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Anticipatory action and pastoralism in Africa: a synthesis of current challenges, opportunities and priorities
Get PDFThis article synthesises the current situation vis-à-vis the aid modality of anticipatory action in pastoralist settings. Broadly comprising pre-planned, pre-financed interventions triggered by early warning systems and aimed at reducing the impacts of crises, anticipatory action has been effective at reducing the impact of shocks in multiple settings (particularly sudden-onset shocks such as floods and cyclones). However, it has seemingly failed to achieve as significant an impact in mobile, livestock herding areas, where recurrent drought – a slow onset disaster – is a defining ecological feature. To understand this limited success, the article explores the distinct challenges posed by the socio-economic and ecological dynamics of the drylands, where crises are never uniform or unilinear and are thus extremely difficult to make predictions amidst. Surveying diverse evidence and perspectives, it highlights some of the unique characteristics of pastoral livelihoods, which set them apart from other forms of subsistence in ways that are critical to the conceptualisation and implementation of assistance programmes. In doing so, it examines cross-cutting themes of central significance to the future of anticipatory action in the drylands, identifying key uncharted areas for future enquiry and new potentials that might be unlocked through novel approaches to programming and intervention
Nested Crystal Graph Neural Networks for Modeling Chemically Complex Materials
Get PDFSolid solution crystals, in which lattice sites are partially or fully occupied by multiple atomic species, represent a chemically complex class of materials where atomic-scale disorder strongly governs properties. However, geometric representation learning of such systems remains challenging due to the lack of site uniqueness and the presence of short-range order. Here, we introduce the Nested Crystal Graph Neural Network (NCGNN), a general-purpose and scalable framework that hierarchically integrates local compositional disorder and global structural characteristics via a nested graph architecture. NCGNN enables interpretable predictions without large supercells and outperforms existing models by up to 50% across diverse solid solutions, ranging from fully random alloys to systems with sublattice structure. Additionally, NCGNN captures both short- and long-range ordering effects and reveals key composition-structure-property insights. Extensive benchmarks demonstrate that NCGNN is a universal framework for chemically disordered crystals, offering new opportunities for data-driven materials discovery
Maternal controlling parenting and youth-perceived mother-child attachment mediate the association between maternal adverse childhood experiences and adolescent behavioral difficulties
No full textBackground: Maternal adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are risk factors for increased mental health difficulties. However, intergenerational transmission mechanisms between maternal ACEs and adolescent behavioral difficulties are poorly understood. This study examined the mediating effects of maternal controlling parenting and youth-perceived mother-child attachment on the association between maternal ACEs and adolescent internalizing and externalizing behaviors.Methods: Data were from the nationally representative Growing Up in Scotland birth cohort 1. Analyses focused on 2943 adolescents aged 14–15 at sweep 10 but utilized information from the entire cohort (N = 5719) to minimize parameter bias. Linear regression analyses were used to examine the strength of predictors (maternal ACEs, maternal controlling parenting, youth-perceived mother-child attachment) on adolescent behavioral difficulties levels. Mediating effects of maternal controlling parenting and youth-perceived mother-child attachment were assessed using serial mediation models.Results: Regression analysis indicated maternal ACEs were associated with adolescent behavioral difficulties. Serial mediation models indicated a consistent indirect effect of maternal ACEs on adolescent internalizing and externalizing behaviors, through maternal controlling parenting and youth-perceived mother-child attachment.Conclusions: This study indicates that both maternal controlling parenting and youth-perceived mother-child attachment are mechanisms mediating the effect of maternal ACEs on adolescent internalizing and externalizing behaviors. Understanding the interactive impact of both maternal and child factors may improve policy and programming to ameliorate intergenerational consequences of maternal ACEs on youth mental health
Change in cardiac troponin T to differentiate acute from chronic myocardial injury in the Emergency Department
No full textIntroductionPersistently elevated cardiac troponin (cTn) values are observed in many patients with suspected acute coronary syndrome (ACS) in the absence of myocardial infarction and may reflect underlying cardiac disease. Chronic myocardial injury is defined where cTn values are elevated and vary by ≤ 20 % on sequential measurements. We aimed to evaluate whether these criteria are reliable over short intervals applied in accelerated diagnostic pathways.MethodsIn a secondary analysis of a prospective, multi-centre cohort study of patients with suspected ACS, cTnT was measured at presentation, 1, 2 and 6–36 h, and the final diagnosis adjudicated according to the Fourth Universal Definition of Myocardial Infarction. Two criteria for chronic myocardial injury were compared: a relative change in cTn of ≤ 20 % and an absolute change < 3 ng/L, and the findings externally validated.ResultsAt presentation cTnT was elevated in 242 of 1,000 (24 %) patients (73 years, 42 % female), of whom 94/242 (39 %), 13/242 (5 %) and 137/242 (56 %) had myocardial infarction, acute or chronic myocardial injury, respectively. A relative change of ≤ 20 % misclassified 58 % (59/101) and 49 % (48/98) of patients with a final diagnosis of acute myocardial injury or infarction at 1 and 2 h, respectively, whereas an absolute change of < 3 ng/L misclassified 22 % (22/101) and 15 % (15/98). In the validation cohort (n = 621), the relative and absolute change criteria at one hour misclassified 43 % (13/30) and 17 % (5/30) of those with myocardial infarction.ConclusionsChronic myocardial injury cannot reliably be differentiated from acute myocardial injury or infarction by recommended criteria over short remeasurement intervals in the Emergency Department. Longer intervals between sampling and absolute rather than relative criteria may reduce the risk of misclassification
Blurred boundaries:Community treatment orders as instruments of racial surveillance
Get PDFThe Mental Health Act 1983 (MHA) authorizes the compulsory detention and treatment of people with mental disorders who are perceived to pose a risk to themselves or to others. Since its enactment, there have been concerns that the coercive powers of the Act have been disproportionately used for Black people with mental disorders. This disproportionate impact of the MHA on Black people is most clearly seen in the excessive use of Community Treatment Orders (CTOs). Although there is limited evidence on the effectiveness of CTOs, they continue to be used increasingly in the care of Black people, with latest data showing that Black people are over seven times more likely to be issued CTOs than White people (National Health Service Digital, 2024). This is particularly concerning as CTOs are commonly perceived as intrusive and have been described as a form of racial surveillance. In this paper, we explore the idea of CTOs as instruments of racial surveillance and argue that their continued use in the care of Black people with mental disorders is an extension of the intrusive powers of the State and might constitute a form of racial injustice.</p
From impact to extinction to recovery: Discoveries of IODP-ICDP Expedition 364 to the Chicxulub impact structure
Get PDFIn 2016, International Ocean Discovery Program Expedition 364, with support from the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program, drilled into the peak ring of the Chicxulub impact structure, famous for its causal link to the mass extinction at the end of the Cretaceous. In this summary paper, we discuss key findings from Site M0077 on the cratering processes, marine ecosystem recovery after the mass extinction, and the post-impact hydrothermal system and habitability of the impact structure. Important results include (1) the confirmation of the dynamic collapse model of peak ring formation, (2) insights into impactite emplacement processes on Earth, where water is a key component, (3) discovery of the iridium anomaly within the impact basin, unequivocally linking the Chicxulub impact basin to the global Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) boundary layer, (4) evidence for key atmospheric inputs of dust, sulfate aerosols, and soot, all likely contributing to global cooling and reduction of photosynthesis as drivers for extinction, (5) rapid recovery of life within the ocean overlying the crater, including a primary succession driven by in part by picoplankton before a transition over 100 s kyr to diversifying planktic communities, and (6) the presence of a long-lived hydrothermal system with extant thermophilic life in the buried peak ring 66 Myr later. The Chicxulub crater represents exceptional scientific opportunity in that it bridges planetary science, impact dynamics, and astrobiology; the integration of such findings continue to reveal the transformative power of asteroid impacts as a major geologic and biologic process
Microbial death in the Andes: necromass declines despite growth and carbon-use-efficiency increases with decadal soil warming
Get PDFThe growth and death of soil microbes are important drivers of soil carbon formation. A warming climate is predicted to affect both the production of microbial biomass and the stability of microbial residues (necromass) held in soils. However, we have very little information on how warming in tropical soils will affect these processes, and on the effect of temperature on microbial production and turnover over different time-scales. To address this, we studied temperature effects on microbial-mediated C cycling across two different time-scales, using a 20 °C mean annual temperature gradient in the Peruvian Andes (long-term effects) and decadal experimental-warming via soil translocation (11-years of temperature effects). At long-term timescales, a legacy of warmer temperatures decreased microbial carbon use efficiency (CUE), microbial biomass C, and decreased fungal and bacterial necromass concentration in soils. At decadal timescales, experimental warming increased CUE, microbial production and microbial biomass concentration (likely the result of concomitant changes in substrate availability). However, this did not translate into increased microbial necromass concentration, which generally declined with warming across all temporal scales. Together, we show that warmer temperatures over decadal (11-year) timescales affect soil microbial processes to potentially increase their C input to soil (increased CUE, microbial production, and biomass) but we find no evidence that this C became stabilized as the necromass C pool decreased. Our results indicate that warming can alter microbial community metabolism to potentially increase necromass C inputs to soil, although we find no evidence to show that this offset overall soil C loss with warming
Sensitivity of familial high-risk approaches for the identification of future bipolar disorder: A longitudinal total birth cohort study
Get PDFBackgroundExtensive research has demonstrated an increased risk of bipolar disorder (BD) in individuals with familial high-risk for BD (FHR-BD). To date, however, it has not been demonstrated what proportion of all BD cases are captured by the FHR-BD approach. This is essential information because it identifies the upper limit of BD cases that could be prevented using the FHR-BD approach, if we had an effective preventive intervention.MethodsAll individuals born in Finland 1987–1992 (index children) were identified in health care registers and linked with maternal and paternal data. Of all BD diagnoses in the population by age 29, we assessed the proportion that occurred in individuals with a parental history of BD (FHR-BD). As an additional novel transdiagnostic approach, we also assessed the proportion of BD diagnoses that occurred in individuals who had a parental history of psychiatric admission for any reason (transdiagnostic familial risk; TDFR-BD).ResultsOf all index children (n = 368,779), 2.4 % (n = 8673) met FHR-BD criteria and 15.3 % (n = 56,483) met TDFR-BD criteria. Of all individuals diagnosed with BD, 7.8 % (CI: 6.9–8.7, n = 307) met FHR-BD criteria and 27.2 % (CI: 25.8–28.6 %, n = 1061) met TDFR-BD criteria prior to diagnosis. Absolute risk of BD in FHR-BD children and TDFR-BD children was 4.1 % (CI: 3.6–4.6 %, n = 307) and 2.2 % (CI: 2.0–2.4 %, n = 1061), respectively.ConclusionsOnly a small proportion (7.8 %) of BD cases are identified using the FHR-BD approach. Our findings highlight the importance of prediction research investigating not only absolute or relative risk, but also the sensitivity of different approaches to identifying risk
Triassic-cretaceous sedimentary and magmatic development of the classic SW outcrop of the Antalya Complex, S Türkiye as a developing rift and passive margin bordering the Southern Neotethys
No full textThe SW segment of the Antalya Complex (Antalya nappes) documents sedimentation, magmatism and tectonics related to Permian-Triassic continental rifting, Jurassic-Cretaceous passive margin subsidence, Late Cretaceous ophiolite genesis, and latest Cretaceous initial emplacement. Pulsed rifting took place during Late Permian and Early Triassic, followed by continental break-up during Late Triassic, and then Jurassic-Late Cretaceous (Santonian) passive margin subsidence. In the west, the Lower Antalya Unit records Late Triassic (Norian) rifting and collapse of the adjacent carbonate platform (Bey Dağları), then latest Triassic (Rhaetian)-Cenomanian development of a channelised carbonate slope with redeposited shallow-water carbonates. The Middle Antalya Unit begins with Mid-Triassic (Ladinian) radiolarites, overlain by Middle-Upper Triassic siliciclastic turbidites, deep-water hemipelagic carbonates (drift deposits) and radiolarites. Alkaline volcanics erupted during Late Triassic in a deep-water setting. Deep-water radiolarites characterised Rhaetian to Late Cenomanian-Turonian. Within the Upper Antalya Unit farther east, above pre-rift and early syn-rift crust, Middle Triassic (Ladinian) radiolarites were followed by Upper Triassic hemipelagic carbonates, then uppermost Triassic-Cenomanian shallow-water platform carbonates. The SW Antalya Complex restores to the northern margin of the Southern Neotethys. The upper unit (Cambrian-Devonian) rifted during Late Permian, Middle Triassic (Ladinian) and Late Triassic (Carnian-Norian). Rift-related flexural and/or thermal uplift preceded seafloor spreading, similar to the Central-Northern Red Sea. Dismembered ophiolitic rocks were emplaced from the adjacent Southern Neotethys during the latest Cretaceous. Initial ophiolite emplacement resulted in collapse of the passive margin and transgression by mass-flow deposits. Initial emplacement by thrusting and strike-slip during late Campanian-Maastrichtian, was followed by Paleocene, Eocene and Miocene emplacement events
Individual calf nemabiome test results and metadata
No full textGastrointestinal nematodes (GIN) are of major concern in dairy farming, particularly in smallholder systems, because of their impact on the health of the calves and later on their productivity. These infections often occur as co-infections, which can complicate their prevention and treatment. The aim of this study was to conduct fecal egg counts (FEC), genetically identify GIN species, assess species diversity, and identify associated risk factors for GIN infections in dairy calves. Fecal samples were collected from 532 dairy calves across 289 small holder dairy farms. Species identification was achieved through deep amplicon sequencing of the Internal Transcribed Spacer-2 rDNA locus (ITS-2) of first-stage larvae (L1). The mean eggs per gram (EPG) was 62.0 ± 93.0. Most of the calves 64.2% had lowintensity infections (200 EPG). Next Generation Sequencing analysis identified nine GIN species, with Cooperia punctata (27.8%), Haemonchus placei (26.3%), and Haemonchus contortus (23.6%) being the most prevalent. Co-infections were common, accounting for 69.5% of all infections, with two (40.1%), three (26.9%), and four-species combinations (19.8%) predominating. Male calves showed a significant association with both increased FEC and smaller heart girth, while FEC decreased with age. H. placei and C. punctata were associated with increased FEC, whereas Ostertagia ostertagi (14.5%) and Trichostrongylus colubriformis (8.0%) were associated with decreased heart girth. Calves managed under pasture systems had higher odds of co-infection. This study reveals that GIN infections are highly prevalent in dairy calves, with co-infections being common, and that GIN burden is significantly influenced by calf age, sex, and management system. The Nemabiome tool offers a promising approach to assessing GIN burden and guiding the selection of anthelmintic protocols as part of sustainable farming strategies in tropical regions
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