Directing Modernist Spirituality: Evelyn Underhill, the Subliminal Consciousness and Spiritual Direction

Outlining an alternative trajectory for modernist spirituality to that traced in Pericles Lewis’s 'Religious Experience and the Modernist Novel' (2010), I argue that modernist religious thought, far from playing heir to the long march of secularization, was in fact conditioned by a late-nineteenth-century cultural crisis that issued in a range of religious experiments and renewals, one of which was Evelyn Underhill’s 'Mysticism: A Study in the Nature and Development of Man’s Spiritual Consciousness' (1911), a text that not only brought together mystical traditions and scientific discoveries, but also used this interdisciplinary remit to counter existing secularizing perspectives. An important dimension of Underhill’s work was its collaborative nature; it offers, I argue, not access to rarefied enlightenment, but rather a bold attempt to navigate a treacherous religious landscape

OSS (Outer Solar System): A fundamental and planetary physics mission to Neptune, Triton and the Kuiper Belt

The present OSS mission continues a long and bright tradition by associating the communities of fundamental physics and planetary sciences in a single mission with ambitious goals in both domains. OSS is an M-class mission to explore the Neptune system almost half a century after flyby of the Voyager 2 spacecraft. Several discoveries were made by Voyager 2, including the Great Dark Spot (which has now disappeared) and Triton's geysers. Voyager 2 revealed the dynamics of Neptune's atmosphere and found four rings and evidence of ring arcs above Neptune. Benefiting from a greatly improved instrumentation, it will result in a striking advance in the study of the farthest planet of the Solar System. Furthermore, OSS will provide a unique opportunity to visit a selected Kuiper Belt object subsequent to the passage of the Neptunian system. It will consolidate the hypothesis of the origin of Triton as a KBO captured by Neptune, and improve our knowledge on the formation of the Solar system. The probe will embark instruments allowing precise tracking of the probe during cruise. It allows to perform the best controlled experiment for testing, in deep space, the General Relativity, on which is based all the models of Solar system formation. OSS is proposed as an international cooperation between ESA and NASA, giving the capability for ESA to launch an M-class mission towards the farthest planet of the Solar system, and to a Kuiper Belt object. The proposed mission profile would allow to deliver a 500 kg class spacecraft. The design of the probe is mainly constrained by the deep space gravity test in order to minimise the perturbation of the accelerometer measurement.Comment: 43 pages, 10 figures, Accepted to Experimental Astronomy, Special Issue Cosmic Vision. Revision according to reviewers comment

Grand challenges in entomology: Priorities for action in the coming decades

Entomology is key to understanding terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems at a time of unprecedented anthropogenic environmental change and offers substantial untapped potential to benefit humanity in a variety of ways, from improving agricultural practices to managing vector-borne diseases and inspiring technological advances. We identified high priority challenges for entomology using an inclusive, open, and democratic four-stage prioritisation approach, conducted among the membership and affiliates (hereafter ‘members’) of the UK-based Royal Entomological Society (RES). A list of 710 challenges was gathered from 189 RES members. Thematic analysis was used to group suggestions, followed by an online vote to determine initial priorities, which were subsequently ranked during an online workshop involving 37 participants. The outcome was a set of 61 priority challenges within four groupings of related themes: (i) ‘Fundamental Research’ (themes: Taxonomy, ‘Blue Skies’ [defined as research ideas without immediate practical application], Methods and Techniques); (ii) ‘Anthropogenic Impacts and Conservation’ (themes: Anthropogenic Impacts, Conservation Options); (iii) ‘Uses, Ecosystem Services and Disservices’ (themes: Ecosystem Benefits, Technology and Resources [use of insects as a resource, or as inspiration], Pests); (iv) ‘Collaboration, Engagement and Training’ (themes: Knowledge Access, Training and Collaboration, Societal Engagement). Priority challenges encompass research questions, funding objectives, new technologies, and priorities for outreach and engagement. Examples include training taxonomists, establishing a global network of insect monitoring sites, understanding the extent of insect declines, exploring roles of cultivated insects in food supply chains, and connecting professional with amateur entomologists. Responses to different challenges could be led by amateur and professional entomologists, at all career stages. Overall, the challenges provide a diverse array of options to inspire and initiate entomological activities and reveal the potential of entomology to contribute to addressing global challenges related to human health and well-being, and environmental change

Bullous pemphigoid evolving into cicatricial pemphigoid?

We describe three patients who initially presented with both clinical and immunological findings to support a diagnosis of bullous pemphigoid but whose subsequent course has been that of cicatricial pemphigoid. Mucosal scarring was accompanied by a fall in autoantibody titres in our three patients. These cases illustrate the difficulties clinicians may experience in assigning a specific diagnosis to patients. They also support the concept that bullous pemphigoid and cicatricial pemphigoid are part of a single disease spectrum. The most intriguing question is what specific factors determine the expression of a particular disease phenotype as bullous pemphigoid and cicatricial pemphigoid share target antigens and also the DQ7 allele

The association of HLA-DQ7 with bullous pemphigoid is restricted to men.

This study examines in detail the HLA associations of 74 patients (40 women and 34 men) with bullous pemphigoid (BP) and compares their immunogenetic profile with that of 604 unrelated control subjects (238 women and 366 men). Correlations were sought between HLA antigens and the various BP disease parameters investigated. The presence of milia was the only clinical or laboratory finding which was linked with a specific HLA antigen, HLA-DQ6, in both men and women with BP (P < 0.01). BP has previously been linked with the HLA-DQ7 antigen and this association was confirmed in 39 of our patients (14 women and 25 men). Twelve of these patients (four women and eight men) were homozygous for HLA-DQ7. The association of HLA-DQ7 with BP was gender-restricted and only significant for men (P < 0.01). No equivalent HLA disease susceptibility risk factor could be identified for our female BP patients. This difference in HLA association between men and women with BP has not been reported previously, and its significance for disease pathogenesis is not known. No specific link could be found between HLA-DQ7 and BP for any of the clinical, immunofluorescence, western blotting, treatment or prognostic disease factors studied

Clinical guidelines for the recognition of melanoma of the foot and nail unit

Malignant melanoma is a life threatening skin tumour which may arise on the foot. The prognosis for the condition is good when lesions are diagnosed and treated early. However, lesions arising on the soles and within the nail unit can be difficult to recognise leading to delays in diagnosis. These guidelines have been drafted to alert health care practitioners to the early signs of the disease so an early diagnosis can be sought<br/