Thursday, April 10, 2025

Dogs could help predict valley fever spread in humans

One of the largest animal studies finds strong correlation between occurrence of dog and human disease

University of California - Davis

Cocci dog — image:
A UC Davis study finds that dogs could be indicators for Valley fever spread in humans.
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Credit: Dr. William Zachary Mills DVM, MPH, MBA

Valley fever, or coccidioidomycosis, is caused by a fungus that thrives in moist soils and becomes airborne during drought. Its spores are easily inhaled, leading to infection. Climate change is creating the perfect conditions for it in the Western United States, with increasing heavy rains followed by prolonged drought. A new study by University of California, Davis, researchers shows that dogs, who are also susceptible to the disease, can help us understand its spread.

“Dogs are sentinels for human infections,” said lead author Jane Sykes, professor of small animal internal medicine at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. “They can help us understand not just the epidemiology of the disease but they’re also models to help us understand the disease in people.”

Valley fever is common in animals, especially dogs that dig in dirt. The study, published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases, examined nearly 835,000 blood antibody tests from dogs that had been tested for the infection across the country between 2012 and 2022. Nearly 40% of them tested positive.

Valley fever spread

Sykes, along with colleagues at UC Berkeley, also mapped positive results by location and found valley fever in dogs spread from just 2.4% of U.S. counties in 2012 to 12.4% in 2022.

“We were also finding cases in states where valley fever is not considered endemic,” said Sykes. “We should be closely watching those states because there could be under-recognition of the emerging fungal disease in humans.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention receives 10,000 to 20,000 reports of human cases every year, but the actual number of cases may be at least 33-fold higher. Many states do not require the reporting of human cases. The CDC considers valley fever endemic is parts of six states, including Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas and Utah. The study found valley fever in dogs those states, but also in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming and Colorado.

Sykes said the sheer number of cases cannot be explained by dogs visiting other states, since dogs travel far less frequently than humans. Further, the dog cases correlated with human cases, including in known valley fever “hot spots” in Arizona, California, Texas, New Mexico and Nevada.

States with highest number of cases

Arizona accounted for 91.5% of positive tests, followed by California (3.7%), Nevada, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas (2.6% combined), Washington, Oregon and Idaho (0.6% combined). The remaining states (1.3% combined) reported far fewer positive results.

Arizona also had the highest incidence rate of any other state. Rates were 100-fold of those in California, Nevada and New Mexico.

Every state with more than 0.50 tests per 10,000 households a year showed an increasing number of cases of valley fever per 10,000 households in dogs over the study period.

Dogs as models for human disease

Dog breeds that like to dig are more at risk of getting the disease. That includes most medium-to-large dogs as well as terriers. Dogs also exhibit some of the same signs of valley fever as humans. They can have a cough as the infection develops in their lungs. The fungus can also spread to the bones, brain and skin and require lifelong antifungal injections. Dogs can also die from the disease.

Sykes suggested that dogs are an under-recognized model for understanding valley fever. By learning more about valley fever in dogs, scientists may discover new tests or treatments for the disease in humans. They may also help prevent misdiagnosis or undiagnosed disease in humans.

Other authors of the study include George Thompson III of UC Davis School of Medicine and Simon Camponuri, Amanda Weaver and Justin Remais of UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health.

Funding for the research performed at UC Berkeley came from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the National Institutes of Health.

Journal

The Journal of Infectious Diseases

DOI

10.1093/infdis/jiaf184

Subject of Research

Animals

Article Title

Use of dog serologic data for improved understanding of coccidioidomycosis: A One Health approach

Article Publication Date

8-Apr-2025

Georgia’s pre-K program boosts kindergarten readiness

University of Georgia

Children who attend school-based sites in Georgia’s universal pre-K program start kindergarten better prepared than their peers who do not attend any Georgia pre-K, according to a new study from the University of Georgia. But those academic gains fade by fourth grade.

With his co-authors, Ishtiaque Fazlul, UGA assistant professor of international affairs and health policy and management in the School of Public and International Affairs, analyzed pre-K enrollment lottery data from a metro Atlanta school district. The findings highlight the short-term academic benefits of pre-K while raising questions about how to sustain those gains over time.

The study also found that low-income students benefited the most — suggesting that pre-K may be especially important for closing early achievement gaps.

“Our research shows that Georgia’s pre-K program gives children a strong start, but the challenge is maintaining those early advantages,” said Fazlul. “This study reinforces the importance of pre-K, especially for low-income families, while also showing that we need to think about how to better support students beyond pre-K.”

Big kindergarten gains, diminishing effects over time

The researchers measured the impact of enrollment on student performance by comparing students who attended Georgia’s school-based pre-K program after winning an enrollment lottery to those who applied but did not win the lottery and did not attend any Georgia pre-K site.

The study followed students from kindergarten through fourth grade and used data on math and reading test scores, school attendance and disciplinary infractions. The results showed that school-based pre-K attendees entered kindergarten scoring about 6 percentiles higher in reading and math on the Measures of Academic Progress test. However, those advantages faded by first and second grade, and by fourth grade, some attendees scored slightly lower than their peers.

Although the reason for this decline isn’t entirely clear, this pattern is common in pre-K research. “It doesn’t mean pre-K isn’t working, but it does raise important questions about how we sustain learning gains beyond early childhood,” Fazlul said.

The study was published in Economic Inquiry. Co-authors include Henry Woodyard and Tim Sass.

Journal

Economic Inquiry

DOI

10.1111/ecin.13288

Article Title

Assessing the benefits of education in early childhood: Evidence from a Pre-K lottery in Georgia

Article Publication Date

9-Apr-2025

Academic medicine is in urgent need of a revolution, say experts

The BMJ Commission on the Future of Academic Medicine sets out its vision to transform academic medicine and help improve population and planetary health

BMJ Group

Academic medicine is in urgent need of a revolution, say experts in the first report of The BMJ Commission on the Future of Academic Medicine as they set out principles for transforming academic medicine and improving population and planetary health.

For decades, the role of academic medicine has been to train doctors who have led on generating research and provide services to improve health outcomes in a growing global population, explain Commission chairs Sonia Saxena at Imperial College London, Miguel O’Ryan at the University of Chile and Fran Baum at the University of Adelaide.

But they warn that a crisis in the academic workforce alongside challenges to research funding “mean that the goals and success measures of academic medicine are no longer aligned with improving health and wellbeing outcomes in the population.”

These longstanding problems are exacerbated by the policies of the current US administration, they add. These have resulted in loss of funding and academic workforce, destruction of data, and restricted freedom of speech, “creating fear, despair, and anger among the global academic community and increasing public mistrust of science.”

In the first paper published today, the chairs examine progress and failures against reforms to academic medicine that were envisaged at the start of the 21st century and propose five core principles that should underwrite academic medicine globally for today and the future, irrespective of current disruptive sociopolitical views.

These are a focus on health outcomes of populations and the planet; align goals of academic medicine and health systems; embed ethics, participation, and relevance; deliver equitable health outcomes; and have real world impact.

“Our vision for academic medicine in 2050 is first and foremost about working with other stakeholders to promote the health and wellbeing of people and the planet and will require a revolution to resuscitate our current broken system,” say the authors.

As research provides the evidence to underpin efforts to improve health and health equity, “the backbone of our vision will be talent development across the globe to create a sustainable career structure for those who choose academia but also to improve the research capacity and capability across the medical and health professions,” they explain.

“Finally our vision is that academic medicine will drive positive change in the real world and no longer be an abstract concept that is misaligned with what matters to patients and the public,” they conclude.

Other articles from the Commission will examine regional perspectives from across the world and deal with focused topics including equity, corporate, and other key drivers of the research agenda and the needs of the future generation of clinical and public health academics.

[Ends]

Journal

The BMJ

DOI

10.1136/bmj.r561

Method of Research

Content analysis

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Vision 2050: a revolution in academic medicine for better health for all

Article Publication Date

10-Apr-2025

COI Statement

We have read and understood BMJ policy on declaration of interests and declare the following. The authors are co-chairs of the BMJ Commission on the Future of Academic Medicine. SS is a NIHR senior investigator and holds grants from NIHR School for Public Health Research (20400) and Northwest London Applied Resarch Collaboration and for chairing the selection committee for doctoral research fellowships for NIHR Academy. She is president of the child and adolescent health section of the European Public Health Association. FB is a NHMRC investigator fellow and holds grants from the Australian NHMRC and Austalian Research Council. She is a member of the Advisory Council of the Global People ’s Health Movement, life member of the Public Health Association of Australia, and fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia and the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences.

Evaluation of eco-driving performance of electric vehicles using driving behavior-enabled graph spectrums: A naturalistic driving study in China

Beijing Institute of Technology Press Co., Ltd

As the world races toward carbon neutrality, electric vehicles (EVs) have emerged as a cornerstone of sustainable transportation, particularly in developing nations like China. However, simply switching to EVs isn't enough—how we drive these vehicles significantly impacts their ecological benefits. Researchers have now developed an innovative approach using "graph spectrums" to visualize and analyze driving behaviors, revealing the hidden relationships between driving patterns and energy consumption in electric vehicles.

The groundbreaking study conducted in China employed naturalistic driving experiments to collect real-world data from electric vehicle drivers. Unlike previous research that relied on structured data alone, this study harnessed the power of graph theory to create visual representations of driving behaviors and their associated energy consumption patterns.

The results are striking. By analyzing data across four distinct traffic states—congested close car-following (CCCF), constrained slow free-flow (CSSF), constrained slow car-following (CSCF), and unconstrained fast free-flow (UFFF)—researchers were able to identify specific driving behaviors that significantly impact energy efficiency.

Key findings reveal that rapid acceleration is a primary culprit behind excessive energy consumption, with energy-intensive drivers showing markedly more acceleration and deceleration events, particularly in congested traffic conditions. The study quantified that eco-driving behaviors can reduce vehicle energy consumption by at least 5-10%—a substantial improvement that could have massive implications when scaled across millions of vehicles.

This research doesn't just offer theoretical insights—it provides actionable guidance for EV owners. The visualization method clearly demonstrates that drivers should avoid rapid acceleration in all traffic conditions to achieve more ecological driving patterns. The study also identified that driving behavior is most complex and least ecological during congested traffic states, suggesting that drivers should be particularly mindful of their driving habits in heavy traffic. Perhaps most importantly, the research revealed that fifteen drivers studied had lower ecological scores during vehicle start-up—a critical insight that could inform both driver education and vehicle design optimization.

The implications of this research extend far beyond academic interest. The graph spectrum methodology offers a foundation for developing personalized eco-driving feedback systems that could be integrated into electric vehicles, providing real-time guidance to drivers. While this study focused exclusively on electric vehicles, researchers suggest that future work should compare the energy-saving performance of typical driving behaviors between fuel vehicles and electric vehicles to develop even more targeted ecological driving strategies.

This innovative approach to visualizing driving behavior represents a significant advancement in our understanding of eco-driving. By making the invisible relationships between driving behavior and energy consumption visible, the research empowers drivers, manufacturers, and policymakers with the insights needed to maximize the ecological benefits of electric vehicles. As electric vehicle adoption continues to accelerate globally—with over 18 million New Energy Vehicles already on China's roads alone—these insights could play a crucial role in achieving ambitious carbon reduction goals while optimizing the performance of our increasingly electrified transportation system.

Journal

Green Energy and Intelligent Transportation

DOI

10.1016/j.geits.2024.100246

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Evaluation of eco-driving performance of electric vehicles using driving behavior-enabled graph spectrums: A naturalistic driving study in China

Healthy forests require combined deer and invasive shrub control

A recent WSSA research article shows significant drawbacks to focusing on just one threat to native forest regeneration

Cambridge University Press

image:
A white-tailed deer browses Amur honeysuckle, an invasive shrub within the height deer can reach. Photo Credit: Elea Cooper.
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Credit: Elea Cooper

WESTMINSTER, Colorado – 10 April 2025 – If left unchecked, both overabundant white-tailed deer populations and invasive shrubs like Amur honeysuckle (Lonicera maackii) can devastate deciduous native tree regeneration. Yet, a management strategy focused only on deer, or only on invasive shrubs, results in little or no forest health improvement, according to research from Ohio, spanning more than 10 years.

“Control of only invasive shrubs will reduce native cover and not improve tree regeneration,” says David Gorchov, Ph.D., and Miami University (Ohio) biology professor. “Managing only deer will increase woody plants but reduce native cover. Management of both stressors is needed to promote tree regeneration and plant community restoration.”

These conclusions summarize research, recently published online in Invasive Plant Science and Management (IPSM), volume 17, issue 1, by Cambridge University Press, a Weed Science Society of America (WSSA) research journal. For this study, Gorchov and his coauthors, M.S. student Marco Donoso and undergraduate honors student Hanna Leonard, investigated deer pressure and Amur honeysuckle effects for 11 years in a split-plot experiment in the Miami University Natural Areas in southwest Ohio, where both were at high density.

To conduct the research, Gorchov and another Miami University biology professor, Tom Crist, Ph.D., established deer exclosure and deer access plots in 2010, and removed invasive honeysuckle in each plot half. “Excluding deer, but not removing honeysuckle, significantly increased the density and species diversity of tree seedlings,” says Gorchov. “However, for some tree species – Sugar Maple, Red Oak, Bitternut Hickory, Black Cherry, Redbud – the combination of deer exclosure and shrub removal was necessary to enhance abundance, though that same combination allowed some invasive plants, like Burning Bush and Winter Creeper, to thrive.”

Forest regeneration failure means insufficient juvenile tree density to replace canopy trees. “We found that tree seedlings responded more to deer exclusion than to Amur honeysuckle removal, but combining both measures results in the greatest tree seedling density and species richness,” points out Gorchov. “Managing both deer and invasive shrubs is necessary to realize the greatest improvement in tree seedling density and diversity and recruitment of trees from seedlings to the understory-size class, as well as cover of native plants.”

White-tailed deer and invasive shrubs that deer find palatable are commonly found in high densities in deciduous forests in the eastern and midwestern United States. As a result, these findings will help to inform forest managers throughout the region about successful practices to help forests thrive.

More information is available in the IPSM article, “Long-term interactive impacts of the invasive shrub Lonicera maackii and white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) on a deciduous forest understory.“ IPSM is the official publication of the Weed Science Society of America.

About Invasive Plant Science and Management

Invasive Plant Science and Management is a journal of the Weed Science Society of America, a nonprofit scientific society focused on weeds and their impact on the environment. The publication presents peer-reviewed original research related to all aspects of weed science, including the biology, ecology, physiology, management and control of weeds. To learn more, visit www.wssa.net.

Media Contact:

Antonio DiTommaso, Ph.D.

Editor - Invasive Plant Science and Management

ad97@cornell.edu, (607) 254-4702

Journal

Invasive Plant Science and Management

DOI

10.1017/inp.2024.2

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Long-term interactive impacts of the invasive shrub Lonicera maackii and white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) on a deciduous forest understory

Food insecurity may have driven increased TB mortality during the COVID-19 pandemic

“Nutritional support interventions should be implemented as a part of future pandemic response”

Boston University School of Medicine

(Boston)—During the COVID-19 pandemic, tuberculosis (TB) mortality surged for the first time in two decades. While these increases were widely attributed to disruptions to TB services, such as diagnostic delays and treatment interruptions, a new study suggests that we may have overlooked the impact of food insecurity during pandemic lockdowns.

Using individual interviews and focus group discussions, researchers from Boston University, Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research, and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, found that 78% of households had no income, 67% resorted to distress financing to afford food, and 44% changed their diets—often by eating less or substituting less nutritious foods during the COVID-19 lockdowns in Southern India. Given the well-established link between undernutrition and TB progression, these findings raise important concerns about how food insecurity during crises may fuel TB-related deaths.

“For much of the pandemic, we focused on service disruptions to explain the rise in TB mortality, but our study highlights another critical factor—nutritional shocks,” explained corresponding author Pranay Sinha, MD, assistant professor of medicine at Boston University. Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine. “Decades of research have shown us that undernutrition increases the risk of TB progression among household contacts and increases the risk of death among persons with TB.”

The study was conducted as part of the TB LION (Tuberculosis - Learning the Impact of Nutrition) project, which provided six months of nutritional support—including calorie-dense food baskets—to household contacts of persons with TB in Puducherry and Tamil Nadu, India. Participants who received nutritional support reported improvements in food security, weight gain, and overall well-being, further underscoring the importance of food assistance during health crises.

According to the researchers, these findings highlight a crucial gap in pandemic response planning. “During crises like COVID-19, it is vital to address the emergency at hand, but we must also recognize and mitigate the nutritional shocks that can compound the crisis, particularly for vulnerable populations.” said Sinha. “Nutritional support must be a core component of emergency response strategies—not an afterthought.”

These findings appear in PLOS Global Public Health.

This research was supported by funding from NIAID [K01AI167733-01] Warren Alpert Foundation [6005415], Burroughs Wellcome Fund/ASTMH Postdoctoral Fellowship, Civilian Research and Development Foundation [DAA3-19-65673-1].

Journal

PLOS Global Public Health

DOI

10.1371/journal.pgph.0004242

Method of Research

Survey

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Food insecurity in South Indian households with TB during COVID-19 lockdowns and the impact of nutritional interventions: A qualitative study

Article Publication Date

9-Apr-2025