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Plants with higher dispersal capabilities follow ‘abundant-centre’ distributions but such patterns remain rare in animals
Get PDFThe ‘abundant-centre’ hypothesis posits that a species’ abundance is highest at its range centre and declines towards its range edge. Recently, the hypothesis has been much debated, with supporting empirical evidence remaining limited. Here, we test the hypothesis on 3660 species using 5,703,589 abundance observations. We summarise species-level patterns and test the effects of dispersal-related species traits and phylogeny on abundance–distance relationships. Support for the hypothesis is dependent on taxonomic group, with abundant-centre patterns being more pronounced for plants but non-significant when summarised across all animals. Dispersal capability does not explain abundance–distance relationships in animals but likely explains abundance patterns in non-woody plants. Phylogeny improves models of abundance–distance patterns for plants but not for animals. Despite this, controlling for phylogeny yields non-significant group-level results for plants, suggesting that only certain, phylogenetically clustered plant groups may conform to abundant-centre patterns. Overall, we demonstrate that abundant-centre patterns are not a general ecological phenomenon; they tend to not apply to animals but can manifest in certain plant groups, depending on dispersal capabilities and evolutionary histories. Leveraging species’ traits that account for dispersal improves models of abundant-centre patterns across geographic space
Violence and abuse towards general practice staff by patients and the public: a scoping review
Get PDFBackground General practice is the gatekeeper to secondary care in many countries. This unique role may expose general practice staff to violence and abuse by patients and the public, yet violence and abuse in secondary care receives more attention than that in general practice. Existing reviews on primary care do not distinguish the perpetrators of violence.Aim To analyse the evidence on: (a) the extent, characteristics, and impact of violence and abuse by patients or the public towards general practice staff and (b) the practices relating to violence and abuse prevention and support in general practice at individual and organisational levels.Design and setting This scoping review followed the updated Joanna Briggs Institute guidelines and the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews guidelines.Method Six bibliographic databases, Google, and Google Scholar were systematically searched. Deduplicated citations (N = 19 519) were independently screened by two reviewers. Data were extracted with a bespoke extraction form.Results Fifty studies from 24 countries were included. Past-year rates for violence and abuse by patients and the public towards general practice staff ranged from 13.8% to 90.3% and career-long estimates were from 18.3% to 91.0%. Long waiting times and unmet patient demands were the most common reasons. It had an impact on staff mental health, turnover intention, and service capacity. No evaluated prevention or support interventions were reported.Conclusion Violence and abuse towards general practice staff is widespread, having an impact on both individuals and service delivery. However, interventions are underresearched
Application of life cycle assessment for enhancing sustainability of district heating: A multi-level approach
Get PDFDistrict heating (DH) is a proven heat generation and distribution technology that enhances energy efficiency and reduces carbon emissions at scale, making it a key component of sustainable energy strategies. Compared to traditional heat generation methods such as using onsite fossil-fuelled combustion boilers or electrically driven heating systems, DH offers superior environmental advantages, particularly when renewable energy and waste heat are deployed as primary fuel energy mix. To comprehensively evaluate the sustainability of DH, life cycle assessment (LCA) is widely adopted to determine environmental impacts across all life cycle stages, from material extraction to disposal. This systematic review identifies the absence of a unified, adaptable framework for LCA application in DH systems. To address this, the study proposes a structured multi-level framework, interpreting methodological diversity across component, facility, and network levels. Component-level studies offer insights into specific technologies and materials; facility-level assessments focus on operational performance and energy sources; network-level evaluations provide holistic system impacts. Aligning studies within these analytical levels enables fairer comparisons, supports cross-regional learning, and promotes methodological integration. Recurring challenges include inconsistent methodologies, varying system boundaries, and limited local data. Emerging technologies such as hybrid systems, smart grids, and energy storage remain underrepresented in LCA studies. Tools like SimaPro, GaBi, and OpenLCA are widely used, yet the rapid evolution of DH systems calls for more tailored applications. This review supports the development of standardised, yet flexible LCA practices and proposes a refined multi-level framework to guide comprehensive, context-specific evaluations. It emphasises the importance of validating approaches across diverse contexts and strengthening LCA's contribution to the design of sustainable, low-carbon DH solutions for urban energy systems
Could the provision of multiple game themes be a neglected gambling product structural characteristic? Results of an online simulated gambling task
Get PDFPrevious research has indicated that several gambling product features, such as slot games’ fast potential speed of play, are potentially harmful ‘structural characteristics’. However, we know of little empirical research exploring whether the provision of multiple themes for slot games could be considered another relevant structural characteristic. We therefore explored this game feature in a simulated online experiment (N = 990). Compared to the provision of only a single game theme, providing multiple themes could lead to greater persistence among all gamblers (H1), could increase persistence among those at most risk of harm (H2), could influence persistence or lead to switching during periods of losses (H3), or influence participants’ desire to play again (H4). However, this experiment yielded either largely null (H1, H2, H4) or contradictory results (H3), where participants were found to be more likely to persist after losses than after wins. In conclusion, the present study’s predictions were not supported, meaning that there was no evidence that multiple themes affected slot behavior in this task
Transitioning to net Zero: Assessing the impacts on asset impairment, write-downs and the going concern of oil and gas companies operating in the UK
Get PDFIn June 2019, the UK government legislated a net zero target by 2050. This will directly impact the UK oil and gas industry. This study reports perceptions of key oil and gas professionals regarding the impact of transitioning to net zero on impairment, values, write-downs, and going concern in the UK oil and gas industry, as well as required net-zero-related disclosures. Data were collected through 22 interviews, two written responses to our interview questions, and disclosures made by oil and gas companies in their annual reports. We use conservatism and stakeholder theory to inform our results. Our findings confirm there will be serious impacts of the transition to net zero on impairments, asset write-downs, and on the value and going concern of several oil and gas companies. However, these impacts will not fall equally across the industry, and it is likely therefore that stakeholders will be affected differently. Our results contribute, first, to the debate on the impacts of the transition to net zero on key accounting measures of oil and gas companies; second, we identify risks associated with the transition to net zero for these companies and their stakeholders, and we classify the at-risk oil and gas companies operating in the UK; third, we present a collection of disclosure items deemed necessary by our interviewees. Our specified disclosure items may complement those of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) and the Transition Plan Taskforce (TPT)
Prebiotic Galacto-Oligosaccharide and Xylo-Oligosaccharide Feeds in Pig Production: Microbiota Manipulation, Pathogen Suppression, Gut Architecture and Immunomodulatory Effects
Get PDFGastrointestinal health is critical to the productivity and welfare of pigs. The transition from milk to plant-based feeds represents an intestinal challenge at wean that can result in dysbiosis and pathogen susceptibility. Prebiotic galacto-oligosaccharides (GOS) and xylo-oligosaccharides (XOS) are non-digestible carbohydrates that can reach the hind gut to promote gut health, either by enhancing the abundance of beneficial members of the in-testinal microbiota or via direct interaction with the gut epithelium. Amongst the changes in the intestinal microbiota GOS and XOS promote populations of short chain fatty acid (SCFA) producing bacteria of the genera Lactobacillus, Bifidobacterium and Streptococcus. SCFAs benefit the host by providing nutritional support for the gut, enhance intestinal barrier function, and regulate inflammatory responses. By modifying the indigenous mi-crobiota prebiotics offer a sustainable alternative to the use of antimicrobial growth pro-moters that have led to the dissemination of antimicrobial resistance and represent a growing threat to public health. This review examines microbial and cellular mechanisms whereby prebiotic feed supplements can support the development of a diverse and robust microbiota associated with a healthy and productive digestive system over the lifetime of the animal, and which is in sharp contrast to the development of dysbiosis often associ-ated with existing antimicrobial treatments. The application of prebiotic feed supplements should be tailored to their modes of action and the developmental challenges in produc-tion, such as the provision of GOS to late gestational sows, GOS and XOS to pre-weaning piglets, and GOS and XOS to growing/fattening pigs
Complementary MR measures of white matter and their relation to cardiovascular health and cognition
Get PDFThe microstructural and macrostructural integrity of white matter (WM) underpins efficient brain function, and is known to decline with age and vascular burden. Key aspects of WM health include axonal fibre density, myelination, free-water content, and the presence of tissue damage or lesions. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) offers multiple complementary sequences to non-invasively estimate these properties in vivo. For example, diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) provides sensitive measures of microstructure, while T1-weighted and T2-weighted MRI can estimate total WM volume and hyper-intensities, and magnetisation transfer imaging (MT) and T1:T2 ratios can indicate myelin content. In this study, we leveraged all of these MRI-derived measures in a large population-based cohort (Cam-CAN) to identify latent WM factors and test how these factors relate to cardiovascular health and cognitive performance. Among 11 commonly-used WM metrics [Fractional Anisotropy (FA); Mean Signal Diffusion (MSD); Mean Signal Kurtosis (MSK); Neurite Density Index (NDI); fibre Orientation Dispersion Index (ODI); Free water volume faction (Fiso); spread of Mean Signal Diffusivity values (MSDvar); Magnetisation Transfer Ratio (MTR); T1:T2 ratio; volume of White Matter Hyper-Intensities (WMHI); White Matter Volume (WMV)], latent factor analysis showed that four factors were needed to explain 89% of the variance, which we interpreted in terms of (1) fibre density/myelination, (2) free-water / tissue damage, (3) fibre-crossing complexity and (4) microstructural complexity. These factors showed distinct effects of age and sex. To test the validity of these factors, we related them to measures of cardiovascular health and cognitive performance. Specifically, we ran path analyses linking (1) cardiovascular factors to the WM factors, and (2) the WM factors to cognitive measures. Even after adjusting for age and sex, we found that a vascular factor related to pulse pressure predicted the WM factor capturing free-water/tissue damage, and that several WM factors made unique predictions for fluid intelligence and processing speed. Our results show that there is both complementary and redundant information across common MR measures of WM, and their underlying latent factors may be useful for pinpointing the differential causes and contributions of white matter health in aging
Sustainability considerations and willingness to try alternative proteins: evidence from the UK
Get PDFReductions in the consumption of livestock products in Western diets are considered necessary to mitigate some of animal productions' impacts on human health, animal welfare and the environment. Whilst several alternative protein products are on the market or being developed, the motivations for consumer decision-making are not well-understood. In particular, given the focus on improved sustainability as justification for these alternative proteins, understanding the relationship between sustainability considerations and willingness to try (WTT) remains important. This study uses data from 1929 UK individuals to evaluate the potential role of sustainability considerations (health, animal welfare, environmental, financial) on WTT three alternative protein products: plant-based, cultured meat, and edible insects. Ordered probit and quantile regression models are used to explore WTT, with controls for respondents' sociodemographic characteristics and level of awareness. The findings show that sustainability considerations particularly ethical and environmental concerns remain relevant in the WTT alternative proteins in the UK. Their potential role however varies across products and consumer segments. There is also significant variation in WTT due to factors related to familiarity with specific alternative protein types and respondent's socio-demographic characteristics (i.e., gender, education, age, marital status, household size, number of children and household income). Recommendations are made for strategies to promote the alternative protein products examined based on these findings
Financial Complexity, Cycles and Income Inequality
Get PDFWe introduce a banking sector and heterogeneous agents in the dynamic overlapping generations model of Matsuyama et al. (2016). Our model captures the benefits and costs of an advanced banking system. While it allocates resources to productive activities, it can also hinder progress if it invests in projects that do not contribute to capital formation, and potentially triggering instabilities due to the emergence of cycles. Our intergenerational dynamic framework enables us to show that income inequality between agents increases during recessions, confirming empirical observations. Moreover, we identify both changes in production factor prices and the reallocation of agents across occupations as driving factors behind the increased inequality
Chronic pancreatitis and extra pancreatic cancers- A systematic review and meta analysis
Get PDFIntroduction: Chronic pancreatitis (CP) is a known risk factor for pancreatic cancer; however its association to extra pancreatic (EP) cancers remains inadequately explored. The aim of this systematic review is to investigate the evidence for CP as a risk factor for developing EP cancers. Method: Electronic search was conducted on Ovid Medline, EMBASE and Scopus from inception to January 27, 2024 to identify patients with CP who developed EP cancers. Prevalence and incidence of each cancer were calculated where possible from the reported numbers. A random effects meta-analysis was used to pool prevalence, incidence and hazard ratios (HR) of each EP cancer. Heterogeneity was assessed using I2. PROSPERO registration: CRD42024543050. Results: Sixteen (16) studies consisting of 117,163 CP patients met the eligibility criteria. 4015 (3.4%) patients developed 4019 EP cancers. The overall annual prevalence and incidence of EP cancers were 7962 (95% CI 5044–10880) per 100,000 CP patients and 1039 (95% CI 649–1663) per 100,000 person years. Lung cancer had the highest annual prevalence – (1540 (95% CI 667–2413) per 100,000 CP patients) and incidence (260 (95% CI 120–390) per 100,000 person years). The pooled HR were 1.31 (95% CI 1.03–1.66) and 1.58 (95% CI 1.27–1.98) for adjusted lung cancer and crude liver cancer in patients with CP compared to patients without CP, respectively. Conclusion: Patients with CP have an increased risk of developing EP cancers compared to patients without CP, in particular lung and liver cancer which had the highest relative risk. Shared risk factor modifications, such as smoking cessation and alcohol reduction, could lower the risk of common EP cancers. Further, implementing non-invasive screening measures may aid in early diagnosis in this high-risk group
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