TB

More than two billion are infected with this disease; Vitamin D can help

A rare patient has made it possible for researchers to prove that vitamin D – the “sun vitamin” – helps the body fight tuberculosis

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF COPENHAGEN - THE FACULTY OF HEALTH AND MEDICAL SCIENCES

Sarcomas are cancer tumours found in e.g. the bones, muscles or fatty tissue. It is a rare type of cancer seen in only one per cent of cancer patients. It is complex and difficult to treat.

However, a new study may have found a new treatment that can help the sickest sarcoma patients.

“We have learned that sarcoma patients whose cancer cells have a high expression of the cep135 protein are worse off. But inhibiting a gene called plk1 also inhibits growth of the sarcoma cells, and this suggests that we can target the treatment of the sickest sarcoma patients,” says Associate Professor Morten Scheibye-Knudsen from the Center for Healthy Aging at the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, who is responsible for the new study.

Methods for identifying sarcoma patients’ prognoses are already available, as are different forms of treatment. But the new study has identified a new method.

“This is a new way of stratifying and possibly a new and better way of treating sarcoma. And the introduction of yet another method is always good news to patients. Because no two cancers are alike. Ideally, treatment should always be tailored to the individual patient,” Morten Scheibye-Knudsen stresses.

He hopes other researchers with access to the necessary test facilities will study his results in more detail and eventually design a new treatment. If the method turns out to work, he believes a new treatment may be available to patients in five to 10 years.

Grey hair, wrinkles and loss of fatty tissue at an early age

Morten Scheibye-Knudsen and his colleagues started out by studying patients suffering from the rare neurological disorders Werner’s syndrome, Nijmegen breakage syndrome and Ataxia-telangiectasia syndrome.

These patients experience symptoms of early ageing such as grey hair, wrinkles and loss of fatty tissue – and they have a high risk of developing cancer at an early age.

“Age-associated diseases such as cancer is one of my main areas of interest as a researcher at the Center for Healthy Aging. As we grow older, a lot of things happen to the body, and determining causality can be difficult. But in people suffering from e.g. Werner’s syndrome it is easier to see which genes are responsible for which processes. This gives us a molecular handle, so to speak,” says Morten Scheibye-Knudsen.

In order to establish why these patients develop cancer at an early age, the researchers compared gene expressions across the three disorders. Here they worked together with the company Insilico Medicine, whose large Pandaomics platform made it possible to identify gene mutations in thousands of different disorders. It turned out that cep135 is a common denominator for the cancer genes of the three disorders.

“This made us study the gene expressions of various cancers, and we learned that cep135 is associated with high mortality in i.a. sarcoma, but also in bladder cancer. Sarcoma was particularly interesting, as many Werner’s syndrome patients develop sarcoma,” explains Morten Scheibye-Knudsen.

Finally, the researchers sought to find ways to inhibit the sarcoma. Cep135 is not a useful target, as it is a so-called structural protein, which are difficult to target. Instead, the researchers learned that by inhibiting the plk1 gene they were able to target the sarcoma.

"The study indicates that we can use genetic diseases that exhibit accelerated aging to identify new treatment targets. In this study, we investigated cancer, but the method can in principle be used for all age-related diseases such as dementia, cardiovascular diseases and others," says Morten Scheibye-Knudsen.

Read the entire study, ”High-confidence cancer patient stratification through multiomics investigation of DNA repair disorders”, in CDDpress.

What are sarcomas?   Sarcomas are cancer tumours found in i.a. the bones, muscles or fatty tissue. There are two main types: bone sarcoma and soft tissue sarcoma (muscles, fatty tissue, connective tissue, blood vessels and neurilemma).   Sarcoma affects one per cent of cancer patients. In Denmark, around 45 people are diagnosed with bone sarcoma each year and 220 with soft tissue sarcoma. Adults diagnosed with bone sarcoma have a 60-per cent five-year survival rate, while adults diagnosed with bone sarcoma have a 50-70-per cent five-year survival rate.

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JOURNAL

Frontiers in Immunology

DOI

10.3389/fimmu.2022.1038960 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Case study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Reduced vitamin D-induced cathelicidin production and killing of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in macrophages from a patient with a non-functional vitamin D receptor: A case report

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

Fathoming the hidden heatwaves that threaten coral reefs

Peer-Reviewed Publication

HONG KONG UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

 

VIDEO: AN ANIMATION OF THE SEA-SURFACE TEMPERATURES AROUND MOOREA COMPARED DURING THE 2016 AND 2019 MARINE HEATWAVES view more 

CREDIT: HKUST

    In April to May 2019, the coral reefs near the French Polynesian island of Moorea in the central South Pacific Ocean suffered severe and prolonged thermal bleaching. The catastrophe occurred despite the absence of El Niño conditions that year, intriguing ocean scientists around the world.

    An international research team led by Prof. Alex WYATT of the Department of Ocean Science at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, has investigated this surprising and paradoxical coral bleaching episode. The unexpected event was related to the passage of anti-cyclonic eddies that elevated sea levels and concentrated hot water over the reef, leading to an underwater marine heatwave that was largely hidden from view at the surface. The findings have recently been published in Nature Communications.  

    Most studies of coral bleaching patterns rely on sea-surface measures of water temperatures, which cannot capture the full picture of threats from ocean heating to marine ecosystems, including tropical coral reefs. These surface measurements conducted over broad areas with satellites are valuable, yet are unable to detect heating below the surface that influences communities living in waters deeper that the shallowest few metres of the ocean.

    Prof. Wyatt and colleagues analyzed data collected at Moorea over 15 years from 2005 to 2019, taking advantage of a rare combination of remotely sensed sea-surface temperatures and high-resolution, long-term in-situ temperatures and sea level anomalies. Results showed that the passage of anti-cyclonic eddies in the open ocean past the island raised sea levels and pushed internal waves down into deeper water. Internal waves travel along the interface between the warm surface layer of the ocean and cooler layers below, and, in a previous study also led by Prof. Wyatt, have been shown to provide frequent cooling of coral reef habitats. The present research shows that, as a result of the anti-cyclones, internal wave cooling was shut down in early 2019, as well as during some earlier heatwaves.  This led to unexpected heating over the reef, which in turn caused large-scale coral bleaching and subsequent mortality. Unfortunately for local reef biodiversity, the extensive coral death in 2019 has offset the recovery of coral communities that had been occurring around Moorea for the last decade.

    A notable observation, in contrast to the 2019 heatwave, was that the reefs in Moorea did not undergo significant bleaching mortality in 2016, despite the prevailing super El Niño that brought warm conditions and decimated many shallow reefs worldwide. The new research demonstrates the importance of collecting temperature data across the range of depths that coral reefs occupy because the capacity to predict coral bleaching can be lost with a focus only on surface conditions. Sea-surface temperature data would predict moderate bleaching in both 2016 and 2019 at Moorea. However, direct observations showed that there was only ecologically insignificant bleaching in 2016, with heating that was short in duration and restricted to shallow depths. The severe and prolonged marine heatwave in 2019 would have been overlooked if researchers only had access to sea-surface temperature data, and the resulting catastrophic coral bleaching may have been incorrectly ascribed to causes other than heating.

    “The present study highlights the need to consider environmental dynamics across depths relevant to threatened ecosystems, including those due to the passage of underwater ocean weather events.  This kind of analysis depends on long-term, in situ data measured across ocean depths, but such data is generally lacking,” Prof. Wyatt said.  

    “Our paper provides a valuable mechanistic example for assessing the future of coastal ecosystems in the context of changing ocean dynamics and climates.”

    This HKUST-led research was conducted in collaboration with a team of scientists from Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego, the University of California Santa Barbara, California State University, Northbridge, and Florida State University. The data underlying this study were made possible by coupled long-term physical and ecological observations conducted at the Moorea Coral Reef Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) site. The long-term analyses conducted here, and the concurrent monitoring of physical conditions and biological dynamics across the full range of depths of island and coastal marine communities, is a model for future research that aims to protect vulnerable living resources in the ocean. 

An animation of the sea levels [VIDEO] | EurekAlert! Science News Releases

 

Extensive coral bleaching occurred across depths on the north shore of Moorea during the 2019 marine heatwave

CREDIT

Peter J. Edmunds

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JOURNAL

Nature Communications

ARTICLE TITLE

Hidden heatwaves and severe coral bleaching linked to mesoscale eddies and thermocline dynamics

Scars mended using transplanted hair follicles in Imperial College London study

Peer-Reviewed Publication

IMPERIAL COLLEGE LONDON

In a new study involving three volunteers, skin scars began to behave more like uninjured skin after they were treated with hair follicle transplants. The scarred skin harboured new cells and blood vessels, remodelled collagen to restore healthy patterns, and even expressed genes found in healthy unscarred skin.  

The findings could lead to better treatments for scarring both on the skin and inside the body, leading to hope for patients with extensive scarring, which can impair organ function and cause disability.  

Lead author Dr Claire Higgins, of Imperial’s Department of Bioengineering, said: “After scarring, the skin never truly regains its pre-wound functions, and until now all efforts to remodel scars have yielded poor results. Our findings lay the foundation for exciting new therapies that can rejuvenate even mature scars and restore the function of healthy skin.” 

The research is published today in Nature Regenerative Medicine. 

Hope in hair 

Scar tissue in the skin lacks hair, sweat glands, blood vessels and nerves, which are vital for regulating body temperature and detecting pain and other sensations. Scarring can also impair movement as well as potentially causing discomfort and emotional distress. 

Compared to scar tissue, healthy skin undergoes constant remodelling by the hair follicle. Hairy skin heals faster and scars less than non-hairy skin– and hair transplants had previously been shown to aid wound healing. Inspired by this, the researchers hypothesised that transplanting growing hair follicles into scar tissue might induce scars to remodel themselves. 

To test their hypothesis, Imperial researchers worked with Dr Francisco Jiménez, lead hair transplant surgeon at the Mediteknia Clinic and Associate Research Professor at University Fernando Pessoa Canarias, in Gran Canaria, Spain. They transplanted hair follicles into the mature scars on the scalp of three participants in 2017. The researchers selected the most common type of scar, called normotrophic scars, which usually form after surgery. 

They took and microscope imaged 3mm-thick biopsies of the scars just before transplantation, and then again at two, four, and six months afterwards. 

The researchers found that the follicles inspired profound architectural and genetic shifts in the scars towards a profile of healthy, uninjured skin. 

Dr Jiménez said: “Around 100 million people per year acquire scars in high-income countries alone, primarily as a result of surgeries. The global incidence of scars is much higher and includes extensive scarring formed after burn and traumatic injuries. Our work opens new avenues for treating scars and could even change our approach to preventing them.” 

Architects of skin 

After transplantation, the follicles continued to produce hair and induced restoration across skin layers. 

Scarring causes the outermost layer of skin – the epidermis – to thin out, leaving it vulnerable to tears. At six months post-transplant, the epidermis had doubled in thickness alongside increased cell growth, bringing it to around the same thickness as uninjured skin.  

The next skin layer down, the dermis, is populated with connective tissue, blood vessels, sweat glands, nerves, and hair follicles. Scar maturation leaves the dermis with fewer cells and blood vessels, but after transplantation the number of cells had doubled at six months, and the number of vessels had reached nearly healthy-skin levels by four months. This demonstrated that the follicles inspired the growth of new cells and blood vessels in the scars, which are unable to do this unaided. 

Scarring also increases the density of collagen fibres - a major structural protein in skin – which causes them to align such that scar tissue is stiffer than healthy tissue. The hair transplants reduced the density of the fibres, which allowed them to form a healthier, ‘basket weave’ pattern, which reduced stiffness – a key factor in tears and discomfort. 

The authors also found that after transplantation, the scars expressed 719 genes differently to before. Genes that promote cell and blood vessel growth were expressed more, while genes that promote scar-forming processes were expressed less. 

Multi-pronged approach 

The researchers are unsure precisely how the transplants facilitated such a change. In their study, the presence of a hair follicle in the scar was cosmetically acceptable as the scars were on the scalp. They are now working to uncover the underlying mechanisms so they can develop therapies that remodel scar tissue towards healthy skin, without requiring transplantation of a hair follicle and growth of a hair fibre. They can then test their findings on non-hairy skin, or on organs like the heart, which can suffer scarring after heart attacks, and the liver, which can suffer scarring through fatty liver disease and cirrhosis. 

Dr Higgins said: "This work has obvious applications in restoring people’s confidence, but our approach goes beyond the cosmetic as scar tissue can cause problems in all our organs. 

“While current treatments for scars like growth factors focus on single contributors to scarring, our new approach tackles multiple aspects, as the hair follicle likely delivers multiple growth factors all at once that remodel scar tissue. This lends further support to the use of treatments like hair transplantation that alter the very architecture and genetic expression of scars to restore function.” 

This work was funded by the Medical Research Council and Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (part of UKRI). 

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JOURNAL

npj Regenerative Medicine

DOI

10.1038/s41536-022-00270-3 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

Older knee replacements as good as newer models, study shows

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF EAST ANGLIA

Older knee replacement designs are just as effective as newer models – according to new research from the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital and University of East Anglia.

A new study published today in the journal BMJ Open compares the effectiveness of two established knee replacements.

Eighty osteoarthritis patients, who received total knee replacements in 2018 and 2019, took part the CAPAbility study - a blinded randomised controlled trial run by researchers at NNUH and UEA.

The study found no difference in outcomes between the Genesis II and Journey II BCS knee implants six months after surgery.

Iain Mcnamara, Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon at NNUH and an honorary professor at UEA, led the research.

He said: “The lack of difference between implant designs is important for patients, surgeons, healthcare providers and implant companies. 

“For the patient and surgeons, reassurance can be gained that older designs, with proven track record of function and survivorship, can provide the same patient reported and functional outcome as more modern designs."

The study is the largest published total knee replacement comparison to date and patients will be reviewed three and five years after surgery.

Prof Mcnamara said: “For healthcare providers, older implants are often less expensive and, in the absence of clinical benefit with and demonstrable longevity, the additional expenditure on more modern designs could be avoided.

“The future of design and innovation may come in the form of more modern surgical techniques such as robotic-assisted implantation to assist in placing the knee in a more kinematically sympathetic position which in turn may allow the newer design philosophies to positively influence outcome.”

The team are planning future research looking at the effectiveness of robotic technology in knee replacement surgery. 

‘Comparison of the Journey II bicruciate stabilised (JII-BCS) and GENESIS II total knee arthroplasty for functional ability and motor impairment: the CAPAbility, blinded, randomised controlled trial’ is published in the journal BMJ Open on Friday, January 6, 2023.

 

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JOURNAL

BMJ Open

DOI

10.1136/bmjopen-2022-061648 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Randomized controlled/clinical trial

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

‘Comparison of the Journey II bicruciate stabilised (JII-BCS) and GENESIS II total knee arthroplasty for functional ability and motor impairment: the CAPAbility, blinded, randomised controlled trial’

 COOPERATION VS COMPETITIOJN

A win-win for cell communities: Cells that cooperate live longer

Peer-Reviewed Publication

CHARITÉ - UNIVERSITÄTSMEDIZIN BERLIN

 

IMAGE: SELF-ESTABLISHING METABOLICALLY COOPERATING COMMUNITIES (SEMECOS) PROVIDE A CELL MODEL THAT ENABLES RESEARCHERS TO STUDY THE EXCHANGE OF METABOLITES BETWEEN YEAST CELLS. A TEAM AT CHARITÉ HAS NOW SHOWN THAT SUCH METABOLIC EXCHANGE EXTENDS THE LIFESPAN OF YEAST CELLS. view more 

CREDIT: © KATE CAMPBELL, MARKUS RALSER. CC-BY, HTTPS://DOI.ORG/10.7554/ELIFE.09943.002

Metabolism is inextricably linked to aging: While it helps maintain vital processes, makes us grow, and triggers cellular repairs, it also produces substances that damage our cells and cause us to age. “The metabolic processes that occur within cells are highly complex,” says Prof. Markus Ralser, Director of Charité’s Department of Biochemistry and Einstein Professor of Biochemistry on Charité’s medical faculty. “The exchange of substances between cells in a community is one important factor, because it has a substantial impact on the metabolism occurring inside a cell.” Cells are in constant contact with neighboring cells – within tissues, for instance. They release some substances and consume others from their surrounding environment. In a recent study, the team led by Prof. Ralser, a renowned expert in metabolism, investigated whether the exchange of metabolic products (known as metabolites) affects the lifespan of cells.

The researchers used yeast cells and performed experiments to establish their lifespan. Yeast cells are a key model in basic research, a dominant microorganism in biotechnology, and important in medicine because they can cause fungal infections. “We showed that the cells lived around 25 percent longer when they exchanged more metabolites with each other,” says lead author Dr. Clara Correia-Melo, who also works in the Department of Biochemistry at Charité. “So then we obviously wanted to identify the substances and exchange processes that are behind this life-prolonging effect.” To do so, the researchers employed a special analytical system supported by mass spectrometry that allowed them to precisely track the exchange of metabolites between cells. They found that young cells, which were still able to divide well and often, released amino acids that were consumed by older cells.

Amino acids are the building blocks that make up proteins. The research team discovered that the exchange of the amino acid methionine extended the lives of the cells involved. Methionine occurs in all organisms and plays a key role in protein synthesis, as well as many other cellular processes. “Interestingly, it was the young cells’ metabolism that prolonged the lives of the old cells,” says Prof. Ralser. The cells which within the community consumed methionine, released glycerol. In turn, the presence of glycerol affected methionine producing cells, causing them to  live longer. Glycerol is needed for building cell membranes and plays a part in protecting cells. “It’s a win-win situation,” explains Dr. Correia-Melo. “As cells engage in this collaborative exchange, they prolong the lifespan of their community as a whole.”

This study of yeast cell communities is the first to show that metabolite exchange directly impacts the lifespan and aging process of the cells. The researchers suspect this also applies to other types of cells, such as those in the human body, and are aiming to investigate this in further studies. “A better understanding of the complex metabolic pathways both within and between cells will help with investigations into how age-related diseases like diabetes, cancer, and neurodegenerative conditions develop,” says Prof. Ralser. “Metabolite exchange between cells has been overlooked in the past, but it’s clearly a very important factor in the cellular aging process. We hope our study will help make the exchange of metabolic products between cells an area of greater focus in future research.” For his part, Prof. Ralser is now planning to investigate the precise mechanisms that allow glycerol to protect cells and extend their lives.

*Correia-Melo C et al. Cell-cell metabolite exchange creates a pro-survival metabolic environment that extends lifespan. Cell 2023 Jan 05. doi: 10.1016/j.cell/2022.12.007

About the study
Prof. Ralser and Dr. Correia-Melo began the experiments for this study six years ago at the University of Cambridge, continued them at the Francis Crick Institute in London, and completed them at the Department of Biochemistry at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin. The work was conducted in close collaboration with the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. The research was funded by the Wellcome Trust, by an ERC Synergy Grant from the European Commission, by the EU’s CoBioTech project SyCoLim, and through the National Research Node for Mass Spectrometry in Systems Medicine (MSCoreSys) – a funding line of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).

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JOURNAL

Cell

DOI

10.1016/j.cell/2022.12.007 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Cells

ARTICLE TITLE

Cell-cell metabolite exchange creates a pro-survival metabolic environment that extends lifespan

Around 50% of soil-available phosphorus comes from mineral fertilisers in agricultural systems worldwide

Peer-Reviewed Publication

INRAE - NATIONAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE FOR AGRICULTURE, FOOD AND ENVIRONMENT

 

IMAGE: CROP FIELD IN PICARDIE (FRANCE) view more 

CREDIT: INRAE - JEAN WEBER

Plants need phosphorus to grow. Farmers’ use of mineral phosphorus fertilisers has greatly increased soil phosphorus fertility and, consequently, crop yields. However, these fertilisers are made from rock phosphate, a non-renewable resource that is patchily distributed across the Earth. Researchers at INRAE and Bordeaux Sciences Agro have modelled, for each country, the fraction of soil-available phosphorus that is derived from the use of mineral phosphorus fertilizer. They also examined changes in these figures over time, starting in the mid 20th century. Published in Nature Geoscience, their results show that in 2017, around 50% of the world soil-available phosphorus in agricultural systems comes from the use of mineral phosphorus fertilisers. This global data however hides dramatic differences among regions. While Western Europe, North America, and Asia are all situated above 60%, South America and Africa are around 40% and 30%, respectively. This finding underscores that agricultural systems are extremely dependent on mineral phosphorus fertilisers. The study highlights the importance of accelerating the agroecological transition in the Global North, whose countries must preserve their acquired soil fertility and improve the flow of agricultural and urban effluents to the soil. Remaining phosphate rock resources should be given to the Global South, especially to African countries, whose soils remain phosphorus deficient, a reality that limits agricultural production.

Phosphorus occurs naturally in soils, but its levels and relative availability vary by global region and soil type. Since the 1950s, the use of mineral phosphorus fertilisers has boosted soil-available phosphorus and, thus, agricultural yields. However, these fertilisers are created via the mining and chemical processing of rock phosphate, a non-renewable natural resource that is unevenly distributed across the globe. For example, 70% of rock phosphate is in Morocco, while there is almost none to be found in Europe. Furthermore, the transformation of rock phosphate releases large amounts of pollution. Researchers agree that, at current rates of extraction, we will likely reach peak phosphorus (the point of maximum resource production) by 2050. Such will probably lead to an increase in fertiliser prices and greater geopolitical tensions. Against this backdrop, it is essential to clarify how past and present patterns of mineral phosphorus fertiliser usage have affected the dependence of current agricultural systems on this finite resource.

Scientists from INRAE and Bordeaux Sciences Agro therefore decided to quantify the percentage of soil-available phosphorus that originates from mineral fertilisers, defined as the soil’s anthropogenic signature of phosphorus. They developed a model to simulate country-specific patterns of soil-available phosphorus in agricultural systems worldwide for the period from 1950 to 2017. This approach utilised data on stocks of soil-available phosphorus, crop yields, mineral fertiliser use, livestock numbers, and international trade. The calculations were based on a country’s average agricultural soil, which was defined by each country’s use of grasslands and crops within agricultural systems with varying levels of intensification.

Soil fertility is highly dependent on synthetic mineral fertilisers

Globally, the anthropogenic signature of phosphorus is around 47% (±8%), which suggests that, at present, approximately half of soil phosphorus fertility is attributable to the use of mineral fertilisers. This result reflects the intensification of agricultural systems that has taken place worldwide. Indeed, many countries have relied heavily on synthetic fertilisers since the 1950s.

This work highlights the strong spatial and temporal disparities in how dependent different countries are on mineral phosphorus fertilisers. Anthropogenic signatures of phosphorus have risen sharply in Western Europe and North America since the 1950s, and they exceeded 60% in 2017. Since the 1970s, signatures in Western European countries have plateaued, thanks to the decreased use of mineral fertilisers. Livestock manure has helped partially meet phosphorus needs. In Asia, signatures began increasing in the 1970s, which is when countries in that region experienced the Green Revolution, fuelled by massive quantities of mineral fertilisers. The signatures of Asian countries have now caught up and surpassed those of Western European countries. This growth continues, driven by a weighty perpetual reliance on mineral phosphorus fertilisers. In 2017, signatures in South America and Eastern Europe were lower, around 40%. Finally, countries in Africa and Oceania had signatures below 30%, reflecting their more limited use of mineral fertilisers historically.

Towards a more equitable and sustainable management of global rock phosphate resources

This work highlights that many countries in the world are extremely reliant on mineral phosphorus fertilisers to ensure levels of agricultural productivity. The results raise concerns that agricultural systems may struggle to end their dependence on this non-renewable resource. They also underscore deep inequities in the current distribution of rock phosphate. Countries that adopted intensive agricultural systems very early on, such as those in Western Europe and North America, greatly increased their levels of soil-available phosphorus via the wholesale use of mineral phosphorus fertilisers. These countries must now maintain and enhance this acquired fertility using various strategies, including improved resource recycling. They must also speed up their agroecological transition by implementing a range of mixed crop-livestock farming systems, reducing soil erosion, and utilising urban effluent. In contrast, African countries have historically had little access to mineral phosphorus fertilisers even though their soils are often highly deficient in phosphorus, which limits food and agricultural production. Remaining rock phosphate resources must be fairly distributed, prioritising countries with the greatest need so as to promote global food security.

Alternatives to mineral phosphorus fertilisers

Mineral phosphorus fertilisers have boosted agricultural yields and promoted food security in numerous countries. Unfortunately, they are derived from non-renewable supplies of rock phosphate. In addition, rock phosphate mining and processing causes environmental harm. Certain countries, such as France, have accumulated large quantities of soil-available phosphorus. They must now strive to greatly temper their use of mineral phosphorus fertilisers. The reality is that yields will not necessarily suffer from the absence of fertilisers because crops can draw upon stocks of soil-available phosphorus, depending on soil type. Notably, within crop rotations, species such as white lupin or buckwheat can release phosphorus that is chemically bound to the soil, increasing its availability for other crops. Furthermore, these countries must urgently work to preserve the soil phosphorus fertility they have acquired. Notably, they can limit soil erosion, by using cover crops or reincorporating hedgerows into agricultural landscapes, and improve the recycling of organic matter, including livestock effluent and sludge from sewage treatment plants.

JOURNAL

Nature Geoscience

DOI

10.1038/s41561-022-01092-0 

ARTICLE TITLE

Half of global agricultural soil phosphorus fertility derived from anthropogenic sources

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

5-Jan-2023

Electricity harvesting from evaporation, raindrops and moisture inspired by nature

Peer-Reviewed Publication

TSINGHUA UNIVERSITY PRESS

 

IMAGE: HYDRO DAMS AND TIDAL BARRAGES ARE NOT THE ONLY WAY TO HARVEST CLEAN ELECTRICITY FROM WATER. view more 

CREDIT: NANO RESEARCH ENERGY, TSINGHUA UNIVERSITY PRESS

Raindrops, evaporating water, and even moisture in the air are all potentially sources of decentralized clean electricity generation, but many of the technologies that take advantage of this ambient and vast source of energy—many of which are inspired by the electricity harvesting techniques of plants and animals—remain at the lab-bench stage. A group of researchers and engineers have put together a survey of the opportunities and challenges this very young field face.

Enormous hydroelectric dams are perhaps the first thing one thinks of when considering sustainable electricity generation, or possibly large tidal barrages. If one is very familiar with the state of play in clean energy development, one might also be aware of wave-energy converters on the sea surface or seabed that convert the energy from high-intensity waves into usable electricity.

All of these options depend upon heavy, bulky and above all centralized forms of harvesting of the energy contained in water. Yet there are a myriad of other potential technology pathways that can harvest electricity from water in much more decentralized fashion, taking advantage of water’s ubiquitous presence almost everywhere on the Earth. These would produce usable electricity from processes of evaporation, condensation, rainfall, moisture, and even minute flows of water at the scale of a droplet falling off a leaf, and the very tiniest of waves.

Proposed technologies along these lines take advantage of various physical phenomena, including the piezoelectric effect (whereby electric charge accumulates in response to the application of stress or pressure), triboelectricity (in which certain materials become electrically charged after they are separated from a different material with which they had been in contact), thermoelectricity (the conversion of heat to electricity and vice versa), and the hydrovoltaic effect (in which electricity is generated via interaction between water and nanomaterials).

“Water is everywhere. It is ambiently available like no other entity. So all this clean energy is just sitting there, unused and waiting for us to take advantage of it,” said Zuankai Wang, paper author of the review and researcher with the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the City University of Hong Kong. “It makes sense for us to tap into this vast reservoir of energy not just for bulk electricity production, but for a range of applications such as sensors and wearable devices where a micro-scale of energy harvesting is much more appropriate to the use it is being put to.”

Much of the work in the development of such distributed water-energy technologies remains very much in its infancy however. Many of these lab-bench concepts for distributed water-energy harvesting techniques suffer from poor durability, poor scalability and, worst of all, low energy conversion. This latter problem means that for all the effort put into harvesting energy out of such processes, not much is squeezed out.

The development of generators that are driven by water vapor in the air for example uses materials that so far exhibit poor capacity for water adsorption (adhesion to the surface), resulting in incomplete interaction between the water and the material, producing low electrical output, and declining even more in the face of harsh environments.

“And yet the rest of nature has figured out thousands of different ways to do exactly this,” added Wang. “Evolution has basically perfected the process of extracting energy from ambient hydrologic processes in ways that are extremely efficient.”

The lotus leaf for example at the micro and nano scale enjoys an extreme hydrophobic structure that allows droplets of water to roll across its surface with extremely low resistance—essentially on a cushion of air.  This phenomenon has inspired engineers to study textured superhydrophobic surfaces. The asymmetric 3D ratchets of the Araucaria leaf causes liquids with varying surface tensions to flow in different directions. And the ability of nepenthes, the group of carnivorous plants also known as pitcher plants, to direct liquid through its surface structure, inspired the authors of the review paper to develop a ‘slippery liquid-infused porous surface’ (SLIPS) system that can repel liquid extremely efficiently. A water-energy generator with durable SLIPS allows for constant electrical output from droplets in harsh environments with high humidity, high concentrations of salt, and even ultralow temperature.

And it’s not just plants. As water-driven electricity generators are well suited for harvesting energy from human motion due to their deformability and compact size, another group of researchers inspired by electric eel membranes developed artificial electric organs making use of hydrogel arrays (highly absorbent polymers that do not dissolve in water) that work as analogues of the eel membrane components.

 Despite the explosion in development of such bio-inspired engineering, or ‘bionics’, for water-energy harvesting, the current generation of water-driven electricity generators remains largely ad hoc. The researchers felt that a comprehensive review of the field was urgently needed to place it on a firmer theoretical foundation and identify research gaps in order to better guide design of systems and development of novel materials.

The review covers the main mechanisms of electricity production for bio-inspired water-driven generators. It also offers a tour d’horizon of the various bio-inspired devices that have been developed, specifically evaporation, moisture, rainwater, and wave and flow-driven generators, covering three use cases: sensors, wearable electricity generators, and self-powered electronics.

The researchers concluded that the underlying structures of water-driven electricity generation remains undertheorized, in particular that of charge transport and transfer, as well as of energy conversion. Most notably, there is no general theory of charge transfer at the interface of solid materials and water, and proposed mechanisms for this remain hotly debated.

In addition, liquid residues on solid surfaces can significantly reduce electrical output, and so how to avoid or reduce such residues is one of the most vital avenues of research for the field. Most efforts have focussed on textural microstructures in materials that produces a super-hydrophobic surface in order to achieve an incomplete contact between liquid and solid. While this produces the desired water residue reduction, it also inevitably limits the solid-liquid contact area, reducing charge induction and thus lowering electrical output, producing the same result as a residue.

In other areas, improving the ability to absorb water from the environment will be key to improving electricity generation. The researchers recommended that a greater focus be applied to the study of organisms that have evolved over a long period of time in extremely arid areas, such as deserts.

Finally, the authors noted that much of the design of bio-inspired water-driven electricity generators remains at the lab-bench stage, with such devices confronting only a fairly mild experimental setting rather than the rough and tumble of real-world conditions.

The life-span of these technologies even in the laboratory only survive a few days or at most a few months. This compares poorly to roughly 25-year life-span of a solar panel or the half-century or longer of a nuclear plant or hydro dam. There may be use cases, perhaps in medical applications, where a short lifespan poses few problems or is even desirable, but for wider adoption of the technology, such unsatisfactory lifespans will need to be overcome.

About Nano Research Energy 

Nano Research Energy is launched by Tsinghua University Press, aiming at being an international, open-access and interdisciplinary journal. We will publish research on cutting-edge advanced nanomaterials and nanotechnology for energy. It is dedicated to exploring various aspects of energy-related research that utilizes nanomaterials and nanotechnology, including but not limited to energy generation, conversion, storage, conservation, clean energy, etc. Nano Research Energy will publish four types of manuscripts, that is, Communications, Research Articles, Reviews, and Perspectives in an open-access form.

About SciOpen 

SciOpen is a professional open access resource for discovery of scientific and technical content published by the Tsinghua University Press and its publishing partners, providing the scholarly publishing community with innovative technology and market-leading capabilities. SciOpen provides end-to-end services across manuscript submission, peer review, content hosting, analytics, and identity management and expert advice to ensure each journal’s development by offering a range of options across all functions as Journal Layout, Production Services, Editorial Services, Marketing and Promotions, Online Functionality, etc. By digitalizing the publishing process, SciOpen widens the reach, deepens the impact, and accelerates the exchange of ideas.

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JOURNAL

Nano Research Energy

DOI

10.26599/NRE.2022.9120042 

ARTICLE TITLE

Bio-inspired water-driven electricity generators: From fundamental mechanisms to practical applications

FOR PROFIT HEALTHCARE

Mental health service use among commercially insured adults during pandemic

JAMA Health Forum

Peer-Reviewed Publication

JAMA NETWORK

About The Study: Researchers found in this study of 5.1 million commercially insured adults across all 50 U.S. states that the COVID-19 pandemic was associated with a rapid increase in telehealth services for mental health conditions, offsetting a sharp decline in in-person care and generating overall higher service utilization rates for several mental health conditions compared with pre-pandemic levels. 

Authors: Christopher M. Whaley, Ph.D., of the RAND Corporation in Santa Monica, California, is the corresponding author.

 This link will be live at the embargo time https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama-health-forum/fullarticle/10.1001/jamahealthforum.2022.4936?utm_source=For_The_Media&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=ftm_links&utm_term=010623

About JAMA Health Forum: JAMA Health Forum is an international, peer-reviewed, online, open access journal that addresses health policy and strategies affecting medicine, health and health care. The journal publishes original research, evidence-based reports and opinion about national and global health policy; innovative approaches to health care delivery; and health care economics, access, quality, safety, equity and reform. Its distribution will be solely digital and all content will be freely available for anyone to read.

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JOURNAL

JAMA Health Forum

Blood pressure control among Black and white adults following quality improvement program

JAMA Network Open

Peer-Reviewed Publication

JAMA NETWORK

About The Study: Disparities in blood pressure (BP) control between Black and white patients were decreased but not eliminated following implementation of quality improvement strategies aimed at reducing disparities in BP control. These results suggest that more focused interventions may be needed to increase BP control among Black individuals. 

Authors: Kristi Reynolds, Ph.D., M.P.H., of Kaiser Permanente Southern California in Pasadena, is the corresponding author. 

This link will be live at the embargo time http://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.49930?utm_source=For_The_Media&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=ftm_links&utm_term=010623

About JAMA Network Open: JAMA Network Open is an online-only open access general medical journal from the JAMA Network. On weekdays, the journal publishes peer-reviewed clinical research and commentary in more than 40 medical and health subject areas. Every article is free online from the day of publication.

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JOURNAL

JAMA Network Open