A recent outbreak of cryptosporidiosis (Cryptosporidium parvum, subtype IIdA23G1) among veterinary students associated with extracurricular activities concerned with lambs is described from Norway. Although cryptosporidiosis outbreaks among veterinary students have been frequently reported, this is among the first from lamb contact. Cryptosporidium oocysts were detected in samples from two students and three lambs. A questionnaire distributed immediately after the outbreak was recognized, identified an assumed attack rate of 50% based on exposure and illness among exposed students (28 of 56), despite most reporting good or very good hygiene measures. Laboratory diagnostics confirmed infection in two of these. The illness lasted over a week in most students (up to 15 days), but contact with health services was negligible. In addition to implementing measures to reduce the likelihood of further such outbreaks among veterinary students, it is recommended that future outbreaks of diarrhoea among ruminants on the farm should be investigated for aetiological agents.

Psychopathology is intergenerationally transmitted through both genetic and environmental mechanisms via heterotypic (cross-domain), homotypic (domain-specific), and general (e.g., “p-factor”) pathways. The current study leveraged an adopted-at-birth design, the Early Growth and Development Study (57% male; 55.6% White, 19.3% Multiracial, 13% Black/African American, 10.9% Hispanic/Latine) to explore the relative influence of these pathways via associations between adoptive caregiver psychopathology (indexing potential environmental transmission) and birth parent psychopathology (indexing genetic transmission) with adolescent internalizing and externalizing symptoms. We included composite measures of adoptive and birth parent internalizing, externalizing, and substance use domains, and a general “p-factor.” Age 11 adolescent internalizing and externalizing symptom scores were the average of adoptive parent reports on the Child Behavior Checklist (n = 407). Examining domains independently without addressing comorbidity can lead to incorrect interpretations of transmission mode. Therefore, we also examined symptom severity (like the “p-factor”) and an orthogonal symptom directionality score to more cleanly disentangle transmission modes. The pattern of correlations was consistent with mostly general transmission in families with youth showing comorbid internalizing and externalizing symptoms, rather than homotypic transmission. Findings more strongly supported potential environmental or evocative mechanisms of intergenerational transmission than genetic transmission mechanisms (though see limitations). Parent-specific effects are discussed.

Humankind's main defence against the virus that causes COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2), besides vaccine development, was co-ordinated behaviour change. In many countries, co-ordination was assisted by tracking surveys designed to measure self-reported behaviour and attitudes. This paper describes an alternative, complementary approach, which was undertaken in close collaboration with officials in the Department of the Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister). We adapted the Day Reconstruction Method (DRM) to develop the ‘Social Activity Measure’ (SAM). The study was conducted fortnightly for 18 months, with findings delivered directly to the Department. This paper describes the method and shows how SAM generated a detailed picture of where and why transmission risk occurred. By using the DRM, we built aggregate measures from narrative accounts of how individuals spent their previous day. SAM recorded the amount, location and type of social activity, including the incidence of close contact and mask-wearing, as well as compliance with public health restrictions by shops and businesses. The method also permitted a detailed analysis of how public perceptions and comprehension are related to behaviour. The results informed government communications and strategies for lifting public health restrictions. The method could be applied to other future situations that might require co-ordinated public behaviour over an extended period.

Weathered perthite and mixed muscovite-kaolinite from a kaolinitic granite at Trial Hill in east Queensland and kaolinized sericitic alteration from a granite from the Ardlethan Tin Mine of New South Wales were examined by optical, scanning electron (SEM), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) to determine the alteration process of muscovite to kaolinite and kaolinite to halloysite (7Å). Muscovite was found intimately interleaved with kaolinite in a variety of proportions on a sub-micrometer scale. The contact was generally parallel to the (001) layers of both minerals, and the thickness of the contact layer alternated between 10 and 7 Å over short distances. Where the kaolinite to muscovite contact was at an acute angle to the muscovite layers, a small angle existed between the layering of the two phases, consistent with a topotactic alteration of muscovite to kaolinite. One tetrahedral sheet in the muscovite appeared to have been removed over 50–100 Å, converting a 10-Å layer to a 7-Å layer. The mica near the contact with kaolinite was easily damaged in the electron beam and showed Al loss during analytical transmission electron microscopy; thus, H3O+ probably substituted for K+ in this transitional phase.

An SEM examination of completely weathered plagioclase showed kaolinite plates having attached, parallel, polygonal rods of halloysite (7Å), which had planar sides and a central void, partly fused with the surfaces of the kaolinite crystals. TEM study showed that the kaolinite altered to halloysite, and that, where the kaolinite was partly altered to halloysite, a series of sharp kinks were present in the kaolinite plate in which alteration had occurred. These kinks were interspersed with linear kaolinite relics, 0.1–0.2 μm long, which appear to have provided local rigidity to the clay packet. Apparently, the altered clay first curled into loosely wound spirals, which ranged in cross-section from triangles to irregular octagons, with pentagons and hexagons being most common. The tendency to pentagons and hexagons compares well with a statistical study of the angles, which were most commonly grouped around 120°. As alteration of the kaolinite relics progressed, the linear parts of the spiral lost their rigidity and became circular or oval shaped. The long axis of the halloysite spirals was parallel to the X axis of the kaolinite. Halloysite spirals formed most readily if they had space to curl; if space was not available, the halloysite formed sheaves. Rare, thin layers of muscovite were present projecting through kaolinite into halloysite. Where muscovite relics reached open spaces, the 10-Å structure expanded to 14 Å.

Close-range sensors are employed to observe glaciological processes that operate over short timescales (e.g. iceberg calving, glacial lake outburst floods, diurnal surface melting). However, under poor weather conditions optical instruments fail while the operation of radar systems below 17 GHz do not have sufficient angular resolution to map glacier surfaces in detail. This letter reviews the potential of millimetre-wave radar at 94 GHz to obtain high-resolution 3-D measurements of glaciers under most weather conditions. We discuss the theory of 94 GHz radar for glaciology studies, demonstrate its potential to map a glacier calving front and summarise future research priorities.

Research on proactive and reactive aggression has identified covariates unique to each function of aggression, but hypothesized correlates have often not been tested with consideration of developmental changes in or the overlap between the types of aggression. The present study examines the unique developmental trajectories of proactive and reactive aggression over adolescence and young adulthood and tests these trajectories’ associations with key covariates: callous–unemotional (CU) traits, impulsivity, and internalizing emotions. In a sample of 1,211 justice-involved males (ages 15–22), quadratic growth models (i.e., intercepts, linear slopes, and quadratic slopes) of each type of aggression were regressed onto quadratic growth models of the covariates while controlling for the other type of aggression. After accounting for the level of reactive aggression, the level of proactive aggression was predicted by the level of CU traits. However, change in proactive aggression over time was not related to the change in any covariates. After accounting for proactive aggression, reactive aggression was predicted by impulsivity, both at the initial level and in change over time. Results support that proactive and reactive aggression are unique constructs with separate developmental trajectories and distinct covariates.

Background: Mutations in the slow skeletal muscle troponin T (TNNT1) gene cause a congenital nemaline myopathy resulting in death from respiratory insufficiency in early infancy. We report on four French Canadians with a novel congenital TNNT1 myopathy. Methods: Patients underwent lower extremity and paraspinal MRI, quadriceps biopsy and genetic testing. TNNT1 expression in muscle was assessed by quantitative PCR and immunoblotting. Wild type or mutated TNNT1 mRNAs were co-injected with morpholinos in a zebrafish knockdown model to assess for rescue of the morphant phenotype. Results: Four patients shared a novel missense homozygous mutation in TNNT1. They developed from childhood slowly progressive limb-girdle weakness with spinal rigidity and contractures. They suffered from restrictive lung disease and recurrent episodes of rhabdomyolysis. Older patients remained ambulatory into their sixties. Lower extremity MRI showed symmetrical myopathic changes. Paraspinal MRI showed diffuse fibro-fatty involution. Biopsies showed multi-minicores. Nemaline rods were seen in half the patients. TNNT1 mRNA expression was similar in controls and patients, while levels of TNNT1 protein were reduced in patients. Wild type TNNT1 mRNA rescued the zebrafish morphants but mutant transcripts failed to do so. Conclusions: This study expands the spectrum of TNNT1-related myopathy to include a milder clinical phenotype caused by a functionally-confirmed novel mutation.

Background: Mutations in the slow skeletal muscle troponin T (TNNT1) gene cause a congenital nemaline myopathy resulting in death from respiratory insufficiency in early infancy. We report on four French Canadians with a novel congenital TNNT1 myopathy. Methods: Patients underwent lower extremity and paraspinal MRI, quadriceps biopsy and genetic testing. TNNT1 expression in muscle was assessed by quantitative PCR and immunoblotting. Wild type or mutated TNNT1 mRNAs were co-injected with morpholinos in a zebrafish knockdown model to assess for rescue of the morphant phenotype. Results: Four patients shared a novel missense homozygous mutation in TNNT1. They developed from childhood slowly progressive limb-girdle weakness with spinal rigidity and contractures. They suffered from restrictive lung disease and recurrent episodes of rhabdomyolysis. Older patients remained ambulatory into their sixties. Lower extremity MRI showed symmetrical myopathic changes. Paraspinal MRI showed diffuse fibro-fatty involution. Biopsies showed multi-minicores. Nemaline rods were seen in half the patients. TNNT1 mRNA expression was similar in controls and patients, while levels of TNNT1 protein were reduced in patients. Wild type TNNT1 mRNA rescued the zebrafish morphants but mutant transcripts failed to do so. Conclusions: This study expands the spectrum of TNNT1-related myopathy to include a milder clinical phenotype caused by a functionally-confirmed novel mutation.