'The Oval Portrait' and 'Phantosmia'

Broadcast of newly re-edited double bill of two plays written by Richard Hand (The Oval Portrait and Phantosmia) broadcast on National Public Radio (USA

Improving access to help with poor sleep across youth mental health services: Interim implementation and clinical outcomes

Objectives: There is a high, unmet sleep need in young people with mental health difficulties. We took a whole-system approach to improving access to sleep support across a youth mental health system (14–25 years). Methods: We used the Exploration, Preparation, Implementation and Sustainment (EPIS) framework to develop an implementation programme (The Better Sleep Programme) incorporating two levels of training: (i) therapeutic practitioners received training and supervision in CBT for insomnia (CBTi) adapted for young people with mental health difficulties, (ii) non-therapeutic practitioners received knowledge and skills workshops. Implementation and clinical outcome measures were collected. Design: Implementation outcomes of acceptability, adoption, appropriateness, accessibility and fidelity were considered for the programme and CBTi intervention within it. Clinical outcomes for the CBTi intervention covered sleep, wellbeing and personal goals and were evaluated using a pre-post comparison within-subject design. Results: High levels of attendance and uptake were seen for CBTi training (210 therapeutic practitioners from 18 services) and workshops (270 attendees from 29 services). Five of the six core service areas trained were routinely offering the CBTi intervention. Significant improvements were seen across all clinical outcome measures (n = 83, p ≤ 0.001 to p ≤ 0.05) with moderate to large effect sizes observed across measures of sleep (d = 0.61–1.35), mental health (d = 0.57–1.26) and personal goals (d = 1.77). Conclusions: This centrally-funded, system-wide implementation programme shows significant promise as a means of improving sleep in young people with mental health difficulties. High uptake with encouraging clinical outcomes was seen across services. Further evaluation is required to establish sustainability and generalizability

An analysis of the first relapse in giant cell arteritis using ultrasonography

Objectives: To compare the nature of the first relapse of giant cell arteritis to baseline disease using ultrasonography Methods: Patients with suspected new and relapsing giant cell arteritis between January 2017 and December 2023 underwent protocolised ultrasonography to examine the superficial temporal and axillary arteries plus other areas as clinically indicated. The nature of disease was categorised as affecting superficial temporal, axillary or mixed disease. Patients where other arteries were needed for diagnosis or relapse were categorised separately. Patients with clinically and sonological evidence of polymyalgia rheumatica were distinctly categorised. Results: 66 patients were included. At diagnosis and first relapse, 48/66 and 20/66 patients respectively had superficial temporal artery involvement. At diagnosis and first relapse, 23/66 and 40/66 respectively patients had axillary artery involvement. Patients without superficial temporal artery disease at diagnosis did not relapse in the superficial temporal artery. 7/66 patients suffered a polymyalgia rheumatica relapse. 5 of those 7 had superficial temporal arterial involvement at diagnosis. Conclusion: This is the first study that reports on the nature of relapsing giant cell arteritis using sonological appearances. Relapsing disease is more common in the extracranial arteries and may be mistaken for polymyalgia rheumatica. True polymyalgia rheumatica relapses are uncommon. Relapses in patients with giant cell arteritis should be assessed using ultrasonography and should include the imaging of the axillary artery

Genomic insights into the beneficial potential of Bifidobacterium and Enterococcus strains isolated from Cameroonian infants

A healthy early-life gut microbiota plays an important role in maintaining immediate and long-term health. Perturbations, particularly in low-to middle-income communities, are associated with increased infection risk. Thus, a promising avenue for restoring a healthy infant microbiota is to select key beneficial bacterial candidates from underexplored microbiomes for developing new probiotic-based therapies. This study aimed to recover bifidobacteria and lactic acid bacteria from the faeces of healthy Cameroonian infants and unravel the genetic basis of their beneficial properties. Faecal samples were collected from 26 infants aged 0–5 months recruited in Dschang (Cameroon). Recovered bacterial isolates were subjected to whole-genome sequencing and in silico analysis to assess their potential for carbohydrate utilization, their antimicrobial capacities, host-adaptation capabilities and their safety. From the range of infant-associated Bifidobacterium and Enterococcus strains identified, Bifidobacterium species were found to harbour putative gene clusters implicated in human milk oligosaccharide metabolism. Genes linked to the production of antimicrobial peptides such as class IV lanthipeptides were found in Bifidobacterium pseu-docatenulatum, while those implicated in biosynthesis of cytolysins, enterolysins, enterocins and propeptins, among others, were identified in enterococci. Bifidobacterial isolates did not contain genes associated with virulence; however, we detected the presence of putative tetracycline resistance genes in several strains belonging to Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis and Bifidobacterium longum subsp. longum. Among the enterococci, Enterococcus mundtii PM10 did not carry any genes associated with antimicrobial resistance or virulence. The latter, together with all the Bifidobacterium strains, also encoded several putative adaptive and stress-response-related genes, suggesting robust gastroinstestinal tract colonization potential. This work provides the first genomic characterization of Bifidobacterium and Enterococcus isolates from Cameroonian infants. Several strains showed the genomic potential to confer beneficial properties. Further phenotypic and clinical investigations are needed to confirm their suitability as customized probiotics

Dynamics in the Phytophthora capsici effector AVR3a11 confirm the core WY domain fold

Oomycete pathogens cause large economic losses in agriculture through diseases such as late blight (Phytophthora infestans), and stem and root rot of soybean (Phytophthora sojae). The effector protein AVR3a, from P. infestans, and its homologue AVR3a11 from P. capsici, are host-translocated effectors that interact with plant proteins to evade defense mechanisms and enable infection. Both proteins belong to the family of RXLR effectors and contain an N-terminal secretion signal, an RXLR motif for translocation into the host cell, and a C-terminal effector domain. Within this family, many proteins have been predicted to contain one or more WY domains as their effector domain, which is proposed to encompass a conserved minimal core fold containing three helices, further stabilized by additional helices or dimerization. In AVR3a11, a helical N-terminal extension to the core fold forms a four-helix bundle, as determined by X-ray crystallography. For a complete picture of the dynamics of AVR3a11, we have determined the solution structure of AVR3a11, and studied its dynamics in the fast timescale (ns-ps, from NMR relaxation parameters) and in the slow timescale (seconds to minutes, from hydrogen/deuterium exchange experiments). Hydrogen/deuterium exchange showed that the N-terminal helix is less stable than the other three helices, confirming the core fold originally proposed. Relaxation measurements confirm that AVR3a11 undergoes extensive conformational exchange, despite the uniform presence of fast motions in the spectral density function throughout most of its sequence. As functional residues are in the more mobile regions, flexibility in the slow/intermediate timescale may be functionally important

Rainfall is associated with divorce in the socially monogamous Seychelles warbler

Divorce—terminating a pair bond whilst both members are alive—is a mating strategy observed in many socially monogamous species often linked to poor reproductive success. As environmental factors directly affect individual condition and reproductive performance, they can indirectly influence divorce. Given current climate change, understanding how environmental fluctuations affect partnership stability has important implications, including for conservation. Yet, the relationship between the environment and divorce remains largely unstudied. We examined the influence of temporal environmental variability on the prevalence of within- and between-season divorce and the possible underlying mechanisms in a socially monogamous passerine. Analysing 16 years of data from a longitudinal dataset, we investigated the relationship between rainfall and divorce in the Seychelles warbler (Acrocephalus sechellensis). First, we performed climate window analyses to identify the temporal windows of rainfall that best predict reproductive success and divorce. Then, we tested the effects of these temporal windows of rainfall on reproductive success and divorce and the influence of reproductive success on divorce whilst controlling for covariates. Annual divorce rates varied from 1% to 16%. The probability of divorce was significantly associated with the quadratic effect of 7 months of total rainfall before and during the breeding season, with divorce increasing in years with low and high rainfall. This quadratic relationship was driven by a heavy rainfall event in 1997, as excluding 1997 from our analyses left a significant negative linear relationship between rainfall and divorce. Although the same temporal window of rainfall predicting divorce significantly influenced reproductive success, we found no significant correlation between reproductive success and divorce. Our findings suggest that rainfall impacts divorce. Given that this effect is likely not directly mediated by reproductive success, we discuss other possible drivers. Although the 1997 super El Niño event shows how heavy rainfall may affect socially monogamous partnerships, more data are required to estimate the robustness of this effect. By adding to the growing body of literature showing that environmental conditions influence the stability of socially monogamous partnerships, we provide novel insights that may also be important for conservation efforts in times of climate change

Algebraic types in Zilber's exponential field

We characterise the model-theoretic algebraic closure in Zilber's exponential field. A key step involves showing that certain algebraic varieties have finite intersections with certain finite-rank subgroups of the graph of exponentiation. Mordell-Lang for algebraic tori (a theorem of Laurent) plays a central role in our proof

The expert assessor perspective on assessment center taxonomies

Research on assessment centers (ACs) has advanced the development of taxonomies for the evaluation of dimension and exercise performance. However, largely missing from current AC taxonomies is the perspective of subject matter expert assessors. Assessor perspectives could contribute toward improving construct differentiation and the development of a theoretical understanding of AC dimensions and exercises. In this study, 197 internationally based assessors participated in a series of multidimensional scaling (MDS) tasks involving stimuli from extant dimension and exercise taxonomies. For our dimension taxonomy, results suggested distinctions between (a) task orientation, (b) interpersonal relations, (c) activity, (d) organizing and planning, and (e) tolerance for stress/uncertainty. For our exercise taxonomy, results suggested that exercises are distinguished by varying levels of (a) media richness and (b) interpersonal interaction. We investigated assessor perceptions of illustrative dimension-exercise combinations and found, in contrast to findings for operational ACs, that assessors expected to rate same dimensions across different exercises. Our results suggest updates to and unique perspectives on taxonomies for dimensions and exercises. We discuss novel theoretical and practical insights that contribute to knowledge relevant to AC research and practice. We furthermore offer applied methodological contributions based on our unique application of MDS in the context of assessor perceptions

Extending the Genuine Savings estimates with natural capital and poverty at the regional and national level in Italy

Efforts to improve the Genuine Savings, a widely accepted index to assess the weak sustainability of an economy's development, have led to the creation of a broad body of literature that aims to produce more robust macroeconomic indicators for policy decision making. However, the various approaches to natural capital welfare accounting results in conflicting indicators of change. It is also the case that the inclusion of natural and social capital components is still scant. This paper addresses this gap by extending the traditional Genuine Savings methodology by including some natural capital components (e.g. flood protection, water purification) and the poverty dimension through a deontological approach. Although not offering a silver bullet solution, our approach proposes a pluralist and pragmatic improvement from ‘weak’ towards ‘stronger’ sustainability indicators. Results highlight the availability of data and information produced by different initiatives including the United Nations System of Environmental-Economic Accounting guidelines. The empirical application provides Genuine Savings estimates for Italy from 2006 to 2012 and from 2012 to 2015, shedding the light on the importance of natural capital and social considerations at national and regional level

Nonlinear and nonmonotonic effect of ocean tidal mixing on exoplanet climates and habitability

Tides play an important role in the circulation and mean state of the Earth's oceans through inducing significant mixing. On other planets, tidal forcings could be highly amplified compared to Earth, such as planets orbiting relatively close to low-mass host stars, or planets having massive and/or close moons. The former scenario is especially important as, due to their abundance and their observational advantages, low-mass stars offer the best chance of finding habitable planets through sheer numbers. By varying the magnitude of tidal forcing over several orders of magnitude in a coupled atmosphere–ocean global circulation climate model, we find that key climatic quantities, such as heat transport intensity and both surface and deep ocean temperature, change with tidal strength in a nonlinear and nonmonotonic manner. We find an optimum value of tidal mixing, approximately 100 times that of Earth's oceans, which minimizes climatic thermal gradients across the planet. In particular, we show that such planets are habitable for stellar flux values at which oceans with weaker or stronger tidal mixing freeze globally, suggesting an important role for ocean tidal mixing in planetary habitability