Direct-to-consumer genetic testing and the changing landscape of gamete donor conception : key issues for practitioners and stakeholders

Research question: What impact does direct-to-consumer genetic testing (DTCGT) have on information sharing in relation to gamete donor conception? Design: This study used in-depth qualitative interviews with parents through donor conception, donors, donors’ relatives and donor-conceived people who have used, or considered using, DTCGT. Interviews were conducted between September 2021 and February 2023. We interviewed 60 people who defined themselves as having been impacted by both donor conception and DTCGT. Fifty-seven of these were resident in the UK at the time of interview. The final sample included 19 (sperm, egg or embryo) donors, 25 donor-conceived people, 20 parents through donor conception and two relatives of donors. Five participants occupied more than one of these roles (hence the numbers do not total 60). Results: Our research shows that the rise of DTCGT is affecting how information about donor conception is managed. DTCGT: 1) shifts patterns of knowledge about donor conception; 2) increases flexibility regarding the age of access to information about donor relatives; 3) can lead to a growing role for non-professionals, including wider family members, in gatekeeping information about donor conception; 4) accentuates the impact of donor conception for donors’ and donor-conceived people's relatives; and 5) shapes and is shaped by the formal regulatory donor information management systems. Conclusion: Fertility professionals should inform people using, or considering, donor conception, or (potential) donors, about the different ways DTCGT can impact on sharing information about donor conception. Support is needed for those affected by these changes

Countercartographies of copper : Martha Rosler, Chris Kraus and the Great Arizona Copper Strike of 1983-1986

Chris Kraus is often read as a chronicler of women artists’ experience: their frustrated desires, stifled creativity and stolen labour. But while these are the struggles that her protagonists face, the novel sets such struggles within the pressing context of American Empire's expansion and reorganisation in the post-Vietnam era. The juxtaposition between these levels is what generates the drama of Kraus’ work. Foregrounding these juxtapositions, this article situates Kraus’ novels within a longer tradition of feminist conceptual artists like Martha Rosler who took the labour and domination of predominantly white middle-class housewives as a standpoint from which to attempt to understand the expansion of US-backed global capitalism. Specifically, the article draws on the concept of ‘countertopographies’ developed by feminist geographer Cindi Katz to argue that Rosler and Kraus’ work offers a form of ‘countertopographic aesthetics’. That is, they both turn to the sphere of the reproductive as a site from which to map the uneven effects of global capitalism, while also foregrounding their own uneasy relationship with the imperialist project of mapping itself, by drawing attention to the ideological practices and limits of their very mappings. To illustrate this claim, the article concludes by turning to a partially buried event in Kraus’ Summer of Hate (2012): the 1983 Clifton-Morenci Copper Strike, a crucial but often overlooked flashpoint in the roll-out of neoliberalism. This eighteen-month strike was fought by a largely Mexican-American workforce, and the Women's Auxiliary, who joined a long history of working-class housewives like the Housewives’ Committee of Siglo X in Bolivia in becoming strike leaders. I argue that the strike is both crucial to the conjecture that Kraus’ narrative traces, and also illuminating of the limit point of the protagonists’ politics and the form of mapping that is possible from such a perspective

Cross-discipline teaching and learning of cardiology through an augmented reality application

Undergraduate health sciences and health professional degree programmes introduce students to common heart diseases and associated treatments, including atrial fibrillation (AF). Our students, second-year biomedical science and pharmacy students, through formal and informal feedback on their learning experience with cardiology, noted AF as the most difficult to comprehend. The learning challenges include electrophysiology and pharmacology aspects of AF. This study, therefore, aims to investigate the potential use of augmented reality (AR) to enhance students’ engagement and understanding of AF. Based upon students’ feedback, and guided by the learning outcomes of our degree programmes, we developed an AR application (App) to teach AF, covering general as well as discipline-specific learning content. The development was done through an iterative process, grounded in the constructivist learning theories. A survey consisting of 13 Likert-scale questions and an open-ended question formulated around user interface principles was conducted to gather students’ feedback of the App. Thirteen per cent of pharmacy students ( This study shows that AR technology has enhanced students’ engagement as well as perception of understanding of AF, specifically in the areas that students find difficult. This authentic learning tool has successfully addressed some of the learning challenges raised by students of both disciplines. Students’ positive feedback suggests that a carefully designed AR App, guided by learning theories, is a suitable and viable option to improve students’ understanding of complex subjects, apart from making learning immersive and engaging

Quantitative rates of convergence to equilibrium for the degenerate linear Boltzmann equation on the Torus

We study the linear relaxation Boltzmann equation on the torus with a spatially varying jump rate which can be zero on large sections of the domain. In \cite{BS13} Bernard and Salvarani showed that this equation converges exponentially fast to equilibrium if and only if the jump rate satisfies the geometric control condition of Bardos, Lebeau and Rauch \cite{BLR91}. In \cite{HL15} Han-Kwan and Léautaud showed a more general result for linear Boltzmann equations under the action of potentials in different geometric contexts, including the case of unbounded velocities. In this paper we obtain quantitative rates of convergence to equilibrium when the geometric control condition is satisfied, using a probabilistic approach based on Doeblin's theorem from Markov chains

Data of physical and electrochemical characteristics of calendered NMC622 electrodes and lithium-ion cells at pilot-plant battery manufacturing

The data reported here was prepared to study the effects of calendering process on NMC622 cathodes using a 3-3-2 full factorial design of experiments. The data set consists of 18 unique combinations of calender roll temperature (85 °C, 120 °C, or 145 °C), electrode porosity (30%, 35%, or 40%), and electrode mass loading (120 g/m² or 180 g/m²). The reported physical characteristics of the electrodes include thickness, coating weight, maximum tensile strength, and density. The electrochemical performances of the electrodes were obtained by testing coin cells. In this context, 54 half-cells were produced, 3 per each calendering experiment to ensure repeatability and reliability of the results. The responses of interest included, charge energy capacity at C/2, C/5, discharge energy capacity at C/20, C/5, C/2, C, 2C, 5C, 10C, gravimetric capacity (charge at C/2, C/5, discharge at C/20, C/5, C/2, C, 2C, 5C, 10C), volumetric capacity (charge at C/2, C/5, discharge at C/20, C/5, C/2, C, 2C, 5C, 10C), rate performance (5C:0.2C), area specific impedance (at 10% to 90% state of charge (SoC) in 10 breakpoints), long-term cycling capacity (charge at C/5 for 50 cycles, discharge at C/2 for 50 cycles), long-term cycling degradation (at C/2 during 50 cycles of charge and discharge), and cycling columbic efficiency (50 cycles of C/2 charge and discharge). The details of the experimental design that has led to this data as well as comprehensive statistical analysis, and machine learning-based models can be found in the recently published manuscripts by Hidalgo et al. and Faraji-Niri et al. [1,2]

Fecal microbiota and volatile metabolome pattern alterations precede late-onset meningitis in preterm neonates

Objective The fecal microbiota and metabolome are hypothesized to be altered before late-onset neonatal meningitis (LOM), in analogy to late-onset sepsis (LOS). The present study aimed to identify fecal microbiota composition and volatile metabolomics preceding LOM. Methods Cases and gestational age-matched controls were selected from a prospective, longitudinal preterm cohort study (born <30 weeks’ gestation) at nine neonatal intensive care units. The microbial composition (16S rRNA sequencing) and volatile metabolome (gas chromatography-ion mobility spectrometry (GC-IMS) and GC-time-of-flight-mass spectrometry (GC-TOF-MS)), were analyzed in fecal samples 1-10 days pre-LOM. Results Of 1397 included infants, 21 were diagnosed with LOM (1.5%), and 19 with concomitant LOS (90%). Random Forest classification and MaAsLin2 analysis found similar microbiota features contribute to the discrimination of fecal pre-LOM samples versus controls. A Random Forest model based on six microbiota features accurately predicts LOM 1-3 days before diagnosis with an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.88 (n=147). Pattern recognition analysis by GC-IMS revealed an AUC of 0.70-0.76 (P<0.05) in the three days pre-LOM (n=92). No single discriminative metabolites were identified by GC-TOF-MS (n=66). Conclusion Infants with LOM could be accurately discriminated from controls based on preclinical microbiota composition, while alterations in the volatile metabolome were moderately associated with preclinical LOM

The comparative performance study of the EF7 downsized engines ; fuel economy besides CO2 reduction

Engine downsizing is considered a strategic idea in fuel economy enhancement as well as reduction. It is defined in the literature as the decrease in engine geometrical dimensions besides its performance being fixed. In this research, the Iranian gasoline-fueled national engine, EF7, has been investigated for 25% downsizing. After introducing the gasoline-fueled and CNG-fueled versions of downsized engines, their performance, besides release rates are studied in detail. A one-dimensional engine simulator coupled with a 3D-CFD model is developed to carry out such an investigation, an experimental test setup is provided to evaluate the accuracy of the provided numerical model, as well. The first version of presented downsized engines, called EF7, is a 3-cylinder engine with the same geometrical characteristics as the base engine, which is equipped with a turbo-charger and dual CVVT technologies. The EF7 is then introduced by fuel shifting to CNG as the second version of downsized engines, and finally, increasing the compression ratio, the EF7 is presented as the third version of studied-downsized engines. The results show almost the same rate of BSFC besides a 3.4% reduction in concentration for EF7, 20.6% fuel economy enhancement, besides 20.8% reduction in the specific release rate for EF7, and 28.8% fuel economy enhancement, besides 25.3% reduction in the specific release rate for EF7 in comparison with the base engine