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Background: Pain in a common symptom in adult-onset idiopathic dystonia (AOID). An appropriate tool to understand this symptom is needed to improve AOID patients’ care. We developed a rating instrument for pain in AOID and validated it in cervical dystonia (CD). Methods: Development and validation of the Pain in Dystonia Scale (PIDS) in three phases: 1. International experts and participants generated and evaluated the preliminary items for content validity; 2. The PIDS was drafted and revised, followed by cognitive interviews to ensure suitability for self-administration; and 3. the clinimetric properties of the final PIDS were assessed in 85 participants. Results: PIDS evaluates pain severity (by body part), functional impact and external modulating factors. It showed high test-retest reliability the total score (0.9, p<0.001), intraclass correlation coefficients higher than 0.7 for all items and high internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha 0.9). Convergent validity analysis revealed a strong correlation between the PIDS severity score and the TWSTRS pain subscale (0.8, p<0.001), the brief pain inventory short form (0.7, p<0.001) and impact of pain on daily functioning (0.7, p<0.001). Conclusions: The PIDS is the first specific questionnaire developed to evaluate pain in patients with AOID with high-level clinimetric properties in people with CD.
The impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on mental health is still being unravelled. It is important to identify which individuals are at greatest risk of worsening symptoms. This study aimed to examine changes in depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms using prospective and retrospective symptom change assessments, and to find and examine the effect of key risk factors.
Method
Online questionnaires were administered to 34 465 individuals (aged 16 years or above) in April/May 2020 in the UK, recruited from existing cohorts or via social media. Around one-third (n = 12 718) of included participants had prior diagnoses of depression or anxiety and had completed pre-pandemic mental health assessments (between September 2018 and February 2020), allowing prospective investigation of symptom change.
Results
Prospective symptom analyses showed small decreases in depression (PHQ-9: −0.43 points) and anxiety [generalised anxiety disorder scale – 7 items (GAD)-7: −0.33 points] and increases in PTSD (PCL-6: 0.22 points). Conversely, retrospective symptom analyses demonstrated significant large increases (PHQ-9: 2.40; GAD-7 = 1.97), with 55% reported worsening mental health since the beginning of the pandemic on a global change rating. Across both prospective and retrospective measures of symptom change, worsening depression, anxiety and PTSD symptoms were associated with prior mental health diagnoses, female gender, young age and unemployed/student status.
Conclusions
We highlight the effect of prior mental health diagnoses on worsening mental health during the pandemic and confirm previously reported sociodemographic risk factors. Discrepancies between prospective and retrospective measures of changes in mental health may be related to recall bias-related underestimation of prior symptom severity.
The ablation zones of debris-covered glaciers in Himalaya exhibit heterogeneous processes and melt patterns. Although sub-debris melt is measured at ablation stakes, the high variability of debris thickness necessitates distributed melt measurements at the glacier scale. Focusing on Annapurna III Glacier, we used uncrewed aerial system (UAS) photogrammetry to estimate total volume loss and slope-perpendicular glacier melt between May and November 2019 using flow-corrected point clouds. Results indicated the average elevation change was −1.10 ± 0.19 m, while the mean melt was −0.87 m w.e., equating to a mean melt rate of −0.47 cm w.e. d−1. However, the spatial pattern was highly variable due to complex local processes necessitating future study over short intervals. The evaluation of specific areas showed the interplay of debris thickness variability, subseasonal debris redistribution, supraglacial channel reconfiguration and the imprint of relict ice cliffs in leading to contemporary melt rates. Ice cliffs had higher melt distances (mean −3.9 ± 0.19 m) compared to non-cliff areas (mean −0.75 ± 0.19 m) and were the predominant control on the spatial patterns of seasonal melt rates. Crucially, the definition of ice cliff areas from thinning data has a profound impact on derived melt rates and melt enhancement. Our study demonstrates the possibility and utility of deriving fully-distributed slope-perpendicular melt measurements.
The theoretical investigation of shocks and solitary structures in a dense quantum plasma containing electrons at finite temperature, nondegenerate cold electrons, and stationary ions has been carried out. A linear dispersion relation is derived for the corresponding electron acoustic waves. The solitary structures of small nonlinearity have been studied by using the standard reductive perturbation method. We have considered collisions to be absent, and the shocks arise out of viscous force. Furthermore, with the help of a standard reductive perturbation technique, a KdV–Burger equation has been derived and analyzed numerically. Under limiting cases, we have also obtained the KdV solitary profiles and studied the parametric dependence. The results are important in explaining the many phenomena of the laser–plasma interaction of dense plasma showing quantum effects.
Competition was studied among four varieties of jute, one cultivated and one wild type of each of C. capsularis and C. olitorius. Varieties exposed to competition showed significant effects on different characters at species and variety level for all the characters. Variety competition, average competition except for base diameter, and specific competition except for node number and base diameter, were significant for all the characters. Wild forms were less effective than cultivated ones as competitors, and the action of one species on the other did not affect all growth parameters in the same way.
Particle size dependent transport properties (resistivity and thermopower) of La0.5Pb0.5MnO3 has been investigated both in presence and in absence of magnetic field B=0.0-1.5T (maximum). All the samples show metal-insulator transition (MIT) with a peak at the MIT temperature (Tp). Magnetic field decreases the resistivity with an increase in the peak temperature Tp. Particle size, conductivity and Tp of the sample increase with increasing annealing time. High temperature semiconducting (insulating) part of the resistivity curve is divided into two distinct regimes. Resistivity data for T>qθ/2, can be well fitted with the nearest neighbor small polaron hopping (SPH) model. Polaron hopping energy (WH) decreases with increase of particle size. The lower temperature part (Tp>T>qθ/2) of the semiconducting (insulating) regime is found to follow variable range hopping (VRH) model. With the increase of particle size, the temperature range of validity of the VRH mechanism decreases. The low temperature metallic regime (for T<Tp) of the resistivity (both in absence and in presence of field) data fit well with ρ = ρ0 +ρ2.5 T2.5 and transport mechanism in this region is mainly dominated by magnon-carrier scattering (∼T2.5). Particle size has, however, comparatively little effect on Seebeck coefficient (S). In all the samples with different particle sizes, S changes sign below Tp. In contrast to magnetoresistance, application of magnetic field increases S at low temperature (T<Tp) for these samples. Similar to the resistivity results, thermopower data in the metallic phase (both for B=0.0 and 1.5T) can also be analyzed by considering magnon-scattering term along with an additional spin-wave fluctuation term (∼T4).
Homogenous (Bi3Pb)Sr3Ca3 (Cu4−nCrn)Ox (n 4 0 to 0.20) type glassy precursors become high-Tc superconductors by annealing at 840 °C. The suppression of Tc with increase of Cr concentration supports the pair-breaking mechanism. The feeble semiconducting behavior shown by the doped samples above their respective Tc values followed Mott's variable range hopping conduction mechanism. Like Ti- and Fe-doped samples, studied earlier, the thermoelectric power (TEP) of the present Cr-containing sample showed small positive peak above Tc, which was considered to be associated with the phonon-drag effect. The linear part of the temperature-dependent TEP (above Tc) well fitted the two-band model.
Semiconducting Bi1−xPbxBaO3−δ (or BPB) glasses with x = 0 to 0.8 have been prepared by fast quenching from the melt. Interesting anomalies in the temperature-dependent polaronic conductivity and dielectric constant have been observed in all these glass compositions at temperatures, Tp, varying from 310 to 330 K (depending on Pb concentration). This nonlinear behavior is considered to be associated with the local ordering or the displacements of the BiO3 type pyramidal structural units present in the glass matrix (observed from the infrared spectra of these glasses). This type of ordering/displacement gives rise to a local instability in the glass network structure which is also supported by the observed heat capacity anomaly around the same temperatures Tp.
The molecular orientation within a surface liquid crystalline layer made up of semifluorinated side-groups [-CO-(CH2)x−x-(CF2)yF] (SF groups) attached to the isoprene block of a styrene-isoprene diblock copolymer was determined by analyzing the partial electron yield Cedge NEXAFS signal. The results show that in contrast to the bulk, where the SF groups lie parallel to the diblock copolymer lamellae and thus parallel to the surface, the surface SF groups make an average angle with the surface normal of between 29 and 46° depending on x and y.
We derive upper bounds for the total variation distance, d, between the distributions of two random sums of non-negative integer-valued random variables. The main results are then applied to some important random sums, including cluster binomial and cluster multinomial distributions, to obtain bounds on approximating them to suitable Poisson or compound Poisson distributions. These bounds are generally better than the known results on Poisson and compound Poisson approximations. We also obtain a lower bound for d and illustrate it with an example.
Epitaxial AIN thin films grown on sapphire, silicon and silicon carbide substrates were studied using x-ray double crystal diffractometry and transmission electron microscopy to compare the structure, residual stress and defect concentration in these thin films. The AIN thin films was found to have a wurtzite type of structure with a small distortion in lattice parameters which results in a small residual stress of the order of 109 dynes/cm2 in the film. The strain due to lattice parameter mismatch between the substrate and film is too small to account for the residual stress present. The calculated stress from the difference in thermal expansion coefficients between the film and substrate agrees well with the experimental values. Both the x-ray and transmission electron microscopy measurements indicate a low defect density in the AIN thin film grown on 6H-SiC substrate which could be attributed to the small difference in lattice parameters between AIN and 6H-SiC. The defect density in the AIN thin film grown on other substrates were considerably higher. This is the first report of the successful growth of single crystal AIN thin films with such a low concentration of defect density.
Sexual receptivity was investigated in female Ghssina morsitans morsitans Westwood after mating. The degree of insemination and duration of copulation could affect sexual receptivity when females mate with immature males. However, matings with mature males showed no effect. The “jerking phase” appears to be an important mechanical factor in female post-mating refractory behaviour.
The diel activity patter n of Glossina austeni was studied on the south coast of Kenya, and in the laboratory. In the field, flies were sampled hourly by continuous catch from a standing vehicle, or by traps. In the laboratory, observations were made of the flies' take-off-responses to host odour at various times of the diel cycle, in a flight chamber. The results showed that G. austeni is day-active with some activity throughut the daylight hours, but with significant peaks occurring at 09.00–10.00h and between 14.00 and 17.00h, i.e. a roughly V-shaped pattern.
Heterostructures of SiC and AlN in either sequence, AlN on SiC or SiC on AlN, were grown on Si, Al2O3, and 6H-SiC substrates by (metalorganic) chemical vapor deposition (CVD). On Si substrates, a SiC layer was first grown by a two-step technique and an AlN layer was deposited subsequently. On other substrates, an AlN layer was first grown, followed by SiC deposition. Multi-layered structures (SiC/AlN/SiC) were also produced to demonstrate the ability of heteroepitaxy of SiC and AlN on each other.
AlN grown on 3C-SiC were highly oriented polycrystalline films. AlN films on 6H-SiC, SiC films on A1N/Al2O3, and SiC films on AlN/6H-SiC were single crystal. In the latter two cases, the SiC films were in hexagonal structure. These SiC films were smooth and specular in appearance and showed n-type conductivity.
Female sexual receptivity was studied in F1 laboratory-reared Glossina pallidipes Austen, 1903 originating from Nguruman in the Rift Valley of Kenya. Females mated as early as 6 days old but reached peak receptivity at 9–13 days old (60–80%). Females did not immediately mate with more than one male. The mean spermathecal value (MSV) was highest between 7 and 14 days of age, and declined thereafter. The duration of copulation was comparatively short (mean = 24 min), and did not vary significantly with age. High female receptivity corresponded with maturity of ovariole A, which reached maximum length at an age of 10 days. These results are discussed in relation to mass rearing of G. pallidipes.