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Plant growth requires the integration of internal and external cues, perceived and transduced into a developmental programme of cell division, elongation and wall thickening. Mechanical forces contribute to this regulation, and thigmomorphogenesis typically includes reducing stem height, increasing stem diameter, and a canonical transcriptomic response. We present data on a bZIP transcription factor involved in this process in grasses. Brachypodium distachyon SECONDARY WALL INTERACTING bZIP (SWIZ) protein translocated into the nucleus following mechanostimulation. Classical touch-responsive genes were upregulated in B. distachyon roots following touch, including significant induction of the glycoside hydrolase 17 family, which may be unique to grass thigmomorphogenesis. SWIZ protein binding to an E-box variant in exons and introns was associated with immediate activation followed by repression of gene expression. SWIZ overexpression resulted in plants with reduced stem and root elongation. These data further define plant touch-responsive transcriptomics and physiology, offering insights into grass mechanotranduction dynamics.
Informal carers (unpaid family members and friends), are critical to millions worldwide for the ongoing delivery of health and well-being needs. However, the physical and mental wellbeing of caregivers is often poor including low levels of physical activity, frequently owed to contributing factors such as lack of time, lack of support and motivation. Thus, accessible evidence-based tools to facilitate physical activity for carers are urgently needed.
Objective:
The aim of this study was to co-design and develop a novel mobile app to educate and support carers in the undertaking of regular physical activity. This is achieved via integration of the transtheoretical model of behaviour change and UK physical activity guidelines across 8 weeks of use.
Methods:
We co-designed a mobile app, “CareFit,” by directly involving caregivers, health care professionals, and social care professionals in the requirements, capturing, and evaluation phases across a number of Agile Scrum development sprints. Requirements for CareFit were grounded in a combination of behavioural change science and UK government physical activity guidelines.
Results:
Participants identified different barriers and enablers to physical activity, such as a lack of time, recognition of existing activities, and concerns regarding safely undertaking physical activity. Requirements analysis highlighted the importance of simplicity in design and a need to anchor development around the everyday needs of caregivers (eg, easy-to-use video instructions, reducing text). Our final prototype app integrated guidance for undertaking physical activity at home through educational, physical activity, and communication components.
Conclusions:
Integrating government guidelines with models of behavioural change into a mobile app to support the physical activity of carers is novel and holds future promise. Integrating core physical activity guidelines into a co-designed smartphone app with functionality such as a weekly planner and educational material for users is feasible acceptable and usable. Here we will document the latest developments on the project including an ongoing national study currently taking place in Scotland to test the prototype with 50 carers.
The Weches Formation of the Claiborne Group (Eocene) in northeast Texas consists of clayey sandstones and mudrocks, both with variable proportions of dark green to brown clay peloids deposited in a marginal to open marine setting on the Gulf Coast margin. The composition of the dark green peloids, from two localities, has been investigated using X-ray diffraction, back-scattered electron microscopy with X-ray analysis, electron energy-loss spectroscopy (EELS), Mössbauer spectroscopy, chemical analysis and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. These peloids were previously described on the basis of their color as glauconite (Yancey and Davidoff, 1994); our results, however, show that the dark green indurated pellets are predominantly composed of mixed-layer clays with a high proportion of Fe-rich 7 Å serpentine layers coexisting with a mixed-layer phase containing glauconite, nontronite and vermiculite layers, in addition to discrete illite and kaolinte. Analyses by EELS of single particles with a chemical composition consistent with them being the Fe-rich clay indicate that the Fe is >95% ferric, while Mössbauer analyses of the bulk magnetically separated fraction for the same samples indicates a ferric iron content of ∼60–70%, despite the variable relative proportions of expandable and 7 Å layers. Taking into account that there is a significant amount of 2:1 layers containing ferric Fe, we interpret these data as indicating that the Fe in the 7 Å layers has a significant amount of Fe2+ even taking into account the high ferric Fe ratio from the EELS analysis when the coexisting 2:1 layers are considered. Thus, these 1:1 layers are closer to berthierine in composition than to odinite. The vermiculite layers in the Texas clay may indicate partial ‘verdinization’ of expandable 2:1 clay. A possible reaction is smectite → vermiculite → berthierine-like phase. We estimate a temperature of 20°C for the seawater in which the Texas clay formed, the lower end of the range for modern occurrences of odinite.
Individuals living with HIV may experience cognitive difficulties or marked declines known as HIV-Associated Neurocognitive Disorder (HAND). Cognitive difficulties have been associated with worse outcomes for people living with HIV, therefore, accurate cognitive screening and identification is critical. One potentially sensitive marker of cognitive impairment which has been underutilized, is intra-individual variability (IIV). Cognitive IIV is the dispersion of scores across tasks in neuropsychological assessment. In individuals living with HIV, greater cognitive IIV has been associated with cortical atrophy, poorer cognitive functioning, with more rapid declines, and greater difficulties in daily functioning. Studies examining the use of IIV in clinical neuropsychological testing are limited, and few have examined IIV in the context of a single neuropsychological battery designed for culturally diverse or at-risk populations. To address these gaps, this study aimed to examine IIV profiles of individuals living with HIV and who inject drugs, utilizing the Neuropsi, a standardized neuropsychological instrument for Spanish speaking populations.
Participants and Methods:
Spanish speaking adults residing in Puerto Rico (n=90) who are HIV positive and who inject drugs (HIV+I), HIV negative and who inject drugs (HIV-I), HIV positive who do not inject drugs (HIV+), or healthy controls (HC) completed the Neuropsi battery as part of a larger research protocol. The Neuropsi produces 3 index scores representing cognitive domains of memory, attention/memory, and attention/executive functioning. Total battery and within index IIV were calculated by dividing the standard deviation of T-scores by mean performance, resulting in a coefficient of variance (CoV). Group differences on overall test battery mean CoV (OTBMCoV) were investigated. To examine unique profiles of index specific IIV, a cluster analysis was performed for each group.
Results:
Results of a one-way ANOVA indicated significant between group differences on OTBMCoV (F[3,86]=6.54, p<.001). Post-hoc analyses revealed that HIV+I (M=.55, SE=.07, p=.003), HIV-I (M=.50, SE=.03, p=.001), and HIV+ (M=.48, SE=.02, p=.002) had greater OTBMCoV than the HC group (M=.30, SE=.02). To better understand sources of IIV within each group, cluster analysis of index specific IIV was conducted. For the HIV+ group, 3 distinct clusters were extracted: 1. High IIV in attention/memory and attention/executive functioning (n=3, 8%); 2. Elevated memory IIV (n=21, 52%); 3. Low IIV across all indices (n=16, 40%). For the HIV-I group, 2 distinct clusters were extracted: 1. High IIV across all 3 indices (n=7, 24%) and 2. Low IIV across all 3 indices (n=22, 76%). For the HC group, 3 distinct clusters were extracted: 1. Very low IIV across all 3 indices (n=5, 36%); 2. Elevated memory IIV (n=6, 43%); 3. Elevated attention/executive functioning IIV with very low attention/memory and memory IIV (n=3, 21%). Sample size of the HIV+I group was insufficient to extract clusters.
Conclusions:
Current findings support IIV in the Neuropsi test battery as clinically sensitive marker for cognitive impairment in Spanish speaking individuals living with HIV or who inject drugs. Furthermore, the distinct IIV cluster types identified between groups can help to better understand specific sources of variability. Implications for clinical assessment in prognosis and etiological considerations are discussed.
Injection drug use is a significant public health crisis with adverse health outcomes, including increased risk of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. Comorbidity of HIV and injection drug use is highly prevalent in the United States and disproportionately elevated in surrounding territories such as Puerto Rico. While both HIV status and injection drug use are independently known to be associated with cognitive deficits, the interaction of these effects remains largely unknown. The aim of this study was to determine how HIV status and injection drug use are related to cognitive functioning in a group of Puerto Rican participants. Additionally, we investigated the degree to which type and frequency of substance use predict cognitive abilities.
Participants and Methods:
96 Puerto Rican adults completed the Neuropsi Attention and Memory-3rd Edition battery for Spanish-speaking participants. Injection substance use over the previous 12 months was also obtained via clinical interview. Participants were categorized into four groups based on HIV status and injection substance use in the last 30 days (HIV+/injector, HIV+/non-injector, HIV/injector, HIV-/non-injector). One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted to determine differences between groups on each index of the Neuropsi battery (Attention and Executive Function; Memory; Attention and Memory). Multiple linear regression was used to determine whether type and frequency of substance use predicted performance on these indices while considering HIV status.
Results:
The one-way ANOVAs revealed significant differences (p’s < 0.01) between the healthy control group and all other groups across all indices. No significant differences were observed between the other groups. Injection drug use, regardless of the substance, was associated with lower combined attention and memory performance compared to those who inject less than monthly (Monthly: p = 0.04; 2-3x daily: p < 0.01; 4-7x daily: p = 0.02; 8+ times daily: p < 0.01). Both minimal and heavy daily use predicted poorer memory performance (p = 0.02 and p = 0.01, respectively). Heavy heroin use predicted poorer attention and executive functioning (p = 0.04). Heroin use also predicted lower performance on tests of memory when used monthly (p = 0.049), and daily or almost daily (2-6x weekly: p = 0.04; 4-7x daily: p = 0.04). Finally, moderate injection of heroin predicted lower scores on attention and memory (Weekly: p = 0.04; 2-6x weekly: p = 0.048). Heavy combined heroin and cocaine use predicted worse memory performance (p = 0.03) and combined attention and memory (p = 0.046). HIV status was not a moderating factor in any circumstance.
Conclusions:
As predicted, residents of Puerto Rico who do not inject substances and are HIVnegative performed better in domains of memory, attention, and executive function than those living with HIV and/or inject substances. There was no significant difference among the affected groups in cognitive ability. As expected, daily injection of substances predicted worse performance on tasks of memory. Heavy heroin use predicted worse performance on executive function and memory tasks, while heroin-only and combined heroin and cocaine use predicted worse memory performance. Overall, the type and frequency of substance is more predictive of cognitive functioning than HIV status.
The cardiovascular adaptations associated with structured exercise training in Fontan patients remain unknown. We hypothesised that short-term training causes cardiac remodelling and parallel improvement in maximal exercise capacity (VO2 max) in these patients.
Methods and Results:
Five patients, median age 19.5 (17.6–21.3) years, with a history of Fontan operation meeting inclusion/exclusion criteria, participated in a 3-month training programme designed to improve endurance. Magnetic resonance images for assessment of cardiac function, fibrosis, cardiac output, and liver elastography to assess stiffness were obtained at baseline and after training. Maximal exercise capacity (VO2 max) and cardiac output Qc (effective pulmonary blood flow) at rest and during exercise were measured (C2H2 rebreathing) at the same interval. VO2 max increased from median (IQR) 27.2 (26–28.7) to 29.6 (28.5–32.2) ml/min/kg (p = 0.04). There was an improvement in cardiac output (Qc) during maximal exercise testing from median (IQR) 10.3 (10.1–12.3) to 12.3 (10.9–14.9) l/min, but this change was variable (p = 0.14). Improvement in VO2 max correlated with an increase in ventricular mass (r = 0.95, p = 0.01), and improvement in Quality-of-life inventory (PedsQL) Cardiac scale scores for patient-reported symptoms (r = 0.90, p = 0.03) and cognitive problems (r = 0.89, p = 0.04). The correlation between VO2 max and Qc showed a positive trend but was not significant (r = 0.8, p = 0.08). No adverse cardiac or liver adaptations were noted.
Conclusion:
Short-term training improved exercise capacity in this Fontan pilot without any adverse cardiac or liver adaptations. These results warrant further study in a larger population and over a longer duration of time.
This paper contributes to this special issue by examining the existentialist themes re-emerging in Ontological Security Studies (OSS) and does so by proposing an under-explored and overlapping terrain regarding the function of myths and ontological security. What Blumenberg calls the ‘absolutism of reality’ becomes something to avoid through the process of telling, retelling, and adapting myths to suit our existential needs. The paper distinguishes our existentialist intervention into OSS from recent ones within that research community and then draws examples of the work on and of myth from the recent Covid-19 pandemic. Speaking to the need for OSS to develop an ethical-political perspective to not only explain but also change the world, the account we develop here also provides a pathway for an alternative politics based in counter-myth. It discloses, therefore, a promising and, in the face of rising authoritarianism and anti-democratic forces, necessary moral ethos regarding prescriptive ideas about what to do and how to confront and and counter the mounting challenges of global politics in the 2020s and beyond.
Background: Saskatchewan’s Rural and Remote Memory Clinic (RRMC) has provided post-diagnostic virtual dementia care for approximately 19 years. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic and a new need for remote dementia diagnosis, we developed a virtual, team-based, interdisciplinary (neurology, neuropsychology, nursing), diagnostic memory clinic (vRRMC). We evaluated patient and caregiver satisfaction with the new virtual clinic. Methods: Semi-structured telephone interviews were conducted with rural vRRMC patients (n=7), caregivers (n= 13), and one patient/caregiver dyad. Ages of respondents ranged from 40 to 70 years old (60% female). Level of diagnosed cognitive dysfunction ranged from subjective cognitive impairment to major neurocognitive disorder. Respondents saved an average of 460 km of travel compared to a trip to Saskatoon. Results: Thematic analysis of responses revealed universal satisfaction with the virtual model. The technology training sessions, offered prior to the first vRRMC visit, was described as important for satisfaction. Analysis of preference for future visits revealed more nuance; some preferred in-person visits and planned to travel for future appointments post-pandemic, while others preferred to maintain the virtual model due to perceived travel burden (cost, time, and inconvenience). Conclusions: When clinically appropriate, virtual diagnostic memory clinics should persist as an option post pandemic for families who experience high travel burden.
Consumers now demand evidence of welfare assurance at all stages of animal production, marketing, transport and slaughter. In response, retailers have increasingly adopted preferred supply chain relationships which preclude sourcing animals via livestock auction markets. One of the criteria dictating this action is a perceived improvement in animal welfare resulting from direct transport from farm to abattoir.
A survey of complete journey structures of 18 393 slaughterweight lambs from farm to abattoir was conducted between April and July 1997. Journeys were characterized in terms of distances travelled, duration and the number of discrete components within a whole journey which comprised: transport; trans-shipping (when animals were transferred from one vehicle to another); multiple pickups from a number of farms; and holding at either assembly points, lairages or auction markets. The results identified that journeys in the livestock distribution system are diverse and range in complexity, irrespective of marketing channel. Journey complexity was found to be positively related to distance travelled.
The study demonstrates that discussions concerning welfare of livestock in transit should consider the journey structure and not just the marketing channel per se. Furthermore, it also shows that changes taking place in the infrastructure of the marketing and meat processing sectors may result in a reduction in animal welfare.
The Residual Lesion Score is a novel tool for assessing the achievement of surgical objectives in congenital heart surgery based on widely available clinical and echocardiographic characteristics. This article describes the methodology used to develop the Residual Lesion Score from the previously developed Technical Performance Score for five common congenital cardiac procedures using the RAND Delphi methodology.
Methods:
A panel of 11 experts from the field of paediatric and congenital cardiology and cardiac surgery, 2 co-chairs, and a consultant were assembled to review and comment on validity and feasibility of measuring the sub-components of intraoperative and discharge Residual Lesion Score for five congenital cardiac procedures. In the first email round, the panel reviewed and commented on the Residual Lesion Score and provided validity and feasibility scores for sub-components of each of the five procedures. In the second in-person round, email comments and scores were reviewed and the Residual Lesion Score revised. The modified Residual Lesion Score was scored independently by each panellist for validity and feasibility and used to develop the “final” Residual Lesion Score.
Results:
The Residual Lesion Score sub-components with a median validity score of ≥7 and median feasibility score of ≥4 that were scored without disagreement and with low absolute deviation from the median were included in the “final” Residual Lesion Score.
Conclusion:
Using the RAND Delphi methodology, we were able to develop Residual Lesion Score modules for five important congenital cardiac procedures for the Pediatric Heart Network’s Residual Lesion Score study.
A crucial reckoning was initiated when the COVID-19 pandemic began to expose and intensify long-standing racial/ethnic health inequities, all while various sectors of society pursued racial justice reform. As a result, there has been a contextual shift towards broader recognition of systemic racism, and not race, as the shared foundational driver of both societal maladies. This confluence of issues is of particular relevance to Black populations disproportionately affected by the pandemic and racial injustice. In response, institutions have initiated diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts as a way forward. This article considers how the dual pandemic climate of COVID-19-related health inequities and the racial justice movement could exacerbate the “time and effort tax” on Black faculty to engage in DEI efforts in academia and biomedicine. We discuss the impact of this “tax” on career advancement and well-being, and introduce an operational framework for considering the interconnected influence of systemic racism, the dual pandemics, and DEI work on the experience of Black faculty. If not meaningfully addressed, the “time and effort tax” could contribute to Black and other underrepresented minority faculty leaving academia and biomedicine – consequently, the very diversity, equity, and inclusion work meant to increase representation could decrease it.
Political scientists have increasingly deployed conjoint survey experiments to understand multidimensional choices in various settings. In this paper, we show that the average marginal component effect (AMCE) constitutes an aggregation of individual-level preferences that is meaningful both theoretically and empirically. First, extending previous results to allow for arbitrary randomization distributions, we show how the AMCE represents a summary of voters’ multidimensional preferences that combines directionality and intensity according to a probabilistic generalization of the Borda rule. We demonstrate why incorporating both the directionality and intensity of multi-attribute preferences is essential for analyzing real-world elections, in which ceteris paribus comparisons almost never occur. Second, and in further empirical support of this point, we show how this aggregation translates directly into a primary quantity of interest to election scholars: the effect of a change in an attribute on a candidate’s or party’s expected vote share. These properties hold irrespective of the heterogeneity, strength, or interactivity of voters’ preferences and regardless of how votes are aggregated into seats. Finally, we propose, formalize, and evaluate the feasibility of using conjoint data to estimate alternative quantities of interest to electoral studies, including the effect of an attribute on the probability of winning.
U.S. privacy law often is criticized in comparison with international privacy regimes, particularly the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation. Parts of this criticism are fair, but, at the same time, U.S. privacy law provides meaningful protections in a substantial set of circumstances, and, on occasion, provides either “better” privacy protection than the GDPR or presents a more targeted approach to balancing appropriate privacy protections with other important public policy concerns. This balancing often is not a question of “consumers vs. industry” (although it certainly can be). In some situations—particularly in the health care settings that I will focus on—it often is a question of providing an appropriate balance between privacy interests and other policy interests that benefit both industry and consumers.
While research on bilingual language processing is sensitive to different usage contexts, monolinguals are still often treated as a homogeneous control group, despite frequently using multiple varieties that may require engagement of control mechanisms during lexical access. Adapting a language-switching task for speakers of (Scottish) Standard English and Orcadian Scots, we demonstrate switch cost asymmetries with longer naming latencies when switching back into Orcadian. This pattern, which is reminiscent of unbalanced bilinguals, suggests that Orcadian is the dominant variety of these participants – despite the fact they might be regarded as English monolinguals because of sociolinguistic factors. In conjunction with the observed mixing cost and cognate facilitation effect (indicative of proactive language control and parallel language activation, respectively), these findings show that ‘monolinguals’ need to be scrutinised for routine use of different varieties to gain a better understanding of whether and how mechanisms underlying their lexical access resemble those of bilinguals.
Conjoint survey experiments have become a popular method for analyzing multidimensional preferences in political science. If properly implemented, conjoint experiments can obtain reliable measures of multidimensional preferences and estimate causal effects of multiple attributes on hypothetical choices or evaluations. This chapter provides an accessible overview of the methodology for designing, implementing, and analyzing conjoint survey experiments. Specically, we begin by detailing a new substantive example: how do candidate attributes affect the support of American respondents for candidates running against President Trump in 2020? We then discuss the theoretical underpinnings and key advantages of conjoint designs. We next provide guidelines for practitioners in designing and analyzing conjoint survey experiments. We conclude by discussing further design considerations, common conjoint applications, common criticisms, and possible future directions.
The ‘16Up’ study conducted at the QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute from January 2014 to December 2018 aimed to examine the physical and mental health of young Australian twins aged 16−18 years (N = 876; 371 twin pairs and 18 triplet sets). Measurements included online questionnaires covering physical and mental health as well as information and communication technology (ICT) use, actigraphy, sleep diaries and hair samples to determine cortisol concentrations. Study participants generally rated themselves as being in good physical (79%) and mental (73%) health and reported lower rates of psychological distress and exposure to alcohol, tobacco products or other substances than previously reported for this age group in the Australian population. Daily or near-daily online activity was almost universal among study participants, with no differences noted between males and females in terms of frequency or duration of internet access. Patterns of ICT use in this sample indicated that the respondents were more likely to use online information sources for researching physical health issues than for mental health or substance use issues, and that they generally reported partial levels of satisfaction with the mental health information they found online. This suggests that internet-based mental health resources can be readily accessed by adolescent Australians, and their computer literacy augurs well for future access to online health resources. In combination with other data collected as part of the ongoing Brisbane Longitudinal Twin Study, the 16Up project provides a valuable resource for the longitudinal investigation of genetic and environmental contributions to phenotypic variation in a variety of human traits.
The linear stability of a liquid film falling down an inclined flexible plane under the influence of gravity is investigated using analytical and computational techniques. A general model for the flexible substrate is used leading to a modified Orr–Sommerfeld problem addressed numerically using a Chebyshev tau decomposition. Asymptotic limits of long waves and small Reynolds numbers are addressed analytically and linked to the computations. For long waves, the flexibility has a destabilising effect, where the critical Reynolds number decreases with decreasing stiffness, even destabilising Stokes flow for sufficiently small stiffness. To pursue this further, a Stokes flow approximation was considered, which confirmed the long-wave results, but also revealed a short wave instability not captured by the long-wave expansions. Increasing the surface tension has little effect on these instabilities and so they were characterised as wall modes. Wider exploration revealed mode switching in the dispersion relation, with the wall and surface mode swapping characteristics for higher wavenumbers. The zero-Reynolds-number results demonstrate that the long-wave limit is not sufficient to determine instabilities so the numerical solution for arbitrary wavenumbers was sought. A Chebyshev tau spectral method was implemented and verified against analytical solutions. Short wave wall instabilities persist at larger Reynolds numbers and destabilisation of all Reynolds numbers is achievable by increasing the wall flexibility, however increasing the stiffness reverts back to the rigid wall limit. An energy decomposition analysis is presented and used to identify the salient instability mechanisms and link them to their physical origin.