Weathering fluxes and sediment provenance on the SW Scottish shelf during the last deglaciation

The reconstruction of past ice sheet dynamics can shed a light on long-term ice stream activity, and in turn provide constraints on the response of modern ice sheets to climate change. The Hebrides Ice Stream (HIS) flowed across part of the western Scottish shelf to the shelf-break during the last glacial cycle and drained a large portion of the northern sector of the British Irish-Ice Sheet. To investigate the deglacial dynamics of the HIS following the Last Glacial Maximum, lead (Pb) isotope records were extracted from the FeMn oxyhydroxide and detrital fractions of recovered laminated glacimarine mud sequences to monitor the changing activity of HIS during its retreat. These provide timing and some source information of glacially weathered inputs to the marine environment. The FeMn oxyhydroxide fraction in the samples is dominated by allochthonous particles (pre-formed) and shows a marked decrease from radiogenic (≤ 20.05 206Pb/204Pb) at ~ 21 cal ka BP to less radiogenic Pb isotope compositions (~ 19.48) towards the Windermere Interstadial (15.4–13 ka). This decrease represents a reduction in the flux of subglacially-derived radiogenic Pb to the continental shelf is interpreted as being associated with the break-up of the ice-stream in western Scotland around that time. The Pb, Sr and Nd isotopic signatures of the detrital fraction indicate a preponderance of Moine-sourced fine sediments (originated from the NW Highlands) in the core locations from ~ 21 to 15 cal ka BP (Dimlington Stadial - Windermere Interstadial), most likely dictated by the orientation of ice flow, tidal and oceanic current directions and sediment delivery. In contrast, ice rafted debris in a ~ 21 cal ka BP old basal diamicton contains volcanic-derived material, suggesting different provenance for different grain sizes. The FeMn oxyhydroxide 208Pb/204Pb ratio shows an unusual inversion relative to the other Pb isotope ratios, and is attributed to the introduction of secondary weathering phases from a source with contrasting 208Pb/204Pb but similar 206Pb/204Pb and 207Pb/204Pb. In the detrital fraction, the inversions are constrained to periodic spikes, which may indicate an increased contribution from a high Th/U source, potentially the neighbouring Archaean amphibolitic Lewisian basement in the Outer Hebrides. This study demonstrates how geochemical investigation on continental shelves can be used to constrain the timing, activity and flow sources of palaeo-ice streams

The DYMECS project: a statistical approach for the evaluation of convective storms in high-resolution NWP models

A new frontier in weather forecasting is emerging by operational forecast models now being run at convection-permitting resolutions at many national weather services. However, this is not a panacea; significant systematic errors remain in the character of convective storms and rainfall distributions. The DYMECS project (Dynamical and Microphysical Evolution of Convective Storms) is taking a fundamentally new approach to evaluate and improve such models: rather than relying on a limited number of cases, which may not be representative, we have gathered a large database of 3D storm structures on 40 convective days using the Chilbolton radar in southern England. We have related these structures to storm life-cycles derived by tracking features in the rainfall from the UK radar network, and compared them statistically to storm structures in the Met Office model, which we ran at horizontal grid length between 1.5 km and 100 m, including simulations with different subgrid mixing length. We also evaluated the scale and intensity of convective updrafts using a new radar technique. We find that the horizontal size of simulated convective storms and the updrafts within them is much too large at 1.5-km resolution, such that the convective mass flux of individual updrafts can be too large by an order of magnitude. The scale of precipitation cores and updrafts decreases steadily with decreasing grid lengths, as does the typical storm lifetime. The 200-m grid-length simulation with standard mixing length performs best over all diagnostics, although a greater mixing length improves the representation of deep convective storms

Navigating intimate trans citizenship while incarcerated in Australia and the United States

Trans women incarcerated throughout the world have been described as 'vulnerable populations' due to significant victimization, mistreatment, lack of gender-affirming care, and human rights violations, which confers greater risk of trauma, self-harm, and suicide compared with the general incarcerated population. Most incarceration settings around the world are segregated by the person’s sex characteristics (i.e., male or female) and governed by strong cis and gender normative paradigms. This analysis seeks to better understand and appreciate how the 'instructions' and the 'authorities' that regulate trans women’s corporeal representation, housing options and sense of self-determination implicate and affect their agency and actions in handling intimacies related to their personal life. Drawing upon lived incarcerated experiences of 24 trans women in Australia and the United States, and employing Ken Plummer’s notion of intimate citizenship, this analysis explores how trans women navigate choices and ways 'to do' gender, identities, bodies, emotions, desires and relationships while incarcerated in men’s prisons and governed by cis and gender normative paradigms. This critical analysis contributes to understanding how incarcerated trans women through grit, resilience, and ingenuity still navigate ways to embody, express and enact their intimate citizenship in innovative and unique ways

Intravenous iron for heart failure, iron deficiency definitions, and clinical response:the IRONMAN trial

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: What is the relationship between blood tests for iron deficiency, including anaemia, and the response to intravenous iron in patients with heart failure?METHODS: In the IRONMAN trial, 1137 patients with heart failure, ejection fraction ≤ 45%, and either serum ferritin &lt; 100 µg/L or transferrin saturation (TSAT) &lt; 20% were randomized to intravenous ferric derisomaltose (FDI) or usual care. Relationships were investigated between baseline anaemia severity, ferritin and TSAT, to changes in haemoglobin from baseline to 4 months, Minnesota Living with Heart Failure (MLwHF) score and 6-minute walk distance achieved at 4 months, and clinical events, including heart failure hospitalization (recurrent) or cardiovascular death.RESULTS: The rise in haemoglobin after administering FDI, adjusted for usual care, was greater for lower baseline TSAT (Pinteraction &lt; .0001) and ferritin (Pinteraction = .028) and more severe anaemia (Pinteraction = .014). MLwHF scores at 4 months were somewhat lower (better) with FDI for more anaemic patients (overall Pinteraction = .14; physical Pinteraction = .085; emotional Pinteraction = .043) but were not related to baseline TSAT or ferritin. Blood tests did not predict difference in achieved walking distance for those randomized to FDI compared to control. The absence of anaemia or a TSAT ≥ 20% was associated with lower event rates and little evidence of benefit from FDI. More severe anaemia or TSAT &lt; 20%, especially when ferritin was ≥100 µg/L, was associated with higher event rates and greater absolute reductions in events with FDI, albeit not statistically significant.CONCLUSIONS: This hypothesis-generating analysis suggests that anaemia or TSAT &lt; 20% with ferritin &gt; 100 µg/L might identify patients with heart failure who obtain greater benefit from intravenous iron. This interpretation requires confirmation.</p

Intravenous iron for heart failure, iron deficiency definitions, and clinical response:the IRONMAN trial

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: What is the relationship between blood tests for iron deficiency, including anaemia, and the response to intravenous iron in patients with heart failure?METHODS: In the IRONMAN trial, 1137 patients with heart failure, ejection fraction ≤ 45%, and either serum ferritin &lt; 100 µg/L or transferrin saturation (TSAT) &lt; 20% were randomized to intravenous ferric derisomaltose (FDI) or usual care. Relationships were investigated between baseline anaemia severity, ferritin and TSAT, to changes in haemoglobin from baseline to 4 months, Minnesota Living with Heart Failure (MLwHF) score and 6-minute walk distance achieved at 4 months, and clinical events, including heart failure hospitalization (recurrent) or cardiovascular death.RESULTS: The rise in haemoglobin after administering FDI, adjusted for usual care, was greater for lower baseline TSAT (Pinteraction &lt; .0001) and ferritin (Pinteraction = .028) and more severe anaemia (Pinteraction = .014). MLwHF scores at 4 months were somewhat lower (better) with FDI for more anaemic patients (overall Pinteraction = .14; physical Pinteraction = .085; emotional Pinteraction = .043) but were not related to baseline TSAT or ferritin. Blood tests did not predict difference in achieved walking distance for those randomized to FDI compared to control. The absence of anaemia or a TSAT ≥ 20% was associated with lower event rates and little evidence of benefit from FDI. More severe anaemia or TSAT &lt; 20%, especially when ferritin was ≥100 µg/L, was associated with higher event rates and greater absolute reductions in events with FDI, albeit not statistically significant.CONCLUSIONS: This hypothesis-generating analysis suggests that anaemia or TSAT &lt; 20% with ferritin &gt; 100 µg/L might identify patients with heart failure who obtain greater benefit from intravenous iron. This interpretation requires confirmation.</p

Middle and Late Pleistocene environmental history of the Marsworth area, south-central England

To elucidate the Middle and Late Pleistocene environmental history of south-central England, we report the stratigraphy, sedimentology, palaeoecology and geochronology of some deposits near the foot of the Chiltern Hills scarp at Marsworth, Buckinghamshire. The Marsworth site is important because its sedimentary sequences contain a rich record of warm stages and cold stages, and it lies close to the Anglian glacial limit. Critical to its history are the origin and age of a brown pebbly silty clay (diamicton) previously interpreted as weathered till. The deposits described infill a river channel incised into chalk bedrock. They comprise clayey, silty and gravelly sediments, many containing locally derived chalk and some with molluscan, ostracod and vertebrate remains. Most of the deposits are readily attributed to periglacial and fluvial processes, and some are dated by optically stimulated luminescence to Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 6. Although our sedimentological data do not discriminate between a glacial or periglacial interpretation of the diamicton, amino-acid dating of three molluscan taxa from beneath it indicates that it is younger than MIS 9 and older than MIS 5e. This makes a glacial interpretation unlikely, and we interpret the diamicton as a periglacial slope deposit. The Pleistocene history reconstructed for Marsworth identifies four key elements: (1) Anglian glaciation during MIS 12 closely approached Marsworth, introducing far-travelled pebbles such as Rhaxella chert and possibly some fine sand minerals into the area. (2) Interglacial environments inferred from fluvial sediments during MIS 7 varied from fully interglacial conditions during sub-stages 7e and 7c, cool temperate conditions during sub-stage 7b or 7a, temperate conditions similar to those today in central England towards the end of the interglacial, and cool temperate conditions during sub-stage 7a. (3) Periglacial activity during MIS 6 involved thermal contraction cracking, permafrost development, fracturing of chalk bedrock, fluvial activity, slopewash, mass movement and deposition of loess and coversand. (4) Fully interglacial conditions during sub-stage 5e led to renewed fluvial activity, soil formation and acidic weathering

Single cell derived mRNA signals across human kidney tumors.

Funder: Department of HealthTumor cells may share some patterns of gene expression with their cell of origin, providing clues into the differentiation state and origin of cancer. Here, we study the differentiation state and cellular origin of 1300 childhood and adult kidney tumors. Using single cell mRNA reference maps of normal tissues, we quantify reference "cellular signals" in each tumor. Quantifying global differentiation, we find that childhood tumors exhibit fetal cellular signals, replacing the presumption of "fetalness" with a quantitative measure of immaturity. By contrast, in adult cancers our assessment refutes the suggestion of dedifferentiation towards a fetal state in most cases. We find an intimate connection between developmental mesenchymal populations and childhood renal tumors. We demonstrate the diagnostic potential of our approach with a case study of a cryptic renal tumor. Our findings provide a cellular definition of human renal tumors through an approach that is broadly applicable to human cancer

Individual Differences in the Ability to Recognise Facial Identity Are Associated with Social Anxiety

Previous research has been concerned with the relationship between social anxiety and the recognition of face expression but the question of whether there is a relationship between social anxiety and the recognition of face identity has been neglected. Here, we report the first evidence that social anxiety is associated with recognition of face identity, across the population range of individual differences in recognition abilities. Results showed poorer face identity recognition (on the Cambridge Face Memory Test) was correlated with a small but significant increase in social anxiety (Social Interaction Anxiety Scale) but not general anxiety (State-Trait Anxiety Inventory). The correlation was also independent of general visual memory (Cambridge Car Memory Test) and IQ. Theoretically, the correlation could arise because correct identification of people, typically achieved via faces, is important for successful social interactions, extending evidence that individuals with clinical-level deficits in face identity recognition (prosopagnosia) often report social stress due to their inability to recognise others. Equally, the relationship could arise if social anxiety causes reduced exposure or attention to people's faces, and thus to poor development of face recognition mechanisms

HEALTH:laparoscopic supracervical hysterectomy versus second-generation endometrial ablation for the treatment of heavy menstrual bleeding: study protocol for a randomised controlled trial

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