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The reception of Maimonides in 17th Century England
Get PDFThis thesis argues that Maimonides’s reception was critical to the development of the historical- contextual scholarship of the New Testament and a new ‘anthropological’ approach to the Old Testament. It traces the reception of the writings of Moses Maimonides in seventeenth century England through the writings of several key scholars, chief amongst them Henry Ainsworth, John Selden, John Lightfoot, Edward Pococke and John Spencer It argues that Maimonides was particularly significant for this period because he gave Christians access both to the contents of the Law and to its pre-history. These were subjects of significant contemporary confessional concern through the rise of Laudianism and its contestation, the vicissitudes of the Civil War and inter-regnum periods and then the Restoration of the monarchy and the national Church in 1660 on explicitly anti-Puritan grounds. Maimonides is shown to have been significant both for New Testament scholarship prior to and during the Civil War and inter-regnum period and for Old Testament scholarship in the post-Restoration era. His reception is argued to have proceeded in three stages – firstly through a limited readership in Latin, and to a lesser extent in Hebrew in the sixteenth century, followed by an ‘Hebraic’ reception in the first half of the seventeenth century which continued to develop and evolve alongside a ‘multilingual’ Judeo-Arabic reception which emerges thanks to advances in Oriental scholarship in the 1650s. Maimonides’s particular appeal to these scholars is found to be twofold. Firstly, his legal digest, the Mishneh Torah is shown to have been particularly popular on account of the infrequency of its references to the much- maligned Talmud. Secondly Maimonides’s philosophical classic, the Moreh Nebukhim is shown to have offered an account of the historical context within which was understood to justify its non- observance by Christians
Impact of Virtual Reality-Based Rehabilitation on Postoperative Outcomes Following Total Hip Arthroplasty: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Get PDFHip osteoarthritis is a common cause of pain and disability, and total hip arthroplasty (THA) is an effective treatment for advanced disease. Despite surgical success, many patients experience prolonged postoperative deficits, and conventional rehabilitation does not always restore full function. Virtual reality-based rehabilitation (VR-R) has recently emerged as a potential tool to enhance recovery through increased engagement and non-pharmacological pain modulation. We aim to comprehensively evaluate the effectiveness of VR-R after THA in improving functional recovery, reducing pain and opioid use, and enhancing overall rehabilitation outcomes. We systematically searched the following databases: PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, and Embase until November 14, 2025. The quality of the included randomized clinical trials (RCTs) was assessed using the Cochrane Risk of Bias 2 (RoB 2) tool. Statistical analysis was performed using the RevMan tool (v. 5; The Cochrane Collaboration, London, UK), with mean difference (MD) or standardized MD (SMD) for continuous data. Heterogeneity was evaluated using the I² statistic, and random-effects models were used when I² exceeded 50%. This systematic review was prospectively registered on PROSPERO (CRD420251268393). Seven studies met the inclusion criteria, comprising 397 patients. VR-R demonstrated a significant reduction in postoperative stress (SMD = -1.18; 95% confidence interval (CI): (-1.69, -0.67); p < 0.00001; I² = 0%). In contrast, no significant differences were observed between VR-R and conventional rehabilitation for pain (SMD = -0.87; p = 0.11), opioid consumption (SMD = -0.42; p = 0.40; I² = 87%), general mobility (SMD = 0.18; p = 0.32), or functional independence as measured by the Barthel index (MD = 8.00; p = 0.37). VR-R significantly reduces postoperative stress following THA but shows no significant benefits for pain, opioid consumption, mobility, or functional independence compared to standard care. Despite substantial heterogeneity across studies, VR-R represents a safe adjunctive tool for addressing psychological aspects of recovery. Standardized protocols and large-scale trials are needed to establish optimal implementation strategies
Severe neonatal complications and long-term health-related quality of life in very preterm and/or very low birth weight survivors: evidence from the Dutch project on preterm and small for gestational age cohort
No full textBackground: Understanding the impact of severe neonatal complications such as Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia (BPD), Intraventricular Hemorrhage (IVH), or Necrotizing Enterocolitis (NEC) on adult health-related quality of life (HRQoL) beyond the effect of prematurity itself is significant for health economic evaluation and policy.
Objective: Analyze the independent associations of BPD, IVH, NEC and multiple birth status with preference-based HRQoL utility scores in adulthood for survivors in the Dutch Project on Preterm and Small-for-gestational-age infants (POPS) a national cohort born in 1983.
Methods: Exposures were documented neonatal BPD, severe IVH (grades 3–4), NEC, and multiple birth status. HRQoL data were available for n=644 (19y), n=314 (28y), and n=370 (35y). Using multivariable linear regression adjusted for confounders, we assessed the association between each exposure and HRQoL utility scores and optimal functioning. Analyses incorporated inverse probability weighting to adjust for potential attrition bias. We conducted comprehensive sensitivity analyses including best-case/worst-case imputation scenarios, comparison of IPW-weighted versus unweighted estimates, and post-hoc power calculations.
Results: After adjustment for confounders, severe IVH (grade 3/4) was the only neonatal complication independently associated with significant and persistent decrements in overall preference-based HRQoL, with utility score reductions at 19 years (HUI3: β = −0.08, p=0.05), 28 years (HUI3: β = −0.13, p=0.01), and 35 years (SF-6D: β = −0.07, p=0.04). These findings were robust to IPW adjustment for attrition (all |∆β| < 0.02) and fell within plausible bounds established by best-case/worst-case sensitivity analyses. Conclusion: Severe IVH was associated with significant and clinically meaningful utility decrements that persisted into the fourth decade of life
Predicting progression in MS (NMR data)
No full textThis dataset contains serum 1H NMR metabolomics profiles generated to support the study “Serum GFAP and NfL Augment a Metabolomics-Driven Strategy for Long-Term Prediction of Multiple Sclerosis Progression.” Serum samples were acquired from individuals with multiple sclerosis and analysed using standardised NMR spectroscopy protocols. The data include processed spectral features and quantified metabolites used for multivariate modelling and longitudinal prediction of disease progression
Bay‐functionalized [7]Helicene Bilayer Nanographenes
Get PDFHelical bilayer nanographenes (HBNGs) represent a promising class of materials for advanced optoelectronic and chiroptical applications, owing to their extended π‐conjugation, intrinsic chirality, and tunable interlayer interactions. Here, the rational design and synthesis of bay‐functionalized [7]HBNGs incorporating methoxy, diketone, and phenazine moieties is reported. These tailored modifications enable precise tuning of redox properties and significantly enhance photophysical properties, including pronounced spectral shifts, prolonged fluorescence lifetimes of up to 10 ns, and fluorescence quantum yields reaching 55%. Importantly, the resulting [7]HBNGs exhibit strong electronic circular dichroism and exceptional circularly polarized luminescence (CPL), with CPL brightness values as high as 110 M−1 cm−1. The modular, convergent strategy enables versatile late‐stage modification of bay‐substituted HBNGs from a single scalable precursor, streamlining access to diverse derivatives and opening new opportunities for their application in molecular electronics, chiroptical devices, and advanced optoelectronic materials
Clinical rationale behind glucose-sparing strategies in peritoneal dialysis: a narrative review
Get PDFThe effectiveness of peritoneal dialysis (PD) relies on dialysate-induced solute and water transport across the peritoneal membrane, facilitated by concentration and type of osmotic agents. Standard PD solutions predominantly use glucose as an osmotic agent due to its well-known metabolism, effective ultrafiltration during shorter dwells, and low cost. However, glucose exposure may damage the structure and function of the peritoneal membrane and cause systemic metabolic complications, including insulin resistance and cardiovascular disease, underscoring the need for glucose-sparing strategies with alternative solutions, such as solutions with icodextrin and amino acids as osmotic agents, and glucose-based, less bioincompatible fluids with physiological pH and reduced glucose degradation products. This brief narrative review examines the unwanted effects of glucose-based solutions and the clinical rationales behind glucose-sparing strategies that may reduce these effects and potentially improve clinical outcomes
Population-level violence as a whole
Get PDFViolence is preventable and the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals set out violence prevention as a global priority – calling for countries to halve their violent death rates by 2030. Despite action since, there has been limited progress in reducing violence globally.In this essay, we argue that current violence prevention efforts are being heavily shaped by reductionism – the now-dominant research paradigm across the sciences. We make the case that this reductionist philosophy has prematurely misguided violence research away from studying populations as a whole. We further argue that the mainstream statistical methods in violence research are reinforcing this reductionist bias by oversimplifying ‘cause’ and ‘effect’ relationships. After revisiting foundational principles in sociology and public health, and drawing on advances in social epidemiology and complexity science, we suggest that violence – at any level – is better understood as an emergent property of a complex system.We call on the field of violence research to return to a holist lens to maximise gains in explanatory theory and better position the evidence to directly inform effective intervention strategies for reducing violence at scale
Orthosymplectic enumerative geometry
Get PDFThis thesis studies enumerative invariants counting orthogonal and symplectic objects in linear categories arising from algebraic geometry, as a first step towards generalizing known results and methods in linear enumerative geometry to general non-linear moduli problems.The main focus of the thesis is the construction of orthosymplectic Donaldson–Thomas invariants and the study of their properties. Examples include invariants counting self-dual representations of self-dual quivers with potential, invariants counting orthosymplectic complexes of coherent sheaves on Calabi–Yau threefolds, a motivic version of Vafa–Witten type invariants counting orthosymplectic Higgs complexes on surfaces, and so on. We prove wallcrossing formulae relating these invariants for different stability conditions, and we carry out explicit computations in some cases
Impacts of climate mitigation and supplementary irrigation on crop yields in Africa
No full textAfrica is facing an increasingly severe food crisis. Due to the lack of infrastructure and limited agricultural water conservancy investment, impacts of future climate change on agricultural yields are particularly pronounced in African countries. In this study, based on the ensemble-mean output of the dynamical crop growth model LPJmL driven by five bias-corrected general circulation models (GCMs) (MRI-ESM2-0, IPSL-CM6A-LR, MPI-ESM1-2-HR, UKESM1-0-LL, GFDL-ESM4) in the ISIMIP3 dataset, we investigate yield changes of four main crops (maize, rice, soybean and wheat) in Africa under three socioeconomic and emission scenarios and investigate the potential of supplemental irrigation on crop yield increases. We find that the implementation of climate mitigation actions reducing high carbon emission into low levels are expected to have very different impacts throughout the whole of Africa, with some countries gaining considerably while others may be faced with a worse set of circumstances than would be the case under a historical scenario. Unlike climate mitigation measures, supplemental irrigation shows consistent positive effects on crop yields across all African countries
Safety-netting communication during telephone consultations: an observational study using recorded consultations
Get PDFBackground In 2024, one-third of NHS GP consultations in England were by telephone. While remote consulting can be convenient for patients and GPs, it may increase diagnostic uncertainty. Safety-netting advice (guidance on when and how patients should seek further medical help) is a tool used to mitigate clinical risk, but its delivery during telephone consultations has not been studied in detail. Aim Evaluate the communication, documentation, and patient recall of safety-netting advice in GP telephone consultations. Design and setting Observational study of 96 recorded telephone consultations from seven practices in South West England during 2023-24. Method Consultations were coded using a validated Safety-netting Coding Tool. Regression models explored factors associated with safety-netting advice. Patient recall was assessed using post-consultation questionnaires. Results There were 93 instances of safety-netting advice, delivered in 60.4% (58/96) of consultations applying to 43.4% (72/166) of problems. Safety-netting advice was mostly GP-initiated (95.7%, 89/93), delivered during treatment planning (66.7%, 62/93), and included specific elements (64.5%, 60/93). Delivered safety-netting advice was documented in 64.2% (34/53) of consultations with notes available. Written advice was rarely used (4/96 consultations, all text messages). Patients correctly recalled the presence of safety-netting advice in two-thirds of consultations when it was given. Safety-netting advice was more likely to be provided by younger GPs (<45 years; OR=5.09, p=0.011). Conclusion Safety-netting advice was common but inconsistently delivered, documented, and recalled in GP telephone consultations. Opportunities exist to improve the consistency, documentation, and use of written advice to support patient understanding, recall, and safety in remote care