Galaxy Zoo is an online project to classify morphological features in extra-galactic imaging surveys with public voting. In this paper, we compare the classifications made for two different surveys, the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) imaging survey and a part of the Kilo-Degree Survey (KiDS), in the equatorial fields of the Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey. Our aim is to cross-validate and compare the classifications based on different imaging quality and depth. We find that generally the voting agrees globally but with substantial scatter, that is, substantial differences for individual galaxies. There is a notable higher voting fraction in favour of ‘smooth’ galaxies in the DESI+zoobot classifications, most likely due to the difference between imaging depth. DESI imaging is shallower and slightly lower resolution than KiDS and the Galaxy Zoo images do not reveal details such as disc features and thus are missed in the zoobot training sample. We check against expert visual classifications and find good agreement with KiDS-based Galaxy Zoo voting. We reproduce the results from Porter-Temple+ (2022), on the dependence of stellar mass, star formation, and specific star formation on the number of spiral arms. This shows that once corrected for redshift, the DESI Galaxy Zoo and KiDS Galaxy Zoo classifications agree well on population properties. The zoobot cross-validation increases confidence in its ability to compliment Galaxy Zoo classifications and its ability for transfer learning across surveys.

The reading the mind in the eyes test (RMET) – which assesses the theory of mind component of social cognition – is often used to compare social cognition between patients with schizophrenia and healthy controls. There is, however, no systematic review integrating the results of these studies. We identified 198 studies published before July 2020 that administered RMET to patients with schizophrenia or healthy controls from three English-language and two Chinese-language databases. These studies included 41 separate samples of patients with schizophrenia (total n = 1836) and 197 separate samples of healthy controls (total n = 23 675). The pooled RMET score was 19.76 (95% CI 18.91–20.60) in patients and 25.53 (95% CI 25.19–25.87) in controls (z = 12.41, p < 0.001). After excluding small-sample outlier studies, this difference in RMET performance was greater in studies using non-English v. English versions of RMET (Chi [Q] = 8.54, p < 0.001). Meta-regression analyses found a negative association of age with RMET score and a positive association of years of schooling with RMET score in both patients and controls. A secondary meta-analysis using a spline construction of 180 healthy control samples identified a non-monotonic relationship between age and RMET score – RMET scores increased with age before 31 and decreased with age after 31. These results indicate that patients with schizophrenia have substantial deficits in theory of mind compared with healthy controls, supporting the construct validity of RMET as a measure of social cognition. The different results for English versus non-English versions of RMET and the non-monotonic relationship between age and RMET score highlight the importance of the language of administration of RMET and the possibility that the relationship of aging with theory of mind is different from the relationship of aging with other types of cognitive functioning.

Background: Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) are endemic in the Chicago region. We assessed the regional impact of a CRE control intervention targeting high-prevalence facilities; that is, long-term acute-care hospitals (LTACHs) and ventilator-capable skilled nursing facilities (vSNFs). Methods: In July 2017, an academic–public health partnership launched a regional CRE prevention bundle: (1) identifying patient CRE status by querying Illinois’ XDRO registry and periodic point-prevalence surveys reported to public health, (2) cohorting or private rooms with contact precautions for CRE patients, (3) combining hand hygiene adherence, monitoring with general infection control education, and guidance by project coordinators and public health, and (4) daily chlorhexidine gluconate (CHG) bathing. Informed by epidemiology and modeling, we targeted LTACHs and vSNFs in a 13-mile radius from the coordinating center. Illinois mandates CRE reporting to the XDRO registry, which can also be manually queried or generate automated alerts to facilitate interfacility communication. The regional intervention promoted increased automation of alerts to hospitals. The prespecified primary outcome was incident clinical CRE culture reported to the XDRO registry in Cook County by month, analyzed by segmented regression modeling. A secondary outcome was colonization prevalence measured by serial point-prevalence surveys for carbapenemase-producing organism colonization in LTACHs and vSNFs. Results: All eligible LTACHs (n = 6) and vSNFs (n = 9) participated in the intervention. One vSNF declined CHG bathing. vSNFs that implemented CHG bathing typically bathed residents 2–3 times per week instead of daily. Overall, there were significant gaps in infection control practices, especially in vSNFs. Also, 75 Illinois hospitals adopted automated alerts (56 during the intervention period). Mean CRE incidence in Cook County decreased from 59.0 cases per month during baseline to 40.6 cases per month during intervention (P < .001). In a segmented regression model, there was an average reduction of 10.56 cases per month during the 24-month intervention period (P = .02) (Fig. 1), and an estimated 253 incident CRE cases were averted. Mean CRE incidence also decreased among the stratum of vSNF/LTACH intervention facilities (P = .03). However, evidence of ongoing CRE transmission, particularly in vSNFs, persisted, and CRE colonization prevalence remained high at intervention facilities (Table 1). Conclusions: A resource-intensive public health regional CRE intervention was implemented that included enhanced interfacility communication and targeted infection prevention. There was a significant decline in incident CRE clinical cases in Cook County, despite high persistent CRE colonization prevalence in intervention facilities. vSNFs, where understaffing or underresourcing were common and lengths of stay range from months to years, had a major prevalence challenge, underscoring the need for aggressive infection control improvements in these facilities.

Funding: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (SHEPheRD Contract No. 200-2011-42037)

Disclosures: M.Y.L. has received research support in the form of contributed product from OpGen and Sage Products (now part of Stryker Corporation), and has received an investigator-initiated grant from CareFusion Foundation (now part of BD).

Dunes adjacent to the Snow Water Lake playa in Elko County of northeastern Nevada rise up to ~10 m above the playa surface in seven distinct clusters. The dunes are composed of tan silty loam containing calcite, quartz, plagioclase, and dioctahedral clay. Abundances of trace elements, along with relative proportions of quartz and calcite, are distinct between dunes along the north and south sides of the playa, reflecting proximity to streams draining different lithologies in the neighboring mountains. Luminescence (optically stimulated luminescence and infrared-stimulated luminescence) dating of dune crest samples demonstrates that the last episode of dune accumulation occurred in the mid-eighteenth century. Moisture-sensitive tree ring records from a nearby site indicate that dune accumulation coincided with an interval of below-average precipitation immediately following a very wet decade. This sequence is consistent with models requiring wetter climatic conditions to move coarse sediment onto a playa surface, followed by dune building under drier conditions. Younger luminescence ages from a sand-dominated unit exposed in an arroyo cut through the dunes may reflect a wetter, more erosive climatic regime ca. AD 1800. The Snow Water Lake dunes are currently eroding, signaling a reduction in the amount of sediment reaching the playa.

Background: The degree of overlap between schizophrenia (SCZ) and affective psychosis (AFF) has been a recurring question since Kraepelin’s subdivision of the major psychoses. Studying nonpsychotic relatives allows a comparison of disorder-associated phenotypes, without potential confounds that can obscure distinctive features of the disorder. Because attention and working memory have been proposed as potential endophenotypes for SCZ and AFF, we compared these cognitive features in individuals at familial high-risk (FHR) for the disorders. Methods: Young, unmedicated, first-degree relatives (ages, 13–25 years) at FHR-SCZ (n=41) and FHR-AFF (n=24) and community controls (CCs, n=54) were tested using attention and working memory versions of the Auditory Continuous Performance Test. To determine if schizotypal traits or current psychopathology accounted for cognitive deficits, we evaluated psychosis proneness using three Chapman Scales, Revised Physical Anhedonia, Perceptual Aberration, and Magical Ideation, and assessed psychopathology using the Hopkins Symptom Checklist -90 Revised. Results: Compared to controls, the FHR-AFF sample was significantly impaired in auditory vigilance, while the FHR-SCZ sample was significantly worse in working memory. Both FHR groups showed significantly higher levels of physical anhedonia and some psychopathological dimensions than controls. Adjusting for physical anhedonia, phobic anxiety, depression, psychoticism, and obsessive-compulsive symptoms eliminated the FHR-AFF vigilance effects but not the working memory deficits in FHR-SCZ. Conclusions: The working memory deficit in FHR-SZ was the more robust of the cognitive impairments after accounting for psychopathological confounds and is supported as an endophenotype. Examination of larger samples of people at familial risk for different psychoses remains necessary to confirm these findings and to clarify the role of vigilance in FHR-AFF. (JINS, 2016, 22, 1026–1037)

The Rank Forum on Vitamin D was held on 2nd and 3rd July 2009 at the University of Surrey, Guildford, UK. The workshop consisted of a series of scene-setting presentations to address the current issues and challenges concerning vitamin D and health, and included an open discussion focusing on the identification of the concentrations of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) (a marker of vitamin D status) that may be regarded as optimal, and the implications this process may have in the setting of future dietary reference values for vitamin D in the UK. The Forum was in agreement with the fact that it is desirable for all of the population to have a serum 25(OH)D concentration above 25 nmol/l, but it discussed some uncertainty about the strength of evidence for the need to aim for substantially higher concentrations (25(OH)D concentrations>75 nmol/l). Any discussion of ‘optimal’ concentration of serum 25(OH)D needs to define ‘optimal’ with care since it is important to consider the normal distribution of requirements and the vitamin D needs for a wide range of outcomes. Current UK reference values concentrate on the requirements of particular subgroups of the population; this differs from the approaches used in other European countries where a wider range of age groups tend to be covered. With the re-emergence of rickets and the public health burden of low vitamin D status being already apparent, there is a need for urgent action from policy makers and risk managers. The Forum highlighted concerns regarding the failure of implementation of existing strategies in the UK for achieving current vitamin D recommendations.

During surveys conducted 2–20 April 1986 in Gerlache Strait, Antarctic Peninsula, 103 humpback whales Megaptera novaeangliae and eight right whales Eubalaena australis were sighted. The right whale sightings extend the southern limit of known distribution for the species. Humpback and right whale densities were respectively 0.22 (sd 0.23) and 0.01 (sd 0.06) whales per survey mile. Highest densities for both species were recorded inside bays, rather than in the relatively open water of Gerlache Strait. Both species were feeding on Antarctic krill Euphausia superba. Twenty-three humpback and four right whales were identified individually using photographs of natural features. Also included are sighting records of 18 southern bottlenose whales Hyperoodon planifrons.