The Sleep Condition Indicator: a clinical screening tool to evaluate insomnia disorder

Objective: Describe the development and psychometric validation of a brief scale (the Sleep Condition Indicator (SCI)) to evaluate insomnia disorder in everyday clinical practice.<p></p> Design: The SCI was evaluated across five study samples. Content validity, internal consistency and concurrent validity were investigated.<p></p> Participants: 30 941 individuals (71% female) completed the SCI along with other descriptive demographic and clinical information.<p></p> Setting: Data acquired on dedicated websites.<p></p> Results: The eight-item SCI (concerns about getting to sleep, remaining asleep, sleep quality, daytime personal functioning, daytime performance, duration of sleep problem, nights per week having a sleep problem and extent troubled by poor sleep) had robust internal consistency (α≥0.86) and showed convergent validity with the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index and Insomnia Severity Index. A two-item short-form (SCI-02: nights per week having a sleep problem, extent troubled by poor sleep), derived using linear regression modelling, correlated strongly with the SCI total score (r=0.90).<p></p> Conclusions: The SCI has potential as a clinical screening tool for appraising insomnia symptoms against Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5) criteria.<p></p&gt

The Electrolytic Recovery of Copper and Zinc from Scrap Brass with Special Reference to Lead-Bearing Brass.

Several methods have been investigated, with some success, for treating scrap brass to recover copper and zinc, either as pure metals or as salts of the metals. One of the more promising of these methods is electrolysis in sulfate solution for the recovery of pure copper and zinc

The 'Settlers and Colonists' Affair

In the final weeks of 2012, media reports on Alasdair Gray’s essay ‘Settlers and Colonists’ sparked a heated debate concerning Scottish cultural governance and ‘anti-Englishness’. This chapter documents and contextualizes the controversy vis-à-vis the campaigns for and against Scottish independence, and several related cultural debates. A detailed chronology of initial media coverage and political reaction (extraordinary in its volume and vehemence) is supplemented by a list of recommended essays and blogs providing further insight. The lasting impact of this episode on Gray’s reputation and public standing is unclear; this chapter examines the role of politicians, the media and Gray himself in a process by which the author became (and was made to become) a casualty of his own incautious words, but also rendered curiously voiceless

Scenario modelling of basin-scale, shallow landslide sediment yield, Valsassina, Italian Southern Alps

International audienceThe SHETRAN model for determining the sediment yield arising from shallow landsliding at the scale of a river catchment was applied to the 180-km2 Valsassina basin in the Italian Southern Alps, with the aim of demonstrating that the model can simulate long term patterns of landsliding and the associated sediment yields and that it can be used to explore the sensitivity of the landslide sediment supply system to changes in catchment characteristics. The model was found to reproduce the observed spatial distribution of landslides from a 50-year record very well but probably with an overestimate of the annual rate of landsliding. Simulated sediment yields were within the range observed in a wider region of northern Italy. However, the results suggest that the supply of shallow landslide material to the channel network contributes relatively little to the overall long term sediment yield compared with other sources. The model was applied for scenarios of possible future climate (drier and warmer) and land use (fully forested hillslopes). For both scenarios, there is a modest reduction in shallow landslide occurrence and the overall sediment yield. This suggests that any current schemes for mitigating sediment yield impact in Valsassina remain valid. The application highlights the need for further research in eliminating the large number of unconditionally unsafe landslide sites typically predicted by the model and in avoiding large overestimates of landslide occurrence

Modelling the impact of forest loss on shallow landslide sediment yield, Ijuez river catchment, Spanish Pyrenees

International audienceThe SHETRAN model for simulating the sediment yield arising from shallow landslides at the scale of a river catchment was applied to the 45-km2 Ijuez catchment in the central Spanish Pyrenees, to investigate the effect of loss of forest cover on landslide and debris flow incidence and on catchment sediment yield. The application demonstrated how such a model, with a large number of parameters to be evaluated, can be used even when directly measured data are not available: rainfall and discharge time series were generated by reference to other local records and data providing the basis for a soil map were obtained by a short field campaign. Uncertainty bounds for the outputs were determined as a function of the uncertainty in the values of key model parameters. For a four-year period and for the existing forested state of the catchment, a good ability to simulate the observed long term spatial distribution of debris flows (represented by a 45-year inventory) and to determine catchment sediment yield within the range of regional observations was demonstrated. The lower uncertainty bound on simulated landslide occurrence approximated the observed annual rate of landsliding and suggests that landslides provide a relatively minor proportion of the total sediment yield, at least in drier years. A scenario simulation in which the forest cover was replaced by grassland indicated an increase in landsliding but a decrease in the number of landslides which evolve into debris flows and, at least for drier years, a reduction in sediment delivery to the channel network

Sex differences in spatial abilities: Methodological problems in Hoffman et al.

Hoffman et al. (1) claimed to provide evidence that “nurture” (i.e., residing in a patrilineal vs. matrilineal tribe in India) critically affects sex differences in spatial abilities. Unfortunately, their conclusion is undermined by major problems with their measures of spatial ability and sex equality. The first and biggest problem is with their measure of spatial abilities. “Spatial abilities” are a complex cognitive domain, with facets ranging from location memory (favoring women) to navigation in 3D virtual space (favoring men) (2). The puzzle used by Hoffman et al. (1) is similar to the Object Assembly subtest of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (3); sex differences on this task are extremely small (d = 0.10), at least 10-fold smaller than those found for spatial measures showing the largest sex differences. It is odd that Hoffman et al. (1) chose to investigate sex differences with this kind of sex-insensitive task. The second problem is the lack of a control task. The insensitivity of the task used by Hoffman et al. (1) suggests that their finding that men outperform women in a patrilineal tribe but not a matrilineal tribe is not related to sex differences in spatial abilities per se but to other factors instead. Education, as they noted, is likely one of these. The use of a cognitive control task tapping nonspatial abilities would have allowed for an assessment of the specificity of the effect, but, unfortunately, such a task was not included. Third, defining sex equality as matrilineality is problematic, because cross-cultural studies generally show that equality (a multidimensional construct) is not systematically correlated with descent system (4). From the descriptions of Hoffman et al. (1), it appears that women in the matrilineal Khasi have more economic power and better education, but this ignores other sex equality dimensions, such as positions of political and religious leadership, domestic authority, and autonomy. Without such measures, it is unclear whether the Khasi are, in fact, more sexegalitarian than the Karbi. Furthermore, a recent 53-nation cross-cultural study has shown that sex differences favoring men on validated, reliable, multi-item spatial measures are positively associated with United Nation indices of sex development and empowerment (5), a pattern opposite to that reported by Hoffman et al. (1). For all these reasons, the study by Hoffman et al. (1) failed to support their conclusions

Microfocus X-ray sources for 3D microtomography

An analytic model for the performance of cone beam microtomography is described. The maximum power of a microfocus X-ray source is assumed to be approximately proportional to the focal spot size. Radiation flux penetrating the specimen is predicted by a semi-empirical relation which is valid for X-ray energies less than 20 keV. Good signal to noise ratio is predicted for bone specimens of 0.1 to 10 mm when scanned at the optimal energy. A flux of about 1 x 1010 photons/mm2/s is identified for 0.2 mm specimens. Cone beam volumetric microtomography is found to compare favorably with synchrotron based methods.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/31116/1/0000012.pd

Aromatase Gene Polymorphisms Are Associated with Survival among Patients with Cardiovascular Disease in a Sex-Specific Manner

CYP19A1 encodes aromatase, the enzyme responsible for the conversion of androgens to estrogens, and may play a role in variation in outcomes among men and women with cardiovascular disease. We sought to examine genetic variation in CYP19A1 for its potential role in sex differences in cardiovascular disease outcomes.Caucasian individuals from two independent populations were assessed: 1) a prospective cohort of patients with acute coronary syndromes with 3-year mortality follow-up (n = 568) and 2) a nested case-control study from a randomized, controlled trial of hypertension patients with stable coronary disease in which the primary outcome was death, nonfatal myocardial infarction (MI) or nonfatal stroke (n = 619). Six CYP19A1 SNPs were genotyped (-81371 C>T, -45965 G>C, M201T, R264C, 80 A>G, and +32226 G>A). The sex*genotype interaction term was assessed for the primary outcome and compared by genotype in men and women when a significant interaction term was identified.We identified a significant interaction between -81371 C>T and sex (p = 0.025) in the ACS population. The variant allele was associated with a 78% increase in mortality in men (HR 1.78, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.08-2.94) and a nonsignificant 42% decrease in mortality among women (HR 0.58, 95% CI 0.22-1.54). We identified a similar association in the hypertensive CAD group, the -81371 C>T*sex interaction term was p<0.0001, with an associated 65% increase in death, MI, or stroke (HR 1.65, 95% CI 1.00-2.73) in men and a 69% decrease (HR 0.31, 95% CI 0.16-0.6) in women.Using two independent populations, this study is the first to document a significant interaction between CYP19A1 genotype and sex on cardiovascular outcomes. These findings could illuminate potential mechanisms of sex differences in cardiovascular disease outcomes

Structural complexity influences the ecosystem engineering effects of instream large wood

Large wood (LW) is an ecosystem engineer and keystone structure in river ecosystems, influencing a range of hydromorphological and ecological processes and contributing to habitat heterogeneity and ecosystem condition. LW is increasingly being used in catchment restoration, but restored LW jams have been observed to differ in physical structure to naturally occurring jams, with potential implications for restoration outcomes. This article examines the structural complexity and ecosystem engineering effects of LW jams at four sites with varying management intensity incorporating natural and restored wood. Our results reveal: (i) structural complexity and volume of jams was highest in the site with natural jams and low intensity riparian management, and lowest in the suburban site with simple restored jams; and (ii) that structural complexity influences the ecosystem engineering role of LW, with more complex jams generating the greatest effects on flow hydraulics (flow concentration, into bed flows) and sediment characteristics (D50, organic content, fine sediment retention) and the simplest flow deflector-style restored jams having the least pronounced effects. We present a conceptual model describing a continuum of increasing jam structural complexity and associated hydromorphological effects that can be used as a basis for positioning and evaluating other sites along the management intensity spectrum to help inform restoration design and best practice