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World War Weird: Blackwood and the First World War
Get PDFThis article situates Blackwood's First World War stories within debates about the tensions between orthodox religious beliefs and the more heterodox beliefs championed at the time by spiritualists and others in publications such as The Occult Review. The article argues that Blackwood's interest in esoteric beliefs is placed under severe pressure during World War One as he perceives them as endorsing a type of primordial violence that manifests in the carnage of war. These tales reflect on the conflicting demands placed on the subject as they are pulled between the impulse to revel in violence and the ambition to assert a moral stance. Ultimately, a conventional form of Christian piety defeats other beliefs which celebrate violence, sexual desire, and freedoms from orthodox moral constraint. The article also explores how these issues relate to ideas of patriotism, gender, and models of qualified revenge
A framework for advancing independent air quality sensor measurements via transparent data generating process classification
Get PDFWe propose operational definitions and a classification framework for air quality sensor-derived data, thereby aiding users in interpreting and selecting suitable data products for their applications. We focus on differentiating independent sensor measurements (ISM) from other data products, emphasizing transparency and traceability. Recommendations are provided for manufacturers, academia, and standardization bodies to adopt these definitions, fostering data product differentiation and incentivizing the development of more robust, reliable sensor hardware
Modeling the impact of multicancer early detection tests: a review of natural history of disease models
Get PDFIntroduction
The potential for multicancer early detection (MCED) tests to detect cancer at earlier stages is currently being evaluated in screening clinical trials. Once trial evidence becomes available, modeling will be necessary to predict the effects on final outcomes (benefits and harms), account for heterogeneity in determining clinical and cost-effectiveness, and explore alternative screening program specifications. The natural history of disease (NHD) component will use statistical, mathematical, or calibration methods. This work aims to identify, review, and critically appraise the existing literature for alternative modeling approaches proposed for MCED that include an NHD component.
Methods
Modeling approaches for MCED screening that include an NHD component were identified from the literature, reviewed, and critically appraised. Purposively selected (non-MCED) cancer-screening models were also reviewed. The appraisal focused on the scope, data sources, evaluation approaches, and the structure and parameterization of the models.
Results
Five different MCED models incorporating an NHD component were identified and reviewed, alongside 4 additional (non-MCED) models. The critical appraisal highlighted several features of this literature. In the absence of trial evidence, MCED effects are based on predictions derived from test accuracy. These predictions rely on simplifying assumptions with unknown impacts, such as the stage-shift assumption used to estimate mortality impacts from predicted stage shifts. None of the MCED models fully characterized uncertainty in the NHD or examined uncertainty in the stage-shift assumption.
Conclusion
There is currently no modeling approach for MCEDs that can integrate clinical study evidence. In support of policy, it is important that efforts are made to develop models that make the best use of data from the large and costly clinical studies being designed and implemented across the globe.
Highlights
In the absence of trial evidence, published estimates of the effects of multicancer early detection (MCED) tests are based on predictions derived from test accuracy.
These predictions rely on simplifying assumptions, such as the stage-shift assumption used to estimate mortality effects from predicted stage shifts. The effects of such simplifying assumptions are mostly unknown.
None of the existing MCED models fully characterize uncertainty in the natural history of disease; none examine uncertainty in the stage-shift assumption.
Currently, there is no modeling approach that can integrate clinical study evidence
Trait mediation explains decadal distributional shifts for a wide range of insect taxa
Get PDFShifts in insect distributions have been reported globally, largely attributed to climate and landscape changes. Communities are being reshaped, with species response traits mediating the effects of changing environments. Using a machine-learning approach we model 1252 insect occupancies across three decades in Great Britain. We combine independent models of nine insect groups (butterflies, moths, odonates, orthopterans, carabids, ladybirds, bees, wasps and hoverflies) to take a high-level view of the trends and key environmental drivers of insect occupancy, as well as to highlight the trait mediations underlying the resulting niches. Across this wide taxonomic range, we identify common trends in insect occupancies, showing no Great Britain-wide decline since 1990, but instead local declines and changes in community compositions. Known drivers of biodiversity loss appear to underlie those changes, notably urban sprawl and landscape simplification. Our approach also highlights the crucial roles of two response traits: habitat breadth, in mediating the effects of changing landscapes diversity and voltinism, in mediating the effects of increasing temperatures on insect life cycles
Competition between mass-symmetric and asymmetric fission modes in 258Md produced in the 4He+254Es reaction
Get PDFInfectious diseases burden and antibiotic prescribing patterns among primary care patients in Harare, Zimbabwe – a cross-sectional analysis
Get PDFLow- and middle-income countries (LMIC) continue to experience a high burden of infectious diseases and disparities in access to and use of antimicrobials, yet data on antibiotic prescribing in outpatient settings, where the majority of global prescriptions occur, remain scarce. The objective of this study is to provide data on diagnoses and antibiotic prescriptions among primary care patients in Harare, Zimbabwe. We conducted a retrospective study of medical records from eight primary care clinics in Harare, Zimbabwe. Clinics were selected based on the population they served and the availability of records. Patient consultations conducted between January 2016 and December 2022 were included. Antibiotic prescriptions were categorised into groups according to the AWaRe (Access, Watch and Reserve) classification. During the study period, 199,880 patient consultations were recorded. The median patient age was 9 years and 52.5% (105,035/199,880) were female. The most common causes of presentation were due to infectious diseases including, in order of frequency, gastroenteritis (15.2%; 30,352/199,880), acute respiratory infections (10.9%; 21,381/199,880) and pneumonia (10.5%; 20,889/199,880). Overall, antibiotics were prescribed in 70.5% (117,674/166,858) of patients who were not referred to hospital. Antibiotics commonly prescribed were amoxicillin (39.4%; 65,825/166,858), ciprofloxacin (10.3%; 17,162/166,858), metronidazole (9.4%; 15,681/166,858). Among those who were prescribed antibiotics and not referred, 70.6% (83,034/117,674) were prescribed ‘Access’ and 29.3% (34,472/117,674) ‘Watch’ group antibiotics. Patients with respiratory infections, including those with upper respiratory infections, and gastroenteritis were frequently prescribed antibiotics. This study shows that infectious diseases remain a common reason for primary care presentation and antibiotics were frequently prescribed. These findings highlight the need for increasing access to diagnostics in primary care, and for antibiotic stewardship and other context-adapted interventions aimed at optimising patient management and reducing unnecessary antibiotic prescriptions
The importance of burning conditions on the composition of domestic biomass-burning organic aerosol and the impact of atmospheric ageing
Get PDFDomestic biomass burning is a significant source of organic aerosol (OA) to the atmosphere; however, the understanding of OA composition under different burning conditions and after oxidation is largely unknown. Compositional analysis of OA is often limited by the lack of analytical standards available for quantification; however, semi-quantitative non-target analysis (NTA) can overcome these limitations by enabling the detection of thousands of compounds and quantification via surrogate standards. A series of controlled-burn experiments were conducted at the Manchester Aerosol Chamber to investigate domestic biomass-burning OA (BBOA) under different burning conditions and the impact of atmospheric ageing. Insights into the chemical composition of fresh and aged OA from flaming-dominated and smouldering-dominated combustion were obtained via a newly developed semi-quantitative NTA approach using ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography high- resolution mass spectrometry. Aerosol from smouldering-dominated burns contained significant organic carbon content, whereas under flaming-dominated conditions it was primarily black carbon. The detectable OA mass from both conditions was dominated by oxygenated compounds (CHO) (≈ 90 %) with smaller contributions from organonitrogen species. Primary OA (POA) had a high concentration of C8–C17CHO compounds, with both burns exhibiting a peak between C8–C11. However, flaming-dominated POA exhibited a greater contri- bution of C13–C17 CHO species. More than 50 % of the CHO mass in POA was determined as aromatic by the aromaticity index, largely in the form of functionalised monoaromatic compounds. After ageing, the aromatic contribution to the total CHO mass decreased with a greater loss for smouldering (−53 %) than flaming (−16 %) due to the increased reduction of polyaromatic compounds under smouldering conditions. The O : C ratios of the aged OA from flaming and smouldering were consistent with those from the oxidation of aromatic compounds (0.57–1.00), suggesting that compositional changes upon ageing were driven by the oxidation of aromatic compounds and the loss of aromaticity. However, there was a greater probability of O : C ratios ≥ 0.8 in aged smouldering OA, indicating the presence of more oxidised species. This study presents the first reported quantitative non-target compositional analysis of domestic BBOA using retention window scaling and demon- strates that compositional changes between burn phase and after ageing may have important consequences for exposure to such emissions in residential settings
Exacerbated sonic hedgehog signalling promotes a transition from chemical pre-patterning of chicken reticulate scales to mechanical skin folding
Get PDFMany examples of self-organized embryonic patterning can be attributed to chemically mediated systems comprising interacting morphogens. However, mechanical patterning also contributes to the emergence of biological forms. For example, various studies have demonstrated that diverse patterns arise from elastic instabilities associated with the constrained growth of soft materials, which generate wrinkles, creases and folds. Here, we show that between days 12 and 13 of in ovo development, transient experimentally increased activity of the sonic hedgehog pathway in the chicken embryo, through a single intravenous injection of smoothened agonist (SAG), abolishes the Turing-like chemical patterning of reticulate scales on the ventral footpad and promotes a transition to mechanical labyrinthine skin folding. Using in situ hybridization, nanoindentation and labelling of proliferating cells, we confirm that skin surface folding is associated with the loss of signalling placode pre-patterning as well as increased epidermal growth and stiffness. Using additional in ovo hydrocortisone treatments, we also demonstrate that experimentally induced hyper-keratinization of the skin mechanically restricts SAG-induced folding. Finally, we verify our experimental findings with mechanical growth simulations built from volumetric light sheet fluorescence microscopy data. Overall, we reveal that pharmacological perturbation of the underlying gene regulatory network can abolish chemical skin appendage patterning and replace it with self-organize
An investigation of the emittance of escaping fast electron beams from planar and nanowire targets
Get PDFFast electron generation and transport in high-intensity laser-solid interactions induces X-ray emission and drives ion acceleration. Effective production of these sources hinges on an efficient laser absorption into the fast electron population and control of divergence as the beam propagates through the target. Nanowire targets can be employed to increase the laser absorption, but it is not yet clear how the fast electron beam properties are modified. Here we present novel measurements of the emittance of the exiting fast electron beam from irradiated solid planar and nanowire targets via a pepper-pot diagnostic. The measurements indicate a greater fast electron emittance is obtained from nanowire targets. Two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations support this conclusion, revealing beam defocusing at the wire-substrate boundary, a higher fast electron temperature and transverse oscillatory motion around the wires
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