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An archaeological approach to Pagan activities at megaliths in Scotland
No full textConsideration of evidence for Contemporary Pagan activities at stone circles and standing stones in Scotland, including an exploration of the different motivations for deposition and rites at these monuments
Gadolinium- and water-based blood-brain barrier dysfunction measures in patients with sporadic small vessel disease
Get PDFBackground: Subtle blood-brain barrier (BBB) leakage has been detected in small vessel disease (SVD). While established methods rely on gadolinium-based contrast agents (GBCA), diffusion-weighted arterial spin labelling (DW-ASL) is a promising alternative which assesses water exchange rate (kw) without injected contrast. However, DW-ASL has not been widely applied in sporadic SVD. We aimed to determine how kw varied with GBCA BBB leakage measures, baseline and 1-year change in SVD burden. Methods: We recruited patients with mild ischaemic stroke (lacunar or cortical) all characterised for SVD features. We assessed kw using DW-ASL and GBCA measures of BBB leakage (permeability-surface area product (PS), blood plasma volume and exchange rate of GBCA) using dynamic-contrast enhanced MRI. We used separate linear regression models to assess how kw varied with GBCA-derived metrics, baseline and 1-year change in WMH volume in co-variate-adjusted analyses. Results: We included 24 with complete MRI (61±10 years; 71% male). Patients with higher kw tended to have more severe baseline SVD (e.g. subcortical grey matter (SGM): B=14.59 min1 /%WMH volume, 95% confidence interval (95%CI)=-1.00,28.18, p=0.04) and greater 1-year increase (B=0.0013 %WMH volume increase/min-1, 95%CI=-0.0001, 0.0026, p=0.06). We generally found kw and GBCA BBB leakage measures were not meaningfully associated (e.g. SGM kw~PS: B=-0.23 min-1/10-4min-1, 95%CI=-7.47, 7.01, p=0.95). Conclusion: BBB water exchange estimated using DW-ASL tended to be greater with higher WMH burden and progression, suggesting kw may be a sensitive measure of BBB dysfunction in SVD. However, non-concordance between kw and GBCA metrics suggests the two methods probe different aspects of BBB function
Applying supervised machine learning to effusion analysis for the diagnosis of feline infectious peritonitis
Get PDFFeline infectious peritonitis (FIP) is a major disease of cats which, unless promptly diagnosed and treated, is invariably fatal. Although it has long been recognised that the condition is the result of an aberrant immune response to infection with feline coronavirus, there remain significant gaps in our understanding of its pathogenesis. Consequently, diagnosis is complex and relies on the combined interpretation of numerous clinical signs and laboratory biomarkers, many of which are non-specific. In the case of effusive FIP, a commonly encountered acute form of the disease where body cavity effusions develop; the interpretation of fluid analysis results is key to diagnosing the condition. We hypothesised that machine learning could be applied to fluid analysis test data in order to help diagnose effusive FIP. Thus, historical test records from a veterinary laboratory dataset of 718 suspected cases of effusive disease were identified, representing 336 cases of FIP and 382 cases that were determined not to be FIP. This dataset was used to train an ensemble model to predict disease status based on clinical observations and laboratory features. Our model predicts the correct disease state with an accuracy of 96.51%, an area under the receiver operator curve of 96.48%, a sensitivity of 98.85% and a specificity of 94.12%. This study demonstrates that machine learning can be successfully applied to the interpretation of fluid analysis results to accurately detect cases of effusive FIP. Thus, this method has the potential to be utilised in a veterinary diagnostic laboratory setting to standardise and improve service provision
Research note: exploring the decolonization of the housing studies curriculum
Get PDFDecolonizing the curriculum has risen as a political and pedagogical concern in the past ten to twenty years, particularly in the wake of the #BlackLivesMatter movement. Significant attention has been paid to discussing the meaning of decolonization, establishing its boundaries and principles. Rather less attention has been made to applying these principles to specific curricula. This paper sets out to explore an application to Housing Studies, set in the context of an Higher Education Institution in the Global North. This is intended as a stimulus to discussion and development within the discipline, rather than claim a definitive statement
Impact of pre-treatment food on praziquantel absorption, metabolism, treatment-associated side effects, and drug efficacy: a systematic review and meta-analysis protocol
No full textBackground:
Praziquantel is the drug of choice for parasitic diseases such as opisthorchiasis, schistosomiasis, and taeniasis. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and World Health Organization (WHO) advise administering praziquantel with food to increase absorption and decrease side effects. However, there is a scarcity of evidence on the impact of food, and different types of food, on treatment outcomes. This review aims to address this knowledge gap by (i) examining how pre-treatment food intake is reported in humans, and characterising the types of food provided, if any, and (ii) assessing whether the presence and/or type of food impacts four key treatment outcomes in humans: absorption, metabolism, treatment-associated side effects, and drug efficacy.
Methods:
We will search the following databases: Embase (via Ovid), MEDLINE (via PubMed), Web of Science Core Collection, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), and African Index Medicus (via Global Index Medicus), and trial registries including clinicaltrials.gov and the WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (ICTRP). Additionally, we will perform citation and grey literature searching and will contact researchers to obtain information on ongoing and unpublished relevant research. The search strategy is constructed using two core concepts: (i) praziquantel, and (ii) the outcomes of interest (pharmacokinetics, treatment-associated side effects, and drug efficacy). In Covidence, two review authors will independently screen the retrieved studies based on pre-defined inclusion/exclusion criteria and extract data using a standardised form. Risk of bias will be assessed using the Risk of Bias 2 (RoB 2) tool for randomised controlled trials and the Risk of Bias In Non-randomised Studies of Interventions (ROBINS-I) tool for non-randomised studies. Data will be synthesised narratively, and random-effects meta-analyses will be conducted to estimate the effect of food on the outcomes of interest, where appropriate. The certainty of evidence will be assessed using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) framework.
Discussion:
This review has the potential to enhance treatment outcomes for individuals and communities living in endemic regions for schistosomiasis and other parasitic diseases treated with praziquantel. Our findings will be of direct relevance for WHO guidelines and, therefore, can help improve the design and impact of future targeted treatment and mass drug administration (MDA) programmes.
Systematic review registration:
PROSPERO CRD42025102429
South Asian Muslim Women’s Experiences of Divorce in Scotland
No full textThis briefing examines South Asian Muslim women’s experiences of religious and civil divorce in Scotland, highlighting how navigating two parallel systems can place women in disadvantaged and vulnerable positions. It shows how unregulated religious divorce processes and costly, complex civil divorce procedures can enable coercive control, prolong uncertainty, and create forms of marital captivity, especially in the absence of legal recognition of withheld divorce as abuse
Navigating continuity and change: a multi-scalar analysis of religion and spirituality among African youth in the UK
No full textThis paper applies multi-scalar analytical framework to examine religious and spiritual practices among young Nigerian and Zimbabwean youth in the UK. It analyses how religion operates at individual, communal, national, transnational and intergenerational scales. Drawing from multi-sited ethnography and biographical interviews, the findings of this study demonstrate religion as neither an assimilationist tool nor a barrier to integration, but rather a strategic, hybrid resource employed by young migrants. At the individual level, participants combine traditional practices with digital and contemporary forms. Communally, religious and diaspora institutions facilitate cultural preservation and identity negotiation. At the national scale, religion functions strategically to address racial exclusion and navigate secular multiculturalism. Transnationally, digital religious practices foster sustained connections to African heritage, while intergenerationally, religion becomes a site of continuity and change. These findings contribute to migration studies by challenging static assimilation models and foregrounding the hybrid, digital and intergenerational dimensions of diasporic religious engagement
Avian cecal microbiome response and resilience to Newcastle disease are dictated by breed background
No full textA wide range of viral infections threaten the long-term sustainability of poultry production. Newcastle disease (ND), caused by Newcastle disease virus (NDV), is endemic in most Asian countries, including Pakistan, causing 50%–100% mortality in young and mature chickens. Some local chicken breeds show resistance to certain diseases and have greater survival probability. The chicken gut microbiome is linked to immune response against infections and to production performance parameters. The present study aims to comprehend disease resistance patterns in multiple chicken breeds with respect to gut microbial communities. Day-old Naked Neck, Black Australorp, Rhode Island Red, white layer, and broiler chicks were raised on an antibiotic-free diet in a semi-controlled setup. Vaccinated and non-vaccinated birds were challenged with NDV. Disease onset was delayed in breeds other than broilers, in which disease symptoms appeared at day 3 post-challenge with maximum severity and mortality. Other breeds, irrespective of vaccination, survived through the challenge period. Naked Neck showed the least variation in clinical features and growth parameters. A lower diversity in broiler groups with a significant decrease after NDV challenge was revealed by 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing of cecal DNA. Furthermore, broiler cecal core microbiome membership was found to be more variable than other breeds. Moreover, differentially abundant genera were observed across treatment groups and breeds with a similar effect on the predicted metabolic pathways, indicating varied energy metabolism responses. Shotgun metagenomics revealed a higher abundance of functional genes, including antimicrobial resistance (AMR) genes, stress genes, virulence genes, and amino acid degradation genes in the broiler NDV-infected group compared to the control group. The gut microbiota in chickens affects immunity to infections, health, and productivity. Compared to broilers, local chicken breeds, specifically Naked Neck, are found to have high immune competence in resisting ND while maintaining most performance metrics. Broilers show lower alpha diversity with an unstable core microbiome. Therefore, stable core microbiome maintenance may help the birds cope with the viral infection. The results support the farming of resistant chicken breeds over broilers to reduce production losses from NDV outbreaks
Highly efficient exciton-exciton annihilation in single conjugated polymer chains
Get PDFThe number of excitons that conjugated polymers can support at any one time underpins their optoelectronic performance in light-emitting diodes and as laser gain media, as it sets a natural limit on exciton density. Here we have measured the time-resolved photon statistics of single, isolated chains of polyfluorene to extract the absolute number of independent emitting sites present and its time dependence by studying the intramolecular exciton-exciton annihilation. We find that after 100 ps each chain can only support 1 or 2 independent excitons, and that even at the earliest times this number rises only to 4, suggesting a high degree of electronic coupling between chromophores that facilitates efficient exciton-exciton annihilation. In circumstances where a low density of low-energy sites is present, annihilation between them still dominates. The results indicate that achieving high exciton densities in conjugated polymers is difficult, and in applications where it is desirable new strategies should be devised to control exciton-exciton annihilation
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