The right to enjoy the benefits of scientific progress: in search of state obligations in relation to health

After having received little attention over the past decades, one of the least known human rights—the right to enjoy the benefits of scientific progress and its applications—has had its dust blown off. Although included in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR)—be it at the very end of both instruments -this right hardly received any attention from States, UN bodies and programmes and academics. The role of science in societies and its benefits and potential danger were discussed in various international fora, but hardly ever in a human rights context. Nowadays, within a world that is increasingly turning to science and technology for solutions to persistent socio-economic and development problems, the human dimension of science also receives increased attention, including the human right to enjoy the benefits of scientific progress and its applications. This contribution analyses the possible legal obligations of States in relation to the right to enjoy the benefits of scientific progress and its applications, in particular as regards health

Holocaust Education 25 Years On: Challenges, Issues, Opportunities

This essay provides an introductory overview to the articles contained within this special issue. It suggests that the recent passage of 25 years since the Holocaust first appeared as a statutory subject in the English National Curriculum represents a key moment to “mark time”: that is, to make the first moves in constructing an anthropology of Holocaust education in the postmodern epoch. It is argued that the need for this is pressing, not least because landmark research by the UCL Centre for Holocaust Education has highlighted serious issues in relation to students’ knowledge and understanding of the Holocaust. This national research has international significance, and is used in this special issue as the starting point for reflections from both educators and historians in England and beyond

The botanical biofiltration of VOCs with active airflow: is removal efficiency related to chemical properties?

© 2019 Elsevier Ltd Botanical biofiltration using active green walls is showing increasing promise as a viable method for the filtration of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from ambient air; however there is a high level of heterogeneity reported amongst VOC removal efficiencies, and the reasons for these observations have yet to be explained. Comparisons of removal efficiencies amongst studies is also difficult due to the use of many different VOCs, and systems that have been tested under different conditions. The current work describes a procedure to determine whether some of these differences may be related to the chemical properties of the VOCs themselves. This work used an active green wall system to test the single pass removal efficiency (SPRE) of nine different VOCs (acetone, benzene, cyclohexane, ethanol, ethyl acetate, hexane, isopentane, isopropanol and toluene) and explored which chemical properties were meaningful predictor variables of their biofiltration efficiencies. Ethanol was removed most efficiently (average SPRE of 96.34% ± 1.61), while benzene was least efficiently removed (average SPRE of 19.76% ± 2.93). Multiple stepwise linear regression was used to determine that the dipole moment and molecular mass were significant predictors of VOC SPRE, in combination accounting for 54.6% of the variability in SPREs amongst VOCs. The octanol water partition coefficient, proton affinity, Henry's law constant and vapour pressure were not significant predictors of SPRE. The most influential predictor variable was the dipole moment, alone accounting for 49.8% of the SPRE variability. The model thus allows for an estimation of VOC removal efficiency based on a VOC's chemical properties, and supports the idea that system optimisation could be achieved through methods that promote both VOC partitioning into the biofilter's aqueous phase, and substrate development to enhance adsorption.

Steering in computational science: mesoscale modelling and simulation

This paper outlines the benefits of computational steering for high performance computing applications. Lattice-Boltzmann mesoscale fluid simulations of binary and ternary amphiphilic fluids in two and three dimensions are used to illustrate the substantial improvements which computational steering offers in terms of resource efficiency and time to discover new physics. We discuss details of our current steering implementations and describe their future outlook with the advent of computational grids.Comment: 40 pages, 11 figures. Accepted for publication in Contemporary Physic

Inhalation characteristics of asthma patients, COPD patients and healthy volunteers with the Spiromax® and Turbuhaler® devices: a randomised, cross-over study.

BACKGROUND: Spiromax® is a novel dry-powder inhaler containing formulations of budesonide plus formoterol (BF). The device is intended to provide dose equivalence with enhanced user-friendliness compared to BF Turbuhaler® in asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The present study was performed to compare inhalation parameters with empty versions of the two devices, and to investigate the effects of enhanced training designed to encourage faster inhalation. METHODS: This randomised, open-label, cross-over study included children with asthma (n = 23), adolescents with asthma (n = 27), adults with asthma (n = 50), adults with COPD (n = 50) and healthy adult volunteers (n = 50). Inhalation manoeuvres were recorded with each device after training with the patient information leaflet (PIL) and after enhanced training using an In-Check Dial device. RESULTS: After PIL training, peak inspiratory flow (PIF), maximum change in pressure (∆P) and the inhalation volume (IV) were significantly higher with Spiromax than with the Turbuhaler device (p values were at least <0.05 in all patient groups). After enhanced training, numerically or significantly higher values for PIF, ∆P, IV and acceleration remained with Spiromax versus Turbuhaler, except for ∆P in COPD patients. After PIL training, one adult asthma patient and one COPD patient inhaled <30 L/min through the Spiromax compared to one adult asthma patient and five COPD patients with the Turbuhaler. All patients achieved PIF values of at least 30 L/min after enhanced training. CONCLUSIONS: The two inhalers have similar resistance so inhalation flows and pressure changes would be expected to be similar. The higher flow-related values noted for Spiromax versus Turbuhaler after PIL training suggest that Spiromax might have human factor advantages in real-world use. After enhanced training, the flow-related differences between devices persisted; increased flow rates were achieved with both devices, and all patients achieved the minimal flow required for adequate drug delivery. Enhanced training could be useful, especially in COPD patients

A Vast Thin Plane of Co-rotating Dwarf Galaxies Orbiting the Andromeda Galaxy

Dwarf satellite galaxies are thought to be the remnants of the population of primordial structures that coalesced to form giant galaxies like the Milky Way. An early analysis noted that dwarf galaxies may not be isotropically distributed around our Galaxy, as several are correlated with streams of HI emission, and possibly form co-planar groups. These suspicions are supported by recent analyses, and it has been claimed that the apparently planar distribution of satellites is not predicted within standard cosmology, and cannot simply represent a memory of past coherent accretion. However, other studies dispute this conclusion. Here we report the existence (99.998% significance) of a planar sub-group of satellites in the Andromeda galaxy, comprising approximately 50% of the population. The structure is vast: at least 400 kpc in diameter, but also extremely thin, with a perpendicular scatter <14.1 kpc (99% confidence). Radial velocity measurements reveal that the satellites in this structure have the same sense of rotation about their host. This finding shows conclusively that substantial numbers of dwarf satellite galaxies share the same dynamical orbital properties and direction of angular momentum, a new insight for our understanding of the origin of these most dark matter dominated of galaxies. Intriguingly, the plane we identify is approximately aligned with the pole of the Milky Way's disk and is co-planar with the Milky Way to Andromeda position vector. The existence of such extensive coherent kinematic structures within the halos of massive galaxies is a fact that must be explained within the framework of galaxy formation and cosmology.Comment: Published in the 3rd Jan 2013 issue of Nature. 19 pages, 4 figures, 1 three-dimensional interactive figure. To view and manipulate the 3-D figure, an Adobe Reader browser plug-in is required; alternatively save to disk and view with Adobe Reade

SpK: A fast atomic and microphysics code for the high-energy-density regime

SpK is part of the numerical codebase at Imperial College London used to model high energy density physics (HEDP) experiments. SpK is an efficient atomic and microphysics code used to perform detailed configuration accounting calculations of electronic and ionic stage populations, opacities and emissivities for use in post-processing and radiation hydrodynamics simulations. This is done using screened hydrogenic atomic data supplemented by the NIST energy level database. An extended Saha model solves for chemical equilibrium with extensions for non-ideal physics, such as ionisation potential depression, and non thermal equilibrium corrections. A tree-heap (treap) data structure is used to store spectral data, such as opacity, which is dynamic thus allowing easy insertion of points around spectral lines without a-priori knowledge of the ion stage populations. Results from SpK are compared to other codes and descriptions of radiation transport solutions which use SpK data are given. The treap data structure and SpK’s computational efficiency allows inline post-processing of 3D hydrodynamics simulations with a dynamically evolving spectrum stored in a treap

Delineating the distinct role of AKT in mediating cell survival and proliferation induced by CD154 and IL-4/IL-21 in chronic lymphocytic leukemia

The functional significance of AKT in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) remains unclear. Given the importance of non-malignant T cells in regulating clonal expansion in CLL, we investigated the role of AKT in T cell-mediated cytoprotection and proliferation using an established co-culture system in which primary CLL cells were incubated on a monolayer of transfected mouse fibroblasts expressing human CD40L (CD154). Stimulation of CLL cells via CD40 induced activation of AKT, which was closely associated with downregulation of its negative regulator PTEN, and protected CLL cells from killing by bendamustine. This cytoprotective effect of CD40 stimulation was prevented by a selective inhibitor of AKT. Stimulation of CLL cells with CD154 + IL-4 or IL-21 induced proliferation detected as reduced fluorescence of cells pre-stained with CFSE. AKT inhibition produced a significant, consistent reduction in proliferation induced by CD154 + IL-4 and a reduction in proliferation induced by CD154 + IL-21 in most but not all cases. In contrast, AKT inhibition had no effect on the proliferation of normal B cells induced by CD154 + IL-4 or IL-21. These findings indicate that AKT contributes in a significant way to T-cell mediated survival and proliferation signalling in CLL and support the clinical evaluation of AKT inhibitors in this disease