LOCAL
Air pollution leading to premature deaths
A 11 year study, investigating premature deaths associated with air pollution found that half of premature deaths related to air pollution in U.S. are caused by pollution that originated from another state. The study, which was published in Nature, is the first study to calculate how pollution crossing state lines impacts early deaths in each state. The research team developed a model that tied weather patterns and atmospheric chemistry processes to data on human exposures and health risks in order to be able to track how each state in the contiguous U.S. affects pollution and the health outcomes in every other state.
The WHO estimates the 4.2 million premature deaths are linked to outdoor air pollution. These deaths mainly occur from heart disease, stroke, lung disease, and acute respiratory infection in children. However, these effects are usually largely attributed to local sources of pollution or air quality and therefore corresponding prevention efforts often target these local sources.
Major sources of pollutants investigated include sulfur dioxide, ozone, and particulate matter generated from power plants, road transportation, marine, rail, aviation, and commercial and residential sources. The team found that electrical power plants contributed to the largest amount of deaths related to pollution from other states and many states in the northern midwest are considered “net exporters” of pollution-related health impacts because of their low populations related to the amount of emissions they generate.
The researchers tried to quantify areas of uncertainty in the models used because “like climate change, not knowing the exact number doesn’t mean that you don’t take action, because uncertainty cuts both way and reality could be worse than our central estimates, as well as better”, Steven Barrett says, a coauthor and associate professor at MIT.
NATIONAL
Robot farmers
Driving through the rows in a cornfield in Illinois is a small white robot named TerraSentia. TerraSentia, not much bigger than a lawnmower, is an all-terrain autonomous robot with high-resolution cameras on each side that navigate fields by sending out thousands of laser pulses to scan its environment. Dr. Girish Chowdhary, an agricultural engineer at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, is using the robot to to generate a detailed portrait of the field including the size and health of the plants, to the number and quality of ears each corn plant will produce by the end of the season inorder that agronomists can breed even better crops in the future.
Identifying desirable plant phenotypes allows biologist, farmers, and others to identify best-yielding plants before they even shed pollen, which could potentially cut in half the time needed to breed a new cultivar - a plant variety produced by selective breeding - from roughly eight years to just four.
Automation is not new to farming, from the first seed drills to modern combine harvesters and its continued to grow with high-tech additions such as automatic milking robots, satellite imagery, soil sensors, and drones to help the nation’s food productions. However, lately smaller, more dexterous robots have started to emerge. These new technologies are changing the face of farming and has allowed farmers to change breeding from a reactionary process into a more preventative one.
INTERNATIONAL
Coronavirus takes a mental health toll
As attempts to control the coronavirus continues, it sheds light on other underlying health problems. Hundreds of 24-hour mental health support telephone hotlines have popped up in China in recent weeks as millions of people are concerned about catching the virus. However, in addition to official service hotlines, many unofficial hotlines have also appeared raising concern about people gathering inappropriate mental health treatment.
In a survey done by the Chinese Psychological Society, they found that 18,000 people tested positive for anxiety related to coronavirus outbreak and of the 5,000 people evaluated for post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), 21.5% presented with PTSD symptoms. Hotlines are part of the government’s “first level response” for dealing with the psychological impact of major health emergencies as seen with the devastating 2008 Sichuan earthquake. However, these hotlines can become quickly overwhelmed with the number of callers.
The Chinese government recently issued guidance for the hotlines, saying they should be free, confidential, staffed by volunteers with relevant professional backgrounds and supervised by experienced experts. Examples like this remind us of the effect that public health emergencies have far beyond its initiating cause.
NY Times: A Growing Presence on the Farm
NY TImes: Robot Milkers and an Automated Greenhouse
Gus Brihn
Gus completed his undergraduate degree at the U of M in Global Studies, and has spent much of his time abroad, including time in France and Namibia. Gus became interested in emergency medicine from becoming a Wilderness First Responder and NR-EMT. He completed his veterinary degree at the University of Glasgow in Scotland. Gus is interested in zoonotic disease outbreak investigation, prevention, and epidemiology. Outside of work, Gus enjoys rock climbing and doing Brazilian Jiu jitsu. He has an 11 year-old Staffordshire terrier mix breed dog named Sweet Pea.