Friday, June 30, 2023

A study shows that menstrual education in Spain is still deficient and increases negative experiences of menstruation


According to the UPV and CSIC study, the most common emotions experienced during the first menstruation are embarrassment (reported by 23% of respondents), worry (20%), fear (16%), and stress (15%)

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITAT POLITÈCNICA DE VALÈNCIA

A study shows that menstrual education in Spain is still deficient and increases negative experiences of menstruation 

IMAGE: SANTIAGO MOLL LÓPEZ, SARA SÁNCHEZ LÓPEZ AND ROCÍO POVEDA BAUTISTA, view more 

CREDIT: UPV



"Menstruation continues to be treated as an uncomfortable subject that has to be hidden and what is hidden is not talked about, is not investigated, is not legislated and does not receive the necessary attention. And menstrual health requires this attention," says Sara Sánchez López, a researcher at the INGENIO Institute, a joint centre of the UPV and the CSIC, and lead author of the study.

The study was conducted through an anonymous online questionnaire to more than 4,000 people, both men and women born or living in Spain between May 2021 and January 2022. The questions addressed issues such as education received about menstruation, comfort to talk about it, emotions experienced during menarche, menstrual hygiene products, economic impact, and social impact, among others.

Their results are revealing: the four most common emotions reported during the first menstruation were embarrassment (23%), worry (20%), fear (16%), and stress (15%).

The study also shows that 35.7% of the women surveyed did not know much about what their periods were when they first started and 56.1% did not know enough about how to proceed. On the other hand, there are numerous testimonies collected in this study in which menstruation has been the cause of mockery or derogatory comments.

 

Besides, the research found a trend between the information available on how to handle the bleeding and the number of times people recall experiencing embarrassment, fear, worry, and disgust, suggesting that knowing what to do when they have their first period reduces the likelihood of experiencing these emotions. "Unfortunately, only 5% of the people surveyed remember having received this information at school," notes Sara Sánchez López.

On the other hand, the data indicate that despite all the social changes that have occurred in these decades, the emotions experienced during first menstruation in Spain have not varied significantly from the 1950s to the early 2000s.

 

"The ambiguity of current legislation regarding the contents on menstruation leaves it up to the discretion of the centre or even the teacher how much time to devote to the subject and what contents to include. Often, it is merely named in its biological function as part of human reproduction," says Rocío Poveda Bautista, also a researcher at INGENIO and co-author of the study.

However, the lack of information is not limited to the first rule. This study shows the need for reliable and accessible information on how to manage menstrual pain, symptoms of

endometriosis and other similar disorders, or on when to see a specialist. Overall, it concludes that more knowledge is needed about how the menstrual cycle affects the whole body and how it varies throughout life, including menopause.

"This study is intended to serve as a guideline for the creation of efficient legislative and social measures. It is a call to action so that menstrual health education, which is still deficient today, is incorporated into the curriculum, to ensure that every schoolchild in Spain receives basic and reliable information on this topic," concludes Santiago Moll López, from the Department of Applied Mathematics at the Universitat Politècnica de València and co-author of the study.

Along with researchers from the UPV and CSIC, this study has also benefited from the valuable contribution of Dr. Dani Barrington from the University of Western Australia, an internationally recognized expert for her research and activism on menstrual health.

New review finds the benefits of a widely-used treatment for gambling problems may be overstated


Peer-Reviewed Publication

SOCIETY FOR THE STUDY OF ADDICTION




A new meta-analysis (an analysis of past research) published by the scientific journal Addiction presents important findings that shed light on the effectiveness of psychological treatments for gambling problems. The analysis provides both positive and negative insights, including uncovering potential overstatements of the benefits associated with using cognitive-behavioural techniques (CBTs). Significantly more funds are essential to increase the rigor of studies and to improve understanding of treatment impact among individuals experiencing gambling problems.

The analysis pooled the results of 29 randomised controlled trials of CBTs on reducing gambling problems and gambling behaviour, representing almost 4,000 participants. The analysis revealed that participants receiving CBTs had larger reductions in the severity of gambling problems, the number of times gambled, and the amount of money gambled than minimal or no treatment at posttreatment. However, the analysis revealed some concerning factors that may have led to an overestimation of the treatment’s impact. There was also no evidence that reductions in outcomes endured in the months and years after participants terminated CBTs.

The meta-analysis found evidence of publication bias, which occurs when the outcome of a research study affects the decision to publish it. Studies with small sample sizes and large treatment effects overpopulate the literature, and few studies have been conducted that comprise large sample sizes of individuals completing CBTs. Of course, such studies may not exist, but if they do exist, they have not been published – perhaps because the results are not as dramatic – and their data are thus not available to counterbalance the effects of the studies that have been published.

Across the 29 trials, only three studies (10%) had implemented designs to minimize risk of bias, which is the likelihood that the design or conduct of a study will give a misleading result. Most studies had a high attrition rate, meaning lots of participants dropped out of the study partway through, so that posttreatment results were based on incomplete data, perhaps concentrated among people for whom the treatment worked well.

Less than half of the 29 studies (48%) reported results beyond the posttreatment assessment.  That means the estimate of how well participants sustained their improved gambling outcomes beyond treatment was based on a comparatively small amount of data.

Lead author Dr. Rory Pfund of the University of Memphis suggests that some of the shortcomings of the 29 gambling studies can be blamed on the overall lack of funding for gambling research across several countries. For example, in the US: “No US federal agency funds programs to address gambling disorder. Total state funds for gambling treatment centers and program evaluations were limited to $14 million in 2016. That amount is about 4,000 times smaller than the $550 million of federal funds available for alcohol research and about 13,000 times smaller than the $1.8 billion available for drug research in 2022.”

-- Ends –

For editors:

This paper is free to read for one month after publication from the Wiley Online Library: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/add.16221 or by contacting Jean O’Reilly, Editorial Manager, Addictionjean@addictionjournal.org.

To speak with co-author Dr Rory Pfund, please contact him at the University of Memphis by email (rapfund@memphis.edu) or telephone (+1 901 678 8720).

Full citation for article: Pfund RA, Forman DP, King SA, Zech JM, Ginley MK, Peter SC, McAfee NW, and Whelan JP. Effect of Cognitive-Behavioral Techniques for Problem Gambling and Gambling Disorder:  A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Addiction. 2023. DOI: 10.1111/add.16221.

Funding: This work was supported by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism of the National Institutes of Health award numbers L30AA029551 and T32AA018108. This work was also supported by a grant from Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services.

Declaration of interests:  None.

Addiction is a monthly international scientific journal publishing peer-reviewed research reports on alcohol, substances, tobacco, and gambling as well as editorials and other debate pieces. Owned by the Society for the Study of Addiction, it has been in continuous publication since 1884.

WORKERS CAPITAL

US public pensions could be $21 billion richer right now


New report says benefits of divesting from fossil fuels are environmental and financial

Reports and Proceedings

UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO



New research shows that U.S. public pension funds would be $21 billion richer had they divested from fossil fuels a decade ago.  

The study, out of the University of Waterloo in partnership with Stand.earth, analyzed the public equity portfolios of six major U.S. public pension funds, which collectively represent approximately 3.4 million people, to determine the effect divesting from their energy holdings would have had. In total, researchers estimate that the pension funds would have seen a return on their investments that was 13 per cent higher on average. 

Another analysis of the same eight U.S. public pension funds included in the report found that the carbon footprint that would have been reduced had they divested 10 years ago is equivalent to the emissions for powering 35 million homes per year. 

Researchers say the report proves that divesting creates additional financial value, lowers exposure to climate risks, and reduced the carbon footprint of portfolios.  

“Influential investors, like these large public pension funds, can bring about positive change on a few fronts,” said Dr. Olaf Weber, professor in the School of Environment, Enterprise and Development at Waterloo. “Energy divestments can create higher returns for the funds, which leads to higher returns for the beneficiaries and reduced exposure to climate risks. Consequently, it leads to safer pensions.” 

The report also explored ways that recent changes in the performance of the energy sector due to major global events—such as COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine—would have influenced the funds. During the last three years, the value of the fossil fuel sector went up because of the reduced oil supply from Russia. Hence, divestment has not been that attractive from a financial point of view. However, the report found that even in times of high performance in the fossil fuel sector, divestment does not reduce financial returns in any significant way. 

“If climate chaos like fires and floods weren’t enough, this latest report strengthens the case even further that public pension funds must divest from fossil fuels as part of meeting their fiduciary duties,” said Amy Gray, senior climate finance strategist at Stand.earth. “As the longest-term investors for workers, the last thing pension funds should be doing is gambling with retirement and deferred wages of their members.”  

Future work will include going into more detail regarding the emissions of particular portfolio holdings on a per-holdings basis or analyzing the emissions of specific companies and then excluding those with the highest emissions. 

"This new Waterloo data hits home for me. My mom is a beneficiary of a public pension, and my family is depending on that retirement income for security," said Miguel Alatorre Jr., Fossil Free California.  "It's unconscionable to me that these funds are investing in fossil fuel companies driving climate change, heat waves, wildfires and flooding, all while losing income for workers.” 

The report, The Impact of Energy Investments on the Financial Value and the Emissions of Pension Funds, was presented at the IEEFA Energy Finance Conference on June 22.  

Dolphin ages, pod health revealed with drone photographs


Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII AT MANOA

Leaping dolphins at the surface 

IMAGE: DOLPHINS AT THE OCEAN'S SURFACE. NOAA FISHERIES PERMIT #21476 view more 

CREDIT: CREDIT: MARINE MAMMAL RESEARCH PROGRAM.




Using unoccupied aerial system (UAS), or drone, photographs, researchers from the University of Hawai‘i (UH) at Mānoa School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST) are now able to determine the age-structure of free-ranging dolphin groups. This work will aid monitoring the health of dolphin populations and inform timely conservation efforts. The findings of the study that developed and applied this new technique were recently published in Ecology and Evolution.  

When dolphins come to the surface to breathe, they expose their blowhole and dorsal fin. By measuring the distance between the two, researchers can estimate their total body length. Since total length is related to age, the international team of researchers, led by scientists at the Hawai‘i Institute of Marine Biology (HIMB) in SOEST, developed a technique of inferring age based on length for each measured dolphin within a group.

“This method can help us quantify the age-structure of free-ranging populations,” said Fabien Vivier, lead author of the study and marine biology doctoral candidate in the Marine Mammal Research Program at HIMB. “Healthy dolphin populations usually contain a certain proportion of newborn, immature, and mature animals, while deviances from this distribution may be interpreted as a population growth or decline.”

Previous studies documented encouraging results of using drone photography to study and measure the size and body condition of large whales. However, no studies had applied this approach to assessing small dolphins, such as bottlenose dolphins.

“Because it is difficult working with free-ranging animals, we could not be sure if it would work out as planned,” said Vivier.

 

To understand whether analyzing UAS photos would be reliable for estimating the length of free-swimming dolphins, the researchers collaborated with Dolphin Quest O‘ahu and tested the method on their bottlenose dolphins. They then tested the approach in estimating the age-class of free-ranging dolphins by collaborating with the Sarasota Dolphin Research Program in Florida, the world’s longest-running dolphin research project. 

The Sarasota Dolphin Research Program provided the age, total body length, and distance between the blowhole and dorsal fin for many individuals in their study community. This offered the unique opportunity to calibrate and test the accuracy of the team’s age estimates and the inferred age-class based on length for free-ranging individuals.

“Our hope in developing and using this method is that we can quickly monitor the health of free-ranging dolphin populations,” said Vivier. “This may facilitate the detection of early signs of population changes, for example, a decrease in the number of calves, and provide important insights for timely management decisions.”

While this method was developed on bottlenose dolphins, it can be applied to other dolphin species which will aid in their monitoring and conservation. The team’s current research focuses on spinner dolphins in the main Hawaiian Islands.

Researchers measured dolphins total body length and blowhole-to-dorsal fin length. Right photograph taken under research permit NOAA-PIFSC 21476.

CREDIT

Marine Mammal Research Program

Vaccine to protect crocodiles and multi-million dollar industry


Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND

Crocodile in Northern Territory 

IMAGE: THE VACCINE IS THE FIRST OF ITS KIND TO ACHIEVE PROVEN SAFETY AND EFFICACY IN CROCODILES. view more 

CREDIT: RRA




A University of Queensland developed vaccine will protect farmed saltwater crocodiles from West Nile virus (WNV), providing economic and biodiversity benefits to northern Australia.

Dr Jody Hobson-Peters from UQ’s School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences said the virus, which is prevalent in high rainfall years, threatens the commercial viability of the $100million a year crocodile hide farming industry.

“Crocs infected with the local strain of WNV, known as Kunjin virus, develop small skin lesions called pix, which renders their hide unsaleable,” Dr Hobson-Peters said.

“WNV infection can affect up to 30 per cent of croc hides, costing the industry as much as $10million in a single year.

“If we were to experience consecutive years of high rainfall, the virus could render the crocodile farming industry unviable and threaten the current conservation model.

“It would also disrupt an industry that contributes to Indigenous livelihoods and economic development opportunities in the Northern Territory and Far North Queensland.”

UQ’s Professor Roy Hall said the vaccine is based on a benign ‘Binjari’ virus isolated from Australian mosquitoes and is the first of its kind to achieve proven safety and efficacy in crocodiles. 

“We have demonstrated that our vaccine induces a robust, immune response in vaccinated animals after two doses,” Professor Hall said.

“Crocodiles that received the vaccine developed strong protective immunity against WNV, without the virus replicating.”

UQ has received funding from the Australian Research Council to work with the Centre for Crocodile Research to assess the vaccine’s long-term performance.

Director of the Darwin-based Centre for Crocodile Research, Dr Sally Isberg said the surge in the wild crocodile population in recent decades was made possible by the farmed crocodile industry.  

“It’s not just an economic threat we’re facing – croc farming has played a pivotal role in returning this apex predator from the brink of extinction over the past 60 years,” Dr Isberg said.

“The captive-breeding industry promotes sustainable practices and places an economic value on crocodiles, meaning communities living with or near crocs are more tolerant of their presence in waterways and are incentivised to protect their habitats.

“As a result, other species that co-inhabit with crocs are protected, such as the brolga, jabiru and long-necked turtle.”

The research is published in npj Vaccines, and is an outcome of UQ’s Dr Gervais Habarugira’s PhD thesis.

The team is working with the Australian veterinary vaccine company Treidlia BioVet, to develop a commercial version of the vaccine for wider industry use.

UQ acknowledges the contributions of the Australian crocodile industry and biotechnology company Vaxine Pty Ltd.

Arachnid has three versions of `male.' How does that happen?


Alpha male or small and sneaky? Losing a leg as a juvenile may make all the difference

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF AUCKLAND

Alpha male 

IMAGE: AN ALPHA MALE HARVESTMAN view more 

CREDIT: ERIN POWELL




Long-legged arachnids called harvestmen are “trimorphic,” featuring three types of males. University of Auckland research is giving some clues as to how that happens.

A male sexual hierarchy and the oversized “weaponry” of the alpha and beta males are features of New Zealand’s Forsteropsalis pureora species which lives in wet native forests and caves.

Now, research by Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland graduate Dr Erin Powell, completed for her PhD, has revealed clues as to why some males fall to the bottom of the hierarchy.

Females are of one type, but males are of three types, each with a different body size and shape. Alpha and beta males are large and use their big, protruding chelicerae (jaws) – which may account for as much as 50 percent of their body weight – as weapons to fight each other for females. Gamma males are up to seven times smaller and, instead of fighting, search for undefended females to sneakily mate with.

The creatures can shed legs to escape predators, like lizards detaching their tails, but never grow new ones.

Scars indicate if a harvestman lost a leg as a juvenile or an adult. Males which lost at least one leg during their development were 45 times more likely to grow up to be the smaller, weaker, gamma males, according to research led by Powell, published in the academic journal Behavioral Ecology.

“Perhaps this is because they can’t get enough food for their development because their hunting is impeded,” says Powell, now a research scientist for the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

“Or maybe there’s no point in investing in big fighting weapons when they’re already disadvantaged when it comes to fighting,” she says. “So, the arachnids’ resources may be invested in other things, such as testes size, sperm count, or aerobic poise, to ensure they make the most of the mating opportunities they get.”

Adopting a new strategy, such as scrambling to find undefended females, is better than trying and failing in traditional, potentially dangerous, male-male contests, she says.

Trimorphism, or having three forms, is uncommon in the animal kingdom. So far, researchers think a combination of genetics and nutrition may drive so much variation within a single species.

This study showed that environmental factors, like experience with predators, may be more important than previously considered in determining the final adult form of males.

There are still many questions as to why alphas and betas evolved, both with big bodies and big weaponry, but with different shaped weapons. Perhaps each has its advantages in fights, one with more power but the other with more reach in the tangled scuffles of limbs and claws?

"With their ridiculous towering weaponry and extreme male size variation, New Zealand harvestmen are both charming and puzzling,” says Powell. “We still have much to learn about their fascinating biology and they have much to teach us about the evolution of mating systems across animal taxa."

More closely related to scorpions than spiders, harvestmen are harmless critters without venom or silk and New Zealand has many native species of them.

Study revealed rainforest releases oxidized organic molecules that form aerosol particles in tropical free troposphere


Molecular-level measurements at Chacaltaya, Bolivia revealed that oxidized organic molecules were linked to isoprene emissions from Amazon rainforests hundreds of kilometers away. This potentially plays a crucial role in new particle formation

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF HELSINKI




Oxidized organic molecules originating from the Amazon rainforest are crucial components contributing to the formation of aerosol particles in the tropical free troposphere, according to a new study led by the University of Helsinki.

Aerosol particles in the tropical free troposphere are known for their significant impact on global climate by serving as a large source of cloud condensation nuclei. However, the origin of these aerosol particles has remained unclear.

The latest research published in National Science Review demonstrated the presence of low-volatile organic compounds in the free tropospheric air from the Amazon, which sheds light on the formation of aerosol particles in this region.

“Oxidized organic molecules are the key to understanding aerosol formation in the near-pristine, pre-industrial-like environments like tropical free troposphere,” says Professor Federico Bianchi from the University of Helsinki, the corresponding author of the paper.

“But characterizing these compounds at the molecular level is extremely challenging due to their low concentrations, let alone under high-altitude conditions.”

Measurements done at the top of the Chacaltaya mountain

The researchers found that the oxidized organic molecules, mainly composed of molecules with 4-5 carbon atoms, were present in the gas phase and in aerosol particles, linked to isoprene emitted from the Amazon rainforest that locates hundreds of kilometers away. These low-volatile organic compounds can nucleate or condense on the newly formed nanoparticles, potentially playing a significant role in the aerosol formation process in the tropical free troposphere.

“Isoprene-derived oxidized organic molecules can clearly influence aerosol particle formation on a continental scale in the tropical free troposphere,” says Dr. Qiaozhi Zha, the lead author of the paper.

“This will potentially impact on aerosol particles in the boundary layer, cloud formation, and further global climate. Specifically, our findings provide valuable model parameterization constraints for simulating tropical aerosols in future studies investigating their impact on climate.”

The atmosphere scientists are conducting field measurements at Chacaltaya GAW station, a Global Atmosphere Watch station measuring many parameters permanently near La Paz in Bolivia. The station is on the edge of the Amazon rain forest, near the top of the mountain 5240 metres above the sea level, and also the highest atmospheric laboratory in the world.

Our brains are hardwired to believe lies and conspiracy theories, research shows

Throughout history, dictators and social disrupters have used coercive language and conspiracy theories to encourage the public to hate anyone different to themselves. Unfortunately, according to a new study, our brains are hardwired to believe such lies.

Book Announcement

TAYLOR & FRANCIS GROUP



In Politics, Lies and Conspiracy Theories, released today, Marcel Danesi Ph.D., a professor of semiotics and linguistic anthropology at the University of Toronto, Canada, analyzes the speeches of dictators including Mussolini, Stalin, Putin and Hitler, as well as prominent hate groups.

His research finds there is one thing they all have in common: they all use dehumanizing metaphors to instill and propagate hatred of others.

“The intent of such speech is to attack those who do not belong to the mainstream, such as racial minorities, or people of different sexual orientations,” says Danesi.

Powerful language

For example words like ‘pests’, ‘reptiles’ and ‘parasites’ were used by the Nazi regime to compare outsiders and minorities to animals.

Meanwhile in August 2017, when groups of white supremacists arrived in the college town of Charlottesville to participate in a ‘Unite the Right’ rally, the protesters used both animal and dirt metaphors when they claimed that they were fighting against the ‘parasitic class of anti-white vermin’ and the ‘anti-white, anti-American filth.’

With the rise of populist and far-right political movements in the 2010s, the use of dehumanizing metaphors to engender hatred of foreigners or of those who are different in some way has spread worldwide. In 2016, during a state-orchestrated public campaign against refugees and migrants in Hungary, the prime minister, Viktor Orbán, characterized them as a poison.

Our brain wiring

Danesi’s research shows that dehumanizing metaphors like these are so powerful because they tap into and ‘switch on’ existing circuits in the brain that link together important and salient images and ideas. In effect, metaphors bypass higher cognitive reasoning centers, directing our thoughts to focus on certain things whilst ignoring others.

According to Danesi, the more these circuits are activated the more hardwired they become, until it becomes almost impossible to turn them off. The same is true of conspiracy theories – research shows that people who believe them develop more rigid neural pathways, meaning they find it difficult to rethink situations.

“When we come across a big lie or a conspiracy theory, it can shape our ideas without us even being aware of it,” says Danesi.

“By being exposed to particular metaphors, we may develop hostile feelings towards specific groups - this is why hate groups use metaphors to turn the switches on, so as to motivate people to violent activism.”

Entrenched ideas

Unfortunately, research into this brain wiring also shows that once people begin to believe lies, they are unlikely to change their minds even when confronted with evidence that contradicts their beliefs.

On the contrary, these people will instead seek out information that confirms their beliefs, avoid anything that is in conflict with them, or even turn the contrasting information on its head, so as to make it fit their beliefs. For this reason, it is unlikely that people with strong convictions will ever change their minds about anything.

According to Danesi, this can have devastating consequences.

“When lies are used to generate hate, harmful behaviors tend to result, including violence and genocide against the target individual or groups,” says Danesi.

“The spread of lies is also becoming a powerful factor in generating political and social instability worldwide, destabilizing democracies.”

What can be done?

Is there anything we can do to protect ourselves from the power of lies? According to Danesi, the best thing we can do is to understand the metaphors of the other party, and to examine one’s own metaphors.

However, history and science tells us that it is unlikely to work – research shows that once a lie is accepted as believable, the brain becomes more susceptible to subsequent lying.