Transgender and anxiety: a comparative study between transgender people and the general population

Background: Anxiety disorders pose serious public health problems. The data available on anxiety disorders in the transgender population is limited by the small numbers, the lack of a matched controlled population and the selection of a nonhomogenous group of transgender people. Aims: The aims of the study were (1) to determine anxiety symptomatology (based on the HADS) in a nontreated transgender population and to compare it to a general population sample matched by age and gender; (2) to investigate the predictive role of specific variables, including experienced gender, self-esteem, victimization, social support, interpersonal functioning, and cross-sex hormone use regarding levels of anxiety symptomatology; and (3) to investigate differences in anxiety symptomatology between transgender people on cross-sex hormone treatment and not on hormone treatment. Methods: A total of 913 individuals who self-identified as transgender attending a transgender health service during a 3-year period agreed to participate. For the first aim of the study, 592 transgender people not on treatment were matched by age and gender, with 3,816 people from the general population. For the second and third aim, the whole transgender population was included. Measurements: Sociodemographic variables and measures of depression and anxiety (HADS), self-esteem (RSE), victimization (ETS), social support (MSPSS), and interpersonal functioning (IIP-32). Results: Compared with the general population transgender people had a nearly threefold increased risk of probable anxiety disorder (all p < .05). Low self-esteem and interpersonal functioning were found to be significant predictors of anxiety symptoms. Trans women on treatment with cross-sex hormones were found to have lower levels of anxiety disorder symptomatology. Conclusions: Transgender people (particularly trans males) have higher levels of anxiety symptoms suggestive of possible anxiety disorders compared to the general population. The findings that self-esteem, interpersonal functioning, and hormone treatment are associated with lower levels of anxiety symptoms indicate the need for clinical interventions targeting self-esteem and interpersonal difficulties and highlight the importance of quick access to transgender health services

What can we learn from a race with one runner? A comment on Foreman-Peck and Zhou, ‘Late marriage as a contributor to the industrial revolution in England’

Foreman-Peck and Zhou’s claim that late marriage was a major contributor to the Industrial Revolution in England cannot be sustained. They consider neither other influences on English industrialisation nor other European economies where marriage age was high throughout the early modern period but industrialisation came much later. It is not possible to argue that late marriage age was a major contributor to English industrialisation without analysing other possible contributing factors. Any consideration of this question must assess marriage age alongside other causes of industrialisation and explain why other European economies with higher marriage age industrialised much later than England

Controlled release from zein matrices: Interplay of drug hydrophobicity and pH

Purpose: In earlier studies, the corn protein zein is found to be suitable as a sustained release agent, yet the range of drugs for which zein has been studied remains small. Here, zein is used as a sole excipient for drugs differing in hydrophobicity and isoelectric point: indomethacin, paracetamol and ranitidine. Methods: Caplets were prepared by hot-melt extrusion (HME) and injection moulding (IM). Each of the three model drugs were tested on two drug loadings in various dissolution media. The physical state of the drug, microstructure and hydration behaviour were investigated to build up understanding for the release behaviour from zein based matrix for drug delivery. Results: Drug crystallinity of the caplets increases with drug hydrophobicity. For ranitidine and indomethacin, swelling rates, swelling capacity and release rates were pH dependent as a consequence of the presence of charged groups on the drug molecules. Both hydration rates and release rates could be approached by existing models. Conclusion: Both the drug state as pH dependant electrostatic interactions are hypothesised to influence release kinetics. Both factors can potentially be used factors influencing release kinetics release, thereby broadening the horizon for zein as a tuneable release agent

A global perspective on marine photosynthetic picoeukaryote community structure

A central goal in ecology is to understand the factors affecting the temporal dynamics and spatial distribution of microorganisms and the underlying processes causing differences in community structure and composition. However, little is known in this respect for photosynthetic picoeukaryotes (PPEs), algae that are now recognised as major players in marine CO2 fixation. Here, we analysed dot blot hybridisation and cloning–sequencing data, using the plastid-encoded 16S rRNA gene, from seven research cruises that encompassed all four ocean biomes. We provide insights into global abundance, α- and β-diversity distribution and the environmental factors shaping PPE community structure and composition. At the class level, the most commonly encountered PPEs were Prymnesiophyceae and Chrysophyceae. These taxa displayed complementary distribution patterns, with peak abundances of Prymnesiophyceae and Chrysophyceae in waters of high (25:1) or low (12:1) nitrogen:phosphorus (N:P) ratio, respectively. Significant differences in phylogenetic composition of PPEs were demonstrated for higher taxonomic levels between ocean basins, using Unifrac analyses of clone library sequence data. Differences in composition were generally greater between basins (interbasins) than within a basin (intrabasin). These differences were primarily linked to taxonomic variation in the composition of Prymnesiophyceae and Prasinophyceae whereas Chrysophyceae were phylogenetically similar in all libraries. These data provide better knowledge of PPE community structure across the world ocean and are crucial in assessing their evolution and contribution to CO2 fixation, especially in the context of global climate change

Facilitating new forms of discourse for learning and teaching: harnessing the power of Web 2.0 practices

When asked what they would find most helpful to enable them to use technologies more in their teaching, most teachers say "give me examples, in my subject area" and "point me to relevant people I can discuss these issues with". Web 2.0 technologies - with their emphasis on sharing, networking and user production - seem to offer a potential solution. However uptake and use of web 2.0 sites such as blogs, social networking and wikis by teachers for sharing and discussing practice has being marginal so far. This paper focuses on work we are undertaking as part of the OU Learning Design Initiative (http://ouldi.open.ac.uk) and the Hewlett-funded Olnet initiative (http://olnet.org). A key focus of our work is the development of tools, methods and approaches to support the design of innovative learning activities and Open Educational Resources (OER). In this paper I want to focus on one strand of our work; namely how to leverage technologies to promote better sharing and discussing of learning and teaching ideas and designs

Sparse Matrix-Based HPC Tomography

Tomographic imaging has benefited from advances in X-ray sources, detectors and optics to enable novel observations in science, engineering and medicine. These advances have come with a dramatic increase of input data in the form of faster frame rates, larger fields of view or higher resolution, so high performance solutions are currently widely used for analysis. Tomographic instruments can vary significantly from one to another, including the hardware employed for reconstruction: from single CPU workstations to large scale hybrid CPU/GPU supercomputers. Flexibility on the software interfaces and reconstruction engines are also highly valued to allow for easy development and prototyping. This paper presents a novel software framework for tomographic analysis that tackles all aforementioned requirements. The proposed solution capitalizes on the increased performance of sparse matrix-vector multiplication and exploits multi-CPU and GPU reconstruction over MPI. The solution is implemented in Python and relies on CuPy for fast GPU operators and CUDA kernel integration, and on SciPy for CPU sparse matrix computation. As opposed to previous tomography solutions that are tailor-made for specific use cases or hardware, the proposed software is designed to provide flexible, portable and high-performance operators that can be used for continuous integration at different production environments, but also for prototyping new experimental settings or for algorithmic development. The experimental results demonstrate how our implementation can even outperform state-of-the-art software packages used at advanced X-ray sources worldwide

Age, gender and disability predict future disability in older people: the Rotterdam Study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>To develop a prediction model that predicts disability in community-dwelling older people. Insight in the predictors of disability is needed to target preventive strategies for people at increased risk.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Data were obtained from the Rotterdam Study, including subjects of 55 years and over. Subjects who had complete data for sociodemographic factors, life style variables, health conditions, disability status at baseline and complete data for disability at follow-up were included in the analysis. Disability was expressed as a Disability Index (DI) measured with the Health Assessment Questionnaire.</p> <p>We used a multivariable polytomous logistic regression to derive a basic prediction model and an extended prediction model. Finally we developed readily applicable score charts for the calculation of outcome probabilities.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Of the 5027 subjects included, 49% had no disability, 18% had mild disability, 16% had severe disability and 18% had deceased at follow-up after six years. The strongest predictors were age and prior disability. The contribution of other predictors was relatively small. The discriminative ability of the basic model was high; the extended model did not enhance predictive ability.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>As prior disability status predicts future disability status, interventive strategies should be aimed at preventing disability in the first place.</p