Male fertility is declining studies show that environmental toxins could be a reason – The Conversation US

Posted on August 3, 2021 by Danzig

In the U.S., nearly 1 in 8 couples struggles with infertility. Unfortunately, physicians like me who specialize in reproductive medicine are unable to determine the cause of male infertility around 30% to 50% of the time. There is almost nothing more disheartening than telling a couple I dont know or Theres nothing I can do to help.

Upon getting this news, couple after couple asks me questions that all follow a similar line of thinking. What about his work, his cellphone, our laptops, all these plastics? Do you think they could have contributed to this?

What my patients are really asking me is a big question in male reproductive health: Does environmental toxicity contribute to male infertility?

Infertility is defined as a couples inability to get pregnant for one year despite regular intercourse. When this is the case, doctors evaluate both partners to determine why.

For men, the cornerstone of the fertility evaluation is semen analysis, and there are a number of ways to assess sperm. Sperm count the total number of sperm a man produces and sperm concentration number of sperm per milliliter of semen are common measures, but they arent the best predictors of fertility. A more accurate measure looks at the total motile sperm count, which evaluates the fraction of sperm that are able to swim and move.

A wide range of factors from obesity to hormonal imbalances to genetic diseases can affect fertility. For many men, there are treatments that can help. But starting in the 1990s, researchers noticed a concerning trend. Even when controlling for many of the known risk factors, male fertility appeared to have been declining for decades.

In 1992, a study found a global 50% decline in sperm counts in men over the previous 60 years. Multiple studies over subsequent years confirmed that initial finding, including a 2017 paper showing a 50% to 60% decline in sperm concentration between 1973 and 2011 in men from around the world.

These studies, though important, focused on sperm concentration or total sperm count. So in 2019, a team of researchers decided to focus on the more powerful total motile sperm count. They found that the proportion of men with a normal total motile sperm count had declined by approximately 10% over the previous 16 years.

The science is consistent: Men today produce fewer sperm than in the past, and the sperm are less healthy. The question, then, is what could be causing this decline in fertility.

Scientists have known for years that, at least in animal models, environmental toxic exposure can alter hormonal balance and throw off reproduction. Researchers cant intentionally expose human patients to harmful compounds and measure outcomes, but we can try to assess associations.

As the downward trend in male fertility emerged, I and other researchers began looking more toward chemicals in the environment for answers. This approach doesnt allow us to definitively establish which chemicals are causing the male fertility decline, but the weight of the evidence is growing.

A lot of this research focuses on endocrine disrupters, molecules that mimic the bodys hormones and throw off the fragile hormonal balance of reproduction. These include substances like phthalates better known as plasticizers as well as pesticides, herbicides, heavy metals, toxic gases and other synthetic materials.

Plasticizers are found in most plastics like water bottles and food containers and exposure is associated with negative impacts on testosterone and semen health.Herbicides and pesticides abound in the food supply and some specifically those with synthetic organic compounds that include phosphorus are known to negatively affect fertility.

Air pollution surrounds cities, subjecting residents to particulate matter, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and other compounds that likely contribute to abnormal sperm quality. Radiation exposure from laptops, cellphones and modems has also been associated with declining sperm counts, impaired sperm motility and abnormal sperm shape. Heavy metals such as cadmium, lead and arsenic are also present in food, water and cosmetics and are also known to harm sperm health.

Endocrine-disrupting compounds and the infertility problems they cause are taking a significant toll on human physical and emotional health. And treating these harms is costly.

A lot of chemicals are in use today, and tracking them all is incredibly difficult. More than 80,000 chemicals are registered in the U.S. and nearly 2,000 new chemicals are introduced each year. Many scientists believe that the safety testing for health and environmental risks is not strong enough and that the rapid development and introduction of new chemicals challenges the ability of organizations to test long-term risks to human health.

Current U.S. regulations follow the principle of innocent until proved guilty and are less comprehensive and restrictive than similar regulations in Europe, for example. The World Health Organization recently identified 800 compounds capable of disrupting hormones, only a small fraction of which have been tested.

A trade group, the American Chemistry Council, says on its website that manufacturers have the regulatory certainty they need to innovate, grow, create jobs and win in the global marketplace at the same time that public health and the environment benefit from strong risk-based protections.

But the reality of the current regulatory system in the U.S. is that chemicals are introduced with minimal testing and taken off the market only when harm is proved. And that can take decades.

Dr. Niels Skakkebaek, the lead researcher on one of the first manuscripts on decreasing sperm counts, called the male fertility decline a wake-up call to all of us. My patients have provided a wakeup call for me that increased public awareness and advocacy are important to protect global reproductive health now and in the future. Im not a toxicologist and cant identify the cause of the infertility trends Im seeing, but as physician, I am concerned that too much of the burden of proof is falling on the human body and people who become my patients.

This article was updated to more accurately represent the chemical regulatory system in the U.S.

The rest is here:
Male fertility is declining studies show that environmental toxins could be a reason - The Conversation US

The oldest tree in eastern US at risk after more than 2,600 years | TheHill – The Hill

Posted on August 3, 2021 by Danzig

It is the oldest known living tree on the East Coast, residing in North Carolinas wetlands, and it is endangered due to climate change.

The 2,624-year-old bald cypress is the fifth-oldest living non-clonal tree species in the world. But it is vulnerable to conditions such as drought, heat wave, storms, and flooding all while warming temperatures continue to create problems for plant growth, resilience and reproduction, The Guardian reports.

America is changing faster than ever! Add Changing America to your Facebook or Twitter feed to stay on top of the news.

The principal threat to our forests is people and human activity. One consequence of human activity is climate change, David Stahle, a dendrochronologist who was introduced to the Black Rivers bald cypress stand in 1985, said.

Rising sea levels are threatening the bald cypress, with little more than six feet of elevation standing between the tree and Atlantic Ocean. This means that rising sea levels could one day bury the tree underwater by around 2080 based on the estimates that at least 20 feet is possible in the between next 100 and 200 years or so.

With those bald cypress only two meters above sea level, thats a really serious threat, dendrochronologist and Harvard Forest senior ecologist Neil Pederson said. I see sea level rise as a train alarm, on a really long, overloaded train. And its going to take a long time to slow that train down.

In the case of the two millennium old tree that stations in a swamp, high tree mortality rates were predicted in a 2016 study, which found that drought conditions and extreme events were the cause behind the bald cypress dying.

Even though our forests seem to change slowly over time, every once in a while these things, like black swans, these unprecedented or unforeseen events, come and change an ecosystem, he said.

Study: Neanderthals Sexed Themselves to Death With Humans – InsideHook

Posted on August 3, 2021 by Danzig

Mythology is filled with notoriously sexy, not-quite-human figures who lure their victims to a gruesome if erotic death by sex. Sirens that drove sailors to shipwreck and succubus poltergeists that destroyed their sex partners mentally and physically are among various other (usually female) demons and temptresses whose creation is probably a reflection of centuries of misogyny and hatred for female sexuality, but oh well. Anyway, it turns out getting sexed to death by a species-adjacent creature isnt just the stuff of folklore, but something that actually happened to the Neanderthals who walked the earth before humans lured them to their demise.

Per the Daily Mail, new research from Aix-Marseille University claims sex with humans may have played a key role in the extinction of Neanderthals. It wasnt exactly a Black Widow spider situation, however; the sex itself wasnt killing Neanderthals, nor were their human partners slaying unwitting sub-humanoids after sex. Rather, according to the study, sex with humans gradually decimated the Neanderthal species because relations between the two could lead to a rare and fatal blood disorder in their offspring.

The condition, called haemolytic disease of the foetus and newborn, causes a fatal kind of anemia and is relatively rare today, affecting only three in 100,000 pregnancies, according to the Daily Mail. The condition would have been quite common amongst Neanderthals, Stephane Mazieres, one of the authors of the paper, told the outlet. The presence and prevalence of the disease in Neanderthal-human newborns wouldve made reproduction difficult, taking a toll on Neanderthal offspring and gradually depleting the species.

These elements could have contributed to weakening the descendants to the point of leading to their demise, especially combined with the competition with Homo sapiens for the same ecological niche, according to the researchers.

So, long before humans invented sexist tales of shipwrecking mermaids and horny, man-eating demons, it turns out we were the original succubi, slowly fucking the life out of another species, and probably giving them herpes in the process.

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Study: Neanderthals Sexed Themselves to Death With Humans - InsideHook

Cross-reactive antibodies against human coronaviruses and the animal coronavirome suggest diagnostics for future zoonotic spillovers – Science

Posted on August 3, 2021 by Danzig

The spillover of animal coronaviruses (aCoVs) to humans has caused SARS, MERS, and COVID-19. While antibody responses displaying cross-reactivity between SARS-CoV-2 and seasonal/common cold human coronaviruses (hCoVs) have been reported, potential cross-reactivity with aCoVs and the diagnostic implications are incompletely understood. Here, we probed for antibody binding against all seven hCoVs and 49 aCoVs represented as 12,924 peptides within a phage-displayed antigen library. Antibody repertoires of 269 recovered COVID-19 patients showed distinct changes compared to 260 unexposed pre-pandemic controls, not limited to binding of SARS-CoV-2 antigens but including binding to antigens from hCoVs and aCoVs with shared motifs to SARS-CoV-2. We isolated broadly reactive monoclonal antibodies from recovered COVID-19 patients that bind a shared motif of SARS-CoV-2, hCoV-OC43, hCoV-HKU1, and several aCoVs, demonstrating that interspecies cross-reactivity can be mediated by a single immunoglobulin. Employing antibody binding data against the entire CoV antigen library allowed accurate discrimination of recovered COVID-19 patients from unexposed individuals by machine learning. Leaving out SARS-CoV-2 antigens and relying solely on antibody binding to other hCoVs and aCoVs achieved equally accurate detection of SARS-CoV-2 infection. The ability to detect SARS-CoV-2 infection without knowledge of its unique antigens solely from cross-reactive antibody responses against other hCoVs and aCoVs suggests a potential diagnostic strategy for the early stage of future pandemics. Creating regularly updated antigen libraries representing the animal coronavirome can provide the basis for a serological assay already poised to identify infected individuals following a future zoonotic transmission event.

The Journey to Save a Turtle – Earth Island Journal – Earth Island Journal

Posted on August 3, 2021 by Danzig

Once the collected eggs have hatched, the turtles are kept and reared for about a year by Chicago-area partners of the program, which include Cosley Zoo, Brookfield Zoo, and the Shedd Aquarium. Then, they are released back into the wild. By the end of the year, Thompson predicts that the program will have hatched nearly 3,900 Blandings turtles.

Still, threats to Blandings turtles continue outside the laboratory. Female turtles migrate long distances to nest, and too many are hit by cars as they cross roads and highways. Others, especially eggs and hatchlings, are eaten by racoons, skunks, and opossums predators that have adapted easily to human landscapes, expanding their numbers as we do.

About an hours drive north of DuPage, Lake County Forest Preserves ChiwaukeeIllinois Beach Lake Plain is the largest Blandings turtle natural habitat in Illinois. Here, biologist Gary Glowacki and his team are addressing predator-related threats by setting up protective mesh cages around turtle nests and removing raccoons by trapping and euthanizing them. To allow the raccoon population to go unchecked, they would completely decimate some of the other native wildlife, Glowacki says. Our job as land managers is to try to protect that biodiversity the best we can.

In DuPage County, Thompsons captive bred turtles still face these threats as Thompson is all too aware. He once named a grouping after his mom and three sisters: Norma, Janet, Annette, and Karen. One year, [the turtles] were all together, Thompson says. He considered taking a family portrait of the four, but instead called it a day. The next year, I found the turtle named after my mom dead. And Ive lost two of my three sisters since. It really does show how hard it is out there.

But Thompson says the outlook for Blandings turtles is encouraging. In 2014, for instance, DuPage County first captured, in the wild, a turtle raised from a hatchling in the head start program, which Thompson saw as a sign of hope. We hadnt seen that turtle in eight years or so, he says. And not only that, shes an adult female and she was full of eggs.

Now, Thompson often finds recently released juvenile turtles, and even turtles pushing eight to ten years old a maturity threshold that increases the likelihood of survival and reproduction. Twenty-five years into Thompsons Blandings turtle program, he now estimates there are 250 to 400 Blandings of various age ranges in the DuPage County population, compared to the 50 or fewer adult turtles when his work first started. And data now suggests that all age populations of Blandings turtles in Lake Plain are growing.

Even with the numbers climbing, the species is still endangered in Illinois. And the upward trend isnt a sure thing. The reality is, if the head start program was abandoned now, the Blandings turtle population would dwindle to where it was before. At best, the program has helped offset the known loss of wild adult turtles by building up populations of juveniles and sub-adults.

At some point, Thompson will hand off his work to a younger generation of conservationists. Does it worry me? Yeah, he says. What if it isnt embraced and they go a different direction and things dont work well and it declines?

Even so, when Thompson traverses the familiar landscapes of his youth, he is cautiously optimistic about the future. As another season approaches, he is reminded of the quiet, magical moments of the job. In the stillness when hes wading through the marsh, sometimes hell feel a turtle brush against his leg or foot. The wildlife, again, just coming to him.

Male Fertility Is Declining, And Environmental Toxins Could Be A Reason – Patch.com

Posted on August 3, 2021 by Danzig

In the U.S., nearly 1 in 8 couples struggles with infertility. Unfortunately, physicians like me who specialize in reproductive medicine are unable to determine the cause of male infertility around 30 percent to 50 percent of the time. There is almost nothing more disheartening than telling a couple "I don't know" or "There's nothing I can do to help."

Upon getting this news, couple after couple asks me questions that all follow a similar line of thinking. "What about his work, his cellphone, our laptops, all these plastics? Do you think they could have contributed to this?"

What my patients are really asking me is a big question in male reproductive health: Does environmental toxicity contribute to male infertility?

Infertility is defined as a couple's inability to get pregnant for one year despite regular intercourse. When this is the case, doctors evaluate both partners to determine why.

For men, the cornerstone of the fertility evaluation is semen analysis, and there are a number of ways to assess sperm. Sperm count the total number of sperm a man produces and sperm concentration number of sperm per milliliter of semen are common measures, but they aren't the best predictors of fertility. A more accurate measure looks at the total motile sperm count, which evaluates the fraction of sperm that are able to swim and move.

The science is consistent: Men today produce fewer sperm than in the past, and the sperm are less healthy. The question, then, is what could be causing this decline in fertility.

Scientists have known for years that, at least in animal models, environmental toxic exposure can alter hormonal balance and throw off reproduction. Researchers can't intentionally expose human patients to harmful compounds and measure outcomes, but we can try to assess associations.

As the downward trend in male fertility emerged, I and other researchers began looking more toward chemicals in the environment for answers. This approach doesn't allow us to definitively establish which chemicals are causing the male fertility decline, but the weight of the evidence is growing.

A lot of this research focuses on endocrine disrupters, molecules that mimic the body's hormones and throw off the fragile hormonal balance of reproduction. These include substances like phthalates better known as plasticizers as well as pesticides, herbicides, heavy metals, toxic gases and other synthetic materials.

Endocrine-disrupting compounds and the infertility problems they cause are taking a significant toll on human physical and emotional health. And treating these harms is costly.

A lot of chemicals are in use today, and tracking them all is incredibly difficult. Today, more than 80,000 chemicals are registered with the National Toxicology Program. When the program was founded in 1978, 60,000 of those were grandfathered into the program with minimal information, and nearly 2,000 new chemicals are introduced each year. Many scientists believe that the safety testing for health and environmental risks is not strong enough and that the rapid development and introduction of new chemicals challenges the ability of organizations to test long-term risks to human health.

Current U.S. national toxicology regulations follow the principle of innocent until proved guilty and are less comprehensive and restrictive than similar regulations in Europe, for example. The World Health Organization recently identified 800 compounds capable of disrupting hormones, only a small fraction of which have been tested.

A trade group, the American Chemistry Council, says on its website that manufacturers "have the regulatory certainty they need to innovate, grow, create jobs and win in the global marketplace at the same time that public health and the environment benefit from strong risk-based protections."

But the reality of the current regulatory system in the U.S. is that chemicals are introduced with minimal testing and taken off the market only when harm is proved. And that can take decades.

Dr. Niels Skakkebaek, the lead researcher on one of the first manuscripts on decreasing sperm counts, called the male fertility decline a "wake-up call to all of us." My patients have provided a wakeup call for me that increased public awareness and advocacy are important to protect global reproductive health now and in the future. I'm not a toxicologist and can't identify the cause of the infertility trends I'm seeing, but as physician, I am concerned that too much of the burden of proof is falling on the human body and people who become my patients.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license.

Read the rest here:
Male Fertility Is Declining, And Environmental Toxins Could Be A Reason - Patch.com

Male fertility is declining. Scientists are zoning in on the reason why – New Zealand Herald

Posted on August 3, 2021 by Danzig

Infertility is defined as a couple's inability to get pregnant for one year despite regular intercourse. Photo / Kelly Sikkema, Unsplash

ANALYSIS:

In the United States, nearly one in eight couples struggles with infertility.

Unfortunately, physicians like me who specialise in reproductive medicine are unable to determine the cause of male infertility around 30 per cent to 50 per cent of the time.

There is almost nothing more disheartening than telling a couple "I don't know" or "There's nothing I can do to help."

What my patients are really asking me is a big question in male reproductive health: does environmental toxicity contribute to male infertility?

Infertility is defined as a couple's inability to get pregnant for one year despite regular intercourse. When this is the case, doctors evaluate both partners to determine why.

For men, the cornerstone of the fertility evaluation is semen analysis, and there are a number of ways to assess sperm.

Sperm count the total number of sperm a man produces and sperm concentration number of sperm per millilitre of semen are common measures, but they aren't the best predictors of fertility.

A more accurate measure looks at the total motile sperm count, which evaluates the fraction of sperm that are able to swim and move.

31 Jul, 2021 07:20 PMQuick Read

23 Jul, 2021 05:00 PMQuick Read

2 Jul, 2021 10:14 PMQuick Read

A wide range of factors from obesity to hormonal imbalances to genetic diseases can affect fertility. For many men, there are treatments that can help.

But starting in the 1990s, researchers noticed a concerning trend. Even when controlling for many of the known risk factors, male fertility appeared to have been declining for decades.

In 1992, a study found a global 50 per cent decline in sperm counts in men over the previous 60 years. Multiple studies over subsequent years confirmed that initial finding, including a 2017 paper showing a 50 per cent to 60 per cent decline in sperm concentration between 1973 and 2011 in men from around the world.

The science is consistent: men today produce fewer sperm than in the past, and the sperm are less healthy. The question, then, is what could be causing this decline in fertility.

A lot of this research focuses on endocrine disrupters, molecules that mimic the body's hormones and throw off the fragile hormonal balance of reproduction.

These include substances like phthalates better known as plasticisers as well as pesticides, herbicides, heavy metals, toxic gases and other synthetic materials.

Plasticisers are found in most plastics like water bottles and food containers and exposure is associated with negative impacts on testosterone and semen health.

Herbicides and pesticides abound in the food supply and some specifically those with synthetic organic compounds that include phosphorus are known to negatively affect fertility.

Air pollution surrounds cities, subjecting residents to particulate matter, sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and other compounds that likely contribute to abnormal sperm quality.

Radiation exposure from laptops, cellphones and modems has also been associated with declining sperm counts, impaired sperm motility and abnormal sperm shape.

Heavy metals such as cadmium, lead and arsenic are also present in food, water and cosmetics and are also known to harm sperm health.

Endocrine-disrupting compounds and the infertility problems they cause are taking a significant toll on human physical and emotional health. And treating these harms is costly.

A lot of chemicals are in use today, and tracking them all is incredibly difficult. Today, more than 80,000 chemicals are registered with America's National Toxicology Program.

When the program was founded in 1978, 60,000 of those were grandfathered into the program with minimal information, and nearly 2000 new chemicals are introduced each year.

Many scientists believe that the safety testing for health and environmental risks is not strong enough and that the rapid development and introduction of new chemicals challenges the ability of organisations to test long-term risks to human health.

Current US national toxicology regulations follow the principle of innocent until proved guilty and are less comprehensive and restrictive than similar regulations in Europe, for example.

The World Health Organisation recently identified 800 compounds capable of disrupting hormones, only a small fraction of which have been tested.

But the reality of the current regulatory system in the US is that chemicals are introduced with minimal testing and taken off the market only when harm is proved. And that can take decades.

Dr Niels Skakkebaek, the lead researcher on one of the first manuscripts on decreasing sperm counts, called the male fertility decline a "wake-up call to all of us".

My patients have provided a wakeup call for me that increased public awareness and advocacy are important to protect global reproductive health now and in the future. I'm not a toxicologist and can't identify the cause of the infertility trends I'm seeing, but as physician, I am concerned that too much of the burden of proof is falling on the human body and people who become my patients.

Ryan P. Smith is associate professor of urology at the University of Virginia.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

See the rest here:
Male fertility is declining. Scientists are zoning in on the reason why - New Zealand Herald

What makes up a speaker inside and out – Popular Science

Posted on August 3, 2021 by Danzig

Few modern electronic devices are as ubiquitousand taken for grantedas the humble loudspeaker. A useful way to project and reproduce sound with a surprisingly simple design, speakers have been helping blast everything from weather reports and headlines to Top 40 and talk radio to society at large for decades. Not a lot has changed in the general makeup of the devices since German inventor Philipp Reis modeled the first loudspeaker as a component of a telephone-like device in 1861, but todays models are more finely tuned than ever. Whether youre in the market for a new piece of audio gear or you just want to brush up on your knowledge of this mighty invention, this crash course will get you up to speed on what makes up a speaker.

To reproduce audio, a dynamic speakeralso known as a drivertranslates an electrical current into sound. Within the base of every driver, two magnets precisely oriented opposite each other create a magnetic field. Inside this field, a rigid suspension holds a flexible coil of copper wire called a voice coil. When the signal comes in from the source (be that radio, CD player, TV, or iPhone), the suspension and coil rapidly vibrate. Those vibes transfer to the speaker cone, which alters the pressure of the surrounding air molecules, ultimately translating the energy into sound waves.

Because a speakers own vibration can compromise its stability, its basket (a catchall term for the cone, coil, and suspension) needs to be constructed from rigid, break-resistant materials. The most common materials in a basket are aluminum, steel, plastic, and paper. This consideration also extends to speaker housings, as well, which are commonly constructed from medium-density fibreboard or wood and require precise engineering and machining to ensure that errant vibrations dont cause unwanted rattling.

Entire loudspeaker units are often composed of multiple drivers in a single enclosure. This can get confusing, as speaker is used to interchangeably refer to either a single driver or an entire multi-driver unit.

Because loudspeakers are differentiated by their number of drivers, this is by far the most important term to keep in mind when shopping for one. Some models may have a single driver that reproduces the entire frequency spectrum, while others may use an array of drivers, each with its own specific frequency range. The suite of drivers in a given enclosure works together to create a full sound.

The aptly-named full-range driver is an individual speaker designed to reproduce the widest possible range of frequencies without assistance from other drivers. Because they can operate independently, full-range drivers can be incredibly cost-effective for manufacturers to produceand space-efficient for consumers. This is also why theyre one of the most common drivers around, found in radios, televisions, Bluetooth speakers, and other compact electronics.

While full-range drivers aim to reproduce as many frequencies as possible in a single unit, this design still has its limitations: Single drivers often struggle to reproduce every audible frequency at an equal volume. This can result in over-emphasis of certain sounds and ultimately an inaccurate representation of the audio source. Some manufacturers attempt to offset this shortfall by adding extra material to the drivers cone so high frequencies ring better, or by placing the driver in a resonant enclosure (i.e., one thatll amp up echoes) to boost bass.

The most common solution to the limitations of a full-range driver is to split up the work between several ones with different frequency ranges. In these multi-driver units, a midrange driver handles the bulk of the audio spectrum, covering frequencies that range anywhere from 200 Hz to 5,000 Hzthe most critical range for human hearing, encompassing speech and the fundamental tones of most musical instruments.

Since they excel at reproducing the bulk of audible frequencies but dont need to reproduce the lowest ones in the audible spectrum, midrange drivers are often smaller than full-range drivers. This makes them an efficient and ideal choice for use in smartphones and other small, portable devices where you can sacrifice deep bass response.

Woofers and subwoofers are drivers that cover the lowest range of sound, with some reaching the bottommost bounds of human hearing at 20 Hz. In listening environments, adequate low-frequency response is critical for delivering an immersive level of cinematic rumble. Due to the power required to accurately reproduce this frequency range, this cant be achieved without a dedicated woofer or subwoofer outfitted with a large driver, which is why the best multi-speaker soundbars and other packages usually include a standalone subwoofer.

The low-frequency vibration created by a woofer is particularly prone to causing rattling within the speaker basket and the enclosure itself, so precision and care are required in the construction of these units. Often, manufacturers include damping materials like closed-cell foam within the enclosures, which can absorb low frequencies within the unit and mitigate the transfer of vibration to the room and walls.

The last common type of driver you should know is the tweeter, which is fine-tuned to reproduce the highest frequencies of the audio spectrum: between 2,000 and 20,000 Hz. Unlike other drivers, which utilize cones and have a practical upper limit of about 15,000 Hz, most modern tweeters use a diaphragm, or dome, of materiallike silk or polyesterto excite air molecules and reproduce high-frequency audio. Tweeters most frequently sit near the top of multi-driver speaker systems and are usually less than 1 inch in diameter.

A special electronic circuit called a crossover piece all the drivers together. This circuit sorts frequencies and sends them to the appropriate driver. For example, in a three-driver speaker, the crossover sends high frequencies to the tweeter, middle ones to the midrange driver, and low ones to the woofer.

Considering how effective speakers can be at reproducing audio with clarity and accuracy, the principles upon which theyre designed are incredibly simple. Youre likely to encounter full-range drivers and midrange drivers operating independently when listening to music on a smartphone, a television, or a pair of headphones, while most bookshelf speakers, studio monitors, and home theater systems are likely to incorporate multi-driver speakers that utilize crossovers. Even though their design has held steady for decades, the sheer volume (get it?) of options now availablefrom Bluetooth boxes to home-theater setups with six or more speakersmeans understanding the fundamentals of what makes up a speaker is essential to scoping out a setup that sounds right for you.

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What makes up a speaker inside and out - Popular Science

Plastics and our fate | Opinion | dailyitem.com – Sunbury Daily Item

Posted on August 3, 2021 by Danzig

The shredded plastic shopping bag caught on a fence or shrub is just the tip of the iceberg in an ocean of icebergs. One obstacle to raising awareness of the environmental and health costs associated with plastics is their invisibility. The amount of plastic accumulating in the environment has significantly increased in the past 15 years, but we seem to have grown numb to the waste.

The petrochemical industry reports that the world produced 260 million tons of plastics in 2016 and could produce 460 million tons per year by 2030 continuing the steep increase in output. The industry is reluctantly admitting that their products pose serious environmental problems. Public outcry is growing, and leaders are now forced to consider the future of single-use product disposal.

One strategy is small niche recycling which does not require changing the chemical structure of the material, although all recycling releases toxic materials.

Over half of all plastics are designed for single use, meaning we can effect change through our purchasing decisions. But responsibility also lies with the petrochemical industry, which continues to create new applications for single use plastics that we could live without. Bottled water contains twice the density of microplastics as tap water, according to studies conducted at Penn State University and elsewhere.

Microplastics are found in food that is difficult to rinse out, such as chicken and seafood, as well as the fishmeal fed to other animals. Microplastics removed by water treatment plants are found in the biosludge that is often spread on corn fields, where their quantity appears to be increasing and long-lasting. Significant amounts of microplastics have been found in the air, including in remote mountain regions, in every study conducted thus far.

A study of smallmouth bass in the Susquehanna River and Pine Creek conducted by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, Susquehanna University, and the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission reported that the number of microplastics found in the fish sampled increased dramatically in three years.

In 2017, 87.5% of the fish had 2.3 microplastics per fish, in 2018, 95.5% had 6.2 microplastics per fish, and in 2019, 100% had 28.9 microplastics per fish. Multiple causes are possible, but in the end, the fish are eating plastics. Therefore, fish predators, including human beings, are also eating plastics.

Plastics production depends on extracting petroleum and gas from the ground, and chemically transforming the molecules into strongly linked chains whose properties change when other chemicals are added.

These products, so useful in our daily lives, are also very damaging to the environment, both the production method and the products themselves have long-lasting harmful impact on the environment. Chemists know that plastics are stressors for all forms of life, and pollute waters, degrade habitats, harm wildlife, and endanger peoples health. Visible plastics break down into microplastics, which affect the growth, reproduction, and species interactions for those ingesting the microplastics which include humans and aquatic life, due to the omnipresence of plastics in our waters, air and lands, and in the food web.

Carol Armstrongs experience with plastic pollution is as secretary of the Friends of Heinz Refuge, as a frequent stream monitor, as a PennState Ext. Master Watershed Steward, and as a member of her towns Environmental Advisory Committee. Lana Gulden, president of Susquehanna Valley Progress, is involved in numerous environmental and civic organizations in the area.

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Plastics and our fate | Opinion | dailyitem.com - Sunbury Daily Item

The oldest tree in eastern US survived millennia but rising seas could kill it – The Guardian

Posted on August 3, 2021 by Danzig

A wizened eastern bald cypress dwells in an expanse of North Carolinas wetlands.

It lives among a cluster of eastern bald cypress trees in the states Black River, some with origins dating back a millennium. But this singular tree has witnessed more than its comrades; a 2019 study found its been alive since at least 605BCE. Its the oldest-known living tree in eastern North America and the fifth-oldest living non-clonal tree species in the world.

If these ancient trees could talk, they might wail a warning a message about the coalescing threats to their continued survival. What we can learn from a 2,624-year-old bald cypress may help piece together how humanity can best mitigate and adapt to the unprecedented impacts of the climate crisis.

They have personality, said Julie Moore, a retired botanist and former coordinator at the US Fish and Wildlife service. Ive mapped wetlands for years, so every big swamp in the United States in the south, Ive seen. But when I see these trees, I know theyre different.

Back in 1985, Moore introduced David Stahle to the Black Rivers bald cypress stand. A dendrochronologist, Stahle began using tree ring mapping and radiocarbon dating on the trees, leading to his discovery of Methuselah, a bald cypress dating back to 364AD.

It would take another quarter of a century for Stahle to return to the site, a maze-like waterway navigable only by small watercraft. This trip would lead him farther into the Black River, to the Three Sisters swamp. After coring hundreds of old trees, he identified the 2,624-year-old cypress nearly a thousand years older than Methuselah.

Stahle and his team have since continued their Black River research, reconstructing rainfall patterns and mapping the ancient forest. But climate change is a dangerous foe. Intensifying heatwaves, storms, flooding and droughts compound with warming temperatures to produce problems for plant growth, resilience and reproduction.

The principal threat to our forests is people and human activity. One consequence of human activity is climate change, Stahle said.

A little over six feet of elevation stands between the oldest-known cypress and the Atlantic Ocean. While sea level rise is increasing by two inches a decade now, its accelerating at a rapid pace. Sea levels are all but certain to rise by at least 20ft over the next 100 to 200 years. In a worst-case scenario, the worlds oldest bald cypress may already be underwater by 2080.

With those bald cypress only two meters above sea level, thats a really serious threat, said Harvard Forests senior ecologist, Neil Pederson. I see sea level rise as a train alarm, on a really long, overloaded train. And its going to take a long time to slow that train down.

Pederson is one of the researchers behind a 2014 study that found that increasing drought conditions and extreme events of the past which led to unusually high tree mortality rates could be a forecast for the future.

Even though our forests seem to change slowly over time, every once in a while these things, like black swans, these unprecedented or unforeseen events, come and change an ecosystem, he said.

A 2020 study found that even though older trees can adapt to stresses and migrate as conditions change, its unlikely that these characteristics will be enough to ensure their survival.

Nate McDowell, earth scientist at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and the lead author of that study, describes trees as functionally sweating because of warming temperatures, reducing plant productivity.

The world lost more than a third of its old-growth forests from 1900 to 2015. All the models, all the projections, everything points in the same direction: that were going to lose trees, McDowell said.

His prediction is supported by the years of recently documented increases in the mortality of older trees, which researchers are identifying across the globe. Last year, more than 10% of all mature giant sequoias were killed.

When trees die, entire ecosystems are disrupted. Once you have changes in the plant community, which is really the foundation for the whole forest, you in turn see changes in rodents, birds, even large mammals, said plant ecophysiologist Angelica Patterson.

A 2018 study found that tree loss in the Pacific north-west can even negatively affect the climate in the eastern US. Old-growth forests act as carbon sinks, meaning they sequester and store carbon emissions, steadily accumulating carbon for centuries. If they die, that carbon is released back into the atmosphere, creating a vicious cycle that further perpetuates climate change.

Forest loss even translates to the disappearance of natural coastal barriers during storms.

Locals living along North Carolinas Black River know all about the immemorial trees. Were just amazed that those trees are here. The time we first heard about it, they were saying they were over 2,000 years old. And I said, Well, they were here when Jesus was on Earth, said Dwight Horrell.

At 76, Horrell has called Ivanhoe, a rural town off the Black River, home his entire life. Climate change isnt something hes concerned about. Yet, dotted along a nearby shoreline are signs that suggest he should be.

Across the coastal wetlands of North Carolina, a new study found that climate change-driven sea level rise and saltwater intrusion have been killing large swaths of trees. In some cases, these ghost forests have even expanded inland. More than 10% of forested wetland was lost over the last 35 years in one wildlife refuge.

Charles Robbins, owner of the boating service Cape Fear River Adventures, has led Stahle through the Black Rivers charcoal-colored waters for the past decade. Hes also seen first-hand how extreme flood events disrupt ecosystems and livelihoods. There was a full foot of water on the ground and 15ft of water in the swamp, Robbins said. Peoples houses were underwater.

He was describing the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew which in 2016 flooded Horrells parents house so severely they didnt even try to rebuild. My parents house was in an area that had never been flooded, said Horrell. The first time it flooded, it got up to about three feet off the floor. The last time, it got up to the ceiling, he said.

Two years later, Hurricane Florence swept through, leaving a submerged town in its wake. The lowest-lying side was inundated with up to 36 inches of rain and record floods.

Everyone has since moved to higher ground, but the waterlogged shells of a few broken homes remain. Im telling you, it just looks morbid in that place, said Horrell.

The chance of dangerous flash flooding increases with intensifying storms; by 2050 North Carolinas inland flooding events are projected to rise by 40%.

Even so, Horrell isnt bothered by severe floods looming ahead. What hes most concerned about is strangers disrupting his way of life. You see how isolated this is down here? I enjoy the quietness, he said.

In 2017, a legislative motion for a Black River state park, intended to boost tourism, caused an uproar. The following year, the North Carolina parks and recreation division recommended the state not move forward after four town halls and a petition made up of 1,300 signatures communicated the same message: those living closest to the Black River were overwhelmingly opposed.

Three years later, signs still frame a building bordering one of Ivanhoes river boat ramps; the bolded words NO BLACK RIVER STATE PARK serving as a veiled promise.

Conservationists like Moore agree with the protesting community. Its not climate change imperiling the survival of the oldest cypress tree shes nervous about, but state-managed recreation, which opens the door to increased pollution, depletion of natural resources and ecosystem disturbance.

But Hervey McIver, a land protection specialist at the North Carolina chapter of the Nature Conservancy, attended those state park meetings to garner community support for the initiative. His point is simple: establishing a state park could fund and amplify conservation efforts.

The most vocal ones were against it. There were some people who were open to it, maybe in favor of it, but not against it. But they were quiet, McIver said. Hes optimistic that the state legislature will eventually reconsider. Even these rural, conservative, Republican folks, they see it. They understand it, and they dont they know they cant fight it.

The Nature Conservancy has invested in the preservation of the Black River since 1989. Today, the nonprofit, alongside state conservation agencies and the NC Coastal Land Trust, owns 17,960 acres along the 66-mile Black River and its upstream tributaries, including the Three Sisters swamp.

McIver says the conservancy protects the ancient trees by acquiring the land surrounding them, which then minimizes human activity. But he isnt sure what more can be done.

What can you do? Ill be long dead before the water gets that high, McIver said, emphasizing how sea level rise is a global problem, one that requires large-scale solutions like cutting greenhouse gas emissions. But then, you cant stop it. I mean, if its going to rise, its going to rise.

Some believe that question can be answered by using thousand-year-old windows into the past.

Environmental archaeologist Katharine Napora analyzed deceased eastern bald cypress trees along the Georgia coast, ranging from 65 to 1,078 years old, whose preserved remains date back to 3161BCE.

From these ancient trees, we see that even very long-lived cypress trees in the ancient past can be killed very fast with either rising sea levels or the storm surge from hurricanes, Napora said.

Solutions to fortifying wetlands and preserving old-growth forests, beyond curbing emissions, include creating living shorelines that act as a buffer for ecosystems from storm surges, sustainably harvesting coastal resources, lobbying for stricter regulations on companies emitting pollutants into the environment and even introducing marsh plants that double as salination sponges.

Napora believes we need to do everything in our power to preserve the Black Rivers treasure trove of climate insight.

She compares the loss of old-growth forests to the burning of the Library of Alexandria, one of the greatest archives of all time. These forests are like libraries informing us about the ancient past, she said. Just picture the huge amount of knowledge that would be lost if these forests no longer survive.

More:
The oldest tree in eastern US survived millennia but rising seas could kill it - The Guardian

The Bioengineering Gambit to Save the Northern White Rhino – Popular Mechanics

Posted on August 3, 2021 by Danzig

The day before he was euthanized by veterinarians in March of 2018, Sudan collapsed in the dirt at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya, where he had lived since 2009. He was worn out and in pain.

At age 45, Sudan was the final progenitor of the earths most endangered animal species: the northern white rhinoceros. As the last male northern white in the world, he was both a global icon for conservation and a two-and-a-half-ton targetbecause the horn of even the most precious rhino is not safe from poachers. He lived out his final years under 24/7 armed protection at the conservancy, along with two of his female relatives.

Half a world away, Barbara Durrant felt it. She had never met Sudan, but she knew Nola. Most people in San Diego knew Nola, though not the way Durrant did. Nola was a northern white rhinoceros, one of only four that remained by the middle of the last decade, along with Sudan and his kin. She lived at the Nikita Kahn Rhino Rescue Center, located at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, about 30 miles north of the city, and not far from where Durrant reports to work every day at the zoos Wildlife Biodiversity Bank.

Nola had also been euthanized, after age and infection caught up with her, in 2015. She was 41.

She was just the most amazing animal, says Durrant, recalling Nolas wide mouth, her skin the color of clay stone, and her distinctive horn, which curved toward the ground. Its not only losing that animal that you know personally and you love; its another step in losing the whole species.

Damon Casarez

Durrant is director of reproductive sciences at the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance and one of a handful of scientists around the world who are trying to save the northern white rhino. In Europe, another group, under the direction of wildlife researcher Thomas Hildebrandt, is also working on the problem. And while their scientific approaches may be slightly divergent, the scientists end goal is the same: to rescue the northern white rhino before the bell of extinction rings.

Hildebrandt is the project head for BioRescue, an international consortium of scientists and conservationists. His group is harvesting eggs from female rhinos in Kenya; eventually the team hopes to create embryos using the frozen sperm of long-deceased northern white rhino males.

Meanwhile, Durrants team in San Diego is undertaking an ambitious bioengineering challenge. Inside the Wildlife Biodiversity Bank is the Frozen Zoo, a cryopreserve where 10,000 still-living skin cells from 1,100 different animal species are stored in tanks of liquid nitrogen at extremely low temperatures. Among them are 12 cell lines taken from 12 different northern white rhinos, dating back to 1979.

The Frozen Zoo is a cryopreserve where 10,000 still-living skin cells from 1,100 different animal species are stored in tanks of liquid nitrogen.

As recently as two decades ago, the next step amounted to the stuff of science fiction: taking those skin cells, reprogramming them into sperm and egg, combining them in a test tube, and then implanting that embryo into a surrogate host. Recreating a whole new northern white rhino. And then another, and another, and then, once nature took its course, dozens more. Breathing life back into that which is dead. De-extinction, in other words, the purposeful resurrection of animals that have died off. Animals like Sudan.

People are seeing a species go extinct right before their eyes, says Durrant. Can we really even make a dent? The answer is, well, we have to. We have to do this.

Astronomical costs and enormous risks stand in the way. An investment of at least $20 million is required to realize the ultimate goal of reconstituting a population of wild northern white rhinoceroses. Retrieving oocytes (eggs) is a delicate endeavor, because if scientists puncture blood vessels near the uterus, the animal will bleed to death. And preserving a species through bioengineering is a fraught, messy process, one that calls into question the sophistication of current reproduction techniques and the merits of meddling with nature.

If the project succeeds, it would be a scientific breakthrough like no other. What was once outside the realm of possibility is almost within our grasp. At some point in the not-too-distant future, a rhinoceros calfa cultivated northern whitemay very well take its first steps.

Ann and Steve Toon / Alamy Stock Photo

Of the worlds five rhino species, the northern whiteone of two subspecies of white rhinosdrew the short straw. Northern whites once roamed East and Central Africa, enjoying an herbivorous lifestyle with few natural predators. Humans prized them for their horns, which can grow over four feet. In Europe circa 1900, rhino horn was fashioned into ornamental accoutrements, like walking sticks and pistol grips. It remains a common ingredient in traditional Chinese medicine, which prescribes powdered rhino horn mixed with boiling water as a cure for fever, gout, and rheumatism.

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Poaching and war rapidly thinned their numbers, from the thousands to the hundreds to the tens. Nola arrived in San Diego in 1989; by the end of that decade, fewer than 40 northern whites remained in the northeast corner of what is today the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The last northern white was spotted in the wild in 2006. By then, the only survivors were those that had been relocated to zoos in the 1970s. They included Sudan, his daughter, Najin, her daughter, Fatu, and another bull, Suni, who were all taken to Kenyas Ol Pejeta Conservancy in 2009. They were the eligible breeders, yet no calves were born. Suni died four years before Sudan.

Four became three, then three became two, and now only Najin and Fatu remain. They are old and getting older, and even if they could mate, veterinarians have determined that neither is capable of carrying a pregnancy to term. Its a foregone conclusion then, yes? The line of northern white rhinos dies with Najin and Fatu.

TONY KARUMBAGetty Images

Sometimes we feel kind of helpless, says Durrant. Were battling such a huge wave of extinction.

Southern white rhinos, on the other hand, largely escaped their cousins misfortune. There were fewer than 100 remaining in the late 1800s, but a tenacious conservation effort followed and continues today. More than 20,000 of these rhinos currently roam the earth, mostly in South Africa. The San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance has six females, which will play a crucial role in its effort to produce a pure northern white rhino. Summarizing the idea is easy enough: An embryo made of northern white sperm and egg is implanted into a surrogatea female southern white rhino. Sixteen months later, a northern white calf is born.

I can say pretty clearly that this would be the first time a robot has ever been used in animals like this.

Durrant and her colleagues have already cleared several hurdles in the past five years. Using ultrasound technology, the team deciphered the inner workings of the rhinos reproductive system. Mapping the cervix was a key first step. A rhino cervix is a tight, convoluted maze of rings, a foot of anatomy thats fairly common to the two subspecies. Navigating it can be tricky. To practice, the zoo artificially inseminated two southern white females in 2018 using preserved southern white male sperm. Two healthy calves, Edward and Future, were born in 2019.

Damon Casarez

When female rhinos are ovulating, circulating estrogen helps relax the rings of the cervical tissue. For that reason, Durrant and her team were able to inseminate the zoos rhinos by hand. The future embryo transfer, however, will be much tougher. Once the team has produced a viable pure northern white rhino embryo, they will stimulate ovulation in one of the southern white rhinos residing at the Safari Park. Then theyll have to wait another 10 days to let the embryo mature in vitro before implantation. But the surrogates estrogen levels will have decreased by then, causing her cervix to tighten once more. Navigating it by hand will be impossible, because the risk of severely damaging cervical tissue is too great. Instead, Durrant and her team are currently collaborating with roboticists at the University of California San Diego to develop a workaround.

I can say pretty clearly that this would be the first time a robot has ever really been used in animals in any kind of major computation effort like this, says Michael Yip, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at UCSD and director of the Advanced Robotics and Controls Laboratory.

Courtesy UCSD Jacobs School of Engineering

Yips lab is outfitting a noodlelike catheter with miniaturized robotic controls. Imagine a tiny metal cylinder, thinner than the circumference of a headphone jack and sheathed in a flexible filament. A camera on one end will give zoo workers a view of where theyre going, while a PlayStation-like controller will bend the catheter with sub-millimeter precisionenough to ensure that they can navigate the rings without scraping tissue or puncturing blood vessels.

Well do very little, if any, tissue damage, but well be able to get through that tightened-down cervix, Durrant says.

In March 2020, Durrant completed the zoos first oocyte pickups. Because the scientists had already done the ultrasound mapping, they had a clear idea of where the ovaries and follicles were located.

Eggs were collected from each of their six southern white females using a four-foot-long double-lumen (two channeled) needle, which is capable of flushing out the follicles and sucking out the oocytes. They collected a total of 22; in the lab, each oocyte was fertilized with a single sperm. In the end, while half of the fertilized oocytes matured, none developed into blastocysts, the final stage of embryo growth. But the effort allowed the researchers to start piecing together some novel rhino science: What nutrients do rhino embryos need, in vitro, to mature?

This was a critical juncture in the teams de-extinction work, as valuable practice for the fertilization procedure to come. You dont transfer an embryo on the initial try. Fail to navigate the cervical maze, and you might damage tissue, imperiling the pregnancy. Fail to mature a reprogrammed egg into a blastocyst, and theres no embryo to even transfer. Everything Durrants team has done with southern whites is a dress rehearsal for the premiere event, when it finally comes time to make a southern white female the surrogate mother of the main character: a northern white rhino embryo.

Damon Casarez

The task of generating the sperm and egg falls to the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliances Marisa Korody, a conservation geneticist who is trying to create stem cells from the functionally extinct northern white rhinos. She starts with cryopreserved fibroblasts, cells that compose the connective structural tissue of all animals. The Frozen Zoo has fibroblasts generated from skin samples of 12 different northern whiteseight of which are unrelatedthat contain enough genetic diversity to save the species. These fibroblasts are then reprogrammed into induced pluripotent stem cellsthat is, cells that can turn into any cell type in the body. By directing these stem cells to specific developmental paths, the researchers can generate primordial germ cells, precursors to what eventually become sperm and eggs.

This is as far as the science goesat least for now, and at least with rhinos. Korody is optimistic shes managed to generate the germ cells. Generating northern white rhino sperm and northern white rhino egg, though, is a long-term process, one that involves figuring out the hormones and growth signals needed to get the germ cells to differentiate further.

Maybe in 10 years or so, well be close, she says.

Damon Casarez

Its a different strategy from the one Thomas Hildebrandt and BioRescue are focused on right now. While the team in San Diego is trying to generate northern white rhino embryos from cells, BioRescue is attempting to fertilize eggs collected from Fatu and Najin with cryopreserved northern white rhino sperm.

We can use this approach to transfer the embryos into a southern white rhino surrogate, and then let the calf grow up with Najin and Fatu, says Hildebrandt, who also leads the department of reproduction management at the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research in Germany.

In 2019, Hildebrandts team accomplished a scientific first: It transferred a rhino embryo fertilized in vitro into the uterus of a female rhino. In this case, it was a southern white. As of July 2021, BioRescue has completed seven southern white rhino embryo transfers.

In the next few years, Hildebrandt says, BioRescue will be ready to transfer a northern white rhino embryo into a surrogate southern white female.

In the 55-million-year evolutionary history of the rhino, 10 years is nothing but a heartbeat. In the here and now, however, a decade is enough time to exacerbate an annihilation crisis thats already underway.

In 2019, a landmark report from the United Nations revealed that a million animal and plant species are careening toward extinction. A subsequent report issued by the World Wildlife Fund in 2020 indicated that wildlife populations have declined by two-thirds in the past half century due to human activities; deforestation, insecticides, and poaching are all complicit. Various species we hardly think of but are nonetheless important for humans and ecosystems to thrive are in the crosshairs.

If we can think of this as a leaky bucket right now, the bucket is pouring out water and more and more species are falling out, says Tierra Curry, a senior scientist with the nonprofit Center for Biological Diversity, based in Arizona. Trying to put a couple more species back in the bucket isnt going to fix the problem.

Criticism of de-extinction efforts often begins with something like Currys premise. Her preference would be to fight like hell for everything still alive. After all, the natural world is at the brink, but animals arent the problem.

Instead, the ultimate problem is uniquely and definitely humans, says Ross MacPhee, a curator in the mammalogy department of the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. Theres no way to guarantee that a population of northern white rhinos wouldnt need around-the-clock protection the way Najin and Fatu do today. Southern white rhinos, despite their resurgence, are already considered a species on the way to endangered, as lust for rhino horn continues unabated. Some horns fetch a purse of $300,000. How much might a rare northern white rhino horn go for?

While the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance hopes to generate a self-sustaining population of northern white rhinos back in part of their native range, Durrant says that would only happen if its safe to put the animals there. But not making the effort isnt an option, she says.

Everything is connected, says Durrant. When you take any species, plant or animal, out of an ecosystem, it starts to unravel.

As it stands now, most of the African species of rhinosthe southern white and black rhinosare concentrated mainly in southern Africa. Very few black rhinos are roaming around central Africa where northern white rhinos once predominated: The pointed mouth of the black rhino is good for eating branches and leaves, while the wide mouth of the white rhino is better adapted for grazing on grass.

Scientists keenly interested in saving the northern white rhino often cite the good that such a keystone species provides. A megafauna creature like the white rhino directly and indirectly affects the well-being of dozens of other creatures. By eating long grass, they help keep vegetation at a reasonable level so predators can see their prey. Their feet carve avenues in the grass so prey can escape. Their droppings fertilize the grass and provide nutrients for insects. Its a tiny biosphere where nonhuman life thrives. Upset the balance, and that life has to migrate elsewhere. Maybe to urban ecosystems. Maybe carrying disease.

Damon Casarez

Under any other circumstances, a group of people kneeling around Fatu inside the Ol Pejeta Conservancy would be a cause for concern. But on this Sunday in December 2020, the scientists and veterinarians in attendance were monitoring Fatu as she lay under general anesthesia. Near her backside was Hildebrandt. He was collecting eggs.

Over the past two years, with the permission of the Kenyan government, Hildebrandt and BioRescue have performed six separate egg pickups on Najin and Fatu. The latest one, in December 2020, yielded 14 oocytes from Fatu. Collection is done by anesthetizing the rhino and then inserting an ultrasound wand into the rectum. The wand is there only to provide a picture, a way to guide the needle that flushes out the rhinos follicles and grabs the eggs. Both times the eggs were rapidly transported to Avantea, an advanced biotechnology lab in Italy. There they were fertilized with frozen semen that had been extracted from Suni before he died. To date, BioRescue has cryopreserved nine embryos that combine northern white sperm and northern white egg.

The rhino hasnt failed in evolution. Its at the brink of extinction because humans have poached it and killed it.

Its a monumental step, one that represents the closest any group of scientists has come to bringing a northern white rhino calf into the world. Hildebrandt doesnt just consider it fascinating science; he likens it to a moral imperative. Picking and choosing which animals to de-extinct is easy when nature hasnt selected against them.

The rhino hasnt failed in evolution. Its at the brink of extinction because humans have poached it and killed it, he says. So it is actually our human responsibility to fix this problem, because we have caused it.

Courtesy Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research

While BioRescues current endeavor is separate from the work being conducted by Durrant, Korody, and others at the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, the two groups are working toward common goals. Hildebrandt and his counterparts in San Diego held the first international conference on rescuing the northern white rhino in 2015 in Vienna. He says the work being conducted on pluripotent stem cells in San Diego is an important component of the overall effort. BioRescue has created embryos made with eggs from Najin and Fatu and sperm from Suni; the embryos the San Diego team hopes to create will come from multiple other northern white rhinos, which will increase the genetic diversity of a future population. In turn, that should help improve the animals overall health by serving as a safeguard against disease.

Yet Hildebrandt wants to bring a baby northern white rhino into the world as quickly as possible. While the two subspecies are related, northern white rhinos are wider, with straighter backs, flatter skulls, and a different neck structure. The differences are stark enough that a baby northern white rhino might not learn how to graze properly if it comes up in a herd of its southern white cousins. Hildebrandt wants the animal to socialize with Najin and Fatu before they, too, die. Sudans granddaughter is only in her early 20s and still playful. Najin, on the other hand, is in her early 30s, and lives with a large tumor on her abdomen.

Theres a lot of things morphologically which are links to behaviors, says Hildebrandt. The social knowledge, how to behave as a northern white rhino, is something we can preserve. But there is no way to do that unless we produce a calf very soon.

Still, a de-extinction project inevitably requires two finite resources: time and money. Hildebrandt thinks it will take about 20 years to reintroduce a healthy population of the animals back to Africa, at a cost of approximately $1 million per calf. But how much is one northern white rhino worth to the world?

Damon Casarez

Depending on BioRescues progress this year, there might be a baby northern white rhino walking with Najin and Fatu within two years. The bioengineering tools required to accomplish the incredibleresurrecting a herd of 6,000-pound animalsare here, in the hands of Durrant, Korody, Hildebrandt, and their respective teams of researchers.

We have the technology. We can rebuild them. Now comes the hardest question of all: Should we?

Its perhaps too soon to tell if a new birth in a species that is on the brink of extinction would be heralded as a success. After all, humans nearly killed off every northern white rhino in existence. Whats to say that people wont poach the animals for their horns, and do it flippantly, openly, even expectantly? You created a bunch of northern white rhinos before, we may cry out. Just do it again. This, we might incorrectly believe, is the promise of something like the Frozen Zoo. We preserve natural history, only to reanimate it according to our whims.

Yes, science can save species. But dont rely on science to save species, says Durrant. We cant do this for every species. We dont want to do this for every species. We want species to be preserved in their native habitats before they go extinct.

Cryopreservation and embryo transfers arent blueprints for managing the planet. But they might preserve a legacy that the death of Sudan left behind. If were paying attention, maybe one new rhino will wake us up.

See more here:
The Bioengineering Gambit to Save the Northern White Rhino - Popular Mechanics

Cultural Connections connects children affected by incarceration with opportunities in arts, academia – KTVZ

Posted on August 3, 2021 by Danzig

By Ayomi Wolff, Madison365

Click here for updates on this story

MADISON, WI (365 Media Foundation, Inc) As the full-time caretaker for her grandson, Patricia Dillon began to notice early on the ways in which his life was affected by his fathers incarceration.

I was interested in community supports for children affected by incarceration, she tells Madison365. I knew there was a Just Dane mentoring program, but I was really curious to know if children affected by incarceration was something that the schools were acknowledging.

The answer was no.

Upon further research into the subject for an Isthmus article, Dillon found that children with parents who are incarcerated are dealing with a whole battery of issues, suffering from higher risk-aversechildhood experiences (ACEs), such as living with a parent who has a mental health disorder, a drug addiction, or who is abusive; living in foster care; or houselessness. Said children also tend to perform poorly in school than their peers who live without a parent in the prison system. And it is no secret that incarceration rates disproportionately affect BIPOC families and children.

According to Linda Ketcham, executive director of Just Dane, it is estimated that in 2018, approximately 2,000 children in Dane County have a parent who is incarcerated.

Im an artist and a writer, and Im kind of a community organizer, too, and I knew that I could create a program that connects these kids to their larger community, Dillon said. We are a cultural art program, but the bigger overarching mission is to create a sense of wellbeing for these children through a connection to their community.

What then came into fruition was Dillons current program, Cultural Connections, a program that uses art as a tool, a program to lessen the trauma for these kids and connect them to their communities so that they feel a sense of belonging and less stigma.

The program first began in 2018 with a project conducted out of Dane Arts Mural Arts (DAMA) and was soon after picked up by Lake View Elementary to be a club affiliated with the school. Last year, members of Cultural Connections worked with multiple groups of children including Lake View students and kids from the Goodman Community Center. Starting this upcoming school year, Cultural Connections will be working with five schools across the local Madison area, tentatively.

Most Cultural Connections sessions begin with the introduction of a topic relating to racism or incarceration to encourage discussion around prompting the kids, if they so please, to wrestle with these topics through art. Occasionally, the kids will take field trips to different art spaces.

The kids have already created tangible pieces of art, the most recent of which is a mural made in partnership with DAMA to be erected at the Madisons Youth Arts Center. The mural features multiple designs and patterns made by the students.

According to Miranda Starr, Cultural Connections not only works to give kids the tools to understand the ways in which the prison system has affected their own lives, but to help humanize those who are or have been incarcerated.

So like starting to talk about how is [incarceration] portrayed and do you think thats real and. you know. just trying to build some compassion and humanity about that life experience and those that are affected by it, Starr said. I find that just to be such a beautiful opportunity to try to break some of the stigmas.

However, despite the prevalence of incarceration in the lives of many of the participating children, the topic of incarceration and its inextricable link to racism still remains a topic of nondiscussion.

Its so funny too because we talk about diversity and we talk about skin tone, but somehow incarceration still is this really taboo subject. Ive experienced families who say your dads in college somewhere. We cant even tell our children the truth about what their families are experiencing, Starr said. Ive always questioned that like: why do mothers feel like they cant share about a family member? Why do we create stories for children?

But at Cultural Connections, there are no stories. They are free to choose whether to speak or not to speak about what they have in common which, according to Dillon, is a point of interest for most of the kids.

I like that we can talk about that we all have something in common, but also that if we dont want to talk, we can express ourselves through what were working on, Dillon said, paraphrasing a comment made by one of the students. Another kid said, I just need to get away from my family They all just talked about [how] we feel safe. Some of the kids said, we dont talk about this with our friends. A couple of the kids said they have very close friends they share that with but its just a stigma-free environment.

Its an idea of creating a safe space and theres a beautiful freedom that artists come in and then theres always an opportunity for kids not to do like a molded reproduction but self-expression, Starr added.

After a year of running her program by herself, Dillon came to understand that she alone could not be the sole facilitator of the safe space she had created; she as a white woman could not be the one to help navigate these children as they produce art and grapple with their connections to incarceration. As such, Dillon added to her program one of the key aspects of Cultural Connections: having various BIPOC artists as the teachers.

[White people] never stopped learning, like never, Dillon explained. We are so conditioned to be white supremacists that we just the more woke you think you are, the less woke you are but, eventually, you come out of that because you realize the more comfortable you become with your work, the more work you have to do.

Its really important to me that Im working with people of color because the children that we serve are primarily children of color, she continued. I have a very diverse board of really just wonderful people who either have been affected by incarceration or they have worked with the population. And so they help inform the work that we do. Its really important that we are inclusive and diverse and our mission is to create access.

One of the many BIPOC artists who worked with the program was Terrence Adeyanju, who himself was formerly incarcerated. What intrigued him about working with the students was seeing myself in those kids and having someone to not make them not feel alienated about their experiences and to create a safe place.

Terrence Adeyanju (photo supplied)

Someone that looked like me creating or doing anything like that when I was growing up I didnt see that, Adeyanju said. And so, it would have given me a lot of hope that Im not alone and that I can do these things because I didnt see a lot of that growing up a lot of Black creatives in what I like to do. Seeing someone do that, it gives me confirmation that I can step into this power, too. I think its super important that the kids see that, especially the ones that look like me. I know what its like to be them and what its like to be marginalized. I know what its like to live in a society that tricks you into not being yourself.

Theres so many things telling you cannot do these things and get in line and do this .. you need to do this and you need to be like this to be accepted and its BS, Adeyanju continued. You just get convinced out of your power. So there are many sick messages in the media and all types of things; there are things that are passed down that we dont even know and that were not questioning at all, that are just doing serious damage.

Another of the programs initiatives is the notion of connecting their kids to the broader Madison community which, as Starr noted, often ostracizes its BIPOC citizens.

There is an isolation of populations of color and there are disproportionate effects in the city in different ways. Theres this idea that this is such a rich city, but in working with families in this community really closely, Ive heard firsthand accounts of experiences theyve had in certain public spaces in the community, Starr said. Ive heard the fear of going to events, going to street festivals, all these things that make people love Madison for, right? And so, number one, this idea about connecting our kids to the city is I want them to be able to see themselves in these spaces. We want to provide access to these spaces. We talked about trying to get our families into the space, where in the past, theres been fear associated with going into those spaces where they may not have felt welcomed.

So the idea of connecting with the community and giving them a place to display their work and see their work in the community is really with the hope that they recognize that they play a big part. They are the future of the city, and this is their home, Starr continued.

This summer, the Cultural Connections team will be creating a curriculum based on the social justice standards from Teaching Tolerance. This curriculum will be used solely for the Cultural Connections to help inform their work in a culturally conscious manner.

I am not a teacher, I dont know how to write a curriculum, but I knew that there had to be an intentionally socially responsible kind of template, Dillon said. It was Mirandas idea that we develop like a menu item. We will also create an allyship [portion] to support those kids through the kids who have never been affected.

So that next year, we can go to our artists and say, this is what were trying to do. This is how we like the template to be. You do the creative stuff were not going to tell you how to do your creative work, but we want that work, if its comfortable, to fit into our mission, Dillon added.

In addition to the curriculum, starting next school year, Dr. Julie Poehlmann-Tynan, professor of human development and family studies in the UW School of Human Ecology, and a team of graduate students will be researching Cultural Connections and its effects on the kids participating.

Serendipitously, Dr. Poehlmann-Tynans work was what informed Dillon about the ill effects of incarcerated parents on their children.

So part of working with the UW is great because we really want to be able to see if these programs are having an impact on how our families and the students in these programs, how theyre feeling before and after, do they really feel like they have some greater sense of connection to the community? Dillon said.

However, Adeyanju noted that there is still a lot of work to be done in the way of creating access and mitigating harm for individuals impacted by incarceration.

Its still gonna be a lot of work because you got people that dont want to do the work, you know, because were talking about people that have to question their beliefs and be willing to question their own belief systems and their own prejudices and people are terrified to do that, he says. And I get it.

But at the very least, Adeyanju was just happy to work with the young people at Cultural Connections.

Just being around kids just brings you to the present moment like no other, he said. Theyre so high energy and theyre just really there, they dont have that block that I do when it comes to creativity. Theyre not overthinking as much. So its very playful and so for me, thats beautiful.

It felt like it was a healing space and I felt like they got to release something that they were holding on to and I got to release something and we let it go, and the rest is history, Adeyanju added. And, hopefully, we can impact each other and. hopefully. that means whatever it means for them.

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Cultural Connections connects children affected by incarceration with opportunities in arts, academia - KTVZ

Control of COVID-19 in a migrant-populated area in Thailand | RMHP – Dove Medical Press

Posted on August 3, 2021 by Danzig

Introduction

In late 2019, the world recognized Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), a disease that is causing a rare global pandemic.13 As of 14 February 2021, more than 108 million COVID-19 cases were reported in 219 countries and the toll of infections increased at a speedy pace.4 The first wave of COVID-19 in Thailand was caused by clusters of local infections related to imported cases from other countries, local transmission in boxing stadiums, entertainment venues and other crowded public places.5 In response to this, the Thai Government introduced several measures to curb the outbreak; for instance, international travel restriction, fourteen-day quarantine for all international returnees, interprovincial travel prohibition, and social distancing.6

The Division of Epidemiology (DOE) under the Department of Disease Control (DDC) of the Ministry of Public Health (MOPH) has played a pivotal role in containing the outbreak. One of the key measures is active case finding (ACF) in communities.

However, Thailand is now facing a new challenge as the second wave of the epidemic emerged in late December 2020, and this time, the impact was more severe than the earlier wave.7 Before December 2020, the number of total cases nationwide was about 5000. The national figure skyrocketed after January 2021. As of 14 February 2021, the volume of cumulative nationwide cases amounted to 24,571, almost triple the total cases reported in 2020.8

The new wave of the epidemic was believed to originate from migrant workers in a large shrimp market in the inner city of Samut Sakhon, a vicinity province of Bangkok. The province is a home to more than 11,000 factories with approximately 400,000 migrant workers (comprising those holding legitimate work permit and those without). The majority of the workers are from Myanmar. The living conditions of these workers are quite crowded, making social distancing or using masks all the time difficult.9 A rapid survey in early January 2021 by the DOE found about one fifth of the factories had some degree of infected workers, varying from less than 5% to more than 20%. The daily incident cases in Samut Sakhon numbered about 100150 throughout January 2021.8 On certain days when the ACF was conducted, the incidence cases exceeded 800. Migrant workers accounted for approximately 80% of the total cases and most were identified by mass COVID-19 testing in migrant communities (as part of the ACF). City lockdowns and strict social distancing campaigns were also implemented.10 Although numerous measures were enforced, the case toll still seemed to grow; and, at the time of writing, there was no sign that the case had reached its acme.

Based on the interim data of many clinical trials, the COVID-19 vaccine was estimated to be effective in preventing severe-to-moderate COVID-19 clinical symptoms. The efficacy varied across vaccine companies and across trial settings (6295%), though recent evidence showed a promising sign that the vaccine might be able to prevent disease transmission.11,12 This created a contentious policy discourse and widespread public debate in Thai society about whether the COVID-19 vaccine could be a useful weapon to fight against COVID-19, especially in Samut Sakhon where the epidemic was still active and social distancing was difficult to implement due to the crowded living conditions of migrant workers.

At the time of writing (January 2021), there had been no epidemiological study in Thailand on the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines and ACF as the first batch of COVID-19 vaccines was scheduled to arrive in Thailand in the first quarter of 2021. The DDC therefore commissioned a group of researchers in the DOE to estimate if and to what extent the vaccination policies, as well as ACF, could mitigate the outbreak in Samut Sakhon in a timely manner. These policy options included (i) extensive ACF with isolation of positive cases; (ii) vaccination measures to Samut Sakhon residents; and (iii) a combination of ACF and vaccination measures. All of these inform the objective of this study.

We applied a secondary analysis on quantitative data. Most model parameters were obtained from the internal database of the DOE and Samut Sakhon Provincial Public Health Office (PPHO). A further review was performed on the MEDLINE database. The review focused on articles published during 20192020. As the aim of the review was more to identify key parameters to serve as inputs for the model, rather than answering any specific research questions, no specific inclusion and exclusion criteria were set on the literature search. Some common search terms (such as COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, generation time and serial interval) were utilized. If the interested parameters could not be identified from the recruited literature, we relied on the opinions of epidemiological experts of the MOPH. More details on the parameters are presented later in sub-section, Model validation and parameter list.

We used a compartmental susceptible-exposed-infected-recovered (SEIR) model as the base framework to assess the likely impact in a hypothesised population (N = 10,000) if ACF and vaccination measures are put into effect in Samut Sakhon. The SEIR model categorised the population into four compartments: the susceptible, the exposed (but not infectious), the infected and the recovered. Susceptible people would become infected once having contact with infected cases.13 The rate of transferring from a susceptible compartment to an exposed compartment was determined by the reproduction number (R0).14 The incubation period determined the speed of switching from an exposed compartment to an infected compartment. The length of hospital stay governed how fast a patient transferred to a recovered compartment. We divided the population into five categories (asymptomatic, mild, moderate, severe [needing intensive care], and dead). We also incorporated the concept of system dynamics in the base SEIR model to reflect the actual field operation. The infected compartment was split into two compartments, namely, infected before isolation and infected after isolation. We proposed that the benefit of ACF was mainly the reduction of time lag between being infected and reaching isolation by approximately 50%. Since, at the time of writing, the consensus on the efficacy of vaccine from various companies was yet to be finalised, we referred to the recommendation of the World Health Organization (WHO) that a widely deployed COVID-19 vaccine would be effective if the primary efficacy endpoint is at least 50%.15 In this regard, we used a figure of 50% as the vaccine efficacy parameter for transmission reduction. The simplified model framework is elicited in Figure 1.

Figure 1 Simplified model framework.

The model relied on a few key assumptions. Firstly, we assumed that the ACF did not operate all the time but functioned in a biweekly fashion. Secondly, there was in- and out-migration to and from the province. Thirdly, it is presumed that mass vaccination for a target population could be performed within a day. Fourthly, a contact between a case and each susceptible person took place at random. Lastly, all infected persons were treated at health facilities. The outcomes of interest were: (i) daily incident cases; (ii) cumulative cases; (iii) cumulative deaths; and (iv) prevalent intensive-care-unit (ICU) bed demand. As, in actual operation, vaccine coverage and degree of ACF intensity might vary. Hence, we analysed nine policy scenarios to aid policy decision, Table 1.

Table 1 Policy Scenarios of Interest

We calibrated R0 by recent evidence on new daily cases in Samut Sakhon between 1 Jan 2021 and 21 Jan 2021. During the peak of outbreak, the effective reproduction number of Samut Sakhon exceeded 3 with a range from 0.2 to 5.6.8 Two meetings among 1015 epidemiologists and public health experts in the DDC were held as part of model validation. We found that replacing R0 with 3 soundly reflected the actual situation in the province. Stella 2.0 (number: 251-401-786-859) was used to run the model. Tables 23 display key parameters and the essential formula of the model.

Table 2 List of Key Parameters

Table 3 Essential Formula of the Model

Sensitivity analysis was performed as complementary to the main analysis. While the main analysis relied on R0 of 3, this analysed the change in cumulative case volume if R0 changed to 1.5 and 2. We compared the percentage reduction of cumulative cases in each scenario against no-VAC & no-ACF scenario.

From a macro perspective, ACF-containing policies (eg, no-VAC & ACF90 and no-VAC & ACF50) demonstrated more daily incident cases at the very beginning of the outbreak (~200250 cases per day) compared with a no-VAC & no-ACF measure. However, after a week, the no-VAC & no-ACF policy showed an upward trend and reached a peak of about 260 cases per day, by day 25. The ACF-containing policies displayed a sharp spike of the incident cases by day 30, followed by a rapid decline in cases. Given the same ACF coverage, the greater the vaccination coverage was, the smaller the spike presented. VAC90 & ACF90 policy saw the lowest number of incident cases relative to other policies, Figure 2.

Figure 2 Daily incident cases by policy scenarios.

Abbreviations: no-VAC, no vaccination; no-ACF, no active case finding; ACF50, active case finding with 50% coverage; ACF90, active case finding with 50% coverage; VAC50, vaccination with 50% coverage; VAC90, vaccination with 90% coverage.

By day 90, the no-VAC & ACF90 policy contributed to about 10,500 cases, the largest among all scenarios. VAC50 & no-ACF and no-VAC & ACF50 policies came second (~9900 cases), followed by VAC-90 & no-ACF, no-VAC & ACF-90 and VAC50 & ACF50 policies (~90009300 cases).

If the vaccination covered 90% of the population in combination with 50% ACF coverage (VAC90 & ACF50) or vice versa (VAC50 & ACF90), the cumulative case toll dropped to approximately 80008200. The VAC90 & ACF90 policy resulted in the least volume of cases (~7000 cases), Figure 3.

Figure 3 Cumulative cases by policy scenarios.

All policies displayed almost the same number of cases during the first two weeks, then demonstrated the largest difference by day 40, and converged to same level again after day 80. The widest gap of cases needing ICU beds was observed when we compared no-VAC & no-ACF (~35 cases) with VAC90 & ACF90 (~20 cases). The case volume of other scenarios presented somewhere between no-VAC & no-ACF and VAC90 & ACF90 policies, Figure 4.

Figure 4 Prevalent cases needing intensive care beds.

The death toll varied across policy scenarios by a fine margin. VAC50 & no-ACF, no-VAC & no-ACF, and no-VAC & ACF50 policies yielded approximately four cases by the end of the analysis time. VAC90 & ACF90 policy exhibited fewer than three deaths in total, the smallest figure when compared with other scenarios, Figure 5.

Figure 5 Cumulative deaths by policy scenarios.

Sensitivity analysis revealed that vaccination and ACF measures produced the greatest benefit in the lens of percentage reduction in total case volume when R0 was 2. Given R0 equalling 1.5 or 3, the benefit still presented but with a lesser extent. For instance, with no-VAC & no-ACF as a reference, VAC50 & ACF50 contributed to a 38%-decline in the accumulative case number when R0 amounted to 2, but the corresponding figure appeared to be 30% and 14% when R0 was 1.5 and 3 respectively, Table 4.

Table 4 Reduction of Cumulative Cases by Day 90 Between Each Policy and No-VAC & No-ACF Policy

Overall, this study confirmed that a combination of vaccination and ACF measures contributed to favourable results in minimising the case volume and death toll. The greater the vaccination and ACF covered, the greater the volume of cases averted. In addition, the benefit of all combined strategies in terms of total case reduction would be maximised if the epidemic activity, as reflected by R0, was not too intense.

This finding corroborated the ideas of many previous studies that ACF is a key measure to contain and suppress the epidemic.16 For example, China reported the benefit of ACF to identify patients in epidemic communities.16 The ACF in China was conducted not only by the state but also by the network of communities. Examples of countries that were also successful in containing the outbreak through the use of ACF were Mongolia, Singapore, South Korea, and Vietnam.1719 Singapore used a proactive strategy to detect the suspected patients through a public prevention clinic network and promulgated the home quarantine orders for patients with mild illnesses.20,21 South Korea greatly expanded the screening sites for SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid tests to encompass asymptomatic cases as many as possible. This included the use of public health-care clinics, drive-through centres, and walk-in screening sites.22,23

Traor and Konan suggested that the contact tracing strategy, as well as ACF, can reduce R0 to values below unity as intended for disease control, but effective control of the epidemic can be achieved when the effectiveness of contact tracing is high, and R0 is not too large. In the population where R0 is large, the epidemic may not be controlled using an ACF strategy alone.24 Our findings also upheld the idea that such a vaccination policy hugely complements the ACF measure. The situation in Samut Sakhon is very complex because the city is extremely urbanised and migrant residents are mostly living in densely populated conditions. These conditions create remarkable difficulties for ACF and other non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPI), such as physical distancing measures and individual risk modifications. At present, ACF is the major intervention in Samut Sakhon with an aim to test all 400,000 workers and isolate those who are positive for 10 days in field hospitals or factory dormitories. So far, the Government has built approximately 3000 field hospital beds. Healthcare providers use individual nasopharyngeal swabs for real-time polymerase chain reaction (Rt-PCR) testing. By average it takes at least 48 hours to obtain the swab result. This means ACF alone may not be able to detect and isolate cases as early as expected. Therefore, the Thai Government should consider an urgent launch of a vaccination policy in Samut Sakhon or in any similar settings once the COVID-19 vaccines are available.

The bottom line is, at the time of writing, the evidence of vaccine effectiveness against COVID-19 transmission is not yet fully understood.25 Many different endpoints are used in vaccine research to define efficacy depending on the pathogen, consequences of infection, and transmission dynamics. Outcomes of most randomised controlled trials (RCT) are presented as a proportional decline in disease between vaccinated participants and control participants.26 Other outcomes might include assessing sterilising immunity, severity of resultant clinical disease, and duration of infectivity. Besides, RCTs almost always represent best-case scenarios of vaccine efficacy under idealised conditions; but, in the real world, vaccine efficacy does not always predict vaccine effectiveness and such effectiveness is likely to vary across age groups and people from different walks of life as certain subpopulations in society may always face greater risks of infection or may be more vulnerable than others.27 However, the findings above are of certain value for policy consideration as the vaccine efficacy parameter applied in the model was very modest (only 50%) while recent evidence demonstrated much more favourable outcomes than the 50% figure.12 For instance, the latest interim analysis from a Phase 3 clinical trial in Russia by Logynov et al demonstrated that an rAd26 and rAd5 vector-based heterologous prime-boost COVID-19 vaccine (Sputnik V) showed 916% efficacy against COVID-19 and was well tolerated in a large cohort.11,28,29

Caution should be exercised when interpreting our findings as different models almost always rely on different assumptions, structures and parameters (even if they explored a situation in the same setting). For instance, the SEIR model conducted by the International Health Policy Programme in late December 2020 predicted that the daily incident cases of Samut Sakhon would number up to 2700 by early February 2021 given the overall effectiveness of measures (including ACF, vaccines and other social measures combined).30 This figure was approximately eight-fold larger than our estimates. However, this is not surprising as the model postulated that the value of R0 equalled 4 to reflect the force of infection at the beginning of the outbreak in Samut Sakhon while our study used a much smaller R0, as when we initiated the study the magnitude of outbreak had already subsided to certain degree (since some measures were already introduced).30 Hence, the most important value of the modelling study was to provide a clearer insight for policy decision-making for resource planning rather than identifying a perfect accuracy for forecasted numbers.31

Some limitations remain in this study. Firstly, most of the parameters applied in the model derived from the epidemic situation in Samut Sakhon. Therefore, a generalisation of the findings to other areas should be made with caution; though one may use the approach in this study as an analysis example in any similar settings. Secondly, during the period of epidemic, it is almost always difficult to conduct primary research to obtain empirical evidence as the utmost priority of the field operations was to curb the epidemic. Accordingly, many parameters in the model were obtained through authors assumptions. Though we tried to validate the findings against the opinions of experts and local providers, this does not substitute the use of empirical data. Thirdly, the model applied a deterministic approach as it is more convenient to communicate with policy makers, compared with a stochastic approach and because most parameters in the model lacked information of the distribution characteristics, which is a prerequisite for stochastic analysis. Last but not least, though we demonstrated the benefit of vaccination strategies in this setting, in real practice, actual implementation should consider many more policy angles; for instance, social acceptability (if migrants are to be the vaccination target before Thai citizens), cost-effectiveness of the policies, and operational feasibility. Further studies that address these topics are of great value. In addition, a close monitoring of the information in the field is useful, not only for the benefit of disease control but also for obtaining empirical evidence which will help refine and validate the model.

This study reaffirmed the idea that a combination of vaccination and ACF measures contributed to favourable results in reducing the number of COVID-19 cases and deaths, relative to the implementation of a single measure. The greater the vaccination and ACF coverage, the greater the volume of cases saved. We also discovered that over a three-month period of operating vaccination and ACF measures with 90% coverage, the case toll would drop by 33% compared with the scenario where no measures were implemented. Additionally, the value of all combined strategies in terms of total case reduction would be maximised if the epidemic activity as reflected by R0 was not too pronounced. To operationalise the vaccination policy in combination with ACF measures, policy makers should consider the readiness of health resources and the issue of social acceptability since COVID-vaccines are urgently needed by not only migrants but also all populations in the target area. Therefore, further studies that aim to explore the policy feasibility as well as the prioritisation of COVID-19 vaccines and other health resources are recommended. Additional research that uses empirical evidence should be conducted to complement our study that employed the analysis on secondary data, and this would help provide useful information to monitor the effectiveness of public health measures in the field.

ACF, active case finding; COVID-19, Coronavirus Disease 2019; DDC, Department of Disease Control; DOE, Division of Epidemiology; MOPH, Ministry of Public Health; NPI, Non-pharmaceutical interventions; PPHO, Provincial Public Health Office; RCT, Randomised controlled trials; Rt-PCR, Real-time polymerase-chain reaction; SEIR, susceptible-exposed-infected-recovered; VAC, vaccination; WHO, World Health Organization.

The datasets generated and/or analysed during the current study are not publicly available due to the DDCs regulation but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

The study did not involve human participation, excepting the process of seeking opinions experts on model validity. Almost all the analysis was performed via secondary data. This study obtained ethics approval from the Institute for the Development of Human Research Protections (IHRP), letter head IHRP 985/2563.

The investigators are immensely grateful for the support from the DDCs and the IHPPs staff. Comments and advice from all faculties of the Field Epidemiology Training Program (FETP) of the DOE are hugely appreciated.

All authors made a significant contribution to the work reported, whether that is in the conception, study design, execution, acquisition of data, analysis and interpretation, or in all these areas; took part in drafting, revising or critically reviewing the article; gave final approval of the version to be published; have agreed on the journal to which the article has been submitted; and agreed to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

This study received funding support from Health Systems Research Institute [Contract No. 63-162].

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest for this work.

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32. Byrne AW, McEvoy D, Collins AB, et al. Inferred duration of infectious period of SARS-CoV-2: rapid scoping review and analysis of available evidence for asymptomatic and symptomatic COVID-19 cases. BMJ Open. 2020;10(8):e039856. doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2020-039856

33. Mwalili S, Kimathi M, Ojiambo V, Gathungu D, Mbogo R. SEIR model for COVID-19 dynamics incorporating the environment and social distancing. BMC Res Notes. 2020;13(1):352. doi:10.1186/s13104-020-05192-1

34. He S, Peng Y, Sun K. SEIR modeling of the COVID-19 and its dynamics. Nonlinear Dyn. 2020;101(3):114.

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Control of COVID-19 in a migrant-populated area in Thailand | RMHP - Dove Medical Press

"Greening Biomaterials and Scaffolds Used in Regenerative Medicine – Newswise

Posted on August 3, 2021 by Danzig

Newswise Green manufacturing is becoming an increasingly critical process across industries, propelled by a growing awareness of the negative environmental and health impacts associated with traditional practices. In the biomaterials industry, electrospinning is a universal fabrication method used around the world to produce nano- to microscale fibrous meshes that closely resemble native tissue architecture. The process, however, has traditionally used solvents that not only are environmentally hazardous but also pose a significant barrier to industrial scale-up, clinical translation, and, ultimately, widespread use.

Researchers atColumbia Engineeringreport that they have developed a "green electrospinning" process that addresses many of the challenges to scaling up this fabrication method, from managing the environmental risks of volatile solvent storage and disposal at large volumes to meeting health and safety standards during both fabrication and implementation. The teams newstudy, published June 28, 2021, by Biofabrication, details how they have modernized the nanofiber fabrication of widely utilized biological and synthetic polymers (e.g. poly--hydroxyesters, collagen), polymer blends, and polymer-ceramic composites.

The study also underscores the superiority of green manufacturing. The groups green fibers exhibited exceptional mechanical properties and preserved growth factor bioactivity relative to traditional fiber counterparts, which is essential for drug delivery and tissue engineering applications.

Regenerative medicine is a $156 billion global industry, one that is growing exponentially. The team of researchers, led byHelen H. Lu, Percy K. and Vida L.W. Hudson Professor ofBiomedical Engineering, wanted to address the challenge of establishing scalable green manufacturing practices for biomimetic biomaterials and scaffolds used in regenerative medicine.

We think this is a paradigm shift in biofabrication, and will accelerate the translation of scalable biomaterials and biomimetic scaffolds for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, said Lu, a leader in research on tissue interfaces, particularly the design of biomaterials and therapeutic strategies for recreating the bodys natural synchrony between tissues. Green electrospinning not only preserves the composition, chemistry, architecture, and biocompatibility of traditionally electrospun fibers, but it also improves their mechanical properties by doubling the ductility of traditional fibers without compromising yield or ultimate tensile strength. Our work provides both a more biocompatible and sustainable solution for scalable nanomaterial fabrication.

The team, which included several BME doctoral students from Lus group, Christopher Mosher PhD20 and Philip Brudnicki, as well as Theanne Schiros, an expert in eco-conscious textile synthesis who is also a research scientist at Columbia MRSEC and assistant professor at FIT, applied sustainability principles to biomaterial production, and developed a green electrospinning process by systematically testing what the FDA considers as biologically benign solvents (Q3C Class 3).

They identified acetic acid as a green solvent that exhibits low ecological impact (Sustainable Minds Life Cycle Assessment) and supports a stable electrospinning jet under routine fabrication conditions. By tuning electrospinning parameters, such as needle-plate distance and flow rate, the researchers were able to ameliorate the fabrication of research and industry-standard biomedical polymers, cutting the detrimental manufacturing impacts of the electrospinning process by three to six times.

Green electrospun materials can be used in a broad range of applications. Lus team is currently working on further innovating these materials for orthopaedic and dental applications, and expanding this eco-conscious fabrication process for scalable production of regenerative materials.

"Biofabrication has been referred to as the fourth industrial revolution' following steam engines, electrical power, and the digital age for automating mass production, noted Mosher, the studys first author. This work is an important step towards developing sustainable practices in the next generation of biomaterials manufacturing, which has become paramount amidst the global climate crisis."

###

The study is titled Green electrospinning for biomaterials and biofabrication.

Authors are: Christopher Z. Mosher (A), Philip A.P. Brudnickia (A), Zhengxiang Gonga (A), Hannah R. Childs (A), Sang Won Lee (A),Romare M. Antrobus (A)Elisa C. Fang (A), Theanne N. Schiros (B,C)and Helen H. Lu (A,B)

A. Biomaterials and Interface Tissue Engineering Laboratory, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Columbia University

B. Materials Research Science and Engineering Center, Columbia University

C. Science and Mathematics Department, Fashion Institute of Technology

This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH-NIAMS 1R01-AR07352901A), the New York State Stem Cell ESSC Board (NYSTEM C029551), the DoD CDMRP award (W81XWH-15- 1-0685), and the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship (DGE-1644869, CZM). The CD analysis system was supported by NIH grant 1S10OD025102-01, and TNS was supported as part of the NSF MRSEC program through Columbia in the Center for Precision Assembly of Superstratic and Superatomic Solids (DMR-1420634).

The authors declare no competing interest.

Columbia Engineering

Columbia Engineering, based in New York City, is one of the top engineering schools in the U.S. and one of the oldest in the nation. Also known as The Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science, the School expands knowledge and advances technology through the pioneering research of its more than 220 faculty, while educating undergraduate and graduate students in a collaborative environment to become leaders informed by a firm foundation in engineering. The Schools faculty are at the center of the Universitys cross-disciplinary research, contributing to the Data Science Institute, Earth Institute, Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, Precision Medicine Initiative, and the Columbia Nano Initiative. Guided by its strategic vision, Columbia Engineering for Humanity, the School aims to translate ideas into innovations that foster a sustainable, healthy, secure, connected, and creative humanity.

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"Greening Biomaterials and Scaffolds Used in Regenerative Medicine - Newswise

Well, well, well! Notes from Session 3 of TEDMonterey – TED Blog

Posted on August 3, 2021 by Danzig

Engineer Kathryn A. Whitehead takes us down to the nano level to break down how lipid nanoparticles could revolutionize the way vaccines our delivered to our bodys cells. She speaks at TEDMonterey: The Case for Optimism on August 2, 2021. (Photo: Bret Hartman / TED)

The central topic of Session 3 is, surely, on many of our minds: health. From the technology powering the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to new Alzheimers treatment possibilities, these amazing speakers give a glimpse at exciting new frontiers of medicine. Plus, an artist drawing live onstage!

The event: TEDMonterey: Session 3, hosted by TEDs Chris Anderson on Monday, August 2, 2021

Speakers: Uur ahin, zlem Treci, Kathryn Whitehead, Jarrett J. Krosoczka, Ian Kerner, Li-Huei Tsai, Nabiha Saklayen

The talks in brief:

Uur ahin and zlem Treci, cofounders of BioNTech

Big idea: When COVID-19 first reared its many-crowned head in January of 2020, immunologists zlem Treci and Uur ahin saw an opportunity to develop a vaccine at light speed, using revolutionary mRNA technology to turn the bodys own immune system into a COVID-fighting factory.

How? Treci and ahins development of the first approved COVID-19 vaccine impacted the lives of millions if not billions of people worldwide, who were previously defenseless against the deadliest virus to hit humanity in a century. The husband-and-wife team had started their firm BioNTech as a way to bypass the glacial channels of traditional research, and thus were uniquely suited to bring a vaccine to market quickly. Their revolutionary approach used messenger RNA (mRNA) to address the bodys immune system at the cellular level, compiling chemical source code to teach cells how to produce antibodies personalized to each patient. As Treci puts it: mRNA strands are the generals which call all the different special forces and train them on the wanted poster of the attackers. And far from being effective only against COVID-19, mRNA therapy offers the promise of individually adaptable treatments for a variety of cellular disorders, including cancer.

Kathryn A. Whitehead, engineer, teacher, innovator

Big idea: Messenger RNA (or mRNA) is about to change the world forever.

How? After years of research, Kathryn A. Whitehead and her team have finally created the perfect vehicle for delivering life-saving yet delicate mRNA information through vaccines: lipid nanoparticles. She takes us down to the nano level to break down this fatty packaging into its four key ingredients: phospholipids, cholesterol, ionizable lipids and a polymer called PEG. These components make up the ideal shipping materials for delivering life-saving vaccines to our bodys cells. Amazingly, her work is paving the way for mRNA therapies that can treat or cure diseases that have unrelentingly plagued us, including cancer, Type 1 diabetes, muscular dystrophy and cystic fibrosis as well as the flu, malaria, Ebola, Zika and HIV. As she puts it: mRNA therapies are going to usher in a new era of medicine in human health forever, and its all thanks to these fatty little balls that deliver this miracle medicine to exactly where it needs to go.

Jarrett J. Krosoczka delights the crowd with live drawing presentation paired with a poignant autobiographical journey. He speaks at TEDMonterey: The Case for Optimism on August 2, 2021 (Photo: Bret Hartman / TED)

Jarrett J. Krosoczka, author, illustrator

Big idea: Stories keep people alive and help us remember, share and process the human experience.

How? Equipped with sheets of paper and a mug full of markers, Jarrett J. Krosoczka takes us on an autobiographical journey during a live drawing presentation. He begins by drawing his younger self surrounded by his grandfather and the ancestors he was introduced to through family stories. Krosoczka used his sketchbook as a means of escape from the chaos of his upbringing and as a way to connect with his incarcerated mother, who was also an artist. As a teenager, he volunteered at a camp for children with cancer, befriending a four-year-old boy named Eric who had recently been diagnosed with Leukemia. Krosoczkas drawing of Eric is vibrant, depicting the boy with a Power Rangers sword in hand and a huge grin. Krosoczka shares the difficulties of recounting his experience at the camp in his graphic memoir, Sunshine, and how its creation forced him to come face-to-face with unspoken losses. While this can be painful, he explains, stories are an opportunity to understand the human experience, deal with absence and bring loved ones back to life on the page.

Ian Kerner, psychotherapist

Big idea: If youre experiencing a lack of sexual desire, increasing psychological stimulation can help boost feelings of arousal.

How? Failure to launch, or the inability to build and maintain sexual momentum, is a common problem plaguing the couples who work with sex therapist Ian Kerner. His solution? An arousal runway of psychological stimulation. In other words, he suggests getting the mind in on the action before anything physical begins. For couples dealing with shame around sex, he recommends starting with side-to-side experiences like listening to a sexy podcast together or reading literary erotica aloud. Other couples might try face-to-face experiences, such as sharing sexual fantasies to bring some psychological stimuli back into the relationship. After a year spent in a pandemic (and in our pajamas), Kerner reminds us that if were not feeling super sexy, theres nothing wrong with our libidos we just need to try some new strategies to get the sparks flying.

Li-Huei Tsai, professor, neuroscientist

Big idea: A promising approach to Alzheimers and dementia treatment lies in a mind-blowing (or rather, mind-healing) application of gamma wave stimulation.

How? Of the many signals that fire our synapses, the brain relies on gamma frequencies, or waves, to coordinate cellular activity and keep everything in sync. So when these specific brain waves become weaker, it is often an early indication of dementia or Alzheimers. In seeking to understand and treat this degenerative disease, Li-Huei Tsai and her team asked an intriguing question and found promising answers: What if we artificially boosted the brains gamma waves? They started with mice and, through light and sound stimulation carrying the gamma frequency, discovered profound benefits, such as improved memory and less brain decay. But as Tsai says, mice are nice but people are the point. Now theyre testing on humans with an at-home device that emits the same gamma output and the results, so far, are exciting: reduced brain atrophy, improved mental function and increased synchrony. While its early days and theres still work to be done, shes already seeing a lot of evidence that this approach seems safe and that humans tolerate gamma wave stimulation well meaning this non-invasive treatment could prove accessible for those who need it and usher in a better world and brighter future for everyone.

Nabiha Saklayen, biotech entrepreneur

Big idea: The future of regenerative medicine is personalized.

How? What if diseases could be treated with a patients own cells precisely and on demand? This may sound like science fiction, but through personalized, stem-cell-derived therapies, Nabiha Saklayen says this future is closer than we think. How could this work? The answer lies in automation through machine learning. Currently, stem cells are painstakingly difficult (and expensive) to engineer, requiring scientists to manually remove unwanted cells from stem cell cultures. Saklayen describes how we could leverage physics, biology and algorithms to scale up an alternative, affordable approach gathering the perfect culture of your own personal stem cells by utilizing the precision of a computer. Imagining a revolution in personalized pharmaceuticals, forecasts a world where every person could have a personalized bank of these cells to be used as needed.

Retired neurologist with Alzheimer’s knows firsthand the risks of Aduhelm – STAT – STAT

Posted on August 3, 2021 by Danzig

Daniel Gibbs had received only four monthly doses of Biogens experimental Alzheimers drug in a clinical trial in 2017 when he ended up in an intensive care unit.He had an excruciating headache, and his blood pressure was so high that doctors thought he might be having a stroke.

It turned out that the retired Portland, Ore., neurologist who had treated Alzheimers patients before he was diagnosed with the disease himself in 2015 was experiencing some of the worst reported side effects of the drug. Doctors prescribed medicines to lower his blood pressure, which reached 206/116, and later to reduce brain swelling. But for weeks afterward, he struggled to read, follow conversations, and do simple math. He recovered but never again took the Alzheimers drug.

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STAT+ is STAT's premium subscription service for in-depth biotech, pharma, policy, and life science coverage and analysis.Our award-winning team covers news on Wall Street, policy developments in Washington, early science breakthroughs and clinical trial results, and health care disruption in Silicon Valley and beyond.

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Retired neurologist with Alzheimer's knows firsthand the risks of Aduhelm - STAT - STAT

Ocala neurologist to pay $800K to settle allegations of prescribing unnecessary drugs – Ocala

Posted on August 3, 2021 by Danzig

A lawsuit filed against the Florida Neurological Center, LLC and its owner, Dr. Lance Kim of Ocala, in which the defendants were accused of several fraudulent practices under the False Claims Act, has been partially settled.

Kim and the Florida Neurological Center (FNC), located at 2237 SW 19th Ave. Road, Suite 101, have agreed to pay $800,000 to resolve allegations that Kim prescribed medically unnecessary and unreasonable prescription drugs, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Middle District of Florida.

The release specifically noted Acthar Gel, a prescription drug that cost the Medicare program around $35,000 for every five-day supply Kim prescribed.

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The agreement partially resolves the allegations brought against Kim and the center, andthere has been no determination of liability.

The lawsuit was filed in Orlando by Michael Singbush, Andrea Herrera and Harvey Kessler MeyerIV, all former employees of the Florida Neurological Center between 2014 and 2017. Under the False Claims Act, private individuals, or relators, can sue, on behalf of the government, companies and individuals that they believe to be defrauding government programs.

Also under the act, the relators are permitted to receive a share of the recovery, totaling $144,000 in this case.

Florida Attorney General Ashley Moodys office issued a press release on the settlement Tuesday, stating that she is working with federal partners to recover thousands of dollars for Floridas Medicaid program related to the settlement.

The program will receive over $113,000 in restitution from the agreement.

Defrauding Floridas Medicaid program is not a victimless crime, Moody said in the release. It harms the taxpayers of our great state. My Medicaid Fraud Control Unit investigators work hard to protect taxpayers by identifying, investigating and stopping fraud exploiting this taxpayer-funded health care program and recovering lost funds whenever possible.

FNC has served Marion County since 1998, according to its website. It specializes in evaluating and treating neurological disorders such as Alzheimers disease, neuropathy, muscle disorders and sleep disorders.

Kim received his undergraduate degree in biochemistry from Boston University and medical degree from Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale.

He has worked as a research fellow at the Harvard Medical School/Massachusetts General Hospital, interned in internal medicine at Northwestern University Medical Center and received a residency and fellowship in neurology from the University of Chicago.

Kim is the owner and sole practicing physician of FNC.

In a pretrial statement from May, the plaintiffs had maintained that Kim and FNC violated the False Claims Act (FCA) and that each plaintiff faced retaliation after complaining of the illegal actions.

The relators explained that the basic requirement for reimbursement from Medicare, Medicaid and other government healthcare programs is that services are reasonable and medically necessary. They described various ways in which they believed FNC submitted false claims.

The defendants denied any wrongdoing under the FCA, and the parties agreed to a voluntary dismissal of most of the counts on Tuesday.

The claimsthat each relator faced retaliation for questioning the practices and was either forced to resign or fired are still pending.

FNC and Kim deny any retaliation or that the relators engaged in protected activity, which prevents whistleblowers from retaliation.

FNC also soughtdamagein a counterclaim against Singbush, Herrera and Meyer, alleging unlawful use and disclosure of confidential information about patients, as well as breach of employment agreements. Those claims were dismissed in June.

The U.S. Attorneys Office for the Middle District of Florida reminds that tips about potential fraud, waste, abuse and mismanagement can be reported to the Department of Health and Human Services at 800-HHS-TIPS (800-447-8477).

Contact reporter Danielle Johnson at djohnson@gannett.com.

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Ocala neurologist to pay $800K to settle allegations of prescribing unnecessary drugs - Ocala

Oyesiku to Receive Distinguished Service Award from Society of University Neurosurgeons | Newsroom – UNC Health and UNC School of Medicine

Posted on August 3, 2021 by Danzig

The award will presented to Dr. Oyesiku at the Societys 2021 Annual Meeting August 8-11.

Nelson M. Oyesiku, MD, PhD, FACS, Chair Chair of the UNC School of Medicine Department of Neurosurgery, will receive the Distinguished Service Award given by the Society of University Neurosurgeons at their 2021 Annual Meeting in Whitefish, Montana, August 8-11.

Prior to joining the UNC faculty on April 1, 2021, Dr. Oyesiku was Professor of Neurological Surgery and Medicine (Endocrinology) at Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia and the Inaugural Daniel Louis Barrow Chair in Neurosurgery, Vice-Chairman of the Department of Neurological Surgery and Director of the Neurosurgical Residency Program. Dr. Oyesikus clinical expertise is pituitary medicine and surgery. Dr. Oyesiku was co-director of the Emory Pituitary Center and has developed one of the largest practices entirely devoted to the care of patients with pituitary tumors in the country and has performed over 3,700 pituitary tumor operations. Dr. Oyesiku obtained his MD from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. He obtained an MSc in Occupational Medicine from the University of London, UK and completed a PhD in Neuroscience at Emory University. He completed his Surgery Internship at the University of Connecticut-Hartford Hospital and obtained his neurosurgical training at Emory University, Atlanta. He is board-certified by the American Board of Neurological Surgery. He received an NIH K08 Award and Faculty Development Award from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation was a recipient of an NIH R01 award and PI of the NIH/NINDS R25 Research Education Program for Residents and Fellows in Neurosurgery. Dr. Oyesiku has served on several NIH Study Sections. Dr. Oyesikus research is focused on the molecular pathogenesis of pituitary adenomas, and tumor receptor imaging and targeting for therapy.

Dr. Oyesiku has served on various state, regional, national and international committees for all the major neurosurgical organizations. He has served on the Board of Directors and as Chairman of the American Board of Neurological Surgery. He was on the ACGME-Residency Review Committee of Neurosurgery. He is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons and has served on its Board of Governors. Dr. Oyesiku has been President of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons. He has served as Secretary/Treasurer and President of the Georgia Neurosurgical Society, President of the Society of University Neurosurgeons, and Vice-President of the American Academy of Neurological Surgeons. He is President of the International Society of Pituitary Surgeons. He is President-Elect of the World Federation of Neurological Surgeons.

Dr. Oyesiku is Editor-in-Chief of NEUROSURGERY, OPERATIVE NEUROSURGERY and NEUROSURGERY OPEN leading journals in neurosurgery. He is author of over 180 scientific articles and book chapters.

He has been selected by his peers as one of The Best Doctors in America and was selected by the Consumer Research Council of America as one of Americas Top Surgeons. He is named in Marquis Whos Who in America. He is a member of the Honor Medical Society Alpha Omega Alpha. He was awarded the Gentle Giant Award by the Pituitary Network Association for his services to Pituitary Surgery and Medicine. He is on the Medical Advisory Board of the Cushings Support and Research Foundation. He has been visiting professor and invited faculty at several departments of neurosurgery in the United States and abroad.

Delays in thrombolysis during COVID-19 are associated with worse neurological outcomes: the Society of Vascular and Interventional Neurology…

Posted on August 3, 2021 by Danzig

This article was originally published here

J Neurol. 2021 Jul 31. doi: 10.1007/s00415-021-10734-z. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION: We have demonstrated in a multicenter cohort that the COVID-19 pandemic has led to a delay in intravenous thrombolysis (IVT) among stroke patients. Whether this delay contributes to meaningful short-term outcome differences in these patients warranted further exploration.

METHODS: We conducted a nested observational cohort study of adult acute ischemic stroke patients receiving IVT from 9 comprehensive stroke centers across 7 U.S states. Patients admitted prior to the COVID-19 pandemic (1/1/2019-02/29/2020) were compared to patients admitted during the early pandemic (3/1/2020-7/31/2020). Multivariable logistic regression was used to estimate the effect of IVT delay on discharge to hospice or death, with treatment delay on admission during COVID-19 included as an interaction term.

RESULTS: Of the 676 thrombolysed patients, the median age was 70 (IQR 58-81) years, 313 were female (46.3%), and the median NIHSS was 8 (IQR 4-16). Longer treatment delays were observed during COVID-19 (median 46 vs 38 min, p = 0.01) and were associated with higher in-hospital death/hospice discharge irrespective of admission period (OR per hour 1.08, 95% CI 1.01-1.17, p = 0.03). This effect was strengthened after multivariable adjustment (aOR 1.15, 95% CI 1.07-1.24, p < 0.001). There was no interaction of treatment delay on admission during COVID-19 (pinteraction = 0.65). Every one-hour delay in IVT was also associated with 7% lower odds of being discharged to home or acute inpatient rehabilitation facility (aOR 0.93, 95% CI 0.89-0.97, p < 0.001).

CONCLUSION: Treatment delays observed during the COVID-19 pandemic led to greater early mortality and hospice care, with a lower probability of discharge to home/rehabilitation facility. There was no effect modification of treatment delay on admission during the pandemic, indicating that treatment delay at any time contributes similarly to these short-term outcomes.

PMID:34333701 | DOI:10.1007/s00415-021-10734-z

3-D ‘Heat Map’ Animation Shows How Seizures Spread in the Brains of Patients with Epilepsy – UCSF News Services

Posted on August 3, 2021 by Danzig

For 29 years, from the time she was 12, Rashetta Higgins had been wracked by epileptic seizures as many as 10 a week in her sleep, at school and at work. She lost four jobs over 10 years. One seizure brought her down as she was climbing concrete stairs, leaving a bloody scene and a bad gash near her eye.

A seizure struck in 2005 while she was waiting at the curb for a bus. I fell down right when the bus was pulling up, she says. My friend grabbed me just in time. I fell a lot. Ive had concussions. Ive gone unconscious. It has put a lot of wear and tear on my body.

Rashetta Higgins at the UCSF Helen Diller Medical Center at Parnassus Heights after surgery to implant more than 150 electrodes to monitor her seizures. Photo courtesy ofRashetta Higgins

Then, in 2016, Higgins primary-care doctor, Mary Clark, at La Clinica North Vallejo, referred her to UC San Franciscos Department of Neurology, marking the beginning of her journey back to health and her contribution to new technology that will make it easier to locate seizure activity in the brain. Medication couldnt slow her seizures or diminish their severity, so the UCSF Epilepsy Center team recommended surgery to first record and pinpoint the location of the bad activity and then remove the brain tissue that was triggering the seizures.

In April, 2019, Higgins was admitted to UCSFs 10-bed Epilepsy Monitoring Unit at UCSF Helen Diller Medical Center at Parnassus Heights, where surgeons implanted more than 150 electrodes. EEGs tracked her brain wave activity around the clock to pinpoint the region of tissue that had triggered her brainstorms for 29 years.

In just one week, Higgins had 10 seizures, and each time, the gently undulating EEG tracings recording normal brain activity jerked suddenly into the tell-tale jagged peaks and valleys indicating a seizure.

To find the site of a seizure in a patients brain, experts currently look at brain waves by reviewing hundreds of squiggly lines on a screen, watching how high and low the peaks and valleys go (the amplitude) and how fast these patterns repeat or oscillate (the frequency). But during a seizure, electrical activity in the brain spikes so fast that the many EEG traces can be tough to read.

We look for the electrodes with the largest change, says Robert Knowlton, MD, professor of Neurology, the medical director of the UCSF Seizure Disorders Surgery Program and a member of the UCSF Weill Institute of Neurosciences. Higher frequencies are weighted more. They usually have the lowest amplitude, so we look on the EEG for a combination of the two extremes. Its visual not completely quantitative. Its complicated to put together.

Enter Jonathan Kleen, MD, PhD, assistant professor of Neurology and a member of the UCSF Weill Institute of Neurosciences. Trained as both a neuroscientist and a computer scientist, he quickly saw the potential of a software strategy to clear up the picture literally.

The field of information visualization has really matured in the last 20 years, Kleen said. Its a process of taking huge volumes of data with many details space, time, frequency, intensity and other things and distilling them into a single intuitive visualization like a colorful picture or video.

Kleen developed a program that translates the hundreds of EEG traces into a 3-D movie showing activity in all recorded locations in the brain. The result is a multicolored 3-D heat map that looks very much like a meteorologists hurricane weather map.

This video shows the OPSCEA (or "Ictal Cinema") technology developed at the UCSF Epilepsy Center. It converts the usual complex "traced-based" recordings of brain waves that doctors see (on the right) into an intuitive heat map projected on the patient's own 3D reconstructed brain (right hemisphere of brain show in main view). Each trace (line) on the right is from a single intracranial electrode (black dots in the brain view). The seizure intensity is calculated automatically from the traces (specifically from the location of the arrow) and converted into color intensity (using a "line length" algorithm), revealing how activity in a given seizure moves in space and time. The technology also applies "slice views" (example shown halfway through the video) so that activity from electrodes deep in the brain can be seen in addition to the brain surface.

The heat maps cinematic representation of seizures, projected onto a 3-D reconstruction of the patient's own brain, helps one plainly see where a seizure starts and track where, and how fast, it spreads through the brain.

The heat map closely aligns with the traditional visual analysis, but its simpler to understand and is personalized to the patients own brain.

To see it on the heat map makes it much easier to define where the seizure starts, and whether theres more than one trigger site, Knowlton said. And it is much better at seeing how the seizure spreads. With conventional methods, we have no idea where its spreading.

Researchers are using the new technology at UCSF to gauge how well it pinpoints the brains seizure trigger compared with the standard visual approach. So far, the heat maps have been used to help identify the initial seizure site and the spread of a seizure through the brain in more than 115 patients.

Kleens strategy is disarmingly simple. To distinguish seizures from normal brain activity, he added up the lengths of the lines on an EEG. Seizures show up as high peaks and low valleys that make their cumulative length quite long, while gently undulating brain waves make much shorter lines. Kleens software translated these lengths into different colors, and the visualization was born.

The technology proved pivotal in Higgins treatment.

Before her recordings, we had feared that Rashetta had multiple seizure-generating areas, Kleen said. But her video made it plainly obvious that there was a single problem area, and the bad activity was rapidly spreading from that primary hot spot.

The journal Epilepsia put Kleens and Knowltons 3-D heat map technology on the cover, and the researchers made their software open-source, so others can improve upon it.

Its been a labor of love to get this technology to come to fruition Kleen said. I feel very strongly that to make progress in the field we need to share technologies, especially things that will help patients.

Higgins has been captivated by the 3-D heat maps of her brain.

It was amazing, she said. It was like, Thats my brain. Im watching my brain function.

And the surgery has been a life-changing success. Higgins hasnt had a seizure in more than two years, feels mentally sharp, and is looking for a job.

When I wake up, Im right on it every morning, she said. I waited for this day for a long, long time.

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3-D 'Heat Map' Animation Shows How Seizures Spread in the Brains of Patients with Epilepsy - UCSF News Services

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Ocala neurologist to pay $800K to settle allegations of prescribing unnecessary drugs – Ocala

Oyesiku to Receive Distinguished Service Award from Society of University Neurosurgeons | Newsroom – UNC Health and UNC School of Medicine

Delays in thrombolysis during COVID-19 are associated with worse neurological outcomes: the Society of Vascular and Interventional Neurology…

3-D ‘Heat Map’ Animation Shows How Seizures Spread in the Brains of Patients with Epilepsy – UCSF News Services