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Prognostic models for depression and post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms following traumatic brain injury: a CENTER-TBI study
Full text linkBackground: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is associated with an increased risk of major depressive disorder (MDD) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). We aimed to identify predictors and develop models for the prediction of depression and PTSD symptoms at 6 months post-TBI. Methods: We analysed data from the Collaborative European NeuroTrauma Effectiveness Research in Traumatic Brain Injury study. We used linear regression to model the relationship between predictors and depression (Patient Health Questionnaire-9) and PTSD symptoms (PTSD Checklist for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Health Disorders Fifth Edition). Predictors were selected based on Akaike’s Information Criterion. Additionally, we fitted logistic models for the endpoints ‘probable MDD’ and ‘probable PTSD’. We also examined the incremental prognostic value of 2–3 weeks of symptoms. Results: We included 2163 adults (76% Glasgow Coma Scale=13–15). Depending on the scoring criteria, 7–18% screened positive for probable MDD and about 10% for probable PTSD. For both outcomes, the selected models included psychiatric history, employment status, sex, injury cause, alcohol intoxication and total injury severity; and for depression symptoms also preinjury health and education. The performance of the models was modest (proportion of explained variance=R2 8% and 7% for depression and PTSD, respectively). Symptoms assessed at 2–3 weeks had a large incremental prognostic value (delta R2=0.25, 95% CI 0.24 to 0.26 for depression symptoms; delta R2=0.30, 95% CI 0.29 to 0.31 for PTSD). Conclusion: Preinjury characteristics, such as psychiatric history and unemployment, and injury characteristics, such as violent injury cause, can increase the risk of mental health problems after TBI. The identification of patients at risk should be guided by early screening of mental health.Data may be obtained from a third party and are not publicly available. Access to the CENTER-TBI dataset can be granted after approval of a study plan proposal, submitted through the online system: https://www.center-tbi.eu/data
Who is the 'public' when it comes to public opinion on energy? A mixed-methods study of revealed and elicited public attitudes to shale gas extraction
Full text linkShale gas is a contentious energy source. Yet, ‘imagined’ notions of the public (for example, NIMBYs) rarely reflect the reality of public opinion. We use an inductive, empirical approach to define UK publics in relation to shale gas extraction, drawing on multiple data sources (social media, a national survey, and two local surveys) and composite measures. Cluster analyses and thematic coding reveal a diversity of responses ranging from active opposition, through ambivalence, to active support. The number of communities varies by data source and analytical method, but across all datasets we see more opposition than support. Across all datasets, political views were an important lens through which shale gas was understood. Our findings have implications for how developers and policy-makers engage with the public, and expose limitations of pre-defined notions of the public that may not reflect empirical realities
Multi-phase, multi-ethnic GWAS uncovers putative loci in predisposition to human sprint performance, health and disease
Full text linkThe genetic underpinnings of elite sprint performance remain largely elusive. For the first time, we uncovered rs10196189 (GALNT13) in the cross-ancestry, genome-wide analysis of elite sprint and power-oriented athletes and their controls from Jamaica, the USA, and Japan, and replicated this finding in two independent cohorts of elite European athletes (meta-analysis P < 5E-08). We identified statistically significant and borderline associations for cross-ancestry and ancestry specific loci in GALNT13, BOP1, HSF1, STXBP2 GRM7, MPRIP, ZFYVE28, CERS4, and ADAMTS18, predominantly expressed in the nervous and hematopoietic systems. Further, we revealed thirty-six previously uncharacterized genes associated with host defence, leukocyte migration, and cellular responses to interferon-gamma and unveiled (reprioritized) four genes, UQCRFS1, PTPN6, RALY and ZMYM4, responsible for aging, neurological conditions, and blood disorders from the elite athletic performance cohorts. Our results provide new biological insights into elite sprint performance and offer clues to the potential molecular mechanisms interlinking and operating in elite athletic performance and human health and disease.Additional authors: Thomas Venckunas, Paul Cieszczyk, Wim Derave, Ioannis Papadimitriou, Fleur C. Garton, Sandosh Padmanabhan, Yannis P. Pitsiladi
Children consider others’ need and reputation in costly sharing decisions
Full text linkChildren’s sharing decisions are shaped by recipient characteristics such as need and reputation, yet studies often focus on one characteristic at a time. This research examines how combinations of recipient characteristics impact costly sharing decisions among 3- to 9-year-old children (N = 186). Children were informed about the material need (needy or not needy) and reputation (sharing or not sharing) of potential recipients before having the opportunity to share stickers with them. Results indicated that sharing was higher when the recipient was needy and increased more when the recipient had a reputation for sharing. Children shared over half of their stickers with a needy, sharing recipient, and less than half with a not needy, not sharing recipient. Children shared equally with recipients who were needy and not sharing or not needy and sharing, suggesting no preference for either characteristic. To explore the emotional benefits of sharing, children rated their own and the recipient’s mood before and after sharing, showing a greater increase in ratings of the recipient’s mood when more resources were shared. These findings suggest that children consider multiple recipient characteristics in their sharing decisions, demonstrating altruism toward those in need and indirectly reciprocating past sharing based on reputation
A first report of Biomphalaria pfeifferi in the Lower Shire Valley, Southern Malawi, a major intermediate snail host species for intestinal schistosomiasis
Full text linkThe distribution of certain permissive intermediate snail host species in freshwater is a crucial factor shaping transmission of intestinal schistosomiasis, a neglected tropical disease that causes much human suffering in Africa. To shed new light on southern Malawi, where cases of intestinal schistosomiasis have been found, repeated malacological surveys were conducted in Chikwawa and Nsanje Districts in the Lower Shire Valley, to detect and to characterize populations of Biomphalaria, the intermediate host for intestinal schistosomiasis. Sampling took place across a total of 45 freshwater sites, noting water conductivity, pH, temperature, total dissolved salts (TDS) and geographical elevation. The presence or absence of snails was predicted upon physiochemical and environmental conditions in Random Forest modelling. Water conductivity, TDS and geographical elevation were most important in predicting abundance of snails with water temperature and pH of slightly less important roles. This first report of B. pfeifferi in the Lower Shire Valley enhances understanding of the environmental factors that strongly associate and allow prediction of its local distribution. This represents a useful step towards developing appropriate intervention strategies to mitigate intestinal schistosomiasis transmission.Additional authors: Lucas J. Cunningham, Julie-Anne Akiko Tangena & J. Russell Stothar
Is Portfolio Diversification Still Effective: Evidence Spanning Three Crises from the Perspective of U.S. Investors
Full text linkThis paper uses over twenty years of data to examine diversification benefits for U.S. investors through assessing different portfolio opportunities, including a stock (60%)-bond (40%) portfolio, an internationally diversified stock portfolio, and a cross-asset diversified portfolio compared with investing only in the U.S. stock market. Our data set consists of three stock indices (S&P 500, MSCI EAFE, and MSCI EM) and three assets (Gold, Oil, and Bonds). Portfolios are built using both equal- and mean-variance efficient-weights and are compared primarily using the Sharpe ratio. The results indicate that before 2009, U.S. investors could benefit from an internationally diversified stock portfolio. However, since 2009, this international stock portfolio is less likely to benefit U.S. investors. In contrast, the cross-asset diversified portfolio does provide greater benefit and outperforms the U.S only, the stock-bond portfolio, and the international stock portfolio over different time periods. Of note, the mean-variance efficient portfolio weighting outperforms the equal-weighted portfolio. Overall, a portfolio consisting of the S&P500 Index, gold, oil, and U.S. 10-year Treasury Note is the preferred option for U.S. investors
Understanding Curriculum Making by teachers: implications for policy as text and as practice
Full text linkRecent debates in curriculum studies have focused on the role of teachers as active curriculum makers. In this chapter, we argue for a more systemic approach to curriculum making as social practice. Our particular focus is on micro and nano curriculum making by teachers, that is curriculum making in schools and classrooms respectively, as curricular programmes are developed and enacted into practice. In making sense of these complex practices, we draw upon a theoretical typology for understanding and analysing curriculum making across different sites within education systems, and an ecological understanding of teacher agency. We apply these theoretical insights to the analysis of various influences on micro/nano curriculum, emerging from a range of recent empirical studies in five European education systems. In undertaking this analysis, we challenge prevalent notions of curriculum making as a linear process of delivery or implementation, instead seeking to understand it as interpretation and enactment across sites by multiple social actors, and tracing the multiple and dynamic connection
'I can just do work I'm paid to do' : Hybrid work and tertiary labour time gains
Full text linkThis paper adopts a moral economy framework to analyse the unique and collective experience of remote work during the UK pandemic lockdowns. Through analysis of qualitative interviews with workers based at home during periods of lockdown, we explore how this offered workers a new opportunity to evaluate a particular type of work extensification experienced when working onsite. We found that workers gained clarity over ‘preparing-for-work’, commuting and other unpaid labour as unfairly burdening nonwork time and social goods like family, health and leisure. We expand on the idea of tertiary time to suggest that hybrid work, despite its potential drawbacks, is viewed by workers as a way to regain some control over this area of their lives. By examining this in terms of the concept of lay normativity, our analysis draws out the importance of personal needs and emotional connections. We identify how, during the pandemic's extreme circumstances, a new opportunity for evaluation emerged that facilitated the development of a new sentiment around tertiary time devoted to the commute and preparation for work
Marine aquaculture sites have huge potential as data providers for climate change assessments
Full text linkIn-situ data is essential in understanding climate change in coastal and marine environments, especially in nearshore locations that are challenging for models to simulate and are often lacking in downscaled climate projections. Environmental parameters such as sea temperature and oxygen are often recorded at fish farms, and this information could be useful for observing coastal changes and climate change assessment. For aquaculture, Norway's BarentsWatch portal is one of the most advanced open-data platforms in the sector. The aim of this study was to inspect the weekly sea temperature data collected from salmon lice monitoring within the Fish Health dataset in BarentsWatch and consider if the recorded temperatures could have value for monitoring climate change due to the spatial and temporal coverage of the farm data. Initial inspection of the dataset found many inconsistencies and suspected errors. In total there were 667 sites where suspected errors were removed. Suspected errors amounted to 7797 data points. Following data cleaning there were 1129 sites and 303,792 data points in total, covering much of the Norwegian coastline. The positions offered good insight into the range of conditions, with data from sheltered inner fjords as well as more exposed locations. Analysis of the BarentsWatch temperatures revealed some sites in southern and western Norway that have already experienced temperatures above 20 °C, challenging conditions for Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) aquaculture. The results showed differences between sites within the same production regions due to site-specific characteristics, illustrating the need for more local-scale data that represents the actual conditions the fish experience, rather than a reliance on regional averages. Although the BarentsWatch platform provided some insight into the temperatures experienced at Norwegian salmon farms, the lack of standardised reporting and uncertainties about data collection and aggregated values meant that detailed analysis was not possible at present. The BarentsWatch analysis was complemented by data from two farms that further demonstrated the need for better guidance and standardised data collection and reporting. Standardised data collection and reporting would ensure that data from different farms is directly comparable. When considered in context with other conditions and fish health parameters, more standardised and robust monitoring of water temperatures at farms would aid the identification of potential challenging conditions and allow for more targeted adaptation responses. Improved data collection and reporting in the present day would have huge value in the future by facilitating the creation of long-term datasets spanning multiple decades at hundreds of locations along the Norwegian coastline, offering exceptional insight into coastal climate change
Plasticity of thermal tolerance and associated gill transcriptome in ballan wrasse (Labrus bergylta)
Full text linkThermal condition has profound influence on physiology and behaviour of ballan wrasse (Labrus bergylta), a cleaner fish commonly deployed in salmon cages to control sea lice infection. To address knowledge gaps on the species thermal biology, critical thermal limits were determined by acclimating fish (21.5 ± 3.1 g, 10.5 ± 0.4 cm) at a range of temperatures (6, 10, or 14°C) found in its natural habitat on the west coast of Scotland for one week and subjecting them to ramping temperature (~0.3°C/min) until loss of equilibrium. Critical thermal maxima (CT max), minima (CT min), and thermal breadth values increased with acclimation temperature. Thermal tolerance polygon was constructed and showed the intrinsic (7.9 to 16.8°C) and acquired (3.4°C and 22.8°C) thermal tolerance zones, supporting the seasonal differences in behaviour and delousing efficacy of ballan wrasse deployed in salmon farms. Gill transcriptomic profiles of ballan wrasse were performed following thermal acclimation and subsequent exposure to CT max and CT min. Initial acclimation resulted in unique differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and enrichment of GO terms that were almost exclusively found in each acclimation group. Transcriptome response to CT max and CT min also varied between acclimation groups. CT max and CT min shared 0% DEGs at 6°C, 43% at 10°C, and 7% at 14°C, but some overlapping GO terms. This study is the first to investigate the thermal tolerance limits of ballan wrasse and provides new data into the plasticity of thermal tolerance limits and molecular response to thermal stimuli in fish
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