Cell fitness has been identified as a way of predicting health outcomes in COVID patients, according to a University of Queensland study.

The study investigated a cellular fitness marker, known as hfwe-Lose, to identify sub-optimal cells in patients who had been hospitalised or died from COVID at the start of the pandemic.

UQ Diamantina Institute’s Dr Arutha Kulasinghe said researchers conducted post-mortem analysis on COVID-infected lung tissues and found that the cell fitness marker influenced a person’s immune response to infection.

“We found that patients with acute lung injury had higher levels of the biomarker in their lower respiratory tract and areas of cell death,” Dr Kulasinghe said.

“More importantly, we also found that the cell fitness marker outperformed conventional methods, such as age, inflammation and co-existing diseases, in predicting health outcomes, such as hospitalisation and death, in COVID patients.”

Assessing the level of risk in developing severe COVID infection is an important consideration in the management of the current pandemic.

Dr Kulasinghe said the study findings might be useful in the early triage of patients who test positive for COVID as the cell fitness marker could be identified via a simple nasal swab.

“The cell fitness marker would enable medical teams to identify patients more likely to develop severe symptoms, provide closer monitoring and earlier access to hospitalisation and intensive care,” he said.

“We are now looking to validate our findings in larger patient populations to determine the robustness of the marker.

“The cell fitness marker is part of the body’s process for removing unwanted cells.”

This study was conducted in partnership with the University of Copenhagen, and the paper is published in EMBO Molecular Medicine (DOI: 10.15252/emmm.202013714).

Media:  Dr Arutha Kulasinghe, arutha.kulasinghe@uq.edu.au; med.media@uq.edu.au,  +61 (0)7 3365 5118.

A commonly available pesticide has been associated with an increased risk of chronic kidney disease (CKD) in a University of Queensland study.

Researchers analysed links between pesticide exposure and the risk of kidney dysfunction in 41,847 people, using data from the USA National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES).

School of Public Health Associate Professor, Nicholas Osborne said the study found people exposed to higher amounts of the insecticide Malathion, known as Maldison in Australia, had 25 per cent higher risk of kidney dysfunction.

“Nearly one in 10 people in high income countries show signs of CKD, which is permanent kidney damage and loss of renal function,” Dr Osborne said.

Risk factors of developing CKD include age, hypertension and diabetes.

Dr Osborne said CKD with no known cause was rising in low-to-middle income countries such as India, Sri Lanka and Mesoamerica.

“Initially, it was suspected the condition was associated with agricultural workplaces through exposure to heat stress, dehydration, pesticide spraying, heavy metals and agrochemicals,” Dr Osborne said.

“However, environmental contamination, pesticide residues and herbal medicines potentially containing heavy metals may also be contributing to a CKD.”

The cause of increased CKD remains unknown, but spraying pesticides without personal protective equipment (PPE) and working with contaminated soil have been suggested as likely exposure pathways.

Dr Osborne said the UQ study was the first to provide evidence linking Malathion with risk of poor kidney health in humans.

“The findings suggest we should limit our exposure to pesticides, even in very small doses, as chronic exposure may lead to negative health outcomes,” Dr Osborne said.

“We will continue to investigate if other pesticides may be involved and are planning to collect data on Sri Lankan farmer behaviours to examine their level of exposure when using pesticides in the field.”

Malathion is licenced for use in agriculture, domestic and public recreation areas as part of mosquito and fruit fly eradication programs, and can also be found in some topical head lice treatments.

The study is published in International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (DOI: 10.3390/ijerph181910249).

Media: Associate Professor Nick Osborne, n.osborne@uq.edu.au or +61 7 3365 5178, or med.media@uq.edu.au or +61 7 3365 5118.

A new generation of cheap, sustainable and efficient solar cells is a step closer, thanks to scientists at The University of Queensland.

Researchers at UQ’s Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN) modified a nanomaterial to make solar cells as efficient as silicon-based cells, but without their high cost and complex manufacturing.

Professor Joe Shapter said the finding addressed an urgent need for alternative environmentally friendly energy sources capable of providing efficient and reliable energy production.

“Silicon-based solar cells remain the dominant first-generation product making up 90 per cent of the market, but demand was high for cells that could be manufactured without their high prices and complexity,” Professor Shapter said.

“Among the next-generation technologies, perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have attracted enormous attention because of their high efficiency and ease of fabrication.

“The technology has undergone unprecedented rapid development in recent years.

“But the new generation of solar cells still have some drawbacks such as poor long-term stability, lead toxicity and high material costs.”

Professor Shapter said his team studied a nanomaterial that showed great promise in overcoming some of the new cell’s drawbacks and used doping, a common method of modifying the new cell’s nanomaterial to enhance its electrical properties.

The researchers found that the efficiency and thermal stability of the doped cells significantly outperformed those that were not doped.

“The PSCs that had doped cells showed a remarkable solar conversion efficiency that exceeded 21 per cent,” Professor Shapter said.

Solar cell efficiency is the rate at which a solar panel transfers the sunlight into electricity, with the average silicon cell efficiency presently between 15 and 22 per cent.

“This gives us hope that solar energy can continue to develop and improve as one of the most effective renewable and sustainable energy technologies,” Professor Shapter said.

The research involved collaboration with Professor Mohammad Nazeeruddin from École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland.

Associate Professor Yun Wang from Griffith University contributed modelling to understand the interaction between doped cell layers and materials used in light absorption.

“Our results explain how doped cells can greatly improve the energy conversion efficiency and lifetime of solar cells observed from the AIBN experiments,” Dr Wang said.

Professor Shapter said the research was part of a global push towards advanced and sustainable solar cell technology.

“Our research contributes to intensive efforts to develop various types of solar cells with the aim of realising efficient, stable and low-cost replacements for present silicon-based technology.”

The research has been published in Cell Reports Physical Science (DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.3891059).

Media: UQ Communications, Erik de Wit, e.dewit@uq.edu.au, +61 (0)447 305 979.

Technology that could rehabilitate mine waste back to useful soil is entering full-scale trials at two Queensland refineries.

Researchers at The University of Queensland’s Sustainable Minerals Institute (SMI) developed the bio-engineering technology in partnership with Rio Tinto and Queensland Alumina Limited (QAL).

SMI Professor Longbin Huang said the process would transform the bauxite residue known as ‘red mud’ into a soil-like material capable of hosting plant life.

“The team has secured more than $3 million in funding from Rio Tinto and QAL that will allow us to  trial the technology at an operational scale at two red mud sites,” Professor Huang said.

“This project demonstrates how transformative industry-academia partnerships can be – Rio Tinto and QAL have supported the research for the past eight years, from proof of concept to full field trials.”

There are more than four billion tonnes of red mud stored in dams around the world, with Australia the second largest producer of the mineral waste by-product of alumina refining.

“The salinity and alkalinity associated with the minerals in red mud means rehabilitation can be challenging,” Professor Huang said.

“The process we have developed is game changing as it involves eco-engineering the mineral and organic constituents of the red mud into material that is more hospitable to plant life.

“It is a more sustainable and cost-effective way of managing red mud compared to traditional methods, which require companies to excavate and transport metres of topsoil from other locations to cover thousands of hectares of waste.”

QAL Environment and Tailings Manager Trent Scherer said the team was excited to see the project moving to a full-scale trial.

“After years of watching various trials unfold within our daily work environment, to now be able to see the tangible outcomes of UQ’s work has been encouraging,” Mr Scherer said.

“QAL is committed to minimising our environmental footprint through our $440 million 5-Year Environmental Strategy, and the funding and resources provided to this project are further steps in that journey.”

Media: Connor Pound, c.pound@uq.edu.au, +61 (0)447 812 081.

Increasing reforestation efforts in coastal regions could substantially reduce the amount of sediment run-off reaching coral reefs and improve their resilience, a University of Queensland-led study has found.

The study analysed more than 5,500 coastal areas from around the world and found that nearly 85 per cent of them leached sediment to coral reefs, the second most serious threat facing the world’s reefs behind climate change.

Dr Andrés Suárez-Castro from UQ’s Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Science said it was important to address the issue of sediment runoff if efforts to reduce the human impact on reefs were to be successful.

“Increased sedimentation can cause aquatic ecosystems to be more sensitive to heat stress, which decreases the resilience of corals to pressures caused by climate change,” Dr Suárez-Castro said.

“If the link between the land and sea is not recognised and managed separately, any future efforts to conserve marine habitats and species are likely to be ineffective.”

Excess sediment runoff from land clearing and agrichemical pollution along coastlines can increase sediment transport to coastal waters.

Dr Suárez-Castro said one of the impacts of sediment runoff on coral reefs is a massive reduction in light levels that were key for coral and sea grass growth and reproduction.

One solution proposed by Dr Suárez-Castro and his team is for countries to commit to land and forest restoration in coastal regions, which will help reduce the amount of sediment runoff.

“Reforestation is hugely important as it maintains the stability of soils that are vital in limiting erosion risk – it also helps to trap more sediments and prevent them from reaching aquatic systems,” he said.

“Building coral resilience through reducing sediment and pollution is also key to improving a coral reef’s potential for recovery.

“If land management to reduce sediment runoff does not become a global priority, it will become increasingly challenging, if not impossible, to protect marine ecosystems in the face of climate change.”

The researchers said that while the benefits of land restoration activities were clear, it would be a challenge to get countries and governments to commit to restoration activities.

“It’s encouraging to see many countries with high coral diversity committing large areas to land restoration, however the cost of reforestation, as well as political and social barriers may make it difficult to achieve these ambitious goals,” Dr Suárez-Castro said.

“If an average of 1000 hectares of forest was restored per coastal basin, land-based sediments reaching coral reefs could be cut by an average of 8.5 per cent among 63,000 square kilometres of reefs.”

Dr Suárez-Castro and his team hope that local authorities can use their results to identify areas where reforestation can have the highest benefit on coral reefs.

“Our approach can be adapted with local data to identify optimal actions for preserving ‘win-wins’ for multiple ecosystems spanning the land and sea,” Dr Suárez-Castro said.

“Several global initiatives such as the Paris Climate Agreement are bringing forest restoration to the forefront of global conservation discussions and our hope is that our study can facilitate more informed and educated conversations around the importance of a more integrated land-sea approach.”

The research has been published in Global Change Biology (DOI: 10.1111/gcb.15811).

Media: Dr Andrés Suárez-Castro, a.suarezcastro@uq.edu.au, +61 444 532 654; Faculty of Science Media, science.media@uq.edu.au, +61 3365 4043.