THE LANCET: Planting more trees could decrease deaths from higher summer temperatures in cities by a third, modelling study suggests

Peer-Reviewed Publication

THE LANCET

Peer-reviewed / Simulation or modelling / People

• Modelling of 93 European cities finds that increasing tree cover up to 30% can help lower the temperature of urban environments by an average of 0.4 degrees and prevent heat-related deaths. (Average city tree coverage in Europe is currently at 14.9%.)
• Of the 6,700 premature deaths attributed to higher temperatures in cities during 2015, one third of these (2,644) could have been prevented by increasing urban tree cover up to 30%.
• The authors note that these findings highlight the need for more sustainable and climate-resilient strategies to be integrated into local policy decisions to aid climate change adaptation and improve population health. 

One third of premature deaths attributable to higher temperatures in European cities during summer 2015 could have been prevented by increasing urban tree cover to 30%, reveals a modelling study published in The Lancet. The study also found that tree cover reduced urban temperatures by an average of 0.4 degrees during the summer. 

“We already know that high temperatures in urban environments are associated with negative health outcomes, such as cardiorespiratory failure, hospital admission, and premature death. This study is the largest of its kind, and the first to specifically look at premature mortality caused by higher temperatures in cities and the number of deaths that could be prevented by increasing tree cover,” says lead author, Tamar Iungman, Barcelona Institute for Global Health. [1]

“Our ultimate goal is to inform local policy and decision-makers about the benefits of strategically integrating green infrastructure into urban planning in order to promote more sustainable, resilient and healthy urban environments and contribute to climate change adaptation and mitigation. This is becoming increasingly urgent as Europe experiences more extreme temperature fluctuations caused by climate change; despite cold conditions currently causing more deaths in Europe, predictions based on current emissions reveal that heat-related illness and death will present a bigger burden to our health services over the next decade.”

Urban environments record higher temperatures than the surrounding countryside generally referred to as “urban heat islands”. This temperature difference is caused by human modification of landscapes, such as removal of vegetation, the presence of asphalt and use of building materials that absorb and trap heat. As emissions continue to exacerbate climate change and global heating, increased temperatures in cities are predicted to become more intense, resulting in an increasingly urgent need for cities to adapt to improve health outcomes. 

The researchers estimated mortality rates of residents over 20 years old in 93 European cities (listed in appendix) between June and August 2015, accounting for 57 million inhabitants in total. Mortality data from this period was analysed with daily average city temperatures in two modelling scenarios:  the first comparing the city temperature without urban heat islands to city temperature with urban heat islands, and the second simulating the temperature reduction as a consequence of increasing the tree cover to 30%. Exposure response functions were used to estimate the number of deaths attributable to urban heat as well as the number of deaths that could be prevented through increasing the tree cover.  

The population-weighted city average daily temperature difference between cities and countryside from June - August 2015 was 1.5 degrees warmer than the surrounding countryside, with the maximum temperature difference measured at 4.1 degrees hotter in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Across all cities, 75% of the total population lived in areas with an average summer city temperature difference greater than one degree, and 20% with an average summer temperature difference greater than two degrees, compared to the surrounding countryside.

In total, 6,700 premature deaths could be attributed to hotter urban temperatures during the summer months, accounting for 4.3% of summer mortality and 1.8% of year-round mortality. One in three of these deaths (2,644 total) could have been prevented by increasing tree cover up to 30%, and therefore reducing temperatures. This corresponds to 39.5% of all deaths attributable to hotter urban temperatures, 1.8% of all summer deaths, and 0.4% of year-round deaths.

There was a large variability in temperature-related mortality rates between cities, from no premature deaths attributable to hotter urban temperatures in Goteborg, Sweden, to 32 premature deaths per 100,000 people in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Overall, cities with highest temperature mortality rates were in Southern and Eastern Europe where the highest temperatures were reached, with these cities benefitting the most from an increase in tree coverage.

The results of this study support the idea that urban trees provide substantial public health and environmental benefits, however the authors acknowledge that increasing tree coverage should be combined with other interventions to maximise urban temperature reduction (for example, changing ground surface materials to reduce night-time temperatures such as replacing asphalt with trees). Meeting the target of 30% tree coverage can be very challenging for some cities due to urban design, with city average tree cover in Europe currently at 14.9%.

“Our results suggest large impacts on mortality due to hotter temperatures in cities, and that these impacts could be partially reduced by increasing the tree coverage to help cool urban environments. We encourage city planners and decision-makers to incorporate the urban green infrastructure adapted to each local setting whilst combining with other interventions to maximise the health benefits while promoting more sustainable and resilient cities, especially as we already know that green spaces can have additional health benefits such as reducing cardiovascular disease, dementia and poor mental health, improving cognitive functioning of children and the elderly, and improving the health of babies,” says study co-author Mark Nieuwenhuijsen, Director of Urban Planning, Environment and Health at the Barcelona Institute for Global Health. [1]

The authors acknowledge some limitations with this study. The study could not be conducted for a more recent year than 2015, due to unavailability of population data. In addition, a US dataset was used for building the cooling model in the study as opposed to a European dataset. Finally, this study focused on the health impacts of high temperatures but did not look at cold temperature. Whilst cold temperatures currently have greater impacts on health in Europe, health impacts due to heat are projected to exceed those caused by cold under current emission scenarios, highlighting the importance of adapting our cities now. 

Writing in a Linked Comment, Kristie Ebi, University of Washington, USA, who was not involved in the research, said: “Essentially all heatwave-related deaths are preventable; no one needs to die from the heat. With climate change projected to increase the frequency, intensity, and duration of extreme heat events, communities need to understand the most effective interventions, particularly developing and deploying heatwave early warning and response systems. Equally important are Heat Action Plans that explicitly incorporate the consequences of a changing climate into longer-term urban planning. Heat Action Plans detail how to modify urban form and infrastructure to increase the resilience and sustainability of our communities as we face an even warmer future… Encouraging and enabling decision-makers and local communities to develop and implement Heat Action Plan is an effective way to promote climate resilience as soaring temperatures continue to be felt globally. The tools and guidelines are available; the gaps are in human and financial resources for implementation. The time to start is now.”

NOTES TO EDITORS

This study was funded by GoGreenRoutes, Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, Internal ISGlobal fund Medical Research Council-UK, and European Union’s Horizon 2020 Project Exhaustion. A full list of researcher institutes can be found in the paper.

[1] Quote direct from author and cannot be found in the text of the Article.

The labels have been added to this press release as part of a project run by the Academy of Medical Sciences seeking to improve the communication of evidence. For more information, please see: http://www.sciencemediacentre.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/AMS-press-release-labelling-system-GUIDANCE.pdf if you have any questions or feedback, please contact The Lancet press office pressoffice@lancet.com  
 

IF YOU WISH TO PROVIDE A LINK FOR YOUR READERS, PLEASE USE THE FOLLOWING, WHICH WILL GO LIVE AT THE TIME THE EMBARGO LIFTS: www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(22)02585-5/fulltext

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JOURNAL

The Lancet

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Computational simulation/modeling

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Cooling cities through urban green infrastructure: a health impact assessment of European cities

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

31-Jan-2023

Over 4% of summer mortality in European cities is attributable to urban heat islands

A new study conducted with data from 93 European cities estimates that one third of deaths attributable to heat islands could be avoided if trees covered 30% of urban space

Peer-Reviewed Publication

BARCELONA INSTITUTE FOR GLOBAL HEALTH (ISGLOBAL)

 

IMAGE: KEY RESULTS view more 

CREDIT: ISGLOBAL

Over four percent of deaths in cities during the summer months are due to urban heat islands, and one third of these deaths could be prevented by reaching a tree cover of 30%, according to a modelling study published in The Lancet and led by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), an institution supported by “la Caixa” Foundation. The study results, obtained with data from 93 European cities, highlight the substantial benefits of planting more trees in cities to attenuate the impact of climate change. 

Exposure to heat has been associated with premature mortality, cardiorespiratory disease and hospital admissions. This is particularly true for heat waves, but also occurs with moderately high temperatures in summer. Cities are especially vulnerable to higher temperatures. Less vegetation, higher population density, and impermeable surfaces for buildings and roads, including asphalt, lead to a temperature difference between the city and surrounding areas – a phenomenon called urban heat island. Given the ongoing global warming and urban growth, this effect is expected to worsen over the next decades.

“Predictions based on current emissions reveal that heat-related illness and death will become a bigger burden to our health services over the next decades,” says ISGlobal researcher Tamara Iungman, first author of the study.  

An international team led by Mark Nieuwenhuijsen, director of the Urban Planning, Environment and Health Initiative at ISGlobal, estimated mortality rates of residents aged over 20 in 93 European cities (a total of 57 million inhabitants), between June and August 2015, and collected data on daily rural and urban temperatures for each city. The analyses were performed at a high-resolution level (areas of 250m x 250m). First, they estimated the premature mortality by simulating a hypothetical scenario without urban heat island. Second, they estimated the temperature reduction that would be obtained by increasing tree cover to 30% and the associated mortality that could be avoided.  

“Our goal is to inform local decision-makers about the benefits of integrating green areas into all neighborhoods in order to promote more sustainable, resilient and healthy urban environments,” explains Nieuwenhuijsen.

The protective effect of trees

The results show that, from June to August 2015, cities were on average 1.5oC warmer than the surrounding countryside. In total, 6,700 premature deaths could be attributed to hotter urban temperatures, which represents 4.3% of total mortality during the summer months and 1.8% of year-round mortality. One third of these deaths (2,644) could have been prevented by increasing tree cover up to 30%, thereby reducing temperatures. Overall, cities with the highest excess heat-mortality rates were in Southern and Eastern Europe, with these cities benefiting the most from an increase in tree cover.

The study highlights the substantial benefits of planting more trees in cities, although the authors acknowledge that this can be challenging in some cities due to their design, and that tree planting should be combined with other interventions such as green roofs or other temperature-reducing alternatives.

“Our results also show the need to preserve and maintain the trees that we already have because they are a valuable resource and it takes a long time to grow new trees. It is not only about increasing trees in the city, it is also about how they are distributed,” says Nieuwenhuijsen.

The analyses were done for 2015 because population data were not available for later years, but, as Iungman points out, the study provides valuable information for adapting our cities and making them more resilient to the health impact of climate change. “Here we only looked at the cooling effect of trees, but making cities greener has many other health benefits, including longer life expectancy, fewer mental health problems and better cognitive functioning”, she adds. 

“Vulnerability to heat changes from city to city depending on several factors. Understanding the benefits of policies such as increasing tree cover can help inform action to reduce risks and prevent avoidable deaths, especially with climate change", says Antonio Gasparrini, Professor of Biostatistics and Epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and one of the authors of the study.

Supplementary material

Dataset: Check the resulting data for the 93 European cities.

Videos: Quotes Mark Nieuwenhuijsen; Quotes Tamara Iungman

 

Reference

Iungman T, Cirach M, Marando F., Pereira-Barboza E., Khomenko S., Masselot P., Quijal-Zamorano M., Mueller N., Gasparrini A., Urquiza J., Heri M., Thondoo M., Nieuwenhuijsen M. Cooling cities for health through urban green infrastructure: a health impact assessment for European cities. The Lancet, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(22)02585-5

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JOURNAL

The Lancet

DOI

10.1016/S0140-6736(22)02585-5 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Computational simulation/modeling

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Cooling cities for health through urban green infrastructure: a health impact assessment for European cities

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

31-Jan-2023

Deer carry SARS-CoV-2 variants that are extinct in humans

Peer-Reviewed Publication

CORNELL UNIVERSITY

ITHACA, N.Y. – Cornell University researchers have found white-tailed deer ­– the most abundant large mammal in North America – are harboring SARS-CoV-2 variants that were once widely circulated, but no longer found in humans.

Whether or not deer could act as long-term reservoirs for these obsolete variants is still unknown, as scientists continue to collect and analyze new data.

The study, published January 31 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, represents one of the most comprehensive studies to date to assess the prevalence, genetic diversity and evolution of SARS-CoV-2 in white-tailed deer.

“One of the most striking findings of this study was the detection of co-circulation of three variants of concern – alpha, gamma and delta – in this wild animal population,” said Diego Diel, associate professor of population medicine and diagnostic sciences at Cornell.

Over the course of the pandemic, deer have become infected with SARS-CoV-2 through ongoing contact with humans, possibly from hunting, wildlife rehabilitations, feeding of wild animals or through wastewater or water sources.

“A virus that emerged in humans in Asia, most likely after a spillover event from an animal reservoir into humans, apparently, or potentially, has now found a new wildlife reservoir in North America,” Diel said.

The 5,700 samples used in the study were collected over two years in New York from 2020-22.

When the researchers compared the genomic sequences of the variants found in deer with sequences of the same variants taken from humans across New York, they found the viruses had mutated in the deer, suggesting the variants had likely been circulating in deer for many months. By the time alpha and gamma variants were detected in deer, for example, there was no evidence of these viral strains still circulating in humans. In fact, when they were found in deer, neither variant had been detected in humans in New York for four to six months.

“When we did sequence comparisons between those viruses recovered from white-tailed deer with the human sequences, we observed a significant number of mutations across the virus genome,” Diel said, adding that some of the viruses had up to 80 mutations compared with the human sequences, providing further evidence that the viruses had likely been circulating in the deer for some time. The mutations suggest the virus has adapted to deer, possibly making it more transmissible between them.

More study is needed to confirm whether these variants will disappear in deer over time or whether there is risk of SARS-CoV-2 spreading to other wildlife, including predators.  

“Because of the evidence obtained in our study, it is very important to continue to monitor the virus in these animal populations to really understand and track changes that could lead or favor spill back into humans and other wildlife,” Diel said.

There are an estimated 30 million white-tailed deer in the United States. A 2022 study by Diel and others found that across five states surveyed in 2021, SARS-CoV-2 was found in up to 40% of white-tailed deer. 

For additional information, see this Cornell Chronicle story.

Cornell University has dedicated television and audio studios available for media interviews.

-30-

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JOURNAL

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

DOI

10.1073/pnas.2215067120 

MUTUAL AID

Fishing in synchrony brings mutual benefits for dolphins and people in Brazil, research shows

Peer-Reviewed Publication

OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY

 

IMAGE: TRADITIONAL COOPERATIVE FISHING BETWEEN LAHILLE'S BOTTLENOSE DOLPHINS AND ARTISANAL NET-CASTING FISHERS IN LAGUNA, BRAZIL. view more 

CREDIT: PHOTO BY MAURICIO CANTOR, DEPARTMENT OF FISHERIES, WILDLIFE AND CONSERVATION SCIENCES, MARINE MAMMAL INSTITUTE, OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY.

NEWPORT, Ore. – By working together, dolphins and net-casting fishers in Brazil each catch more fish, a rare example of an interaction by two top predators that is beneficial to both parties, researchers have concluded following 15 years of study of the practice.

“We knew that the fishers were observing the dolphins’ behavior to determine when to cast their nets, but we didn’t know if the dolphins were actively coordinating their behavior with the fishers,” said Mauricio Cantor of Oregon State University’s Marine Mammal Institute, who led the study.

“Using drones and underwater imaging, we could observe the behaviors of fishers and dolphins with unprecedented detail and found that they catch more fish by working in synchrony,” said Cantor, an assistant professor in OSU’s College of Agricultural Sciences. “This shows that this is a mutually beneficial interaction between the humans and the dolphins.”

The researchers’ findings were just published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Co-authors of the paper are Professor Fábio Daura-Jorge of the Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina in Brazil and Professor Damien Farine of the University of Zurich and the Australian National University.

Synchronized movements of flocks of birds and schools of fish are a common yet striking behavior that can be key to the animals’ survival. Synchronized behavior between species, like that between the Lahille’s bottlenose dolphins and the traditional net-casting fishers in Brazil, is much more rare.

The practice is considered a cultural tradition in the city of Laguna on Brazil’s southern coast, where it occurred for more than 140 years and has been passed down through generations of fishers and dolphins. The cooperative fishing relationship is specific to this population of dolphins and is not a genetic trait in the animals, Cantor said.

There are historical and recent accounts of similar behaviors in a handful of locations elsewhere in the world, but the practice is in decline or has disappeared completely in most places and remains almost completely unstudied in others. The rare nature of the practice is one reason the practice in Brazil is being considered for a cultural heritage designation, he said.

“From the fishers’ perspective, this practice is part of the culture of the community in all kinds of ways,” Cantor said. “They acquire skills passed down from other fishers and knowledge is spread through social learning. They also feel connected to this place and have a sense of belonging to the community.”

Predictive models run as part of the study show that the future of the practice could be threatened if populations of mullet – the type of fish both dolphins and people are seeking – continue to decline, or future generations of fishers lose interest in learning the art of this unique fishing practice.

“The practice is unlikely to continue if either the dolphins or the fishers no longer benefit from it,” said Farine.

Daura-Jorge said researchers are already seeing early signs of decline in the practice. “If we take steps to document and conserve the knowledge and the culture of the practice, we can indirectly and positively impact the biological aspects, as well,” he said.

To better understand this cultural tradition and measure its short- and long-term consequences for both fishers and dolphins, the researchers combined drones, hydrophones and underwater cameras to capture the mechanics of the partnership, conducted long-term demographic surveys for dolphins and interviewed and observed the fishers.

They found that foraging synchrony between dolphins and fishers substantially increases the probability of catching fish and the number of fish caught. This benefit then supports the dolphins’ survival – dolphins who engage in cooperative fishing in this area have a 13% increase in survival rates – and the socioeconomic wellbeing of the fishers. They also found that the fishers’ understanding of the fishing tradition matched the evidence produced through scientific tools and methods.

“Questionnaires and direct observations are different ways to look at the same phenomenon, and they match up well,” Cantor said. “By integrating these together, we could then get the most complete and reliable picture of how this system works and, most importantly, how it benefits both fishers and dolphins.”

Most interspecific interactions, including those between humans and other animals, are competitive rather than mutually beneficial, the researchers said.

“But not in this case,” Farine said. “This makes this system of substantial scientific interest, as it can help us to understand under what conditions cooperation can evolve and – of growing importance in our rapidly changing world – under what conditions it might go extinct, or flip from a cooperative to a competitive interaction.”

The researchers suggest conservation action is needed to ensure the future of the practice. Both the dolphins and the fishers are reliant on a strong and healthy fish population for the cooperative relationship to succeed. In recent years, the region has seen reduced availability of fish. There is also reduced interest in learning the tradition, said Daura-Jorge, who has been monitoring this population for the past 15 years. 

“We don’t know what is going to happen in the future, but our best guess, using our best data and best models, is that if things keep going the way they are right now, there will be a time when the interaction will no longer be of interest by at least one of the predators – the dolphins or the fishers,” Daura-Jorge said.  

The researchers suggest several conservation measures may be necessary to secure the future of the practice. First is to try to identify the source of the mullet decline and take measures to better manage that species, such as reducing use of illegal nets through law enforcement, Daura-Jorge said.

Second, the researchers recommend steps to work with current and future artisanal fishers, stressing the cultural and economic importance of the net-casting practice. That might include offering incentives to encourage the traditional practice, such as setting a premium price for fish caught with this method.

“This phenomenon of mutually-beneficial interaction between wildlife and humans is getting more and more rare and seems to be at global risk,” Cantor said. “The cultural value and the biological diversity are important, and it’s important to preserve it.”

A dolphin giving a cue to a fisher at Praia da Tesoura in Laguna, Brazil.

An artisanal net-caster fishes in Laguna, Brazil.

CREDIT

Photo by Fabio G. Daura-Jorge, Departamento de Ecologia e Zoologia, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Florianópolis SC, Brazil

JOURNAL

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Observational study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Animals

ARTICLE TITLE

Foraging synchrony drives resilience in human-dolphin mutualism

Warmer climate may drive fungi to be more dangerous to our health

Pathogen’s mutations ramp up as heat rises, causing concern for new infectivity

Peer-Reviewed Publication

DUKE UNIVERSITY

 

IMAGE: THIS PHOTOMICROGRAPH DEPICTS CRYPTOCOCCUS NEOFORMANS A FUNGAL PATHOGEN THAT HAS BEEN CAUSING AN INCREASING NUMBER OF LIFE-THREATENING INFECTIONS. PEOPLE WITH AIDS, AND THOSE USING IMMUNOSUPPRESSIVE DRUGS ARE MOST VULNERABLE. view more 

CREDIT: U.S. CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL

DURHAM, N.C. – The world is filled with tiny creatures that find us delicious. Bacteria and viruses are the obvious bad guys, drivers of deadly global pandemics and annoying infections. But the pathogens we haven’t had to reckon with as much – yet – are the fungi.

Pathogenic fungi (Candida, Aspergillus, Cryptococcus and others) are notorious killers of immune-compromised people. But for the most part, healthy people have not had to worry about them, and the vast majority of the planet’s potentially pathogenic fungi don’t do well in the heat of our bodies.

But all that may be about to change.

A new study out of Duke University School of Medicine finds that raised temperatures cause a pathogenic fungus known as Cryptococcus deneoformans to turn its adaptative responses into overdrive. This increases its number of genetic changes, some of which might presumably lead to higher heat resistance, and others perhaps toward greater disease-causing potential.

Specifically, higher heat makes more of the fungus’ transposable elements, or jumping genes, get up and move around within the fungal DNA, leading to changes in the way its genes are used and regulated. The findings appeared Jan. 20 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

“These mobile elements are likely to contribute to adaptation in the environment and during an infection,” said postdoctoral researcher Asiya Gusa Ph.D. of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology in the Duke School of Medicine. “This could happen even faster because heat stress speeds up the number of mutations occurring.”

This may ring a bell with viewers of the new HBO series “The Last of Us,” where a dystopian hellscape is precipitated by a heat-adapted fungus that takes over humans and turns them into zombies. “That’s exactly the sort of thing I’m talking about -- minus the zombie part!” said Gusa who just watched the first episode and who will join the Duke faculty as an assistant professor later this year.

“These are not infectious diseases in the communicable sense; we don’t transmit fungi to each other,” Gusa said. “But the spores are in the air. We breathe in spores of fungi all the time and our immune systems are equipped to fight them.”

Fungal spores are generally larger than viruses, so your existing stock of face masks against Covid would probably be sufficient to stop them. That, and your body heat, for now.

”Fungal diseases are on the rise, largely because of an increase in the number of people who have weakened immune systems or underlying health conditions,” Gusa said. But at the same time, pathogenic fungi may be adapting to warmer temperatures as well.

Working in the lab of Professor Sue Jinks-Robertson, Gusa led research that focused on three transposable elements that were particularly active under heat stress in C. deneoformans. But there are easily another 25 or more transposable elements in that species that could mobilize, she said.

The team used ‘long-read’ DNA sequencing to see changes that might otherwise have been missed, Gusa said. Computational analysis allowed them to map transposons and then see how they had moved. “We have improved tools now to see these movements that were previously hiding in our blind spots.”

Heat stress sped the mutations up. Following 800 generations of growth in laboratory medium, the rate of transposon mutations was five-times higher in fungi raised at body temperature (37 Celsius) compared with fungi raised at 30C.

One of the transposable elements, called T1, had a tendency to insert itself between coding genes, which could lead to changes in the way genes are controlled. An element called Tcn12 often landed within the sequence of a gene, potentially disrupting that gene’s function and possibly leading to drug resistance. And a third kind, Cnl1, tended to land near or in the telomere sequences at the ends of chromosomes, an effect which Gusa said isn’t fully understood.

The mobilization of transposable elements also appeared to increase more in fungi living in mice than in lab culture. “We saw evidence of all three transposable elements mobilizing in the fungus genome within just ten days of infecting the mouse,” Gusa said. The researchers suspect that the added challenges of surviving in an animal with immune responses and other stressors may drive the transposons to be even more active.

“This is a fascinating study, which shows how increasing global temperature may affect the fungal evolution in unpredictable directions,” said Arturo Casadevall MD, PhD, the chair of molecular microbiology & immunology at Johns Hopkins University. “As the world warms, transposons in soil fungi like Cryptococcus neoformans could become more mobile and increase genomic changes in ways that could enhance virulence and drug resistance. One more thing to worry about with global warming!”

Gusa’s work was helped by collaboration with Duke labs that also study fungi, the Joseph Heitman lab in the school of medicine and the Paul Magwene lab in Trinity Arts & Sciences.

The next phase of this research will be looking at pathogens from human patients who have had a relapsing fungal infection. “We know that these infections can persist and then come back with potential genetic changes.”

It’s time to get serious about pathogenic fungi, Gusa said. “These kinds of stress-stimulated changes may contribute to the evolution of pathogenic traits in fungi both in the environment and during infection. They may be evolving faster than we expected.”

This research was supported by the National Institutes of Health (R35-GM118077, R21-AI133644, 5T32AI052080, 2T32AI052080, 1K99-AI166094-01, R01-AI039115-24, R01-AI050113-17, R01-AI133654-05)

CITATION: “Genome-Wide Analysis of Heat Stress-Stimulated Transposon Mobility in the Human Fungal Pathogen Cryptococcus deneoformans,” Asiya Gusa, Vikas Yadav, Cullen Roth, Jonathan Williams, Evan Meil Shouse, Paul Magwene, Joseph Heitman, Sue Jinks-Robertson. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Jan. 20, 2023. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2209831120

Online - https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2209831120

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JOURNAL

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

DOI

10.1073/pnas.2209831120 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Animals

ARTICLE TITLE

Genome-Wide Analysis of Heat Stress-Stimulated Transposon Mobility in the Human Fungal Pathogen Cryptococcus deneoformans

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The Colour out of Space" by H. P. Lovecraft

https://www.hplovecraft.com › writings › texts › fiction

Aug 20, 2009 — It was just a colour out of space—a frightful messenger from unformed realms of infinity beyond all Nature as we know it; from realms whose mere .

Global survey of attacks by large carnivores reveals distinct patterns in low- and high-income countries

Attacks reported in high-income countries mostly occur during recreation and less likely to be fatal

Peer-Reviewed Publication

PLOS

 

IMAGE: MOST PREDATORY ATTACKS OCCURRED IN LOW-INCOME REGIONS, ESPECIALLY INDIA (72%) AND SOUTH-EASTERN AFRICA (14%), WHERE LEOPARDS WERE AMONG THE MOST FREQUENTLY INVOLVED FELIDS. FOR MOST ENCOUNTERS, THE VICTIMS OF LEOPARDS WERE MAINLY CHILDREN. view more 

CREDIT: VINCENZO PENTERIANI (CC-BY 4.0, HTTPS://CREATIVECOMMONS.ORG/LICENSES/BY/4.0/)

Reports of large carnivore attacks on humans have increased since 1970, but the frequency and context of these attacks depends on socioeconomic and environmental factors, according to a new study of over 5,000 reports publishing January 31st in the open access journal PLOS Biology by Giulia Bombieri of MUSE Science Museum in Italy, Vincenzo Penteriani of the National Museum of Natural Science (CSIC) in Spain, and colleagues.

The researchers collected information about reported attacks on humans by 12 species of carnivores in three families (Ursidae, Felidae, and Canidae) between 1970 and 2019 from published and unpublished scientific papers, web pages, and news reports. They identified 5,089 reported attacks by large carnivores that resulted in injury, of which 32% were fatal. The number of reported attacks increased over the 49-year period, particularly in lower-income countries.

Attacks in high-income countries were most common during recreational activities, such as hiking, camping, or dog-walking, whereas nearly 90% of attacks in low-income countries occurred during livelihood-related activities like farming, fishing, or grazing livestock. Wild felids and canids were responsible for more predatory attacks, but bears were more likely to attack when surprised, defending cubs, or in food-related interactions such as scavenging human food. Most fatal attacks occurred in lower-income countries where tigers and lions are present.

The authors say that approaches to reduce large carnivore attacks should be tailored to the socioeconomic context. In high-income countries, campaigns to educate visitors and residents in large carnivore areas about high-risk behaviors and how to avoid dangerous encounters could be effective. In contrast, in lower-income countries, where co-existence with large carnivores is mostly involuntary, zoning changes that separate humans and livestock from large carnivore habitats, expanding protected areas, and restoring habitat connectivity, would be more appropriate strategies. These preventative measures may be challenging to implement as the global population grows.

Penteriani adds, “When human recreational and/or livelihood activities overlap with large carnivore ranges, it is crucial to understand how to live with species that can pose threats to humans. Factors triggering large carnivore attacks on humans depend on the combination of local socio-economic and ecological factors, which implies that measures to reduce large carnivore attacks must consider the diverse local ecological and social contexts.”

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In your coverage, please use this URL to provide access to the freely available paper in PLOS Biology: http://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.3001946

Citation: Bombieri G, Penteriani V, Almasieh K, Ambarlı H, Ashrafzadeh MR, Das CS, et al. (2023) A worldwide perspective on large carnivore attacks on humans. PLoS Biol 21(1): e3001946. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3001946

Author Countries: Italy, Spain, Iran, Turkey, Germany, India, United States of America, Mexico, Tanzania, Venezuela, Russia, Nepal, Kenya, Malaysia, JapanFunding: VP was financially supported by the Project PID2020-114181GB-I00 financed by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, the Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI), and the Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER, EU). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Large felids such as lions caused more deaths in general, with 65% of felid attacks being fatal, followed by canids (49%) and ursids (9%). Most fatal attacks occurred in lower-income countries and lion attacks were mainly predatory, i.e., incidents where humans were attacked with the likely purpose of being consumed.

Ursids were mainly involved in involuntary sudden encounters (45%), defensive reactions by females with cubs (18%) or food-related interactions (16%), such as bears defending a carcass, or being surprised while attacking livestock or feeding on anthropogenic food.

CREDIT

Vincenzo Penteriani (CC-BY 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

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JOURNAL

PLoS Biology

DOI

10.1371/journal.pbio.3001946 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Observational study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Animals