Study finds carrying pollen heats up bumble bees, raises new climate change questions

Peer-Reviewed Publication

NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY

A new study from North Carolina State University finds carrying pollen is a workout that significantly increases the body temperature of bumble bees. This new understanding of active bumble bee body temperatures raises questions about how these species will be impacted by a warmer world due to climate change.

Spend a bit of time at a nearby flower patch and you will spot a fuzzy bumble bee with yellow bumps on her back legs. These yellow bumps are solid packets of pollen that have been carefully collected during the bees’ foraging trip for transport back to their nests. And while bees may seem to move from flower to flower with ease, these pollen packets can weigh up to a third of their body weight. This new study found that – after accounting for environmental temperature and body size – the body temperature of bumble bees carrying pollen was significantly hotter than the temperature of bees that were empty-legged.

Specifically, the researchers found that bee body temperatures rose 0.07°C for every milligram of pollen that they carried, with fully laden bees being 2°C warmer than unladen bees.

Like ants and other ectotherms, the body temperature of a bumble bee is mostly determined by the environment. Among bees, bumble bees are exceptionally cold tolerant and will shiver to warm up during cold days. However, not much is known about how they can tolerate heat. Since pollen-laden bumble bees are hotter than unladen ones, this could mean that carrying a full load of pollen on a hot day puts bees at greater risk of reaching the potentially lethal end of their temperature tolerance.

“Getting warmer from carrying pollen could put bumble bees in the range of those stressful, critically hot temperatures,” says Malia Naumchik, a former applied ecology minor undergraduate and lead author of the study. “This has important implications for bumble bees and climate change. As environmental temperatures increase, the bees’ operational range of temperatures could shrink significantly.”

Bumble bee numbers and species diversity is on the decline across the world, particularly in areas that are warming up due to climate change. But the exact mechanics of how climate change is impacting bumble bees are not yet fully understood. This finding could be one piece of that puzzle.

Pollen is crucial for every stage of a bumble bee’s life history. Newly emerged queens in the spring need to feed themselves and then feed their sister workers. Those workers then take over feeding the colony, larvae and future queens. Without pollen, or enough pollen, colonies will not thrive – risking future colonies and the species as a whole. This may also have implications for pollination in general, and could impact agriculture and ecosystems alike.

“We need to know how bumble bees may change their behavior, to better understand how this could affect how much pollen they collect and how much pollination they perform during hot days,” says Elsa Youngsteadt, a professor in applied ecology and supervisor of Malia’s research. “Whether it’s carrying smaller loads of pollen or foraging for shorter times, it could result in less pollen coming to the colony and fewer plants being pollinated. This is particularly important since bumble bees provide critical ecosystem services and are key pollinators for agriculture, especially in the United States and Europe.”

The paper, “Larger pollen loads increase risk of heat stress in foraging bumblebees” will be published May 17 in Biology Letters. This study was supported by North Carolina State University, USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture award #2020-67013-31916, and USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture Hatch Project #1018689.

---

JOURNAL

Biology Letters

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Animals

ARTICLE TITLE

Larger pollen loads increase risk of heat stress in foraging bumblebees

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

17-May-2023

Pre-primary education “chronically” underfunded as richest nations drift further away from 10% aid goal

New research shows proportion of international education aid for early childhood learning fell to just 1.1% post-pandemic, far short of an agreed 10% target.

UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE

International aid for pre-primary education has fallen further behind an agreed 10% spending target since the COVID-19 outbreak, according to new research.

The report, compiled by academics at the University of Cambridge for the global children’s charity, Theirworld, highlights “continued, chronic” underfunding of pre-primary education in many of the world’s poorest nations, after years of slow progress and pandemic-related cuts.

Early childhood education is widely understood to be essential to children’s successful cognitive and social development and to breaking cycles of poverty in poorer countries. In 2017, Cambridge research for Theirworld resulted in UNICEF formally recommending that 10% of education aid should be allocated to pre-primary education. Last year 147 United Nations member states signed a declaration agreeing to the target.

According to the new report’s findings, aid spending is falling far short of this goal and any progress towards the target ground to a halt following the COVID-19 outbreak. The most recent figures, from 2021, indicate that the proportion of education aid spent on pre-primary education internationally during the pandemic dropped by approximately (US)$19.7 million: from 1.2% to 1.1%.

The report identifies several reasons for the decline, notably spending cuts by the World Bank’s International Development Association, EU Institutions, and by the governments of wealthy nations, such as the UK.

Professor Pauline Rose, Director of the Research for Equitable Access and Learning (REAL) Centre at the University of Cambridge’s Faculty of Education said: “Hundreds of millions of children around the world are missing out on high-quality pre-primary education despite clear evidence that prioritising this will improve their life chances. The overall trend is very worrying.”

“Although some progress has been made towards the 10% target, it started from a very low base. Other education levels are still being prioritised amid a general decline in aid spending. International commitments to pre-primary education are good, but we need concrete action.”

The United Nations’ 2030 Sustainable Development Goals include the ambition to provide all children with proper childcare and pre-primary education. Over the past seven years, Theirworld and the REAL Centre have systematically monitored aid spending, tracking progress towards this goal.

The new report was compiled using the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s creditor report system, which gathers information about the aid contributions of both individual countries and international agencies such as UNICEF and the World Bank.

It shows that over the past two decades, the proportion of education aid spending that goes to pre-primary education has never exceeded 1.2%. Between 2020 and 2021, spending on the sector dropped from $209 million to $189.3 million: a decrease of 9.4%, compared with a 6.9% fall in education aid overall and a 0.9% decline in total aid spending. In 2021, aid spending on post-secondary education – the vast majority of which never leaves donor countries – was 27 times higher than that spent on pre-primary, despite widespread acknowledgement of the need to invest in the early years.

The report nevertheless also shows that the 10% target is attainable. UNICEF, which has consistently prioritised pre-primary education, spent 30% of its education aid budget on the sector in 2021. Italy increased spending from $2.6 million to $38 million. The majority of this was allocated to the ‘National Strategy on Human Resource Development’ which focuses on supporting the Jordanian government in strengthening its education system.  

The research shows that pre-primary aid is highly concentrated from a few donors, leaving early childhood development in poorer countries particularly vulnerable to sudden fluctuations in those donors’ spending.

Much of the pandemic-induced drop in spending, for instance, occurred because the World Bank cut its investment in pre-primary education from $122.8 million to $70.7 million. Other donors, such as Canada, EU Institutions, France, Norway and the UK, also reduced spending in this area. In 2021, eight of the top 35 education donors allocated no funds to pre-primary education at all.

The UK’s contribution was lacklustre for the world’s sixth largest economy, due in part to the Government’s controversial decision to reduce overall aid spending from the UN-recommend target of 0.7% of Gross National Income to 0.5%. Between 2020 and 2021, its education aid spending dropped from $703.67 million to $584.95 million. Aid to pre-primary was particularly badly hit, falling from an already low $5.6 million in 2020 to just $1.8 million in 2021, equivalent to a mere 0.3% of its reduced education aid budget.

The report also shows that pre-primary education spending tends to be focused on lower-middle income countries rather than the very poorest nations. In 2021, just 15% of aid in this area went to countries classified as “low income”, while 52.7% was allocated to lower-middle income countries.

As a result, some of the world’s least-advantaged children have little prospect of receiving pre-primary support. Eritrea and Sudan, for example, received no pre-primary education aid in 2021. In many other poorer countries – such as the Central African Republic, Chad, Niger and Syria – the amount of aid per primary school-aged child was less than $5.

Rose said the finding pointed to the need for a model of “progressive universalism”, where those most in need receive a greater proportion of aid spending. “The biggest gaps are in the poorest countries, and particularly among the very poorest and least advantaged,” she said. “Increasing spending on pre-primary alone will not be enough. We also have to make sure those in greatest need are prioritised.”

The full report will be available on the Theirworld website.

Otago researchers reveal impact of ancient earthquake

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF OTAGO

 

IMAGE: THE RAISED ‘BENCH’ ABOVE THE WATERLINE AT RARANGI WAS ORIGINALLY FORMED AT SEA LEVEL BUT WAS UPLIFTED BY EARTHQUAKE ACTIVITY. view more 

CREDIT: UNIVERSITY OF OTAGO

By combining the scientific powerhouses of genetics and geology, University of Otago researchers have identified a new area of coastal uplift, which had been hiding in plain sight.

The previously unknown region of earthquake uplift, in Rarangi, Marlborough, was discovered using a combination of new data from laser mapping and kelp genetics.  

Co-author Professor Jon Waters, of the Department of Zoology, says the study gives new insights into the changes in Aotearoa’s landscapes and the recent history of earthquake impacts.

“In a geologically well studied country like New Zealand, there is still a lot to learn about our history of earthquakes and changing landforms,” he says.

The paper, just published in Journal of the Royal Society Interface, utilised LiDAR mapping (remote sensing technology used to model ground elevation) and genetic analysis of bull kelp from the uplifted section of coast.

The team identified a previously unrecognised area of uplifted rocky coastline – a bench about 1m above sea level – and a genetic anomaly in kelp below that bench. The kelp’s genetics indicate the species went extinct in the area following an earthquake, before being recolonised by kelp which drifted from 300km south.

The group believe the earthquake responsible occurred about 2000 to 3000 years ago, showing the potential for kelp to record geological disturbance events.

“The area is close to a well-known active fault and several big, past earthquakes have been well quantified by other researchers, but this coastal uplift zone was not previously known – the evidence for it is extremely clear now we’ve had a chance to look more closely.

“Rarangi is also a very popular summer swimming spot, rather than some obscure or remote location, and the evidence of coastal uplift was hiding in plain sight,” Professor Waters says. 

The research is the latest output from the group’s Marsden-funded project assessing earthquake impacts on coastal species.

“Our work uses a combination of genetics and geology, and it’s quite exciting that these combined approaches have allowed us to pinpoint a previously unknown site of coastal uplift in New Zealand.

“This work serves to highlight again just how dynamic our country is – and how earthquake uplift leaves long lasting signatures in our coastal species.”

By combining the scientific powerhouses of genetics and geology, University of Otago researchers have identified a new area of coastal uplift, which had been hiding in plain sight.

The previously unknown region of earthquake uplift, in Rarangi, Marlborough, was discovered using a combination of new data from laser mapping and kelp genetics.  

Co-author Professor Jon Waters, of the Department of Zoology, says the study gives new insights into the changes in Aotearoa’s landscapes and the recent history of earthquake impacts.

“In a geologically well studied country like New Zealand, there is still a lot to learn about our history of earthquakes and changing landforms,” he says.

The paper, just published in Journal of the Royal Society Interface, utilised LiDAR mapping (remote sensing technology used to model ground elevation) and genetic analysis of bull kelp from the uplifted section of coast.

The team identified a previously unrecognised area of uplifted rocky coastline – a bench about 1m above sea level – and a genetic anomaly in kelp below that bench. The kelp’s genetics indicate the species went extinct in the area following an earthquake, before being recolonised by kelp which drifted from 300km south.

The group believe the earthquake responsible occurred about 2000 to 3000 years ago, showing the potential for kelp to record geological disturbance events.

“The area is close to a well-known active fault and several big, past earthquakes have been well quantified by other researchers, but this coastal uplift zone was not previously known – the evidence for it is extremely clear now we’ve had a chance to look more closely.

“Rarangi is also a very popular summer swimming spot, rather than some obscure or remote location, and the evidence of coastal uplift was hiding in plain sight,” Professor Waters says. 

The research is the latest output from the group’s Marsden-funded project assessing earthquake impacts on coastal species.

“Our work uses a combination of genetics and geology, and it’s quite exciting that these combined approaches have allowed us to pinpoint a previously unknown site of coastal uplift in New Zealand.

“This work serves to highlight again just how dynamic our country is – and how earthquake uplift leaves long lasting signatures in our coastal species.”

---

JOURNAL

Journal of The Royal Society Interface

DOI

10.1098/rsif.2023.0105 

ARTICLE TITLE

Integrating kelp genomic analyses and geological data to reveal ancient earthquake impacts

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

17-May-2023

High-quality satellite imagery swiftly reveals post-earthquake details

Peer-Reviewed Publication

KEAI COMMUNICATIONS CO., LTD.

 

IMAGE: THE DATA USED FOR THE INTERPRETATION OF THE SEISMIC ZONE AND THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE INTERPRETED RUPTURE ZONES. view more 

CREDIT: THE AUTHORS

Remote sensing imagery is widely used in disaster response due to its easy accessibility and timeliness and can clearly reflect changes in features caused by earthquakes using pre- and post-earthquake image comparisons.

The Mw 7.8 and Mw 7.5 earthquakes that occurred in Turkey on 6 February 2023 caused severe loss of life and destruction of roads and buildings. This event was the biggest earthquake to strike the Eastern Anatolian Fault Zones (EAFZ) since the 1990s. To gain a timely and in-depth insight into the earthquakes, a team of researchers from the Institute of Earthquake Forecasting in Beijing, China, used high-resolution Maxar and GF-2 satellite data to obtain spatial interpretations of part of the rupture zone in the epicenter of this earthquake, as well as seismic landslides and soil liquefaction developed around the rupture zone.

“We searched for feature dislocations and measuring the amount of dislocations, which provided a timely and comprehensive understanding of the earthquake damage caused by this earthquake,” shared Yueren Xu, corresponding author of the study.

The team initially interpreted a rupture zone of approximately 75 km in length and found that the surface showed a gradual widening of the spreading width and a gradual decrease in the amount of horizontal dislocations to immeasurable levels.

“Secondary hazards such as liquefaction are mainly found in rivers or low-lying terrain at the end of the rupture zone, and landslides are found in valley areas near the rupture zone,” said Xu.

The findings are published in the KeAi journal Earthquake Research Advances.

The researchers proposed that earthquakes in Turkey will not have a direct response on significant magnitude seismic activity in western China. This is due to the continental collision involving various plates across plus their contrastive seismically active zones throughout the world.

“Despite both China and Turkey being part of the same Eurasian seismic region, they variably exhibit tectonic mechanism dissimilarities,” added Xu.

###

Contact the author: Xu Yueren, Key Laboratory of Earthquake Prediction, Institute of Earthquake Forecasting, China Earthquake Administration, xuyr@ief.ac.cn.

The publisher KeAi was established by Elsevier and China Science Publishing & Media Ltd to unfold quality research globally. In 2013, our focus shifted to open access publishing. We now proudly publish more than 100 world-class, open access, English language journals, spanning all scientific disciplines. Many of these are titles we publish in partnership with prestigious societies and academic institutions, such as the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC).

---

JOURNAL

Earthquake Research Advances

DOI

10.1016/j.eqrea.2023.100219 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Case study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Preliminary report of coseismic surface rupture (part) of Turkey's Mw7.8 earthquake by remote sensing interpretation

Assessing emotions in wild animals

A new study examines indicators of mental wellbeing in wild animals to improve conservation efforts

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY SYDNEY

 

IMAGE: THE VERY SUBTLE BODY LANGUAGE OF KOALAS AND THE LONG PERIODS SPENT SLEEPING HIGH UP IN TREES PRESENTS MANY CHALLENGES IN ASSESSING INDICATORS OF THEIR EMOTIONS. view more 

CREDIT: PHOTO: PHIL LONG / FLICKR (CC BY 2.0)

A world-first holistic framework for assessing the mental and psychological wellbeing of wild animals has been developed by UTS Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Research Fellow Dr Andrea Harvey, a veterinarian and animal welfare scientist in the TD School at the University of Technology Sydney.

The significance of the study lies in its potential to revolutionise conservation efforts. Instead of focusing solely on population numbers and reproductive success, the research explores the quality of life experienced by wild animals.

This shift in perspective could provide crucial early warning signals about species challenges and population declines, leading to more effective conservation strategies.

“While research on the welfare of domestic and farm animals has been considerable, including indicators of emotional states such as stress, pain and fear, my aim is to bridge the gap by examining the individual lives, feelings and mental experiences of wild animals,” Dr Harvey said.

“A deeper understanding of the wellbeing of wild animal populations can not only enhance conservation efforts, but also provide an indication of the state of the natural environment and its recognised links to human health and wellbeing.”

The study, which was part of Andrea's PhD research at the UTS Centre for Compassionate Conservation, focuses on brumbies – free-roaming wild horses – from Australia’s alpine regions, however the framework is widely applicable for evaluating many wildlife species.

Dr Harvey chose brumbies as horse welfare has been studied in domestic environments, providing a bridge to wild animals. The paper, Mental Experiences in Wild Animals: Scientifically Validating Measurable Welfare Indicators in Free-Roaming Horses, was recently published in Animals.

Her comprehensive conceptual framework, called the ‘10 Stage Protocol’, includes physical and behavioural indicators for both negative and positive mental experiences in wild animals.

“If you have a dog, you know their usual routine, what they like, and how they behave in certain circumstances. You know if they’re happy, sad, or distressed, so this research is shifting that understanding to wild animals.

“We can never be certain what's going through an animal's mind and exactly what they're feeling. It’s also an area that scientists have traditionally shied away from. However, we know mental experiences arise from physical states, and we can directly measure these states.

“Nutrition, the physical environment, health, and behavioural interactions all provide clues to the mental experience of animals. This includes negative states such as thirst, hunger, heat and cold discomfort, pain, fatigue, anxiety and fear and positive ones such as satiety, exercising agency, physical vitality and positive social interactions.”

This holistic approach brings together different areas of scientific knowledge, including neuroscience, behaviour, and neuroethology – the study of the neural basis of an animal’s natural behaviour – to interpret the data collected and gain insights into wellbeing.

Dr Harvey is currently collaborating with researchers studying Australian water birds, such as the straw-necked ibis and pelicans. These birds serve as indicators of water quality and wetland health, which could inform management decisions in the Murray Darling Basin.

The welfare of koalas, which have been declared endangered in NSW, is also under scrutiny. Previous koala research has focused primarily on survival and disease. Dr Harvey's research aims to evaluate overall koala wellbeing to inform policy decisions around conservation and habitat protection.

Dr Harvey is also working with other researchers studying the welfare of kangaroos and dingoes at a field station in southern Queensland, focusing on the predator-prey relationship, and the impact of climate change and drought recovery.

Each species presents unique challenges, such as identifying individuals, evaluating mental experiences in large populations, and considering different environments and habitats.

Dr Harvey acknowledges the challenges of studying the mental experiences of wild animals compared to domesticated ones. The absence of close human relationships with individual animals and the difficulty in observing them for extended periods pose significant hurdles.

However, innovative methods like remote camera traps have proven valuable in collecting fine-detail data on wild animal behaviour, including body posture and facial expressions.

Dr Harvey's ground-breaking research holds immense potential in transforming the field of conservation biology, by shedding light on the mental experiences of wild and endangered animals.

“Welfare assessments need to be part of all wildlife monitoring, and ultimately all environmental policy decision making, which needs to take into account not just individual species, but also interactions between different species, and their ecosystems.”

---

JOURNAL

Animals

DOI

10.3390/ani13091507 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Observational study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Animals

ARTICLE TITLE

Mental Experiences in Wild Animals: Scientifically Validating Measurable Welfare Indicators in Free-Roaming Horses

Earliest sea scorpion from China found in end-Ordovician Anji Biota in Zhejiang

Peer-Reviewed Publication

CHINESE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES HEADQUARTERS

NEWS RELEASE 16-MAY-2023

 

IMAGE: LIFE RECONSTRUCTION OF ARCHOPTERUS ANJIENSIS view more 

CREDIT: YANG DINGHUA

Eurypterids (Arthropoda: Chelicerata), normally known as sea scorpions, are an important extinct group of Paleozoic chelicerate arthropods.

Researchers led by Profs. ZHANG Haichun, WANG Bo, ZHANG Yuandong, and PhD student WANG Han from the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (NIGPAS), in collaboration with their colleagues from the UK, have described a new Ordovician eurypterid, Archopterus anjiensis n. gen. n. sp., from the latest Ordovcian (Hirnantian) Anji Biota of Zhejiang Province, South China. It represents the first unequivocal Ordovician eurypterid recorded in China as well as the oldest one ever found in the country, adding new knowledge to the early evolution of eurypterids in Gondwana.

The study was published in the Journal of Paleontology on May 10.

Eurypterids first appeared in the Ordovician, attained their maximum diversity during the late Silurian and early Devonian, and became extinct at the end of Permian. With bizarre morphology and high ecological diversity, they occupied marine, freshwater, and even terrestrial environments, becoming an important medium for us to understand the transition of ecological environments in the Paleozoic.

However, Ordovician eurypterids are extremely rare. To date, only 12 species of Ordovician eurypterids are known in the world, so any reported occurrence is of great significance to understanding their early evolutionary history. 

The current study reported a rare Ordovician eurypterid from the Wenchang Formation of Anji County, Zhejiang Province.

"Archopterus anjiensis is characterized by a parabolic carapace, Hughmilleria-type prosomal appendages, vase-shaped metastoma, and a three-segmented type A (female) genital appendage, estimated to be 15 cm long," said WANG Han, first author of the study.

Associated with diverse sponges, Archopterus anjiensis was found in a deep-water environment at a depth of several hundred meters. This occurrence, along with some Ordovician eurypterids from a normal marine environment, may indicate that some early eurypterids favored living in deeper waters than their post-Ordovician relatives.

In addition, Archopterus anjiensis represents the oldest adelophthalmid and extends the stratigraphic range of this family to the Late Ordovician (by about 10 million years), making Adelophthalmidae the longest-living eurypterid family (Ordovician to Permian), and indicates that adelophthalmids have been found in the widest range of habitats of all eurypterid groups.

This rare Ordovician sea scorpion from Zhejiang Province, along with continuous discoveries of eurypterid fossils in China, indicates that there is great potential for exploration of eurypterids in Paleozoic Gondwana areas.

Fossils of Archopterus anjiensis

CREDIT

NIGPAS

---

JOURNAL

Journal of Paleontology

DOI

10.1017/jpa.2023.21 

ARTICLE TITLE

The first documentation of an Ordovician eurypterid (Chelicerata) from China

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

10-May-2023

How bending implantable medical devices can enable infectious organisms to gain a toehold

University of Toronto Engineering researchers demonstrate that bending silicone rubber medical devices creates 'microcracks' that can affect where and how potentially harmful biofilms form

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO FACULTY OF APPLIED SCIENCE & ENGINEERING

 

IMAGE: UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO ENGINEERING PROFESSOR BEN HATTON HOLDS UP SOME FLEXIBLE TUBING USED IN MEDICAL IMPLANTS. A NEW STUDY SHEDS LIGHT ON HOW SUCH MATERIALS GET COLONIZED BY BACTERIA, AND POINTS TOWARD POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS. view more 

CREDIT: PHOTO: UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO ENGINEERING / NEIL TA

A study from University of Toronto Engineering researchers shows that mechanical deformation of medically implantable materials — such as bending or twisting — can have a big impact on the formation of potentially harmful biofilms.

The study, described in a paper published in Scientific Reports, shows that even slight bending of elastomeric materials such as polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), also known as silicone, opens up microscopic cracks that are perfect environments for colonizing bacteria.

“These kinds of materials are used in all kinds of biomedical applications, from catheters to tracheal tubes and prosthetic breast implants,” says Professor Ben Hatton, senior author of the new study.

“The formation of microbial biofilms on these materials is common, but we were surprised by the degree to which bending silicone, and other rubber materials, causes these cracks to reversibly open and close — and how big a difference they make in terms of biofilm formation.”

Biofilms are complex communities of organisms that grow on surfaces. While individual microbial cells are susceptible both to antibiotics and the body’s natural defensive systems, the biofilm environment can shield them from these interventions, which can lead to persistent infections.

Infections associated with medical device biofilms, which sometimes develop after surgery, can be serious health risks, lengthening hospital stays, or causing patients who have been discharged to be re-admitted.

Hatton and his team are among many groups around the world developing new materials, coatings and other approaches to prevent the formation of biofilms that can lead to such infections.

But in their latest work, they chose to study something more fundamental — how do these colonizing microbial organisms gain a toehold in the first place?

“In part, this comes out of the multidisciplinary approach we take in our group,” says Hatton.

“We’re combining microbiology and materials science, but also mechanical engineering, because we’re talking about mechanical stress, strain and deformation. This bending effect is something that had not been noticed before.”

The team tested various samples of silicone, including some they synthesized themselves as well as commercial-grade medical tubing used for urinary catheters. They then subjected these samples to mechanical forces to create surface damage. Their experiments showed that the microcracks can be formed very easily.

“One thing we did was simply wipe them a bunch of times with an ordinary laboratory tissue,” says PhD candidate Desmond van den Berg, lead author on the new paper. The other two co-authors are Dr. Dalal Asker and Dr. Tarek Awad.

“Even this wiping was enough to create surface damage. By eye it still looks fine, but under the microscope, we could already see microcracks of the size that bacteria could get into. Bacteria are only a few micrometers big, so it doesn’t take much.”

Other samples were pressed with a rough, ridged pattern to create a series of regularly-spaced microcracks.

All the samples were then placed in a bacterial culture plate and seeded with Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a biofilm-forming bacterium commonly used as a model organism in these types of studies. After growth, the samples were treated with a fluorescent dye, causing any attached bacteria to glow green under an optical microscope.

“What we saw was that the bacteria very clearly preferred to attach in these microscopic cracks,” says van den Berg.

“In the bent samples, there were four to five times as many bacteria on the side that was in tension versus the side that was in compression. These cells have full choice about where to grow, but they clearly love the side where all these microcracks are opened up.”

The only samples that remained relatively free of bacteria were the ones that had been synthesized in the team’s own lab, and therefore remained extremely smooth, says van den Berg.

“Even the commercially produced ones that we didn’t damage in any way already had microcracks in them, straight out of the package,” he says.

“We suspect that these are introduced via the manufacturing process, arising from the way the plastic is formed into tubes or other shapes by extrusion or injection molding.”

Hatton says that the study underlines just how easy it is to introduce surface features that encourage microbial attachment. For surgeons, one implication is that they should be looking out for situations where silicone devices, like tubing or prosthetic implants, are being bent during use, and paying particular attention to the side under tension, as this is where infections might be starting.

“Obviously it’s difficult to simply not bend a rubber tube that is meant to be bent – otherwise, why would you make it out of rubber in the first place?” says Hatton.

“But perhaps we can learn more about how to control or hide these surface cracks, so that bending is not a problem. That’s what we’re working on now: researching methods to reduce surface damage, or modifying the silicone surface to reduce the formation of such cracks.”

---

JOURNAL

Scientific Reports

DOI

10.1038/s41598-023-34217-5 

ESHRE publishes recommendations to tackle environmental threats to fertility and reproductive health

Meeting Announcement

EUROPEAN SOCIETY OF HUMAN REPRODUCTION AND EMBRYOLOGY

Political and legislative action is urgently needed to respond to threats posed by the link between environmental factors and widespread infertility, says the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE) today (Wednesday).

This is one of the (8) recommendations outlined in a list of statements published by ESHRE for the first time. The aim is to draw attention to the growing threat from climate change, pollutants, hormone-disrupting chemicals, toxic substances, and other related risks.

The document, drawn up by experts from various fields and aimed at policymakers, also calls for reforms including:

• More efficient policies to safeguard the public from chemicals that endanger fertility and reproductive health.
• The EU to update rapidly chemical regulations which protect human health including REACH and CLP.
• Prevention strategies that start before conception and are aimed at both men and women to prevent impact during foetal life.
• Data to be made available publicly on workplace risks from chemical exposure.
• Development of a Europe-wide digital platform to collect harmonized surveillance data and enable monitoring of environmental impacts on offspring and reproductive health.
• Reinforcement of multi-sectoral decarbonization to prevent reproductive harm and make the planet healthier for all.
• Public health campaigns across all educational levels to raise awareness of risks for reproductive health posed by environmental exposures.
• Testing of pharmaceuticals and industrial chemicals that evaluates thoroughly their impact on fertility and gametes. ESHRE says this should be done before these products are introduced into the European market.

ESHRE states that in the debate about the severe decline in child births, especially in industrialized regions, the well-established importance of declining male and female infertility is mostly overlooked.

The society says that it has serious concerns about the environmental impact, not only on men and women who may wish to become parents but also on the health of children born and future generations.

The document has been formulated at a two-day meeting in Brussels hosted by ESHRE and attended by esteemed professionals experienced in the impact of the environment on fertility and human health.

The event was held to discuss the challenges posed by environmental threats and potential ways forward.

The speakers presented evidence amongst others that soot pollution particles can cross the placenta to reach babies in the womb, that women living near busy freeways have increased infertility, and that many pharmaceuticals that could pose a risk to male and female fertility are not classified under EU regulations.

Professor Willem Ombelet said: “The EU has been proactive in limiting exposure to environmental factors such as toxic chemicals and pollution. But more measures are needed to address the alarming impact on male and female fertility”.

Current and future generations must be protected through tougher action. Prevention strategies are needed even before people consider starting families.

Members of the public also need to know the risks they face from the environments in which they live and work. They can develop awareness if this data is made widely available.”

– Please click here to read the ESHRE recommendations in full.

– ESHRE is the world’s leading society in reproductive science and medicine. The organisation promotes interest in, and understanding of, reproductive biology and medicine, and collaborates with politicians and policymakers throughout Europe.

Vegan mothers' breastmilk contains two important nutrients, Amsterdam UMC study finds

Contrary to presumptions, the breastmilk of vegans contains sufficient levels of vitamin B2 and carnitine

Reports and Proceedings

AMSTERDAM UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTERS

A vegan diet does not affect maternal breastmilk concentrations of vitamin B2 and carnitine, nutrients essential for the developing infant. These are the results of an Amsterdam UMC study, presented today at the 55th Annual Meeting of the European Society for Paediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition (ESPGHAN).   

Research has found that lactating mothers following a vegan diet compared to mothers with an omnivorous diet showed no difference in the human milk concentrations of vitamin B2 or carnitine, despite these nutrients being found in highest concentrations in animal products. 

Using a technique that separates a sample into its individual parts and analyses their mass, this study challenges assumptions that vegan diets may not be nutritionally complete and that breastfed infants of vegan mothers may be at an increased risk of developing vitamin B2 or carnitine deficiency.  

In the last four years, the number of vegans in Europe alone has doubled. Lead researcher, Dr Hannah Juncker explains, “The maternal diet greatly influences the nutritional composition of human milk, which is important for child development. With the rise of vegan diets worldwide, also by lactating mothers, there are concerns about the nutritional adequacy of their milk. […] therefore, it would be important to know if the milk concentrations of those nutrients are different in lactating women consuming a vegan diet.” 

Vitamin B2 (riboflavin) is an important co-factor for enzymes involved in many biological pathways. Previous studies have shown, that a significant shortage of vitamin B2 in infants can lead to anaemia and neurological problems.  

Carnitine’s primary biological role is in energy metabolism. Carnitine shortages in the infant can lead to low blood sugar, as well as the possibility to heart and brain dysfunction. Carnitine intake and subsequent plasma concentrations have also been previously found to be lower in those with vegan diets than with omnivorous diets. with previous studies even suggesting that certain lactating women may need to increase their animal product consumption to avoid deficiencies during breastfeeding. This study suggests that the influence of a maternal vegan diet on these two important nutrients in milk may be less significant than previously suggested. 

While the presenting study reported lower serum free carnitine and acetyl carnitine concentrations in the mothers following a vegan diet, there was notably no difference in human milk carnitine concentrations between study groups. 

Commenting on the findings, Dr Juncker summarises, “The results of our study suggest that vitamin B2 and carnitine concentrations in human milk are not influenced by consumption of a vegan diet. These results suggest that a vegan diet in lactating mothers is not a risk for the development of a vitamin B2 or carnitine deficiency in breastfed infants. This information is useful for breastfeeding mothers and also for donor human milk banks, which collect milk for provision to premature infants who do not receive sufficient mother’s own milk.” 

How well do interventions that include a case manager help individuals experiencing homelessness?

Peer-Reviewed Publication

WILEY

A recent analysis of published studies examined a wide range of interventions that include a case manager to help individuals experiencing homelessness find stable housing. The analysis, which is published in Campbell Systematic Reviews, explored components most likely to lead to improvements in housing, health, and other outcomes.

In the analysis of 64 intervention studies and 41 implementation studies mainly from the United States and Canada, investigators found that any type of case management improves homelessness outcomes for people with additional support needs. Case management increased wellbeing, at least in the short term, but there was no evidence that interventions led to improvements in employment, mental or physical health, or substance use.

Support for up to three years led to improvements in stable housing, and in-person meetings with a case manager appeared to be more beneficial than mixed (remote/in-person) meetings.

“This review confirms the effectiveness of case management in improving access to housing. It also goes further than previous research studies by exploring the specific features or components of the approach that are most likely to lead to benefits,” said corresponding author Alison L. Weightman, PhD, of Cardiff University, in the UK.  “With this additional knowledge, it should be possible to provide better support for people experiencing homelessness who have additional support needs.”

URL upon publication: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/cl2.1329

 

Additional Information
NOTE: The information contained in this release is protected by copyright. Please include journal attribution in all coverage. For more information or to obtain a PDF of any study, please contact: Sara Henning-Stout, newsroom@wiley.com.

About the Journal
Campbell Systematic Reviews is an open access journal prepared under the editorial control of the Campbell Collaboration. The journal publishes systematic reviews, evidence and gap maps, and methods research papers.

About Wiley
Wiley is one of the world’s largest publishers and a global leader in scientific research and career-connected education. Founded in 1807, Wiley enables discovery, powers education, and shapes workforces. Through its industry-leading content, digital platforms, and knowledge networks, the company delivers on its timeless mission to unlock human potential. Visit us at Wiley.com. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram.

---

JOURNAL

Campbell Systematic Reviews

DOI

10.1002/cl2.1329 

ARTICLE TITLE

Case management interventions improve housing stability for people experiencing homelessness and the effects may be increased with intensive support

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

17-May-2023