THIRD WORLD USA

Rural residents, American Indians travel farthest for certified stroke care

Stroke Journal Report

AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATION

Research News

 

DALLAS, June 10, 2021 -- The distance a stroke patient must travel to receive care at a certified stroke center differs by race, age, income and insurance status, with the largest disparities found among rural residents and American Indians, according to a combined analysis of U.S. census data and road maps published today in Stroke, a journal of the American Stroke Association, a division of the American Heart Association.

Treatment for ischemic stroke, a blockage in an artery that supplies blood to the brain, restores blood flow to the brain. Rapid treatment is essential to reduce disability. Blood flow may be reestablished by administering intravenous clot-busting medication within 4.5 hours after the onset of stroke symptoms and ideally within one hour after hospital arrival. All certified stroke centers offer treatment with clot-busting medication as well as being staffed by medical professionals trained in stroke care and employ other measures to improve stroke care .

"Every day, those of us who treat stroke face the reality that our desire to help everyone competes with the fact that millions of Americans cannot reach us in time," said senior study author Akash Kansagra, M.D., M.S., associate professor of radiology, neurological surgery and neurology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. "Stroke patients have a much better chance of recovery if they can get to a stroke hospital quickly. The question we wanted to address was whether certain Americans have to travel farther than others to receive the expertise that might save them if they have a stroke."

The 2019 American Heart Association/American Stroke Association guidelines recommend stroke patients be taken by emergency medical services to the nearest stroke-capable hospital, as well as using interactive videoconferencing to provide acute stroke care, also known as "telestroke," for patients in remote settings.

The American Heart Association with the Joint Commission collaborate to provide hospitals Acute Stroke Ready Certification, Primary Stroke Certification, Thrombectomy-Capable Stroke Certification and Comprehensive Stroke Certification to qualifying hospitals.

Researchers used a public mapping service to compare the road distance to the nearest certified stroke center for each census tract (small geographic areas defined for the U.S. census) in the 48 contiguous states and the District of Columbia. For each census tract, they gathered data from the U.S. Census Bureau's 2014-2018 American Community Survey on age, race, ethnicity, medical insurance status, income and population density. The analysis covered 98% of all U.S. census tracts, which include more than 316 million people and more than 2,300 stroke-certified hospitals.

Researchers noted the longest distances to stroke-certified centers were for people living in rural areas, rural areas with more elderly people, areas where fewer people had health insurance, census tracts with lower household income levels and with greater representation of American Indians.

Specifically:

• In rural areas, census tracts with more elderly residents were farther from stroke centers, with each 1% increase in people ages 65 or older representing a 0.31-mile longer distance to travel. There was no clear relationship between the density of the elderly population and distance to stroke care in urban areas.
• In both urban and rural areas, census tracts with a larger proportion of American Indian residents were farther from certified stroke care centers, with each 1% increase in the proportion of American Indians representing a 0.06-mile longer distance to travel in urban areas and a 0.66-mile longer distance in rural areas.
• In both urban and rural areas, tracts with more uninsured people were farther from stroke centers; each 1% increase in the proportion of patients that were uninsured represented a 0.01-mile longer difference to travel in urban areas and a 0.17-mile longer distance in rural areas.
• The relationship between income and distance to a certified stroke center was reversed between urban and rural areas. In urban areas, each $10,000 increase in median household income represented a 0.10-mile longer distance to travel. In rural areas, each $10,000 increase in household income represented a 3.13-mile shorter distance to travel.

"Beyond actual differences in geographic proximity to stroke care between urban and non-urban tracts, our analysis found remarkable differences in the associations between demographic characteristics and stroke care proximity in urban and rural settings," Kansagra said.

Kansagra said it was unclear why people over age 65 in rural areas were farther from certified stroke centers, "however, the trend is unsettling. While a stroke can occur at any age, the risk is higher in older adults. It is concerning that the people most likely to experience a stroke are also more likely to live far from a stroke hospital."

Researchers said the finding that a higher income level meant a greater distance to stroke care in urban areas but a lesser distance to travel in rural areas probably reflects the concentration of wealth in suburban areas. "What surprised me was that no such reversal occurred in areas where more residents did not have health insurance," Kansagra said. "No matter where we looked, areas with low levels of medical insurance were located farther from stroke care compared to areas with high levels of insurance."

Researchers said the entities that certify stroke-capable hospitals "must continue to encourage development and certification of stroke centers in non-urban areas and emphasize return on investment in terms of health benefit to citizens rather than financial benefit to hospitals." At the same time, state governments can develop more integrated and coordinated systems of care including emergency medical services capable of rapid triage and transfer of stroke patients to the most appropriate stroke center.

The study results also reinforce the importance of knowing about the stroke care centers within your community. "Not all hospitals have the resources to provide stroke care. Patients and their families can advocate for their well-being by insisting on being taken to a qualified stroke hospital," he said.

The current study is limited by relying in part on state websites to identify stroke centers and by the inability to consider policies that may instruct emergency medical services to bypass certain hospitals. Since traffic congestion can increase travel time in certain areas, the study is also limited by having measures of distance but not travel time.

An accompanying editorial by Michael T. Mullen, M.D., M.S. and Olajide A. Williams, M.D. M.S., recognized that this study builds on previous work but it did not distinguish between primary stroke centers and comprehensive centers, which offer different levels of stroke care.

In addition, Mullen and Williams write that the distance to a stroke hospital is only one piece of a much larger series of issues: "Geographic accessibility is not the same as realized access to care and may not translate into improved stroke outcomes. ... Systematic differences in hospital characteristics related to actual performance may also influence stroke outcomes independently of distance barriers. Notwithstanding, addressing the barriers posed by physical distance to stroke centers as highlighted in this study is a necessary and important pursuit."

Kansagra and his co-researchers are currently analyzing how far Americans need to travel to receive mechanical thrombectomy, a surgical procedure used to remove blood clots in patients who suffer from severe, clot-caused stroke.

To recognize stroke symptoms requiring immediate treatment, the American Stroke Association recommends everyone remember the acronym F.A.S.T. for Face drooping, Arm weakness, Speech difficulty, Time to call 9-1-1.

According to the American Heart Association's Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics -- 2021 Update, when considered separately from other cardiovascular disease, stroke ranks No. 5 among all causes of death in the U.S. and is a leading cause of serious disability in adults. Stroke occurs when a blood vessel to or in the brain either becomes blocked or bursts, preventing blood and oxygen from reaching all of the brain.

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Co-authors with Kansagra are Cathy Y. Yu, B.S.; Timothy Blaine, B.S.; and Peter D. Panagos, M.D. No disclosures were reported.

The study was funded by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences of the National Institutes of Health.

Additional Resources:

Multimedia is available on the right column of the release link: https://newsroom.heart.org/news/rural-residents-american-indians-travel-farthest-for-certified-stroke-care?preview=41eeb09020f9acb1c26bc54751c2e753

After June 10, 2021, view the manuscript and editorial online.

Find stroke centers in your areas

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Stroke deaths rise in rural areas, hold steady in cities

Why Getting Quick Stroke Treatment Is Important

Follow AHA/ASA news on Twitter @HeartNews

Follow news from Stroke, the ASA/AHA journal @StrokeAHA_ASA

Statements and conclusions of studies published in the American Heart Association's scientific journals are solely those of the study authors and do not necessarily reflect the Association's policy or position. The Association makes no representation or guarantee as to their accuracy or reliability. The Association receives funding primarily from individuals; foundations and corporations (including pharmaceutical, device manufacturers and other companies) also make donations and fund specific Association programs and events. The Association has strict policies to prevent these relationships from influencing the science content. Revenues from pharmaceutical and biotech companies, device manufacturers and health insurance providers are available here, and the Association's overall financial information is available here.

About the American Stroke Association

The American Stroke Association is a relentless force for a world with fewer strokes and longer, healthier lives. We team with millions of volunteers and donors to ensure equitable health and stroke care in all communities. We work to prevent, treat and beat stroke by funding innovative research, fighting for the public's health, and providing lifesaving resources. The Dallas-based association was created in 1998 as a division of the American Heart Association. To learn more or to get involved, call 1-888-4STROKE or visit stroke.org. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

 

Losing nature impacts Black, Hispanic, and low-income Americans most

Pioneering study shows loss of nature will exacerbate racial and income inequality

UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT

Research News

 

IMAGE: WHEN NATURE VANISHES, U.S. PEOPLE OF COLOR AND LOW-INCOME AMERICANS DISPROPORTIONALLY LOSE CRITICAL ENVIRONMENTAL AND HEALTH BENEFITS, FROM AIR QUALITY TO NATURAL DISEASE CONTROL. NEW RESEARCH SHOWS THAT LAND-USE CONVERSION... view more 

CREDIT: UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT

When nature vanishes, people of color and low-income Americans disproportionally lose critical environmental and health benefits--including air quality, crop productivity and natural disease control--a new study in Nature Communications finds.

The University of Vermont research is the first national study to explore the unequal impacts on American society--by race, income and other demographics--of projected declines in nature, and its many benefits, across the United States.

Focusing on three vital ecosystem services--air quality, crop pollination, and control of insect-borne disease (West Nile virus), researchers project that these benefits of nature will decrease for non-white people by an average of 224%, 118% and 111% between 2020 and 2100.

Researchers used advanced modeling to calculate changes in the distribution of these benefits by race, income levels, and population density (rural, urban, suburban).

"Given current and historical inequality in this country, our goal was to identify how future losses of nature might affect these racial and income disparities," says UVM researcher Jesse Gourevitch. "Unfortunately, we find that, in general, non-white, lower-income, and urban populations disproportionately bear the burden of declines in ecosystem benefits."

Opposing trends

Experts agree that in the future, urban populations are expected to grow, while rural populations shrink, and demographic groups become more segregated. Declines in nature will be largely driven by the conversion of forests and wetlands to cropland and urban development.

According to the study, land-use conversion trends are likely to be stronger in counties where marginalized populations are expected to grow. As a result, people of color are predicted to lose nature's benefits, while white communities are projected to see gains. Black and Hispanic people are expected to experience a substantial loss of benefits, in particular.

Among income groups, counties with the lowest per capita income are expected to experience the greatest losses in air quality and West Nile virus protection--while these benefits increase significantly in high income counties.

"By paying attention to race and income--which are often overlooked in environmental research--we can help leaders address inequities in their policy decisions, so that nature's benefits are distributed more equitably in the future," says UVM Prof. Taylor Ricketts, a global expert on measuring nature's benefits.

Troubling mismatches

Geographically, the study predicts significant "mismatches" between ecosystems benefits and human needs. For example, the team finds major declines in air quality and disease controls in urban counties where populations are expected to grow. Similarly, the researchers find steep declines in crop pollination--which is vital for farming--in rural areas, where agricultural productivity is most essential.

Beyond simply highlighting social and environmental problems, researchers say that targeted land use policies that factor in equity are needed to avoid exacerbating inequality in the U.S. These findings could also help to facilitate compensation for losses of nature's benefits among marginalized groups, they say.

"To be clear, these results don't imply that the U.S. is moving from an equitable baseline to an inequitable future," says UVM co-author Luz de Wit. "Today's inequities underpin the future disparities we estimate. For instance, Black and Hispanic people are currently disproportionately exposed to air pollution. That disparity, and others, are only expected to worsen in the future, without action."

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The study was led by an international UVM team of researchers--representing Mexico, Colombia and the U.S., including Puerto Rico. Co-authors include: Jesse D. Gourevitch, Aura M. Alonso-Rodríguez, Natalia Aristizábal, Luz A. de Wit, Eva Kinnebrew, Caitlin E. Littlefield, Maya Moore, Charles C. Nicholson, Aaron J. Schwartz, and Taylor H. Ricketts.

Leaders who embrace on-job learning and listen to employees have more resilient teams, research show

RICE UNIVERSITY

Research News

 

HOUSTON - (June 10, 2021) - Leaders who encourage their employees to learn on the job and speak up with ideas and suggestions for change have teams that are more effective and resilient in the face of unexpected situations, according to new research from Rice University and the University of Windsor.

"A Resource Model of Team Resilience Capacity and Learning" will appear in a special issue of Group & Organization Management. Authors Kyle Brykman, an assistant professor at the Odette School of Business at the University of Windsor, and Danielle King, an assistant professor of psychological sciences at Rice, studied what makes employees more resilient and fosters learning in the workplace. The researchers specifically examined the interactions of 48 teams from five Canadian technology startups.

"Understanding what organizations can do to help employees become more resilient is the focus our work in my WorKing Resilience Research Laboratory," King said. "This research project offered an opportunity to uncover the important role of leadership and employee voice in the resilience process."

Brykman and King found that teams that were more effective and resilient if their bosses encourage employees to take risks, make suggestions and learn from the process. Creating a work environment centered around learning and open communication is helpful as teams grow and take on new tasks, King said. Leaders must reinforce this workplace culture with positive language that signals openness and a focus on their development, she said.

"Knowing that you have a leader who is focused on learning and not just on performance outcomes is critical," King said. "It's also important for them to be intentional about communicating this regularly to employees, as it can make all the difference in building more resilient teams. Leaders need to verbally reward a learning mindset. For example, when a boss responds to an employee who makes an on-the-job error by saying, 'Great, now you can learn from this experience,' rather than berating them for making a mistake, it makes a big difference."

To request a copy of the study, contact Amy McCaig, senior media relations specialist at Rice, at 713-348-6777 or amym@rice.edu.

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This news release can be found online at news.rice.edu.

Follow Rice News and Media Relations on Twitter @RiceUNews.

Photo link: https://cpb-us-e1.wpmucdn.com/news-network.rice.edu/dist/c/2/files/2021/06/52037875_l.jpg

Photo credit: 123rf.com

New research shows link between politics, boredom and breaking public-health rules

UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO

 NEWS RELEASE 10-JUN-2021

Research News

 

People who are more prone to boredom and who are socially conservative are more likely to break public-health rules, according to new psychology research.

While previous research demonstrated a connection between being highly prone to boredom and breaking social-distancing rules, this study demonstrated the association was more prominent as participants' social conservatism increased.

"Many public-health measures such as wearing a mask or getting a vaccine have become highly politicized," said James Danckert, professor of psychology at the University of Waterloo. "People who find these measures a threat to their identity, and who suffer from boredom a lot, find breaking the rules helps them re-establish a sense of meaning and identity. Boredom threatens our need to make meaning out of life and some things such as politics can strengthen our sense of identity and meaning."

For the study, researchers asked more than 900 people to respond to questions about boredom, political ideology and adhering to public-health measures such as wearing a mask or not socializing outside one's household. They then applied a variety of statistical analysis techniques to explore the relations that underly these elements.

As the pandemic continues, the work has implications for public-health policy and communications. For instance, focusing on what people can do rather than what they are restricted from doing. Such messaging could help provide a more positive framework to help people ground their sense of identity and control.

"Many of the restrictions have become heavily politicized and much of the messaging from governments has focused on personal responsibility," Danckert said. "But this can become finger pointing and blaming and most of us recoil from that. What we need is to promote our shared values - the things we all have in common and the positive things we can get back if we all pull together.

"It can be difficult for some people to cope with boredom and that can have serious consequences for an individual and for society at large. Boredom is not a trivial experience - it's worth paying attention to it."

The study, Boredom proneness, political orientation and adherence to social-distancing in the pandemic, appeared in the journal Motivation and Emotion and is a collaboration of researchers from the University of Waterloo, Duke University and Essex University.

A better understanding of 'wet markets' is key to safeguarding human health, biodiversity

PRINCETON UNIVERSITY, WOODROW WILSON SCHOOL OF PUBLIC AND INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

Research News

 

IMAGE: GOVERNMENTS HAVE PUSHED FOR THE CLOSING OF SO-CALLED "WET MARKETS " AROUND THE WORLD, BUT THIS IS NOT AN EFFECTIVE POLICY SOLUTION, ACCORDING TO PRINCETON UNIVERSITY RESEARCHERS. INSTEAD, POLICYMAKERS SHOULD TARGET... view more 

CREDIT: PHOTO CREDIT: GINETTE LAI, TAIWAN

PRINCETON, N.J.--Great uncertainty surrounds the origins of SARS-CoV-2. Early on, some suggested a link between COVID-19 and a seafood market in Wuhan, China. Other theories are now circulating, though the origins of the virus are still unknown.

In response, governments have pushed for the closing of so-called "wet markets" around the world, but this is not an effective policy solution, Princeton University researchers report.

A widespread shuttering of all wet markets could have the unintended consequences of disrupting critical food supply chains, stimulating an unregulated black market for animal products, and stoking xenophobia and anti-Asian sentiment. Furthermore, the majority of these informal markets -- which specialize in fresh meat, seafood, and other perishable items in open-air settings -- pose little risk to human health or biodiversity.

Instead, policymakers should target the most high-risk aspects of markets to prevent disruptions to local food supply chains while reducing human health and biodiversity dangers, the researchers argue in the journal The Lancet Planetary Health. Markets selling live animals, especially live wild animals, pose the most outsized risks to human health and biodiversity, the researchers conclude.

"The usage of the term 'wet market' is laced with negative undertones, especially in light of COVID-19. I believe this is driven, in part, by a misunderstanding of what these markets actually are and the ways they can meaningfully differ from other markets and from each other. Given this confusion, the term is slowly being replaced in the academic and popular literature by more specific terminology," said study lead author Bing Lin, a second-year Ph.D. student in the Program in Science, Technology, and Environmental Policy at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs. "Our research injects some clarity on what wet markets are, and adds precision to how their risks can be considered and classified."

"In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, many nations temporarily shut down their wet markets, but that's not going to last -- eventually some will be opened up while others will be more closely regulated or closed altogether," said study co-author David S. Wilcove, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology and public affairs and the High Meadows Environmental Institute and a core faculty member at Princeton's Center for Policy Research on Energy and the Environment. "Our work presents a way to tell which ones are worth focusing on for tighter regulation or closure."

Lin and Wilcove began with a definition of wet markets, which sell consumption-oriented, perishable goods in a non-supermarket setting. These markets were named after their frequently wet floors, a result of regular washing to keep food stalls clean and the melting of ice to keep foods fresh. Wildlife markets, on the other hand, sell non-domesticated wild animals, and live-animal markets sell live animals. The Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market -- considered a possible source of the COVID-19 pandemic -- was a wet market, a live-animal market, and a wildlife market all in one.

To help policymakers distinguish relatively benign markets from dangerous ones, Bing and his collaborators analyzed the different types of markets, how they function, and the risk they pose to people and wildlife. They then developed a unique framework that identifies the key risks associated with these markets, including size and cleanliness, whether they sell high disease-risk animals, and the presence of live animals, among other factors.

For the paper, Lin and Wilcove drew upon medical and peer-reviewed literature about markets from July through December 2020. They evaluated six specific risks that informal markets can pose to human health: the sale of high disease-risk animals; the presence of live animals; hygiene conditions; market size; animal density and interspecies mixing; and the length and scale of animal supply chains. They also identified the factors that present risks to biodiversity, including the sale of threatened and declining wild-animal species.

They report that numerous wet markets around the world sell only processed domesticated animals such as poultry. These include all markets in Singapore and Taiwan, and farmer's markets in the United States. A smaller number of markets sell live domesticated animals. Fewer still sell wild animals, dead or alive, alongside livestock or meat from domesticated animals.

When comparing all of these, the markets that sell live animals carry the greatest risks to human health and biodiversity, especially if they are selling live wild animals -- which are connected to emerging infectious diseases. These are the markets that policymakers should target as they attempt to mitigate future infectious disease outbreaks, the researchers report.

"Growing up in metropolitan Indonesia and amidst the hustle of inner-city Taiwan, I knew from experience that wet markets differed drastically in their composition and constitution," Lin said, "and good policy must be based on a clear, yet nuanced, understanding of the different types of markets and their associated and variable risks. We believe that targeted, risk-adjusted policies to mitigate the highest market risks to be preferable over sweeping but ineffectual short-term change."

The researchers emphasize that these markets alone are not solely responsible for global pandemics. Instead, they represent one node of zoonotic transmission potential along the global wildlife trade supply chain. They hope that future research will continue to quantify the risk factors these markets pose so decisionmakers can better safeguard human health and biodiversity.

CAPTION

Wet markets sell consumption-oriented, perishable goods in a non-supermarket setting. Wildlife markets, on the other hand, sell non-domesticated wild animals, and live-animal markets sell live animals. The Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market -- considered a possible source of the COVID-19 pandemic -- was a wet market, a live-animal market, and a wildlife market all in one.

CREDIT

Bing Lin, Princeton University

 

Not All Wet Markets Are Created

Equal (IMAGE)

PRNCETON UNIVERSITY, WOODROW WILSON SCHOOL OF PUBLIC AND INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

CAPTION

A better understanding of wet markets is the key to safeguarding human health and biodiversity, Princeton University researchers report. In a study published by The Lancet Planetary Health, they analyzed the different types of markets -- like the one featured above in Taipei, Taiwan -- how they function, and the risk they pose to people and wildlife.

CREDIT

Ginette Lai, Taiwan

UNESCO report calls for increases in investment in science in the face of growing crises

UNESCO

Research News

 

Paris, June 11 - Spending on science worldwide increased (+19%) between 2014 and 2018, as did the number of scientists (+13.7%). This trend has been further boosted by the COVID crisis, according to UNESCO's new Science Report, The Race against Time for Smarter Development.

But, these figures hide significant disparities: just two countries, the United States and China, account for nearly two-thirds of this increase (63%) while four out of five countries lag far behind, investing less than 1% of their GDP in scientific research. The scientific landscape thus remains largely a landscape of power.

Published every five years, the new report provides an overview of science and science policy.

Artificial intelligence and robotics are particularly dynamic fields, according to the report which notes that almost 150,000 articles were published on these subjects in 2019 alone. Research in artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics has surged in lower middle-income countries, which contributed 25.3% of publications in this field in 2019, compared to only 12.8% in 2015. Over the past five years, more than 30 countries have adopted specific strategies, among them China, the Russian Federation, the United States of America, India, Mauritius and Vietnam.

Other fields of research that are crucial for our future attract significantly lower investments. In 2019 for example, research into carbon capture and storage, only generated 2,500 articles, 60 times fewer than artificial intelligence. Research on the subject is actually declining in six of the ten countries leading research in this field (Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and the current leader, the United States). Similarly, the field of sustainable energy remains under-explored, representing only 2.5% of global publications in 2019.

There is a long way to go before science contributes its full potential to sustainable development.

The world must focus on providing science with the tools it needs. As Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of UNESCO, points out, "better-endowed science is indispensable. Science must become less unequal, more cooperative and more open. Today's challenges such as climate change, biodiversity loss, decline of ocean health and pandemics are all global. This is why we must mobilize scientists and researchers from all over the world."

Although international scientific cooperation has increased over the last five years, open access still only applies to one publication in four. Moreover, despite the tremendous collective momentum generated by the fight against COVID-19, many obstacles stand in the way of open access to research in much of the world.

For example, more than 70% of publications remain largely inaccessible to the majority of researchers. The report documents efforts to break down these barriers, which are sources of both inequality and inefficiency. New models for the circulation and dissemination of scientific knowledge in society must be implemented.

UNESCO has been working on this since 2019, when it began preparing a global standard-setting instrument for open science. If adopted at the Organization's next General Conference in November 2021, the Recommendation will provide the international community with a shared definition and framework in which to develop the transparent, inclusive and effective science the world needs.

The report also underscores the importance of diversity in science; the development of this critical discipline must involve the whole of humanity. It finds that only one third of researchers in the world are women. While parity has almost been achieved in the life sciences, it is still a long way off in many sectors of growing importance. For example, women represent only 22% of the workforce in the field of artificial intelligence. This is a problem not only for today, but also for tomorrow. We cannot allow the inequalities of society to be reproduced, or amplified, by the science of the future.

Science must unite all of humanity to face the challenges of today and tomorrow. The report urges the restoration of public confidence in science, and reminds us that today's science contributes to shaping the world of tomorrow, which is why it is essential to prioritize humanity's common goal of sustainability through ambitious science policy.

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About UNESCO's Science Report

Every five years, the UNESCO Science Report provides an update of trends in science governance. Written by 70 authors from 52 countries, it aggregates data on spending, personnel, scientific publications and patents. The latest edition tracks progress towards the UN's 2030 Sustainable Development Goals and the rapid progress of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. It also tracks the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on global research and innovation.

 

Study shows how permafrost releases methane in the warming Arctic

SKOLKOVO INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY (SKOLTECH)

Research News

Researchers from Skoltech have designed and conducted experiments measuring gas permeability under various conditions for ice-containing sediments mimicking permafrost. Their results can be useful both in modeling and testing techniques for gas production from Arctic reservoirs and in tracing methane emission in high latitudes. The paper was published in the journal Energy&Fuels.

Permafrost, even though it sounds very stable and permanent, is actually quite diverse: depending on the composition of the frozen ground, pressure, temperature and so on, it can have varying properties, which are extremely important if you want to build something on permafrost, such as an oil and gas field. Permafrost is also very gassy: it may contain a lot of natural gas in the form of hydrates, and its permeability is an important parameter both for research and for many activities in the Arctic.

"Gas permeability affects migration and accumulation of natural gas in this frozen ground as well as atmospheric emissions. Knowledge of filtration properties of permafrost containing gas hydrates is also absolutely necessary for estimates of the possibility of extracting gas from hydrates," Evgeny Chuvilin, Leading Research Scientist at Skoltech and a coauthor of the paper, says.

Chuvilin and his colleagues decided to handle the poorly studied issue of gas permeability variations in ice- and hydrate-saturated sand samples during freezing and thawing and as gas hydrates form and dissociate. For that, the team had to design and build an experimental setup that would allow them to test various samples mimicking permafrost under various pressure and temperature conditions as well as clay content.

"The data we got can be used in testing methods of gas extraction in permafrost areas, including from hydrates, and in mapping areas with high permeability in permafrost for methane emissions studies in the Arctic," Chuvilin says.

Their study also showed a high probability of increasing permeability coupled with dissociation of gas hydrates in permafrost - a likely scenario given the current warming trend in the Arctic. "We don't necessarily have to wait for a complete thawing of permafrost - even a slight shift of temperature is enough to trigger dissociation. And increased gas permeability that will follow will create conditions for methane emissions into the atmosphere, causing a variety of environmental and technological impacts," Chuvilin notes.

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Skoltech is a private international university located in Russia. Established in 2011 in collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Skoltech is cultivating a new generation of leaders in the fields of science, technology and business, is conducting research in breakthrough fields, and is promoting technological innovation with the goal of solving critical problems that face Russia and the world. Skoltech is focusing on six priority areas: data science and artificial intelligence, life sciences, advanced materials and modern design methods, energy efficiency, photonics and quantum technologies, and advanced research. Web: https://www.skoltech.ru/.

 

Māori connections to Antarctica may go as far back as 7th century, new study shows

TAYLOR & FRANCIS GROUP

Research News

 

IMAGE: THE VIEW OF TE KAIWHAKATERE O TE RAKI LOOKING OUTWARD ACROSS THE ROSS ICE SHELF. view more 

CREDIT: © A SHORT SCAN OF MĀORI JOURNEYS TO ANTARCTICA / JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF NEW ZEALAND

Indigenous Māori people may have set eyes on Antarctic waters and perhaps the continent as early as the 7th century, new research published in the peer-reviewed Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand shows.

Over the last 200 years, narratives about the Antarctic have been of those carried out by predominantly European male explorers.

However, this new study uncovers the story of the deep-rooted connections of Māori (and Polynesian) people with Antarctica dating back as far as the seventh century and continuing into the present day.

"We found connections to Antarctica and its waters have been occurring since the earliest traditional voyaging, and later through participation in European-led voyaging and exploration, contemporary scientific research, fishing, and more for centuries," explains lead author Dr Priscilla Wehi, from Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research the organisation which led the project, alongside researchers from Te R?nanga o Ngāi Tahu.

"Our exploration begins to construct a richer and more inclusive picture of Antarctica's relationship with humanity and builds a platform on which much wider conversations about New Zealand relationships with Antarctica can be furthered."

The study was compiled by a team of researchers who scanned literature and integrated this with oral histories. The outcome is a compiled record of Māori presence in, and perspectives of, Antarctic narratives and exploration, which - the team states - "plays an important role" to fill knowledge gaps about both Māori and Antarctic exploration.

And these stories start as far back as 1,320 years ago.

"We find Polynesian narratives of voyaging between the islands include voyaging into Antarctic waters by Hui Te Rangiora (also known as ?i Te Rangiora) and his crew on the vessel Te Ivi o Atea, likely in the early seventh century," Wehi says.

"These navigational accomplishments are widely acknowledged; and Māori navigators are described as traversing the Pacific much as Western explorers might a lake.

"In some narratives, Hui Te Rangiora and his crew continued south. A long way south. In so doing, they likely set eyes on Antarctic waters and perhaps the continent."

Other evidence gathered includes Māori carvings, which depict both voyagers and navigational and astronomical knowledge.

"As well," Wehi says, "a 'pou whakairo' (translating as carved post), represents Tamarereti as protector of the southern oceans stands on the southernmost tip of the South Island of New Zealand at Bluff. Ngāi Tahu, the largest tribal group in the South Island, and other tribal groups or iwi also cherish other oral repositories of knowledge in relation to these early explorers and voyagers."

These Māori narratives of connections with Antarctic were not limited to these early voyages either. Rather, voyaging and expedition was shown to continue to the present day; "but is rarely acknowledged or highlighted," Wehi says.

And this research, she hopes, will begin more on the path to ensure inclusion of Māori in future relationships with Antarctica.

"Taking account of responsibilities to under-represented groups, and particularly Māori as Treaty partners, is important for both contemporary and future programmes of Antarctic research, as well as for future exploration of New Zealand's obligations within the Antarctic Treaty System."

Concluding, she says: "Growing more Māori Antarctic scientists and incorporating Māori perspectives will add depth to New Zealand's research programmes and ultimately the protection and management of Antarctica."

Further evidence of Māori exploration is likely to enter the public domain in future as tribal researchers partner with iwi to share these narratives, and Māori leadership in Antarctic research grows more visible, including that of the Kāhui Māori in the Antarctic Science Platform.

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Bacteria serves tasty solution to global plastic crisis

Scientists have devised a novel way of tackling the mounting issue of plastic pollution -- by using bacteria to transform plastic waste into vanilla flavoring

UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH

Research News

 

Researchers have discovered that the common bacteria E. coli can be deployed as a sustainable way to convert post-consumer plastic into vanillin, a new study reveals.

Vanillin is the primary component of extracted vanilla beans and is responsible for the characteristic taste and smell of vanilla.

The transformation could boost the circular economy, which aims to eliminate waste, keep products and materials in use and have positive impacts for synthetic biology, experts say.

The world's plastic crisis has seen an urgent need to develop new methods to recycle polyethylene terephthalate (PET) - the strong, lightweight plastic derived from non-renewable materials such as oil and gas and widely used for packaging foods and convenience-sized juices and water.

Approximately 50 million tonnes of PET waste is produced annually, causing serious economic and environmental impacts. PET recycling is possible, but existing processes create products that continue to contribute to plastic pollution worldwide.

To tackle this problem, scientists from the University of Edinburgh used lab engineered E. coli to transform terephthalic acid - a molecule derived from PET - into the high value compound vanillin, via a series of chemical reactions.

The team also demonstrated how the technique works by converting a used plastic bottle into vanillin by adding the E. coli to the degraded plastic waste.

Researchers say that the vanillin produced would be fit for human consumption but further experimental tests are required.

Vanillin is widely used in the food and cosmetics industries, as well as the formulation of herbicides, antifoaming agents and cleaning products. Global demand for vanillin was in excess of 37,000 tonnes in 2018.

Joanna Sadler, first author and BBSRC Discovery Fellow from the School of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh, said: "This is the first example of using a biological system to upcycle plastic waste into a valuable industrial chemical and this has very exciting implications for the circular economy.

"The results from our research have major implications for the field of plastic sustainability and demonstrate the power of synthetic biology to address real-world challenges."

Dr Stephen Wallace, Principle Investigator of the study and a UKRI Future Leaders Fellow from the University of Edinburgh, said: "Our work challenges the perception of plastic being a problematic waste and instead demonstrates its use as a new carbon resource from which high value products can be obtained."

Dr Ellis Crawford, Publishing Editor at the Royal Society of Chemistry, said: "This is a really interesting use of microbial science at the molecular level to improve sustainability and work towards a circular economy. Using microbes to turn waste plastics, which are harmful to the environment, into an important commodity and platform molecule with broad applications in cosmetics and food is a beautiful demonstration of green chemistry."

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The study, published in Green Chemistry lays the foundation for further studies to maximize vanillin production towards industrially relevant levels.

The research was funded by a BBSRC Discovery Fellowship and a UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship.

For further information, please contact: Rhona Crawford, Press and PR Office, mb: 07876391498, rhona.crawford@ed.ac.uk

Bacteria-sized robots take on microplastics and win by breaking them down

AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY

Research News

 

IMAGE: METALLIC MICROROBOTS (DARK BLUE DOTS) COLONIZE A JAGGED PIECE OF MICROPLASTIC UNDER VISIBLE LIGHT, BREAKING DOWN THE PLASTIC INTO SMALLER MOLECULES. view more 

CREDIT: ADAPTED FROM ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES 2021, DOI: 10.1021/ACSAMI.1C04559

Small pieces of plastic are everywhere, stretching from urban environments to pristine wilderness. Left to their own devices, it can take hundreds of years for them to degrade completely. Catalysts activated by sunlight could speed up the process, but getting these compounds to interact with microplastics is difficult. In a proof-of-concept study, researchers reporting in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces developed self-propelled microrobots that can swim, attach to plastics and break them down.

While plastic products are omnipresent indoors, plastic waste and broken bits now litter the outdoors, too. The smallest of these - microplastics less than 5 mm in size - are hard to pick up and remove. In addition, they can adsorb heavy metals and pollutants, potentially harming humans or animals if accidently consumed. So, previous researchers proposed a low-energy way to get rid of plastics in the environment by using catalysts that use sunlight to produce highly reactive compounds that break down these types of polymers. However, getting the catalysts and tiny plastic pieces in contact with each other is challenging and usually requires pretreatments or bulky mechanical stirrers, which aren't easily scaled-up. Martin Pumera and colleagues wanted to create a sunlight-propelled catalyst that moves toward and latches onto microparticles and dismantles them.

To transform a catalytic material into light-driven microrobots, the researchers made star-shaped particles of bismuth vanadate and then evenly coated the 4-8 μm-wide structures with magnetic iron oxide. The microrobots could swim down a maze of channels and interact with microplastic pieces along their entire lengths. The researchers found that under visible light, microrobots strongly glommed on to four common types of plastics. The team then illuminated pieces of the four plastics covered with the microrobot catalyst for seven days in a dilute hydrogen peroxide solution. They observed that the plastic lost 3% of its weight and that the surface texture for all types changed from smooth to pitted, and small molecules and components of the plastics were found in the left-over solution. The researchers say the self-propelled microrobot catalysts pave the way toward systems that can capture and degrade microplastics in hard-to-reach-locations.

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The authors acknowledge funding from the European Regional Development Fund.

The abstract that accompanies this paper can be viewed here.

The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. ACS' mission is to advance the broader chemistry enterprise and its practitioners for the benefit of Earth and all its people. The Society is a global leader in promoting excellence in science education and providing access to chemistry-related information and research through its multiple research solutions, peer-reviewed journals, scientific conferences, eBooks and weekly news periodical Chemical & Engineering News. ACS journals are among the most cited, most trusted and most read within the scientific literature; however, ACS itself does not conduct chemical research. As a leader in scientific information solutions, its CAS division partners with global innovators to accelerate breakthroughs by curating, connecting and analyzing the world's scientific knowledge. ACS' main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.

Ocean microplastics: First global view shows seasonal changes and sources

Satellites reveal fluctuation in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and releases from the Yangtze River

UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

Research News

 

An estimated 8 million tons of plastic trash enters the ocean each year, and most of it is battered by sun and waves into microplastics--tiny flecks that can ride currents hundreds or thousands of miles from their point of entry.

The debris can harm sea life and marine ecosystems, and it's extremely difficult to track and clean up.

Now, University of Michigan researchers have developed a new way to spot ocean microplastics across the globe and track them over time, providing a day-by-day timeline of where they enter the water, how they move and where they tend to collect.

The approach relies on the Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System, or CYGNSS, and can give a global view or zoom in on small areas for a high-resolution picture of microplastic releases from a single location.

The technique is a major improvement over current tracking methods, which rely mainly on spotty reports from plankton trawlers that net microplastics along with their catch.

"We're still early in the research process, but I hope this can be part of a fundamental change in how we track and manage microplastic pollution," said Chris Ruf, the Frederick Bartman Collegiate Professor of Climate and Space Science at U-M, principal investigator of CYGNSS and senior author on a newly published paper on the work.

Their initial observations are revealing.

Season changes in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch

The team found that global microplastic concentrations tend to vary by season, peaking in the North Atlantic and Pacific during the Northern Hemisphere's summer months. June and July, for example, are the peak months for the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a convergence zone in the North Pacific where microplastic collects in massive quantities.

Concentrations in the Southern Hemisphere peak during its summer months of January and February. Concentrations tend to be lower during the winter, likely due to a combination of stronger currents that break up microplastic plumes and increased vertical mixing that drives them further beneath the water's surface, researchers say.

The data also showed several brief spikes in microplastic concentration at the mouth of the Yangtze River--long suspected to be a chief source.

"It's one thing to suspect a source of microplastic pollution, but quite another to see it happening," Ruf said. "The microplastics data that has been available in the past has been so sparse, just brief snapshots that aren't repeatable."

The researchers produced visualizations that show microplastic concentrations around the globe. Often the areas of accumulation are due to prevailing local water currents and convergence zones, with the Pacific patch being the most extreme example.

"What makes the plumes from major river mouths noteworthy is that they are a source into the ocean, as opposed to places where the microplastics tend to accumulate," Ruf said.

Ruf says the information could help organizations that clean up microplastics deploy ships and other resources more efficiently. The researchers are already in talks with a Dutch cleanup organization, The Ocean Cleanup, on working together to validate the team's initial findings. Single-point release data may also be useful to the United Nations agency UNESCO, which has sponsored a task force to find new ways to track the release of microplastics into the world's waters.

Hurricane-tracking satellites set their sights on plastic pollution

Developed by Ruf and U-M undergraduate Madeline Evans, the tracking method uses existing data from CYGNSS, a system of eight microsatellites launched in 2016 to monitor weather near the heart of large storm systems and bolster predictions on their severity. Ruf leads the CYGNSS mission.

The key to the process is ocean surface roughness, which CYGNSS already measures using radar. The measurements have mainly been used to calculate wind speed near the eyes of hurricanes, but Ruf wondered whether they might have other uses as well.

"We'd been taking these radar measurements of surface roughness and using them to measure wind speed, and we knew that the presence of stuff in the water alters its responsiveness to the environment," Ruf said. "So I got the idea of doing the whole thing backward, using changes in responsiveness to predict the presence of stuff in the water."

Using independent wind speed measurements from NOAA, the team looked for places where the ocean seemed less rough than it should be given the wind speed. They then matched those areas up with actual observations from plankton trawlers and ocean current models that predict the migration of microplastic. They found a high correlation between the smoother areas and those with more microplastic.

Ruf's team believes the changes in ocean roughness may not be caused directly by the microplastics, but instead by surfactants--a family of oily or soapy compounds that lower the surface tension on a liquid's surface. Surfactants tend to accompany microplastics in the ocean, both because they're often released along with microplastics and because they travel and collect in similar ways once they're in the water.

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A paper on the work, "Towards the Detection and Imaging of Ocean Microplastics with a Spaceborne Radar," is newly published in IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing.

Written by Gabe Cherry