Late Wisconsin glaciation of Tasmania

During the Late Wisconsin, icecap and outlet glacier systems developed on the West Coast Range and on the Central Plateau of Tasmania. Local cirque and valley glaciers occurred in many other mountain areas of southwestern Tasmania. Criteria are outlined that enable Late Wisconsin and older glacial landforms and deposits to be distinguished. Radiocarbon dates show Late Wisconsin ice developed after 26-25 ka BP, attained its maximum extent c. 19 ka BP, and disappeared from the highest cirques before 10 ka BP. Important Late Wisconsin age glacial landforms and deposits of the West Coast Range, north-central and south-central Tasmania are described. Late Wisconsin ice was less extensive than ice formed during middle and earlier Pleistocene glaciations. Late Wisconsin snowline altitudes, glaciological conditions and palaeoclimatic conditions are outlined

Evaluating racial and ethnic disparities in access to primary care among gay and bisexual men in the US, a population at high-risk of HIV infection

BACKGROUND: 69% of new HIV diagnoses in the US are among gay and bisexual men, with disparities by race and ethnicity. Primary care providers increasingly provide HIV prevention. Racial and ethnic disparities in primary care access are well-documented, but their persistence among gay and bisexual men is unknown. We examined racial and ethnic disparities in access to primary care among this population. METHODS: We used nationally representative person-level sociodemographic, health status and utilization data, and data on organizational- and socially determinant barriers to care, from the National Health Interview Survey, 2013-2018. Outcomes were: 1) general physician visit RESULTS: The sample included 1,867 gay and bisexual men (unweighted), 18-64 years with 28% NHB or Hispanic. NHB and Hispanic men were less likely have seen a general provider within the past 12 months (aOR=0.76, p=0.10) but the result was not significant with no difference in having a usual place of care (aOR=1.11, p=0.616). Findings were sensitive to the specification of primary care site as usual place of care. CONCLUSIONS: Significant racial and ethnic disparities were observed when specifying a primary care specific site as place of care. Primary care engagement should be immediately prioritized to promote access and equity of HIV prevention.https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/gradposters/1140/thumbnail.jp

Identifying and understanding factors associated with failure to complete infantry training among British Army recruits

BACKGROUND: Over 30% of the British Army‟s Infantry Recruits who underwent training between 1999 and 2003 failed to complete their training. Previous studies have focused predominantly on identifying the cumulative reasons for failure. There is a dearth of research investigating the effect of failure on the individual recruit and what influences their ability to pass training. AIM: The overall aims of this study were: to achieve an understanding of the role that antecedent personal, social and demographic factors play in a British Army recruit‟s ability to complete basic training; to investigate the possibility of identifying predictive factors that would identify infantry recruits who were at risk of being unable to cope with the transition to life in the British Army; and to explore the reasons given by those recruits who failed to complete basic training to develop a more comprehensive understanding of why recruits fail. METHODS: All new army recruits joining the first and second battalion between September 2002 and March 2003 were invited to take part in the study. A biographical questionnaire based on a modified version of the US Army‟s 115 item biographical questionnaire form was self-completed prior to infantry training by all those agreeing to take part in the study. Study participants were monitored weekly throughout their training and the training outcome (pass/fail) was recorded. The data was randomly split into a development dataset (two thirds) and a test dataset (one third). Independent variables were grouped into five categories (Demographic & Physical Measurement, Education, Outdoor Education, Non-Physical Activity and Conduct and Behaviour) and tested univariably and multivariably to examine their association with training outcome in the development dataset using logistic regression. The multivariable model was then used to construct a score and its sensitivity and specificity was tested using the test dataset. All those within the study who failed to complete Infantry recruit training were invited to take part in a qualitative semi-structured exit interview. These interviews were analysed using framework analysis methodology. Findings from both the quantitative and qualitative analysis were integrated to determine whether prediction of failure was practicable and to develop an increased understanding of the impact that antecedent factors and training experiences contributed to training failure. RESULTS: Of the study cohort of 999 recruits 36.2% (n=362) failed. Within the failure group 74.4% (n=269) gave reasons to suggest that this was attributable to difficulties in adapting to life in the British Army Infantry. Factors associated with higher odds of failure were: absence of female siblings (p=0.005), aggressive coping strategies (p=0.013), use of ecstasy (p=0.02), evenings per week spent at the family home (p=0.032), truancy (p=0.039), an increased number of schools attended (p=0.046) and classroom behaviour (p=0.052). The area under the curve on the test dataset was 0.58 (0.501-0.65 95% CI). Analysis of the qualitative data suggested that there was a marked difference between the socio-personal identity of recruits who failed training and the organisational identity of the British Army Infantry. Cognitive dissonance and varying extremes of stress were reported by those recruits that failed during the transition to military life. CONCLUSION: A screening tool constructed from items of the biographical questionnaire was unable to predict failure in training with sufficient accuracy to recommend its routine use for new recruits to British Army Infantry training. This study has identified that there is a lack of fit between military identity and the socio-personal identity of the infantry recruit which results in dissonance and stress during the transition into the military. It is recommended that future studies should focus on how to reduce the psychological impact of the transition into infantry training

Quantitative Mass Spectrometry Evaluation of Human Retinol Binding Protein 4 and Related Variants

Background: Retinol Binding Protein 4 (RBP4) is an exciting new biomarker for the determination of insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. It is known that circulating RBP4 resides in multiple variants which may provide enhanced clinical utility, but conventional immunoassay methods are blind to such differences. A Mass Spectrometric immunoassay (MSIA) technology that can quantitate total RBP4 as well as individual isoforms may provide an enhanced analysis for this biomarker. Methods: RBP4 was isolated and detected from 0.5 uL of human plasma using MSIA technology, for the simultaneous quantification and differentiation of endogenous human RBP4 and its variants. Results: The linear range of the assay was 7.81–500 ug/mL, and the limit of detection and limit of quantification were 3.36 ug/mL and 6.52 ug/mL, respectively. The intra-assay CVs were determined to be 5.1 % and the inter-assay CVs were 9.6%. The percent recovery of the RBP4-MSIA ranged from 95 – 105%. Method comparison of the RBP4 MSIA vs the Immun Diagnostik ELISA yielded a Passing & Bablok fit of MSIA = 1.056 ELISA – 3.09, while the Cusum linearity p-value was.0.1 and the mean bias determined by the Altman Bland test was 1.2%. Conclusion: The novel RBP4 MSIA provided a fast, accurate and precise quantitative protein measurement as compared to the standard commercially available ELISA. Moreover, this method also allowed for the detection of RBP4 variants that are present in each sample, which may in the future provide a new dimension in the clinical utility of this biomarker

Acute military psychiatric casualties from the war in Iraq

Background: The view that most military personnel evacuated from war zones are suffering from combat stress reactions, or are otherwise traumatised by the horrors of war, has an impact on all aspects of military psychiatry. Aims: To delineate the reasons for psychiatric aeromedical evacuation from Iraq from the start of build-up of UK forces in January 2003 until the end of October that year, 6 months after the end of formal hostilities. Method: A retrospective study was conducted of field and in-patient psychiatric assessments of 116 military personnel evacuated to the UK military psychiatric in-patient facility in Catterick Garrison. Results: Evacuees were mainly non-combatants (69%). A significant proportion were in reserve service (21%) and had a history of contact with mental health services (37%). Only 3% had a combat stress reaction. In over 85% of cases evacuation was for low mood attributed to separation from friends or family, or difficulties adjusting to the environment. Conclusions: These findings have implications especially for screening for suitability for deployment, and for understanding any longer-term mental health problems arising in veterans from Iraq

Drosophila Muller F Elements Maintain a Distinct Set of Genomic Properties Over 40 Million Years of Evolution

The Muller F element (4.2 Mb, similar to 80 protein-coding genes) is an unusual autosome of Drosophila melanogaster; it is mostly heterochromatic with a low recombination rate. To investigate how these properties impact the evolution of repeats and genes, we manually improved the sequence and annotated the genes on the D. erecta, D. mojavensis, and D. grimshawi F elements and euchromatic domains from the Muller D element. We find that F elements have greater transposon density (25-50%) than euchromatic reference regions (3-11%). Among the F elements, D. grimshawi has the lowest transposon density (particularly DINE-1: 2% vs. 11-27%). F element genes have larger coding spans, more coding exons, larger introns, and lower codon bias. Comparison of the Effective Number of Codons with the Codon Adaptation Index shows that, in contrast to the other species, codon bias in D. grimshawi F element genes can be attributed primarily to selection instead of mutational biases, suggesting that density and types of transposons affect the degree of local heterochromatin formation. F element genes have lower estimated DNA melting temperatures than D element genes, potentially facilitating transcription through heterochromatin. Most F element genes (similar to 90%) have remained on that element, but the F element has smaller syntenic blocks than genome averages (3.4-3.6 vs. 8.4-8.8 genes per block), indicating greater rates of inversion despite lower rates of recombination. Overall, the F element has maintained characteristics that are distinct from other autosomes in the Drosophila lineage, illuminating the constraints imposed by a heterochromatic milieu

A Numerical Investigation of the Dynamic Behaviour of Functionally Graded Foams

Abstract Two Finite Element models approximating the dynamic behaviour of functionally graded foam materials (FGFMs) have been developed under free weight drop impact and Kolsky wave propagation conditions. The FGFM is modeled by discretising the material into a large number of layers through the foam thickness. Each layer is described by a unique constitutive cellular response, which is derived from the initial relative density, ρ * , unique to that layer. Large strain unixial compressive tests at strain rates of 0.001, 0.01 and 0.1/s were performed on expanded polystyrene (EPS) and ALPORAS Aluminium (Al) foam and their σ − ε response was used as input to a modified constitutive model from the literature. Simulations were then performed on both uniform and graded specimens. For both impact and wave propagation conditions it is found that under certain conditions an FGFM can outperform a uniform foam of equivalent density in terms of reducing peak accelerations imparted from an impact, or mitigating stress wave magnitudes through increased plastic deformation. These properties provide significant insight into the hypothesised behaviour of FGFMs and elucidate the potential for the future use in the design of next generation cushioning structures

Identifying and understanding factors associated with failure to complete infantry training among British Army recruits

BACKGROUND: Over 30% of the British Army‟s Infantry Recruits who underwent training between 1999 and 2003 failed to complete their training. Previous studies have focused predominantly on identifying the cumulative reasons for failure. There is a dearth of research investigating the effect of failure on the individual recruit and what influences their ability to pass training. AIM: The overall aims of this study were: to achieve an understanding of the role that antecedent personal, social and demographic factors play in a British Army recruit‟s ability to complete basic training; to investigate the possibility of identifying predictive factors that would identify infantry recruits who were at risk of being unable to cope with the transition to life in the British Army; and to explore the reasons given by those recruits who failed to complete basic training to develop a more comprehensive understanding of why recruits fail. METHODS: All new army recruits joining the first and second battalion between September 2002 and March 2003 were invited to take part in the study. A biographical questionnaire based on a modified version of the US Army‟s 115 item biographical questionnaire form was self-completed prior to infantry training by all those agreeing to take part in the study. Study participants were monitored weekly throughout their training and the training outcome (pass/fail) was recorded. The data was randomly split into a development dataset (two thirds) and a test dataset (one third). Independent variables were grouped into five categories (Demographic & Physical Measurement, Education, Outdoor Education, Non-Physical Activity and Conduct and Behaviour) and tested univariably and multivariably to examine their association with training outcome in the development dataset using logistic regression. The multivariable model was then used to construct a score and its sensitivity and specificity was tested using the test dataset. All those within the study who failed to complete Infantry recruit training were invited to take part in a qualitative semi-structured exit interview. These interviews were analysed using framework analysis methodology. Findings from both the quantitative and qualitative analysis were integrated to determine whether prediction of failure was practicable and to develop an increased understanding of the impact that antecedent factors and training experiences contributed to training failure. RESULTS: Of the study cohort of 999 recruits 36.2% (n=362) failed. Within the failure group 74.4% (n=269) gave reasons to suggest that this was attributable to difficulties in adapting to life in the British Army Infantry. Factors associated with higher odds of failure were: absence of female siblings (p=0.005), aggressive coping strategies (p=0.013), use of ecstasy (p=0.02), evenings per week spent at the family home (p=0.032), truancy (p=0.039), an increased number of schools attended (p=0.046) and classroom behaviour (p=0.052). The area under the curve on the test dataset was 0.58 (0.501-0.65 95% CI). Analysis of the qualitative data suggested that there was a marked difference between the socio-personal identity of recruits who failed training and the organisational identity of the British Army Infantry. Cognitive dissonance and varying extremes of stress were reported by those recruits that failed during the transition to military life. CONCLUSION: A screening tool constructed from items of the biographical questionnaire was unable to predict failure in training with sufficient accuracy to recommend its routine use for new recruits to British Army Infantry training. This study has identified that there is a lack of fit between military identity and the socio-personal identity of the infantry recruit which results in dissonance and stress during the transition into the military. It is recommended that future studies should focus on how to reduce the psychological impact of the transition into infantry training

A Meta-Analytic Review of the Effects of High Stress on Eyewitness Memory

In the past 30 years researchers have examined the impact of heightened stress on the fidelity of eyewitness memory. Meta-analyses were conducted on 27 independent tests of the effects of heightened stress on eyewitness identification of the perpetrator or target person and separately on 36 tests of eyewitness recall of details associated with the crime. There was considerable support for the hypothesis that high levels of stress negatively impact both types of eyewitness memory. Meta-analytic Z-scores, whether unweighted or weighted by sample size, ranged from -5.40 to -6.44 (high stress condition–low stress condition). The overall effect sizes were -.31 for both proportion of correct identifications and accuracy of eyewitness recall. Effect sizes were notably larger for target-present than for target-absent lineups, for eyewitness identification studies than for face recognition studies and for eyewitness studies employing a staged crime than for eyewitness studies employing other means to induce stress