Category: Science

Nursing homes in disadvantaged communities are more likely to overmedicate residents with antipsychotics, especially homes that are understaffed, according to a new study.

“The neighborhood in which a nursing home is located seems to influence how widely antipsychotics are used, even when they may not be indicated,” says Jasmine Travers, assistant professor at the Rory Meyers College of Nursing at New York University and senior author of the study published in JAMA Network Open.

Antipsychotic medications are used to treat serious psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia. These medications have long been given to nursing home residents with and without dementia who are agitated or have behavioral issues. Sometimes staff rely on their sedating side effects for “chemical restraint” rather than redirecting residents in distress.

“We know that nursing homes with lower staffing levels use more antipsychotics. These medications may be compensating for understaffing by sedating residents instead of having adequate staff to support their needs,” Travers says.

Antipsychotic use in older adults can be dangerous, increasing their risk for falls, strokes, and even death. As a result, in recent years, there has been a significant push by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to reduce the use of antipsychotics to manage behaviors such as aggression or wandering in nursing homes.

However, this may be more challenging in disadvantaged neighborhoods, where residents may be exposed to greater stressors, including higher crime rates, noise pollution, and less green space, all of which can harm their mental and physical health.

For older adults, these stressors might translate to poor sleep or agitation, increasing the risk that an antipsychotic medication is used, even without an appropriate diagnosis.

To better understand the connection between nursing home staffing, neighborhood factors, and antipsychotic use, Travers and her colleagues looked at data from 10,666 nursing homes across the US, 1,867 of which were in severely disadvantaged neighborhoods. The researchers measured neighborhood socioeconomics using data on income, education, employment, and housing for small geographic units called census blocks.

The researchers also looked at what percentage of residents received an antipsychotic drug in the last week but didn’t have a qualifying diagnosis of schizophrenia, Tourette syndrome, or Huntington’s disease. (The study did not take into account residents who are falsely diagnosed with schizophrenia to get around the CMS reporting requirement, a troubling practice documented in a 2022 report by the US Department of Health and Human Services.)

The researchers found that nursing homes that were understaffed—measured as having less than three hours of nurse staffing per resident each day—had greater antipsychotic medication use in severely disadvantaged neighborhoods (19.2%) compared to less disadvantaged neighborhoods (17.1%).

“This means that in a 100-bed nursing home that is understaffed, two additional residents would inappropriately receive an antipsychotic medication if the nursing home was in a disadvantaged neighborhood versus a more well-off area,” Travers says.

Notably, when nursing homes met or exceeded the federal government’s proposed staffing levels of at least three hours of nursing per resident per day, there was not a significant difference in antipsychotic use based on neighborhood, providing support for having minimum staffing levels.

The researchers call for a more focused effort on improving staffing in nursing homes in lower income areas, which could include additional funding—similar to funds provided to federally qualified health centers—or other tailored interventions to address gaps in staffing.

“Addressing staffing deficiencies, particularly in nursing homes in disadvantaged neighborhoods, will be critical for reducing the overuse of antipsychotics,” says Travers. “Understanding this vulnerability can help inform policy solutions to support, not penalize, nursing homes in disinvested communities.”

Additional coauthors are from NYU and the University of Maryland School of Medicine.

The National Institute on Aging and the Patrick and Catherine Weldon Donaghue Medical Research Foundation supported the work.

Source: NYU

New research suggests psilocybin has similar side effects to traditional antidepressants.

Commonly referred to as “magic mushrooms,” psilocybin is a promising alternative treatment for people with medication-resistant depression and anxiety.

Previous studies have suggested that the psychedelic fungi can have positive effects for patients suffering from some mental illnesses, but one question remains: Is psilocybin actually a safe alternative to traditional medications?

A new meta-analysis suggests it may be.

The study finds that when given as a therapeutic single-dose, psilocybin has similar side effects to traditional antidepressant medications. These side effects include headache, nausea, anxiety, dizziness, and elevated blood pressure.

But the side effects are generally well tolerated by participants and fade within 24 to 48 hours.

“The acute side effects are what we may expect from your traditional antidepressants because those medications work in a similar fashion to psilocybin. They both target serotonin receptors,” says Joshua Caballero, an associate professor in the University of Georgia’s College of Pharmacy and corresponding senior author of the paper published in JAMA Network Open.

“It’s very encouraging because the studies we examined consist of just one or two doses per patient, and we’re finding that the beneficial effects of psilocybin may stay for months when treating depression.”

Psilocybin is designated a Schedule 1 drug by US federal law because of its hallucinogenic properties. Drugs in this classification also typically have a high potential for abuse.

However, psilocybin mushrooms and other hallucinogens have been used for generations by indigenous cultures in religious or spiritual rituals. And as early as the 1950s and 1960s, researchers began examining its possible medical applications in treating substance use disorders and mental illness, according to the National Institutes of Health.

Beginning in 2019, some states have begun decriminalizing the psychedelic drug, making it possible for more research to be conducted on its possible medicinal value.

Until the present study, though, most psilocybin research focused on efficacy.

“At some point, I do think that psilocybin will become a treatment option, and when it does, we need to know what the side effects and potential long-term complications are,” Caballero says. “I would urge caution for people that are thinking this is a magic cure and then go out and take excess mushrooms. Without proper monitoring, you won’t know the concentration of psilocybin in those mushrooms and you could have a bad trip or other negative outcome.”

The meta-analysis included multiple studies, comprising 528 participants.

The included studies took place under close supervision with trained therapists and health care providers who walked patients through the process and kept them calm throughout the treatment.

Caballero emphasizes that professional supervision is key when dealing with potentially dangerous substances.

“There is still a lot we don’t know about the potential long-term side effects and more serious rare side effects of psilocybin use,” Caballero says.

For example, antidepressants have a black box warning from the FDA about the potential of increasing risk of suicidal thoughts and suicide in young adults. Most psilocybin research has been conducted in adults in the 30s and 40s. So it’s unclear whether psilocybin could have a similar effect on adults under 26.

“Hopefully, this paper can help experts know to monitor for these acute five side effects that are very common and make them aware of possible others,” Caballero says. “But if we can safely use this drug in a controlled environment, I think it could be groundbreaking for a lot of patients that need it.”

Source: University of Georgia

As solar energy development accelerates, a new survey explores how Americans actually feel about those large scale solar farms they see along the highway or near their neighborhood.

The survey finds that for residents living within three miles of a large-scale solar (LSS) development, positive attitudes outnumber negative attitudes by almost a 3-to-1 margin.

The researchers surveyed almost 1,000 residents living near solar projects—the first time a representative survey of this kind has been deployed nationally.

Among these respondents, 42% support additional development in their community, compared to 18% who would oppose further projects. At the same time, more than 80% of the respondents were unaware of the project prior to construction and a third did not know until completing the survey.

“The responses from residents were generally positive, which is good to see considering the amount of solar that is likely to be developed in the coming years,” says Doug Bessette, associate professor for energy systems in the community sustainability department at Michigan State University’s College of Agriculture and Natural Resources and one of the leads on the project.

“At the same time, we saw more negative attitudes associated with larger projects and somewhat less support amongst neighbors living really close, within a quarter mile of projects, so there’s a lot of work to be done.”

Positive attitudes were indeed more common among residents living farther from LSS projects than for those living closer to them. The largest projects tend to provoke negative attitudes, while projects under 100 megawatts—those requiring less than roughly 600 acres or one square mile—tend to receive mostly positive responses. Factors like aesthetics, economics, and perceptions of fairness in the planning process strongly influence attitudes.

Residents largely oppose increased state-level decision-making on future LSS siting, preferring increased opportunities for community participation and feedback. They also expressed a preference for local hiring, procurement, and ownership.

For reliable information about what impact a proposed project might have on their community, residents trust existing energy project neighbors, community organizations, and university staff.

“Our findings show that LSS neighbors want to be engaged more, with respondents strongly supporting increased opportunities for participation in planning processes,” says Jake White, a doctoral student who contributed to the survey. “This demonstrates a big opportunity for improvement in LSS planning processes—hopefully leading to better outcomes for all.”

When it comes to future LSS projects, respondents favored disturbed sites, such as landfills, as opposed to farmland. There is also a need for communications efforts to increase awareness and engage neighbors when projects come to communities.

So while there is more work to be done, this survey’s results indicate moderate support for solar going forward, with further analysis planned to gauge influencing factors and address equity concerns.

“We were happy to see this last one,” Bessette says.

Source: Michigan State University

Story updated April 19

WASHINGTON — A surge in demand for small satellites to support national security space programs is exposing weaknesses in the U.S. space industrial base, leading to supply chain issues as the military prioritizes rapid deployment of constellations.

In the latest sign of the strain, defense contractor L3Harris Technologies has sued one of its suppliers, the aerospace firm Moog Inc., in federal court, alleging Moog failed to timely deliver critical satellite components and that parts it did provide were defective. 

The lawsuit, filed in late March in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, is the latest flashpoint in the space industry’s struggle to adapt to the military’s shift toward smaller, more affordable satellites, led by the Space Development Agency.

Established in 2019, the Space Development Agency (SDA), now part of the U.S. Space Force, is upending the longtime model of the military purchasing large, expensive satellites at long intervals. Instead, the SDA plans to spend about $4 billion a year on a proliferated constellation of hundreds of smaller, less costly satellites to be deployed on a more frequent cadence. 

This model is placing new demands on suppliers.

According to the March 28 complaint, L3Harris subcontracted with Moog to provide satellite buses — the core hardware used to build spacecraft — and software worth a total of $77.9 million to fulfill two prime contracts — one with the SDA and another with a classified government customer. 

L3Harris alleges Moog repeatedly missed delivery deadlines, with satellite buses arriving 11 to 13 months late. “Moog’s failure has also damaged L3Harris’ credibility with its customer and placed future L3Harris business at significant risk,” said the complaint. 

Moog eventually delivered the buses and SDA was able to launch L3Harris’ satellites in February. In the lawsuit, L3Harris says it discovered defects in the Moog hardware that “created the potential for catastrophic loss to the satellites” and SDA’s mission. 

In response to questions from SpaceNews, a spokesperson for L3Harris said the company could not comment on ongoing litigation.

Aaron Astrachan, Moog’s director of investor relations, said in a statement, “We are aware of the suit filed by L3Harris and are not intending to publicly comment on the allegations at this time. However, we intend to vigorously defend against the allegations, and in due time, will respond to the complaint in court.”

Industry struggling to ramp up

The lawsuit underscores the challenges facing the space supply chain as it tries to ramp up production to meet soaring demand from the military and intelligence community. 

Much like the companies that emerged to support surging iPhone component orders, space companies are scrambling to prove themselves as reliable, high-volume suppliers of buses, hardware and software.

Experts say companies in the defense industry, long accustomed to building a few large, complex satellites, are adapting to the new reality of producing larger quantities of smaller, cheaper spacecraft. And a surge in demand fueled by SDA is exposing weaknesses in segments of the space industrial base.

SDA’s director Derek Tournear has often said the agency’s vision is to foster a robust and diverse marketplace. Fixed price contracts are awarded to incentivize speed and technical maturity in bids. And Tournear has pointed out that SDA’s business model focuses primarily on schedule. 

In an effort to provide incentives for companies to invest in production capability, SDA competitively selects prime contractors that every two years bid for each tranche of SDA’s space network in low Earth orbit, known as the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture. 

During a meeting with reporters April 10 at the Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, Tournear noted that some suppliers have had difficulties ensuring access to components and subcomponents, some of which are produced by only one or two vendors. 

A case in point is a critical satellite component made by Innoflight, the sole provider of the type 1 encryption required for SDA’s satellites. Type 1 encryption is necessary for transmitting sensitive national security data, and it can take years to obtain National Security Agency approval for the specialized hardware.

Tournear said Innoflight is in an extraordinary position in the market, being the only provider today that has the right size and form factor type 1 encryption that meets SDA requirements. 

“Everyone is extremely dependent on Innoflight,” he said. “We have a few alternatives for encryption in the future, but they probably won’t be ready until the Tranche 3 timeframe.” Tranche 3 is the next SDA procurement of satellites planned for 2025 and 2026.

“The good news is that vendors are able to pivot,” Tournear said. “We saw that with Astra.” Some SDA prime contractors selected Astra Space as a supplier of spacecraft propulsion. But after Astra experienced financial troubles several vendors had to find alternative sources for satellite thrusters, he noted.    

L3Harris’ legal battle with Moog, meanwhile, speaks to the challenges that prime contractors have faced finding bus providers that can meet the reliability and schedule requirements. 

For the next tranche of satellites L3Harris is building for SDA, projected to launch in 2025, the company switched to bus supplier Maxar Space Systems. Other SDA prime contractors like Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman are using buses from Terran Orbital and Airbus, respectively. Other prime contractors, including York Space Systems, manufacture their own buses. Rocket Lab said it plans to develop a new bus for SDA.

A new entrant in the SDA market, Sierra Space, is designing its own buses but using components from Raytheon’s subsidiary Blue Canyon Technologies. Sierra Space won a Tranche 2 contract from SDA to produce 18 satellites. 

Raytheon last year won a contract as a prime contractor to produce seven Tranche 1 satellites for SDA but later decided it could not meet the price targets, Tournear said. “A lot of the work is being de-scoped off of that contract,” he said. “Raytheon, through executing that contract, realized that the scope that they had chosen in the price point wasn’t going to close.” 

Tournear said some of the components that Raytheon had planned to use for its satellites “are flowing into some of the Tranche 2 vendors.”

Sierra Space said in a statement that it has partnered with Blue Canyon for “several key spacecraft components on our buses.”

Criticism from top official

Supply chain problems across the space industry have drawn criticism from the top U.S. Space Force acquisition official, who called on defense contractors to do a better job of addressing the issues.

In recent comments, Frank Calvelli, the assistant secretary of the Air Force for space acquisition, chastised major primes for “whining” about supply chain challenges rather than taking more proactive steps to solve them.

“Our bigger primes whine about supply chain, and I think they are the ones that have the resources and the assets to actually do something about it,” Calvelli said in February.

Calvelli said companies are still blaming the COVID-19 pandemic for their supply chain woes, but he does not believe that is a legitimate excuse anymore.

There are, however, real problems in the space supply chain, Steve Kiser, partner at Veteran Ventures Capital, said April 9 during a panel discussion at the Space Symposium.

“I don’t think we’re paying close enough attention to supply chain problems,” said Kiser. “If you’re an investor and you’re looking at a company, pay extra, extra attention to the security of the supply chain. We’re already seeing cracks in the supply chain with today’s space industry. Imagine what it’s gonna be like in three years.”

Several executives who spoke with SpaceNews on condition of anonymity noted that SDA has created an entirely new market, exposing growing pains in the U.S. space industrial base. 

It’s the responsibility of the industry to sort out supply chain problems and adapt to the new paradigm of small satellite constellations, these sources said. But they argue that the issues seen with SDA’s suppliers point to deeper, systemic challenges that can’t be rapidly fixed. They cautioned that some of the companies capable of building the satellites that SDA seeks are structured to produce single-digit numbers of spacecraft at a time, and will need time and effort to ramp up production to meet SDA demands.

According to these sources, the new growth in demand for military satellites has created real bottlenecks, not just with cutting-edge subsystems like type 1 encryption, but also with routine components like batteries, thrusters and solar arrays. Prime contractors have been working to qualify multiple suppliers for key components, but that process can be time-consuming given the exacting specifications.

With the SDA’s ambitious plans to field hundreds of small satellites in the coming years, experts pointed out, resolving the supply chain challenges will be critical to the agency’s success.

Related

Rates of Salmonella in fecal and environmental samples are more prevalent on larger commercial farms than on smaller backyard farms, according to a comparison of differently sized poultry farms.

Perhaps more importantly, multidrug resistance was found in Salmonella samples from both types of production systems, even though antibiotics are not used on backyard farms and are only used sparingly on commercial farms.

The findings could help small and larger farms understand more about the spread of Salmonella in their respective systems.

“We wanted to look at backyard broiler farms; broilers are chickens that are raised for meat consumption rather than egg consumption,” says Jessica Parzygnat, an North Carolina State University PhD graduate and first author of the study in the journal Foodborne Pathogens and Disease.

“Broiler chickens are the top consumed meat in the US and the world, but there’s not much research on backyard farms, which are growing in popularity in the US.

“The Centers for Disease Control has been issuing warnings on Salmonella outbreaks from backyard poultry farms in the last several years, so we wanted to see what pathogens are on backyard farms but also compare that to commercial farms.”

Researchers tested 10 backyard and 10 commercial flocks. The smallest backyard flock was 22 birds and the largest was 1,000 birds; all backyard farm birds lived outdoors. Commercial farms, meanwhile, had tens of thousands of birds that lived indoors.

The researchers tested bird fecal samples, as well as environmental conditions like litter, soil, and feeders, for the presence of Salmonella, in addition to other pathogens. Researchers also examined compost samples on backyard farms.

“We tried to examine where Salmonella is prevalent on farms through testing bird fecal samples and also the environment around them,” Parzygnat says. “We found less Salmonella on backyard farms (19.1% of samples) than commercial farms (52.3% of samples).

“We expected that, because previous studies had shown low rates of Salmonella on backyard farms. At the same time, our rates of Salmonella in samples on backyard farms were higher than in other studies looking at backyard poultry in the US.

“Both types of farm managers need to be careful with their birds,” Parzygnat says. “There’s a feeling that backyard birds are safer than commercial birds, but even though we found less Salmonella, the proportion of Salmonella in backyard farms and commercial farms that were multidrug resistant—meaning that they showed resistance to three or more classes of antibiotics—was actually not significantly different.”

Common-sense prevention measures can help consumers avoid Salmonella effects, including cooking chicken thoroughly and avoiding cross contamination while handling and preparing poultry, Parzygnat says.

“Salmonella can be natural inhabitants of the bird gastrointestinal tract and the birds won’t really show signs of illness,” she says. “I think one of the major concerns my research highlights is the antibiotic resistance associated with it because that really heightens the concern of infection.”

Additional coauthors are from NC State, South Dakota State University, and Walter Reed Army Institute of Research.

The USDA NIFA and the FDA GenomeTrakr program funded the work.

Source: NC State

While most parents of preschool and elementary aged children strive to give their kids a balanced, nutritional diet, some of their strategies to promote healthy eating, may backfire, experts say.

For example, three in five parents customize meals if their child doesn’t like what everyone else is eating, according to the University of Michigan Health C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll on Children’s Health.

Meanwhile, one in eight parents require children to eat everything on their plate. And while just one in three believe the standard American diet is healthy for kids, few have tried alternative, potentially more nutritional menus at home.

“Feeding young children can be difficult due to general pickiness, hesitancy to try unfamiliar foods, and constantly evolving food preferences,” says Susan Woolford, a pediatrician and codirector of the poll.

“The preschool and elementary age is an important time to establish healthy eating patterns. Yet parents’ concern about whether their child is eating enough or if they’re getting the nutrients they need may lead them to adopt practices that actually sabotage their efforts to get kids to have healthy eating habits in the short and long term.”

The nationally representative report is based on 1,083 responses of parents of children ages 3-10 surveyed in February.

What’s a nutritional diet?

Just a third of parents think the standard American diet is healthy compared to half who seem to rank the Mediterranean higher in nutritional value. Still, few have tried alternative diets for their child.

“Parents may recognize the standard diet in the US includes high amounts of saturated fats, added sugars, sodium, and refined carbohydrates, which can generate an excess intake of calories beyond nutritional needs and contribute to health problems,” Woolford says.

“However, despite this recognition and evidence suggesting that other diet options may help avoid many illnesses, only about 9% have tried the Mediterranean diet for their children and fewer have tried giving their children a vegetarian diet.”

Parents should ensure children are still getting adequate nutrition if they do try diets that eliminate certain food categories, she adds. Diets that limit animal products, for example, will require alternative protein sources such as meat substitutes, tofu, or legumes for children.

And while ketogenic diets have become popular among adults, they are generally not appropriate for children.

Family dining rules

Fifteen percent of parents say their family rule is that kids finish what’s on their plate, while more than half say children must try some of everything and a little less than a third say no to dessert if meals go unfinished.

But parents who try to force kids to eat may encourage portions that go beyond feeling full, Woolford cautions.

“Requiring children to eat everything on their plate, or withholding dessert unless all other foods are eaten, can lead to overconsumption, especially if portion sizes are too large for the child’s age,” she says.

She agrees with the recommendation that “parents provide, and the child decides.” This makes parents responsible for providing healthy options while allowing children to select which foods they will eat and the amount they want to consume.

Sixty percent of parents will make something separate if their child doesn’t like the food that’s on the dinner table—and this often leads to a less healthy alternative, Woolford says.

“Rather than allowing the child to choose an alternate menu, parents should provide a balanced meal with at least one option that their child is typically willing to eat,” she says.

“Then if their child chooses not to eat, parents should not worry as this will not cause healthy children any harm and they will be more likely to eat the options presented at the next meal.”

She points out that children learn through watching and imitating, so it’s beneficial for parents to model healthy eating through a well-balanced diet while their child’s eating habits and taste preferences mature.

Avoiding snacks between meals may also help children have a better appetite and increased willingness to eat offered foods.

Picky eating and protesting veggies

Parents describe their biggest challenges with making sure their child gets a healthy diet as the child being a picky eater, the higher cost of healthy food, and food waste. Fewer say they don’t have time to prepare healthy food.

Nearly all parents polled report trying at least one strategy to get their child to eat vegetables as part of a healthy diet, such as serving vegetables every day, fixing vegetables how their child prefers, trying vegetables their child hasn’t had before, and letting children pick out vegetables at the grocery store.

Others involve children with preparing the vegetables, hide vegetables in other foods, or offer a reward for finishing vegetables.

“Unsurprisingly, parents says pickiness and getting kids to eat veggies were among major challenges during mealtimes,” Woolford says. “Parents should try to include children in meal decisions, avoid pressuring food consumption, and provide a variety of healthy options at each meal so kids feel more control.”

What’s the right portion size?

Portion size is key to mitigating the risk of childhood obesity, but it can be hard for parents to “right-size” a child portion.

In determining portion size for their child, nearly 70% of parents polled give their child slightly less than adults in the family while fewer let their child choose how much to take, use predetermined portions from the package or give their child the same portions as adults.

Woolford recommends parents seek sources to help. The US Department of Agriculture, for example, provides a visual called “MyPlate” that can help parents estimate the recommended balance of the major food groups and offers guidance on estimating portion size.

When grocery shopping or planning meals, parents polled say they try to limit the amount of certain foods to help their child to maintain a healthy diet, with more than half limiting foods with added sugars and processed foods.

But it may be difficult to identify unhealthy food. Added sugars or processing may be present in foods marketed or packaged as healthy, Woolford says.

Parents should read labels, avoiding the marketing on the front of packages and focusing instead on the details on the back. They should pay particular attention to nutrition information and ingredient lists—especially if they’re long with unrecognizable items—as well as sodium, added sugars, and fat.

Woolford also encourages involving children in grocery trips, spending time in the produce section and asking them what they may like to try.

“Have them help in the process of choosing the healthiest options, not ones that necessarily directly advertise to children, but foods that they are willing to try that are lower in sugar, fat, and salt,” she says.

“Spend most of the time in the produce section and try to make it fun by maybe selecting new options from different parts of the world that they haven’t tried before.”

Source: University of Michigan

Social connectedness, a feeling of belonging at school and in the community, can play an important role in suicide prevention among high-risk teens, new research shows.

Teachers, social workers, and even neighbors and community members all can make a difference in vulnerable teens’ lives, says Lauren Berny, a doctoral candidate in prevention science at the University of Oregon’s College of Education and research fellow at the Prevention Science Institute.

Berny is lead author of two new studies that found caring connections with adults and peers can help protect youth who are at high risk for suicide. The studies are published in Children and Youth Services Review and in Child Psychiatry & Human Development.

“This research shows the significant difference it makes when vulnerable teens can say, ‘My teacher cares about me,’ or ‘The adults in my life would be concerned if something was going on with me,’” Berny says. “Both studies point to the need for a comprehensive approach to teen suicide prevention that goes beyond clinical treatment, such as therapy and medication.”

People who are struggling or are in crisis may call the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline for free, confidential support. Call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org.

Youth suicide is a critical public health concern in the United States. About 20% of US high school students said they had serious thoughts of suicide, and 9% reported they had attempted suicide over the past year, according to a recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey. Yet there is an ongoing national shortage of mental health services.

For her research, Berny analyzed baseline data from nearly 300 teens, ages 13-19, from Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Texas who participated in a larger study on the effectiveness of recovery high schools.

The sample was at higher risk for suicide than average teens. More than half the group, 58%, reported that they had thought about or attempted suicide at some point in their life. Nearly all the teens, 98%, had a drug or alcohol use disorder, and 94% met diagnostic criteria for one or more mental health conditions.

One of Berny’s studies explored the links between interpersonal violence, such as sexual or physical abuse or weapon violence, and suicide risk. More than half of the group, 57%, said they had experienced at least one form of that type of violence. Earlier research has found that interpersonal violence was associated with a 10 times higher risk of dying by suicide before age 20.

The other study looked at the association between mental health conditions—major depressive disorder, panic disorder, or disordered eating—and suicide risk. About 80% of the sample met clinical screening criteria for at least one of those mental health conditions.

Berny says she was surprised to discover the risk factors for suicidal thoughts are different from the risk factors for suicide attempts. At the outset of her research, she thought depression would be a major risk factor for both. Depression did turn out to be closely linked to suicidal thoughts, but teens’ history of interpersonal violence was more strongly linked to suicide attempts.

Both studies found that measures of connectedness in school and neighborhoods were associated with a lower risk of suicide attempts among these high-risk teens. The results also showed that sexual abuse survivors who reported strong teacher support and positive interactions with classmates were significantly less likely to report a prior suicide attempt than those with low levels of those measures of school connectedness. Strong neighborhood social connections had the same protective effect for survivors of sexual and physical abuse and teens with disordered eating.

Schools and communities can help foster protective relationships through approaches like peer support groups for teens who are dealing with similar struggles and mentorship programs that pair youth with adult mentors who have shared identities or life experiences.

“For example, a number of schools around the country have Lunch Buddy Programs where adults spend an hour a week with a student who could use some extra support,” Berny says. “I think even small things like that can make a meaningful difference.”

People who are struggling or are in crisis may call the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline for free, confidential support. Call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org.

Source: Sherri Buri McDonald for University of Oregon

Climate change will increase the future value of residential rooftop solar panels across the United States by up to 19% by the end of the century, according to new research.

The study defines the value of solar, or VOS, as household-level financial benefits from electricity bill savings plus revenues from selling excess electricity to the grid—minus the initial installation costs.

For many US households, increased earnings from residential rooftop solar could total up to hundreds of dollars annually by the end of the century, the researchers say.

The study is published in Nature Climate Change.

“Given the average 25-year lifespan of a rooftop solar installation, a system built today will nearly experience 2050 weather,” says senior author Michael Craig, assistant professor of energy systems at the University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability and of industrial and operations engineering at the College of Engineering.

“So, it’s important for households to think of future value when building solar. If households do so, our findings indicate they would see even greater value from solar, and might decide to build more.”

Solar panel benefits in warm and cool locales

Public awareness of the increased future value of rooftop solar could spur greater adoption of the technology, which in turn could accelerate efforts to decarbonize the power-generation system in the United States and globally, the study shows.

The expected financial gains seen in the study were driven largely by increased demand for residential air-conditioning as the climate warms. The other key factor affecting the value of rooftop photovoltaic systems, the researchers say, is future solar-panel performance in response to climate change.

Craig and colleagues analyzed data from 2,000 households in 17 US cities and estimated air-conditioning demand and solar-panel performance under future climates using a moderate climate-warming scenario called RCP-4.5.

The value of rooftop solar panels increased in nearly all the cities, in both warm and cold locations. Miami saw the largest increase in value, while only Minneapolis saw a decrease in the financial benefits of rooftop solar for households.

“This is the first study to quantify the value of rooftop solar under climate change, and we show that households across the US will realize greater cost savings from rooftop solar under future weather than under historic weather,” says lead author Mai Shi, a former University of Michigan visiting doctoral student now at Tsinghua University in Beijing.

Greater cooling demands

As home-cooling demands rise, a greater proportion of solar-generated electricity will be used to cool the home, rather than being sold to the electrical grid, benefiting owners of rooftop solar systems, according to the study.

That’s because—in many states—solar energy used to power a home reduces the homeowner’s electric bill by the full retail cost of electricity, while electricity that is sent to the grid is credited at a lower rate.

“Greater cooling demand means more solar power is consumed at the household rather than sent back to the grid,” Craig says. “And it’s generally more valuable for a rooftop photovoltaic owner to consume the power generated by their PV panel, rather than exporting it to the grid.”

Under the moderate RCP-4.5 climate scenario, demand for residential space cooling is expected to increase in all 17 cities studied. Cooling demand will increase by an average of 35% by mid-century and by an average of 64% by the end of the century, across all households in all of the cities, the researchers say.

The other key factor affecting the future value of residential rooftop photovoltaics is solar-panel performance in response to rising air temperatures and changes in cloud cover.

Solar panels work best in cool, sunny weather. As air temperature or cloud cover increase, the amount of electricity generated by a solar panel declines. The study found that future solar-panel performance will vary from place to place across the US, depending on weather conditions.

In cities such as Ann Arbor, Austin, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Houston, Louisville, and Milwaukee, rising air temperatures will decrease solar panel efficiency, but reduced cloud cover will likely increase the amount of sunlight reaching panels, on average. The two factors “are opposing but roughly comparable,” meaning they cancel each other out, the researchers say.

But cities such as Baltimore, Boston, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York City, and Phoenix are expected to be both warmer and cloudier in response to climate change, which will “significantly decrease” the electrical output of rooftop solar.

Even so, increased cooling demand in all 17 cities will likely outweigh changes in panel electrical output, resulting in financial gains for owners of rooftop solar in nearly every case, according to the study. Minneapolis, where limited future increases in cooling demand will combine with decreased electrical output from rooftop solar panels, is an exception.

While future financial gains from rooftop solar will be reaped mainly by households that can afford to install panels, various programs are in place to increase accessibility, so that more people share in the anticipated benefits, Craig says.

For example, there are programs that defray the costs of solar, opening it up to lower-income individuals. Governments can also install rooftop solar on public buildings, such as subsidized housing, to cover the capital costs while providing solar benefits to tenants. And community solar programs can benefit entire communities, including households that lack the means or ability to access rooftop solar themselves.

The National Key R&D Program of China, the US National Science Foundation, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, and the Carbon Neutrality and Energy System Transformation Project funded the work.

Source: University of Michigan

While a new “electronic tongue” bears little physical resemblance to its namesake, its strand-like sensory probes still outperformed human senses when detecting contaminated wine in a recent study.

In an experiment , the e-tongue identified signs of microorganisms in white wine within a week after contamination—four weeks before a human panel noticed the change in aroma. This was also before those microbes could be grown from the wine in a Petri dish.

Winemakers traditionally rely on these two methods, sniffing the wine and Petri dish testing, to identify potential wine “faults” or spoilage.

The findings, published in the Journal of Food Science, indicate that e-tongue testing could augment those methods and allow winemakers to catch and mitigate problems sooner, says Carolyn Ross, a food science professor at Washington State University and the study’s corresponding author.

“If you ran a sample using the electronic tongue, we could learn after one week if there’s contamination or a wine fault problem, versus waiting up to four weeks running just sensory testing,” says Ross, who is also the director of Washington State’s Sensory Science Center. “It’s really helpful with understanding wine quality.”

When immersed in a liquid, the e-tongue‘s sensors can “taste” it by analyzing for the presence of certain compounds. Ross’ team developed and programmed the instrument for various purposes including taking a type of “fingerprint” of wine, collecting a variety of information that may be of interest to winemakers.

“It gives good information about the holistic quality of the wines,” Ross says, though she notes that this type of analysis is best used to complement, not replace, other methods of judging wine quality.

In the new study, the researchers purposely added four microbes to different bottles of Riesling. These microbes are known to contaminate white wine, causing spoilage and unpleasant odors, including nail polish remover, geranium, and “mousy” odors. They trained a group of 13 volunteers to recognize a range of wine attributes by their aromas, both positive and negative, including these odors.

The trained panel then assessed the aroma of uncontaminated wine as a control and samples of the contaminated wine that had been stored for seven days to 42 days. The e-tongue was set to the same task and identified the contamination of all types after the first seven days of storage. The human sensory panel only started to detect contamination in some of the samples after 35 days of storage, a full 28 days after the e-tongue.

Ross and her colleagues have also tested out the e-tongue with red wine in an earlier study, and the team is continuing to develop the instrument housed at the Sensory Science Center, building up a library to help inform its “tasting” abilities. Ross is currently looking for winery clients interested in the e-tongue capabilities to help assess the quality of their products.

The Washington Wine and Grape Research fund and the US Department of Agriculture. Funded the work.

Additional coauthors are from Washington State and the USDA Agricultural Research Service.

Source: Washington State University