COVID-19 case studies offer insights into what it will take to combat misleading medical information online

Health care leaders ‘take a shot’ at addressing viral medical rumors and disinformation

Peer-Reviewed Publication

AMERICAN COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS

1. COVID-19 case studies offer insights into what it will take to combat misleading medical information online

Health care leaders ‘take a shot’ at addressing viral medical rumors and disinformation

Abstract: https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/M23-1218    

A team of medical and public health leaders from the American Board of Internal Medicine, ABIM Foundation, and several respected institutions say COVID-19 case studies, among other examples, can inspire new recommendations aimed at combatting viral medical rumors and false or misleading information online. According to lead author, Richard J. Baron, MD, ABIM President and CEO, this issue is particularly important considering the recent judicial opinion prohibiting the federal government from influencing social media companies. The analysis and recommendations are published in Annals of Internal Medicine.

U.S. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Robert Calif has called medical misinformation “the leading cause of preventable death in America” and Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy has sounded the alarm, as well.  At no time was this issue more obvious than during the COVID-19 pandemic. ThisIsOurShot and VacunateYa, or TIOS-VY, are linked national grassroots organizations that empower and support trusted medical professionals to share accurate health information on social media and combat misinformation with the goal of building healthier communities. The viral vaccine-selfie movement #ThisIsOurShot was one of their signature efforts. TIOS-VY built the organizational infrastructure to support medical professionals as they engaged and convened online communities. But despite their efforts, nearly 2 years into the pandemic, 78 percent of adults either still believed or were unsure of whether to believe at least 1 of 8 false statements about COVID-19 or COVID-19 vaccines.

TIOS-VY encountered several challenges that hampered its effectiveness online. These included limited funding, limited data about their digital audience, and online harassment and attacks aimed at public health communicators. Considering these challenges, the authors recommend the creation of a sustainably funded, independent public–private partnership to address the challenges faced by TIOS–VY. The authors argue that this structure will allow for sustainable, long-term funding, support for under-resourced stakeholders or members facing online harassment, flexibility in detecting and responding to rumors while protecting vulnerable personal data and could more effectively work with social media platforms to combat misinformation than existing information stakeholders. They believe a fully funded and coordinated response could have a meaningful effect on the nation’s health.

 

Media contacts: For an embargoed PDF, please contact Addison Dunlap at adunlap@acponline.org. To speak with the corresponding author Richard J. Baron, MD, please contact John Held at JHeld@ABIM.ORG.

----------------------------

2. ACP Calls for Modernizing Public Health Infrastructure

Abstract: https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/M23-0670    

Editorial: https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/M23-1455    

It is imperative to augment and enhance the public health infrastructure in the United States for it to achieve its mission of preventing illness and promoting health, says the American College of Physicians (ACP) in a new policy paper published in Annals of Internal Medicine. The new paper updates recommendations ACP made in 2012 for the U.S. public health infrastructure with new policies on establishing federal public health leadership, protecting public health workers, reversing workforce shortages, and the need to integrate primary care and public health.

ACP recommends that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) designate a new public-health official who would coordinate interagency work and be responsible for public health efforts. It recommends immediate action from Congress to provide sufficient and stable funding for public health at the federal, state, and local levels. The paper also calls for action to address the severe shortage of public health workers. The number of public health workers employed by state and local governments declined by 15 percent from 2011 to 2021, and a survey of state and local public health found that 27 percent of workers intend to leave their position within a year.

ACP’s paper calls for increased efforts to combat health-related dis- and misinformation, especially through social media platforms. The paper recommends the development of a national public health data system that would be capable of sharing real-time information back and forth between public health departments, physicians, hospitals, laboratories and others. Finally, ACP encourages collaboration between public health and primary care.

In an accompanying editorial also published in Annals, Sherri A. Berger, MSPH and Rochelle P. Walensky, MD, MPH reflected on ACP’s paper from the perspective of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).  In the piece they say the CDC, and their state and local public health partners, are heeding the call to take concrete action, and they further caution that the CDC cannot act alone, and, without funding, flexibility, and new authorities.

 

Media contacts: For an embargoed PDF, please contact Addison Dunlap at adunlap@acponline.org. To speak with someone from ACP, please contact Jacquelyn Blaser at jblaser@acponline.org.

-------------------------------- 

Also published in this issue:

Moving Naloxone Over the Counter is Necessary, but Not Sufficient

John C. Messinger, MD; Leo Beletsky, JD, MPH; Aaron S. Kesselheim, MD, JD, MPH; and Rachel E. Barenie, PharmD, JD, MPH

Medicine and Public Issues

Abstract: https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/M23-0852

---

JOURNAL

Annals of Internal Medicine

DOI

10.7326/M23-1218 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

News article

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Addressing Viral Medical Rumors and False or Misleading Information

National study aims to assist water utilities

UTA civil engineer leads efforts to aid water utilities in monitoring assets

Grant and Award Announcement

UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT ARLINGTON

 

IMAGE: MOHAMMAD NAJAFI view more 

CREDIT: UT ARLINGTON

A University of Texas at Arlington civil engineering researcher is leading a nationwide study to find and assess innovative technologies for monitoring water assets.

Mohammad Najafi, associate professor of civil engineering, is using a $410,000 grant from the Water Research Foundation for the project.

“We hope to streamline water asset monitoring so water utilities can make timely decisions and optimize their maintenance activities,” Najafi said. “We will investigate the utilization of existing and innovative asset-monitoring technologies—such as drones, sensors, fiber optics and more—for both horizontal and vertical assets. Considerations for both large and small water utilities will be given.”

Other water entities involved in the project include DC Water, Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts, CDM Smith, Dallas Water Utilities, Greater Cincinnati Water Works, Dallas County, Tarrant Regional Water District, WaterOne, American Water, WSSC Water, Great Lakes Water Authority, Orange County Utilities, San Diego County Water Authority and Underground Infrastructure.

Vinayak Kaushal, assistant professor of civil engineering, will serve as co-principal investigator. Zahra Borhani, program manager at the Center for Underground Infrastructure Research and Education (CUIRE), and Diego Calderon, a doctoral candidate, are part of the UT Arlington team for this project. Najafi leads CUIRE, a research, education and outreach organization that is part of UT Arlington’s Department of Civil Engineering. Since its inception, it has focused on assembling exceptional and broad-reaching engineering and technical talent to address the needs of underground infrastructure on regional, state, national and international scales.

The project will perform a comprehensive literature review on the topic, hold conferences and webinars among water utilities and industry leaders, provide case studies of what is available and make recommendations and guidelines on what to use in the future. Najafi will look at above-ground water infrastructure like reservoirs and dams, as well as below-ground infrastructure like pipes and mains.

Najafi said the project will identify gaps in water utility monitoring and make recommendations to fill them.

“Water monitoring now consists of using sensors, drones, fiber optics and advanced metering infrastructure. Other technologies are on the market and currently being used, but not by everyone,” he said. “We hope to issue a best practices guideline for water entities.”

Melanie Sattler, chair of the Department of Civil Engineering, said Najafi’s project will give water entities better information now and in the future.

“Water monitoring is essential to providing the resources needed for life and growth. This project does just that,” Sattler said. “Knowing how much water you have is vital to planning for the future.”

Bacteria discreetly dwelling in throat revealed to be primary source of Strep A transmission

Breakthrough research has found that Group A Streptococcus (GAS) infections are more likely transmitted from asymptomatic throat carriage than skin-to-skin contact in communities with high rates of infection.

Peer-Reviewed Publication

THE PETER DOHERTY INSTITUTE FOR INFECTION AND IMMUNITY

 

IMAGE: MAXIMUM-LIKELIHOOD PHYLOGENY OF 320 WHOLE-GENOME SEQUENCES OF STREPTOCOCCUS PYOGENES view more 

CREDIT: DOHERTY INSTITUTE

Breakthrough research has found that Group A Streptococcus (GAS) infections are more likely transmitted from asymptomatic throat carriage than skin-to-skin contact in communities with high rates of infection.

This major discovery has far-reaching implications for public health approaches, vaccine development and future research as it challenges previous understanding of how the bacterium is spread.

GAS (Streptococcus pyogenes), commonly found on the skin and in the throat, can cause infections ranging from sore throats and impetigo (skin infections) to deadly bloodstream infections. In places like remote First Nations communities where the pathogen is widespread, constant exposure to GAS can lead to severe and life-threatening conditions such as rheumatic heart disease.

In this study, published in the journal The Lancet Microbe, the team of scientists shed new light on GAS transmission dynamics in high-risk settings where the bacteria are prevalent, to inform the development of more effective strategies for prevention and control.

Researchers, led by the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity (Doherty Institute), in collaboration with Menzies School of Health Research and Telethon Kids Institute, analysed the genetic makeup of hundreds of GAS bacterial samples collected 20 years ago from throats and impetigo lesions in remote First Nations communities in the Northern Territory, Australia.

Lead author Dr Jake Lacey, a University of Melbourne researcher at the Doherty Institute, explained that genome sequencing played a pivotal role in determining the contribution of impetigo and asymptomatic throat carriage to GAS transmission.

“Our analysis revealed direct connections between isolates recovered from the skin and throat, challenging common thinking that skin-to-skin contact is the primary mode of transmission. In fact, we found that bacteria found in the throat of people who are not showing any symptoms of infections were the likely source of infection in 63 per cent of cases,” Dr Lacey explained.

Professor Bart Currie, from the Global and Tropical Health Division at Menzies School of Health Research, said that these insights provide valuable clues for better controlling skin infections in remote communities, where limited knowledge of bacterial transmission had posed challenges until now.

“With this new genome knowledge we have been able to map out the spread of the bacteria within and between households. This transmission mapping exercise is particularly important for addressing the disproportionate burden of GAS infections on First Nations Australians in remote communities," Professor Currie said.

The Royal Melbourne Hospital’s Professor Steven Tong, Infectious Diseases Physician at the Doherty Institute and senior author of the research paper, underscored the implications of the findings.

“Our research suggests that public health approaches should not solely focus on skin infections but also consider the role of throat carriage in GAS transmission. For instance, vaccines targeting bacteria in the throat may offer greater efficacy in preventing the spread of infection compared to those that only target disease,” Professor Tong said.

“The burden of GAS infection documented in this study also reiterates the fundamental role of primordial prevention in First Nations health initiatives.

“Importantly, this work also prompts researchers to now consider the importance of throat carriage when assessing the transmission dynamics of GAS.”

---

JOURNAL

The Lancet Microbe

DOI

10.1016/S2666-5247(23)00068-X 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Observational study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Evaluating the role of asymptomatic throat carriage of Streptococcus pyogenes in impetigo transmission in remote Aboriginal communities in Northern Territory, Australia: a retrospective genomic analysis

Survival of children with acute lymphatic leukemia further increased

The five-year survival of all children with acute lymphatic leukemia (ALL) has continued to increase to 94%. This is evident from a study of 800 Dutch children. Within the study, modified treatment protocols for four subgroups were examined.

Peer-Reviewed Publication

PRINCESS MÁXIMA CENTER FOR PEDIATRIC ONCOLOGY

The five-year survival of all children with acute lymphatic leukemia (ALL) has continued to increase to 94%. This is evident from a study of 800 Dutch children. Within the study, modified treatment protocols for four subgroups were examined. The modifications were found to have positive effects on survival and quality of life. For example, the risk of disease recurrence became as much as three times smaller for children with an aggressive form of leukemia. Says Prof. Dr. Rob Pieters: ‘The five-year survival rate for children with acute lymphatic leukemia has increased dramatically since the 1960s, from zero to 94%, but the last steps are the most difficult.’

Acute lymphatic leukemia is the most common form of childhood cancer in the Netherlands. Every year, about 110 children are diagnosed with this form of cancer. The prognosis is good for many children, but not yet for every child. To improve survival rates and quality of life for all children with leukemia, the treatment protocol is constantly being adapted over the years on the basis of new scientific insights.

The study results of the ALL-11 treatment protocol, led by researchers at the Princess Máxima Center, were published today in the scientific journal Journal of Clinical Oncology.

Three times lower risk of return

Between April 2012 and July 2020, more than 800 children in the Netherlands were treated according to this protocol. The study looked at the effect of modified treatment in specific groups of children with leukemia, including those with a so-called Ikaros abnormality. Prof. Dr. Rob Pieters, pediatric oncologist and medical director of the Princess Máxima Center, led the clinical study. He says: ‘There is broad interest worldwide in this research, because it was still unknown how to improve therapy for children with Ikaros leukemia.’

Children with an Ikaros abnormality in the DNA of their leukemia cells are more likely to have their disease return after treatment. In this study, these children received an additional year of ‘maintenance phase’ chemotherapy on top of the first two years of treatment. This modification led to a three times lower risk of the cancer returning: it only happened in 9% of them, compared to 26% of children in the previous treatment protocol.

Less severe treatment proves safe

In the ALL-11 protocol, doctors and researchers also looked at the effect of less intensive treatment for three other groups of children. These included children with a DNA abnormality in their leukemia cells that is associated with a very high cure rate, and children with Down syndrome who suffer a lot of side effects from therapy. These children were given lower amounts of anthracyclines, a particular type of chemotherapy that increases the risk of heart damage and infections. The modification turned out to be a good choice: the children had the same or even better survival rate while their quality of life improved due to a lower risk of infections and less risk of heart damage.

More cure with fewer side effects

Prof. Dr. Rob Pieters: ‘The five-year survival rate for children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia has increased tremendously since the 1960s, from zero to 94%, but the last steps are the hardest. We are now one step closer to curing all children with ALL. We have also been able to remove a drug that gives risk of heart damage largely from the treatment of children with less aggressive disease. So the latest results for children with leukemia fit exactly with our mission: more cure, with fewer side effects.'

---

JOURNAL

Journal of Clinical Oncology

DOI

10.1200/JCO.22.02705 

ARTICLE TITLE

Improved outcome for acute lymphoblastic leukemia by prolonging therapy for IKZF1 deletion and decreasing therapy for other risk groups

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

17-Jul-2023

Into the unknown: NASA space laser provides answers to a rainforest canopy mystery

Peer-Reviewed Publication

NORTHERN ARIZONA UNIVERSITY

 

IMAGE: GRAPH DEPICTING CANOPY INFORMATION OBTAINED FROM GEDI. view more 

CREDIT: NICOLLE FULLER AND CHRIS DOUGHTY

We know less about the rainforest canopy, where most of the world’s species live than we do about the surface of Mars or the bottom of the ocean. However, that is about to change thanks to GEDI—a NASA space laser that has provided a detailed structure of the world’s rainforests for the first time ever. 

“Tropical forests are mainly unstratified especially in Amazonia and regions with lower fertility or higher temperatures” reads the title of the recently published paper in Environmental Research Ecology that details the laser’s findings. Authored by researchers from the U.S., the U.K. and Singapore, Christopher Doughty, professor in NAU’s School of Informatics, Computing, and Cyber Systems and first author on the study, believes this research is crucial—and long overdue—in finding out more about the tropical ecosystems. 

“Most of the world’s species live in tropical forests and most of those make use of the canopy, and yet, we know so little,” Doughty said. “Rainforest structure matters because it controls how animals access resources and escape predators, and these findings will help us understand tropical forest animal’s susceptibility to climate change.” 

Research into forest canopies has come a long way. Early western visitors described tropical forests as horror vacui (nature abhorring a vacuum) since vegetation was “anxious to fill every available space with stems and leaves.” Later, as scientists began to study tropical forests, they categorized the lush flora into forest layers—a thick upper crown and a thick mid-layer with a thin layer in between. However, this was only observed in a few well-studied locations. The structure across most tropical forests was still unknown. 

Then came GEDI, the Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation. 

“A key difference between GEDI and many other satellites is its measurement of three-dimensional canopy structure,” said Hao Tang, professor in the Department of Geography at the National University of Singapore (NUS) and co-author on the paper. Tang, who is also a principal investigator at the NUS Centre for Nature-based Climate Solutions, added, “Conventional satellites, while providing valuable data on land cover and canopy greenness, often lack the detailed vertical information offered by GEDI. This vertical information is crucial for understanding ecosystem dynamics, carbon storage and biodiversity that cannot be easily seen from typical satellite images.”

Launched in late 2018, NASA’s GEDI shoots an invisible laser from the International Space Station into Earth’s forests thousands of times a day. Depending on the amount of energy returned to the satellite, it can provide a detailed 3D map that shows where the leaves and branches are in a forest and how they change over time. This will help researchers understand the amounts of biomass and carbon forests store and how much they lose when disturbed—vital information for understanding Earth’s carbon cycle and how it is changing. 

Doughty, Tang and the other authors of the paper analyzed GEDI data across all tropical forests and found that the structure was simpler and more exposed to sunlight than previously thought. Data also revealed that most tropical forests (80 percent of the Amazon and 70 percent of Southeast Asia and the Congo Basin) have a peak in the number of leaves at 15 meters instead of at the canopy top, debunking the fullest-at-the-top theory of early researchers. While forests vary, a key finding that seemed to remain constant in every scenario was that deviation from more ideal conditions (like lower fertility or higher temperatures) leads to shorter, less stratified forests with lower biomass. 

“It was really surprising to see the dominance of this structure type because it differs from what we had learned in the classic textbooks on the topic,” Doughty said. “These finding will not only help us understand how the millions of species that live in a rainforest canopy might acclimate to changing temperatures, but also how much carbon these forests hold and how good they are at fighting climate change.” 

---

JOURNAL

Environmental Research Ecology

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Data/statistical analysis

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Tropical forests are mainly unstratified especially in Amazonia and regions with lower fertility or higher temperatures

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

17-Jul-2023

Prof. Chilai Chen’s team developed the first deep-sea mass spectrometer of China and successfully tested at deep sea

Peer-Reviewed Publication

BEIJING ZHONGKE JOURNAL PUBLISING CO. LTD.

 

IMAGE: THE DEEP-SEA MASS SPECTROMETER USES 24 V DC POWER AND HAS AN AVERAGE POWER CONSUMPTION OF LESS THAN 60 W DURING OPERATION AND LESS THAN 10 W DURING STANDBY. ITS PHYSICAL SIZE IS Φ240 MM×1300 MM, WITH A CORE MASS OF 14.2 KG. THE DETECTABLE MASS RANGE IS 1–200 DA, WITH A MASS RESOLUTION OF LESS THAN 1 DA AND THE SCANNING TIME FOR A SINGLE MASS IS LESS THAN 15 MS. THE DETECTION LIMITS FOR DISSOLVED N2, O2, AR, AND CO2 UNDER ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE ARE 0.021 ΜG/L, 0.068 ΜG/L, 0.017 ΜG/L, AND 0.014 ΜG/L. THE DEEP-SEA MASS SPECTROMETER OPERATED CONTINUOUSLY AND STABLY FOR MORE THAN 8 H UNDER A SIMULATED WATER DEPTH OF 5800 M, AND IT ALSO ACHIEVED CONTINUOUS ONLINE DETECTION FOR 25.8 H IN THE SEA AREA OF −1388 M DEPTH IN THE SOUTH CHINA SEA, OBTAINING DISSOLVED GAS CONCENTRATION-TIME AND DEPTH-CONCENTRATION CURVES. ART BY CHEN’S GROUP. view more 

CREDIT: BEIJING ZHONGKE JOURNAL PUBLISING CO. LTD.

The study is led by Prof. Chilai Chen (Hefei Institutes of Physical Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences).

 

The detection of dissolved gases in the deep sea is of great significance in exploring the origin and early evolution of life, understanding the interaction between the Earth's spheres, studying the geological profile of the Earth, searching for underwater oil, gas, and mineral resources, and researching global climate change. Changes in the concentrations of dissolved oxygen and nitrogen can indirectly or directly reflect the activity patterns of organisms such as plankton, phytoplankton, bacteria, and viruses in the deep sea. In situ detection of these changes is meaningful for studying biodiversity, especially in cold seeps and hydrothermal areas, which has special significance for the study of the origin of life. Typical greenhouse gases such as methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2) are important factors causing global warming. In the deep sea, they usually diffuse into the surrounding area in the form of bubbles or fluids. In situ detection of the gases is important for studying biogeochemical cycles, marine environments, and global climate change. Additionally, methane (CH4) is an important indicator for the detection of natural gas resources on the seabed.

 

The traditional method for detecting dissolved gases in the deep sea is offline detection, which combines pressure sampling with laboratory analysis. This method has the advantages of high detection accuracy and simultaneously detecting multiple substances. However, it has limitations in time and spatial resolution, making it difficult to perform continuous analysis of the temporal and spatial distribution of substances. An effective means of addressing this issue is online detection technology. Currently, the main underwater dissolved gas online detection technologies include electrochemical sensors based on gas-sensitive materials, various spectrometers based on optical measurement methods, and underwater mass spectrometers based on mass analyzers. Amongst these, electrochemical sensors have the advantages of small size, low power consumption, low cost, and the potential for large-scale deployment, making them highly promising in the field of deep-sea detection. However, their extensive use still requires further shortening of equipment response time, expanding the concentration detection range, and improving their anti-interference capabilities. Spectrometers based on optical measurement methods have small size and rapid characteristics and have developed rapidly in recent years. They have been successfully applied to the online detection of dissolved methane, carbon dioxide, and their isotopes in the ocean. The development of this technology provides a technical means for the detection of dissolved gases in the deep sea. However, this technology needs to further expand the types of detectable substances, shorten the detection time, and further improve the sustainable working time in the future.

 

Mass spectrometry is an analytical technique that works under vacuum conditions and is based on separating ions for their mass-to-charge ratios. Due to its advantages of fast response, low detection limit, high specificity, simultaneous detection of multiple substances, strong anti-interference ability, and ability to provide a large amount of elemental, structural, and isotopic information of chemical substances, it has been widely used in fields such as food safety, biomedical, environmental protection, and ecological health. The application of mass spectrometry to the in-situ online detection of dissolved gases in the deep sea is an important advancement in marine chemistry research.

 

Since its inception, deep-sea mass spectrometry has undergone more than 30 years of development. The world's first deep-sea mass spectrometer, a gas chromatography-mass spectrometer, was developed by the Hamburg University of Technology in Germany in 1998, primarily used for cleaning up chemical pollutants at sea. However, due to its complex detection process, long detection time, large volume, and challenges in meeting the requirements of underwater in-situ analysis, the development of this technology has been relatively limited.

 

In 1999 and 2001, the research team at the University of South Florida successively unveiled the first-generation deep-sea mass spectrometry based on quadrupole mass analyzers and the second-generation underwater mass spectrometry (UMS) based on ion trap mass analyzers. In the following five years, the team carried out instrument optimization and shallow water online detection work. They conducted experiments in Bayboro Harbor, plotted the three-dimensional concentration distribution maps of toluene and dimethyl sulfide, and obtained time-concentration curves of dissolved gases such as benzene, carbon dioxide, and argon in Lake Maggiore. In 2007, the team moved to RSI Company to continue deep-sea mass spectrometry research and successively obtained depth-concentration curves of carbon dioxide, methane, ethanol, and propane in deep-sea cold springs, hydrothermal areas, and other regions. They also conducted research on marine oil spills and the total inorganic dissolved carbon in the seabed.

 

The MIT underwater mass spectrometry research team publicly released their UMS based on a cycloidal mass analyzer in 2002. This device has a power consumption of 20 W, a weight of 25 kg, a detection time of less than 5 s, and can detect a mass range of 1–200 amu, with a maximum operating depth of 25 m. In principle, this UMS uses a double-focusing method based on electric and magnetic fields and a vacuum system based on an ion pump, which greatly improves the volume and weight of the equipment. Over the next five years, the team carried out underwater experiments and online detection work in shallow water areas. They obtained methane concentration distribution maps in the range of 0–25 m deep in Lake Superior and dissolved oxygen, dissolved nitrogen, and dissolved argon concentration distribution maps in the range of 0–5 m deep in Boston Harbor. In 2007, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution developed a new underwater mass spectrometer based on the work of the MIT team. This device has a weight of 13 kg, a maximum depth of over 5000 m, a mass detection range of 1–200 amu, a mass resolution of less than 0.1 amu, and a response time of less than 5 s. Based on this underwater mass spectrometer, they obtained concentration distribution maps of dissolved oxygen (O2), methane (CH4), and carbon dioxide (CO2) in the depth range of 0–350 m. Subsequently, they conducted related research work such as deep-sea oil exploration, pipeline leaks, and atmospheric circulation.

 

Apart from the two main research branches mentioned above, other institutions such as the University of Hawaii, Harvard University, and the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in Germany have also conducted research on underwater mass spectrometry. In 2005, engineers at the University of Hawaii's School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology publicly released their first underwater mass spectrometer, and subsequently carried out more systematic instrument optimization and deep-sea in-situ detection work. The Alfred Wegener Institute released its first underwater mass spectrometer in 2008 and conducted deep-sea in-situ detection work. Harvard University released its first underwater mass spectrometer in 2010 and subsequently conducted research on the origin and early evolution of life, inter-layer interactions, and global environmental changes.

 

The work of the above research teams has made important contributions to the characteristics of deep-sea cold seeps and hydrothermal regions, exploring the origin and early evolution of life, studying the geological overview of the earth, searching for seabed resources, evaluating oil and gas and mineral resource reserves, analyzing the harm of pollution to the marine ecosystem, and studying global environmental changes. Overall, the research on UMS is still in the exploratory stage, and there are still many challenges to overcome. Currently, relevant research focuses on improving detection accuracy, reducing volume, and power consumption to achieve long-term, stable, and accurate detection in the deep sea.

 

UMS is still in its early stages in China, and no public reports are currently available. Based on previous research on the development of conventional mass spectrometry and atmospheric pressure ion mobility spectrometry technology, this study conducted research on underwater mass spectrometry. A breakthrough was made in high-pressure injection technology for underwater mass spectrometry, and vacuum maintenance technology under high-pressure and low-temperature environments, as well as long-term unmanned self-control technology, were developed to realize the miniaturization of high-precision underwater mass spectrometry technology and achieve online high-precision detection of small molecules and volatile organic compounds in seawater.

 

See the article:

Development and application of an underwater mass spectrometer for in situ detection of deep-sea dissolved gases

 

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cjac.2023.100299

---

JOURNAL

Chinese Journal of Analytical Chemistry

DOI

10.1016/j.cjac.2023.100299 

ARTICLE TITLE

Development and application of an underwater mass spectrometer for in situ detection of deep-sea dissolved gases

Unlocking human-level capabilities: GPT-4 empowers data mining for building energy management

Peer-Reviewed Publication

KEAI COMMUNICATIONS CO., LTD.

 

IMAGE: HOW THE GPT-4 WORKS ON AUTOMATED DATA MINING FOR BUILDING ENERGY MANAGEMENT view more 

CREDIT: CHAOBO ZHANG, JIE LU, YANG ZHAO

The building sector is a significant contributor to global energy consumption, accounting for approximately 33% of the world's final energy usage. Recently, data mining technologies have showed powerful capacities for revealing energy waste and providing energy-saving tips to building owners. These technologies have the ability to save approximately 15%-30% of the energy consumed in buildings. However, the practical application of data mining technologies has been limited due to its labor-intensive nature, resulting in a scarcity of real-world use cases.

In a study published in the KeAi journal Energy and Built Environment, a collaborative team of researchers from China and the Netherlands has successfully developed a solution based on GPT-4. This innovative solution automates the analysis of building operational data, thereby providing comprehensive support for building energy management.

"The study's first author, Chaobo Zhang, a postdoctoral researcher in smart buildings at the Department of the Built Environment, Eindhoven University of Technology, highlights the necessity for tailored data mining solutions in building energy management due to the highly diverse nature of building energy systems.

"While GPT-4 stands as one of the most advanced large language models currently available, demonstrating remarkable human-level performance in various real-world scenarios such as coding, writing, and image generation, its ability to analyze building operational data using data mining tools at a comparable human-level performance remains uncertain. Exploring the potential of leveraging GPT-4 to replace humans in data mining-based building energy management tasks holds significant value and warrants further investigation.” Zhang explains.

The team successfully showcased GPT-4's capability to generate codes that forecast building energy loads, even when provided with limited user information. Furthermore, GPT-4 exhibits the ability to identify device faults and detect abnormal patterns in system operations by analyzing building operational data. When applied in real-world buildings, the codes generated by GPT-4 demonstrate a high level of accuracy in energy load prediction.

“Additionally, GPT-4 offers reliable and precise explanations for fault diagnosis and anomaly detection outcomes. By automating coding and data analysis tasks, GPT-4 effectively liberates humans from tedious work, resulting in a more accessible and cost-effective approach to data-guided building energy management,” adds Zhang.

This study represents a breakthrough in the domain of building energy management. "Automated data mining solutions are still rare for building energy management until now. Our study indicates that GPT-4 is a promising solution to enabling computers to implement customized data mining solutions for building energy management with limited assistance from human,” says Yang Zhao, a professor at Zhejiang University, and senior author of the study. "We hope more scientists can explore the potential of GPT-4 in this domain, so that the building energy management will be smarter and more efficient in the future."

###

Contact the author: Yang Zhao, Institute of Refrigeration and Cryogenics, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China, youngzhao@zju.edu.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

Energy and Built Environment

DOI

10.1016/j.enbenv.2023.06.005 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Generative pre-trained transformers (GPT)-based automated data mining for building energy management: Advantages, limitations and the future

Scent dogs can detect COVID-19 more rapidly and accurately than current tests

Research review finds scent dogs can successfully sniff out COVID-19, including asymptomatic cases, new variants and long COVID 

Peer-Reviewed Publication

DE GRUYTER

 

IMAGE: (A) ILLUSTRATION OF THE THREE CUP SNIFFING EXPERIMENT WITH THE FIRST AUTHOR’S GREAT PYRENEES (PHOTO CREDIT: TODD DICKEY). (B) ONE OF THE SECOND AUTHOR’S COVID-19 SCENT DOGS SNIFFING A TEST CANISTER (PHOTO CREDIT: HEATHER JUNQUEIRA). (C) FLOWCHART ILLUSTRATING HOW VOLATILE ORGANIC COMPOUNDS (VOCS) ARE SENSED AND PROCESSED BY DOGS AND ENOSES (FLOWCHART MODIFIED AFTER KARAKAYA ET AL., 2020, WITH PERMISSION). view more 

CREDIT: PHOTO CREDITS: (A) TODD DICKEY, (B) HEATHER JUNQUEIRA, (C) FLOWCHART MODIFIED AFTER KARAKAYA ET AL. WITH PERMISSION (KARAKAYA, D, ULUCAN, O, TURKAN, M. ELECTRONIC NOSE AND ITS APPLICATIONS: A SURVEY. INT J AUTOM COMPUT 2020;17:179-209. HTTPS//DOI:10.1007/S11633-019-1212-9).

Scent dogs may represent a cheaper, faster and more effective way to detect COVID-19, and could be a key tool in future pandemics, a new review of recent research suggests. The review, published in De Gruyter’s Journal of Osteopathic Medicine, found that scent dogs are as effective, or even more effective, than conventional COVID-19 tests such as RT-PCR.

Dogs possess up to 300 million olfactory cells, compared to just 5 or 6 million in humans, and use one-third of their brains to process scent information, compared with just 5% for humans. Dogs trained to recognize specific volatile organic compounds created in the body during disease have successfully identified patients with certain cancers, Parkinson’s and diabetes.

Prof. Tommy Dickey of the University of California, Santa Barbara and Heather Junqueira of BioScent Detection Dogs reviewed 29 studies where dogs were used to detect COVID-19. The studies were performed using over 31,000 samples by over 400 scientists from more than 30 countries using 19 different dog breeds. In some studies, the scent dogs sniffed people directly, sometimes in public places as a health screening. In others, the dogs sniffed patient samples such as sweat, saliva or urine samples.

In the majority of studies, the scent dogs demonstrated similar or better sensitivity and specificity than the current gold-standard RT-PCR tests or antigen tests. In one study, four of the dogs could detect the equivalent of less than 2.6 x 10−12 copies of viral RNA per milliliter. This is equivalent to detecting one drop of any odorous substance dissolved in ten and a half Olympic-sized swimming pools and is three orders of magnitude better than modern scientific instruments. 

The dogs could detect COVID-19 in symptomatic, pre-symptomatic and asymptomatic patients, along with new COVID variants and even long COVID. A major benefit of using the dogs was their speed – they could provide a result in seconds to minutes, and did not require expensive lab equipment or create mountains of plastic waste, unlike conventional diagnostic approaches.

“Although many people have heard about the exceptional abilities of dogs to help humans, their value to the medical field has been considered fascinating, but not ready for real-world medical use,” said Prof. Dickey. “Having conducted this review, we believe that scent dogs deserve their place as a serious diagnostic methodology that could be particularly useful during pandemics, potentially as part of rapid health screenings in public spaces. We are confident that scent dogs will be useful in detecting a wide variety of diseases in the future."

Prof. Dickey and Heather Junqueira added that they feel that the impressive international COVID scent dog research described in their paper, perhaps for the first time, demonstrates that medical scent dogs are ready for mainstream medical applications.

---

JOURNAL

Journal of Osteopathic Medicine

DOI

10.1515/jom-2023-0104 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Literature review

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

COVID-19 scent dog research highlights and synthesis during the pandemic of December 2019−April 2023

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

17-Jul-2023

COI STATEMENT

Heather Junqueira is the owner of BioScent, Inc.