MP proposes labelling for digitally altered bodies in advertising

January 13, 2022

A new bill pushes for regulation of digitally altered bodies in advertising – going up against constantly evolving online platforms, eating disorders and negative body image

On Wednesday (12 January), Luke Evans MP proposed the Digitally Altered Body Image Bill via the ten minute rule. Speaking about the need for such legislation, he described the hope that it would tackle eating disorders and body image issues across the UK.

What is the Digitally Altered Body Image Bill?

The Digitally Altered Body Image Bill calls for commercial images featuring digitally altered bodies to be labelled. If an image has been edited for commercial purposes, or an individual has edited an image that they are being paid to post, this fact must be clear. Since heavily-edited images are the overwhelming majority of what people see, they do not represent reality – but shape a drastic expectation of what the body can look like.

In a 2020 research review, Body Image Distortion, scientist Seyed Alireza Hosseini said: “Body image is a complex construct comprising thoughts, feelings, evaluations, and behaviours related to one’s body.”

Speaking about contemporary body image in the House of Commons, Dr Evans said that advertising is “therefore helping perpetuate a warped sense of how we appear, with real consequences for people suffering with body confidence issues.”

Clarifying what he wants the bill to do, he further said: “Quite simply, if someone is being paid to post a picture on social media which they have edited, or if advertisers, broadcasters or publishers are making money from an edited photograph in any form, they should be honest and upfront about having edited it.”

Is this bill necessary?

Body image is complex and constantly shifting, shadowing bodies that are considered fashionable by the media. According to the Mental Health Foundation, 1 in 5 adults and 1 in 3 teenagers feel shame about their body, with nearly 20% of adults feeling disgusted about their body image. Trends on social media can directly influence how people think about their own body, age, size and shape, skin colour, hair and so much more – the value of their existence.

Negative body image particularly in teenagers can result in a number of physically or emotionally unhealthy habits and attitudes such as mood disorders, body dysmorphic disorder, disordered eating, lower self-esteem, relationship problems, self-harm tendencies.

The Girlguiding Girls’ Attitude Survey 2020 found that 51% of 7-10 year old girls feel “very happy” with how they look. Unfortunately, by age 11-16 when most girls start to use social media, this percentage drops significantly to just 16%.

In 2017, 88% of girls aged 11-21 said they wanted adverts which had been airbrushed to be clearly marked.

According to Beat, an eating disorder organisation, 1.25 million people are suffering with anorexia or bulimia. Over one million people are using steroids or body enhancing drugs to chase an impossible version of their body. While body image has been occasionally simplified to be a feminine issue, 25% of people who suffer from eating disorders are men.

The influence that social media has on body image and self esteem cannot be overlooked. Numerous contemporary studies have illustrated the link, including damning data seen by Instagram parent company, Meta. It is widely believed that stricter regulations on photos uploaded to platforms such as Instagram would greatly help in reducing harmful body attitudes.

What could this bill change?

If this bill makes the arduous journey through all parliamentary stages, it will require a clear disclaimer to be published on any image edited for commercial purposes – before publication.

Currently, the specifics of the bill are not available to read. The exact definitions of both “edited” and “a commercial purpose” are not clear yet. However, if the bill passes, then a robust set of guidelines will be provided and the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) will be able to regulate with new clarity on digital alteration. This would then potentially prevent significant levels of eating disorders across the UK.

When could this legislation be ready?

While the intentions behind this legislation are poignant, when could this be implemented?

When we approached Luke Evans for a timeline, a constituency staffer said: “A bill can ping-pong between the houses. I can’t give definite timeline right now.”

While there are reports of cross-party support, there is currently no Government support. When asked about future Government support, the staffer said: “After the second reading on the 25^th February or later, we will have more information on that.”

If you’re worried about your own or someone else’s health, you can contact Beat, a UK eating disorder charity on 0808 801 0677 or beateatingdisorders.org.uk

UK to wipe historical convictions for same-sex sexual activity

January 13, 2022

The UK Government will continue more pardons for people with historical criminal convictions of same-sex consensual sexual activity

The Home Secretary is to ensure that anyone convicted or cautioned for consensual same-sex sexual activity, under discriminatory laws that have since been abolished, can apply to have them ‘disregarded’.

This entails their ‘crime’ would be wiped from their criminal records and not required to be disclosed, extending the Government’s disregards and pardons scheme, as well as an automatic pardon which will be given to all individuals whose cautions and convictions are disregarded under the scheme.

Getting rid of laws with discriminatory, unfair punishment against LGBT individuals

While people have been able to apply to have historical same-sex sexual cautions and convictions disregarded since 2012, the Government is taking action to widen the scope of the too-narrow current scheme.

Present laws set out a specified list of offences which can form the basis of an application, which are largely focused on the repealed offences of buggery and gross indecency between men, a discriminatory law system which still considers gay relations to be criminal.

Lord Cashman and Lord Lexden raised this issue during the bill’s committee stage, in an amendment to the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill. The Government is to get rid of this specific list and broaden eligibility of the scheme to encompass any repealed or abolished civilian or military offence that was imposed on someone for consensual same-sex sexual activity.

The change will also allow those who have died prior to the amendment, and within 12 months after the amendment coming into force, to be posthumously pardoned.

“Consensual activity between same-sex partners should be disregarded”

Home Secretary Priti Patel said: “It is only right that where offences have been abolished, convictions for consensual activity between same-sex partners should be disregarded too. I hope that expanding the pardons and disregards scheme will go some way to righting the wrongs of the past and to reassuring members of the LGBT community that Britain is one of the safest places in the world to call home.”

Currently, LGBT organisations such as Mermaids and Rainbow Migration are appealing to parliament for amendments on the Nationality and Borders Bill, which is set to disproportionately criminalise LGBT asylum seekers.

The UK passed ‘Turing’s Law’ in 2017 – an amnesty law to pardon men who were cautioned or convicted under historical legislation that outlawed homosexual acts. At the time, the Government returned medals of LGBT veterans and apologised for the outdated ban on LGBT diplomats in the civil service.

Over 100 Global South factories could make mRNA vaccines

January 13, 2022

global south mrna, intellectual property — © Sumitsaraswat09

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) found that over 100 manufacturers in Asia, Africa and Latin America are capable of making mRNA COVID vaccines – but pharmaceutical companies won’t let them

An analysis in collaboration with Achal Prabhala, coordinator of the AccessIBSA project, identified 120 manufacturers across Asia, Africa and Latin America that are capable of safely making mRNA vaccines.

The 120-strong list is legally prevented from creating local vaccine supply, due to intellectual property laws. Essentially, the mRNA vaccines have a recipe – and replication of that recipe, by any entity that lies outside of the Pfizer company, opens up the likelihood of an immense lawsuit.

Negotiations between countries in support of temporarily suspending this law, and countries firmly against, continue to stall in early 2022. Read some analysis of the existing intellectual property law.

Some pro-intellectual property companies argue that these manufacturers are not mRNA producers, leading to potential issues in creation. However, BioNTech turned a cancer antibody factor into an mRNA vaccine factory – in as little as six months, complete with regulatory approval.

Are there enough mRNA vaccines in production?

Yes, but they will be distributed unequally.

Right now, Pfizer and Moderna are likely to create enough vaccines to provide global supply over 2022 and 2023. However, most of these doses will be given to the richest countries, leaving a vaccine-vacuum in the most vulnerable populations.

Countries like the UK and Germany have existing contracts with the pharmaceutical companies that allow them to pre-order doses for booster shots.

The Independent Allocation of Vaccines Group (IAVG) said that “promised donations by high-income countries have often been late to materialize or unpredictable.”

Even if there is enough vaccine supply this year, it is unlikely that the international vaccine-sharing COVAX scheme will be given enough of it. COVAX faced severe constraints in getting adequate vaccine supply in the last few months of 2021.

If a local manufacturer was allowed to create mRNA vaccines in at least one African country, then production capacity would soar to an extra 100 million doses within ten months.

Vulnerable countries have less than 40% vaccinated

According to the WHO, 98 countries have not vaccinated 40% of their population – leaving atleast 1.4 billion people needed urgent access to vaccines. While vaccine supply is predicted to increase later in 2022, resources to administer the shots will remain scarce. For instanced, some countries have been donated access to Pfizer but lack a cold supply chain, enough needles or vaccination centres across the population.

The new WHO goal is that 70% of the global population are vaccinated thrice by mid-2022.

The IAVG further commented: “Although the world is expected to have enough COVID-19 vaccine doses by mid-2022 to vaccinate 70% of the world’s population with three doses, uncertainties abound.

“These include the possible need for variant-specific vaccines, changes to vaccination policies, country preference for some products over others, the programmatic complexity of managing multiple products, and the need for better intelligence on country-level planning and execution.”

What are the benefits of dancing?

January 13, 2022

benefits of dancing, dance therapy — © Song Yang

Dr Deborah Lee, Dr Fox Online Pharmacy, discusses the benefits of dancing on your general health

If you want to stay healthy and live a long life – why not get up and dance! Dancing is such a fantastic form of exercise. It has so many benefits. Surely last year’s Strictly was enough to get you motivated, but if not, read on and find out why donning those dance shoes may well be the secret of eternal youth.

What is dancing?

An exercise

Dance is a rhythmical form of exercise, where you dance a set pattern of steps in time with the music. When you dance, this allows you to release emotions and express feelings. Dancing involves concentration, and stamina, meaning when you dance, you switch off from the stresses of everyday life. Hence dancing lowers stress and anxiety. Dancing exercises the heart, lungs, muscles, joints, and ligaments, and in doing so it tests your balance, muscle strength, and coordination. But more than that – dancing also requires cognitive skills and memory.

Better for you than an exercise bike!

Dancing, therefore, is not just sitting on an exercise bike pedalling or running on a treadmill. It calls on all your different muscle groups. As you vary your speed and dance different dances to different timings, you speed up, slow down, execute turns, stretches and poses – you have to learn to control your movement – and all of this has so many advantages for the ageing body.

Social interaction with other human beings

One of the other key aspects is that dance lessons are sociable. When you attend a dance class or go to a dance, you engage with other human beings. Making connections with others is vitally important for human health. Social interactions combat loneliness, which is as big a risk to health as smoking 15 cigarettes per day. Moreover, dancing involves touching other people – being in hold and being spun around – and physical touch is another hugely important factor for our health.

Makes you happy!

Dancing raises levels of the happy hormone, serotonin, and helps lower stress. This is a major health benefit in view of the incredible stresses we live under today.

Who can benefit from dancing?

Dancing is a fabulous exercise for everyone, of any age, even if they have a disease or a disability. Some of the medical evidence is summarised below –

Dancing is for everyone

Dancing has benefits for all ages – children, young people, adults and older adults. In a 2021 umbrella review in the Journal Plos One, the authors analysed 33 systematic reviews, 9 epidemiological, and 87 descriptive studies on the health benefits of arts engagement. 30-60 minutes per week of regular participation was linked to health benefits. The greatest improvements were seen with Ballroom and social dancing, aerobic dancing and Zumba

Dancing post menopause

A 2021 study in the journal Menopause followed up 36 postmenopausal women, average age 57, who participated in 90 minutes of dancing three times a week for 16 weeks. At the end of the study, there were significant improvements in coordination, agility and aerobic ability, with improvements in the General Fitness Function Index (GFFI). Cholesterol levels were also significantly improved, with lower triglycerides and higher HDL cholesterol levels.

Dance for older people

Studies support the fact dancing is good for physical and mental health. A 2009 review in the Journal of Ageing and Physical Activity, included 15 training and 3 cross-sectional studies. The authors concluded there was substantial medical evidence that dancing can significantly improve aerobic power, lower body muscle endurance, strength and flexibility, balance, agility and gait. They also found some evidence that dancing can improve bone mineral density, and muscle power, as well as reducing falls, and cardiovascular disease risk.

Dancing can be undertaken by most older people and their carers. You can dance despite having medical conditions such as Parkinson’s Disease, dementia, arthritis and heart disease. Disabled people in wheelchairs can also participate in dancing.

In 2005 McKinley and colleagues published a paper on a group of frail elderly with Parkinson’s Disease. They had been randomly allocated to one of two groups – one group learning Argentine Tango, or the other group who were walking, as a form of exercise. Both groups showed improvement in a timed ‘sit to stand’ test, but the Argentine Tango group had the greatest improvements in balance and walking speed.

Another study in patients with Parkinson’s Disease showed that those attending a twice a week, Tango Couse, for 10 weeks, resulted in greater improvements in balance than those in a traditional exercise group. Interestingly, the Tango Group were enthusiastic and wanted to continue dancing, and many of the exercise group wanted to join the dance class!

In another study, participants were assigned to either a Foxtrot, Waltz, Tango, Tai Chi or no intervention class. All of these groups showed improvements in balance, but the largest improvements were in the dance classes. Of note, all interventions led to improvements in backwards walking and greater backward stride length, however, the biggest improvements seen overall were in the Tango class.

One of the key points about learning the Tango is that the student focuses on walking. When you are consciously concentrating on walking in the dance class, this may well help you to walk subconsciously, outside the dance class. Dancing relies on a range of cues – auditory, visual and somatic – that bypass the midbrain ganglia. This means the brain supplies motor signals to the dance muscles via alternative pathways and makes new neuronal connections.

Dancing also involves multitasking, due to the need to perform dance steps in time to the music, while navigating the dance floor. People with Parkinson’s Disease often have difficulty doing more than one thing at once, so dancing may have specific benefits for this type of brain dysfunction.

Dancing after breast cancer

In a 2012 systematic review of all the relevant publications on dance therapy for those with systemic diseases, dancing was shown to have a positive impact on those who had been treated for breast cancer, leading to improvements in the quality of life, and improved shoulder movements and body image. Dance therapy was also associated with lower levels of depression.

Dancing for adults with autism

Studies suggest that dancing for people with autism also has major benefits. A 2020 review examined 9,350 studies, but only 5 were suitable for inclusion. These studies showed that dancing can improve the negative symptoms of autism such as empathy, body awareness and other aspects of behaviour that affect social engagement.

Final thoughts

If you are looking for something new to make 2022 a great year – why not take up dancing? There are so many benefits – from the physical benefits to the social aspects – seeing others, making new friends, and stopping feeling lonely.

Before you say you have two left feet, let me say it doesn’t matter! If dancing was easy all the dance teachers would be out of a job! It doesn’t matter how good you are, it just matters how much you enjoy it. Why not take the very first step and contact your local dance school today! And what’s more – you don’t necessarily need a partner either!

For more information

NHS – Dance for fitness

Transgender mental health: What age is best to begin hormone treatment?

January 13, 2022

transgender mental health, hormone treatment

Data suggests that transgender people who begin hormone treatment in adolescence, have better mental health than those waiting until adulthood

According to research led by the Stanford University School of Medicine, gender-affirming hormone treatment – with oestrogen or testosterone – can enable a transgender teenager to go through puberty in a way that matches their gender identity.

The study drew on data from the largest-ever survey of U.S. transgender adults, a group of more than 27,000 people who responded in 2015.

It revealed that transgender people who began hormone treatment in adolescence had fewer thoughts of suicide, were less likely to experience major mental health disorders and had fewer problems with substance abuse than those who started hormones in adulthood.

Additionally, results from the survey identified better mental health among those who received hormones at any age, than those who desired but never received the treatment.

Bringing physical characteristics in line with gender identity

The researchers evaluated data from the survey in 2015, which had responses from 27,715 transgender people nationwide. Participants were at least 18 when they were surveyed were to complete all-encompassing questionnaires about their lives.

Considering how some transgender people do not want hormone treatment, the study primarily focused on the 21,598 participants who had reported that they wanted to receive hormones.

Results were examined based on when participants began hormone therapy: 119 began at age 14 or 15 (early adolescence), 362 began at age 16 or 17 (late adolescence), 12,257 began after their 18th birthday (adulthood), and 8,860 participants, who served as the control group, wanted but never received hormone therapy.

Answering questions about their mental health: such as their history of suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts, and their history of binge drinking and illicit drug use, the participants completed a questionnaire to assess whether they had experienced severe psychological distress – whether in the past month they had met the criteria for a diagnosable mental illness.

The analysis was controlled for numerous factors which could influence participants’ mental health independently of whether they received hormone treatment, these factors included:

age at the time of the survey
gender identity
sex assigned at birth
sexual orientation
race or ethnicity
level of family support for gender identity
relationship status
level of education
employment status
household income
use of pubertal suppression treatment
any attempts to force them to be cisgender
experience of any verbal, physical or sexual harassment based on their gender identity in grades K-12

Participants who began hormones in adolescence had lower odds of binge drinking and lifetime illicit drug use

Compared with members of the control group, participants who underwent hormone treatment had lower odds of experiencing severe psychological distress during the previous month and lower odds of suicidal ideation in the previous year. Odds of severe psychological distress were reduced by 222%, 153% and 81% for those who began hormones in early adolescence, late adolescence and adulthood.

Additionally, the odds of previous-year suicidal ideation were 135% lower in people who began hormones in early adolescence, 62% lower in those who began in late adolescence and 21% lower in those who began as adults, when compared with the control group.

However, the study identified that those who started hormone treatment in adulthood were more likely to engage in binge drinking and use of illicit substances than those who never had hormone treatment. As well as this, in some cases, taking hormones increased confidence and social engagement may be linked to substance use.

The researchers also assessed whether participants in each group had ever been suicidal but had not had suicidal feelings in the previous year, to gain a sense of whether participants’ mental health before treatment influenced their ability to gain access to treatment.

“Gender-affirming care is beneficial from a mental health perspective”

Jack Turban, MD, a postdoctoral scholar in paediatric and adolescent psychiatry at Stanford Medicine, said: “This study is particularly relevant now because many state legislatures are introducing bills that would outlaw this kind of care for transgender youth. We are adding to the evidence base that shows why gender-affirming care is beneficial from a mental health perspective.

“Some individuals may become more confident and socially engaged when they begin taking hormones. This finding speaks to the importance of creating culturally tailored substance-use counselling programs for transgender individuals. This was a measure of mental health improving over time. People were more likely to meet those criteria if they accessed and took hormones than if they hadn’t.”

The conclusions of the study imply that access to hormones generally improved mental health, rather than the other way around.

“Being denied access to treatment can cause significant distress”

Turban continued: “There’s no one correct way to be transgender. Some transgender people do not want to take hormones and feel comfortable with their bodies the way they are. Young people seeking care at gender clinics are routinely offered counselling as part of their treatment to help them figure out what types of care best fit their circumstances.

“For those who desire gender-affirming hormones, being denied access to the treatment can cause significant distress. For some transgender youth, their negative reactions to living in bodies that develop during puberty in ways that don’t match who they know themselves to be can be very damaging.”

An instance of trans youth potentially damaging their bodies during puberty can be seen with instances of individuals who feel uncomfortable developing breasts, who may react by binding their chests so tightly they develop skin infections or rib fractures.

Turban added: “These results won’t be surprising to providers, but unfortunately a lot of legislators have never met any transgender youth. It’s important for legislators to see the numbers that back up the experiences of transgender youth, their families and the people who work in this field.”

The research team hope that legislators across the US will use these results to adapt their policy decisions. Although several bills to ban gender-affirming medical care for transgender youth have been introduced in state legislatures in recent years, nearly all have failed to become law. All major medical organizations support provision of gender-affirming medical care, including hormone therapy for patients who desire it and who meet criteria set out transgender and health organisations.

Online Safety Bill report finds 62% of women face online abuse

January 13, 2022

online safety bill report, women online abuse — © Sirin Suttithawil

According to evidence in the Online Safety Bill report, 62% of women aged between 18-34 experience online abuse and harassment – with 50% of 11-16 year old girls also facing these issues online

The report, compiling evidence given to the Joint Committee on the Draft Online Safety Bill, was discussed in parliament today (13 January) as part of backbench business. The evidence creates a compelling picture for the adoption of this Bill.

Data from Refuge finds that 62% of women aged between 16-24 experience online abuse and harassment. Following this overwhelming majority, 50% of children aged between 11-16 faced online hate speech in 2020 and 2021. A quarter of them were harassed or threatened.

“Being a woman online is an inherently dangerous act”

Nina Jankowicz, Global Fellow at the Wilson Center speaking to the Online Safety Bill report, said: “Being a woman online is an inherently dangerous act.

“That is the long and short of it. It does not matter what you do. You are opening yourself up to criticism from every angle … Many women are changing what they write, what they speak about, what careers they choose to pursue because of that understanding that it is part and parcel of existing as a woman on the internet.”

When it comes to online abuse and harassment, various communities are highly vulnerable to discrimination and violence. The internet, while creating new forums of democracy, has also provided a forum for societal regression. The ever-evolving example of what women and transgender people face online is a sobering one, exemplifying how individuals can create violence when given anonymity and opportunity.

Online Violence Against Women (VAWG) “includes but is not limited to, intimate image abuse, online harassment, the sending of unsolicited explicit images, coercive ‘sexting’, and the creation and sharing of ‘deepfake’ pornography.”

When giving evidence about the online landscape, various groups explained that existing online was enough to create abuse and harassment. For LGBTQ communities Stonewall said that online harms can range from being “outed” – leading to the loss of their homes and livelihoods. Digital hate is a contemporary ground of racism too, with anonymity again as a factor emboldening racial abuse.

Imran Ahmed, CEO and Founder of the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), commented: “When it comes to racism against footballers, the point that I have made to their representatives and to others is that the abuse of Marcus Rashford matters not because he is a wealthy footballer, but because if they can call Marcus Rashford the N-word, imagine what they would call me or my mum or anyone else from a minority, a woman, a gay person, anyone else.”

For MPs, the racial abuse accounts for 165% of recorded online hate, in one study carried out by a research team at the University of Surrey and King’s College London.

What is the Online Safety Bill?

This bill, proposed in 2018, has been delayed for four years.

The Online Safety Bill was created in response to the suicide of Molly Russell. She was a 14-year-old, who made the decision to die in 2017, after participating in Instagram self-harm and suicide communities. The bill was proposed to dismantle those communities, to force tech companies to be more responsible for content and to streamline child protection legislation in the nebulous arena of the internet.

The Online Safety Bill has been waiting since then, with a series of delays, amendments and dilutions that leave it less powerful against the social media giants which are responsible for moderating content that children can see.

At one point, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg even proposed plans for an Instagram that targets children under the age of 13. This was shot down by charities, but illustrated how tech giants are currently completely unchallenged by existing UK legislation.

Currently, the bill is still being discussed.

Calculating research and action needed in conservation strategies

January 13, 2022

conservation strategies, conservation research

A new conservation tool predicts the ideal amount of time to spend on researching a habitat before ensuring effective protection

Tackling the struggles with efficient conservation, such as when researchers are supposed to stop learning and take action, encompasses many difficult decisions in conservation. Therefore, scientist have created a tool which can determine the amount of time to spend on research at the outset.

Providing guidelines on the effective allocation of resources between habitat identification and habitat protection, the tool predicts the optimal time to spend learning, even when relatively little is known about a species and its habitat.

By deciding the optimal timing for habitat protection, researchers can ensure effective, long-term protection.

Overturning systems which potentially continue habitat loss

The new method used by researchers calculates how long should be spent improving knowledge of a species’ habitat before deciding which areas to protect, based upon an estimated rate of habitat loss and speed of acquiring knowledge.

By testing the method on two threatened species: the koala and northern abalone – a sea snail, researcher discovered that optimal time to spend learning is short when the threats are high. When habitat loss is low, the species benefit from greater knowledge, leading to an increased proportion of the species’ habitat being protected.

Protecting habitat is the most valuable action for conservation, however, conservation often requires great understanding the habitat requirements for the species being focused on. Well-timed decisions can save species from extinction but acting too soon could lead to protecting the wrong habitat. With ecosystems consisting of many complicated species, protecting the wrong species could have effects on another, this could result in a costly decision that is often irreversible.

Additionally, optimal timing for habitat protection may also depends on the amount of non-habitat that can afford being protected. Any land that is incorrectly identified as habitat and protected unnecessarily can lead to conflict with other land uses, and relocation of funds can be hard to acquire.

This new method has potential to be used in other areas of conservation decision-making. For instance, minimizing the impact of harvesting wild plants and animals, or managing the detrimental effects of invasive species. The method can also be continued further, providing guidance on optimising on-the-ground surveys, which could enable conservationists to use time and funds more efficiently.

“Optimal time to spend learning is short when the threats are high”

Dr Abbey Camaclang, The University of Queensland and lead author of the study, said: “Habitat protection can be more effective when we know more about species and their habitat needs, but delaying protection to improve our knowledge can result in continued habitat loss and population declines.”

Dr Camaclang explained: “Delaying habitat protection to improve our knowledge may sometimes be beneficial, but it is often better to protect habitats immediately rather than wait for more information when rates of habitat loss are high.”

Professor Possingham, one of the co-authors at The University of Queensland, added: “All too often ecologists will delay action on the ground to seek more and more data, ignoring the fact that time and money are limited resources in conservation.”

Developed by researchers at The University of Queensland, The University of British Columbia and CSIRO (Australia’s national science agency), the study has been published in the British Ecological Society journal Methods in Ecology and Evolution.

Potential kidney damage from long-term use of blood pressure drugs

January 12, 2022

Research from the University of Virginia School of Medicine (UVA) brings attention to the dangers of long-term use of blood pressure medication

Researchers are exploring the ways commonly prescribes drugs to treat high-blood pressure and heart failure could be contributing to kidney damage. Researchers say patients need to continue taking their medications however scientists are urging studies to better understand the drugs’ long-term effects.

“Our studies show that renin-producing cells are responsible for the damage. We are now focusing on understanding how these cells, which are so important to defend us from drops in blood pressure and maintain our well-being, undergo such transformation and induce kidney damage,” said Maria Luisa Sequeira Lopez MD.

“What is needed is to identify what substances these cells make that lead to uncontrolled vessel growth” said Lopez.

Causes of Kidney Damage

Chronic high blood pressure affects a billion people around the world. Researchers at the University of Virginia School of Medicine have found specialised kidney cells called renin cells play an important role. Renin is a vital hormone that helps the body regulate blood pressure.

The UVA researchers wanted to better understand why severe forms of the condition are often accompanied by thickening of the arteries and small blood vessels in the kidney, leading to organ damage.

Harmful changes in the renin cells can cause the cells to invade the walls of the kidney’s blood vessels. The renin cells then trigger a buildup of another cell type, smooth muscle cells, that cause the vessels to thicken and stiffen. The result: Blood can’t flow through the kidney as it should.

Research found, long-term use of drugs that inhibit the renin-angiotensin system, such as ACE inhibitors, or angiotensin receptor blockers, have a similar effect. These drugs are widely used for many purposes, including treating high blood pressure, congestive heart failure and heart attacks.

Long-term use of the drugs was associated with hardened kidney vessels in both lab mice and humans, the scientists found.

Although researchers found the potential dangers of the long term use of different blood pressure and heart regulation medications, these drugs can be lifesaving to patients. This research is intended to inspire a deeper look into the ways in which these medications can affect the body in the long term.

The researchers note that the medications can be lifesaving for patients, so they stress the importance of continuing to take them. But they say additional studies are needed to better understand the drugs’ long-term effects on the kidneys.

Find the full study here for more information

Californians continue to struggle with a lack of safe, sanitary drinking water

January 12, 2022

california drinking water, sanitary water

Safe drinking water in California is becoming scarce, as contaminated drinking water continues to disproportionately impact communities of colour across the state

Around 370,000 Californians rely on drinking water which may contain high levels of arsenic, nitrate, or hexavalent chromium – all of which can have acute toxic effects on humans if consumed.

Since 2012, access to safe, clean, and affordable drinking water has been recognized as a human right in the state of California. Community water systems are required by federal regulations to undergo regular testing for contaminants that are harmful to human health.

However, many California community water systems do not meet regulatory standards, and because of this, unsafe water has disproportionately impacted communities of colour. In addition, many largely rural households receive their tap water from private domestic wells that continue to be largely unregulated by the state.

Safe, clean drinking water is becoming more urgent as climate change brings prolonged droughts

To address this rampant issue, the team has since released an online Drinking Water Tool that policymakers and members of the public can use to look up where their water comes from, as well as map areas of the state where groundwater sources are likely contaminated with unsafe levels of arsenic, nitrate, hexavalent chromium and 1,2,3-Trichrolopropane.

Additionally, this tool also allows users to compare drinking and groundwater quality information with data on community demographics across the state and models how drought conditions may impact water availability for domestic wells and community water systems that serve fewer than 10,000 people.

Drinking water and its demographic disparities

Published in the American Journal of Public Health, this study is the first to quantify the average concentrations of multiple chemical contaminants in both community water systems and domestic well areas state-wide, systematically analysing demographic disparities in drinking water quality across California.

Combining data on the state’s community water systems, domestic well permits, residential tax parcels, building footprints and census results, researchers aimed to locate Californian households which are likely to be served by unregulated domestic wells.

They used the measurements of drinking water and groundwater contamination throughout the state to calculate contaminant levels for those served by both community water systems and domestic wells.

The researchers based their study on three chemical contaminants based on their prevalence in the state, as well as on their known toxicity. Firstly, arsenic is found naturally in groundwater and can be concentrated by depletion of the water table. Secondly, nitrate contamination of groundwater is common in agricultural regions due to fertilizer runoff and industrial animal farming. Finally, hexavalent chromium is produced by industrial and manufacturing activities.

Study co-senior author Rachel Morello-Frosch, said: “California’s Human Right to Water Law articulates the right to clean and affordable drinking water for people served by both community water systems and domestic wells, but implementing this right is a significant challenge for people who rely on domestic wells because of the lack of regulatory infrastructure.

“Our data strongly indicate that a large number of people who rely on domestic wells are likely drinking water with high levels of contaminants and suggest locations where we should begin targeted assessments to ensure that the human right to water is fully implemented.”

A lack of information on domestic well water quality and regulatory infrastructure

According to the analysis, approximately 1.3 million Californians, which is nearly 3 and a half percent, rely on domestic wells for their water supply. Of the estimated 370,000 Californians whose water supply was found to likely contain high concentrations of arsenic, nitrate or hexavalent chromium, more than 150,000 are served by domestic wells.

Study co-senior author Lara Cushing added: “I think a lot of people might be surprised to learn that, given how wealthy the state of California is, we still don’t have universal access to clean drinking water. For the three chemical contaminants that we looked at, we found that places with a higher proportion of people of colour experienced greater levels of drinking water contamination.

“This pattern has already been documented in community water systems, particularly in the San Joaquin Valley, but our work is one of the first to examine the question statewide and among domestic well communities not served by public water systems.”

Study first author Clare Pace, stated: “The goal of the Drinking Water Tool is to provide timely access to data that can inform efforts to protect the state’s drinking water and groundwater supplies, particularly in disadvantaged communities where the threats are greatest.

“We’d like to continue to refine the Drinking Water Tool in collaboration with the Community Water Center and in response to feedback from other organizations and decision-makers who can help ground-truth the data.”

Cushing continued: “In this era of climate change, our groundwater is becoming an increasingly precious resource, and we’re facing historic levels of drought and well failures. Even if a well doesn’t fail, drawdown of the water table can impact water quality by concentrating contaminants, making these problems even worse.”

However, the researchers say that due to this study being limited to three common contaminants, results likely underestimate the actual number of Californians impacted by unsafe drinking water from other compounds for which data are not as widely available.

Ocean warming has caused fish to shrink in size

January 12, 2022

Researchers have found that ocean warming, acidification and oxygen depletion have caused a species shift, causing fish to have smaller body sizes

Ocean warming has potentially significant consequences for the composition of fish stocks, including the displacement of individual species. To research this, scientists have used data from the warm period 125,000 years ago and reconstructed its environmental conditions, using sediment samples from the Humboldt Current System off Peru.

The research demonstrated that at warmer temperatures, predominantly smaller, goby-like fish species became dominant, pushing back important food fish species like anchovy.

The trend is independent of fishing pressure and fisheries management

Around 8% of the global catch of marine species comes from the areas off the coasts of Peru, where the near-surface Humboldt Current provides a high nutrient supply, and thus, sufficient food for commercially exploited fish species like anchovy. This area of the sea in South America is one of the most vital and productive fishing grounds on earth.

Additionally, 10% of the total global catch of anchovies alone comes from the region, mostly being processed into fish oil used primarily for aquacultures in China and Norway. However, catches of anchovy in the Humboldt upwelling system are currently declining due to climate change.

Researchers from the Institute of Geosciences at Kiel University and colleagues have used the paleo-oceanographic data from the Humboldt Current region to examine the correlations between temperature, oxygen, nutrient supply, and the occurrence of individual fish species.

Focusing on the warm period about 125,000 years ago, when conditions were similar to those predicted by climate projections – such as the IPCC report – and applying the data to the end of the 21st century, comparable primary production puts water temperatures two degrees Celsius higher than today, and increased oxygen deficiency in mid-depth water masses.

The researchers at Kiel University primarily analysed small fish vertebrae for their paleo-oceanographic studies, which they were able to isolate from the sediment cores. According to the data, smaller, goby-like fish predominated in coastal waters during the ancient warm period, while anchovies made up only a small proportion.

Fish with smaller body sizes can adapt better to warmer temperatures by retaining their high activity even in less oxygenated waters. This is partially due to their larger gill surface area relative to their body volume.

Affecting global food security

First author of the study, Dr. Renato Salvatteci, said: “The conditions of this past warm period that we were able to reconstruct from our samples can definitely be compared to the current development and put in context with future scenarios.

“According to this, there is a clear regime shift towards smaller fish that feel more comfortable in the warm, lower-oxygen conditions. We conclude from our results that the effects of human-induced climate change may have a stronger influence on the evolution of stocks in the region than previously thought.”

Professor Ralph Schneider, co-author of the study, added: “Our studies using sediment cores can give us fairly accurate information about the changes and their dynamics in highly productive coastal waters around the world that have occurred in the wake of different climate states and over different time scales.”

The results indicate that due to increasing warming in the Humboldt Current upwelling area, the ecosystem is heading towards a tipping point beyond which anchovy will begin to retreat and not continue to dominate nearshore fishing grounds.

Salvatteci added: “Despite a flexible, sustainable and adaptive management strategy, anchovy biomass and landings have declined, suggesting that we are closer to the ecological tipping point than suspected.”

Smaller fish are harder to catch and less palatable, and the report determines that the impact on the Peru region, the income of local fisheries and global trade in anchovies could be impacted, potentially affecting global food security.

The results of the study can calculate the extent to which global warming can provide enough food for the world’s population, and predicts what changes can be expected for the development of important fish species like anchovy.

New stem cell model of albinism to study related eye conditions

January 12, 2022

First patient-derived stem cell model for studying eye conditions related to oculocutaneous albinism developed by the National Eye Institute

Lead author of the report, Doctor Aman George from the National Eye Institute (NEI) stated that “this ‘disease-in-a-dish’ system will help us understand how the absence of pigment in albinism leads to abnormal development of the retina, optic nerve fibres, and other eye structures crucial for central vision,”

What is Oculocutaneous albinism?

Oculocutaneous albinism (OCA), is a set of genetic conditions that affects pigmentation in the eye, skin, and hair due to mutation in the genes crucial to melanin pigment production.

Oculocutaneous albinism reduces pigmentation of the coloured part of the eye known as the iris and the light-sensitive tissue at the back of the eye known as the retina. People with this condition usually have vision problems including: reduced sharpness, rapid, involuntary eye movements and increased sensitivity to light.

People with OCA lack pigmented retinal pigment epithelium (RPE),and have an underdeveloped fovea, an area within the retina that is crucial for central vision. The optic nerve carries visual signals to the brain.

People with OCA have misrouted optic nerve fibres. Scientists think that RPE plays a role in forming these structures and want to understand how lack of pigment affects their development.

How did the team create their model?

Researchers reprogrammed skin cells from individuals without OCA and people with the two most common types of OCA, into pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). The iPSCs were then differentiated to retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) cells. The RPE cells from patients were identical to RPE cells from unaffected individuals but displayed significantly reduced pigmentation.

Following this, the researchers will use their model to study how a lack of pigmentation affects RPE physiology and function.

In theory, if fovea development (a tiny pit located in the macula of the retina that provides clear vision) is dependent on RPE pigmentation, and pigmentation can be somehow improved, vision defects associated with abnormal fovea development could be at least partially resolved, according to Doctor P. Brooks, NEI clinical director and chief of the Ophthalmic Genetics and Visual Function Branch.

“Treating albinism at a very young age, perhaps even prenatally, when the eye’s structures are forming, would have the greatest chance of rescuing vision,” said Brooks. “In adults, benefits might be limited to improvements in photosensitivity, for example, but children may see more dramatic effects.”

Find the full study here

Could we treat psychiatric disorders with ultrasounds?

January 12, 2022

ultrasounds psychiatric conditions, transcranial ultrasound stimulation

Research has found that low-intensity transcranial ultrasound stimulation can modulate brain activity and behaviours, supporting the observations of psychiatric conditions

A new study has highlighted which parts of the brain support credit assignment processes – or how the brain links outcomes with its decisions – and how low-intensity transcranial ultrasound stimulation (TUS) can regulate both brain activity and behaviours related to these decision-making and learning processes.

Currently developed in an animal model in a brain area relative to the one in humans, this study using TUS could hopefully be applied to clinical research to observe and tackle psychiatric conditions and their maladaptive decisions.

Combining non-invasive ultrasound stimulation and whole-brain imaging in macaque monkeys

The study, published in the journal Science Advances, highlights the credit assignment-related activity in the lateral prefrontal area of the brain supporting adaptive behaviours, can be securely, and quickly disrupted with TUS.

The animals used in the study became more tentative in their decision making after stimulating this brain area. Due to the ultrasound neuromodulation, behaviour was no longer guided by choice value, implying that they could not understand that some choices would cause better outcomes, and decision-making was therefore less adaptive in the task.

The study also showed that this process remained intact if another brain region – also a part of the prefrontal cortex – was stimulated as control condition. This showed how task-related brain modulation is specific to stimulation of specific areas that mediate a certain cognitive process.

The first author, Dr Davide Folloni said: “This research has critical importance in a number of areas, including allowing us for the first time to non-invasively test hypothesis on the role of deep cortical areas in cognition while simultaneously recording the underlying neural activity in primates and potentially humans.

“This could significantly improve clinical treatment by helping surgeons to test implant sites for suitability before surgery, greatly improving the efficiency and accuracy of such delicate surgery.

“By improving our knowledge of the contribution of previously inaccessible dysfunctional brain areas in psychiatric and neurological diseases this will also open up new avenues for non-invasive treatment for a number or neurological conditions.”

Beneficial for surgeons tackling psychiatric conditions

The other first author of the study, Dr Elsa Fouragnan, added: “The brain is like a mosaic – there are multiple parts doing different things. Each part may be linked to a certain behaviour. The challenge is first to know whether this behaviour is causally linked to a certain brain region. Only brain stimulation allows you to answer this question.

“The second challenge is that if you disrupt or modulate one part, then it can affect several others, so we need to understand how brain areas work together, and how they affect each other if one is stimulated or disrupted.

“The really interesting finding in this study is not only discovering where certain decision making activities take place, but also how neuromodulation can change these and associated behaviours.

“We hope that this can pave the way to new studies in humans, particularly in patients experiencing mental health issues.”

Exploring the supermassive black hole at the centre of our galaxy

January 12, 2022

New study finds that Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the centre of our galaxy not only flares irregularly from day to day but also in the long term

What are black holes?

Black holes are, in essence, concentrations of gravity so strong that nothing, not even light, is able to escape. Scientists weren’t even sure they existed 20-30 years ago, and the only way we know the black hole exists is because it has an enormous gravitational pull that influences matter around it.

While we understand how most black holes are formed, we don’t understand how supermassive black holes do, though many theories exist.

Sagittarius A* was deemed a supermassive black hole by 1974, Supermassive black holes are the largest types of black holes with a mass above 0.1 million to 1 million M. Little is known about the intricacies of black holes, one thing we do know aside from them being enormous masses of gravity, is emit radiation and radio waves.

New research

Led by postgraduate student Alexis Andrés, the team analysed 15 years’ worth of data to come to this conclusion.

For decades astronomers have understood that Sagittarius A* flashes every day, emitting bursts of radiation that are ten to a hundred times brighter than normal signals observed from the black hole.

How was the data collected?

Collecting data from NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, Earth-orbiting satellite dedicated to the detection of gamma-ray bursts, Andrés and the team were able to register the frequency and intensity of the flares produced by Sagittarius A*. The Swift Observatory has been observing gamma rays from black hole since 2006. Analysis of the data showed high levels of activity from 2006 to 2008, with a sharp decline in activity for the next four years. After 2012, to the researchers surprise the frequency of flares increased again – making it incredibly difficult for the team to register or understand a possible pattern.

The team expect to gather enough data over the next few years in order to rule out whether the variations in the flares from Sagittarius A* are due to passing gaseous clouds or stars, or whether something else can explain the irregular activity observed from our galaxy’s central black hole.

Co-author Dr Jakob van den Eijnden, of the University of Oxford, comments on the team’s findings: “How the flares occur exactly remains unclear. It was previously thought that more flares follow after gaseous clouds or stars pass by the black hole, but there is no evidence for that yet. And we cannot yet confirm the hypothesis that the magnetic properties of the surrounding gas play a role either.”

Find the full study here

How can hemp compounds block the COVID-19 virus infection?

January 12, 2022

hemp compounds, COVID-19 virus infection

Research demonstrates the ability to prevent COVID-19 from entering human cells through cannabinoid acids binding to a SARS-CoV-2 protein, blocking infection from the virus

Using a chemical screening technique invented at Oregon State University, hemp compounds identified in the study revealed the ability to prevent the virus that causes COVID-19 from entering human cells.

Known scientifically as Cannabis sativa, hemp is a source of fibre, food, and animal feed. Multiple hemp extracts and compounds are added to cosmetics, body lotions, dietary supplements, and food, which continue to increase in market demand.

Oregon State’s Global Hemp Innovation Centre and its collaborators found that a pair of cannabinoid acids bind to the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, blocking a critical step in the process the virus uses to infect people.

Hemp is grown specifically for industrial or medicinal use

The study, led by Richard van Breemen, a researcher with Oregon State’s Global Hemp Innovation Centre, College of Pharmacy and Linus Pauling Institute, was published in the Journal of Natural Products.

The spike protein is the same drug target used in COVID-19 vaccines and antibody therapy, using the compounds cannabigerolic acid, or CBGA, and cannabidiolic acid, CBDA. A drug target is any molecule critical to the process a disease follows, entailing its disruption can prevent infection or progression of a disease.

van Breemen said: “These cannabinoid acids are abundant in hemp and in many hemp extracts. They are not controlled substances like THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, and have a good safety profile in humans.

“And our research showed the hemp compounds were equally effective against variants of SARS-CoV-2, including variant B.1.1.7, which was first detected in the United Kingdom, and variant B.1.351, first detected in South Africa.”

The two variants highlighted are also known the alpha and beta variant. Characterized by crown-like protrusions on its outer surface, SARS-CoV-2 features RNA strands that encode its four main structural proteins – spike, envelope, membrane and nucleocapsid – as well as 16 non-structural proteins and several “accessory” proteins.

Hemp has previously been beneficial for patients with other viral infections, such as HIV-1 and hepatitis

van Breemen added: “Any part of the infection and replication cycle is a potential target for antiviral intervention, and the connection of the spike protein’s receptor binding domain to the human cell surface receptor ACE2 is a critical step in that cycle.

“That means cell entry inhibitors, like the acids from hemp, could be used to prevent SARS-CoV-2 infection and also to shorten infections by preventing virus particles from infecting human cells. They bind to the spike proteins so those proteins can’t bind to the ACE2 enzyme, which is abundant on the outer membrane of endothelial cells in the lungs and other organs.”

The team identified the two cannabinoid acids through a mass spectrometry-based screening technique invented, screening a range of botanicals used as dietary supplements including red clover, wild yam, hops and three species of liquorice.

Later research revealed that cannabigerolic acid and cannabidiolic acid prevented infection of human epithelial cells by the coronavirus spike protein and prevented entry of SARS-CoV-2 into cells.

van Breemen stated: “These compounds can be taken orally and have a long history of safe use in humans. They have the potential to prevent as well as treat infection by SARS-CoV-2. CBDA and CBGA are produced by the hemp plant as precursors to CBD and CBG, which are familiar to many consumers. However, they are different from the acids and are not contained in hemp products.”

“We identified several cannabinoid ligands and ranked them by affinity to the spike protein. The two cannabinoids with the highest affinities for the spike protein were CBDA and CGBA, and they were confirmed to block infection.

“One of the primary concerns in the pandemic is the spread of variants, of which there are many, and B.1.1.7 and B.1.351 are among the most widespread and concerning. These variants are well known for evading antibodies against early lineage SARS-CoV-2, which is obviously concerning given that current vaccination strategies rely on the early lineage spike protein as an antigen.

“Our data show CBDA and CBGA are effective against the two variants we looked at, and we hope that trend will extend to other existing and future variants.”

Affinity selection mass spectrometry, abbreviated to AS-MS, involves incubating a drug target like the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein with a mixture of possible ligands, or things that might bind to it, such as a botanical extract, in this case being hemp extract. The ligand-receptor complexes are then filtered from the non-binding molecules using one of several methods.

Resistant variants could still arise amid widespread use of cannabinoids, but that the combination of vaccination and CBDA/CBGA treatment should make SARS-CoV-2 much less able to enter the human body and infect people.

Universal COVID vaccines can learn from the common cold

January 11, 2022

universal COVID vaccines, T cells — © Marcos del Mazo

Research shows that T cells, created by the common cold, can give some protection against the virus – which means that universal COVID vaccines can mimic this technology

Before this moment, there were was a lot of discussion about the potential of T cells created by other coronaviruses – like the common cold. These T cells have now been proven to provide some measure of infection protection against COVID.

A study, published in Nature Communications and led by Imperial College London researchers, found that there is some evidence that T cells can be protective.

Dr Rhia Kundu, first author of the study, from Imperial’s National Heart & Lung Institute, said: “Being exposed to the SARS-CoV-2 virus doesn’t always result in infection, and we’ve been keen to understand why. We found that high levels of pre-existing T cells, created by the body when infected with other human coronaviruses like the common cold, can protect against COVID-19 infection.”

Right now, vaccines do not create an immune response like the common cold does. They target antibodies, not T cells. This new information means that there is more choice for how vaccines are designed – especially universal vaccines, which are in the process of being created and trialled in early 2022. These universal COVID vaccines will be expected to handle variants, without the need for a fresh vaccine to counter a new mutation.

In another silver lining, T cells last longer than a few months, while antibodies can disappear as quickly as within three months.

Sadly, new mutations are always lurking over the horizon. This fact of reality is because the majority of the world’s population remains unvaccinated, with lack of access to the appropriate boosters and second doses in the global south. An intellectual property discussion is ongoing, with atleast 100 factories in Asia, Latin America and Africa waiting to be given legal rights to make mRNA vaccines.

“Internal proteins targeted by T cells mutate less” says Professor

Professor Ajit Lalvani, senior author of the study and Director of the NIHR Respiratory Infections Health Protection Research Unit at Imperial, commented: “Our study provides the clearest evidence to date that T cells induced by common cold coronaviruses play a protective role against SARS-CoV-2 infection. These T cells provide protection by attacking proteins within the virus, rather than the spike protein on its surface.

“The spike protein is under intense immune pressure from vaccine-induced antibody which drives evolution of vaccine escape mutants. In contrast, the internal proteins targeted by the protective T cells we identified mutate much less. Consequently, they are highly conserved between the various SARS-CoV-2 variants, including omicron.

“New vaccines that include these conserved, internal proteins would therefore induce broadly protective T cell responses that should protect against current and future SARS-CoV-2 variants.”

The team note that 88% of the participants were European white, which leaves some questions about real-world implementation.

The healthy, cost-effective benefits of sustainable diets

January 11, 2022

Research highlights the advantages of vegan diets – being both the cheapest food option in high income countries and the healthiest

Research from the University of Oxford has discovered that in high income countries – such as the US, the UK, Australia, and Western Europe – adopting a vegan, vegetarian, or flexitarian diet could reduce the amount people pay for food by up to a third.

The study, comparing the cost of seven sustainable diets to the current typical diet in 150 countries, used food prices from the World Bank’s International Comparison Program.

A vegan diet can have benefits for the heart

The researchers found that in high-income countries, vegan diets were the most affordable and reduced food costs by up to one third, with vegetarian diets being a close second. Additionally, flexitarian diets with low amounts of meat and dairy reduced costs up to 14%, in contrast with pescatarian diets, which increased costs by up to 2%.

The study focused on whole foods, not including highly-processed meat replacements or eating at restaurants or takeaways.

Dr Marco Springmann, researcher on the Oxford Martin Programme on the Future of Food, said: “We think the fact that vegan, vegetarian and flexitarian diets can save you a lot of money is going to surprise people. When scientists like me advocate for healthy and environmentally-friendly eating, it’s often said we’re sitting in our ivory towers promoting something financially out of reach for most people.

“This study shows it’s quite the opposite. These diets could be better for your bank balance as well as for your health and the planet.”

Miguel Barclay, author of the ‘One Pound Meals’ series of cookbooks, added: “I definitely agree that cutting down your meat, or cutting it out completely, will save you money, without doubt vegan and vegetarian meals consistently come in at a much lower price than recipes with meat. I definitely agree that cutting down your meat, or cutting it out completely, will save you money.

“I’ve written seven budget cookbooks and have costed up hundreds of recipes, and without doubt vegan and vegetarian meals consistently come in at a much lower price than recipes with meat.”

Grains, greens, and beans are cheap staples of the vegan diet

The study additionally noted that in lower income countries, for instance on the Indian subcontinent and in sub-Saharan Africa, eating a healthy and sustainable diet would be up to 25% cheaper than the typical Western diet, but at least a third more expensive than current diets.

Analysing the options, researchers looked at foods which could improve affordability and reduce diet costs, the study looked at several policy options. It found that making healthy and sustainable diets affordable everywhere will be possible within the next 10 years, should economic development – especially in lower income countries – reductions in food waste, and health-friendly pricing of foods be made an option.

“A healthy and sustainable diet is possible everywhere, but requires political will”

Dr Springmann finalised: “Affording to eat a healthy and sustainable diet is possible everywhere, but requires political will. Current low-income diets tend to contain large amounts of starchy foods and not enough of the foods we know are healthy. And the western-style diets, often seen as aspirational, are not only unhealthy, but also vastly unsustainable and unaffordable in low-income countries.

“Any of the healthy and sustainable dietary patterns we looked at are a better option for health, the environment, and financially, but development support and progressive food policies are needed to make them both affordable and desirable everywhere.”

Along with the benefits veganism and vegetarianism presents for people’s health and financial spending, the dietary movements are also being renowned for their low environmental impact. Additionally, they are appraised for their major reductions in water usage and carbon emissions in food production, highlighting a stark difference in carbon emissions from those produced by the meat industry.

The global and regional costs of healthy and sustainable dietary patterns: a modelling study is published in The Lancet Planetary Health.

The key to global warming models is ocean acidity

January 11, 2022

Ocean acidity is an essential variable in validating climate models, accurately predicting complex environmental dynamics and major changes to Pacific Ocean currents

Recent climate modelling and geochemical data research has confirmed changes to Pacific Ocean currents, including those that impact weather pattern events like El Niño, suggesting they may be more likely to occur with just a few degrees of global warming.

El Niño affects weather extremes, food security, economic productivity, and public safety for a large population of the planet. There is still much discussion as to how well El Niño dynamics are captured by climate models. However, to calculate climate events like El Niño, researchers began measuring ocean acidity rather than water temperature.

Looking beyond ocean temperature and circulation models

Yale climate scientists like Alexey Fedorov have been conducting research on ocean dynamics around the world over the last ten years, analysing events like El Niño, including the warm phase of the El Niño Southern Oscillation, featuring abnormally warm water in the Pacific.

Fedorov developed climate model simulations that look at ocean temperature proxies of the distant past, when global temperatures were several degrees warmer, as well as the present, to predict what might happen in the future, when the world is probably going to be warmer.

The climate scientists aimed to look at whether ancient temperature data in their models and other climate models were accurately capturing the past climate state.

Lead author Madison Shankle, a former Yale researcher now at the University of St Andrews School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, said: “Accurately capturing ocean dynamics in the equatorial Pacific in global climate models is crucial for predicting regional climate in the warmer decades to come.”

Pincelli Hull, Assistant Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences in Yale’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences and principal investigator for the new study, said: “We decided to test model predictions of major changes to the winds and currents driving El Niño by measuring something else, rather than temperature. We measured ocean acidity instead.”

Ocean acidity, the amount of pH in the Earth’s oceans based primarily on the amount of carbon dioxide that oceans absorb from the atmosphere, was used as a measurement in this study. As carbon dioxide in the ocean increases, pH decreases.

The team from the numerous participating universities thus used boron isotopes to infer ancient ocean acidity, focused on the equatorial Pacific during the Pliocene Epoch, 2.6 to 5.3 million years ago – the Pliocene being a warm period of Earth’s past that climate scientists often use as an analogue for today’s warming planet.

Three primary discoveries were made by the researchers

Firstly, when using geochemical proxies, the researchers found a much more acidic eastern equatorial Pacific during the Pliocene, compared to today.

Second, these acquired results matched climate model predictions from co-author Natalie Burls – a former Yale researcher – due to a water circulation system that acted like a conveyor belt, bringing up even deeper, older, and more acidic water.

Finally, the researchers found that the delivery of this older, acidic water required an ‘overturning circulation’, the ocean conveyor belt, that had previously been predicted by Burls and Fedorov.

This new information also suggests that ocean acidity can be a key measurement as climate models attempt to make projections for warmer conditions than those found today.

Shankle said: “Rather than being a few decades old as is found today, the upwelled water in the warm Pliocene travels thousands of miles from the North Pacific at depths of about 1000 metres before finally upwelling in the eastern equatorial Pacific, making the water in the order of hundreds of years old.”

Hull added: “It was this remarkable confirmation of Natalie and Alexey’s model. It means our current set of climate models are working pretty well. It gives us more confidence in the ability of models to predict large, regional changes in ocean and climate dynamics that really matter.”

Planavsky commented: “This is a powerful way to test models and ideas about how the climate system works that is beyond our current technological capacity to assess on the basis of past temperature proxy estimates alone.”

£2.3 million awarded to York University for sickle cell anaemia research

January 11, 2022

The Bill & Melinda Gates foundation have awarded £2.3 million to the University of York, in attempt to push forward research into sickle cell anaemia

The project utilises a new technique developed by researchers at York and the Wellcome Sanger Institute to track and enumerate blood stem cells in people.

What is sickle cell anaemia?

Sickle cell anaemia is an inherited red blood cell disorder, those with the disorder do not have enough healthy red blood cells to carry oxygen throughout the body. It is the most serious type of sickle cell disease and is particularly common in people with an African or Caribbean heritage.

Around 100 million people have the sickle cell trait worldwide, but the trait itself does not cause the disease unless a child inherits the trait from both parents. This occurs much more frequently in areas where the trait is more common, sickle cell disease has a high mortality rate in children and is common throughout much of sub-Saharan Africa, affecting up to three percent of births in some parts of the continent.

The funding builds on earlier research done by the University of York which shows the power of an approach for identifying and monitoring potential cancer-causing mutations in gene therapy patients. The new two-year project from the University of York will see researchers extend the studies to a large cohort of patients in Africa to understand the potential risks of gene therapy.

Lead researcher Dr. Alyssa Cull from the York Biomedical Research Institute and Department of Biology said: “We are really excited by the opportunity to expand our studies to gather more robust real world data for leukaemia-related mutations in sickle cell patients.

“With so many institutions being involved in the research including new partners in Uganda and Tanzania, understanding the team will be able to understand the underlying risks of large-scale gene therapy and stem cell transplantation with respect to leukaemia development.”

Mutations

Dr Kent added: “Since gene therapies have been previously associated with the potential for initiating leukaemia (a blood cancer that can rapidly kill patients), tracking these mutations in patients over time becomes incredibly important for their future health.”

The team studied the genomes of single blood stem cells at extraordinary depths and were, able to show that sickle cell disease itself causes an increase in genomic damage. They then identified different mutations that occurred pre-and post-transplantation which can now be tracked in the future.

Research partners include the Wellcome Sanger Institute, Boston Children’s Hospital, MRC Uganda, and Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences, Tanzania.

Upper ocean temperatures break records for sixth year

January 11, 2022

Earth’s oceans are hotter than ever with accumulated heat in the upper ocean at record levels, breaking the temperature record for a sixth consecutive year

Published in the Advances in Atmospheric Sciences journal, the report summarises two international datasets: from the Institute of Atmospheric Physics (IAP) and from the National Centres for Environmental Information of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), that analyse observations of ocean heat content and their impact dating from the 1950s.

“Ocean heat content is relentlessly increasing, globally, and this is a primary indicator of human-induced climate change,” said author Kevin Trenberth, the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado.

“In this most recent report, we updated observations of the ocean through 2021, while also revisiting and reprocessing earlier data.”

Ocean heat content is relentlessly increasing, globally

This is a primary indicator of human-induced climate change.

Researchers found that the upper 2,000 meters in all oceans absorbed 14 more Zettajoules than in 2020, equal to 145 times world electricity generation in 2020. For context, all the energy humans use over the world in single year is about half of a Zettajoule.

The oceans absorbs 20 to 30% of human carbon dioxide emissions, leading to ocean acidification however according to the papers lead author Lijing Cheng ‘ocean warming reduces the efficiency of oceanic carbon uptake and leaves more carbon dioxide in the air.”

“Monitoring and understanding the heat and carbon coupling in the future are important to track climate change mitigation goals” says Cheng.

The danger of rising ocean temperatures

Regional analyses show that the robust and significant ocean warming since the late 1950s occurs everywhere according to Cheng and regional marine heat waves are a consequence, with huge impacts on marine life.

“Our previous work showed that scientists need less than 4 years of ocean heat measurements to detect a human-induced warming signal from natural variations. This is much shorter than the nearly three decades of measurements required to detect global warming using temperatures of air near the Earth’s surface,” said John Abraham, Professor of University of St. Thomas.

This report shows that human activity directly affects ocean warming and therefore the percentage of ice and the rising sea levels around the globe.

“Warmer oceans also supercharge weather systems, creating more powerful storms and hurricanes, as well as increasing precipitation and flood risk,” said Cheng. “Better awareness and understanding of the oceans are a basis for the actions to combat climate change.”

However, these changes need to be made quickly and efficiently in order to protect out oceans and world as we know it.

Taiwan announces $200 million for microchip production in Lithuania

January 11, 2022

microchip production lithuania, china microchip — © Andrew Berezovskiy

Taiwan announced a $200 million investment for microchip production in Lithuania, with a further $1 billion credit programme for innovation

The investment, amounting to £148 million, could be used for microchip production – cutting China out of the supply chain. Taiwan has also launched a $1 billion credit programme, which will go towards funding projects between Lithuanian and Taiwanese companies.

The Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) accounts for more than 50% of the global microchip market, with £84.6 billion profit in 2020.

The future of microchip supply chains in the East

Currently, China perceives Taiwan to be part of its own territory. Chinese leaders would prefer that the Taiwanese Government did not make deals with other countries, like an autonomous State. China has downgraded diplomatic relations with Lithuania, putting pressure on their trade links, after the Taiwanese de-facto embassy was established on 18 November, 2021.

“This is the first time for the Taiwanese government to set up such an investment fund,” said Eric Huang, head of the Taiwanese Representative Office in Vilnius.

“When we study the possibility for semiconductor investment in Lithuania, we will consider the question in the light of the whole European Union market, because then it will be more sustainable, it will be profitable.”

Taiwan sees “shared values” with Lithuania

The Taiwanese Representative Office in Vilnius, Lithuania, is essentially an embassy.

On 18 November, 2021, the Taiwanese Representative Office said: “The two sides signed six MOUs, ushering in a shared vision of blueprint for closer cooperation ahead, laying a solid foundation for greater bonds of our two peoples. Taiwan will cherish and promote this new friendship based on our shared values.”

Links between Taiwan and Lithuania have been strong in early 2022, with Taiwan buying 20,000 bottles of Lithuania rum bound for China. This recent development could lead to an investment into the microchip production market, which is currently a key ambition of technological power for China.

The Chinese Government set a goal of 70% self-sufficiency in creating semiconductors, but was only at 16% in 2020.

A new bill pushes for regulation of digitally altered bodies in advertising – going up against constantly evolving online platforms, eating disorders and negative body image

What is the Digitally Altered Body Image Bill?

Is this bill necessary?

What could this bill change?

When could this legislation be ready?

The UK Government will continue more pardons for people with historical criminal convictions of same-sex consensual sexual activity

Getting rid of laws with discriminatory, unfair punishment against LGBT individuals

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) found that over 100 manufacturers in Asia, Africa and Latin America are capable of making mRNA COVID vaccines – but pharmaceutical companies won’t let them

Are there enough mRNA vaccines in production?

Vulnerable countries have less than 40% vaccinated

Dr Deborah Lee, Dr Fox Online Pharmacy, discusses the benefits of dancing on your general health

What is dancing?

An exercise

Better for you than an exercise bike!

Social interaction with other human beings

Makes you happy!

Who can benefit from dancing?

Dancing is for everyone

Dancing post menopause

Dance for older people

Dancing after breast cancer

Dancing for adults with autism

Final thoughts

Data suggests that transgender people who begin hormone treatment in adolescence, have better mental health than those waiting until adulthood

Bringing physical characteristics in line with gender identity

Participants who began hormones in adolescence had lower odds of binge drinking and lifetime illicit drug use

“Gender-affirming care is beneficial from a mental health perspective”

According to evidence in the Online Safety Bill report, 62% of women aged between 18-34 experience online abuse and harassment – with 50% of 11-16 year old girls also facing these issues online

“Being a woman online is an inherently dangerous act”

What is the Online Safety Bill?

A new conservation tool predicts the ideal amount of time to spend on researching a habitat before ensuring effective protection

Overturning systems which potentially continue habitat loss

Research from the University of Virginia School of Medicine (UVA) brings attention to the dangers of long-term use of blood pressure medication

Causes of Kidney Damage

Safe drinking water in California is becoming scarce, as contaminated drinking water continues to disproportionately impact communities of colour across the state

Safe, clean drinking water is becoming more urgent as climate change brings prolonged droughts

Drinking water and its demographic disparities

A lack of information on domestic well water quality and regulatory infrastructure

Researchers have found that ocean warming, acidification and oxygen depletion have caused a species shift, causing fish to have smaller body sizes

The trend is independent of fishing pressure and fisheries management

Affecting global food security

First patient-derived stem cell model for studying eye conditions related to oculocutaneous albinism developed by the National Eye Institute

What is Oculocutaneous albinism?

How did the team create their model?

Research has found that low-intensity transcranial ultrasound stimulation can modulate brain activity and behaviours, supporting the observations of psychiatric conditions

Combining non-invasive ultrasound stimulation and whole-brain imaging in macaque monkeys

Beneficial for surgeons tackling psychiatric conditions

New study finds that Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the centre of our galaxy not only flares irregularly from day to day but also in the long term

What are black holes?

New research

How was the data collected?

Research demonstrates the ability to prevent COVID-19 from entering human cells through cannabinoid acids binding to a SARS-CoV-2 protein, blocking infection from the virus

Hemp is grown specifically for industrial or medicinal use

Hemp has previously been beneficial for patients with other viral infections, such as HIV-1 and hepatitis

Research shows that T cells, created by the common cold, can give some protection against the virus – which means that universal COVID vaccines can mimic this technology

“Internal proteins targeted by T cells mutate less” says Professor

Research highlights the advantages of vegan diets – being both the cheapest food option in high income countries and the healthiest

A vegan diet can have benefits for the heart

Grains, greens, and beans are cheap staples of the vegan diet

Ocean acidity is an essential variable in validating climate models, accurately predicting complex environmental dynamics and major changes to Pacific Ocean currents

Looking beyond ocean temperature and circulation models

Three primary discoveries were made by the researchers

The Bill & Melinda Gates foundation have awarded £2.3 million to the University of York, in attempt to push forward research into sickle cell anaemia

What is sickle cell anaemia?

Mutations

Earth’s oceans are hotter than ever with accumulated heat in the upper ocean at record levels, breaking the temperature record for a sixth consecutive year

Ocean heat content is relentlessly increasing, globally

The danger of rising ocean temperatures

Taiwan announced a $200 million investment for microchip production in Lithuania, with a further $1 billion credit programme for innovation

The future of microchip supply chains in the East

Taiwan sees “shared values” with Lithuania

Follow Open Access Government

Feature Articles

Latest Publication

Latest eBook