Influence of the form and level of copper and zinc supplementation on mineral status of grower and finisher pigs

Organic forms of copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn) induce higher growth rates than inorganic forms. The higher growth rates of pigs fed organic Cu and Zn are thought to be because organic forms of the minerals are absorbed better than inorganic forms (Coffey et al., 1994) and that they may result in greater plasma mineral concentrations (Hahn and Baker, 1993) and/or higher organ mineral stores in pigs (Apgar et al., 1995). However, an effect of mineral form on these indices has not always been demonstrated (Wedekind et al., 1994). The aim of this experiment was to compare the effect of Cu and Zn fed in the form of Bioplex® or sulphate at two levels of dietary inclusion on the mineral status of growing and finishing pigs

The impact of mental health and psychosocial support programmes on children and young people's mental health in the context of humanitarian emergencies in low- and middle-income countries: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Humanitarian emergencies pose a significant global health challenge for children and young people's mental and psychological health. This systematic review investigates the effectiveness of mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) programmes delivered to children and young people affected by humanitarian emergencies in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Twelve electronic databases, key websites and citation checking were undertaken. Forty-three randomised controlled trials (RCTs) published in English between January 1980 and May 2023 were included in the review. Overall, the findings suggest that cognitive behavioural therapy may improve depression symptoms in children and young people affected by humanitarian emergencies. Narrative exposure therapy may reduce feelings of guilt. However, the impact of the other MHPSS modalities across outcomes is inconsistent. In some contexts, providing psychosocial programmes involving creative activities may increase the symptoms of depression in children and young people. These findings emphasise the need for the development of MHPSS programmes that can safely and effectively address the diverse needs of children and young people living in adversarial environments

Using automation to produce a ‘living map’ of the COVID-19 research literature

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted life worldwide and presented unique challenges in the health evidencesynthesis space. The urgent nature of the pandemic required extreme rapidity for keeping track of research, andthis presented a unique opportunity for long-proposed automation systems to be deployed and evaluated. Wecompared the use of novel automation technologies with conventional manual screening; and Microsoft AcademicGraph (MAG) with the MEDLINE and Embase databases locating the emerging research evidence. We foundthat a new workflow involving machine learning to identify relevant research in MAG achieved a much higherrecall with lower manual effort than using conventional approaches

Correlated multiplexity and connectivity of multiplex random networks

Nodes in a complex networked system often engage in more than one type of interactions among them; they form a multiplex network with multiple types of links. In real-world complex systems, a node's degree for one type of links and that for the other are not randomly distributed but correlated, which we term correlated multiplexity. In this paper we study a simple model of multiplex random networks and demonstrate that the correlated multiplexity can drastically affect the properties of giant component in the network. Specifically, when the degrees of a node for different interactions in a duplex Erdos-Renyi network are maximally correlated, the network contains the giant component for any nonzero link densities. In contrast, when the degrees of a node are maximally anti-correlated, the emergence of giant component is significantly delayed, yet the entire network becomes connected into a single component at a finite link density. We also discuss the mixing patterns and the cases with imperfect correlated multiplexity.Comment: Revised version, 12 pages, 6 figure

Human Rad52 binding renders ssDNA unfolded: image and contour length analyses by Atomic Force Microscopy

Atomic force microscopy imaging has been used to study the changes associated with human Rad52 (HsRad52) protein in solution, in dried state as well as following ssDNA (linear and circular) binding. In the dried state, the free protein exists predominantly as a characteristic panoply of novel trifoliate forms. However, in solution, the level of trifoliates diminishes significantly. Height analyses of either form reveal two categories: smaller (~ 3-5 nm) and larger ((~ 10-12 nm) particles, perhaps related to sub-heptameric and heptameric forms respectively. Interestingly, binding of the protein to linear ssDNA smoothly extends and unfolds the naked DNA. Contour length measurements performed on several individual circular ssDNA/nucleoprotein complexes reveal marked (about threefold) extension of naked ssDNA, following HsRad52 binding. We speculate that the alignment of HsRad52 on ssDNA into a smoothly extended and unfolded strand from that of highly compact morphology of naked ssDNA, may have bearing on the recombination function of HsRad52 protein