It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Wednesday, July 03, 2024
The Mediterranean Diet is linked to lower risk of mortality in cancer survivors
AND IT'S GOOD FOR YOU TOO
Adherence to this dietary pattern after a cancer diagnosis is associated with reduced mortality, especially from cardiovascular disease. Results are from an Italian study conducted by the Joint Platform Umberto Veronesi Foundation - I.R.C.C.S. Neuromed
ISTITUTO NEUROLOGICO MEDITERRANEO NEUROMED I.R.C.C.S.
The Mediterranean Diet is a powerful ally for health even after a cancer diagnosis. This is the key result of an Italian study carried out as part of the UMBERTO Project, conducted by the Joint Research Platform Umberto Veronesi Foundation - Department of Epidemiology and Prevention of the I.R.C.C.S. Neuromed of Pozzilli, in collaboration with the LUM "Giuseppe Degennaro" University of Casamassima (BA). According to this research, people diagnosed with any type of tumor, who had a high adherence to the Mediterranean Diet in the year preceding their enrollment into the study, live longer and have a reduced risk of cardiovascular mortality, compared to those with lower adherence to this diet.
The study, published in JACC CardioOncology, examined 800 Italian adults, both men and women, who had already been diagnosed with cancer at the time of enrollment in the Moli-sani Study, between 2005 and 2010. Participants were followed for over 13 years, and detailed information on their food consumption during the year before enrollment was available for all of them.
“The beneficial role of the Mediterranean Diet in primary prevention of some tumors is well known in the literature – says Marialaura Bonaccio, first author of the study and Co-Principal Investigator of the Joint Research Platform at the Department of Epidemiology and Prevention of the IRCCS Neuromed - However, little is known about the potential benefits that this dietary model can have for those who have already received a cancer diagnosis".
Considering that the number of cancer survivors is expected to increase in the coming years, possibly due to targeted and effective therapies, it is crucial to understand the extent to which a healthy diet can prolong survival. This is why Italian researchers examined the role of the Mediterranean Diet in relation to mortality in people who already had a history of cancer at time of enrollment into the Moli-sani study, one of the largest population cohorts in Europe.
“The results of our study - continues Bonaccio - indicate that people who had cancer and reported a high adherence to a Mediterranean way of eating had a 32% lower risk of mortality compared to participants who did not follow the Mediterranean Diet. The benefit was particularly evident for cardiovascular mortality, which was reduced by 60%”.
“These data support an interesting hypothesis - underlines Maria Benedetta Donati, Principal Investigator of the Joint Platform - that different chronic diseases, such as tumors and heart diseases, actually share the same molecular mechanisms. This is known in the literature as 'common soil', namely a common ground from which these two groups of disorders originate."
“The Mediterranean Diet – explains Chiara Tonelli, President of the Scientific Committee of the Umberto Veronesi Foundation – is mostly composed of foods such as fruit, vegetables and olive oil, that are natural sources of antioxidant compounds, which could explain the advantage observed in terms of mortality not only from cancer, but also from cardiovascular diseases, that can be reduced by diets particularly rich in these bioactive compounds. The UMBERTO Project is therefore oriented to increase knowledge of the mechanisms, in order to clarify the benefits of this dietary model also for more vulnerable population groups, such as cancer survivors".
The UMBERTO project
The UMBERTO Project stems from the scientific partnership between the Umberto Veronesi Foundation and the IRCCS Neuromed of Pozzilli with the main aim of disentangling the relationship between nutrition and tumors, with a particular focus on the Mediterranean Diet.
The Moli-sani Study
Started in March 2005, it involves about 25,000 citizens living in the Molise region. The aim is to learn about environmental and genetic factors underlying cardiovascular disease, cancer and degenerative pathologies. The Moli-sani Study, now based in the I.R.C.C.S. Neuromed, has transformed an entire Italian region in a large research lab.
The I.R.C.C.S. Neuromed
The Institute for Research, Hospitalization and Health Care (I.R.C.C.S.) Neuromed in Pozzilli (Italy) is a landmark, at Italian and international level, for research and therapy in the field of nervous system diseases. A centre in which doctors, researchers, staff and the patients themselves form an alliance aimed at ensuring the best level of service and cutting-edge treatments, guided by the most advanced scientific developments.
Mediterranean diet Is associated with lower all-cause and cardiovascular mortality among long-term cancer survivors
ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE
2-Jul-2024
Two new species of Psilocybe mushrooms discovered in southern Africa
In a paper published in the journal Mycologia this week, researchers from Stellenbosch University (SU) and citizen mycologists describe the two new species as Psilocybe ingeli and Psilocybe maluti.
PSILOCYBE MALUTI WAS FOUND GROWING IN PASTURELAND ON COW MANURE IN THE FREE STATE AND KWA-ZULU NATAL PROVINCES OF SOUTH AFRICA, AS WELL AS THE HIGHLANDS OF LESOTHO.
Two new species of psychoactive mushrooms in the genus Psilocybe have been described from southern Africa, bringing the list to six known species indigenous to Africa.
This is even though Psilocybe species are amongst the most well-known and well-studied species of psychoactive mushrooms in the world, with around 140 described species.
In a paper published in the journal Mycologia this week, researchers from Stellenbosch University (SU) and citizen mycologists describe the two new species as Psilocybe ingeli and Psilocybe maluti.
Psilocybe ingeli was first found in 2023 growing in pastureland in KwaZulu-Natal by Talan Moult, a self-taught citizen mycologist. Psilocybe maluti was first found on a Free State small holding in 2021 by Daniella Mulder, who sent photos of the mushrooms for identification to Andrew Killian, one of South Africa’s leading citizen mycologists based in Somerset West.
In both instances, the unusual looking specimens were sent to Breyten van der Merwe for DNA sequencing and analysis in the lab of Prof. Karin Jacobs in SU’s Department of Microbiology. Van der Merwe, now a postgraduate student in chemical engineering at SU, is a trained mycologist and first author of the paper.
The paper also contains information on the traditional use of P. maluti by Basotho traditional healers from the mountain kingdom of Lesotho. According to the researchers, this appears to be the only recorded first-hand report of hallucinogenic mushrooms being used traditionally in Africa.
Cullen Taylor Clark, a citizen mycologist and co-author, worked with Mamosebetsi Sethathi, a Mosotho traditional healer, to document the use of P. maluti (locally known as koae-ea-lekhoaba) in traditional healing practices. This forms part of a larger effort, led by Clark, to document the use of mushrooms by indigenous groups in southern Africa.
Van der Merwe says there are very likely more southern African species in this genus, and that more citizen scientists need to become involved: “These two species were sent to me by citizen scientists. It would be impossible for a single researcher to cover a fraction of an area these mushroom enthusiasts have access to. This is the only way we will be able to further studies in African mycology.”
Prof. Jacobs echoes this sentiment: “There are only a handful of mycologists in Africa documenting local biodiversity. Considering the vast mycological diversity on the continent, it is a daunting task. Collaborating with citizen mycologists is therefore hugely beneficial. In addition to more material, collaboration also opens avenues for conversation and exploration, which can lead to documenting mycophilia (the love of mushrooms) on the African continent.”
CAPTION
A single collection of Psilocybe ingeli was found in KwaZulu-Natal, growing in pasture land.
New research from the University of Utah demonstrates how wind-carried dust from the exposed bed of Great Salt Lake is disproportionately affecting disadvantaged communities in the Salt Lake metro area.
The findings suggest restoring the lake to a healthy water level would reduce disparities in harmful dust exposure experienced by different racial/ethnic and socioeconomic groups, along with delivering other ecological and economic benefits.
Exposure to particulate pollution arising from dry portions of the playa is highest among Pacific Islanders and Hispanics and lowest among white people compared to other racial/ethnic groups, according to the findings reported June 21 in the journal One Earth. It was also higher for individuals without a high school diploma.
This is likely because Salt Lake City’s lower-income neighborhoods are more likely to lie in the path of windblown dust from Great Salt Lake, which has shrunk to less than half its historical size, leaving about 800 square miles of lakebed exposed.
More than two decades of drought and unrelenting upstream diversions have contributed to the decline of the saline terminal lake located immediately west and north of Utah’s main population corridor along the Wasatch Front.
“People here in Utah are concerned about the lake for a variety of reasons—the ski industry, the brine shrimp, the migratory birds, recreation—and this study adds environmental justice and the equity implications of the drying lake to the conversation,” said lead author Sara Grineski, a professor of sociology and environmental studies.
Grineski led an interdisciplinary team of U faculty, largely associated with the Wilkes Center for Climate Science and Policy, from both the College of Social and Behavioral Science (CSBS) and the College of Science. Co-authors are Timothy Collins and Malcolm Araos (geography); John Lin, Derek Mallia and Kevin Perry (atmospheric sciences); and William Anderegg (biology).
The study analyzed data from the Utah Department of Environmental Quality’s air-quality monitoring network, which screens for fine particulate matter, or PM2.5. Comprised of ultra tiny particles that can penetrate lung tissue, this pollution is linked to myriad health problems, including cardiovascular disease and asthma.
During dust storms, current levels expose residents to 26 micrograms per cubic meter, or μg/m3, of PM2.5 on average, according to the study, significantly higher than the World Health Organization’s threshold of 15 μg/m3. Were the lake to dry up completely, exposure could rise to 32 μg/m3, while restoring the lake could reduce exposure to 24 μg/m3 during these wind events, according to the study.
The study examined four such events in 2022 on April 19, 20 and 21 and May 7, when spikes of recorded PM2.5 coincided with high winds.
For the study, which was funded by the National Science Foundation, researcher Derek Mallia developed a model for predicting exposure levels for the three counties abutting the lake’s east and south shores—Salt Lake, Davis and Weber, home to 1.8 million residents—under four different lake level scenarios. It uses a weather model that simulates wind direction and speed, and includes a wind-blown dust model, which measures how much dust is emitted from an erodible surface, such as the Great Salt Lake playa, and is primarily based on the wind speed and soil texture and characteristics.
“We have to use weather models, since we cannot physically go out to the lake and remove/add water to see how much more/less dust it would emit,” Mallia said. “Models like the one that I developed let us run these hypothetical scenarios.”
The study’s scenarios range from a totally dry lake, to very low lake level, to current lake, to ‘healthy’ lake level designated as 4,200 feet above sea level. The lake’s South Arm currently sits at 4,194.4 feet, almost 6 feet higher than the historic low of 4,188.7 registered at the end of 2022.
According to the model, neighborhood disparities in exposure levels would increase when the lake level drops.
“We frame it the converse. Lake levels rise, overall levels of dust go down during the dust events and the gap, especially between Hispanic and Pacific Islander people, narrows with respect to the level of dust exposure for non-Hispanic white people,” Grineski said. “So if we can take better care of the lake, the dust for everyone goes down and the gap in exposure between these groups goes down too.”
Her team’s prior research has previously documented disparities of PM2.5 exposure generally in the Salt Lake Valley
“There is a really strong pattern of inequality with respect to race and ethnicity,” she added. “It’s sort of a hopeful finding that if we can raise the lake to a ‘healthy’ level we can at least with respect to lake dust we can reduce some of that inequality.”
Most dust from the playa is PM10, pollution comprised of much larger particles that are only measured at a few of Utah’s air quality monitoring stations. Without a robust PM10 monitoring network, researchers and regulators are deprived of a key data source that could give a more complete assessment of the lakebed dust threat, according to co-author Kevin Perry. He said the study points to the need for Utah to expand its network of PM10 monitors since windblown lakebed dust contains about six times more PM10 than PM2.5.
“We have to use the PM2.5 data because that’s the network that we have available. It’s not what I would design and not what I would like to do,” he said. “Because of the network being so sparse, I can’t even answer a really basic question, like how many dust events do we have a year that are impacting these communities. And that’s super frustrating.”
A professor of atmospheric science, Perry is known as “Dr. Dust” thanks to his tireless bicycle forays across the vast lakebed gathering sediment samples. These sediments were found to be contaminated with heavy metals in some places.
He noted that potentially harmful dust events typically occur in the spring and fall when cold fronts pass through the Wasatch Front.
“Before a cold front gets here, we have really strong winds from the south that will last for 12 or 18 hours,” Perry said. “And where’s it pushing that dust? It’s pushing it to Layton, Syracuse, Ogden, Brigham City where we have almost no PM10 monitors at all, and then the wind reverses and we’ll get three to four or five hours of stuff coming into Salt Lake Valley where we do have monitors.”
Because of its ability to infiltrate living tissue, PM2.5 is considered more harmful to human health than PM10, which is also classified as a criteria pollutant under the federal Clean Air Act.
The exposed bed of Great Salt Lake, which has shrunk to about half its historic size over the past two decades, has become a source of dust pollution impacting Utah's population centers.
Harmful dust from drying lakes: Preserving Great Salt Lake (USA) water levels decreases ambient dust and racial disparities in population exposure
AMS science preview: Maui wildfire, Salt Lake drying, traffic and weather
Early online research from journals of the American Meteorological Society
AMERICAN METEOROLOGICAL SOCIETY
IMAGE:
“AN EAST-WEST VERTICAL CROSS SECTION INCLUDING LAHAINA AND THE EASTERN PORTION OF LANAI FROM A WRF FORECAST VALID 0300 9 AUGUST 2023." FIGURE 18, FROM Mass & Ovens (2024), “THE METEOROLOGY OF THE AUGUST 2023 MAUI WILDFIRE,” IN MONTHLY WEATHER REVIEW.
The American Meteorological Society continuously publishes research on climate, weather, and water in its 12 journals. Many of these articles are available for early online access–they are peer-reviewed, but not yet in their final published form.
Below is a selection of articles published early online recently. Some articles are open-access; to view others, members of the media can contact kpflaumer@ametsoc.org for press login credentials.
Wetter and drier in the U.S. Southeast. This study documents changes in precipitation in the U.S. Southeast from the 1960s to 2020, finding a drying of the inland Southeast and eastern Gulf Coast, and increased precipitation on the East Coast and southern Florida. The authors discuss the changes in atmospheric patterns that are responsible for these shifts.
“Extreme summer melting” increasing significantly in the Greenland ice sheet. The authors’ analysis finds an upward trend in extreme, nearly unprecedented melting events in the Greenland ice sheet, especially in the north and along the coasts—substantially contributing to global sea level rise. These events correlate with large-scale atmospheric circulation changes and increased summer air and ice-surface temperatures, among other factors that fuel the breakdown of ice sheets.
Humidity predicts kidney injury in Colorado. Chronic kidney disease (CKD) appears to be increasing in the U.S., despite declines in traditional risk factors; many communities at highest risk for CKD are also the most vulnerable to climate change impacts. A 15-year study in Colorado’s agrarian San Luis Valley found a significant correlation between heat and acute kidney injury (AKI, which can be a precursor to CKD); however, unlike in warmer climates, the greatest AKI predictor was low relative humidity: dry air.
Is climate model funding strategy wrong? Currently, funding for climate models focuses on increasing the resolution and complexity of atmospheric General Circulation Models (GCMs) for more accurate predictions. The authors argue that funding should be distributed more equitably among different model types, some of which–for instance, statistical and machine learning models, and those simulating economic and ecosystem impacts–are both complementary and vital for informing policy and decision-making.
Great Salt Lake drying causes feedback loop of drought. Utah’s Great Salt Lake has shrunk in recent years due to water diversions and drought–but this also means less lake water available to feed local rain patterns. A modeling study suggests that reducing the lake area dramatically reduces the amount of rain dropped by a specific storm; getting rid of the lake completely would halve the amount of precipitation dropped by the storm. This sheds light on how shrinking lakes feed regional droughts.
What caused the Maui wildfire? A meteorological analysis the 2023 Maui wildfire found that the event was well-forecast by meteorological models, and that the main meteorological contributors to the fire were stronger-than-normal northeast trade winds sweeping over the West Maui Mountains, accompanied by a stable atmospheric layer near the mountain crest forcing strong wind gusts down the mountains’ lee side (a downslope windstorm). The authors find no significant role for Hurricane Dora in the event, nor were the preceding months significantly drier than normal; the winter before the wildfire was wetter than normal.
Heat decreases (and rain increases) traffic congestion across Chinese cities. A study of meteorological and traffic data from 98 Chinese cities found that when temperatures warm past 25°C, traffic congestion decreases by 6%, while rainfall increases congestion by 2%-5.6% when it happens on a workday. Cities with subways were buffered somewhat from the effects of heat, but not rain.
Predicting Kansas wheat yield via El Niño, seasons ahead. The climate of Kansas is variable and warming, with unknown consequences for this major wheat-producing state. A new analysis suggests that signals in the El Niño-Southern Oscillation pattern in the eastern Pacific are strongly correlated with Kansas’s wheat crop yield a year or so in advance, which could help farmers plan and adapt for optimal production.
Western U.S. winter precipitation may be less affected by climate change. The authors’ analysis and modeling suggests that unlike some other facets of U.S. weather, the so-called 'West Mode' atmospheric pattern, responsible for 50% of western U.S. winter rainfall variability, has been relatively unresponsive to anthropogenic climate forcing thus far. Based on their model, the authors suggest that western winter rainfall "may possess some resilience to the effects of global warming in the coming decades.
ON THE AMS FRONT PAGE BLOG: A flight into Hurricane Ian in 2022 was officially the “bumpiest” ever in a Hurricane Hunter aircraft. A new way of measuring turbulence developed by the flight crew shows the effect of rough air on individual passengers. Read this research spotlight from the 36th Conference on Hurricanes and Tropical Meteorology. (Note: Meeting research is not always peer reviewed.)
About the American Meteorological Society
The American Meteorological Society advances the atmospheric and related sciences, technologies, applications, and services for the benefit of society. Founded in 1919, AMS has a membership of around 12,000 professionals, students, and weather enthusiasts. AMS publishes 12 atmospheric and related oceanic and hydrologic science journals; hosts more than 12 conferences annually; and offers numerous programs and services. Visit us at www.ametsoc.org/.
A new microscopy method has allowed researchers to detect tiny changes in the atomic-level architecture of crystalline materials – like advanced steels for ship hulls and custom silicon for electronics. The technique could advance our ability to understand the fundamental origins of materials properties and behaviour.
In a paper published today in Nature Materials, researchers from the University of Sydney’s School of Aerospace, Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering introduced a new way to decode the atomic relationships within materials.
The breakthrough could assist in the development of stronger and lighter alloys for the aerospace industry, new generation semiconductors for electronics, and improved magnets for electric motors. It could also enable the creation of sustainable, efficient and cost-effective products.
The study, led by University of Sydney Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research Infrastructure) Professor Simon Ringer, harnessed the power of atom probe tomography (APT) to unlock the intricacies of short-range order (SRO). The SRO process is key to understanding the local atomic environments essential for development of innovative materials which could underpin a new generation of alloys and semiconductors.
SRO is sometimes likened to the ‘materials genome’, the arrangement or configuration of atoms within a crystal. This is significant because different local atomic arrangements influence the electronic, magnetic, mechanical, optical, and other properties of materials, which have a bearing on the safety and functionality of a range of products.
Until now, SRO has been challenging for researchers to measure and quantify because atomic arrangements occur at a scale so small that they are difficult to see with conventional microscopy techniques.
The new method using APT, developed by Professor Ringer’s team, overcomes these challenges, paving the way for advances in materials science that could have far-reaching implications across steels for ship hulls and custom silicon for electronics ina range of industries.
"Beyond crystal structure and symmetry, we wanted to know more about the atomic-scale neighbourhood relationships within the crystal—are they random, or non-random? If the latter, we want to quantify that. SRO gives us this information in detail, opening up vast possibilities for materials that are custom-designed, atom-by-atom, with specificneighbourhood arrangements to achieve desired properties like strength."
The study focused on high entropy alloys, which are promising for various advanced engineering applications.
“These alloys are the subject of an enormous worldwide research effort because of the interest in using them in situations requiring high-temperature strength, such as in jet engines and power plants, as well as for neutron irradiation shielding in nuclear reactors, where protection against radiation damage is necessary,” said Professor Ringer.
The team used advanced data science techniques drawing on data from APT —a sophisticated imaging technique that visualises atoms in 3D, allowing the team to observe and measure SRO, comparing how it changes in alloys under different processing conditions.
The research focused on observations of a cobalt-chromium-nickel high entropy alloy, revealing how differentheat treatments can change SRO.
“This provides a template for future studies in which SRO controls critical material properties. There is lots more to do on various aspects of the analysis of SRO—it’s a hard problem, but this is an important step forward,” said Professor Ringer.
Dr Mengwei He, postdoctoral research fellow in the School of Aerospace, Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering said:
"The ability to measure and understand short-range order has transformed our approach to materials design. It gives us a new set of eyes to see how small changes at the atomic level architecture can lead to giant leaps in materials performance."
Critically, the study enhances the capabilities of researchers to computationally simulate, model and ultimately predict materials behaviour because SRO provides the detailed atomic-scale blueprint.
Senior postdoctoral fellow Dr Andrew Breen said: “We have demonstrated that there are regimes where the SRO really can be measured using atom probe tomography. Not only have we pioneered an experimental approach and computational framework to measuring SRO, we have produced a sensitivity analysis that bounds the precise range of circumstances whereby such measurements are valid, and where they are not valid.”
Dr Will Davids, who completed his doctorate with Professor Ringer and now works for engineering firm Infravue said: “This is an exciting advance because we’ve shown that SRO measurements are possible in multicomponent alloys, which will no doubt be of benefit to the materials science and engineering community. The community are now going to want to learn how to further expand the measurable regime of SRO, so a big space in this research field has just opened up.”
Disclosure
The research was supported by the Australia Research Council’s (ARC) Discovery Program. The team also acknowledge support from the Australia–US Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (AUSMURI) program supported by the Australian Government. The team acknowledge technical and scientific support for experiments conducted at the following research facilities: Sydney Microscopy and Microanalysis (SMM), Sydney Analytical, Sydney Informatics Hub and Sydney Manufacturing Hub. SMM is a foundational node of Microscopy Australia, the NCRIS supported national microscopy facility. This research team are all members of the School of Aerospace, Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering in the Faculty of Engineering, and are members of the Australian Centre for Microscopy & Microanalysis. A patent application by Professor Ringer is partly related to this work.
