Yield stability and seed shattering characteristics of Brassica juncea

Non-Peer Reviewe

Early phase trials of novel hearing therapeutics: Avenues and opportunities

Novel hearing therapeutics are rapidly progressing along the innovation pathway and into the clinical trial domain. Because these trials are new to the hearing community, they come with challenges in terms of trial design, regulation and delivery. In this paper, we address the key scientific and operational issues and outline the opportunities for interdisciplinary and international collaboration these trials offer. Vital to the future successful implementation of these therapeutics is to evaluate their potential for adoption into healthcare systems, including consideration of their health economic value. This requires early engagement with all stakeholder groups along the hearing innovation pathway

Synchronized dynamics of Tipula paludosa metapopulation in a southwestern Scotland agroecosystem: Linking pattern to process

Synchronization of population fluctuations at disjoint habitats has been observed in many studies, but its mechanisms often remain obscure. Synchronization may appear as a result of either interhabitat dispersal or regionally correlated environmental stochastic factors, the latter being known as the Moran effect. In this article, we consider the population dynamics of a common agricultural pest insect, Tipula paludosa, on a fragmented habitat by analyzing data derived from a multiannual survey of its abundance in 38 agricultural fields in southwestern Scotland. We use cross-correlation coefficients and show that there is a considerable synchronization between different populations across the whole area. The correlation strength exhibits an intermittent behavior, such that close populations can be virtually uncorrelated, but populations separated by distances up to approximately 150 km can have a cross-correlation coefficient close to one. To distinguish between the effects of stochasticity and dispersal, we then calculate a time-lagged cross-correlation coefficient and show that it possesses considerably different properties to the nonlagged one. In particular, the time-lagged correlation coefficient shows a clear directional dependence. The distribution of the time-lagged correlations with respect to the bearing between the populations has a striking similarity to the distribution of wind velocities, which we regard as evidence of long-distance wind-assisted dispersal

Respectable Drinkers, Sensible Drinking, Serious Leisure: Single-Malt Whisky Enthusiasts and the Moral Panic of Irresponsible Others

In the public discourse of policy-makers and journalists, drinkers of (excessive) alcohol are portrayed either as irresponsible, immoral deviants or as gullible victims. In other words, the public discourse engenders a moral panic about alcohol-crazed individuals, who become what Cohen [1972. Folk devil and moral panics. London: Routledge] identifies as folk devils: the Other, abusing alcohol to create anti-social disorder. However, alcohol-drinking was, is and continues to be an everyday practice in the leisure lives of the majority of people in the UK. In this research article, I want to explore the serious leisure of whisky-tasting to provide a counter to the myth of the alcohol-drinker as folk devil, to try to construct a new public discourse of sensible drinking. I will draw on ethnographic work at whisky-tastings alongside interviews and analysis of on-line discourses. I show that participation in whisky-tasting events creates a safe space in which excessive amounts of alcohol are consumed, yet the norms of the particular habitus ensure that such drinking never leads to misbehaviour. In doing so, however, I will note that the respectability of whisky-drinking is associated with its masculine, white, privileged habitus – the folk devil becomes someone else, someone Other

PhenoScanner V2: an expanded tool for searching human genotype-phenotype associations.

SUMMARY: PhenoScanner is a curated database of publicly available results from large-scale genetic association studies in humans. This online tool facilitates 'phenome scans', where genetic variants are cross-referenced for association with many phenotypes of different types. Here we present a major update of PhenoScanner ('PhenoScanner V2'), including over 150 million genetic variants and more than 65 billion associations (compared to 350 million associations in PhenoScanner V1) with diseases and traits, gene expression, metabolite and protein levels, and epigenetic markers. The query options have been extended to include searches by genes, genomic regions and phenotypes, as well as for genetic variants. All variants are positionally annotated using the Variant Effect Predictor and the phenotypes are mapped to Experimental Factor Ontology terms. Linkage disequilibrium statistics from the 1000 Genomes project can be used to search for phenotype associations with proxy variants. AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION: PhenoScanner V2 is available at www.phenoscanner.medschl.cam.ac.uk.This work was supported by the UK Medical Research Council [G0800270; MR/L003120/1], the British Heart Foundation [SP/09/002; RG/13/13/30194; RG/18/13/33946], Pfizer [G73632], the European Research Council [268834], the European Commission Framework Programme 7 [HEALTH-F2-2012-279233], the National Institute for Health Research and Health Data Research UK (*). *The views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the NHS or the NIHR

Update on fall dormant seeded canola research

Non-Peer Reviewe

The association between excess weight and COVID-19 outcomes: An umbrella review

\ua9 2024 The Author(s). Obesity Reviews published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of World Obesity Federation.This umbrella review assessed the association between excess weight and COVID-19 outcomes. MEDLINE, PsycINFO, and CINAHL were systematically searched for reviews that assessed the association between excess weight and COVID-19 outcomes. A second-order meta-analysis was conducted on the available data for intensive care unit admission, invasive mechanical ventilation administration, disease severity, hospitalization, and mortality. The quality of included reviews was assessed using the AMSTAR-2 appraisal tool. In total, 52 systematic reviews were included, 49 of which included meta-analyses. The risk of severe outcomes (OR = 1.86; 95% CI: 1.70 to 2.05), intensive care unit admission (OR = 1.58; 95% CI: 1.45 to 1.72), invasive mechanical ventilation administration (OR = 1.70; 95% CI: 1.57 to 1.83), hospitalization (OR = 1.82; 95% CI: 1.61 to 2.05), and mortality (OR = 1.35; 95% CI: 1.24 to 1.48) following COVID-19 infection was significantly higher in individuals living with excess weight compared with those with a healthy weight. There was limited evidence available in the included reviews regarding the influence of moderating factors such as ethnicity, and the majority of included reviews were of poor quality. Obesity appears to represent an important modifiable pre-infection risk factor for severe COVID-19 outcomes, including death