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Tag: University of Birmingham

  • Research highlights Africa’s hazardous air pollution as a global concern.

    Research highlights Africa’s hazardous air pollution as a global concern.

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    Newswise — A new report in Nature Geoscience has brought to light the challenge of air pollution levels in Africa and why international action is needed to combat it. 

    Over the last 50 years African nations have suffered from rapidly deteriorating air quality, making their cities some of the most polluted in the world. Particulate matter concentration levels are now five to ten levels greater than that recommended by the World Health Organisation, with the situation predicted to worsen as populations grow and industrialization accelerates.

    However, far too little has been done to try and combat the dangerous air quality with just 0.01% of global air pollution funding currently spent in Africa.

    The new perspective piece from the University of Birmingham, the University of Cambridge, Imperial College London, South Eastern Kenya University and the African Centre for Clean Air, published today (7 Nov) in Nature Geoscience, argues that tackling this issue requires collective efforts from African countries, regionally tailored solutions, and global collaboration.  

    Francis Pope, Professor of Atmospheric Science at the University of Birmingham and one of the co-authors, said: “The burning of biomass fuel for cooking, heating, and lighting, the crude oil exploitation and coal mining industries, and old vehicles being shipped in from Europe are all causes for the poor air quality in African nations. This dangerous air can cause complex and sometimes deadly health issues for those breathing it in. If this wasn’t enough of a reason to tackle this issue, air pollution in Africa is not just a problem for people living on the continent, but for the wider world, limiting the ability to meet global climate targets and combat the climate emergency.”

    Multiple efforts have been made over the years to tackle air pollution, such as the signing of C40 Clean Air Declaration by ten major African cities. Initiatives to monitor air-pollution levels and collect much needed data have also begun to gather momentum.

    But there is still much to be done. The researchers argue that regional and international efforts must be coordinated to achieve real change and leverage existing knowledge on controlling and cutting air pollution.

    They call for urgent collaboration on:

    • Continuous air monitoring via a network of sensors in order to build a detailed picture of air pollution variations and track progress.
    • Investment in clean energy such as solar, hydropower and wind to meet Africa’s energy demand which is expected to double by 2040.
    • Improved solid waste management to prevent dumping and burning of waste and improve reuse, recycling, and recovery rates.
    • Investment in environmentally friendly technology to ensure African countries can grow economically whilst avoiding dirty and obsolete technology from the Global North.
    • Infrastructure improvements to curb emissions from the transport sector, improving public transport provision and adopting higher emission standards for fuel and imported vehicles.

    Co-author of the article, Dr Gabriel Okello, from the Institute for Sustainability Leadership at the University of Cambridge and the African Centre for Clean Air, said: “Air pollution is complex and multifaceted with different sources and patterns within society. Addressing it requires more ambitious, collaborative, and participatory approaches centred on involvement of stakeholders in policy, academia, business, communities to co-design and co-produce context-specific interventions. This should be catalysed by increased investment in interventions that are addressing air pollution. Africa has the opportunity to leverage the growing political will and tap into the young population to accelerate action towards the five broad suggestions in our paper.”

    Dr Andriannah Mbandi, from South Eastern Kenya University and co-author of the article, said: “The burden of air pollution unjustly rests on poorer populations, and women and children, as they most likely face higher exposure to pollutants and most probably experience more impacts. Thus, clean air actions will go some ways in redressing some of these inequalities in Africa, in addition to the benefits to health and the environment.”

    Professor Pope concludes: “There is no ‘one size fits all’ solution to Africa’s air quality problems, and each region and population will have their own specific challenges to overcome. But by being proactive and doing these five actions there will be a reduction in air pollution levels, meaning healthier people and a healthier planet.”

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    University of Birmingham

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  • AI used to predict future flares of ulcerative colitis activity

    AI used to predict future flares of ulcerative colitis activity

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    Newswise — Ulcerative colitis assessment could be improved after new research shows that an artificial intelligence model could predict flare-ups and complications after reading biopsies.

    In a new paper published in Gastroenterology today (Friday 3 March), researchers supported by the National Institute for Health and Care Research Birmingham Biomedical Research Centre have trialled an AI diagnostic tool that can read digitised biopsies taken during colonoscopy.

    The Computer-Aided Diagnostic model was able to predict the risk of flare-ups for ulcerative colitis, which is a relapsing-remitting condition and makes the prognosis for the disease uncertain. In the trial, the model was able to predict patients at risk of a flare in the disease as well as humans.

    The system was trained on existing digitised biopsies and was able to detect activity related to ulcerative colitis with 89% accuracy for positive results. It was also able to identify markers of inflammation activity and healing in the same area as biopsies were taken with 80% accuracy, similar to human pathologists.

    Professor Marietta Iacucci from the Institute of Immunology and Immunotherapy at the University of Birmingham and University College Cork in Ireland, and co-lead author of the paper said:

    “The power of AI in healthcare is evident in trials like these, where a model can be used to standardize in real-time histological assessment of Ulcerative Colitis disease activity. But most importantly it provides analytical support and enables clinicians to support those at the greatest risk of relapsing symptoms and disease course.

    “Ulcerative Colitis is a complex condition to predict, and developing machine learning-derived systems to make this diagnostic job quicker and more accurate could be a game changer. As models like this further develop, the predictive quality is likely to improve even more, and our paper demonstrates how beneficial such technology could be for clinicians and, crucially patients.”

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  • Protein ‘anchors’ found to play key role in neurotransmitter GABA action

    Protein ‘anchors’ found to play key role in neurotransmitter GABA action

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    Newswise — New clues about the way brain chemical transmitter GABA functions suggest that a protein ‘anchor’ plays a key role in helping position its receptors in nervous cells.

    New research published in Nature Communications has found that a protein called Filamin A is responsible for guiding receptors to their correct places in brain cells. These receptors control brain activity in response to GABA, the main inhibitory neurotransmitter in the brain.

    GABA plays a critical role in the brain including controlling bodily movements and the transmission of pain. By activating specific receptors in the brain, GABA maintains proper brain activity by slowing down electric impulses as they travel between brain cells.

    The discovery that protein Filamin A is involved in positioning these receptors to the right place could enable researchers to develop new therapies to manage a range of neurological disorders including Multiple Sclerosis.

    Davide Calebiro, Professor of Molecular Endocrinology at the University of Birmingham and lead author of the paper said:

    “Filamin A answers a question that scientists have been asking about how GABA is able to control a range of functions in the brain. By acting like an anchor that precisely positions GABA-B receptors where they are needed, it allows GABA to modulate a whole host of brain functions that are implicated in multiple neurological diseases.

    “While the GABA-A receptor get most of the attention as it mediates rapid GABA responses, twin brother B that mediates slower responses is a hugely potential drug target, and our findings could have significant impacts in treating everything from multiple sclerosis to epilepsy.

    “Moreover, we hypothesise that defects in Filamin A could impair the normal localisation of GABA-B receptors in neurons, disrupting the correct processing of signals in the brain and ultimately leading to the brain not being able to communicate effectively with the rest of the body.”

     

    Pioneering lab work

    Filamin A’s role in GABA activity was found thanks to new pioneering research methods developed at the Centre of Membrane Proteins and Receptors (COMPARE), a research institute of the University of Birmingham in partnership with the University of Nottingham.

    In particular, the use of single molecule and super resolution microscopy approaches developed by the Calebiro lab have enabled the research team to directly follow individual receptors and Filamin molecules as they interact on the surface of living cells with unprecedented detail.

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    University of Birmingham

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  • Climate change played key role in dinosaur success story

    Climate change played key role in dinosaur success story

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    Newswise — Climate change, rather than competition, played a key role in the ascendancy of dinosaurs through the Late Triassic and Early Jurassic periods.

    According to new research, changes in global climate associated with the Triassic-Jurassic mass extinction – which wiped out many large terrestrial vertebrates such as the giant armadillo-like aetosaurs – actually benefitted the earliest dinosaurs.

    In particular, sauropod-like dinosaurs, which became the giant herbivore species of the later Jurassic like Diplodocus and Brachiosaurus, were able to thrive and expand across new territories as the planet warmed up after the extinction event, 201 million years ago.

    The new evidence is published in Current Biology, by an international team of palaeontologists led by the Universities of Birmingham and Bristol, in the UK, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), in Germany, and the University of São Paulo in Brazil.

    The team compared computer models of prehistoric global climate conditions such as temperature and rainfall with data on the different locations of dinosaurs taken from sources such as the Paleobiology Database. They showed how the sauropods, and sauropod-like animals, with their long tails and necks and small heads, were the runaway success story of a turbulent period of evolution.

    Dr Emma Dunne, now a lecturer in palaeontology at FAU, carried out the research while at the University of Birmingham. She said: “What we see in the data suggests that instead of dinosaurs being outcompeted by other large vertebrates, it was variations in climate conditions that were restricting their diversity. But once these conditions changed across the Triassic-Jurassic boundary, they were able to flourish.

    “The results were somewhat surprising, because it turns out that sauropods were really fussy from the get-go: later in their evolution they continue to stay in warmer areas and avoid polar regions.”

    Co-author on the paper, Professor Richard Butler, at the University of Birmingham, said: “Climate change appears to have been really important in driving the evolution of early dinosaurs. What we want to do next is use the same techniques to understand the role of climate in the next 120 million years of the dinosaur story”.

    The research was funded by the Leverhulme Trust and the European Research Council.

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    University of Birmingham

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