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Temporal signals in dairy cattle slurry and fertilized field soil resistomes and bacterial communities
Get PDFIntroduction: Dairy cattle waste is a globally significant source of organic fertilizer which contains a cocktail of microbes and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs). These ARGs may present a risk to human and animal health, yet there is still limited farm-system-level understanding of how long-term and multiple slurry applications alter field soil resistomes and total microbial communities. Methods: Using metagenomics, we assessed both immediate and longer-term changes in grassland field soil resistomes and bacterial communities over a year of routine cattle slurry application. Results: Our findings suggest that soil microbial communities are resilient to bacteria and ARGs introduced via slurry, even after repeated applications. Most slurry-borne ARGs were not enriched in field soil, however, those common in soil, such as rifamycin resistance genes, were consistently elevated relative to field soil with no history of slurry application. We observed transient increases in slurry-associated macrolide-lincosamide-streptogramin ARGs, however, their persistence appeared to be influenced by timing of slurry application. Similar transient effects were shown by the recovery of a high quality, slurry-associated Proteiniphilum spp. metagenome assembled genome (MAG). Discussion: We show that MAGs represent a powerful tool for examining the transfer of slurry-borne microorganisms, as they can be more characteristic of these environments than typical sentinel organisms which are easily cultivated. Our findings indicate that while the soil bacterial community shows considerable resilience to slurry-borne bacteria and ARGs, this may be diminished by temporal factors that remain largely unexplored and poorly understood. This is important because resilience inferred from short-term observations may not fully capture delayed or transient responses, potentially leading to underestimation of the persistence of slurry-borne bacteria and ARGs
Clinical pharmacology and prescribing education: An updated medical school curriculum from the British Pharmacological Society
Get PDFAims: Prescribing is a complex, essential skill that doctors must acquire to practice medicine safely and effectively. The British Pharmacological Society has historically provided a core curriculum to guide clinical pharmacology and prescribing education in UK medical schools. This study aimed to update the 2012 curriculum to reflect contemporary practice, regulatory requirements and the evolving needs of medical education. Methods: A modified Delphi was undertaken. A steering committee of six clinical and educational experts reviewed the previous curriculum and oversaw the process. Forty experts, comprising clinical and academic pharmacologists, medical educators and pharmacists from across the UK, participated in three Delphi rounds. Round 1 involved item-level review of existing learning outcomes; Round 2 incorporated feedback and new proposals; Round 3 convened expert panels to resolve outstanding disagreements. Consensus was defined as ≥75% agreement. Results: The updated curriculum comprises four sections: (I) Principles of Clinical Pharmacology, (II) Drugs, (III) Therapeutics and (IV) Prescribing and related skills. Key changes include consistent application of clearly defined command verbs, updates to reflect current practice and a reduction in learning outcomes (226 to 205), particularly in Section I. The core drug list remained stable, with minor revisions and reorganization. Conclusion: This updated British Pharmacological Society curriculum provides a robust, evidence-based framework for clinical pharmacology and prescribing education. Its structured approach supports curriculum design, mapping and quality assurance, while alignment with national assessments and regulatory expectations ensures relevance for undergraduate education and early clinical practice. It aims to enhance safe, effective and responsible prescribing by future doctors
Dynamical quasinormal mode excitation
Get PDFWe study the dynamical excitation of quasinormal modes (QNMs) through the plunge, merger and ringdown of an extreme-mass-ratio-inspiral into a Schwarzschild black hole, for generic orbital configurations. We work out the QNM causality condition, crucial to eliminate amplitude divergences and to incorporate horizon redshift effects. We then use it to derive a model of the time-dependent QNM excitation via a Green’s function approach, driven by the point-particle source on a given trajectory. Our model predicts that: (i) QNMs propagates along hyperboloidal slices in the minimal gauge; (ii) the signal is composed of an “activation” term, depending on the source past history, and a local “impulsive” term; (iii) amplitudes grow in time in an “activation function” fashion, and the waveform displays a stationary ringdown regime at times ∼10–20after its peak; (iv) at these late times, an infinite tower of nonoscillatory, exponentially damped terms appear: the redshift terms. The model is in good agreement with numerical solutions, capturing the main waveform features after the peak. Additional components of the Green’s function are required to complement the QNM description and reproduce the plunge-merger waveform. We predict the late-time, stationary amplitude of the quadrupolar mode as a function of eccentricity, in agreement with accurate numerical solutions, marking the first time that QNM amplitudes are predicted for generic binary configurations. Our work provides a first solid step toward analytically modeling the inspiral’s imprint onto ringdown signals, generalizable to include higher orders in the mass ratio, black hole spin, nonvacuum configurations and corrections to the Einstein-Hilbert action
Nondestructive Optomechanical Detection Scheme for Bose-Einstein Condensates
Get PDFWe present a two-tone heterodyne optical readout scheme to extract unequal-time density correlations along an arbitrary stationary interaction path from a pancake-shaped Bose-Einstein condensate, using a modulated laser probe. Analyzing the measurement noise both from imprecision and backaction, we identify the standard quantum limit for the signal-extraction scheme, and examine how a class of two-mode squeezed initial states can be used to push beyond this limit. As an application, we show how the readout scheme can be used for an experimentally feasible realization of acceleration dependence of quantum-vacuum fluctuations in the system, including the analog spacetime circular motion Unruh effect. The scheme is adaptable beyond Bose-Einstein condensates, providing nondestructive access to unequal-time correlations in quantum fluids
Uncertainty Words and Corporate Information Environment
Get PDFThis paper investigates the impact of the uncertainty tone in a firm's annual report on stock price informativeness. We show that firms with a higher proportion of uncertainty words in 10-Ks have lower stock idiosyncratic risk. Our results suggest that the uncertainty tone of a firm's financial disclosures results in information uncertainty that deteriorates its stock price informativeness. While the tone dispersion amplifies the relation between uncertainty tone and firm-specific risk, the use of causation and discrepancy words attenuates this effect. Furthermore, external oversight mechanisms including analysts following, institutional holdings, audit quality and more frequent access to 10-Ks undermine the impact of uncertainty tone. Our findings highlight the influence that managers can exert on corporate transparency with the use of linguistic tone in financial reports
Study on temperature/oxygen dependence of ammonia-alcohol laminar premixed flame characteristics and N2O generation by highspeed photography and laser Raman spectroscopy
Get PDFAiming at the poor flame stability and high N2O emission with unclear generation mechanism of ammonia, in this study, the effect of different molecular chain length alcohol addition and oxygen concentration on flame morphology, flame stability, NH3-H2 cracking, ammonia-alcohol synergistic effect, flame temperature and N2O temperature/oxygen dependence of ammonia flame were investigated based on the laminar premixed burner with highspeed photography and dual-polarized laser Raman scattering technique. The results of this study show that the main production semi-region of NH2, NH and H2 is 1155 ~ 1400 K with oxygen concentration > 30 %. Methanol, ethanol and n-pentanol exhibit a synergistic effect on the improvement of ammonia flame stability at an addition ratio of 80 %. The promotion effect of alcohol addition on CH2O, CH2NH and HNO3 production, which are the key species of ammonia-alcohol synergistic effect, is as follows: methanol > n-pentanol > nbutanol > ethanol > n-propanol. The main generation semi-regions of CH2O, CH2NH and HNO3 are 1040 ~ 1100 K/oxygen concentration > 32.5 %, 1160 ~ 1400 K/oxygen concentration > 30.5 %, 1540 ~ 1580 K/ oxygen concentration > 30.5 %, 1720 ~ 1900 K/oxygen concentration > 34.0 %. The main production semiregions of N2O include 750 ~ 1060 K/oxygen concentration > 32.5 % and 1220 ~ 1300 K/oxygen concentration > 36 %. The semi-regions with high NH3-H2 cracking and ammonia-alcohol synergistic effect intensity as well as low N2O production during ammonia combustion include 1160 ~ 1220 K/ with oxygen concentration of 30.5 %~32.5 % and 1300 ~ 1400 K/with oxygen concentration of 30.5 %~36 %. This study is significant to understand the combustion theory of ammonia-alcohol composite combustion, which in turn provides guiding significance for engineering
A Scoping Review of Instruments Used to Measure Weight and Body Composition in Infants Under 1 Year
Get PDFBackgroundThis scoping review identified existing outcome measurement instruments (OMIs) for weight and body composition in children ≤ 1 year of age and how they are used in clinical trials. This information will improve outcome selection in future trials.MethodsWe searched the EMBASE, MEDLINE, CINAHL, and PsycINFO up to September 2023, previous reviews, and the TOPCHILD collaboration registry. Screening was conducted independently in duplicate. We included studies reporting trials including healthy, full-term infants ≤ 1 year of age reporting at least one weight, weight gain, and/or body composition OMI. Study and OMI characteristics were synthesized narratively.ResultsSeventy-two studies were included. Reported outcomes included weight (n = 71), changes in weight (n = 33), and body composition (n = 10). Six OMIs were used to measure infant weight, with undefined (n = 19) and electronic (n = 15) scales being the most common. Results for weight were mostly expressed as z scores relative to a population reference (n = 50). Five OMIs were used to assess infant weight gain, most frequently undefined weighing scales (n = 8) and electronic scales (n = 7), with results mostly expressed as changes in z scores relative to a population reference (n = 10). Eight body composition OMIs were identified; calipers (n = 5) and air displacement plethysmography (n = 3) were most commonly used. Body composition was predominantly presented as fat mass (FM) and fat-free mass (FFM) in kg (n = 5). OMIs were mostly administered in person by researchers, clinicians, or healthcare practitioners.ConclusionsGiven the heterogeneity identified in this review, research is needed to select standardized, feasible, and reliable OMIs for infant anthropometric outcomes in trials
Identification of key symptoms for a core outcome set for research in vulvar lichen sclerosus: a CORALS symptom domain initiative
No full textBackground: Genital lichen sclerosus (LS) is a chronic inflammatory skin disease affecting men, women and children. It is most common in females with estimated 1-3% of women affected across their lifetimes. Vulvar LS can cause significant symptoms and impact quality of life. To enhance the quality of clinical research and practice, core outcome domains have been identified including quality of life, clinical signs, and symptoms by the Core Outcome Set for Research in Lichen Sclerosus (CORALS) initiative. Objectives: To identify key symptoms for the core outcome symptom domain for research in LS.Methods: An international multidisciplinary steering committee of experts in vulvar, penile and pediatric LS was convened to define and discuss LS symptoms. A modified electronic Delphi process was conducted among experts to reach consensus on priority symptoms. An online patient survey was distributed to LS patient advocacy groups to rank symptoms. A scoping review was performed to identify commonly measured symptoms in LS studies in men, women, and children. Results from all three sources were analyzed and symptoms selected.Results: The patient survey (n = 863) ranked itch, burning, pain, and cuts or tears in the skin as the most important symptoms, with pain with sex being most important to some, and least important to others. Ninety-nine percent of respondents to the survey identified as adult women, limiting generalizability to other populations with LS. Expert consensus identified five key symptoms: itch, pain with vaginal penetration, cuts and tears in the skin, pain, and irritation. The scoping review of 93 manuscripts showed itch, pain with penetration, and burning/burning pain as the most frequently measured symptoms. Itch emerged as the most important symptom across all three data sources, with pain also consistently prioritized. Conclusions: This study identified five key symptoms for evaluating vulvar LS. Although designed to capture symptoms from all patients with LS, both the survey and scoping review included small populations of male and pediatric participants, highlighting the need for further research in this population. Based on the results, we suggest measurement of itch, pain, skin cuts and tears, burning, and (when relevant) pain with sex within the symptoms core outcome domain for vulvar LS. These findings will be used to inform content validity studies when evaluating potential measurement instruments for the COS
Household stress moderates the association between caregiver metacognition and infant sustained attention
Get PDFPrevious work has shown that caregiver executive functions (EFs) are robustly linked to EFs in children. However, existing evidence has used mixed methods approaches combining questionnaires and experimental tasks in older children. The current study used contextually similar questionnaires to examine whether caregiver EFs were linked to infant EFs, and whether household stress and socioeconomic status moderated these associations. Ninety-one families living in the Midlands region of the United Kingdom participated in the study. Caregiver EFs were assessed using the behavior rating inventory of executive functions and infant EFs were assessed using the early executive functions questionnaire. Caregivers were also asked to provide information on household stress and socioeconomic status. Our findings showed that better caregiver metacognition was associated with better infant sustained attention, and this association was moderated by caregiver life stress. Our findings contribute to the understanding of early associations between caregiver and child EFs
Exploring the value of family shared reading with young people who have Profound and Multiple Learning Disabilities (PMLD)
Get PDFShared reading with young children is promoted as good practice in national and international policy. Existing literature explores cognitive and developmental benefits of family shared reading for young, typically developing children, but much less is known about benefits for young people with learning disabilities. Additionally, the analysis of ‘benefit’ is often cast in economic terms to society rather than through the sociological lens of everyday ‘family practice’. This paper explores the significance of shared reading for two young people with Profound and Multiple Learning Disabilities (PMLD), a group traditionally characterised as having a developmental age of 24 months or less and who may therefore continue to enjoy shared reading far beyond early childhood. Drawing on iterative qualitative data analysis of semi-structured interviews with two mothers, findings suggest that shared reading is a valued everyday practice fulfilling a range of functions such as emotional regulation, marking time and routine, and inclusion with siblings. The paper considers ways to support shared reading within PMLD families in research, policy and practice
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