Culture

Aurora, Colo. (Aug. 11, 2020) - Greater rates of Colorado's children are going to the pediatric emergency department as a result of dog bites during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a recently published commentary article in the Journal of Pediatrics. The article's authors, Cinnamon Dixon, DO, MPH/MSPH and Rakesh Mistry, MD/MS, who are attending physicians at Children's Hospital Colorado (Children's Colorado) and University of Colorado School of Medicine faculty, share data revealing significant increases in dog bite rates presenting to Children's Colorado since the initiation of statewide stay-at-home orders in March. Moreover, high rates of dog bite injuries have continued even as these orders have relaxed over time.

"It is well known that the number of dog bites tends to increase during the spring and summer months," said Dr. Dixon. "However this year's rates of emergency department visits due to dog bites have been startling." The incidence of visits for dog bites to Children's Colorado's emergency department in spring 2020 was nearly triple that of last year's rates at the same time.

"These findings are likely not unique to Colorado nor this institution," said Dr. Dixon. "There are approximately 82 million children and 77 million pet dogs in the U.S. who are all living in some variation of restriction. Families across the country are living under extreme stress and angst during the pandemic, and our canine friends are not immune to their human caregivers' increased anxiety. Not to mention, parents have competing priorities now more than ever, which may make them less focused on supervising their child when they are near a dog."

Factors that could be contributing to the increased rates of dog bites during the pandemic include:

Increased child-dog exposure earlier in the year because of shelter-in-place regulations

Heightened stress for dogs as they intuitively pick up on amplified household stress

Decreased adult supervision around dogs and children as adults juggle increased responsibilities at home

According to the CDC's National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, more than 40% of dog bite injuries resulting in emergency department visits are to children and adolescents. Children ages five to nine have the highest risk of dog bites, with infants and children at greater risk of bites to the head and neck. Most dog bites are by the family dog or another known dog.

"Dogs can be amazing companions and enrich our lives in so many ways; however it's important to remember that any dog can bite given the right circumstance," continued Dr. Dixon. "Recognizing the intense pressures and responsibilities that families are under, it is critical that parents and caregivers of children prioritize the best way to prevent dog bites - which is to always, always supervise infants and children whenever they are near a dog."

A number of additional strategies can help prevent dog bites as well, including:

Teaching children to:

o Never disturb a dog who is caring for puppies, eating or sleeping

o Never reach through a fence to pet a dog

o Never run from a dog

Encouraging dog owners to:

o Keep their dog healthy and ensure routine veterinary care

o Properly train and socialize their dog

The Republic of Korea, like other countries with a rapidly ageing population, is facing increasing numbers of patients with dementia, of which Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most representative type. Unfortunately, AD has no complete cure yet; but, some treatments have been proven to delay its progression. Of course, this means that timely diagnosis while the symptoms are still mild is essential to maximize a patient's quality of life.

However, currently available technologies for diagnosing AD are limited because they involve expensive machinery and invasive or inconvenient procedures. Now, in a recent study published in Scientific Reports, scientists from Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology, Korea, hint at a novel way of diagnosing AD in a much simpler way --collecting and analyzing specific proteins in nasal discharge samples.

Professor Cheil Moon, who led the study, explains how they came up with the idea: "In 2017, we found that olfactory dysfunction occurred in the early stages of AD in mice and suggested that the cause of the symptoms was induced by soluble species of amyloid-β (Aβ) oligomer accumulations in the peripheral olfactory system. We hypothesized that soluble Aβ oligomers could be detectable in nasal discharge and that they may be a useful parameter to monitor disease progression." To test their hypothesis, they gathered and compared nasal discharge samples from 39 patients with AD and 21 people from an age-matched control group.

They found that the levels of two particular Aβ oligomers (the aggregated forms of Aβ implicated as characteristic of Alzheimer's) were consistently higher in patients from the AD group. What's more, the levels of the "soluble" form of this protein could be used to not only separate healthy subjects from patients with AD, but also predict the onset and progression of AD over a three-year period.

Although further research will be required to better understand the link between Aβ oligomers in nasal discharge and the cognitive impairments related to AD, the results are certainly promising. Prof Moon remarks, "Routine nasal discharge screenings would be a better option to screen for AD because of its various advantages, such as its relatively low cost and non-invasive nature. The results of our study introduce a novel and simple approach to assess AD progression."

This new diagnostic technique will hopefully help in simpler and faster detection of Alzheimer's and improving the disease outcome, thus bringing much needed relief to millions suffering from the Alzheimer's worldwide.

In 2009, the Israeli government unanimously selected Bar-Ilan University to open Israel's 5th medical school and first in 34 years, in the northern Galilee city of Safed. The socioeconomic and health disparities of the north, and the need to enhance the physician workforce and health system to serve a diverse Arab and Jewish community contributed to this historic decision.

From the outset family medicine and population health have been key components of Bar-Ilan's Azrieli Faculty of Medicine, with a mission to embrace the community, upgrade health care, and effect positive change in the region.

Project Raphael, a novel social incubator for improving health in disadvantaged regions, was the Faculty's flagship community initiative, aiming to create academic-community partnerships to define and address the region's most pressing health needs. Established by Prof. Mary Rudolf, a former head of the Faculty's Department of Population Health, Raphael offers local community and health organizations an opportunity to define the most pressing problems in their communities, and to develop creative solutions. When the Project was first announced, ninety organizations submitted proposals. Thirteen were accepted. Personalized academic consultation and support was provided by Prof. Rudolf and team, along with modest seed funding by generous benefactors.

Prof. Rudolf and her research team, including Dr. Jumanah Essa-Hadad and Dr. Sivan Spitzer-Shohat, closely tracked the progress of the 13 organizations in achieving their goals and recently published their findings in the journal BMC Public Health. Twelve of the projects were completed, and all were successful to differing extents. Tangible improvements in health for disadvantaged populations in the Galilee resulted. Three of the most successful projects subsequently received grants from external competitive funding sources and have extended their projects locally and even nationally. The nine others continued their projects locally over time. The goal of reaching vulnerable populations across the Galilee was reached, and a constellation of health promoting activities was implemented.

One such success story is Al-Manal, an NGO which works to empower physically disabled Arab women. In Arab communities, disabled women are often socially isolated and lack self-confidence. Al-Manal's project was to train physically disabled Arab women to raise awareness regarding their health needs and advocate for equal health care and services. Prof. Rudolf and team found that Raphael gave the 12 women who participated the skills and confidence to speak out and address health care managers and professionals, local community leaders and decision makers, high school staff and students, among others. The project also had a significant impact on their social lives, resulting in the formation of strong social relationships, a sense of group belonging, and a decrease in feelings of isolation. In fact, following participation in the project, a number of participants made life-changing decisions, even applying for university. The organization went on to approach larger funding bodies and secured sustainability by receiving a $25,000 grant from the U.S. Embassy Middle East Partnership Initiative program.

"The Raphael Project has demonstrated that the concept of a 'social incubator' can be successful in bringing about health benefits to disadvantaged communities. It is also a way for medical schools to engage with the community and create productive academia-community partnerships with minimal resources," says Prof. Rudolf. "Medical schools have an important potential to impact upon the lives of people and upon the surrounding community."

Reducing the viscosity of heavy oils for extraction is one of the most important research foci in contemporary petroleum science. KFU has long been concentrated on exactly this topic, more specifically, thermal treatment methods. The latest publication tackles the use of Fe, Co, Ni-based catalysts for this purpose.

"The catalysts showed good results under 300 degrees C in reducing viscosity, decreasing the ratio tars and asphaltenes, eliminating sulfur and nitrogen, reducing polyaromatic compounds, etc.," says Junior Research Associate Suweid Munir Abdo Mohammed.

"The catalysts are oil-soluble transition metal reagents with different ligands. Oil-soluble organic ligands can improve the lipophilicity of catalysts, which contributes to the fact that metal ions change their catalytic activity," adds Senior Research Associate, co-author of the paper Chengdong Yuan. "In this study, we looked at stearic acid in terms of its long alkyl chain, which can be useful for interacting with the long side chains of heavy oil components."

The results of the study showed that the good catalytic properties of the new transition metal catalysts, as well as their low cost and easy accessibility, make them a potential solution in the aquathermolysis reaction and heavy oil recovery.

The publication is currently available online and is scheduled to see light in print on 1st December 2020.

Scientists have made a key discovery thanks to stardust found in meteorites, shedding light on the origin of crucial chemical elements.

Meteorites are critical to understanding the beginning of our solar system and how it has evolved over time. However, some meteorites contain grains of stardust that predate the formation of our solar system and are now providing important information about how the elements in the universe formed.

In a study published by Physical Review Letters, researchers from the University of Surrey detail how they made a key discovery connected to the "pre-solar grains" found in primitive meteorites. This discovery has provided new insights into the nature of stellar explosions and the origin of the chemical elements. It has also provided a new method for astronomical research.

Dr Gavin Lotay, Nuclear Astrophysicist and Director of Learning and Teaching at the University of Surrey, said: "Tiny pre-solar grains, about one micron in size, are the residuals of stellar explosions that occurred in the distant past, long before our solar system existed. Stellar debris eventually became wedged into meteorites that, in turn, crashed into the Earth."

One of the most frequent stellar explosions to occur in our galaxy is called a nova, which involves a binary star system consisting of a main sequence star orbiting a white dwarf star - an extremely dense star that can be the size of Earth but has the mass of our Sun. Matter from the main star is continually pulled away by the white dwarf because of its intense gravitational field. This deposited material initiates a thermonuclear explosion every 1,000 to 100,000 years and the white dwarf ejects the equivalent of the mass of more than thirty Earths into interstellar space. In contrast, a supernova involves a single collapsing star and, when it explodes, it ejects almost all of its mass.

As novae continually enrich our galaxy with chemical elements, they have been the subject of intense astronomical investigations for decades. Much has been learned from them about the origin of the heavier elements, for example. However, a number of key puzzles remain.

Dr Lotay continues: "A new way of studying these phenomena is by analysing the chemical and isotopic composition of the pre-solar grains in meteorites. Of particular importance to our research is a specific nuclear reaction that occurs in novae and supernovae -- proton capture on an isotope of chlorine -- which we can only indirectly study in the laboratory."

In conducting their experiment, the team, led by Dr Lotay and Surrey PhD student Adam Kennington (also a former Surrey undergraduate), pioneered a new research approach. It involves the use of the Gamma-Ray Energy Tracking In-beam Array (GRETINA) coupled to the Fragment Mass Analyzer at the Argonne Tandem Linac Accelerator System (ATLAS), USA. GRETINA is a state-of-the-art detection system able to trace the path of gamma rays (g-ray) emitted from nuclear reactions. It is one of only two such systems in the world that utilise this novel technology.

Using GRETINA, the team completed the first detailed g-ray spectroscopy study of an astronomically important nucleus, argon-34, and were able to calculate the expected abundance of sulfur isotopes produced in nova explosions.

Adam Kennington said: "It's extremely exciting to think that, by studying the microscopic nuclear properties of argon-34, it may now be possible to determine whether a particular grain of stardust comes from a nova or a supernova."

Some people get really sick from COVID-19, and others don't. Nobody knows why.

Now, a study by investigators at the Stanford University of Medicine and other institutions has turned up immunological deviations and lapses that appear to spell the difference between severe and mild cases of COVID-19.

That difference may stem from how our evolutionarily ancient innate immune system responds to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes the disease. Found in all creatures from fruit flies to humans, the innate immune system rapidly senses viruses and other pathogens. As soon as it does, it launches an immediate though somewhat indiscriminate attack on them and mobilizes more precisely targeted, but slower-to-get-moving, "sharpshooter" cells belonging to a different branch of the body's pathogen-defense forces, the adaptive immune system.

"These findings reveal how the immune system goes awry during coronavirus infections, leading to severe disease, and point to potential therapeutic targets," said Bali Pulendran, PhD, professor of pathology and of microbiology and immunology and the senior author of the study, which will be published Aug. 11 in Science. Lead authorship is shared by Stanford postdoctoral scholars Prabhu Arnunachalam, PhD, and Florian Wimmers, PhD; and Chris Ka Pun Mok, PhD, and Mahen Perera, PhD, both assistant professors of public health laboratory sciences at the University of Hong Kong.

Three molecular suspects

The researchers analyzed the immune response in 76 people with COVID-19 and in 69 healthy people. They found enhanced levels of molecules that promote inflammation in the blood of severely ill COVID-19 patients. Three of the molecules they identified have been shown to be associated with lung inflammation in other diseases but had not been shown previously in COVID-19 infections.

"These three molecules and their receptors could represent attractive therapeutic targets in combating COVID-19," said Pulendran, who is the Violetta L. Horton Professor. His lab is now testing the therapeutic potential of blocking these molecules in animal models of COVID-19.

Bacterial debris and immune paralysis

The scientists also found elevated levels of bacterial debris, such as bacterial DNA and cell-wall materials, in the blood of those COVID-19 patients with severe cases. The more debris, the sicker the patient -- and the more pro-inflammatory substances circulating in his or her blood.

The findings suggest that in cases of severe COVID-19, bacterial products ordinarily present only in places such as the gut, lungs and throat may make their way into the bloodstream, kick-starting enhanced inflammation that is conveyed to all points via the circulatory system.

But the study also revealed that, paradoxically, key cells of the innate immune system in the blood of COVID-19 patients became increasingly paralyzed as the disease got worse. Instead of being aroused by the presence of viruses or bacteria, these normally vigilant cells remained functionally sluggish.

If high blood levels of inflammation-promoting molecules set COVID-19 patients apart from those with milder cases, but blood cells are not producing these molecules, where do they come from? Pulendran believes they originate in tissues somewhere in the body -- most likely patients' lungs, the site of infection.

"One of the great mysteries of COVID-19 infections has been that some people develop severe disease, while others seem to recover quickly," Pulendran said. "Now we have some insights into why that happens."

Pulendran is a member of Stanford Bio-X and a faculty fellow of Stanford ChEM-H.

Hamilton, ON (August 11, 2020) - Working together, researchers at McMaster University and the University of Waterloo are searching for how the SARS-CoV-2 virus infects the lungs - and they're challenging what has become an accepted truth about the virus.

Previously, scientists have determined that entry of SARS-CoV-2 into cells occurs through a receptor on the cell surface, known as ACE2. But the McMaster-Waterloo team has found that the ACE2 receptor is at very low levels in human lung tissue.

"Our finding is somewhat controversial, as it suggests that there must be other ways, other receptors for the virus, that regulate its infection of the lungs," said Jeremy Hirota, co-lead scientist of the team from the Research Institute of St. Joe's Hamilton and an Assistant Professor of Medicine at McMaster.

"We were surprised that the fundamental characterization of the candidate receptors in human lung tissue had not yet been done in a systematic way with modern technologies."

"Finding such low levels of ACE2 in lung tissue has important implications for how we think about this virus." said co-lead Andrew Doxey, Professor of Biology at the University of Waterloo. "ACE2 is not the full story and may be more relevant in other tissues such as the vascular system."

A paper on their findings has been published recently in the European Respiratory Journal. Their findings have been confirmed independently by other researchers in Molecular Systems Biology.

Now, to explore alternate additional infection pathways and different patient responses to infection, the team is using nasal swabs that were collected for clinical diagnoses of COVID-19. These samples offer the opportunity to determine which genes are expressed by patients' cells and associate this information with the development of the patients' disease.

The ongoing study will better identify and treat patients who are at risk of developing serious complications and provide predictive capacity for hospitals.

"It is clear that some individuals respond better than others to the same SARS-CoV-2 virus. The differential response to the same virus suggests that each individual patient, with their unique characteristics, heavily influences COVID-19 disease severity," said Hirota, who holds the Canada Research Chair in Respiratory Mucosal Immunology at McMaster.

"We think it is the lung immune system that differs between COVID-19 patients, and by understanding which patients' lung immune systems are helpful and which are harmful, we may be able to help physicians pro-actively manage the most at risk-patients."

Researchers will correlate positive and negative COVID-19 cases with clinical outcomes, and ultimately use this data to generate predictive algorithms related to morbidity and mortality. The aim is to use this predictive information to optimize health care delivery.

The research has received grants from the Ontario COVID-19 Rapid Research Fund of the Ontario government, from the COVID-19 Innovation Challenge of Roche Canada and from FastGrants.org managed by the Thistledown Foundation in Canada.

"We're looking for additional partners to collaborate with us in moving this research forward, as we believe there is an opportunity to develop diagnostic devices with this information," said Hirota.

Inbreeding can reduce cooperation in banded mongooses according to a recent study by researchers.

A team from Swansea University, University of Bielefeld and University of Exeter studied inbreeding and cooperative care in banded mongooses - an African mammal which lives in colonies with a complex social structure.

In the 1930s it was proposed that for mammals to evolve complex cooperative societies similar to those seen In bees and wasps, they would have to become highly inbred so that all colony members were genetically related.

This would mean that when they helped other members of their colonies to reproduce, they would be passing down copies of their own genes. However, this kind of society seems to be very rare in nature, and most cooperative mammals go to some effort to avoiding inbreeding.

In banded mongooses that live wild in Uganda, nearly one in 10 pups are the product of brother-sister or father-daughter mating. The team of researchers found that this species may be able to tolerate this high level of inbreeding because the adults in the group provide pups with a lot of one-to-one care that reduces the effects of inbreeding depression.

Inbred pups that get a lot of care in their first three months of life have the same survival chances as outbred pups, while inbred pups that don't receive much care usually die young.

However, in an interesting twist, inbreeding depression eventually catches up with them. The inbred pups that survive because they get a lot of care become bad carers when they are older. This means that the next generation gets a reduced level of care when the adults in the group are inbred.

This may explain why banded mongooses often try not to inbreed, with some individuals risking getting into potentially fatal fights with rival groups in order to breed with unrelated mates.

Dr Hazel Nichols, senior lecturer in biosciences at Swansea University and co-author of the study said: "The complex social lives of banded mongooses never cease to amaze me. They have showed us that, instead of promoting cooperation, inbreeding can, in fact, hinder it."

By José Tadeu Arantes | Agência FAPESP – Arthritis affects almost 2% of the world’s population, or some 150 million people, and currently, there is no completely effective treatment for this chronic disease. A new molecule developed in the laboratory has been shown to have potential therapeutic effects. Tested in mice with genetically induced arthritis, it suppressed the inflammatory process, reducing both inflammation and joint tissue wear and tear. Arthritic mice treated with the substance displayed less pain and swelling and had lower clinical scores measuring the extent of the inflammation than untreated arthritic rats.

The findings are reported in an article in The FASEB Journal, published by the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB).

“The study showed that this new molecule is capable of controlling the most severe manifestations of the disease,” Marcelo Henrique Napimoga, principal investigator for the project in Brazil, told Agência FAPESP. Napimoga is Head of Graduate Studies, Research and Extension at São Leopoldo Mandic College (SLMANDIC). The study was part of a Thematic Project supported by FAPESP.

The new molecule is called TPPU, short for 1-trifluoromethoxyphenyl-3-(1-propionylpiperidin-4-yl) urea. Its function of interest is inhibition of soluble epoxide hydrolase (sEH), an enzyme that plays a key role in activating inflammatory processes and can lead to chronic inflammation.

“Our organism naturally produces an anti-inflammatory substance called epoxyeicosatrienoic acid (EET), but sEH converts EET into 1,2-dihydroxyeicosatrienoic acid (DHET), which not only can’t control inflammation but also can have proinflammatory effects. Inhibition of sEH is therefore crucial to the treatment of inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis. This is what TPPU does,” Napimoga explained.

The illustration at the top of this page contains two photographs of mouse paws. Both mice have genetically induced arthritis. The one on the left has been treated with TPPU, while the other has not. The treated mouse’s paw is much less swollen and has a lower arthritis score (fewer toes are affected).

According to Napimoga, the treatment also reduced the degree of pain associated with inflammation. “This was because control of the inflammatory process led to a decrease in the migration of white blood cells to the affected region, not just attenuating the disease but reducing cartilage erosion,” he said. “In addition, the treated group showed an increase in the number of regulatory T-cells, lymphocytes that produce anti-inflammatory cytokines, and a decrease in the number of Th17 defense cells, which are highly inflammatory.”

TPPU was designed to be well tolerated and easily absorbed when administered orally. “It boosts the body’s natural defenses and increases the number of metabolites our organism produces. This is a great advantage over conventional treatments based on large doses of corticosteroids, which have adverse side effects,” Napimoga said. “Besides the excellent anti-inflammatory effect, TPPU also has a strong analgesic effect.”

Bruce Hammock, a professor at University of California Davis who developed TPPU and is one of the authors of the FASEB Journal article, was recently awarded a grant of USD 15 million by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) to support human clinical trials of a nonopioid pain therapy.

The article “Soluble epoxide hydrolase inhibitor, TPPU, increases regulatory T cells pathway in an arthritis model” can be read at: faseb.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1096/fj.202000415R.

Journal

The FASEB Journal

DOI

10.1096/fj.202000415r

Using highly complex analytical techniques, a group of researchers from Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin were able to observe in detail how different metals are released from joint implants and accumulate in the surrounding bone tissue. Findings showed a steady release of metals from various implant components. In contrast to previous assumptions, this was not related to the degree of mechanical stress involved. The researchers' findings, which have been published in Advanced Science*, will help to optimize the materials used in implants and enhance their safety.

Modern joint implants restore pain-free mobility of patients with chronic degenerative joint disease, thereby drastically enhancing their quality of life. To ensure long-term mechanical stability, artificial joints are made from materials containing a range of different metal alloys. A crucial factor in determining an implant's long-term effectiveness, however, is its integration into the surrounding bone tissue. Previous studies on implant stability show that friction between the articulating surfaces (bearing surfaces) can result in the formation of metal debris. This wear debris can lead to osteolysis - the destruction of bone around the implant - which can result in premature loosening of the implant. The possibility of a steady release of metal from other parts of the prosthesis had not previously received much attention.

A group of researchers led by Dr. Sven Geißler of Charité's Julius Wolff Institute for Biomechanics and Musculoskeletal Regeneration and BIH Center for Regenerative Therapies has now studied the spatial distribution and local toxicokinetics of metallic wear and corrosion products within the surrounding bone tissue. For their detailed analysis, the researchers used a unique synchrotron-based X-ray fluorescence imaging setup. "Our work has enabled us to show, for the first time, that both particulate and dissolved metals released from arthroplasty implants are present in the surrounding bone and bone marrow at supraphysiological levels," says Dr. Geißler. "Therefore, the collagen-rich layer which encapsulates the implant after surgery does not separate these metals from human tissue to the extent previously assumed."

The researchers collected minute bone and bone marrow samples from 14 patients undergoing either a hip or knee arthroplasty procedure. The researchers then determined the qualitative and quantitative composition of the samples using a technique known a X-ray fluorescence. This technique provides unique insights into the concentration, distribution, location and accumulation of metallic degradation products like cobalt, chromium or titanium in adjacent bone and bone marrow. The extremely bright and intensively focused X-ray beam required was achieved by the synchrotron radiation source at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF). The ESRF, which is located in Grenoble, France, is the only particle accelerator in the world to offer a spatial resolution of up to 30 nanometers. Summing up the researchers' achievements, the study's first author, Dr. Janosch Schoon, says: "Our work therefore addresses an issue of enormous clinical relevance with a highly complex experimental setup."

"Our study has made a major contribution to the improvement of the risk-benefit evaluation of medical devices. It has shown that these evaluations should not only comprise biocompatibility testing of raw materials; rather, biocompatibility testing should also extend to wear and corrosion products. The data from this study will therefore prove instrumental in keeping implant safety at the highest possible level," explains Dr. Geißler. Based on their findings, the researchers plan to conduct additional studies which will investigate the biological consequences of metal release on bones and bone marrow. At the same time, the researchers will develop new approaches which will facilitate the reliable preclinical testing of implant materials using both human cells and engineered tissues.

Research published in DeGruyter's International Journal of Adolescent Medicine and Health suggests TikTok is rich with untapped educational potential. The platform could play a vital role in conveying important health information alongside lip-syncing videos and viral dance challenges, the paper's authors say.

Led by researchers at William Paterson University and Columbia University, the new study, "COVID-19 on TikTok: Harnessing an emerging social media platform to convey important public health messages" explores how coronavirus information is being communicated on the platform. This has been a largely unexplored area - until now.

TikTok is a social media platform on which users share short videos. Since its worldwide release in 2018, it has soared in popularity - especially with teenagers and young people. It now has 800 million users worldwide and 37 billion monthly views in the United States alone.

Using a #Coronavirus hashtag, researchers examined and analyzed 117 TikTok videos, 17 of which were created by the World Health Organization (WHO). Altogether, the videos analyzed in the study received more than a billion views.

Fewer than 10% of the videos mentioned how the virus is transmitted, symptoms of COVID-19 and prevention of viral spread. None of the videos - including those uploaded by the WHO - discussed death and death rates, viral incubation time, wearing a face mask or travel restrictions.

The most commonly portrayed topics were anxiety and quarantine, with little focus on transmission and preventing infection. This may stem from the fact that teenagers are facing many social and emotional challenges as a result of lockdown measures - ranging from coping with school closures to the requirement to minimize contact with others.

The researchers behind the study think this indicates a missed opportunity to engage young people with vital health information related to the global pandemic. TikTok could potentially be used to convey messages about controlling the spread of coronavirus by the strict enforcement of social distancing. It is particularly important to impress this information upon the main TikTok audience of teenagers and young adults who can easily pass on the virus to more vulnerable and older family members.

"It's paramount for public health professionals to tailor messaging in ways that make it most accessible," says the study's lead researcher Dr. Corey Basch. "It's also essential to note that the credibility of TikTok as a source of information is threatened by those whose intentions are to undermine the health and safety of viewers. Identifying the types of barriers to using social media platforms for the benefit of health and safety is a crucial next step," concludes Basch.

In the USA, where the curve of infections has not yet flattened since the beginning of the pandemic, 158,000 people have died from Covid-19 already. And despite the choice by all US states to gradually ease lockdown from late May onwards to save the economy, 14 million Americans have lost their job, while the economic output in the second quarter of 2020 dropped by 9.5%. To help entrepreneurs decide on how they can safely reopen their business, mathematicians and statisticians here develop a model for the spread of infections within companies and the economic payoff of safety measures. Their findings are published today in Frontiers in Applied Mathematics and Statistics.

"Our aim was to provide a quantitative yet simple modeling tool for business executives to plan for reopening their workplace," says lead author Prof Hongyu Miao, Director of the Center for Biostatistics Collaboration and Data Services at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston, Texas.

The authors show mathematically that, under a wide range of parameters, reopening your business will only be feasible if at least these safety measures are adopted: wearing goggles, gloves, and masks (when employees aren't alone); frequent hand washing; routine sanitation of the workfloor; social distancing; monitoring body temperature; and quarantine of exposed and sick employees. These measures won't only control the spread of Covid-19 within the company, but also increase your net profit under the assumptions of the model.

"We show that a business entity may stand a good opportunity to generate positive net profit after reopening only if necessary protection measures are strictly implemented," warns Miao. "It is also very important to monitor the number of infections through virus testing and contact tracing, especially at the early stage of reopening."

About the model

Miao and colleagues first developed - and (approximately) solved numerically - five differential equations for the numbers of susceptible, infectious, quarantined, deceased, and recovered employees within a company. These assumed that all workers who can work from home do so, and that workers self-quarantine as soon as they present symptoms, or if they have been in close contact with a known carrier. They further assumed that infected employees who aren't detected - because they are asymptomatic or only mildly symptomatic cases, in the early stages of the disease, or apparently recovered but still infectious - can continue to infect their susceptible coworkers as "silent spreaders", and that sick and quarantined workers receive their full pay.

In addition, the authors modeled the net profit, based on the average salary and productivity of US workers, the cost of PPE and other safety measures, and the reduction in productivity expected from a limit on working hours and the need for distancing. They estimated values for key parameters from the literature, for example the effectiveness of PPE in preventing transmission, the expected pricetag of these measures, and the dynamics of infection.

Four scenarios compared

The authors then took a large, well-known Texan company as a hypothetical example. Under the least safe scenario, where no safety measures are taken, the prevalence of Covid-19 within the company steadily rises to become 30-fold higher than in the general US population, indicating that reopening won't be feasible. Under the safest scenario, where all possible safety measures are adopted, its prevalence falls to 104-fold lower than in the population, resulting in a higher and more stable net profit. Results are similar under the second-safest scenario, where only the most expensive measures are omitted - non-contact sensors for real-time fever detection, reducing working hours by 30% to limit exposure, and UV purification or High-Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filters that prevent viral transmission in aerosols. Finally, under the third-safest scenario, where employees further drop the use of PPE, the workplace again quickly becomes a "hot spot" of infection, resulting in a lower net profit.

UBC researchers are raising the alarm about the increase of vaping among teenagers and how e-cigarette marketing strategies target youth.

Assistant Professor Laura Struik, who teaches in UBC Okanagan's School of Nursing, recently published a paper examining why teens take up vaping and whether advertising capitalizes on those reasons.

"This is the first study of its kind that makes direct links between reasons for youth uptake and the marketing strategies of e-cigarette companies," says Struik. "The public needs to know how the next generation is being targeted to take up and ultimately become addicted to these nicotine products."

Struik conducted the study with Assistant Professor Sarah Dow-Fleisner, who conducts research in the UBCO School of Social Work on development trajectories and resilient functioning of children and families in high-risk contexts.

The researchers say there are a variety of reasons teens take up vaping--ranging anywhere from managing stress or anxiety, curiosity, taste, peer pressure, easy access and even factors like it's easy to hide from parents and is perceived to be less harmful than cigarettes.

When e-cigarettes first entered the North American market in 2008, they were hailed as a smoking cessation tool. However, Dow-Fleisner says when they take a closer look at who uses them, it's clear teens do not use the products to quit smoking.

"According to recent statistics, only three per cent of Canadian youth in grades 7 to 12 are current smokers--while 20 per cent use e-cigarettes," she says. "This suggests that upwards of 17 per cent of e-cigarette users were originally non-smokers. In addition, among youth who do smoke combustible cigarettes, fewer than eight per cent of those report using e-cigarettes to quit smoking."

Recent polls found that 95 per cent of teens said they were curious about vaping so they wanted to try it, while 81 per cent tried an e-cigarette because a friend vaped, and 80 per cent reported continued e-cigarette use because they enjoyed the good flavours. More than 70 per cent of the teens agreed e-cigarettes were "cool and fun."

Despite emerging evidence of both short- and long-term health risks associated with vaping, Struik says the evidence is clear the other reasons teens take up vaping override the health risks.

"Youth don't make the decision to vape because they don't understand the risks or don't care about the risks," she says. "Young people are taking up vaping for a variety of reasons and e-cigarette companies are leveraging those diverse reasons to recruit teens into using their products. And it's working."

Struik and Dow-Fleisner, with their research assistants and UBCO's Associate Chief Librarian Robert Janke, reviewed more than 800 studies and viewed numerous e-cigarettes TV commercials.

"The TV advertisements we reviewed were found to tap into almost all of the reasons youth cite for taking up e-cigarettes," says Dow-Fleisner. "The most highly-cited reasons were most prominently presented in the ads, including a focus on relational aspects of vaping and product-related benefits, such as a positive sensory experience."

A noteworthy finding is that vaping advertisements do promote e-cigarettes as a way to enhance your social life, says Struik.

"This is particularly concerning because teens are at a developmental stage when establishing a social identity is of utmost importance to them," she says. "It has been found in previous research that forming an identity around other forms of tobacco use, like smoking, results in resistance to health promotion efforts. So, we may have a more challenging context to work with than originally thought when it comes to intervening."

Youth vaping is a concern, she adds, and there is a growing need for comprehensive strategic plans to curtail their use of e-cigarettes.

"It is clear that we need to bring youth to the table to understand how we can generate relevant information and interventions to support their decision to not vape," says Struik. "Our health promotion efforts need to keep up by accommodating the various reasons youth report vaping, and youth need to be meaningfully included to navigate this issue."

BINGHAMTON, NY -- With schools around the world looking into various cost-cutting measures in the midst of the COVID-10 pandemic, new research from Binghamton University, State University of New York reveals that citizens prefer teachers and administrative staff to be at the frontline of school spending cuts during times of economic crisis.

Komla Dzigbede, assistant professor of public administration at Binghamton University, examined public attitudes toward school budget cuts during the Great Recession (2008-2009), a time when many state governments cut back on public education spending and school districts responded with different cost-cutting strategies to ease budget stress while maintaining educational goals.

"During times of major economic crises, school districts must make critical cost-cutting decisions, even as they face constraints on raising additional revenues," said Dzigbede. "As school districts weigh alternate cost-cutting strategies in times of crises -- whether to cut spending on salaries, instruction or support services -- citizens, in turn, worry about the impacts school budget cuts would have on educational quality in the local community. How does the public perceive the impact of different forms of school spending cuts on educational quality during times of major economic crises? What factors influence those perceptions? And what insights can school district managers and education policymakers gain from citizens' perceptions to inform critical decision-making in times of major crises?"

Dzigbede's findings indicate that during times of serious crises, citizens tend to view canceling after-school activities and reducing funds for instructional materials as having more harmful impacts on educational quality than cutting teachers' pay, cutting teachers' training or cutting administrative staff positions.

Additionally, Dzigbede found that gender, age, income, party identification and political ideology are significant determinants of public attitudes toward different forms of school spending cuts. Women, younger people, lower-income earners and less-conservative people differ from other demographics in their attitudes toward different cost-cutting strategies.

These research findings offer practical insights for school district administration, management, and policy, said Dzigbede.

"When making critical decisions about cost-cutting strategies in times of major crises, school district managers and education policymakers need to know the socio-demographic, economic and ideological preferences of citizens and take these into account in managerial decision making to promote responsive, participatory and accountable governance," said Dzigbede.

BOSTON (August 10, 2020, 9:00 a.m. EDT)--Whole grain labels on cereal, bread, and crackers are confusing to consumers and could cause them to make fewer healthy choices, according to the results of a study that tested whether people are able pick out the healthier, whole grain option based on food package labels.

The study, led by researchers at the Gerald J. and Dorothy R. Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University and NYU School of Global Public Health, is published today in Public Health Nutrition. The researchers say the findings could help lead to enhancements in food labeling.

A pool of 1,030 U.S. adults, representative of the population, responded to a survey with photos of both hypothetical and real products. The photos showed the products, with various whole grain labels on the front of the package, along with the nutrition facts label and ingredients list for each product. Participants were asked to identify the healthier option (for the hypothetical products) or assess the whole grain content (for the real products).

* For the hypothetical products, 29-47% of respondents answered incorrectly (specifically, 31% incorrectly for cereal, 29-37% for crackers, 47% for bread).

* For real products that were not mostly composed of whole grains, 43-51% of respondents overstated the whole grain content (specifically, 41% overstated for multigrain crackers, 43% for honey wheat bread, and 51% for 12-grain bread). Consumers more accurately stated the whole grain content for an oat cereal product that really was mostly composed of whole grain.

"Our study results show that many consumers cannot correctly identify the amount of whole grains or select a healthier whole grain product. Manufacturers have many ways to persuade you that a product has whole grain even if it doesn't. They can tell you it's multigrain or they can color it brown, but those signals do not really indicate the whole grain content," said first author Parke Wilde, a food economist and professor at the Friedman School.

The packages on the hypothetical products either had no front-of-package whole grain label or were marked with "multigrain," "made with whole grains," or a whole grain stamp. The packages on the real products displayed the actual product markings, including "multigrain," "honey wheat," and "12 grain."

The study goal was to assess whether consumer misunderstanding of the labels meets a legal standard for enhanced U.S. labeling requirements for whole grain products. The legal standard relates to deceptive advertising, and evidence that the labels are actually misleading--or likely to mislead--consumers can bolster support for regulations.

"With the results of this study, we have a strong legal argument that whole grain labels are misleading in fact. I would say when it comes to deceptive labels, 'whole grain' claims are among the worst. Even people with advanced degrees cannot figure out how much whole grain is in these products," said co-author Jennifer L. Pomeranz, assistant professor of public health policy and management at NYU School of Global Public Health.

Previous research has shown disparities in whole grain intake in the United States, including for example, lower intake for adolescents than for adults, and lower intake for participants in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) than for higher-income non-participants. The authors of the new study found that consumers who were younger, had less education, were Black or African American, or reported having difficulty understanding food labels were more likely to answer incorrectly in the test involving hypothetical products.

The2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend that half of all grains consumed should be whole grains. Adequate intake of whole grains has been linked with reduced risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and cancer.

"A large chunk of Americans' daily calories - 42 percent - comes from low quality carbohydrates. Consuming more whole grains can help change that, but the policy challenge is to provide consumers with clear labels in order to make those healthier choices," said co-senior author Fang Fang Zhang, nutrition epidemiologist at the Friedman School.

Limitations of the study include the fact that higher education respondents were moderately over-represented, which means the results are conservative. Also, a formal response rate to the survey cannot be calculated because participants were part of ongoing survey panels and volunteered to respond.