The number of people affected by at least one chronic disease is increasing worldwide, with poorer health-related quality of life (HRQOL) being a major consequence(1). HRQOL is an important measure for quantifying and evaluating the impacts of a disease or intervention on self-perceived wellbeing. Anti-inflammatory diets are consistently associated with improvements in disease-specific outcomes(2,3), but their effect on HRQOL is unclear. This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to estimate the effectiveness of anti-inflammatory dietary interventions on HRQOL in adults with one or more chronic diseases. Five databases were searched from inception to May 2024 for randomised controlled trials evaluating the impact of an anti-inflammatory diet (e.g., Mediterranean, low-carbohydrate) on HRQOL. Screening, data extraction, and risk of bias assessment using the Cochrane Risk of Bias v2.0 tool were performed independently by two authors. Certainty of evidence was determined using the GRADE approach. Pooled effect sizes for HRQOL, separated into mental (MCS) physical (PCS) and general component scores (GCS) were calculated using random-effects meta-analyses and reported as standardised mean difference (SMD). Subgroup analyses and meta-regressions were performed to assess the influence of study-level characteristics on HRQOL outcomes. Twenty-three studies reporting HRQOL data for 2753 participants were included. The most common chronic diseases evaluated were type 2 diabetes (8 studies, 35%), musculoskeletal conditions (5 studies, 22%), and cardiovascular conditions (3 studies, 13%). Anti-inflammatory dietary interventions evaluated included the Mediterranean diet (14 studies, 61%), low-carbohydrate diets (8 studies, 35%), Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (1 study, 4%) and low-sugar, low-yeast diet (1 study, 4%). Anti-inflammatory diets were associated with small improvements in PCS compared to usual care/non-anti-inflammatory dietary interventions such as national dietary guidelines and low-fat diets (SMD 0.22, 95% CI 0.06 to 0.38) but not MCS (SMD 0.10, 95% CI −0.02 to 0.23) or GCS (SMD 0.40, 95% CI −0.32 to 1.13). Assessment by study-level characteristics revealed that studies with a higher risk of bias reported a larger effect on PCS, and diet-only interventions (compared to multi-component interventions) had a greater effect on MCS. No study met the Cochrane criteria for low risk of bias, and certainty of evidence was low (PCS and MCS) to very low (GCS). This systematic review suggests that anti-inflammatory diets may lead to a small improvement in physical HRQOL, but not mental or general HRQOL. The low certainty of evidence calls for further high-quality RCTs with detailed descriptions of dietary interventions in individuals with one or more chronic diseases.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture–Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS) has been a leader in weed science research covering topics ranging from the development and use of integrated weed management (IWM) tactics to basic mechanistic studies, including biotic resistance of desirable plant communities and herbicide resistance. ARS weed scientists have worked in agricultural and natural ecosystems, including agronomic and horticultural crops, pastures, forests, wild lands, aquatic habitats, wetlands, and riparian areas. Through strong partnerships with academia, state agencies, private industry, and numerous federal programs, ARS weed scientists have made contributions to discoveries in the newest fields of robotics and genetics, as well as the traditional and fundamental subjects of weed–crop competition and physiology and integration of weed control tactics and practices. Weed science at ARS is often overshadowed by other research topics; thus, few are aware of the long history of ARS weed science and its important contributions. This review is the result of a symposium held at the Weed Science Society of America’s 62nd Annual Meeting in 2022 that included 10 separate presentations in a virtual Weed Science Webinar Series. The overarching themes of management tactics (IWM, biological control, and automation), basic mechanisms (competition, invasive plant genetics, and herbicide resistance), and ecosystem impacts (invasive plant spread, climate change, conservation, and restoration) represent core ARS weed science research that is dynamic and efficacious and has been a significant component of the agency’s national and international efforts. This review highlights current studies and future directions that exemplify the science and collaborative relationships both within and outside ARS. Given the constraints of weeds and invasive plants on all aspects of food, feed, and fiber systems, there is an acknowledged need to face new challenges, including agriculture and natural resources sustainability, economic resilience and reliability, and societal health and well-being.

We have performed an experimental study of the influence of varying size and charge on cation partitioning between wollastonite and silicate-carbonate melt in the system CaCO3-SiO2. The experimental conditions (3 GPa, 1420°C) lie close to the wollastonite II tc/I tc phase boundary. Results for 1+, 2+, 3+ and 4+ partitioning show parabolic dependence of partition coefficients on ionic radius, which can be fitted to the elastic strain model of Blundy and Wood (1994), wherein partitioning is described using three parameters: site radius (r 0), site elasticity (apparent Young's Modulus) and the ‘strain-free’ partition coefficient (D 0) for an element with radius r 0. The apparent Young's Modulus of the Ca site in wollastonite, obtained from modelling the 2+ partitioning data, is 99±3 GPa, similar to the bulk-crystal value for the polymorph wollastonite I tc. r 0 decreases with increasing charge on the substituent cation, while D 0 also shows an approximately parabolic dependence on charge, with a maximum for 2+ cations. Partition coefficients for divalent cations Zn, Co, Fe, Cd, Mn and Pb are lower than would be predicted from their ionic radii alone, indicating a preference for the melt. This may be a consequence either of cation-carbonate complexation in the melt, or of the more distorted nature of cation co-ordination environments in melts.

Background: Individuals with Parkinson’s disease (PD) often present with visual symptoms (e.g., difficulty in reading, double vision) that can also be found in convergence insufficiency (CI). Our objective was to estimate the prevalence of CI-type visual symptomatology in individuals with PD, in comparison with controls. Methods: Participants ≥50 years with (n=300) and without (n=300) PD were recruited. They were administered the Convergence Insufficiency Symptom Survey (CISS–15) over the phone. A score of ≥21 on the CISS–15, considered positive for CI-type symptomatology, served as the cutoff. Data from individuals (n=87 with, n=94 without PD) who were approached but who reported having a known oculovisual condition were analysed separately. Student’s t test and chi-square at the 0.05 level were employed for statistical significance. Results: A total of 29.3% of participants with versus 7.3% without PD presented with a score of ≥21 on the CISS–15 (p=0.001). Of the participants having a known oculovisual condition, 39.1% with versus 19.1% without PD presented with a score of ≥21 on the CISS–15 (p=0.01). Conclusions: The prevalence of CI-type visual symptoms is higher in individuals with versus without PD whether or not they have a coexisting oculovisual condition. These results suggest that PD per se places individuals with the disease at greater risk of visual symptomatology. These results further underline the importance of providing regular eye exams for individuals with PD.

Several outbreaks of hepatitis A in men who have sex with men (MSM) were reported in the 1980s and 1990s in Australia and other countries. An effective hepatitis A virus (HAV) vaccine has been available in Australia since 1994 and is recommended for high-risk groups including MSM. No outbreaks of hepatitis A in Australian MSM have been reported since 1996. In this study, we aimed to estimate HAV transmissibility in MSM populations in order to inform targets for vaccine coverage in such populations. We used mathematical models of HAV transmission in a MSM population to estimate the basic reproduction number (R 0) and the probability of an HAV epidemic occurring as a function of the immune proportion. We estimated a plausible range for R 0 of 1·71–3·67 for HAV in MSM and that sustained epidemics cannot occur once the proportion immune to HAV is greater than ~70%. To our knowledge this is the first estimate of R 0 and the critical population immunity threshold for HAV transmission in MSM. As HAV is no longer endemic in Australia or in most other developed countries, vaccination is the only means of maintaining population immunity >70%. Our findings provide impetus to promote HAV vaccination in high-risk groups such as MSM.

In the United States alone, ∼14,000 children are hospitalised annually with acute heart failure. The science and art of caring for these patients continues to evolve. The International Pediatric Heart Failure Summit of Johns Hopkins All Children’s Heart Institute was held on February 4 and 5, 2015. The 2015 International Pediatric Heart Failure Summit of Johns Hopkins All Children’s Heart Institute was funded through the Andrews/Daicoff Cardiovascular Program Endowment, a philanthropic collaboration between All Children’s Hospital and the Morsani College of Medicine at the University of South Florida (USF). Sponsored by All Children’s Hospital Andrews/Daicoff Cardiovascular Program, the International Pediatric Heart Failure Summit assembled leaders in clinical and scientific disciplines related to paediatric heart failure and created a multi-disciplinary “think-tank”. The purpose of this manuscript is to summarise the lessons from the 2015 International Pediatric Heart Failure Summit of Johns Hopkins All Children’s Heart Institute, to describe the “state of the art” of the treatment of paediatric cardiac failure, and to discuss future directions for research in the domain of paediatric cardiac failure.

This article focuses attention on research examining workplace discrimination against employees from marginalized groups. We particularly consider the experiences of seven different groups of marginalized individuals, some of which have legal protection and some of which do not but all of whom we feel have been overlooked by the field of industrial–organizational (I–O) psychology. We briefly describe the importance of studying each group and then delineate the brief amount of research that has been conducted. Finally, we make recommendations for I–O psychologists in terms of research and advocacy. Overall, we argue that I–O psychologists are missing an opportunity to be at the forefront of understanding and instigating changes that would result in maximizing the fairness and optimization of these often forgotten employees and their experiences in the workplace.

In the literature, it has been conceptualized that a group of dense particles released instantaneously into homogeneous stagnant water would form a circulating vortex cloud and descend through the water column as a thermal. However, Wen & Nacamuli (Hydrodynamics: Theory and Applications, 1996, pp. 1275–1280) observed the formation of particle clumps characterized by a narrow, fast-moving core shedding particles into the wake. They found clump formation to be possible even for particles in the non-cohesive range as long as the source Rayleigh number was large ( $\mathit{Ra} > {10^3}$ ) or, equivalently, the source cloud number was small ( $\mathit{Nc} < 3.2 \times 10^{-2}$ ). This physical phenomenon has not been investigated further since the experiments of Wen and Nacamuli. In the present study, the relationship between Nc and the formation process is examined more systematically. The theoretical support for cloud number dependence is explored by considering flows passing a porous sphere. Here $\mathit{Nc}$ values ranging from $2.9 \times 10^{-3}$ to $5.9 \times 10^{-2}$ are tested experimentally using particles with different initial masses and grain sizes, from non-cohesive to marginally cohesive. The formation processes are categorized into cloud formation, a transitional regime and clump formation, and their distinct features are presented through qualitative description of the flow patterns and quantitative assessment of the gross characteristics.

The objective of this study was to estimate the sensitivity and specificity of a culture method and a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method for detection of two Campylobacter species: C. jejuni and C. coli. Data were collected during a 3-year survey of UK broiler flocks, and consisted of parallel sampling of caeca from 436 batches of birds by both PCR and culture. Batches were stratified by season (summer/non-summer) and whether they were the first depopulation of the flock, resulting in four sub-populations. A Bayesian approach in the absence of a gold standard was adopted, and the sensitivity and specificity of the PCR and culture for each Campylobacter subtype was estimated, along with the true C. jejuni and C. coli prevalence in each sub-population. Results indicated that the sensitivity of the culture method was higher than that of PCR in detecting both species when the samples were derived from populations infected with at most one species of Campylobacter. However, from a mixed population, the sensitivity of culture for detecting both C. jejuni or C. coli is reduced while PCR is potentially able to detect both species, although the total probability of correctly identifying at least one species by PCR is similar to that of the culture method.

Binocular rivalry (BR) is an intriguing phenomenon that occurs when two different images are presented, one to each eye, resulting in alternation or rivalry between the percepts. The phenomenon has been studied for nearly 200 years, with renewed and intensive investigation over recent decades. The rate of perceptual switching has long been known to vary widely between individuals but to be relatively stable within individuals. A recent twin study demonstrated that individual variation in BR rate is under substantial genetic control, a finding that also represented the first report, using a large study, of genetic contribution for any post-retinal visual processing phenomenon. The twin study had been prompted by earlier work showing BR rate was slow in the heritable psychiatric condition, bipolar disorder (BD). Together, these studies suggested that slow BR may represent an endophenotype for BD, and heralded the advent of modern clinical and genetic studies of rivalry. This new focus has coincided with rapid advances in 3D display technology, but despite such progress, specific development of technology for rivalry research has been lacking. This review therefore compares different display methods for BR research across several factors, including viewing parameters, image quality, equipment cost, compatibility with other investigative methods, subject group, and sample size, with a focus on requirements specific to large-scale clinical and genetic studies. It is intended to be a resource for investigators new to BR research, such as clinicians and geneticists, and to stimulate the development of 3D display technology for advancing interdisciplinary studies of rivalry.

Miscible thermals are formed by instantaneously releasing a finite volume of buoyant fluid into stagnant ambient. Their subsequent motion is then driven by the buoyancy convection. The gross characteristics (e.g. overall size and velocity) of a thermal have been well studied and reported to be self-similar. However, there have been few studies concerning the internal structure. Here, turbulent miscible thermals (with initial density excess of 5 % and Reynolds number around 2100) have been investigated experimentally through a large number of realizations. The vorticity and density fields were quantified separately by particle image velocimetry (PIV) and planar laser-induced fluorescence (PLIF) techniques. Ensemble-averaged data of the transient development of the miscible thermals are presented. Major outcomes include: (i) validating Turner’s assumption of constant circulation within a buoyant vortex ring; (ii) measuring the vorticity and density distributions within the miscible thermal; (iii) quantifying the effect of baroclinicity on the generation and destruction of vorticity within the thermal; and (iv) identifying the significantly slower decay rate of the peak density as compared to the mean.

The Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) will give us an unprecedented opportunity to investigate the transient sky at radio wavelengths. In this paper we present VAST, an ASKAP survey for Variables and Slow Transients. VAST will exploit the wide-field survey capabilities of ASKAP to enable the discovery and investigation of variable and transient phenomena from the local to the cosmological, including flare stars, intermittent pulsars, X-ray binaries, magnetars, extreme scattering events, interstellar scintillation, radio supernovae, and orphan afterglows of gamma-ray bursts. In addition, it will allow us to probe unexplored regions of parameter space where new classes of transient sources may be detected. In this paper we review the known radio transient and variable populations and the current results from blind radio surveys. We outline a comprehensive program based on a multi-tiered survey strategy to characterise the radio transient sky through detection and monitoring of transient and variable sources on the ASKAP imaging timescales of 5 s and greater. We also present an analysis of the expected source populations that we will be able to detect with VAST.