New study finds offering paid sick leave is good for U.S. business

FAU, CSU researchers systematically reviewed more than 20 years of research

Peer-Reviewed Publication

FLORIDA ATLANTIC UNIVERSITY

 

IMAGE: RESEARCHERS FROM FAU AND CSU FOUND EVIDENCE SUGGESTING PAID SICK LEAVE WAS ASSOCIATED WITH LOWER SPREAD OF DISEASE, NOT ONLY FOR THE WORKERS THEMSELVES, BUT FOR THE ENTIRE REGION WHERE PAID SICK LEAVE MANDATES WERE PASSED. view more 

CREDIT: FLORIDA ATLANTIC UNIVERSITY

With the exception of a temporary federal law providing paid sick leave to certain employees between March and December 2020, the United States remains one of the few developed countries without federal paid sick leave protection for workers. In recent years, 14 states have enacted paid sick leave mandates, while 18 states have passed preemptive legislation prohibiting paid sick leave laws, largely due to concerns about the potential negative impact this may have on business.

A new study published in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine by Florida Atlantic University and Cleveland State University researchers found compelling evidence of significant benefits of paid sick leave to organizations. The researchers systematically reviewed 22 years of research examining the relationship between paid sick leave benefits and short-term and long-term U.S. business outcomes. They took into consideration factors such as business size, industry, and whether or not paid sick leave was required due to a legislative mandate.

Key findings from the study show access to paid sick leave means less occupational injury, spread of contagious disease, presenteeism (the act of workers going to work while ill), and employee death. There was more evidence that paid sick leave was related to favorable business conditions such as employee morale and job satisfaction, improved retention, higher profitability and firm performance, and favorable labor market conditions, compared to evidence supporting negative business consequences, such as worker absence.

“Findings from our study certainly inform voluntary adoption of paid sick leave policies by businesses as well as future legislation,” said LeaAnne DeRigne, Ph.D., co-author and a professor in FAU’s Phyllis and Harvey Sandler School of Social Work within the College of Social Work and Criminal Justice.

For the study, researchers reviewed the relationship between paid sick leave and correlates of job satisfaction, morale, job commitment, turnover, retention, employee health and safety, occupational injury, presenteeism, absence from work, labor market effects, profitability, productivity and performance.

“Considering the weight that has been given over time to the potential harm of paid sick leave to business, we were surprised to find so little evidence to support this concern,” said Candice Vander Weerdt, Ph.D., lead author of the study and a faculty member in the College of Business at CSU. “Aside from small increases in worker absence, what we found was actually the opposite, a trove of evidence suggesting paid sick leave is linked with favorable business outcomes.”

Absence from work was the most commonly reported unfavorable outcome of paid sick leave for business; yet findings from the study illuminated the value of having employees stay home when sick. Notably, most of the studies that identified a small but significant increase in work absence associated with paid sick leave also reported a decrease in presenteeism.

“Our study is particularly timely given the health concerns, mass resignations, and labor shortages observed during the COVID-19 pandemic, which have compromised access to healthy, reliable, and enduring human resources,” said Patricia Stoddard-Dare, Ph.D., co-author and a professor in the School of Social Work at CSU.  

Presenteeism has been estimated to cost U.S. companies billions of dollars a year in lost productivity and may also impact occupational injuries and spread of disease.

“Coming to work sick, injured or ill can diminish productivity and performance and may lead to the spread of illness to other employees,” said DeRigne. “In any given week, about 2 percent of workers attend work while sick, particularly women, low wage workers, and those ages 25 to 34.”

The researchers say that there has been vigorous legislative activity both for and against paid sick leave over the last decade.

“Although increased absence from work is a serious concern for policy makers in the debate of paid sick leave, our study showed absences from work, while disruptive to business, also may limit the spread of contagious disease in the workplace and thereby lessen presenteeism, reduce occupational injury, and promote a quicker return to optimal employee functioning,” said Stoddard-Dare.

Considering the benefits available to organizations offering paid sick leave, such as improved job satisfaction, employment retention, better employee health and safety, and improved labor market performance, DeRigne, Vander Weerdt and Stoddard-Dare note that costs associated with increased absences may be largely mitigated.

“Paid sick leave laws have greatly increased access to paid sick leave. While paid sick leave is accessible to 92 percent of Americans earning in the top quartile, only 51 percent of those earning in the lowest quartile have access,” said Vander Weerdt. “These workers are often engaged in food service, hospitality, or retail work, meaning they are often on the front lines of our community.”

Researchers found evidence suggesting paid sick leave was associated with lower spread of disease, not only for the workers themselves, but for the entire region where paid sick leave mandates were passed. Findings of this study provide a foundation for understanding the business perspective in relation to paid sick leave.

“We hope our study findings will help to inform a wide variety of stakeholders and assist them to better prepare for both routine and unexpected health interruptions while safeguarding business well-being,” said Stoddard-Dare.

For the study, researchers utilized the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses (PRISMA) guidelines to systematically review six research databases between 2000 and November 2022.

Researchers from Cleveland State University and Florida Atlantic University found evidence suggesting paid sick leave was associated with lower spread of disease, not only for the workers themselves, but for the entire region where paid sick leave mandates were passed.

CREDIT

Cleveland State University

- FAU -

About Florida Atlantic University:
Florida Atlantic University, established in 1961, officially opened its doors in 1964 as the fifth public university in Florida. Today, the University serves more than 30,000 undergraduate and graduate students across six campuses located along the southeast Florida coast. In recent years, the University has doubled its research expenditures and outpaced its peers in student achievement rates. Through the coexistence of access and excellence, FAU embodies an innovative model where traditional achievement gaps vanish. FAU is designated a Hispanic-serving institution, ranked as a top public university by U.S. News & World Report and a High Research Activity institution by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. For more information, visit www.fau.edu.

 

About Cleveland State University:

Founded in 1964, Cleveland State University is a public research institution that provides a dynamic setting for Engaged learning. With nearly 16,000 students, eight colleges and more than 175 academic programs, CSU was again chosen for 2022 as one of America’s best universities by U.S. News & World Report, including the #1 university in Ohio for social mobility. Find more information at www.csuohio.edu.

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JOURNAL

American Journal of Industrial Medicine

DOI

10.1002/ajim.23469 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Meta-analysis

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Is paid sick leave bad for business? A systematic review

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

23-Feb-2023

New method creates material that could create the next generation of solar cells

Process fabricates large perovskites faster, with less waste

Peer-Reviewed Publication

PENN STATE

 

IMAGE: FAST-SYNTHESIZED PEROVSKITE SAMPLES WITH DIFFERENT SIZES AND SHAPES view more 

CREDIT: PENN STATE

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Perovskites, a family of materials with unique electric properties, show promise for use in a variety fields, including next-generation solar cells. A Penn State-led team of scientists created a new process to fabricate large perovskite devices that is more cost- and time-effective than previously possible and that they said may accelerate future materials discovery.

“This method we developed allows us to easily create very large bulk samples within several minutes, rather than days or weeks using traditional methods,” said Luyao Zheng, a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Materials Science at Penn State and lead author on the study. “And our materials are high quality — their properties can compete with single-crystal perovskites.”

The researchers used a sintering method called the electrical and mechanical field-assisted sintering technique (EM-FAST) to create the devices. Sintering is a commonly used process to compress fine powders into a solid mass of material using heat and pressure.

A typical process for making perovskites involves wet chemistry — the materials are liquefied in a solvent solution and then solidified into thin films. These materials have excellent properties, but the approach is expensive and inefficient for creating large perovskites and the solvents used may be toxic, the scientists said.

“Our technique is the best of both worlds,” said Bed Poudel, a researcher professor at Penn State and a co-author. “We get single-crystal-like properties, and we don’t have to worry about size limitations or any contamination or yield of toxic materials.”

Because it uses dry materials, the EM-FAST technique opens the door to include new dopants, ingredients added to tailor device properties, that are not compatible with the wet chemistry used to make thin films, potentially accelerating the discovery of new materials, the scientists said.

“This opens up possibilities to design and develop new classes of materials, including better thermoelectric and solar materials, as well as X- and γ-ray detectors,” said Amin Nozariasbmarz, assistant research professor at Penn State and a co-author. “Some of the applications are things we already know, but because this is a new technique to make new halide perovskite materials with controlled properties, structures, and compositions, maybe there is room in the future for new breakthroughs to come from that.”

In addition, the new process allows for layered materials — one powder underneath another — to create designer compositions. In the future, manufactures could design specific devices and then directly print them from dry powders, the scientists said. 

“We anticipate this FAST perovskite would open another dimension for high throughput material synthesis, future manufacturing directly printing devices from powder and accelerating the material discovery of new perovskite compositions,” said Kai Wang, an assistant research professor at Penn State and a co-author.

EM-FAST, also known as spark plasma sintering, involves applying electric current and pressure to powders to create new materials. The process has a 100% yield — all the raw ingredients go into the final device, as opposed to 20 to 30% in solution-based processing.

The technique produced perovskite materials at .2 inch per minute, allowing scientists to create quickly create large devices that maintained high performance in laboratory tests. The team reported their findings in the journal Nature Communications.  

Penn State scientists have long used EM-FAST to create thermoelectric devices. This work represents the first attempt to create perovskite materials with the technique, the scientists said.

“Because of the background we have, we were talking and thought we could change some parameters and try this with perovskites,” Nozariasbmarz said. “And it just opened a door to a new world. This paper is a link to that door — to new materials and new properties.”

Other Penn State researchers on the project were Wenjie Li and Dong Yang, assistant research professors; Ke Wang, staff scientist in the Materials Research Institute; Jungjin Yoon, Tao Ye and Yu Zhang, postdoctoral researchers; Yuchen Hou, doctoral candidate; and Shashank Priya, former associate vice president for research and director of strategic initiatives and professor of materials science and engineering.

Also contributing was Mohan Sanghadasa, U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Aviation and Missile Center.

Researchers received support from the National Science Foundation Industry-University Research Partnerships’ Center for Energy Harvesting Materials and Systems, U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Air Force Office of Scientific Research, and Office of Naval Research and Army Research.

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JOURNAL

Nature Communications

DOI

10.1038/s41467-022-35122-7 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

ARTICLE TITLE

A universal all-solid synthesis for high throughput production of halide perovskite

PETA scientists’ roadmap to animal-free research gets COVID-era update

New edition of ‘Research Modernization Deal’ offers solutions to animal experiment failures

Reports and Proceedings

PEOPLE FOR THE ETHICAL TREATMENT OF ANIMALS (PETA)

Washington — PETA scientists have just released a new edition of the groundbreaking Research Modernization Deal (RMD), the world’s first comprehensive plan for phasing out the use of animals in experimentation. The update is packed with new, cutting-edge information and reflects the latest scientific developments and regulatory changes since the RMD was first introduced in 2018.

 

The RMD provides detailed information about the pressing need to transition toward human-relevant research, and this new edition outlines non-animal methods for studying COVID-19. It also adds tools and recent studies to persuade government agencies to fund more modern, animal-free research and calls for an increased focus on education and training.

 

Hands-on training for early-career researchers is essential, as are mandatory courses on new approaches, to helping scientists expand their understanding of emerging technology in their fields.

 

“Experiments on animals are failing, but the capabilities of cutting-edge, animal-free research methods outlined by PETA scientists are increasing every day,” says PETA neuroscientist Dr. Emily Trunnell. “With the extra training tools laid out in this year’s RMD, researchers will be more prepared to innovate and save lives.”

 

The RMD presents the U.S. government’s own evidence that 95% of all new medications that test safe and effective in animal tests fail in human clinical trials. Failure rates are even higher in specific disease research areas, including Alzheimer’s disease (96.6%), cancer (96.6%), HIV/AIDS vaccines (100%), and strokes (100%). Studies show that 90% of basic research, most of which involves animals, fails to lead to treatments for humans—yet the National Institutes of Health spends nearly half its annual budget on animal studies.

 

The new RMD also highlights recent major legislative victories, such as the FDA Modernization Act 2.0’s promise to open the door to non-animal methods for testing drugs and the European Parliament’s near-unanimous support for an action plan to phase out animal experiments.

 

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to experiment on”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information on PETA’s investigative newsgathering and reporting, please visit PETA.org, listen to The PETA Podcast, or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.

A new epigenetic brain defense against recurrence of opioid use

Researchers at the Medical University of South Carolina discover a role for the enzyme HDAC5 in limiting various triggers of heroin-seeking behavior in rats.

Peer-Reviewed Publication

MEDICAL UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA

 

IMAGE: WILD-TYPE HDAC5 (RED) LOCATED IN THE CYTOPLASM OF A RAT NUCLEUS ACCUMBENS MEDIUM SPINY NEURON view more 

CREDIT: MEDICAL UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA, COURTESY OF DR. CHRISTOPHER COWAN

Substance use disorder (SUD) is an extremely difficult disorder to overcome, and many individuals with SUD return to regular use after repeated attempts to quit.

A return to regular drug use can be caused by the body’s physical dependence on the drug as well as experiences associated with prior drug use. Exactly how these drug associations are formed in the brain and how they trigger a return to drug use remain unclear.

“Individuals make long-lasting associations between the euphoric experience of the drug and the people, places and things associated with drug use,” said Christopher Cowan, Ph.D. professor in the Department of Neuroscience at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) and member of the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation Scientific Council.

Cowan and his team report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (USA) that an enzyme known as histone deacetylase 5, or HDAC5, plays a significant role in limiting heroin-associated memories and  drug-seeking behavior following a period of abstinence in rats.

The study, funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), reveals HDAC5 as a target of interest in treating vulnerability to return to drug use in opioid use disorder.

HDAC5 is an “epigenetic” enzyme, meaning it can influence the expression of many different genes. HDAC5 is active in the brain and has been associated previously with resumed cocaine use after a period of abstinence.

“In a prior study, we showed that HDAC5 is regulated by cocaine, and it reduces the impact  of substance use triggers following cocaine use,” said Cowan. “In the new study, we wanted to learn why HDAC5 had these effects and if they were specific to cocaine or perhaps generalizable to other classes of addictive drugs, like opioids.”

Cowan examined drug-seeking behaviors by modelling a return to opioid use in rats after a period of abstinence from self-administration of heroin, a commonly used opioid drug.

First, rats were given the opportunity to self-administer heroin by pressing a lever. At the same time, they were presented with visual and audio cues that they associated with their heroin use.

Then, after 2-3 weeks of daily heroin use, the rats went through a week of abstinence before being placed back in the environment where they formerly used heroin. This drug-associated “place” triggered the pressing of the lever, or heroin seeking, but in this case no heroin was delivered.

Later, drug-seeking behavior was stimulated in the rats by exposing them to the visual and audio cues formerly linked to their heroin use.

Finally, the rats were given a small dose of heroin to remind them of the feeling of the drug, and again, this stimulated vigorous heroin seeking.

“By seeing how many times the rats press the lever while not getting the drug, we can measure the strength of the drug-use context, the drug-associated memory cues or the re-exposure to physiological drug effects to promote return to heroin use,” explained Cowan.

To see how HDAC5 controlled drug-seeking behavior after a period of abstinence, Cowan’s lab used a molecular trick to either increase or decrease the levels of HDAC5 in the nucleus, or DNA-containing site, of their targeted brain cells.

Rats with lower HDAC5 showed enhanced heroin seeking when exposed to triggers, while rats with higher HDAC5 showed reduced heroin-seeking behavior. This finding showed that the epigenetic enzyme HDAC5 plays a critical role in modulating the power of drug-associated memories and preventing a return to drug use.

“We found that HDAC5 limits heroin-associated cues and opposes the powerful nature of these drug cues to trigger drug-seeking behavior,” said Cowan. “This suggests that, in the brain, HDAC5 functions to influence the formation and strength of these drug memories that can promote a return to drug use.”

To ensure that their findings were specific to drug-seeking behavior and not just general reward seeking, Cowan’s lab repeated the same experiment but used sucrose instead of heroin. Sucrose is a simple sugar that rats enjoy consuming and serves as a natural reward.

“There was absolutely no effect of HDAC5 on sucrose-seeking behavior,” said Cowan. “So, it seems that addictive drugs, like cocaine and heroin, are engaging HDAC5 in a way that is separate from our natural reward learning and memory process.”

After observing the effects of HDAC5 on drug-seeking behavior, Cowan’s lab investigated what genes HDAC5 was actually controlling.

“We found hundreds of genes affected by HDAC5,” said Cowan. “But a large number of the genes are linked to ion channels that influence the excitability of neuronal cells in the brain.”

Rats with higher levels of HDAC5 had much less excitable neurons than those with low HDAC5, showing that the enzyme has a suppressive effect.

“The firing suppression from HDAC5 is likely a key underlying mechanism controlling the formation and strength of drug-associated memories,” said Cowan.

With a better understanding at a molecular level of drug addiction and return to drug use, scientists and physicians can develop targeted therapies to treat SUD. Future studies in Cowan’s lab aim to leverage HDAC5 to make the road to recovery less challenging.

“We have uncovered a mechanism in the brain that is controlling the formation and maintenance of really powerful and enduring drug-cue associations,” said Cowan. “We want to translate these findings to the clinic and help individuals with substance use disorder by reducing vulnerability to return to regular drug use.”

 

# # #

This research is supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health under award numbers 5P50DA046373-04, P50DA046373, 5K01DA046513, R01DA054589, and F32DA047845. The content presented in this release is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.  

 

About MUSC

Founded in 1824 in Charleston, MUSC is the state’s only comprehensive academic health system, with a unique mission to preserve and optimize human life in South Carolina through education, research and patient care. Each year, MUSC educates more than 3,000 students in six colleges – Dental Medicine, Graduate Studies, Health Professions, Medicine, Nursing and Pharmacy – and trains more than 850 residents and fellows in its health system. MUSC brought in more than $297.8 million in research funds in fiscal year 2022, leading the state overall in research funding. For information on academic programs, visit musc.edu.

As the health care system of the Medical University of South Carolina, MUSC Health is dedicated to delivering the highest quality and safest patient care while educating and training generations of outstanding health care providers and leaders to serve the people of South Carolina and beyond. Patient care is provided at 14 hospitals with approximately 2,500 beds and five additional hospital locations in development, more than 350 telehealth sites and connectivity to patients’ homes, and nearly 750 care locations situated in all regions of South Carolina. In 2022, for the eighth consecutive year, U.S. News & World Report named MUSC Health the No. 1 hospital in South Carolina. To learn more about clinical patient services, visit muschealth.org.

MUSC and its affiliates have collective annual budgets of $5.1 billion. The nearly 25,000 MUSC team members include world-class faculty, physicians, specialty providers, scientists, students, affiliates and care team members who deliver groundbreaking education, research and patient care.

 

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JOURNAL

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

DOI

10.1073/pnas.2210953120 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Animals

ARTICLE TITLE

Epigenetic function during heroin self-administration controls future relapse-associated behavior in a cell type-specific manner

Clues about the northeast’s past and future climate from plant fossils

The warmer, wetter, and homogenous climate of the past may soon return for the eastern seaboard.

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT

Ancient climates can help us understand the past, but also the future. 23 million years ago, in a time called the Miocene Epoch, Connecticut was around five to six degrees warmer than today and located roughly where Long Island is now. By the end of the Miocene, around five million years ago the earth had gradually cooled, Antarctica was glaciated, and there was some Arctic ice as well.

This cooling scenario moved in the opposite direction of today’s changing climate. One difference UConn Department of Earth Sciences Assistant Professor in Residence Tammo Reichgelt points out is that in the past, these changes happened gradually, spaced out over 18 million years rather than over just a few hundred years like with the current pace of global warming. The Miocene may still give us insight into what is in store for us in a warmer future.

Reichgelt leads a team of researchers including Department of Earth Sciences Assistant Professor Ran Feng, Aly Baumgartner from Fort Hays State University, and Debra A. Willard from the US Geological Survey who are working to understand the details of the climate for this ancient time for the eastern portion of the United States, which unfortunately is a blank spot on paleo-climate maps, says Reichgelt. These gaps are due to fewer fossil-rich areas in the east, likely due to a combination of glacial erosion and a lack of sedimentary basins where materials could be deposited. They published their most recent findings in Global and Planetary Change.

Faced with the challenge of the rarity of fossils for the region, Reichgelt and his co-authors pulled together as much fossil information as they could from sites along the east coast, from plant macrofossils including the remains of leaves, fruits, and flowers along with microfossils, such as pollen and spores.

“We have a scattering of different fossil localities all along the eastern seaboard, from Louisiana to Vermont, but nothing continuous,” says Reichgelt. “It immediately creates an already checkered picture, but it doesn't necessarily mean there's nothing interesting going on, it just makes it harder to interpret.”

A plant’s characteristics reflect the climate it grew in; therefore, plants are a powerful proxy to decipher what climatic conditions were like. As a paleobotanist, Reichgelt uses these clues from fossilized plants to reconstruct the details of ancient climates.

With the fossil data, the researchers pieced together the paleoclimate by looking at the modern-day plant distribution of the nearest living relatives to fossils found at each site. This information allowed the researchers to create the best overlapping range of where the plants could grow in today’s conditions.

“In some of these localities, there were tropical elements, such as pollen of the sapodilla family (Sapotaceae) in Massachusetts. It is much too cold for those types of plants at those locations today, which suggests that it was quite a bit warmer. We quantified it and created a best-fit envelope of what the climate was like, and it gives us ranges with an uncertainty of about two degrees.”

Reichgelt explains that the picture the data revealed is quite unexpected. They divided the data into two different time intervals, the warmer early to middle Miocene, and the late Miocene when it was cooling and getting closer to current climatic conditions.

Interestingly, there was very little temperature difference between the fossil flora from Vermont and those from Florida, says Reichgelt during the earlier time interval. In this globally warmer climate of the early Miocene, the eastern seaboard seems to have had a generally homogenous climate, with warmer and wetter conditions for the northeast and conditions that appear to be not unlike those of the southeast today.

Reichgelt says the data also indicate a pronounced difference in rainfall seasonality across the whole area, more so than what we see now.

Feng modeled climatic conditions for the Miocene and the team compared the models to the palaeobotanical reconstruction. The reconstructed climate data was consistent with models in terms of rainfall, however, modeled temperatures were higher than what is indicated by the fossil data.

“The question arises, could there be something that's influencing the plant reconstructions? Or could there be something influencing the model reconstructions? Long story short, heat transport systems such as ocean currents or storm systems along the eastern seaboard could transport water and heat from the low latitudes toward the high latitudes, in a much more efficient way than today. Since we only have evidence from land, it's very speculative,” says Reichgelt.

Modeling is an iterative process and mismatches between the models and the proxy data sometimes occur, but Feng and Reichgelt are part of a community effort to investigate the skill of models in simulating Miocene climate and the causes for the discrepancies between models and geological data. Reichgelt says the information here will most certainly be incorporated into validating and improving the models.

Reichgelt compared the findings to modern climate change scenarios which project an increase in rainfall seasonality as we proceed through the 21st century, where the northeast is expected to have increases in drought risk, increases in annual precipitation, and increases in extreme precipitation events, consistent with the results in the paper.

As the climate continues to change, the paleoclimate reconstruction data suggest we could start to see a homogenizing of the climate along the eastern seaboard where the seasonality of temperature looks a lot like what you would see in the southeast, says Reichgelt, for instance where northern winters are much warmer and like southeastern winters.

The warm winter we are currently experiencing in the northeast is a typical feature of the early-middle Miocene and may become more frequent in the future, says Feng.

Reichgelt adds another interesting finding related to the types of vegetation they analyzed, which were anything but homogenous in such a homogenous climate.

“The vegetation was extremely checkered. We do know that it was consistently forested, just like it is today, but with all sorts of different forest types. The reason why that's important is that in the west and central part of the continent during the Miocene, there was a huge transition from forest to grasslands and that doesn't seem to happen in the east.”

Investigating why this is the case is something that Reichgelt hopes to dig into in future studies.

As for what we should glean from this study, Reichgelt says it was amazing to find so much overlap between the Miocene and observed and modeled predictions for the changing climate of the eastern United States.

“From the increased precipitation, the northward amplification of climate change effects, and the changes in seasonal rainfall, the warmer world of the Miocene seems to be a remarkably good analog for the future.”

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JOURNAL

Global and Planetary Change

DOI

10.1016/j.gloplacha.2023.104073 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Poleward amplification, seasonal rainfall and forest heterogeneity in the Miocene of the eastern USA

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

20-Feb-2023

Can smart watches and other fitness and wellness trackers do more harm than good for some people?

Certain wearable gadgets have the potential to interfere with pacemakers and other implanted cardiac electronic devices, according to a new study in Heart Rhythm

Peer-Reviewed Publication

ELSEVIER

 

IMAGE: CERTAIN FITNESS AND WELLNESS TRACKERS COULD POSE SERIOUS RISKS FOR PEOPLE WITH CARDIAC IMPLANTABLE ELECTRONIC DEVICES (CIEDS) SUCH AS PACEMAKERS, IMPLANTABLE CARDIOVERTER DEFIBRILLATORS (ICDS), AND CARDIAC RESYNCHRONIZATION THERAPY (CRT) DEVICES. view more 

CREDIT: HEART RHYTHM

Philadelphia, February 22, 2023 – In recent years, wearable devices such as smartwatches and rings, as well as smart scales, have become ubiquitous – “must-haves” for the health conscious to self-monitor heart rate, blood pressure, and other vital signs. Despite the obvious benefits, certain fitness and wellness trackers could also pose serious risks for people with cardiac implantable electronic devices (CIEDs) such as pacemakers, implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs), and cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) devices, reports a new study published in Heart Rhythm, the official journal of the Heart Rhythm Society, the Cardiac Electrophysiology Society, and the Pediatric & Congenital Electrophysiology Society, published by Elsevier.

Investigators evaluated the functioning of CRT devices from three leading manufacturers while applying electrical current used during bioimpedance sensing. Bioimpedance sensing is a technology that emits a very small, imperceptible current of electricity (measured in microamps) into the body. The electrical current flows through the body, and the response is measured by the sensor to determine the person’s body composition (i.e., skeletal muscle mass or fat mass), level of stress, or vital signs, such as breathing rate.

“Bioimpedance sensing generated an electrical interference that exceeded Food and Drug Administration-accepted guidelines and interfered with proper CIED functioning,” explained lead investigator Benjamin Sanchez Terrones, PhD, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA. He emphasized that the results, determined through careful simulations and benchtop testing, do not convey an immediate or clear risk to patients who wear the trackers, but noted that the different levels emitted could result in pacing interruptions or unnecessary shocks to the heart. Dr. Sanchez added, “our findings call for future clinical studies examining patients with CIEDs and wearables.”

The interaction between general electrical appliances, and more recently smart phones, with CIEDs has been subject to study within the scientific community over the past few years. Nearly all, if not all, implantable cardiac devices already warn patients about the potential for interference with a variety of electronics due to magnetic fields – for example, carrying a mobile phone in your breast pocket near a pacemaker. The rise of wearable health tech has grown rapidly in recent years, blurring the line between medical and consumer devices. Until this study, objective evaluation for ensuring safety has not kept pace with the exciting new gadgets.

“Our research is the first to study devices that employ bioimpedance-sensing technology as well as discover potential interference problems with CIEDs such as CRT devices. We need to test across a broader cohort of devices and in patients with these devices. Collaborative investigation between researchers and industry would be helpful for keeping patients safe,” noted Dr. Sanchez Terrones.

 

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JOURNAL

Heart Rhythm

DOI

10.1016/j.hrthm.2022.11.026 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Safety evaluation of smart scales, smart watches, and smart rings with bioimpedance technology shows evidence of potential interference in cardiac implantable electronic devices

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

22-Feb-2023

New research reveals 12 ways aquaculture can benefit the environment

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE

Aquaculture, or the farming of aquatic plants and animals, contributes to biodiversity and habitat loss in freshwater and marine ecosystems globally, but when used wisely, it can also be part of the solution, new research shows.

Published today in Conservation Biology, University of Melbourne researchers have identified 12 potential ecological benefits of aquaculture. These include species recovery, habitat restoration, rehabilitation and protection, and removal of overabundant species.

Lead author, University of Melbourne researcher Ms Kathy Overton, said the potential environmental benefits of aquaculture have gone under the radar for many years.

“Most people around the world live near freshwater or marine ecosystems, and we rely on them as sources of food, tourism, recreation, culture, and livelihood,” Ms Overton said.

“However, our impacts on freshwater and marine ecosystems are degrading important habitats and causing rapid declines in biodiversity. While the negative impacts of some types of aquaculture are well known, we can also use aquaculture as a tool to slow or stop these negative impacts and help restore ecosystems that have been largely lost over the last century.”

Ms Overton explained that millions of tonnes of fish, shrimp, shellfish and seaweed are farmed for food each year, with some of this industrial production providing benefits to the environment when farmed in a specific way or place.

“Seaweed and shellfish farmed in coastal waters can remove excess nutrients coming from urban or agricultural runoff and reduce the likelihood of toxic algal blooms that kill fish and other native organisms,” she said.

In addition, researchers found there are a range of new ways that conservationists are tapping into aquaculture techniques to create new ways to restore or conserve species and habitats.

“The world’s largest conservation organisation, The Nature Conservancy (TNC), has pioneered the use of aquaculture to restore lost marine ecosystems,” Ms Overton said.

TNC Australia Dr Simon Branigan said: “Aquaculture is a key part of our process to rebuild lost shellfish reefs through creating healthy oyster and mussel juveniles to kick start the reef restoration process.”

“Reefs with abundant shellfish create strong ecological benefits – they are important habitats for a host of marine species, and they improve water quality. Without aquaculture, we would struggle to restore these lost marine habitats and get this important conservation work done,” Dr Branigan said.

Aquaculture is also used to help restore vulnerable or endangered fish populations around the world, by ‘restocking’ cultured farmed fish back into their habitats.

“Species recovery programs for fish such as the white sturgeon in North America, the golden mahseer in India, and the Macquarie perch in Australia, are trying to bring back wild populations and stop extinction,” Ms Overton said.

Co-author and University of Melbourne researcher Dr Luke Barrett said aquaculture can also be used to replace wild harvesting of threatened animals.

“Most freshwater aquarium species are now farmed, which means that you can stock your home aquarium without contributing to overfishing of vulnerable wild populations,” Dr Barrett said.

“However, many species in marine aquariums, like clownfish and corals, are still collected from coral reefs for the aquarium trade. Researchers around the world are developing methods to farm these species too, and ease some of the pressure on wild populations.”

The research team highlights the importance of using measurable indicators of success.

Co-author and University of Melbourne Professor Tim Dempster said: “By requiring a high standard of evidence to label something ‘ecologically beneficial’, this reduces potential for ‘greenwashing’, where aquaculture industries might claim to be providing ecological benefits that aren’t really there.”

“We want to ensure that aquaculture practitioners monitor their ecological impact before claiming their farm creates ecological benefits. Just because a particular aquaculture activity does one positive thing, it doesn’t mean that it will deliver an overall benefit to the environment. It’s important to weigh up overall impacts when deciding if something is ecologically beneficial or not,” Professor Dempster said.

Researchers say that as aquaculture expands in freshwaters and the ocean, there’s an opportunity to avoid the mistakes people have made farming on land that have led to habitat and biodiversity loss.

“We want people to reimagine what aquaculture is and what it can do, and to show people how it can be used as a tool to safeguard aquatic ecosystems and biodiversity for future generations,” Professor Dempster said.

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JOURNAL

Conservation Biology

DOI

10.1111/cobi.14065 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Literature review

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Animals

ARTICLE TITLE

Achieving conservation and restoration outcomes through ecologically beneficial aquaculture

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

22-Feb-2023

Salt could play key role in energy transition

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN

 

IMAGE: LARGE UNDERGROUND SALT FORMATIONS HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO AID IN THE ENERGY TRANSITION IN MYRIAD WAYS. SALT DEPOSITS CAN HOST CAVERNS FOR HYDROGEN STORAGE (LEFT) AND CAN HELP CHANNEL HEAT FOR GEOTHERMAL POWER (RIGHT). THE GEOLOGY NEAR SALT FORMATIONS (CENTER LEFT) IS OFTEN WELL-SUITED FOR PERMANENT CARBON STORAGE, WHICH KEEPS EMISSIONS OUT OF THE ATMOSPHERE BY DIVERTING THEM UNDERGROUND. CREDIT: JACKSON SCHOOL OF GEOSCIENCES. view more 

CREDIT: THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN / JACKSON SCHOOL OF GEOSCIENCES

A common ingredient – salt – could have a big role to play in the energy transition to lower carbon energy sources. That’s according to a new study led by researchers at The University of Texas at Austin’s Bureau of Economic Geology.

The study describes how large underground salt deposits could serve as hydrogen holding tanks, conduct heat to geothermal plants, and influence CO2 storage. It also highlights how industries with existing salt expertise, such as solution mining, salt mining, and oil and gas exploration, could help.

“We see potential in applying knowledge and data gained from many decades of research, hydrocarbon exploration, and mining in salt basins to energy transition technologies,” said lead author Oliver Duffy, a research scientist at the bureau. “Ultimately, a deeper understanding of how salt behaves will help us optimize design, reduce risk, and improve the efficiency of a range of energy transition technologies.”

The study was published in the journal Tektonika.

Salt has an influential role in shaping Earth’s subsurface layers. It is easily squeezed by geologic forces into complex and massive deposits, with some subsurface salt structures taller than Mount Everest. These structures and their surrounding geology offer a number of opportunities for energy development and emissions management, said study co-author Lorena Moscardelli, the director of the bureau’s State of Texas Advanced Resource Recovery (STARR) program.

“The co-location of surface infrastructure, renewable energy potential, favorable subsurface conditions and proximity to markets is key to plan for subsurface hydrogen storage,” she said. “STARR is currently engaged with emerging energy opportunities in West Texas that involve hydrogen and carbon capture, utilization and storage potential for the region.”

Salt domes are proven containers for hydrogen used by oil refineries and the petrochemical industry. According to the paper, these salt formations could also be put to use as holding pens for hydrogen bound for energy production. What’s more, the porous rock surrounding them could be used as a permanent storage spot for CO2 emissions. The study describes the potential benefits of co-locating hydrogen production from natural gas called “blue hydrogen” and CO2 storage. While the hydrogen is sent to salt caverns, the CO2 emissions generated by production could be kept from the atmosphere by diverting them to the surrounding rock for permanent storage.

With its numerous salt domes surrounded by porous sedimentary rock, the Texas Gulf Coast is particularly well suited for this type of combined production and storage, according to the researchers.

The study also touches on how salt can aid in the adoption of next-generation geothermal technology. Although the industry is still in its early stages, the researchers show how it can make use of salt’s ability to easily conduct heat from warmer underlying rocks to produce geothermal power.

Bureau Director Scott Tinker said that because salt has a role to play in developing new energy resources, it’s important that multiple avenues are thoroughly explored. He said that researchers at the bureau are playing a critical role in doing just that.

“Bureau researchers have been studying subsurface salt formations for many decades. For their role in hydrocarbon exploration, as part of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, for storage of natural gas, and now for their potential to store hydrogen,” he said. “That’s the remarkable thing about great research. It just keeps evolving, improving and finding new applications.”

Additional co-authors include current and former bureau researchers Michael Hudec, Frank Peel, Gillian Apps, Alex Bump, Tim Dooley, Naiara Fernandez, Shuvajit Bhattacharya, Ken Wisian and Mark Shuster.

STARR funded the research. Their work complements research of other bureau research groups focused on the energy transition, such as GeoH2, AGL and HotRock.

The bureau is a research unit of the UT Jackson School of Geosciences.

STARR principal investigator Lorena Moscardelli (center) and postdoctoral researchers Ander Martinez-Doñate (left) and Nur Schuba (right) with core samples from the Permian Basin in West Texas. The team is assessing new emerging energy opportunities involving hydrogen storage and carbon capture, utilization and storage in this region.

CREDIT

Tim Dooley

DOI

10.55575/tektonika2023.1.1.11 

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

The role of salt tectonics in the energy transition: An overview and future challenges

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

20-Feb-2023