1,014 research outputs found
Social Behavior and Meningococcal Carriage in British Teenagers
No full textUnderstanding predisposing factors for meningococcal carriage may identify targets for public health interventions. Before mass vaccination with meningococcal group C conjugate vaccine began in autumn 1999, we took pharyngeal swabs from ?14,000 UK teenagers and collected information on potential risk factors. Neisseria meningitidis was cultured from 2,319 (16.7%) of 13,919 swabs. In multivariable analysis, attendance at pubs/clubs, intimate kissing, and cigarette smoking were each independently and strongly associated with increased risk for meningococcal carriage (p<0.001). Carriage in those with none of these risk factors was 7.8%, compared to 32.8% in those with all 3. Passive smoking was also linked to higher risk for carriage, but age, sex, social deprivation, home crowding, or school characteristics had little or no effect. Social behavior, rather than age or sex, can explain the higher frequency of meningococcal carriage among teenagers. A ban on smoking in public places may reduce risk for transmission
Geographic structure of genetic variation in the Parachute Gecko Ptychozoon lionotum Annandale, 1905 across Indochina and Sundaland with descriptions of three new species
No full textGrismer, L. Lee, Wood Jr, Perry L., Grismer, Jesse L., Quah, Evan S. H., Thy, Neang, Phimmachak, Somphouthone, Sivongxay, Niane, Seateun, Sengvilay, Stuart, Bryan L., Siler, Cameron B., Mulcahy, Daniel G., Anamza, Tashitso, Brown, Rafe M. (2019): Geographic structure of genetic variation in the Parachute Gecko Ptychozoon lionotum Annandale, 1905 across Indochina and Sundaland with descriptions of three new species. Zootaxa 4638 (2): 151-198, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4638.2.
Generation of an improved luciferase reporter gene plasmid that employs a novel mechanism for high-copy replication
No full textAndrew G. Bert, Joanna Burrows, Cameron S. Osborne and Peter N. Cockerillhttp://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/622933/description#descriptio
sj-docx-1-mcr-10.1177_10775587231180667 – Supplemental material for Do High-Deductible Health Plans Incentivize Changing the Timing of Substance Use Disorder Treatment?
No full textSupplemental material, sj-docx-1-mcr-10.1177_10775587231180667 for Do High-Deductible Health Plans Incentivize Changing the Timing of Substance Use Disorder Treatment? by Mara A. G. Hollander, Alene Kennedy-Hendricks, Cameron Schilling, Mark K. Meiselbach, Elizabeth A. Stuart, Haiden A. Huskamp, Alisa B. Busch, Julia C. P. Eddelbuettel, Colleen L. Barry and Matthew D. Eisenberg in Medical Care Research and Review</p
Whole- Brain Functional Ultrasound Imaging Reveals Brain Modules for Visuomotor Integration
No full textLarge numbers of brain regions are active during behaviors. A high-resolution, brain-wide activity map could identify brain regions involved in specific behaviors. We have developed functional ultrasound imaging to record whole-brain activity in behaving mice at a resolution of ∼100 μm. We detected 87 active brain regions during visual stimulation that evoked the optokinetic reflex, a visuomotor behavior that stabilizes the gaze both horizontally and vertically. Using a genetic mouse model of congenital nystagmus incapable of generating the horizontal reflex, we identified a subset of regions whose activity was reflex dependent. By blocking eye motion in control animals, we further separated regions whose activity depended on the reflex's motor output. Remarkably, all reflex-dependent but eye motion-independent regions were located in the thalamus. Our work identifies functional modules of brain regions involved in sensorimotor integration and provides an experimental approach to monitor whole-brain activity of mice in normal and disease states.sponsorship: We thank A. Drinnenberg, G. Kosche, D. Hillier, P. King, and S. Oakeley for commenting on the manuscript. We thank P. Argast for assistance with the head and probe holder prototyping. We acknowledge the following grants: Human Frontier Science Program Postdoctoral Fellowship (LT000769/2015) to E.M.; Swiss National Science Foundation Ambizione Grant (PZOOP3_168213) and Canada Research Chair Grant to S.T.; Swiss National Science Foundation grants (3100330B_163457), the National Center of Competence in Research Molecular Systems Engineering grant, European Research Council (669157, RETMUS), and DARPA (HR0011-17-C-0038, Cortical Sight) grants to B.R. (Human Frontier Science Program Postdoctoral Fellowship|LT000769/2015, Swiss National Science Foundation Ambizione Grant|PZOOP3_168213, Canada Research Chair Grant, Swiss National Science Foundation|3100330B_163457, European Research Council|669157, DARPA|HR0011-17-C-0038, National Center of Competence in Research Molecular Systems Engineering grant, European Research Council (ERC)|669157)status: Publishe
Harvested populations are more variable only in more variable environments
No full textAcknowledgments This work was funded by NERC grant NE/C510467/1 (T. G. Benton and S. B. Piertney) and a University of Leeds Faculty Postdoctoral Fellowship (T. C. Cameron). Data Accessibility The original time series and body size data from these experiments are available to download from DRYAD entry number http://dx.doi.org/10.5061/dryad.bq135.Peer reviewe
Elected Mayors: Leading Locally?
No full textThe directly elected executive mayor has been with us in England for more than a decade. Drawing inspiration from European and American experience (see Elcock and Fenwick, 2007) the elected mayor has appealed to both Labour and Conservative commentators in offering a solution to perceived problems of local leadership. For the Left, it offered a reinvigoration of local democracy, a champion for the locality who could stand up for the community: in one early pamphlet, a Labour councillor envisaged that an elected mayor could “...usher in a genuinely inclusive way of doing civic business as well as giving birth to an institution that encourages and values people” (Todd, 2000: 25). For the Right, it offered the opportunity to cut through the lengthy processes of local democratic institutions by providing streamlined high-profile leadership. Although inconsistent in their expectations of what the new role of executive mayor would bring, Left and Right shared a view that leadership of local areas was failing. Despite the very low turnout in referendums on whether to adopt the system, and the very small number of local areas that have done so, the prospect of more executive mayors, with enhanced powers, refuses to exit the policy arena
Single-crystal to single-crystal addition of H<sub>2</sub>to [Ir(<sup>i</sup>Pr-PONOP)(propene)][BAr<sup>F</sup><sub>4</sub>] and comparison between solid-state and solution reactivity
No full textThe reactivity of the Ir(I) PONOP pincer complex [Ir(iPr-PONOP)(η2-propene)][BArF4], 6, [iPr-PONOP = 2,6-(iPr2PO)2C6H3N, ArF = 3,5-(CF3)2C6H3] was studied in solution and the solid state, both experimentally, using molecular density functional theory (DFT) and periodic-DFT computational methods, as well as in situ single-crystal to single-crystal (SC-SC) techniques. Complex 6 is synthesized in solution from sequential addition of H2 and propene, and then the application of vacuum, to [Ir(iPr-PONOP)(η2-COD)][BArF4], 1, a reaction manifold that proceeds via the Ir(III) dihydrogen/dihydride complex [Ir(iPr-PONOP)(H2)H2][BArF4], 2, and the Ir(III) dihydride propene complex [Ir(iPr-PONOP)(η2-propene)H2][BArF4], 7, respectively. In solution (CD2Cl2) 6 undergoes rapid reaction with H2 to form dihydride 7 and then a slow (3 d) onward reaction to give dihydrogen/dihydride 2 and propane. DFT calculations on the molecular cation in solution support this slow, but productive, reaction, with a calculated barrier to rate-limiting propene migratory insertion of 24.8 kcal/mol. In the solid state single-crystals of 6 also form complex 7 on addition of H2 in an SC-SC reaction, but unlike in solution the onward reaction (i.e., insertion) does not occur, as confirmed by labeling studies using D2. The solid-state structure of 7 reveals that, on addition of H2 to 6, the PONOP ligand moves by 90° within a cavity of [BArF4]- anions rather than the alkene moving. Periodic DFT calculations support the higher barrier to insertion in the solid state (ΔG‡ = 26.0 kcal/mol), demonstrating that the single-crystal environment gates onward reactivity compared to solution. H2 addition to 6 to form 7 is reversible in both solution and the solid state, but in the latter crystallinity is lost. A rare example of a sigma amine-borane pincer complex, [Ir(iPr-PONOP)H2(η1-H3B·NMe3)][BArF4], 5, is also reported as part of these studies.</p
Commando country: special training centres in the Scottish highlands, 1940-45
No full textCommando Country assesses the nature of more than 30 special training centres that operated in the Scottish highlands between 1940 and 1945, in order to explore the origins, evolution and culture of British special service training during the Second World War. These locations were chosen by virtue of the utility of the physical environment of the highland estate, strongly influenced by associated ideas about the challenge of that environment, individual character and the nature of irregular warfare. By virtue of its Scottish geographical perspective, Commando Country diverges from the existing literature by looking across the training establishments used by different organisations, principally Military Intelligence, the Commandos, and Special Operations Executive (SOE), whose histories tend to be considered in isolation. The book investigates the development and function of each category of training centre, the relationships between them, and their place in the broader framework of British and Allied special operations. Based on research in official documentary sources, unpublished and published memoirs and on fieldwork and interviews with surviving participants conducted by the author, Commando Country also presents rare unpublished photographs from public and private sources and artefacts assembled for the exhibition of the same name held at the National War Museum, Edinburgh in 2007. The resulting thesis is that the philosophy and practice improvised at the original school of irregular warfare at Inverailort House in the summer of 1940 permeated the culture of the training centres that developed thereafter. Close attention is accordingly given to the circumstances, organisation and instructing personnel that created the Inverailort syllabus, and the backgrounds and skills brought to bear, some drawn from civilian professions. The application of similar methods to the newly formed Commando forces is then traced. In this context the original operational purposes of individual aspects of the training became standardised into a general test of fitness and character designed to control admission of volunteers into the Commandos, the raiding and assault units that regarded themselves as a new military elite. Simultaneously, the approach pioneered at Inverailort was adapted to form the paramilitary training element of SOE, the organisation that coordinated and supported Resistance organisations in enemy-occupied countries. Particular attention is paid to the dedicated training establishments for Polish and Norwegian SOE units based in Scotland. The book concludes by considering how techniques and philosophy were applied more widely as conventional military training itself evolved, extending influence even into postwar civilian outdoor recreatio
Effects of alcohol and sleep restriction on simulated driving performance in untreated patients with obstructive sleep apnea
No full text© 2009 American College of PhysiciansBackgroundBecause of previous sleep disturbance and sleep hypoxia, patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) might be more vulnerable to the effects of alcohol and sleep restriction than healthy persons.ObjectiveTo compare the effects of sleep restriction and alcohol on driving simulator performance in patients with OSA and age-matched control participants.DesignDriving simulator assessments in 2 groups under 3 different conditions presented in random order.SettingAdelaide Institute for Sleep Health, Sleep Laboratory, Adelaide, Australia.Participants38 untreated patients with OSA and 20 control participants.MeasurementsSteering deviation, crashes, and braking reaction time.InterventionUnrestricted sleep, sleep restricted to a maximum of 4 hours, and ingestion of an amount of 40% vodka calculated to achieve a blood alcohol level of 0.05 g/dL.ResultsPatients with OSA demonstrated increased steering deviation compared with control participants (mean, 50.5 cm [95% CI, 46.1 to 54.9 cm] in the OSA group and 38.4 cm [CI, 32.4 to 44.4 cm] in the control group; P 2 seconds) and microsleeps (> 2 seconds of theta activity on electroencephalography) were significant crash predictors (OR, 19.2 and 7.2, respectively; P LimitationSimulated driving was assessed rather than on-road driving.ConclusionPatients with OSA are more vulnerable than healthy persons to the effects of alcohol consumption and sleep restriction on various driving performance variables.Primary funding sourceAustralian National Health and Medical Research Council.Andrew Vakulin, Stuart D. Baulk, Peter G. Catcheside, Nick A. Antic, Cameron J. van den Heuvel, Jillian Dorrian and R. Doug McEvo
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