X-Ray Luminous Supernovae: Threats to Terrestrial Biospheres

The spectacular outbursts of energy associated with supernovae (SNe) have long motivated research into their potentially hazardous effects on Earth and analogous environments. Much of this research has focused primarily on the atmospheric damage associated with the prompt arrival of ionizing photons within days or months of the initial outburst, and the high-energy cosmic rays that arrive thousands of years after the explosion. In this study, we turn the focus to persistent X-ray emission, arising in certain SNe that have interactions with a dense circumstellar medium, and observed months and/or years after the initial outburst. The sustained high X-ray luminosity leads to large doses of ionizing radiation out to formidable distances. We provide an assessment of the threat posed by these X-ray luminous SNe by analyzing the collective X-ray observations from Chandra, Swift-XRT, XMM-Newton, NuSTAR, and others. We find that this threat is particularly acute for SNe showing evidence of strong circumstellar interaction, such as Type IIn explosions, which have significantly larger ranges of influence than previously expected, and lethal consequences up to $\sim$ 50 pc away. Furthermore, X-ray bright SNe could pose a substantial and distinct threat to terrestrial biospheres, and tighten the Galactic habitable zone. We urge follow-up X-ray observations of interacting SNe for months and years after the explosion to shed light on the physical nature of the emission and its full time evolution, and to clarify the danger that these events pose for life in our Galaxy and other star-forming regions.Comment: 24 pages, 6 figures. Now includes a more detailed analysis of X-ray effectiveness for ozone destruction; conclusions unchanged. Matches version to appear in Ap

Control of gag-pol gene expression in the Candida albicans retrotransposon Tca2

Non peer reviewedPublisher PD

Can burglary prevention be low-carbon and effective? Investigating the environmental performance of burglary prevention measures

There has been limited study to date on the environmental impacts of crime prevention measures. We address this shortfall by estimating the carbon footprint associated with the most widely used burglary prevention measures: door locks, window locks, burglar alarms, lighting and CCTV cameras. We compare these footprints with a measure of their effectiveness, the security protection factor, allowing us to identify those measures that are both low-carbon and effective in preventing burglary. Window locks are found to be the most effective and low-carbon measure available individually. Combinations of window locks, door locks, external and indoor lightings are also shown to be effective and low-carbon. Burglar alarms and CCTV do not perform as strongly, with low security against burglary and higher carbon footprints. This information can be used to help inform more sustainable choices of burglary prevention within households as well as for crime prevention product design

Convalescent plasma in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 (RECOVERY): a randomised controlled, open-label, platform trial

SummaryBackground Azithromycin has been proposed as a treatment for COVID-19 on the basis of its immunomodulatoryactions. We aimed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of azithromycin in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19.Methods In this randomised, controlled, open-label, adaptive platform trial (Randomised Evaluation of COVID-19Therapy [RECOVERY]), several possible treatments were compared with usual care in patients admitted to hospitalwith COVID-19 in the UK. The trial is underway at 176 hospitals in the UK. Eligible and consenting patients wererandomly allocated to either usual standard of care alone or usual standard of care plus azithromycin 500 mg once perday by mouth or intravenously for 10 days or until discharge (or allocation to one of the other RECOVERY treatmentgroups). Patients were assigned via web-based simple (unstratified) randomisation with allocation concealment andwere twice as likely to be randomly assigned to usual care than to any of the active treatment groups. Participants andlocal study staff were not masked to the allocated treatment, but all others involved in the trial were masked to theoutcome data during the trial. The primary outcome was 28-day all-cause mortality, assessed in the intention-to-treatpopulation. The trial is registered with ISRCTN, 50189673, and ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04381936.Findings Between April 7 and Nov 27, 2020, of 16 442 patients enrolled in the RECOVERY trial, 9433 (57%) wereeligible and 7763 were included in the assessment of azithromycin. The mean age of these study participants was65·3 years (SD 15·7) and approximately a third were women (2944 [38%] of 7763). 2582 patients were randomlyallocated to receive azithromycin and 5181 patients were randomly allocated to usual care alone. Overall,561 (22%) patients allocated to azithromycin and 1162 (22%) patients allocated to usual care died within 28 days(rate ratio 0·97, 95% CI 0·87–1·07; p=0·50). No significant difference was seen in duration of hospital stay (median10 days [IQR 5 to >28] vs 11 days [5 to >28]) or the proportion of patients discharged from hospital alive within 28 days(rate ratio 1·04, 95% CI 0·98–1·10; p=0·19). Among those not on invasive mechanical ventilation at baseline, nosignificant difference was seen in the proportion meeting the composite endpoint of invasive mechanical ventilationor death (risk ratio 0·95, 95% CI 0·87–1·03; p=0·24).Interpretation In patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19, azithromycin did not improve survival or otherprespecified clinical outcomes. Azithromycin use in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 should be restrictedto patients in whom there is a clear antimicrobial indication

Head lice: impact of COVID-19 and slow recovery of prevalence in Cambridgeshire, UK

Following school closures and changes in contact behavior of children and adults a reduced head louse prevalence has been reported from across the globe. In parallel, sales of treatments were observed to fall, partly because of supply problems of some products following the pandemic, but this did not appear to result in more cases of infestation. Surveys of schools in and around Cambridge, UK, found that infestation rates were significantly reduced particularly in city schools compared with similar surveys conducted before the COVID-19 pandemic. Contrary to expectation the number of cases in schools has only risen slowly since schools returned to normal full time working in 2022–2023

1,2-Octanediol, a Novel Surfactant, for Treating Head Louse Infestation: Identification of Activity, Formulation, and Randomised, Controlled Trials

Background: Interest in developing physically active pediculicides has identified new active substances. The objective was to evaluate a new treatment for clinical efficacy. Methods and Findings: We describe the selection of 1,2-octanediol as a potential pediculicide. Clinical studies were community based. The main outcome measure was no live lice, after two treatments, with follow up visits over 14 days. Study 1 was a proof of concept with 18/20 (90%) participants cured. Study 2 was a multicentre, parallel, randomised, observer-blind study (520 participants) that compared 0.5 % malathion liquid with 1,2-octanediol lotion (20 % alcohol) applied 2–2.5 hours or 8 hours/overnight. 1,2-octanediol lotion was significantly (p,0.0005) more effective with success for 124/175 (70.9%) RR = 1.50 (97.5 % CI, 1.22 to 1.85) for 2–2.5 hours, and 153/174 (87.9%) RR = 1.86 (97.5 % CI, 1.54 to 2.26) for 8 hours/overnight compared with 81/171 (47.4%) for malathion. Study 3, a two centre, parallel, randomised, observer-blind study (121 participants), compared 1,2-octanediol lotion, 2–2.5 hours with 1,2-octanediol alcohol free mousse applied for 2– 2.5 hours or 8 hours/overnight. The mousse applied for 8 hours/overnight cured 31/40 (77.5%), compared with 24/40 (60.0%) for lotion (RR = 1.29, 95 % CI, 0.95 to 1.75; NNT = 5.7) but mousse applied for 2–2.5 hours 17/41 (41.5%) was less effective than lotion (RR = 0.69, 95 % CI, 0.44 to 1.08). Adverse events were more common using 1,2-octanediol lotion at both 2–2.5 hours (12.0%, p = 0.001) and 8 hours/overnight (14.9%, p,0.0005), compared with 0.5 % malathion (2.3%)

Can Burglary Prevention be Low Carbon and Effective? Investigating the environmental performance of burglary prevention measures

There has been limited study to date on the environmental impacts of prevention measures. We address this shortfall by estimating the carbon footprint associated with the most widely used burglary prevention measures: door locks, window locks, burglar alarms, lighting and CCTV cameras. We compare these footprints with a measure of their effectiveness, the Security Protection Factor (SPF), allowing us to identify those measures that are both low carbon and effective in preventing burglary. Window locks are found to be the most effective and low carbon measure available individually. Combinations of window locks, door locks, external and indoor lighting are also shown to be effective and low carbon. Burglar alarms and CCTV do not perform as strongly, with low security against burglary and higher carbon footprints. This information can be used to help inform more sustainable choices of burglary prevention within households as well as for crime prevention product design