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Sexual and reproductive health needs of women with severe mental illness in low- and middle-income countries:A scoping review
Get PDFBACKGROUND: This scoping review aimed to understand the extent and type of evidence in relation to sexual and reproductive health needs of women with severe mental illness (SMI) in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) and to summarise those needs.METHODS: Inclusion criteria were 1) focus on sexual and reproductive health needs 2) women or girls with SMI, professionals, caregivers of women with SMI and community members 3) study set in a LMIC 4) peer reviewed literature (no restriction on study date or design). Studies were identified from comprehensive searches of Medline, EMBASE, CINAHL and PsycINFO (to July 2023).RESULTS: The review included 100 papers. Most studies were cross-sectional and set in hospital outpatient departments. Only 20 of 140 LMIC countries were included in this review and only 15 studies were set-in low-income countries (LIC). Included studies often had multiple focus areas and were grouped by frequency of topic into categories of HIV (prevalence, risk behaviour and knowledge), other sexually transmitted infections (STIs), sexual function, contraception use and family planning, sexual violence, fertility, pregnancy and postpartum. Included studies indicated women with SMI have worse outcomes and worse sexual and reproductive health compared to both women without SMI and men with SMI. Women with SMI were shown to have higher rates of HIV and low levels of contraception knowledge and use, with little advice offered by professionals.CONCLUSIONS: This review highlights the need for a greater diversity of study methodology, robustness of ethical and consensual reporting when researching vulnerable populations and for further research on interventions and models of care aimed at addressing stigma, discrimination and improving the sexual and reproductive health of women with SMI. Future research should better represent the breadth of LMIC, investigate cultural adaptability of interventions and consider sexual health needs across the life course.</p
Quantifying phylogenetic and non-phylogenetic patterns in the richness, frequency and identity of links in a herbivore-parasitoid interaction network
Get PDFUncovering the patterns and structure in species interactions is central to understanding community assembly and dynamics. Species interact via their phenotypes, but identifying and quantifying the traits that structure species-specific interactions (links) can be challenging. Where these traits show phylogenetic signal, link properties (such as which species interact, and how often) may be predictable using models that incorporate phylogenies in place of trait data. However, quantification of phylogenetic patterns in link properties is conceptually and methodologically challenging because it requires co-estimation of multiple phylogenetic and non-phylogenetic pattern types in interaction data for multiple sites, while controlling for confounding effects and making biologically plausible assumptions about which species can interact. Here we show how this can be done in a Bayesian mixed modelling framework, using data for trophic interactions between oak cynipid galls and parasitoid natural enemies. We find strong signatures of cophylogeny (i.e. related parasitoids attack related host galls) in both link incidence (presence/absence) and link frequency data, alongside patterns in link incidence/richness and identity across sites that are independent of either parasitoid or gall wasp phylogeny. Our results are robust to substantially reduced sample completeness, and are consistent with structuring of trophic interactions by a combination of phylogenetically conserved and phylogenetically labile traits in both trophic levels. We show that incorporation of phylogenetic relationships into analyses of species interactions has substantial explanatory power even in the absence of trait data, with potential applied use in prediction of natural enemies of invading pests and non-target hosts of biocontrol agents
The aspiring author meets the metropolis:Self and the city in Eyvind Johnson’s letters and short stories, 1921-1923
No full textThe article builds on perspectives in urban sociology on the modern city as a site of both freedom and constraint, as well as perspectives in urban literary criticism on the city as a system, as sense-specific, and as pointing to the future. These insights support the core goal of unpacking the young Swedish writer Eyvind Johnson’s meeting with the Continental European metropolis after World War I. This aim is realized in two steps. First, the article tracks Johnson’s subjective response to the city and the development of his aesthetic thinking through the lens of his correspondence from late 1921 to early 1923. Second, the article explores the literary outcome of the meeting with the metropolis in the form of a group of innovative but largely unappreciated short stories that Johnson published in newspapers in 1923. Finally, the article argues that the metropolitan experience furthered Johnson’s career as a writer, with the short fiction pieces serving as stepping stones toward his unique brand of expansive modernism, manifested in his subsequent book publications from the 1920s
Genomic prediction of bone strength in laying hens using different sources of information
No full textBone damage in laying hens remains a significant welfare concern in the egg industry. Breeding companies rely on selective cross-breeding of purebred birds to produce commercial hybrids, which farmers raise for table-egg production. Genomic prediction is a potential tool to improve bone quality in laying hens. Because commercial layers are crossbred and kept in different environments than pure lines, the question arises whether to use within-line purebred selection or whether to use crossbred data. While selection based on pure line data is common, achieving optimal bone strength in hybrids may require incorporating hybrid data to account for heterosis and housing-specific effects. This study aims to evaluate how combining pure line and hybrid data could affect the accuracy of breeding values for bone strength. Genotypes and phenotypes were available from two types of white hybrids (Bovans White and Lohmann Selected Leghorn Classic) housed in two housing systems (furnished cages and floor housing). This resulted in four hybrid-housing combinations (n ∼ 220 for each). Tibia strength and genotypes for pure breeding lines of White Leghorn (WL, n = 947) and Rhode Island Red (RIR, n = 924) were also included. Each of the hybrid-housing combinations and pure lines was fitted separately into (1) single-trait Genomic Best Linear Unbiased Prediction (GBLUP), then simultaneously via multitrait GBLUP, (2) within hybrids across housing, (3) across hybrids within housing, (4) across hybrids and housing, (5) the latter in combination with WL and/or RIR data. Including hybrid data slightly increased the accuracy of the genomic estimated breeding value (GEBV) of other hybrids, but not that of pure lines. Pure line data increased the GEBV accuracy of hybrids over and above that of combining hybrid information. Combining data from two pure lines improved the GEBV accuracy of both. In comparison to the combination of data across lines and/or houses, combining tibia strength and BW within-lines increased tibia strength GEBV accuracy. The maximum GEBV accuracy obtained for tibia strength ranged from 0.42 to 0.65 for hybrids and from 0.63 to 0.78 for pure lines. Further study is required to test whether modelling the interactions of genotype by environment could help to breed hybrids for specific housing systems.</p
The spatially informed mFISHseq assay resolves biomarker discordance and predicts treatment response in breast cancer
No full textCurrent assays fail to address breast cancer’s complex biology and accurately predict treatment response. On a retrospective cohort of 1082 female breast tissues, we develop and validate mFISHseq, which integrates multiplexed RNA fluorescent in situ hybridization with RNA-sequencing, guided by laser capture microdissection. This technique ensures tumor purity, unbiased whole transcriptome profiling, and explicitly quantifies intratumoral heterogeneity. Here we show mFISHseq has 93% accuracy compared to immunohistochemistry. Our consensus subtyping and risk groups mitigate single sample discordance, provide early and late prognostic information, and identify high risk patients with enriched immune signatures, which predict response to neoadjuvant immunotherapy in the multicenter, phase II, prospective I-SPY2 trial. We identify putative antibody-drug conjugate (ADC)-responsive patients, as evidenced by a 19-feature T-DM1 classifier, validated on I-SPY2. Deploying mFISHseq as a research-use only test on 48 patients demonstrates clinical feasibility, revealing insights into the efficacy of targeted therapies, like CDK4/6 inhibitors, immunotherapies, and ADCs
Smoothing of the Higher-Order Stokes Phenomenon
No full textFor over a century, the Stokes phenomenon had been perceived as a discontinuous change in the asymptotic representation of a function. In 1989, Berry demonstrated it is possible to smooth this discontinuity in broad classes of problems with the prefactor for the exponentially small contribution switching on/off taking a universal error function form. Following pioneering work of Berk, Nevins, and Roberts and the Japanese school of formally exact asymptotics, the concept of the higher-order Stokes phenomenon was introduced, whereby the ability for the exponentially small terms to cause a Stokes phenomenon may change, depending on the values of parameters in the problem, corresponding to the associated Borel-plane singularities transitioning between Riemann sheets. Until now, the higher-order Stokes phenomenon has also been treated as a discontinuous event. In this paper, we show how the higher-order Stokes phenomenon is also smooth and occurs universally with a prefactor that takes the form of a new special function, based on a Gaussian convolution of an error function. We provide a rigorous derivation of the result, with examples spanning the gamma function, a second-order nonlinear ODE, and the telegraph equation, giving rise to a ghost-like smooth contribution present in the vicinity of a Stokes line, but which rapidly tends to zero on either side. We also include a rigorous derivation of the effect of the smoothed higher-order Stokes phenomenon on the individual terms in the asymptotic series, where the additional contributions appear prefactored by an error function
From Theory To Practice: Improving The SHIFT-SHARE Framework With Stakeholder Insights From India
No full textBackground: Task shifting and sharing (TS/S) are strategies to transfer tasks from more to less specialised caregivers to address workforce shortages. Using theoretical constructs from popular change management theories, implementation frameworks and tools, we conceptualised a new strategic framework for TS/S called the SHIFT-SHARE. This study aims to validate and refine SHIFT-SHARE, informed by existing interventions and feedback from stakeholders in India, a nation with large populations and acute provider shortages. Methods: This mixed-methods study employs semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions and non-participatory observations with stakeholders from healthcare centres, non-profits and capacity-building institutions. Participants, recruited via convenience and snowball sampling, include those involved in TS/S, managers and leadership, trainers, auditors, funders, academicians and patients. With 102 participants recruited, the study assesses alignment between SHIFT-SHARE and practices, keeping participants blind to the framework to avoid bias during interviews and observations. During group discussions, SHIFT-SHARE is presented for feedback on feasibility and applicability. Data is analysed thematically. Ethics approval was obtained from the Edinburgh Medical School Research Ethics Committee, and written informed consent was obtained from participants. Findings: All participants appreciated the purpose and structure of SHIFT-SHARE. They recommended integrating prompts for service organisers to streamline TS/S. Challenges to implementing TS/S were identified, such as lack of documentation and policies for protecting and incentivising providers undertaking additional tasks, leading to inadequate motivation. Sociocultural factors, such as language and caste, impact TS/S in rural areas. Most interventions lack mechanisms for evaluating the quality of shifted or shared services. Hands-on skills-based tasks are easier to transfer than those requiring theoretical foundations. These are initial findings and we continue to consolidate them as the study progresses. Interpretation: The study demonstrates support for SHIFT-SHARE, highlighting its potential to improve planning of services via task redistributions and identifies best practices in implementing TS/S. Strengths of this study include comprehensive stakeholder engagement. Limitations include the potential for selection bias due to purposive sampling. This study underscores the importance of stakeholder engagement in improving frameworks, providing a structure for policymakers and administrators to systematically integrate TS/S into care models
Hope Street:Reimagining learning journeys
No full textThis chapter explores an artistic exchange project between Glasgow and Mexico City that unfolded during COP26, the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference. Situated within the framework of creative mobilities, the chapter examines how journeys—both physical and digital—can be reimagined as sites of learning, transformation, and hope. Drawing on the concept of learning journeys, it investigates how participatory and community-based experiences generate meaningful encounters and new ways of knowing. Through co-authored reflections, the chapter emphasises the experimental and generative potential of such exchanges, proposing them as hopeful responses to global challenges like the climate crisis. Ultimately, it argues for the value of creative adventures as a means of opening up alternative pathways for education, collaboration, and sustainable futures
Genetic origins of Utilitarian versus Kantian moral philosophy in heritable motivations for egalitarian beneficence and coercive redistribution
No full textUtilitarianism is the most influential and controversial philosophical rationale for moral decisions. The recent discovery of two psychological foundations underlying utilitarian versus duty-based moral reasoning allows a test of the genetic basis of these traits. The Oxford Utilitarianism Scale (OUS) assesses Impartial Beneficence – a taste for maximizing well-being with each to count as one, and none for more than one, and Instrumental Harm – a motive to coerce others to redistribute resources. The OUS was administered to a representative sample of Australian twins (n = 439 MZ twins and 627 DZ twins). The overall OUS showed substantial genetic influence (h = 0.52). A well-fitting model dissecting the OUS into impartial beneficence and instrumental harm components revealed that each of these were heritable (h = 0.58, and 0.42 respectively) and largely independent. This suggests that ethical systems run on an emotional dimension from duty-based to utilitarian, in turn reflecting two genetically distinct motivations transmitted down generations
Evidence for word order harmony between abstract categories in silent gesture
No full textCross-category harmony is the tendency for languages to use consistent orders of heads and dependents across different types of phrases. For example, languages tend to either place both verbs and adpositions before their dependents (e.g., ‘see the girl’, ‘to the store’ as in English) or after (e.g., ‘the girl see’, ‘the store to’ as in Turkish). Harmony has been argued to reflect a cognitive bias for simpler rules: a single high level abstract rule is simpler to learn than multiple rules, one for each type of head and dependent (Culbertson and Kirby, 2016). This has been supported by recent experimental work indicating that learners prefer to consistently order nouns either before or after different nominal modifiers (e.g. Culbertson et al., 2012, 2020a) and different types of verbs (Motamedi et al., 2022), and generalise the relative order of verb and noun to the order of an adposition and noun (Wang et al., in press). However, these studies all use the exact same set of nouns for both the training and testing stimuli. This leaves open the possibility that participants are noticing surface-level patterns, i.e., matching the position of specific nouns across phrases. This would give the appearance of a preference for cross-category harmony, but would not reflect anything about the alignment of categories, or a preference for fewer abstract rules. This paper describes three experiments that were designed to establish whether there is a cognitive bias for cross-category harmony between the adpositional phrase and the verb phrase which persists when the possibility of using surface-level patterns is removed
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