, for example. When one is lost, only the other remains, if they coexist in the same place, which they often don't, so loss of the species means loss of the services," Bogoni said.
To establish the methodology, the scientists simulated two types of defaunation scenario: stochastic (i.e. random, assuming all groups of mammals decline at the same rate) and deterministic (driven by a feature of the environment or animal group). "The deterministic scenario is 'real life', what's happening now," Bogoni explained. "I had no idea which groups would be most penalized because we hadn't yet published the second paper, so I also simulated a stochastic scenario for the sake of comparison."
Eroded ecosystem services
The team divided the ecosystem services provided by mammals into four groups: provision, including protein for traditional populations, seed dispersal, forest regeneration, and genetic resources; regulation, including climate regulation, disease and pest control, biological control, disaster recovery, and pollination; cultural services, including ecotourism, ethnocultural identity, aesthetics, and education; and support, including soil formation, nutrient cycling, oxygen production, and primary productivity.
The ecosystem services most eroded under the different defaunation scenarios were ecotourism (43.4%), soil formation (39.8%), disease control (39.6%), protein acquisition for subsistence (38.0%) and ethnocultural identity (37.3%). The loss to these services under the deterministic defaunation scenario ranged from 38.9% to 53.0% compared to the baseline.
Under the deterministic scenario, the main ecosystem services affected across different defaunation regimes were ecotourism, soil formation, disease control, and protein acquisition by traditional people, all of which declined by over 40%.
According to Bogoni, some services, such as ethnocultural identity, can decline very quickly. "People mostly identify with apex predators or animals with charismatic ecomorphological traits," he said. "Rats are unlikely to symbolize ethnocultural identity, whereas jaguars have gripped people's imagination since pre-Columbian times. Another example of severe decline in services is the provision of animal protein for traditional communities in the form of subsistence hunting. This is a service without much backup and one of those that have declined most. The less backup, the greater the possibility of decline and even complete disappearance."
Bogoni undertook a vast literature review in search of articles on the ecosystem services provided by mammals in accordance with ecomorphological criteria. Ecomorphology is the study of the interactions between morphological structures, ecology and evolution, including the behavioral factors that determine resource use. "It's delicate to establish this trait because it's putative: we predetermined that this or that animal provides certain services based on some of the animal's characteristics," he said. "The input came from data in the literature and criteria such as body size, diet, etc. To avoid biases and skewing, we consulted eight experts in mammalogy to obtain additional attributions of ecosystem services. The difference between our attributions and those of the experts was 3% on average. Service attributions in the paper were therefore highly credible, albeit putative."
The researchers compiled data for 1,153 mammal species in 2,427 assemblages distributed across some 20.4 million square kilometers in Latin America. One definition of an assemblage is a taxonomically related group of species that occur together in space and time.
Bogoni said it took six to seven months to design the project, compile the database, and begin the analysis.
Loss of habitat and hunting
The second article discusses defaunation intensity and the pressure placed by hunting on large mammals in the Neotropics. "Based on current defaunation data I've been compiling since 2015 and statistics from the International Union for Conservation of Nature [IUCN] pointing to the approximate distribution of mammals in predetermined polygons, we assumed the polygons corresponded to the distribution of the animals concerned in pre-colonial America and made the comparison. I did the analysis for 1,029 assemblages," Bogoni said.
He added that the researchers used a mathematical approach called confusion matrix to handle false negatives - situations in which an animal was presumed present but was not in the modern database. "Applying this matrix to 'correct' for possible false negatives, our results showed mean adjusted defaunation of 56.5%," he said. "The most severe defaunation rates were in Central America, the Caatinga biome in Northeast Brazil, and the northern portion of South America."
The key finding, he said, was that "assemblages have been downsized. A breakdown of the data by assemblage should show animals weighing 14 kilograms in 95% of cases according to the historical average, but now they weigh only 4 kg. In other words, only the smaller animals have survived. Defaunation is not only pervasive but also mainly concerns large-bodied animals, probably owing above all to loss of habitat accentuated by hunting."
Bogoni and colleagues also propose a novel Hunting Pressure Index (HPI) based on factors that inhibit or intensify hunting and especially poaching. "In the section on methods we list several. For example, latitude: the lower the latitude, the closer to the equator, and the more species, biomass and productivity, the more likely there will be hunting than at the extremes, which are inhabited only by scattered populations of small-bodied animals," Bogoni said. "The same goes for altitude: the higher the elevation, the less prey and the fewer opportunities for hunting. We considered other factors, such as artificial lighting or the ratio of primary productivity to plant biomass. Environments with high productivity and low biomass are probably pasturelands, and if there's livestock there's animal protein so there's no need to hunt."
The results showed fairly high HPI values for a vast swathe of the Neotropics totaling some 17 million square kilometers, including the Amazon, Cerrado (Central Brazil savanna), Caatinga (semi-arid Northeast), and Argentine Patagonia. "We're trying to understand whether habitat loss or hunting accounts for more defaunation," Bogoni said. "For now, all the research points to both as a synergistic effect, but we want to understand them separately so that conservation strategies can take these nuances into account."
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About São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP)
The São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) is a public institution with the mission of supporting scientific research in all fields of knowledge by awarding scholarships, fellowships and grants to investigators linked with higher education and research institutions in the State of São Paulo, Brazil. FAPESP is aware that the very best research can only be done by working with the best researchers internationally. Therefore, it has established partnerships with funding agencies, higher education, private companies, and research organizations in other countries known for the quality of their research and has been encouraging scientists funded by its grants to further develop their international collaboration. You can learn more about FAPESP at http://www.fapesp.br/en and visit FAPESP news agency at http://www.agencia.fapesp.br/en to keep updated with the latest scientific breakthroughs FAPESP helps achieve through its many programs, awards and research centers. You may also subscribe to FAPESP news agency at http://agencia.fapesp.br/subscribe.
Environmentally friendly method could lower costs to recycle lithium-ion batteries
IMAGE: SEM IMAGE OF SPENT LITHIUM IRON PHOSPHATE (LFP) CATHODE BEFORE REGNERATION (LEFT) AND AFTER (RIGHT). view more
CREDIT: PANPAN XU
A new process for restoring spent cathodes to mint condition could make it more economical to recycle lithium-ion batteries. The process, developed by nanoengineers at the University of California San Diego, is more environmentally friendly than today's methods; it uses greener ingredients, consumes 80 to 90% less energy, and emits about 75% less greenhouse gases.
Researchers detail their work in a paper published Nov 12 in Joule.
The process works particularly well on cathodes made from lithium iron phosphate, or LFP. Batteries made with LFP cathodes are less costly than other lithium-ion batteries because they don't use expensive metals like cobalt or nickel. LFP batteries also have longer lifetimes and are safer. They are widely used in power tools, electric buses and energy grids. They are also the battery of choice for Tesla's Model 3.
"Given these advantages, LFP batteries will have a competitive edge over other lithium-ion batteries in the market," said Zheng Chen, a professor of nanoengineering at UC San Diego.
The problem? "It's not cost-effective to recycle them," Chen said. "It's the same dilemma with plastics--the materials are cheap, but the methods to recover them are not."
The new recycling process that Chen and his team developed could lower these costs. It does the job at low temperatures (60 to 80 C) and ambient pressure, making it less power hungry than other methods. Also, the chemicals it uses--lithium salt, nitrogen, water and citric acid--are inexpensive and benign.
"The whole regeneration process works at very safe conditions, so we don't need any special safety precautions or special equipment. That's why we can make this so low cost for recycling batteries," said first author Panpan Xu, a postdoctoral researcher in Chen's lab.
The researchers first cycled commercial LFP cells until they had lost half their energy storage capacity. They took the cells apart, collected the cathode powders, and soaked them in a solution containing lithium salt and citric acid. Then they washed the solution with water, dried the powders and heated them.
The researchers made new cathodes from the powders and tested them in both coin cells and pouch cells. Their electrochemical performance, chemical makeup and structure were all fully restored to their original states.
As the battery cycles, the cathode undergoes two main structural changes that are responsible for its decline in performance. The first is the loss of lithium ions, which creates empty sites called vacancies in the cathode structure. The other occurs when iron and lithium ions switch spots in the crystal structure. When this happens, they cannot easily switch back, so lithium ions become trapped and can no longer cycle through the battery.
The process restores the cathode's structure by replenishing lithium ions and making it easy for iron and lithium ions to switch back to their original spots. The latter is accomplished using citric acid, which acts as a reducing agent--a substance that donates an electron to another substance. Citric acid transfers electrons to the iron ions, making them less positively charged. This minimizes the electronic repulsion forces that prevent the iron ions from moving back into their original spots in the crystal structure, and also releases the lithium ions back into circulation.
While the overall energy costs of this recycling process are lower, researchers say further studies are needed on the logistics of collecting, transporting and handling large quantities of batteries.
"Figuring out how to optimize these logistics is the next challenge," Chen said. "And that will bring this recycling process closer to industry adoption."
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Climate change: Ending greenhouse gas emissions may not stop global warming
Even if human-induced greenhouse gas emissions can be reduced to zero, global temperatures may continue to rise for centuries afterwards, according to a simulation of the global climate between 1850 and 2500 published in Scientific Reports.
Jorgen Randers and colleagues modelled the effect of different greenhouse gas emission reductions on changes in the global climate from 1850 to 2500 and created projections of global temperature and sea level rises.
The modelling suggests that under conditions where anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions peak during the 2030s and decline to zero by 2100, global temperatures will be 3°C warmer and sea levels 3 metres higher by 2500 than they were in 1850. Under conditions where all anthropogenic greenhouse-gas emissions are reduced to zero during the year 2020 the authors estimate that, after an initial decline, global temperatures will still be around 3°C warmer and sea levels will rise by around 2.5 metres by 2500, compared to 1850. The authors suggest that global temperatures could continue to increase after anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions have reduced, as continued melting of Arctic ice and carbon-containing permafrost may increase the greenhouse gases' water vapour, methane and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Melting of Arctic ice and permafrost would also reduce the area of ice reflecting heat and light from the sun.
To prevent the projected temperature and sea level rises, the authors suggest that all anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions would have had to be reduced to zero between 1960 and 1970. To prevent global temperature and sea level rises after greenhouse gas emissions have ceased, and to limit the potentially catastrophic impacts of this on Earth's ecosystems and human society, at least 33 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide would need to be removed from the atmosphere each year from 2020 onwards through carbon capture and storage methods, according to the authors.
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Article details
An earth system model shows self-sustained melting of permafrost even if all man-made GHG emissions stop in 2020
DOI:
10.1038/s41598-020-75481-z
Corresponding Author:
Jorgen Randers BI Norwegian Business School, Oslo, Norway Email: jorgen.randers@bi.no
To date, numerous studies had looked at think tanks and networks involved in the climate change counter movement in the US. Now, for the first time, the most important contrarian climate change think tanks in Europe have been studied systematically. The study whose first author, Núria Almiron, is a researcher with the UPF Department of Communication, covers a 24-year period (1994-2018) and takes account of the messages issued in six European countries, in four languages.
For the first time, an organized climate change counter movement led by conservative groups in Europe has been studied rigorously
"We have studied the messages issued with reference to climate change since this topic first emerged. The discourse we have found is a carbon copy of that used by American denialists. They repeat the same thing, even in some cases where climate change does not exist", says Núria Almiron. "As in the United States, in Europe contrarian think tanks have a neoliberal ideological stance", she adds.
The study, carried out within the framework of the THINKClima project, funded by the Spanish National Research Agency (AEI) and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), was published on 9 September in the international journal Climatic Change, and in addition to Almiron it also involved Maxwell Boykoff, a researcher at the University of Colorado Boulder (USA); Marta Narberhaus, a researcher at the International University of Catalonia; and Francisco Heras, an independent researcher.
This study documents for the first time that activities against climate change constitute a global counter movement that is also present in the EU
The authors considered eight European climate change counter movement think tanks, in six countries, studying their messages in four different languages. Their content analysis has shown that the messages issued by European organizations against climate change are very similar to those broadcast in the US. In short, this study documents for the first time that activities against climate change constitute a global counter movement that is also present in the EU.
Therefore, the main conclusion of the research is that although the organized climate change counter movement had been associated with the US, mainly due to the powers that be related to the coal industry and the political and cultural opposition to environmental movements, and although its influence in Europe is more modest, the study highlights that there is an organized counter movement in Europe led by conservative think tanks.
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Reference work:
Núria Almiron, Maxwell Boykoff, Marta Narberhaus, Francisco Heras (2020), "Dominant counter-frames in influential climate contrarian European think tanks", Climatic Change, 9 September, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-020-02820-4
Special issue: Cooling in a Warming World
AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE
In this special issue of Science, Cooling in a Warming World, three Perspectives and three Reviews highlight the wide array of new and improved technologies and solutions that aim to keep us and the materials we rely on cool, in our rapidly warming planet.
Record-breaking heatwaves and extreme temperature events are on the rise globally; however, their impact is becoming increasingly difficult to quantify. In the first Perspective in this special issue, Steven Sherwood discusses the difficulties associated with predicting and understanding the consequences of regional heat events. He emphasizes that climatic events approaching the limits of human tolerance are already occurring, as highlighted in a spring 2020 Science Advances paper that showed extreme humidity events emerging ahead of projections, for example. According to Sherwood, the world's poor are the most vulnerable to extreme temperatures, highlighting the need for low-cost adaptations and technologies to counter the rising heat. In a second Perspective, Po-Chun Hsu and Xiuqiang Li address how global warming has created a demand for innovative new textiles that help cool those who wear them. "Rather than engineering the existing clothing materials," they say, "the key to radiative cooling is to re-invent the material so that it is transparent in mid-infrared, allowing the thermal radiation from the hot human skin to bypass the textile and directly reach the ambience." A final Perspective by Amy Fleischer highlights the growing demand for cooling at data centers, where vast amounts of information are stored and supported , and the majority of the total energy required to keep them online is used for cooling. Fleisher describes the improvements and novel approaches used to address rising energy demands for data center cooling that could be applied without increasing cost and emissions.
In a Review, Mark McLinden and colleagues offer an overview of vapor-compression refrigeration - perhaps the most widely used cooling technology on Earth. Most refrigeration and air conditioning systems are based on vapor compression. However, they lack efficiency and often contain harmful refrigerants, which can further contribute to atmospheric greenhouse gasses. McLinden et al. discuss how the high global warming potential of current vapor-compression cooling equipment has led to an effort to improve the technology and develop new and more environmentally friendly alternative refrigerants. In a second Review, Xavier Moya and Neil Mathur provide an overview of using caloric materials for cooling and heating. Caloric materials transport heat as they are electrically, magnetically or mechanically manipulated. According to Moya and Mathur, magnetocaloric, electrocaloric and mechanocaloric materials have shown promise in prototype cooling devices that operate near room temperature. The final Review, by Xiaobo Yin and colleagues, describes the use of passive radiative cooling materials, which leverage an atmospheric window to release heat in the form of infrared radiation into the coldness of space. When deployed on rooftops, these systems can potentially cool buildings by a few degrees, even in the daytime and under direct sun.
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3D printing -- a 'dusty' business?
Communication No 050/2020 from the BfR of Nov. 6, 2020
To close the substantial gaps in our knowledge, scientists at the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) are investigating which particles are released into the environment and what their properties are. Different substances are released into the air depending on the material used for printing. For example, BfR experts were able to detect particles of the widely-used plastic polylactic acid and copper crystals, among other substances.
The size of the particles was 50 nanometres (polylactic acid) and 120 to 150 nanometres (copper). This means that they are so small that they can get into the alveoli, the smallest branches of the lungs. The higher the temperature during "printing", the more particles were released. The BfR is now exploring whether "3D printer dust" poses a health risk.
Consumer safety regarding 3D printers was also the focus of an expert meeting (partly held online) that took place at the BfR on 28 August 2020. In addition to the BfR, the participating institutions were the German Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM), the German Environment Agency (UBA), the Institute for Occupational Safety and Health of the German Social Accident Insurance (IFA) and the US Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC). Research institutes from Technische Universität Berlin, interest groups and mem-bers of the 3D printing association "3DDruck e.V.", in which users and manufacturers are or-ganised, were also represented.
The event focused on fused deposition modelling (FDM, also known as fused filament fabri-cation, FFF). In this additive production process, a thermoplastic, the filament, is heated and then applied layer by layer to create the desired object.
The BfR, BAM and CPSC presented their initial results at the meeting. These showed that volatile components and particles are released during printing. Release is influenced by the materials used (plastic, dyes, additives) and the printing temperature. Investigations con-ducted by BAM and CPSC were carried out with 3D printers, while the BfR also tested 3D printing pens. There is little information available on possible health effects so far, so the BfR sees this as a core research area.
Different measures were discussed to reduce the release and ensure consumer protection. Other issues included possible risks in the subsequent treatment of 3D printed objects (e.g. through smoothing down) as well as the use of other 3D printing methods, such as stereo-lithography (SLA) or selective laser sintering (SLS). Better ways to distribute the information regarding possible health risks to the consumers were also discussed.
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About the BfR
The German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) is a scientifically independent institution within the portfolio of the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) in Germany. It advises the German federal government and German federal states ("Laender") on questions of food, chemical and product safety. The BfR conducts its own research on topics that are closely linked to its assessment tasks.
This text version is a translation of the original German text which is the only legally binding version
People of Black ethnicity are twice as likely to be infected with COVID-19 compared to those of White ethnicity, according to researchers at the Universities of Leicester and Nottingham, supported by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Leicester Biomedical Research Centre. The findings are published in EClinical Medicine by The Lancet today (Thursday 12 November 2020).
People from Asian backgrounds are also 1.5 times more likely to become infected with the virus compared to White individuals.
In the first meta-analysis of the effect of ethnicity on clinical outcomes in patients with COVID-19, which screened over 1500 articles, the research team pooled data from more than 18 million people who had taken part in 50 studies in the United Kingdom and United States of America. All the studies included in the analysis were published between 1 December 2019 and 31 August 2020 in peer-reviewed journals or as pre-prints waiting for peer-review.
All the patients included in the study who had COVID-19 were defined as such by a positive nasal swab test or clinical signs and symptoms of the virus, along with radiology and laboratory tests.
Researchers also found those of Asian ethnicities to be at higher risk of admission to an intensive therapy unit (ITU) and death. However, all studies investigating ITU admission that were included in the meta-analysis had not yet been peer-reviewed, and the risk of death was only of borderline statistical significance. This is in contrast to the strong evidence of increased risk of infection in Black and Asian ethnic groups.
Dr Manish Pareek, Associate Clinical Professor in Infectious Diseases at the University of Leicester, Consultant in Infectious Diseases at the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust and a senior author on the paper, said: "Our findings suggest that the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on Black and Asian communities is mainly attributable to increased risk of infection in these communities.
"Many explanations exist as to why there may be an elevated level of COVID-19 infection in ethnic minority groups, including the greater likelihood of living in larger household sizes comprised of multiple generations; having lower socioeconomic status, which may increase the likelihood of living in overcrowded households; and being employed in frontline roles where working from home is not an option."
Dr Shirley Sze, NIHR Academic Clinical Lecturer and Specialist Registrar in Cardiology at the University of Leicester, and a lead author of the paper, said: "The clear evidence of increased risk of infection amongst ethnic minority groups is of urgent public health importance - we must work to minimise exposure to the virus in these at-risk groups by facilitating their timely access to healthcare resources and target the social and structural disparities that contribute to health inequalities."
Dr Daniel Pan, Specialist Registrar in Infectious Diseases at the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust and an NIHR Clinical Academic Fellow at the University of Leicester is a lead author of the paper. He said: "Future papers must try to adjust for the risk of infection when looking at the risk of ITU admission and death in COVID-19 patients, in order for us to accurately assess the impact of ethnicity on an individual's risk of death once they are infected".
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The paper, 'Ethnicity and clinical outcomes in COVID-19: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis' is published in EClinical Medicine by The Lancet on 12 November 2020.
