Increasingly, governments report on public service quality, which has the potential to inform evaluations of performance that underlie voters’ opinions and behaviors. We argue these policies have important effects that go beyond informing voters. Specifically, we contend that the format in which policymakers choose to report information will steer the direction of opinion by exacerbating or mitigating biases in information processing. Using the case of school accountability systems in the United States and a variety of experimental and observational approaches, we find that letter grade systems for rating public school performance, as opposed to other reporting formats, exacerbate negativity bias. Public opinion proves more responsive to negative information than to positive information in letter grade systems than in alternate formats. Policymakers, then, do not simply inform public opinion; rather, their decisions about how to present information shape the interpretations that voters ultimately draw from the information provided.

The purpose of this study was to examine the potential for sustained almond consumption to reduce HbA1c concentrations among individuals with elevated values. A 16-week randomised, parallel-arm, controlled trial was conducted. Eighty-one adults with elevated HbA1c concentrations (> 5·7 %) were randomly assigned to incorporate 2 oz of raw almonds (A: n 39) or energy-matched snacks (C: n 42) into their daily diets. Body weight, body composition, plasma lipids, HbA1c, plasma vitamin E, glycaemia (by meal tolerance test and continuous glucose monitoring), dietary intake and hedonic responses to test foods were measured at stipulated time points. Participants consuming almonds ingested 253 kcal/d more than participants in the control group (P = 0·02), but this did not result in a significant difference in body weight. No statistically significant differences were observed in HbA1c concentrations, blood chemistries, body composition or glycaemia over time or between groups. However, Healthy Eating Index scores improved within the almond group as compared with the control group (P < 0·001). Additionally, the hedonic rating of almonds within the almond group did not decline as markedly as the control group’s reduced liking of the pretzel snack. Alpha-tocopherol increased significantly, and gamma tocopherol tended to decrease in the almond group, indicating compliance with the dietary intervention. Overall, daily ingestion of 2 oz of raw almonds in a self-selected diet for 16 weeks did not alter short-term or longer-term glycaemia or HbA1c concentrations in adults with elevated HbA1c concentrations, but they were well-tolerated hedonically and improved diet quality without promoting weight gain.

This paper describes the implementation of curricula for Liberia's first-ever psychiatry training programme in 2019 and the actions of the only two Liberian psychiatrists in the country at the time in developing and executing a first-year postgraduate psychiatry training programme (i.e. residency) with support from international collaborators. It explores cultural differences in training models among collaborators and strategies to synergise them best. It highlights the assessment of trainees’ (residents’) basic knowledge on entry into the programme and how it guided immediate and short-term priority teaching objectives, including integrated training in neuroscience and neurology. The paper describes the strengths and challenges of this approach as well as opportunities for continued growth.

In situ elemental imaging of planetary surface regolith at a spatial resolution of 100s to 1000s of microns can provide evidence of the provenance of rocks or sediments and their habitability, and can identify post-depositional diagenetic alteration affecting preservation. We use high-resolution elemental maps and XRF spectra from MapX, a flight prototype in situ X-ray imaging instrument, to demonstrate this technology in rock types relevant to astrobiology. Examples are given for various petrologies and depositional/diagenetic environments, including ultramafic/mafic rocks, serpentinites, hydrothermal carbonates, evaporites, stromatolitic cherts and diagenetic concretions.

In total, 50 healthcare facilities completed a survey in 2021 to characterize changes in infection prevention and control and antibiotic stewardship practices. Notable findings include sustained surveillance for multidrug-resistant organisms but decreased use of human resource-intensive interventions compared to previous surveys in 2013 and 2018 conducted prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Maternal fish consumption exposes the fetus to beneficial nutrients and potentially adverse neurotoxicants. The current study investigated associations between maternal fish consumption and child neurodevelopmental outcomes. Maternal fish consumption was assessed in the Seychelles Child Development Study Nutrition Cohort 1 (n 229) using 4-day food diaries. Neurodevelopment was evaluated at 9 and 30 months, and 5 and 9 years with test batteries assessing twenty-six endpoints and covering multiple neurodevelopmental domains. Analyses used multiple linear regression with adjustment for covariates known to influence child neurodevelopment. This cohort consumed an average of 8 fish meals/week and the total fish intake during pregnancy was 106·8 (sd 61·9) g/d. Among the twenty-six endpoints evaluated in the primary analysis there was one beneficial association. Children whose mothers consumed larger quantities of fish performed marginally better on the Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test (a test of nonverbal intelligence) at age 5 years (β 0·003, 95 % CI (0, 0·005)). A secondary analysis dividing fish consumption into tertiles found no significant associations when comparing the highest and lowest consumption groups. In this cohort, where fish consumption is substantially higher than current global recommendations, maternal fish consumption during pregnancy was not beneficially or adversely associated with children’s neurodevelopmental outcomes.

Despite recent guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) allowing institutions to relax in-facility masking strategies and due to our evolving understanding of respiratory pathogen transmission during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, we propose an updated standard for universal precautions in healthcare settings: permanently including universal masking in routine patient-care interactions. Such a practice prioritizes safety for patients, healthcare providers (HCPs), and visitors.

A recent review paper on nepheline solid solutions dealt mainly with sodic varieties from nepheline syenites and differentiated alkali basaltic sills. Excel spreadsheets were provided for recalculating cell formulae in terms of the stoichiometric parameters ΔAlcavity cation charge and ΔTframework charge and molecular percentages of the end-members Ne, Ks, Ca-nepheline and excess Si (Qxs). Small amounts of tetrahedral divalent species (usually <0.10 wt.% though with up to 0.33 wt.% MgO) were related to a stuffed-tridymite end-member of ideal formula K8Mg4Si12O32 (denoted KsT2+-nepheline), although the equations used to calculate these end-members only considered Si, Al and Fe3+ as tetrahedral framework species. Recently, K-rich nepheline and kalsilite which contain up 0.54 wt.% MgO have been found in some feldspar-free mafic potassic volcanic rocks from central Brazil. Equations have been developed to deal rigorously with the presence of significant amounts of Mg (and Mn) in recalculating nepheline solid-solution parameters. In two related communications reworked spreadsheets are provided with examples of their use. High quality microprobe analyses of nepheline and kalsilite from magmatic rocks must include analyses for Mg and Mn and, if possible, estimates of Fe2+ contents.

Despite extensive paleoenvironmental research on the postglacial history of the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska, uncertainties remain regarding the region's deglaciation, vegetation development, and past hydroclimate. To elucidate this complex environmental history, we present new proxy datasets from Hidden and Kelly lakes, located in the eastern Kenai lowlands at the foot of the Kenai Mountains, including sedimentological properties (magnetic susceptibility, organic matter, grain size, and biogenic silica), pollen and macrofossils, diatom assemblages, and diatom oxygen isotopes. We use a simple hydrologic and isotope mass balance model to constrain interpretations of the diatom oxygen isotope data. Results reveal that glacier ice retreated from Hidden Lake's headwaters by ca. 13.1 cal ka BP, and that groundwater was an important component of Kelly Lake's hydrologic budget in the Early Holocene. As the forest developed and the climate became wetter in the Middle to Late Holocene, Kelly Lake reached or exceeded its modern level. In the last ca. 75 years, rising temperature caused rapid changes in biogenic silica content and diatom oxygen isotope values. Our findings demonstrate the utility of mass balance modeling to constrain interpretations of paleolimnologic oxygen isotope data, and that groundwater can exert a strong influence on lake water isotopes, potentially confounding interpretations of regional climate.

Natural nepheline usually contains very small amounts of MgO (<0.1 wt.%), although these examples are mainly from Mg-poor alkaline igneous rocks such as nepheline syenites. However, this work shows that nepheline and kalsilite with much higher MgO concentrations can occur in the groundmass of strongly SiO2-undersaturated, feldspar-free, mafic volcanic rocks (i.e. olivine-rich foidites). Furthermore, a strong positive correlation is evident between their Mg and Fe contents. The occurrence of Mg-rich nepheline and kalsilite seems to be related to their derivation from Mg-rich magmas when compared to most of the host rocks investigated to date. Additionally, the physicochemical conditions of crystallisation seem to have an important role in the incorporation of ‘small’ divalent cations by these minerals. The prevalence of Mg-rich nepheline and kalsilite as late magmatic phases and the divergent Mg and Fe relationships for phenocrysts and ‘quenched’ groundmass crystals support this hypothesis. The positive correlation between Mg and Fe contents reflects their strong geochemical affinity and the entrance of Fe3+, Fe2+ and Mg2+ cations into the same crystallographic site of nepheline and kalsilite structures. The calculation of atomic formulae and stoichiometry parameters for nepheline-group minerals where data for the T2+ cations (e.g. Mg2+) are incorporated gives more reliable compositional parameters (see Paper 1). Calculated excess silica values (Si′) are affected significantly when the coupled substitution 2Al3+ = Mg2+ + Si4+ is considered. Thus, specific analyses of ‘small’ divalent cations are essential to obtain more realistic values of excess Si′, in particular, for nepheline and kalsilite that crystallised from Mg-rich, Si-poor, mafic–ultramafic alkaline lavas.