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New gene-silencing drug could help with ALS

mutated als gene
© Konstantin Shishkin

New research suggests that in suppressing a mutated ALS gene, it may be possible to delay to onset of symptoms

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, is a fatal neurological disorder that causes the degeneration of motor neurons in the brain and spinal cord. Those with ALS rapidly lose muscle strength and eventually lose their ability to move, swallow and breathe.

Using an experimental drug, researchers funded by the National Institute for Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) were able to suppress a mutated ALS gene.

Studies done on in mice demonstrated that the therapy could show promise in treating rare, aggressive forms of ALS caused by mutations in the fused in sarcoma (FUS) gene. The study, published in Nature Medicine, following encouraging results, administered the drug to a patient with ALS.

What did the study discover?

“The study establishes a mouse model that is highly disease-relevant,” said Dr. Shneider. “In mice, we found that FUS toxicity was due to a gain of function and was dose-dependent, suggesting that we could treat FUS-ALS by silencing the FUS gene.”

In mice, injecting a single dose of the drug into the ventricles, fluid-filled spaces surrounding the brain, delayed the onset of inflammation and motor neuron degeneration by six months. The drug also knocked down levels of FUS by 50% to 80% in the brain and spinal cord.

Following drug administration, insoluble forms of other ALS-associated proteins were also cleared.

Human trial

Given FDA approval, Dr Shneider administered the drug to the chosen patients spinal cord continually over a 10 month period. The study recorded that during the treatment, the patients rate of motor function deterioration slowed and that the patient tolerated the treatment well and there were no medically adverse effects.

This treatment began more than six months after clinal onset, and although positive results were seen, the disease was already significantly advances and as is typical with juvenile-onset FUS-ALS, the disease progressed rapidly, and the patient died from complications of the disease.

By studying the patient’s brain and spinal cord tissue, researchers found that the drug silenced FUS throughout the nervous system and reversed the mutated ALS gene-silencing nature of FUS and other disease-related proteins.

“The study is an example of a precision medicine, bench-to-bedside effort,” said Dr. Shneider. “We began with the mouse model to establish a rationale for the drug, conducted efficacy studies in the mouse, moved the drug into a human, and collected valuable data that was ultimately used to support a larger Phase 3 clinical trial.”

By targeting the faulty gene in a way that suppresses toxic FUS activity, gene silencing products like the antisense oligonucleotide drug could potentially reduce or prevent disease progression which could be monumental in the future development of ALS treatment and management.

Scientists use dried banana peel to generate hydrogen

banana peel hydrogen, biochar
© Digitalpress

The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne have created a way to turn biomass into hydrogen – with one kilogram of dried banana peel generating around 100 litres

The International Panel Climate Change (IPCC) Report, released in 2021, said that human activity was the direct reason for extreme climate change. The report said that it would take 20-30 years for global temperatures to stabilise, even if lower carbon emission targets were met by 2030.

Secretary-General of the UN, António Guterres, said: “The evidence is irrefutable: greenhouse gas emissions are choking our planet and placing billions of people in danger. Global heating is affecting every region on Earth, with many of the changes becoming irreversible.”

These irreversible changes mean that countries across the world need to make deep infrastructural changes, quickly.

For example, the UK is facing an energy crisis that will see prices rise. A Resolution Foundation Report highlights that the UK needs to “lessen reliance on imported fossil fuels” while also insulating low-income housing – with the recommendation that the UK quickly develop a source of independent, clean energy.

“Biomass” as a source of energy?

Energy has always existed in “biomass”, which is the organic waste of plants and animals. Now, a team at The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne have found a way to convert dried peel into a usable form of clean energy – hydrogen.

“Each kg of dried biomass can generate around 100 liters of hydrogen and 330g of biochar, which is up to 33wt.% of the original dried banana peel mass,” says Bhawna Nagar, who worked on the study.

The method also had a positive calculated energy outcome of 4.09 MJ·per kg of dried biomass. The team created a new method for biomass photo-pyrolysis, which produces not only valuable syngas, but also a biochar of solid carbon that can be repurposed to help with crops.

Energy in the flash of a Xenon lamp

The idea is to generate a powerful flash light shot, which the biomass absorbs and which instantaneously triggers a photothermal biomass conversion into syngas and biochar.

The syngas is hydrogen, while the biochar is a solid form of carbon – which is better than carbon being released in a gas form.

This flashing technique was used on different sources of biomass:

  • banana peels;
  • corn cobs;
  • orange peels;
  • coffee beans;
  • and coconut shells.

All of these were initially dried at 105°C for 24 hours, and then ground and sieved to a thin powder.

The powder was then placed in a stainless-steel reactor with a standard glass window at ambient pressure and under an inert atmosphere. The Xenon lamp flashes, and the whole conversion process is over in just a few milliseconds.

“The relevance of our work is further heightened by the fact that we are indirectly capturing CO2 stores from the atmosphere for years,” says Nagar.

“We have converted that into useful end products in no time using a Xenon flash lamp.”

Read the full study here.

A new framework identifies people with alcohol use disorder

alcohol use disorder, alcohol abuse

A new framework by researchers can help identify and diagnose alcohol use disorder based on symptoms, so patients can be given personalised treatment options

Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is a medical condition characterised by an impaired ability to stop or control alcohol use despite adverse social, occupational, or health consequences.

Often referred to as alcohol abuse, alcohol dependence, alcohol addiction, and alcoholism, it is considered a brain disorder which can have serious negative mental and physical health outcomes.

Alcohol abuse is a continuing problem around the world.

According to Professor Sir Ian Gilmore, Chair of the Alcohol Health Alliance: “COVID-19 has only heightened the UK’s complex relationship with alcohol. The uncertainty and suffering experienced by many over the last 18 months have affected the way many people drink.

“Despite some groups reporting to have consumed less alcohol during the pandemic, the number of high-risk drinkers increased by around 59% according to the analysis of several studies by Public Health England.” 

Knowing the risk factors which lead to AUD

AUD is a significant public health problem, with a need for improving the identification and treatment of individuals with it. This new research aims to identify the causal factors implicated in alcohol use disorder through amalgamating key findings together, compiling all known information into a comprehensive usable framework.

This framework could be a good starting point for additional research, offering numerous implications for the diagnosis and treatment of AUD, focusing on 13 risk factors, such as impulsive behaviour, reward sensitivity, and punishment sensitivity, that could lead to someone developing an AUD.

“We can identify individual profiles of risk and potentially intervene during earlier stages of addiction.”

AUD can be caused by numerous things. Most commonly: drinking at an early age, family alcohol problems, and mental health conditions.

Cassie Boness, a former graduate student at MU in the Department of Psychological Sciences, said: “We know from decades of research that there are a lot of different pathways to alcohol use disorder. So, we want to make sure that we are targeting people’s specific pathways as accurately as possible in order to be most effective in identifying and treating AUD.”

Boness has highlighted her interest in the causes, diagnosis and assessment of substance use disorders, including AUD, a chronic medical condition characterised by ongoing alcohol use despite adverse consequences. She aims to use this research to assist the people she knows personally with this mental condition.

Current assessment tools – such as the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5) – can assist health care professionals in diagnosis of AUD, the authors believe the current methods are too narrowly focused on the consequences of someone’s actions, rather than incorporating a broad list of potential risk factors that may lead to an AUD diagnosis.

Through emphasising on the numerous pathways someone can develop AUD, it could be easier to access help or lessen the disorder by reducing the gateway behaviours.

Destigmatising alcohol addiction treatment

Boness stresses that this tool is not meant to be the only solution, but rather a way for other researchers like her to build upon and enhance the existing research on the subject. She hopes this framework can be a step forward toward a comprehensive diagnosis of AUD throughout the healthcare community.

Boness concluded: “Eventually, we’d like to see assessment tools that more comprehensively capture the factors articulated in our framework so that we can identify individual profiles of risk and potentially intervene during earlier stages of addiction.”

Has COVID-19 caused gender disparities in health research?

covid-19 gender disparities

A study has found that COVID work-from-home orders caused women physicians to publish fewer studies than men

During the work-from-home period of the COVID-19 pandemic, journal submissions from academics surged across the board. Exploring the wider trends in academic publishing, this is the first study to find such patterns in family medicine.

This study, from Northwestern University, found as men’s scholarly productivity increased, women physicians were submitting less.

The research reflects a growing compilation of evidence that the pandemic caused unique career disruptions for women as they became overworked during remote work, causing stress, burnout and anxiety.

This study highlights the additional gender expectation of women taking care of their children – who were not in school during lockdowns – while also working from home with more responsibility.

Gender composition in career disruptions

Published in the journal Annals of Family Medicine, the study was partly conceived by author observations in their departments, where they witnessed work roles adapting dramatically, with many doctors attempting to play dual roles between childcare or eldercare as well as increase work responsibilities.

Katherine Wright, the paper’s corresponding author, said: “The worry is that these problems will compound. As men were able to submit more, they may benefit from more citations, promotions, funding and career opportunities as women fall further behind.”

Santina Wheat, co-first author, discussing her own experiences in the remote work shift, added: “All of a sudden we were doing telehealth at all hours of the day, and hours of the clinics shifted significantly and quickly.

“There was also always the sense you may need to cover for someone else, which impacted your ability to think about the academic side — or mentor others to do the same.”

Using the last five years of submission data from the Annals of Family Medicine, the scientists reviewed submission data before and during the pandemic by gender and distribution of author’s gender by submission type – such as original research versus special reports, which can impact tenure differently.

A “troubling” gap in the medical field

A widening gender gap in the field was highlighted in the Annals of Family Medicine, which received 41.5% of its submissions from women during the beginning of the pandemic, which was the period analysed by scientists.

Researchers warn the long-term repercussions for women in the medical field because of how tenure decisions are made, and the paper details the gap as “troubling”.

Wright continued: “Publications are still the hallmark of tenure and promotion decisions, so we want to make sure women aren’t at risk of falling further behind. Our hope is this data might be used by promotion and tenure committees to revaluate promotion criteria.”

For example, women tend to be more involved in creating curriculum and service, therefore, heavier activities like these more equally with publications could help balance the scales. With both a childcare and eldercare crisis in the country, parents and caretakers need additional and better support to thrive in their roles.

These impacts are bound to reverberate beyond the pandemic, as the gender disparity in home and work life widens.

Juggling home life and more work responsibilities

The researchers aim to analyse other metrics of diversity in the data to find out if other populations have been impacted disproportionately by the pandemic. They’re also currently analysing the gender composition of peer reviewers, the gatekeepers of the work accepted by scientific journals.

By adding this research to the growing body of data, the authors hope this will catalyse change in these fields.

New tool to boost lupus tracking to 96% accuracy

monitor lupus
© Thicha Satapitanon

Research indicates the possibility for a new, easier and more accurate tool to measure the progress of lupus in patients

Published by Oxford University Press, the paper in Rheumatology indicated that there may be a new method to protect and track the progress of those who have lupus.

Affecting 1 in 1000 people in the UK

Affecting up to 1.5 million people in the United States and about one in 1000 people in the United Kingdom, Lupus, also called systemic lupus erythematosus, is not always easy to diagnose because it can be similar to other conditions.

Lupus causes the body’s immune system to attack its own healthy tissues such as liver, joints, skin and kidney. In order to measure the progress of the disease to make accurate decisions about treatment. Previous studies have shown that keeping track of the autoimmune disease leads to less long-term organ damage, however keeping track of the numerous features and symptoms can be incredibly difficult to do.

The BILAG-2004 index, is the standard tool used to measure disease progression and uses multiple reference documents including a case report form, a detailed glossary, and separate scoring algorithms covering nine different areas.

This difficult and time-consuming process that can make it difficult for physicians to measure disease accurately and consistently. In clinical trials, the training required is long, mistakes in scoring are common, and physicians often express frustration with the method.

“Easy-BILAG” project

Researchers have been working on a new “Easy-BILAG” project to aid doctors in assessing lupus. Easy-BILAG, is a single-page document using colour-coding to make assessment more user friendly way.

The researchers found that, when compared across a variety of factors, the new tool enabled more accurate, consistent, and time efficient measurements of lupus disease progression.

Accuracy boosted to 96%

The overall accuracy of the tool was boosted to 96% allowing general hospital rheumatologists could measure disease progression accurately in 91.3% of cases using the new tool compared with 75% when using the standard format BILAG-2004 index. Rheumatologists were able to use the new tool to assess cases faster, in under an hour. The standard format took an average 80 minutes to complete.

The new tool was rated by rheumatologists as “intuitive and well adapted for routine clinical practice and expressed willingness to use it regularly.”

“The standard-format BILAG is useful for assessing individual patients,” said the author, Edward Vital.

“But its downside was always the time and training needed to complete it. Being able to measure the progress of lupus quickly and easily has transformed my practice so I’m excited that we can now make it easy for anyone to do the same.”

Research shows Omicron has 37 mutations on spike protein

mutations spike protein, spike protein
© Acfrank84

Omicron appears to have 37 mutations on the spike protein, which is three to five times more than other variants

In the first ever molecular-level structural analysis, The University of British Columbia (UBC) found that the Omicron variant has 37 spike protein mutations – which is really unusual.

The findings were published in Science.

“We can develop better treatments”

“Understanding the molecular structure of the viral spike protein is important as it will allow us to develop more effective treatments against Omicron and related variants in the future,” said lead author Dr Sriram Subramaniam, professor in UBC’s department of biochemistry and molecular biology.

“By analyzing the mechanisms by which the virus infects human cells, we can develop better treatments that disrupt that process and neutralize the virus.”

The infamous spike protein is how COVID enters the cells of the human body.

The structural analysis revealed that several mutations (R493, S496 and R498) create new salt bridge and hydrogen bonds between the spike protein and the human cell receptor known as ACE2.

The researchers concluded that these new bonds appear to increase binding affinity—how strongly the virus attaches to human cells—while other mutations (K417N) decrease the strength of this bond.

mutations spike protein, spike protein
Atomic structure of the Omicron variant spike protein (purple) bound with the human ACE2 receptor (blue). © UBC Faculty of Medicine

How does Omicron work against vaccines?

The researchers looked at the Omicron spike protein, revealing that there was increased antibody evasion.

This has been discovered in real-term research generally, as different vaccine-makers reveal that Omicron has a higher level of escape from the antibodies created. For instance, Pfizer and BioNTech researchers said that their vaccine needed a third dose to act as powerfully as two doses should.

What about infection-generated antibodies?

When it came to antibodies generated by infection, the Omicron variant also displayed increased evasion of antibodies collected from vaccinated individuals and unvaccinated COVID-19 patients.

In a separate study, scientists found that prior infection only generated 19% protection against Omicron. 

“Overall, the findings show that Omicron has greater binding affinity than the original virus, with levels more comparable to what we see with the Delta variant,” said Dr Subramaniam.

“It is remarkable that the Omicron variant evolved to retain its ability to bind with human cells despite such extensive mutations.”

Read the full study here. 

Performance enhancing drugs can induce eating disorders

performance enhancing drugs

A study finds that performance and appearance enhancing drugs are closely linked to eating disorder symptoms in the US – especially in college-age groups

Appearance and performance enhancing drugs and substances – APEDS – are most used to improve development of increased muscle mass, tone, and definition, in efforts to achieve specific body ideals. They have also been previously used to increase ability and are frequently banned from sports events.

Eating disorders are mental disorders, often involving unhealthy eating behaviours which may include eating too much or too little, or worrying about your weight or body shape.

A new study has found that the use of APEDs, such as whey protein and steroids, and other similar substances, have been commonly connected with eating disorder symptoms in U.S. college students.

Today’s body ideal places a lot of emphasis on muscularity and leanness, hence, the use of APEDS has become increasingly prevalent among college-age men and women.

Drug use extends beyond the use of weight control drugs

The study, published in the Eating and Weight Disorders – Studies on Anorexia, Bulimia and Obesity journal, aims to fill the research gap which hasn’t been formerly explored between certain APEDS use and eating disorder symptoms.

Exploring this relationship, researchers took data from 2020 to 2021 from the Healthy Minds Study, analysing over 7,000 U.S. college and university students. They found that a lifetime history of APEDS use is associated with increased prevalence of eating disorder symptoms or eating disorders.

This is seen specifically with the use of protein supplements, creatine supplements, and diuretics or water pills. The most common eating disorders are anorexia, binge eating disorders, and bulimia.

Lead author Kyle T. Ganson, PhD, MSW, said: “Many people use multiple APEDS to help them achieve their desired body, but this can be problematic, given our findings that use of multiple substances significantly increased the risk of eating disorder symptoms.”

Co-author Jason M. Nagata, MD, MSc, assistant professor at the University of California, San Francisco’s Department of Pediatrics, said: “Our study emphasizes the need for healthcare professionals to remain aware of changing body ideals among youth and young adults, as well as the association between APEDS use and eating disorder symptoms.

“Appropriate prevention, assessment, and treatment must be made readily available to individuals accessing healthcare services.”

Increased cases of eating disorders during the pandemic

The analyses had striking results, while eating disorder cases had already increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, this study demonstrated an even harsher prevalence of eating disorders amongst college athletes who had used supplements to improve their bodies and performance.

Eating disorders were heavily frequent with men and women who had a lifetime use of protein supplements and diuretics, or water pills. The risk of a positive eating disorder screen was highest among men who reported use of five APEDS in their lifetime.

Additionally, use of non-steroid synthetic muscle enhancers was associated with a positive eating disorder screen among men – and creatine supplement use was associated with a positive eating disorder screen among women.

Ganson said: “It’s important that healthcare professionals and members of the public understand that APEDS, which are marketed to be “healthy” and “safe”, can have consequences, particularly when used to achieve an unrealistic body ideal.

“There needs to be a greater emphasis on public health efforts to increase the public’s awareness of the risks associated with APEDS use. Our findings also underscore the importance of regulations, such as those currently under consideration in Massachusetts and California, to diminish APEDS consumption among youth and young adults.”

The researchers state that better prevention and intervention efforts should be involved in college sports programmes, to address the link between these potentially harmful behaviours and prevent future eating disorders.

North America Analysis January 2022

North America Analysis January 2022

We welcome 2022 with our January volume of North America Analysis – we hear from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, who explain how they hold the line on African swine fever in Puerto Rico

Food for thought comes from Sarah Moran, Vice President, International from USA Rice, who walks us through what we need to know about rice, the little world traveller. Did you know, for example, that Japan, is a country that consumes rice daily and typically, the third-largest export market for American rice? Or that in 2020, China imported twice as much rice as the second-largest rice importer, the Philippines?

Thirsty for more knowledge? Then why not look at the article by Senior Director of the Center for Healthy Aging, at the National Council on Aging, Kathleen Cameron, who illustrates the many ways that hydration is paramount to staying healthy as we age.

You might like to read the messages conveyed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Director of the Center for Tobacco Products, Mitch Zeller. He discusses how the U.S. federal review of e-cigarettes and other tobacco products help to protect public health.

I highly recommend a superb piece by Dr Roger Glass, Director of the Fogarty International Center, and Associate Director of Global Health Research at the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), who explores the vital relationship between NIH and the greater global health research community.

Here at Open Access Government, we like to explore science topics too. So why not read our thoughts about the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) Directorate for Biological Sciences, which enable discoveries for understanding life. Or consult our discussion about NSF improving diversity in astrophysics and astronomy?

On other pages, Frank Wolak, President and CEO of the Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Energy Association – argues that when it comes to a stronger economy and a cleaner environment – hydrogen brings it all together.

Finally, why not dive into our investigation of the 2022 priorities of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) in Canada? The federal research funding agency that promotes and supports research and training in the humanities and social sciences.

Please do stay on board with us for many more intriguing policy insights in 2022 and beyond.

Did the COVID-19 lockdown affect pollution exposure?

lockdown pollution, covid-19 lockdown

Using a new modelling method to measure finer levels of nitrogen dioxide, a study finds that people had less exposure to pollution during COVID-19 lockdowns globally

With images being spread on the internet highlighting the minimal pollution created during COVID-19 lockdowns, people speculated that, with fewer carbon emission emitters being on the roads, levels of pollution was reduced.

Researchers find that pollution did reduce during this time period in some places, however, how much it was reduced by depends on the location being assessed.

Using a method with satellite measurements to determine levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) on a small scale, they compared levels of NO2 before and during COVID-19-related lockdowns across the globe.

From this, they found that although there was a significant decrease in NO2 worldwide in areas under lockdown, there were also noticeable differences on smaller scales too.

NO2 key factor to smog associated with bad traffic or areas of intense industry

Prior to the COVID-19-related lockdowns, researchers had been working on ways to improve the detection of NO2 in the atmosphere using a new satellite technology.

Researchers from Washington University developed the method to infer levels of NO2 in regions as small as a neighbourhood, improving on methods that use modelling, satellites and ground-monitoring data to infer surface-level amounts of NO2 on any point on the globe.

This new method makes better use of the finer-resolution satellite data, enabling researchers to determine levels of NO2 on a scale of about one kilometre.

Understanding levels of NO2 is important for a better understanding of human health. As NO2 is a chemical and one of the primary air pollutants, high exposure to NO2 is associated with a variety of health problems, mainly respiratory, and results in a higher risk of mortality.

Primarily formed by burning fuel, decreases in NO2 could benefit human health, researchers set out to analyse this during the COVID lockdowns.

Accounting the variations expected by weather trends, as well as emissions which have been generally decreasing over the past several years due to technological improvements, the study found that decreases in surface-level NO2 were almost 30% larger in countries with strict lockdowns versus those without.

Understanding human health from NO2

Matt Cooper, first author of the study, said: “We can determine differences, not just from city to city, but within cities we were seeing interesting differences in levels of NO2. Changes within cities weren’t uniform; some areas saw a larger decrease than others.

“It was an interesting test case for the new method. And there was plenty of interest in air quality, which seemed to be improving. We see very striking spatial variation. Find any city and you’ll see a signal.”

Martin added: “The global decrease during lockdowns was comparable to 15 years of annual reductions from emission controls.”

However, when the researchers took a finer look at the results, they highlighted that the decreases were not evenly distributed, and had disparities geographically.

For instance, Atlanta. Accounting for population, the concentration of NO2 decreased by 28% across the metro area between April 2019 and April 2020. But there is a lot of variation represented within that average rate. Over 1.2 million people in the region saw a more than 40% decrease in NO2 levels.

However, nearly 1 million people experienced decreases of only 10% or less. Changes were generally larger for those living near coal-powered plants or the airport than in the downtown core.

Another example can be seen with Paris, where over 1 million people in the Paris metropolitan area saw a decrease in NO2 of 75% or more, while other metro areas saw a decrease in NO2 of 23% or less.

A significant part of the world does not have sufficient ground monitoring of pollutants

The benefits to this finer resolution is identifying the unequal burden of pollution between neighbouring places, as well as helping researchers to better gather data on pollution levels in areas where there is no other way to determine levels of NO2.

Of the 215 cities the researchers examined, 68 had no previous ground-monitoring data, as well as most of those cities being in lower-income countries in Africa and Southeast Asia.

Cooper concluded: “Although lower-income countries are less likely to have local air quality monitoring. large lockdown-driven changes in exposure to NO2 occurred regardless.”

LED-illuminated fishing nets cut 95% of bycatch, protecting threatened species

illuminated nets, led fishing

A new study highlights the benefits of LED-illuminated fishing nets, which reduce the bycatch of sharks and skates while still sustaining catch rates of target species – as well as protecting others

Commercial fisheries and marine wildlife conservation can work together as researchers find that using lighted nets greatly reduces accidental bycatch of sharks, rays, sea turtles, and unwanted finfish.

Lighted gillnets reduced total bycatch by 63%, including a 95% reduction in sharks, skates, and rays, with an additional 81% reduction in Humboldt squid, and a 48% reduction in unwanted finfish – all while maintaining catch rates and market value of target fish.

Technical solutions to reduce bycatch

As one of the most extensively used fishing gear in coastal regions globally, gillnets often catch other animals not targeted by fishing boats – including endangered, threatened, and protected species such as sharks, sea turtles, marine mammals, and seabirds.

They also accidentally catch other fish species like non-marketable juvenile target fish species, and often are caught dead, injured, and dumped overboard. This incidental capture of non-target species, or “bycatch”, results in a large over-fishing crisis which threatens oceans and ecosystems.

Illuminating gillnets with LED lights have been effective tool to reduce bycatch of endangered sea turtles in coastal gillnet fisheries, but only recently, in the last decade. However, the effects of net illumination on other vulnerable species, total fisheries bycatch, and efficiency of fishery operations have never before been examined.

To examine this, researchers attached green LED lights every 10 meters on gillnets along the Pacific coast of Mexico and found that the lighted nets almost eliminated bycatch of sharks, skates, and rays which have been declining globally, due to bycatch and illegal fishing.

Additionally, reducing the time it takes fishermen to disentangle nets by 57%, illuminated nets are an attractive technology in the industry, which can increase efficiency independently of any concern for bycatch.

The study began with the need for fishers to remove fewer entangled animals in the illuminated nets, which means that fishers can save more than an hour per trip when fishing with illuminated nets, also improving the quality of their catch.

Making fishing more efficient and safer for threatened species

Jesse Senko of Arizona State University, and lead author of the study, said: “These results demonstrate that the potential benefits of illuminated nets extend well beyond sea turtles, while demonstrating the strong promise for net illumination to mitigate discarded bycatch in similar coastal gillnet fisheries throughout the world’s oceans.”

Hoyt Peckham, a co-author on the study and Director of Small-scale Fisheries at the Wildlife Conservation Society, added: “Gillnets are ubiquitous because they are inexpensive and catch everything that passes them. This work is exciting because it provides a practical solution increasing gillnets’ selectivity and avoiding their bycatch. Emerging technologies should help us incorporate this kind of lighting into gillnet materials so that adopting this solution will become a no-brainer for fishers.”

“It is important for fishers to know that there are tangible benefits for them”

John Wang, a co-author on the study and Fisheries Ecologist at NOAA Fisheries’ Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Centre in Honolulu, concluded: “Making life easier for fishers by reducing the amount of time untangling bycatch is equally essential as reducing the bycatch biomass in nets. It is important for fishers to know that there are tangible benefits for them. This is critical for the adoption of such technologies by the fishing industry.”

The Wildlife Conservation Society works in many costal nations to reduce the bycatch of megafauna in gillnet fisheries, such as dolphins, sharks, and rays. Until now there has been limited technical solutions which could reduce bycatch, while allowing continued catches of the species the fishers set out to catch, and often those catches have key livelihood and food security implications.

Therefore, this research delivers a possible solution to safeguarding threatened species, which will be further explored as part of WCS’s global marine conservation efforts.

COVID brain impact similar to Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

brain impact covid, long covid
© Theo Gottwald

It is now well-known that the virus can create severe respiratory issues – but the impact of COVID on the brain is an equally important, unanswered question

According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), the inflammation symptoms of COVID impact on the brain are similar to Chronic Fatigue Symptom or post-Lyme disease.

This suggests that there could be similar causes involved.

Dr Avindra Nath, clinical director of the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), and Dr Serena Spudich, Yale School of Medicine, say that increased research on Long COVID would help to unpack how the virus impacts the brain specifically.

When it comes to acute COVID, the symptoms are usually loss of taste and smell, headaches, stroke, delirium, and even brain inflammation.

The authors said: “Few studies have systematically categorized or examined the natural history of Long Covid symptoms, let alone studied their biology.”

“Few studies have systematically categorized or examined the natural history of Long Covid symptoms”

There does not seem to extensive infection of the brain with COVID-19, which suggests that the neurological effects could be caused by immune activation, neuroinflammation, and damage to brain blood vessels.

Acute COVID, also known as Long COVID, can lead to long-term effects. Regardless of age and previous health, Long COVID symptoms can strike any individual and last for a yet indecipherable amount of time.

Symptoms, described above, can even include psychological effects such as depression or psychosis.

Not enough research means no solid access to treatment

The authors also further highlight that more research is urgently necessary. There could be countless thousands of people suffering an impact like depression, with little idea that it is connected to their experience of the virus.

Writing in Science, the authors said: “It is uncertain whether unforeseen neurological consequences may develop years after initial infection.

“With millions of individuals affected, nervous system complications pose public health challenges for rehabilitation and recovery and for disruptions in the workforce due to loss of functional capacity. There is an urgent need to understand the pathophysiology of these disorders and develop disease-modifying therapies.”

Read the full study here.

Antarctic sea ice uniquely changes for first time in 100 years

antarctic sea ice
© Achim Baqué

An increase in sea ice surrounding Antarctica since 1979 is a unique feature of the Antarctic climate – not seen since 1905, according to Ohio University researchers

Funded by the US National Science Foundation, the study is the first to detail sea ice surrounding the entire continent throughout the four seasons over the last century and paints a dramatic picture for weather and climate implications in Antarctica.

Published in Nature Climate Change, the study shows how winds and temperature changes have contributed to the continuing changes in sea ice.

Climate variability connected to sea ice

Previous estimations and measurements of sea ice, before satellite mapping were obtained mostly though small weather stations across the continent, human observation of ice edges and ocean sediment samples. However with the development of satellite measurements around 1979, this study was able to look at the entire containment instead of specific small regions, providing a year round and accurate view of ice movements in Antarctica.

Sea ice shares a strong connection with regional and large-scale climate variability.

“This reconstruction of Antarctic sea ice back through the 20th century gives us detail not only for every season, but for different regions around the whole of Antarctica,” Climatologist Ryan Fogt said.

“When we sum it up, it gives us the first complete estimate of total Antarctic sea ice extent — how far away the sea ice reaches from the continent — back through the 20th century.”

antarctic sea ice
A satellite image of Antarctic sea ice on Jan. 6, 2022 © NASA

“Regime shift”

The new data collated has indicated what the team have labelled a ‘regime shift’.

“The short period provided from satellite measurements of Antarctic sea ice is really unique. It’s the only period since the beginning of the 20th century where we see increases in total sea ice in all seasons,” Fogt said.

“We have a statistically significant positive trend over that satellite period. Perhaps even more impressively, these increases since 1979 are juxtaposed by long-term decreases in Antarctic sea ice throughout the early and middle 20th century.”

Ice core records similarly confirm regional aspects of the decrease in much of the 20th century.

The satellite measurements start in 1979 at a time when sea ice had been decreasing throughout the first half of the 20th century. Fogt is very interested in the recent increases in sea ice and an anomaly in 2016 and 2017 when the sea ice suddenly decreased, only to rebound again by mid-2020.

Sea ice conditions in early 2022 are once again below average around Antarctica.

Antarctic ice doesn’t affect sea levels, yet is causing disruption

Fogt explains that unlike portions of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, Antarctic sea ice floats on the water and melts and reforms as the seasons change, not affecting sea level.

“I mentioned there’s no impact on sea level rise with sea ice. Why then are we concerned about sea ice around Antarctica? Well, for one, it affects ecosystems. Penguins and seals in Antarctica are like the polar bears in the Arctic. They are critically dependent on how much sea ice there is. The ocean circulation, including the formation of dense water that can sink to the ocean floor, is also related to sea ice variations. Changes in the ocean around Antarctica can have global implications,” Fogt said.

Islamophobia still passes “the dinner-table test”

the dinner table test, islamophobia
© Monkey Business Images

Baroness Sayeeda Warsi said that Islamophobia passed “the dinner-table test” – now ten years later, Islamophobia accounts for 45% of religious hate crimes

Currently, the UK Cabinet is beginning an investigation into claims of Islamophobia by former Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Department of Transport, Nusrat Ghani MP.

Fired in 2020 during a Cabinet reshuffle, Ms Ghani said over the weekend that her “Muslimness” was explained as a reason for her dismissal.

Chief Conservative Whip, Mark Spencer, tweeted that the claims were untrue.

What exactly is Islamophobia?

Islamophobia cuts across race and religion, which means a complex definition is needed to properly explain it. For instance, Sikh people who are targeted for perceived connection to Islam, or people who appear Arab are treated as Muslim.

In 2021, 45% of recorded religious hate crime in the UK was directed towards Muslims. That accounts for nearly half of the figures, followed by 22% of religious hate crime being committed against the Jewish community.

In 2018, the All-Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims proposed the adoption of a definition of Islamophobia – to make hate crime more prosecutable: “Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.”

However, this definition was not adopted. The Government rejected it in 2019, with the National Police Chiefs’ Council suggesting that it could “cause confusion among officers and hamper the fight against terrorism.” 

Others supported the absence of an official explanation, suggesting that a non-legally binding definition would limit philosophical criticism and free speech.

Chris Allen, Associate Professor in Hate Studies at Leicester University, bridges the gap between race and religion.

He defines Islamophobia as: “when discrimination, bigotry and/or hate is directed at Muslims (or those thought to be Muslim), their material property (including mosques), or organisations where there exists evidence that the motivation, content or perpetrator focused on a perceived Muslim identity or other symbol of Muslims or Islam.”

Back to “the dinner-table test”

In 2011, Baroness Sayeeda Warsi said that Islamophobia passed “the dinner-table test.”

Writing in a 2017 report by The Runnymede Trust, Baroness Sayeeda Warsi said: “I was speaking about those who display their bigotry overtly, but also those who do so more subtly in the most respectable of settings – middle-class dinner tables.

“It is this more covert form of Islamophobia, couched in intellectual arguments and espoused by thinktanks, commentators and even politicians, that I have spent the last decade trying to reason with.”

Essentially, framing discussion of Muslims and the homogenous mass of “Muslim culture” around “intellectual arguments” makes it still seem okay for people to express bigotry. While racism or homophobia might now be considered untenable at the middle-class dinner-table, Islamophobia can still find an audience.

Has COVID-19 impacted physicians who care for children with cancer?

paediatric oncology

Research reveals a global link between COVID-19 and the capacity of paediatric oncology health professionals to provide high quality care

The research published by Wiley online in CANCER, a peer reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, indicated that the COVID-19 pandemic had a profound effect on paediatric care causing significant staff changes resulting in physical, psychological and financial distress.

However, the study revealed that despite the challenges of COVID-19, clinicians were able to come together to continue to provide high-quality care for children with cancer, despite the challenges.

The pandemic caused widespread disruptions in the medical sectors around the world. Surveying 331 clinicians caring for children with cancer from 213 institutions representing 79 countries, Elizabeth Sniderman and her team were able to examine the effects of COVID-19 had on paediatric oncology providers.

Impacts of COVID felt across all countries, regardless of wealth

  • Decreased clinical staff availability was cited as a major impact by 51% of institutions.
  • Staffing modifications included decreased provider availability (66% of institutions), roles or responsibility changes, and transfer of staff to work outside of their specialty.
  • Physical effects included COVID-19 illness, with 8% of respondents reporting health care provider deaths at their institutions.
  • Fifty percent of providers did not have the necessary personal protective equipment.
  • Respondents also experienced psychological distress and financial concerns.
  • Impacts were felt by countries across all income levels.

Sniderman’s research supports previous studies showing the significant effect on nursing staff in particular during the pandemic.

Sniderman said: “Nurses were especially vulnerable to the impacts of the pandemic, as they became ill or quarantined more often, faced additional financial challenges, and were reassigned more often than physician colleagues.”

How did healthcare professionals adapt?

The study showed that burdens were addressed by increased teamwork, communication, contributions outside usual roles, and policies aimed at optimising safety.

Negative impacts were also counter-balanced by feelings of making a difference or contributing to the control of the pandemic.

Sniderman noted that although the study was conducted early in the COVID-19 pandemic, prior to the initiation of vaccination and the emergence of new variants, the findings revealed important strategies that remain relevant and are key for protecting health care providers.

“The stabilising elements that we found to help mitigate the challenges of the pandemic included teamwork, communication, feelings of contributing, and policies aimed at optimising safety. These factors should be enhanced and implemented by organisations to support providers during this pandemic and future health crises,” she said.

Although the study shows the impressive way this collection of professionals found ways to adapt to the pandemic, it cannot be overlooked that the outbreak of COVID-19 highlighted a significant lack of support and could ultimately affect children health and compromise their care.

Some marine creatures protect each other from climate warming

mussel beds
© Joy Prescott

Scientists reveal that some marine species are able to protect others from dangers of climate change – by shielding them from heat

When climate change hits certain countries, they are able to adapt and survive. Places with excessive resources can change their agricultural systems, migrate a community, or implement technology. Now, a team finds that fluctuating temperatures in marine environments can cause some species to protect one another from harm.

The study, led by Texas A&M University at Galveston, was detailed in the journal Ecology by Laura Jurgens and colleagues at the University of Vermont and the University of California, Davis.

Funded by the National Science Foundation, the study the team explored how tiny crabs and isopods living on rocky shorelines react to warming in their environment.

Researchers found that the mussel bed that these animals live in are actually able to protect them from temperature swings and keep them from drying out on hot days.

“Ecological air conditioning”

“These mussel beds provide a sort of ‘ecological air conditioning system’ in their canopies, just like forests,” Jurgens said.

“The results show that conserving habitats formed by plants and animals can help buy time for heat-sensitive species, helping them weather the near-term effects of climate change. But it also means that habitat destruction can make other species more vulnerable to climate warming.”

The need for climate tolerance and adaptations

Climate change poses as unprecedented danger to marine and coastline ecosystems, and little is known as to whether many forms of marine life will be able to adapt to changes such as ocean warming and habitat destruction.

“These results show another way foundation species, such as mussels along rocky shores, have a huge impact on the wider biological community around them,” said Cynthia Suchman, a program director in NSF’s Division of Ocean Sciences.

Laura Jurgens has pointed out that without the protection of mussel beds, some marine species cannot survive under present-day conditions let alone the environmental changes we can expect to see occurring over the next decade due to climate change.

“But they can tolerate a worse-case climate scenario for perhaps as long as the year 2099 as long as the mussel bed environment remains intact,” she said.

“This research shows that it’s important to protect vulnerable habitats like mussel beds, which are threatened by trampling and destructive recreational harvests of mussels in many environmental changes of the U.S.”

£2.5 million scheme to support BAME students in postgraduate research

bame students, postgraduate

To inspire more Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) students into postgraduate research, Durham university have introduced a £2.5 million scheme to diversify their education programmes

Widening access and participation in postgraduate research, both staff and students of colour across higher education will have more opportunities and events – including training, e-conferences, peer mentoring and PhD studentships – over a period of four years.

In a collaboration between Newcastle University, Northumbria University, University of Sunderland and Teesside University, along with Durham University, the pro:NE project has been introduced to build community through mutually hosted events, training and workshops.

Each year one institution will host an online postgraduate research conference for students of colour, providing networking and development opportunities whilst sharing learning and best practice.

Tackling inequalities in higher education

To improve the career prospects for current students of colour across North East England, the project has received over £2.5 million in funding – including from the Office for Students and partner universities.

This fund aims to improve academic employment through focusing on four key areas: mental health, development, mentoring and admissions.

For the mental health aspect, a specialist mental health pathway was established for students of colour in collaboration with Newcastle Psychological Therapies Clinic. Postgraduate research students of colour in North East England will be able to access independently governed and culturally competent mental health services as a priority, for the first time in education.

Correspondingly, the reciprocal mentoring programme will allocate students of colour with academic staff, providing mutually beneficial educational development – as well as early career researchers of colour who will also be paired with senior leaders to support mutual learning.

Breaking down elitism

The project additionally aims to further the findings of prior research on name-blinding, unconscious bias prevention and contextualised admissions to pilot innovative approaches to admissions, alongside policy and practice reviews.

The five universities involved have experience in delivering inclusion interventions that support equality, including traditionally underrepresented groups, but still aim for more inclusion and diversity in their educational programmes.

Project lead Professor Jason Arday said: “Pro:NE has emerged as a means of dismantling racism and creating more opportunities for academics of colour to enter the Academy particularly in the North East of England.

“This project will create a legacy within the region which will nurture, support and develop academic pathways and communities of practice for students and staff of colour, in addition to creating spaces of belonging.”

This project aims to break down elitism in building local community, making universities more inclusive for students and staff of colour.

Poor housing creates respiratory health issues for Indigenous children

respiratory health indigenous

In First Nation communities in Canada, poor housing conditions lead to frequent rates of respiratory infections – especially in children under three

Research analysing housing conditions in four isolated First Nations communities in Northwestern Ontario, documenting indoor air quality and housing characteristics, noted frequent rates of respiratory infections in children under 3 years of age.

The study additionally found that high rates of wheezing in this age group were related to poor housing conditions.

Furthering the attempts made to limit the spread of COVID-19 outbreaks in these communities – which can also be attributed to poor housing conditions – researchers found numerous links between unhealthy living environments and poor health outcomes.

Published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal), the study found that many homes in the Sioux Lookout region in Ontario did not meet minimum standards of health and safety requirements.

Inadequate ventilation and infrastructure

They calculated this by quantifying the interior surface area of mould, monitored indoor air quality for 3–5 days in main living areas, as well as conducting other detailed analyses, like dust mite concentration and contaminants from wood smoke that could affect respiratory health.

Other attributable poor housing conditions involved outbreaks of COVID-19 in these communities, such as reduced ventilation and overcrowding. These communities requested assistance from the Canadian Armed Forces to deal with these issues.

Michael McKay, director of Housing and Infrastructure, Nishnawbe Aski Nation, and a study author said: “Without adequate ventilation, these houses are like living in a plastic bag.

“these houses are like living in a plastic bag.”

“Centuries of assimilation tactics, colonialism and systemic racism have created structural barriers including employment, education, economic and housing inadequacies, as well as systematically disrupting transfer of intergenerational life skills.”

Housing connected to colonialism and systemic racism

The study uncovered the high levels of interior surface area of mould and high levels of endotoxin – the residue of certain bacteria – which is associated with wheeze. 85% of the houses lacked controlled ventilation, over half had damaged windows, 44% showed water penetration in exterior walls and 6% had immediate safety issues.

21% of the children in the study were admitted to hospital during the first 2 years of life, and 25% of the children were medically evacuated for respiratory illness. Additionally, wheezing with colds was seen in more than 39% of the children, however, only 4% were diagnosed with asthma.

The researchers urge political action to improve housing and infrastructure conditions in Indigenous communities, to improve and monitor the health of First Nations peoples to prevent these issues from worsening and affecting more lives, especially of kids.

The authors conclude: “Inequalities and underfunding have resulted in houses that are poorly constructed and of insufficient size, with inadequate funding for maintenance and upkeep.

“Increased housing stock appropriate for local geographic, climatic and cultural needs should be matched to solutions that are [First Nations] led and governed. Economic opportunity, elimination of food insecurity and provision of potable water will allow communities and residents to apply more resources to the upkeep of existing houses.”

Unvaccinated teens nine times likelier to be hospitalised

unvaccinated teens, hospital omicron
© ColleenMichaels

Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows that unvaccinated teenagers are nine times likelier to be hospitalised with Omicron

The CDC data, published 20 January, shows that booster vaccines can make the difference between life and death.

Adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17 were found to be nine times likelier to be hospitalised with Omicron, than their vaccinated peers.

Adults over the age of 65, with no vaccination, were found to be 49 times as likely as fully immunised counterparts to be hospitalised with a severe form of COVID.

COVID hospitalisation was also found to be 16 times likelier in unvaccinated adults above the age of 18, while 44 times higher in unvaccinated adults between the ages of 50 and 64.

“Vaccination remains the safest strategy”

In a November statement reflecting on Delta immunisation data, the CDC said: “Viruses are constantly changing, including the virus that causes COVID-19. These changes occur over time and can lead to the emergence of new variants that have new characteristics, including ones that impact the level of immunity vaccination and/or prior infection can provide.

“Vaccination remains the safest strategy for protecting against COVID-19.”

While infection creates antibodies, there are uncertainties about how many and for how long. One study, conducted in the UK on healthcare workers, found that prior Omicron infection only gives an antibody protection level of 19% or even 0%.

That number is starkly low in contrast to protection levels given by Delta infection.

According to the same study, Omicron is atleast 5.4 times greater at reinfection than the Delta variant.

This new information was drawn from hospitalisations over December, 2021, as Omicron hit the US atop previous waves of Delta. The resource will now be updated once a month.

Prior studies agree with new information

Previous to this insight by the CDC, the Clalit Institute revealed that three doses of Pfizer can be equivalent to 81% protection – even against newer variants.

Professor Ben Reis, Director of the Predictive Medicine Group at the Boston Children’s Hospital Computational Health Informatics Program and Harvard Medical School, said: “To date, one of the main drivers of vaccine hesitancy has been a lack of information regarding the effectiveness of the vaccine.

“This careful epidemiological study provides reliable information on third-dose vaccine effectiveness, which we hope will be helpful to those who have not yet decided about vaccination with a third dose.”

In contrast, AstraZeneca vaccine protection drops three months after a double-dose.

The data on the AstraZeneca study was drawn from atleast 44 million people in Scotland and Brazil. It means that the most vulnerable people given priority vaccination via AstraZeneca are facing severe COVID implications – unless they attain a booster soon.

Tiny “falloposcope” can detect early ovarian cancer

ovarian cancer device

Scientists invented the ‘falloposcope’ to detect early-stage ovarian cancer – now, making history, a surgeon successfully used the device to capture images of fallopian tubes

Over three out of four ovarian cancer cases are not detected until the cancer is in an advanced stage due to a lack of effective screening and diagnostic tools – sadly, fewer than half of all women with ovarian cancer survive more than five years after diagnosis.

Now, having spent a decade researching, researchers have developed a device small enough to image the fallopian tubes, which are narrow ducts connecting the uterus to the ovaries, which can help point out any signs of early-stage cancer.

A decade in the making

Researchers have now used the imaging device in study participants for the first time. As part of a pilot human trial, the falloposcope device was used to image the fallopian tubes of volunteers.

These volunteers are already having their tubes removed, for reasons other than cancer.

This allows researchers not only to test the effectiveness of the device, but also to start establishing a baseline range of what “normal” fallopian tubes should look like.

The devices efficiency is from its multiple imaging techniques, for instance, a method called fluorescence imaging – which measures the way different molecules absorb and emit light – the device can analyse metabolic and functional changes in tissue.

Additionally, with optical coherence tomography, the device observes structural changes at high resolution. Another technique it uses is white light reflectance imaging, where it gathers information about tissue based on the way it reflects light.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has stated that the study has “nonsignificant risk,” however, testing the device on an organ that is about to be removed reduces the risk even more. Yet the pilot researchers have already successfully, and safely, used the falloposcope in four volunteers.

Heusinkveld, an assistant professor of obstetrics and gynaecology, said: “This is the first endoscope that can fit inside a fallopian tube and actually see anything below the surface with high resolution. We were very pleased with the images the device was able to capture in its first inpatient uses, and we look forward to gathering more data.”

20,000 US women will receive diagnosis of ovarian cancer this year

At 0.8 millimetres in diameter, the falloposcope is extremely small in size.

Describing it as “itty bitty”, researchers highlight the scientific breakthrough that this project entails, stating: “You just couldn’t have fabricated something like this, even six, seven years ago.”

It is estimated by the American Cancer Society about 19,880 women in the United States will receive a diagnosis of ovarian cancer, and about 12,810 will die from the disease just in 2022. The researchers express hope for the potential of the falloposcope, which could help save the lives of some women and vastly improve quality of life for others.

Can early stage detection change treatment options?

With early-stage detection, doctors could perform prophylactic salpingo-oophorectomies – which is the removal of the ovaries and fallopian tubes – before ovarian cancer spreads.

Researchers believe that ovarian cancer generally begins in the fallopian tubes, so it is often advised by physicians for women at risk for ovarian cancer have their ovaries and fallopian tubes removed.

Though this invasive surgery does have potentially lifesaving benefits, it also has its drawbacks – often causing side effects of hot flashes, mood swings, and higher risk of heart and bone disease, as well as causing women to have surgically induced menopause.

In one example, a study with 122 patients – known carriers of genes that increased their risk for cancer – had their fallopian tubes removed as a precaution. The researchers used this analysis example of the tubes after removal, which showed that only seven of the women were in the process of developing cancer.

Giving women a safer option than ovary removal

Regular falloposcope screenings entail that even patients who do ultimately opt for the removal procedure could have it done later in life – even after their childbearing years.

The research team hopes to image at least 20 sets of fallopian tubes before removal, and the surgeon, Heusinkveld, will provide feedback to the engineering team about how to make the device easier to use and more effective.

Barton said: “This device could allow us to tell those other 115 women, ‘Hey, you are perfectly normal, and we’ll come back and check on you every couple of years to make sure everything is OK.”

Heusinkveld further said: “Anecdotally, I can tell you that when a patient has her ovaries removed at a young age – almost always for cancer risk reduction – she is placed on supplemental hormones, and a significant percentage of them come back and say, ‘You know, I just don’t feel as good as I did.

“And there’s nothing you can do about that, aside from fiddling around with dosage. So, if we can delay removing ovaries until an age where they’re truly inactive, that’s going to be a pretty big health benefit.”

The team want to establish “what normal looks like”

Barton said: “The goal here is to show that we can get into the fallopian tubes – which is nontrivial itself – take images, assess the quality of the images and get physician feedback. This study will help establish a baseline of the range of what ‘normal’ looks like.”

The team’s goal for the future is to use the device to image fallopian tubes in patients with a high cancer risk.

Though it will take time for it to be approved by the FDA, as well as be manufactured and become commercially available, this ground-breaking device is an important milestone in the process could ultimately change ovarian cancer screening protocols forever.

Digital local government: This time it is personal

digital local government, local councils
© Pranav Kukreja

John McMahon, Product Director at IEG4, discusses the evolution of personalisation across the web – highlighting the benefits for local authorities who wholeheartedly embrace it within their digital services

If you’ve been working in digital services for a while, you may remember the birth of ‘Web 2.0.’ It was often dismissed as irrelevant by naysayers back in 2005, but it turned out to be a massive development in the way we use applications. While the layperson may not know what it means or stands for, they will almost certainly have interacted with a service that was born out of the evolution of the internet to Web 2.0.

The term was coined as a ‘catch all’ to describe a shift toward the democratisation of the web; the facilitation of a more personal, me-focused web. It enabled everyone using the internet on any device to create content and share it with a global reach. Importantly, as described in a paper titled Many (to platform) to many: Web 2.0 application infrastructures by Jack Jamieson, it enabled “individuals to create and distribute content with equal (or at least comparable) power as large corporations.”

Putting the web in the hands of the user

You don’t have to look far to find examples of well-known web 2.0 applications. YouTube – the birth of video and media creation that spurred on the adoption of 3G/4G, Facebook – a virtualisation of a friends’ network with the means to communicate with them all and Twitter – a place where individuals can seek news from a primary source and comment on it, all fall under this category, as do Instagram, Wikipedia, Reddit, and WordPress.

This movement was about users being able to create content and, over time, has led to an increased expectation of personalised content. Indeed, providing personalised experiences has led Amazon to become one of the most valuable, and still growing, companies in the world.

In 2020, McKinsey gleaned insight into the movement with an article on the future of personalisation claiming: “Highly personalized customer experiences, when offered to millions of individual customers by using proprietary data, are difficult for competitors to imitate. When executed well, such experiences enable businesses not only to differentiate themselves but also to gain a sustainable competitive advantage. Moreover, our research has shown that personalized experiences drive up both customer loyalty and the top line”.

Personalisation is not reaching its potential

But despite this, in a further report on personalisation, Gartner goes on to state that only 23% of brands in the study personalised their websites with recommendations based on user data inputs.

It’s clear that personalisation increases engagement and supports the conversion of customers to ‘use the digital option’, so it’s surprising that the execution of this strategy has not been implemented more widely. This is not just a challenge in the private sector either. Whilst a large proportion of government websites will feature an online sign-in of some sort, they do not use data about individuals to dynamically adjust the content delivered.

How this impacts local government

Whilst the drivers for digital transformation and personalisation of digital services in local government are different, citizen engagement and minimisation of operating costs are key; both of which are ameliorated with the effects of personalisation.

Local Government Chief Digital and Transformation Officers have seen the importance of implementing a platform that orchestrates data and content from the landscape of applications. In councils, leveraging this to drive personalisation of their digital services is the next logical step.

Council websites and notification services will become more personalised and proactive as technology makes it easier. Indeed, with IEG4’s API framework and its new Broadcast and CitizenVu solutions, we are providing the tools to enable these personalised and proactive behaviours.

Increased personalisation will improve the citizen experience and citizens will be more inclined to opt in to use digital services over traditional methods. Imagine a world where digital local government is used as intuitively as Instagram or YouTube – it’s entirely possible. This will be particularly effective at reaching the younger demographic as generation Z moves into an era where they need to engage with councils and access their services.

Having discussed Web 2.0 and the benefits of personalisation, I need to highlight that we are on the cusp of Web 3.0, which will see the internet evolve towards an even more virtual world, becoming more wide-stream, and, with the advent of the metaverse, decentralisation, democratisation, and personalisation will go even further.

The future of the web is bright; and this time it’s personal.

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