This study documents several correlations observed during the first run of the plasma wakefield acceleration experiment E300 conducted at FACET-II, using a single drive electron bunch. The established correlations include those between the measured maximum energy loss of the drive electron beam and the integrated betatron X-ray signal, the calculated total beam energy deposited in the plasma and the integrated X-ray signal, among three visible light emission measuring cameras and between the visible plasma light and X-ray signal. The integrated X-ray signal correlates almost linearly with both the maximum energy loss of the drive beam and the energy deposited into the plasma, demonstrating its usability as a measure of energy transfer from the drive beam to the plasma. Visible plasma light is found to be a useful indicator of the presence of a wake at three locations that overall are two metres apart. Despite the complex dynamics and vastly different time scales, the X-ray radiation from the drive bunch and visible light emission from the plasma may prove to be effective non-invasive diagnostics for monitoring the energy transfer from the beam to the plasma in future high-repetition-rate experiments.

Despite advances in cancer genomics and the increased use of genomic medicine, metastatic cancer is still mostly an incurable and fatal disease. With diminishing returns from traditional drug discovery strategies, and high clinical failure rates, more emphasis is being placed on alternative drug discovery platforms, such as ex vivo approaches. Ex vivo approaches aim to embed biological relevance and inter-patient variability at an earlier stage of drug discovery, and to offer more precise treatment stratification for patients. However, these techniques also have a high potential to offer personalised therapies to patients, complementing and enhancing genomic medicine. Although an array of approaches are available to researchers, only a minority of techniques have made it through to direct patient treatment within robust clinical trials. Within this review, we discuss the current challenges to ex vivo approaches within clinical practice and summarise the contemporary literature which has directed patient treatment. Finally, we map out how ex vivo approaches could transition from a small-scale, predominantly research based technology to a robust and validated predictive tool. In future, these pre-clinical approaches may be integrated into clinical cancer pathways to assist in the personalisation of therapy choices and to hopefully improve patient experiences and outcomes.

Analysis of human remains and a copper band found in the center of a Late Archaic (ca. 5000–3000 cal BP) shell ring demonstrate an exchange network between the Great Lakes and the coastal southeast United States. Similarities in mortuary practices suggest that the movement of objects between these two regions was more direct and unmediated than archaeologists previously assumed based on “down-the-line” models of exchange. These findings challenge prevalent notions that view preagricultural Native American communities as relatively isolated from one another and suggest instead that wide social networks spanned much of North America thousands of years before the advent of domestication.

Objectives: Preterm children demonstrate deficits in executive functions including inhibition, working memory, and cognitive flexibility; however, their goal setting abilities (planning, organization, strategic reasoning) remain unclear. This study compared goal setting abilities between very preterm (VP: <30 weeks/<1250 grams) and term born controls during late childhood. Additionally, early risk factors (neonatal brain abnormalities, medical complications, and sex) were examined in relationship to goal setting outcomes within the VP group. Methods: Participants included 177 VP and 61 full-term born control children aged 13 years. Goal setting was assessed using several measures of planning, organization, and strategic reasoning. Parents also completed the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function. Regression models were performed to compare groups, with secondary analyses adjusting for potential confounders (sex and social risk), and excluding children with major neurosensory impairment and/or IQ<70. Within the VP group, regression models were performed to examine the relationship between brain abnormalities, medical complications, and sex, on goal setting scores. Results: The VP group demonstrated a clear pattern of impairment and inefficiency across goal setting measures, consistent with parental report, compared with their full-term born peers. Within the VP group, moderate/severe brain abnormalities on neonatal MRI predicted adverse goal setting outcomes at 13. Conclusions: Goal setting difficulties are a significant area of concern in VP children during late childhood. These difficulties are associated with neonatal brain abnormalities, and are likely to have functional consequences academically, socially and vocationally. (JINS, 2018, 24, 372–381)

The WAIS (West Antarctic Ice Sheet) Divide deep ice core was recently completed to a total depth of 3405 m, ending 50 m above the bed. Investigation of the visual stratigraphy and grain characteristics indicates that the ice column at the drilling location is undisturbed by any large-scale overturning or discontinuity. The climate record developed from this core is therefore likely to be continuous and robust. Measured grain-growth rates, recrystallization characteristics, and grain-size response at climate transitions fit within current understanding. Significant impurity control on grain size is indicated from correlation analysis between impurity loading and grain size. Bubble-number densities and bubble sizes and shapes are presented through the full extent of the bubbly ice. Where bubble elongation is observed, the direction of elongation is preferentially parallel to the trace of the basal (0001) plane. Preferred crystallographic orientation of grains is present in the shallowest samples measured, and increases with depth, progressing to a vertical-girdle pattern that tightens to a vertical single-maximum fabric. This single-maximum fabric switches into multiple maxima as the grain size increases rapidly in the deepest, warmest ice. A strong dependence of the fabric on the impurity-mediated grain size is apparent in the deepest samples.

Leafy spurge is a troublesome, exotic weed in the northern Great Plains of the United States. Leafy spurge produces showy yellow bracts during June that give this weed a conspicuous appearance. A study was conducted to determine the feasibility of using remote sensing techniques to detect leafy spurge in this phenological stage. Study sites were located in North Dakota and Montana. Plant canopy reflectance measurements showed that leafy spurge had higher visible (0.63- to 0.69-μm) reflectance than several associated plant species. The conspicuous yellow bracts of leafy spurge gave it distinct yellow-green and pink images on conventional color and color-infrared aerial photographs, respectively. Leafy spurge also could be distinguished on conventional color video imagery where it had a golden yellow image response. Quantitative data obtained from digitized video images showed that leafy spurge had statistically different digital values from those of associated vegetation and soil. Computer analyses of video images showed/that light reflected from leafy spurge populations could be quantified from associated vegetation. This technique permits area estimates of leafy spurge populations. Large format conventional color photographs of Theodore Roosevelt National Park near Medora, ND were digitized and integrated with a geographic information system to produce a map of leafy spurge populations within the park that can be useful to monitor the spread or decline of leafy spurge.

δ18O values of sulfate minerals from a 186-m core (past 200,000 years) in Death Valley varied from +9 to +23‰ (V-SMOW). Sulfates that accumulated in the past ephemeral saline lake, salt pans, and mud flats have relatively low δ18O values similar to those of present-day local inflows. Sulfates that accumulated during two perennial lake intervals, however, have higher δ18O values, reflecting changes in temperature, lake water levels, and/or sulfur redox reactions. Over the same time interval, the δ18O record for sulfate had excursions that bear similarities to those found for carbonate in the Death Valley core, marine carbonate (SPECMAP), and polar ice in the Summit ice core, Greenland. The δ18O record differed considerably from the records reported for carbonate at Owens Lake and Devils Hole, which probably relates to different water sources. Death Valley, Owens Lake, and Devils Hole are responding to the same climatic changes but manifesting them differently. In Death Valley sediments, the isotopic composition of sulfate may have potential as an indicator of paleoenvironmental changes.

A plausible mechanism underlying flavonoid-associated cognitive effects is increased cerebral blood flow (CBF). However, behavioural and CBF effects following flavanone-rich juice consumption have not been explored. The aim of this study was to investigate whether consumption of flavanone-rich juice is associated with acute cognitive benefits and increased regional CBF in healthy, young adults. An acute, single-blind, randomised, cross-over design was applied with two 500-ml drink conditions – high-flavanone (HF; 70·5 mg) drink and an energy-, and vitamin C- matched, zero-flavanone control. A total of twenty-four healthy young adults aged 18–30 years underwent cognitive testing at baseline and 2-h after drink consumption. A further sixteen, healthy, young adults were recruited for functional MRI assessment, whereby CBF was measured with arterial spin labelling during conscious resting state at baseline as well as 2 and 5 h after drink consumption. The HF drink was associated with significantly increased regional perfusion in the inferior and middle right frontal gyrus at 2 h relative to baseline and the control drink. In addition, the HF drink was associated with significantly improved performance on the Digit Symbol Substitution Test at 2 h relative to baseline and the control drink, but no effects were observed on any other behavioural cognitive tests. These results demonstrate that consumption of flavanone-rich citrus juice in quantities commonly consumed can acutely enhance blood flow to the brain in healthy, young adults. However, further studies are required to establish a direct causal link between increased CBF and enhanced behavioural outcomes following citrus juice ingestion.

Despite ongoing controversy, the view that pediatric mania is rare or non-existent has been increasingly challenged not only by case reports but also by systematic research. This research strongly suggests that pediatric mania may not be rare but that it may be difficult to diagnose. Since children with mania are likely to become adults with bipolar disorder, the recognition and characterization of childhood-onset mania may help identify a meaningful developmental subtype of bipolar disorder worthy of further investigation. The major difficulties that complicate the diagnosis of pediatric mania include:

• - its pattern of comorbidity may be unique by adult standards, especially its overlap with ADHD, aggression and conduct disorder;

• - its overlap with substance use disorders;

• - its association with trauma and adversity;

• - its response to treatment is atypical by adult standards.

These issues will be reviewed in the presentation.