Storage life of silverbelly (Leiognathus sp.) with delayed icing

Silver belly (leiognathus splendens) caught in September spoiled faster than the fish caught in May. This could be due to seasonal changes. For silver belly, Total Volatile Base (TVB) value could be used as a measure of spoilage. At the beginning of spoilage TVB value is between 30-40 mg. N/100g sample. The main spoilage for silver belly appears to start between 6 and 8 hours (at 28° C-30°C) after landing on board. Therefore it is not necessary to ice silverbelly immediately; it seems to be sufficient if icing can be done within 6 hours of landing on board

Comparison theory and smooth minimal C*-dynamics

We prove that the C*-algebra of a minimal diffeomorphism satisfies Blackadar's Fundamental Comparability Property for positive elements. This leads to the classification, in terms of K-theory and traces, of the isomorphism classes of countably generated Hilbert modules over such algebras, and to a similar classification for the closures of unitary orbits of self-adjoint elements. We also obtain a structure theorem for the Cuntz semigroup in this setting, and prove a conjecture of Blackadar and Handelman: the lower semicontinuous dimension functions are weakly dense in the space of all dimension functions. These results continue to hold in the broader setting of unital simple ASH algebras with slow dimension growth and stable rank one. Our main tool is a sharp bound on the radius of comparison of a recursive subhomogeneous C*-algebra. This is also used to construct uncountably many non-Morita-equivalent simple separable amenable C*-algebras with the same K-theory and tracial state space, providing a C*-algebraic analogue of McDuff's uncountable family of II_1 factors. We prove in passing that the range of the radius of comparison is exhausted by simple C*-algebras.Comment: 30 pages, no figure

Corporatisation and the emergence of (under-managered) managed organisations: The case of English public hospitals

An enduring feature of new public management (NPM) in many countries has been the move to create more autonomous, ‘complete’ organisations such as universities, hospitals and social service agencies. Often referred to as ‘corporatisation’, this process is assumed to be leading to the emergence of new organisational forms with dedicated management functions and a greater focus on strategy. However, these assumptions remain largely untested and rely heavily on ‘technical’ accounts of organisational restructuring, ignoring the potential influence of institutional pressures and internal political dynamics. In this paper, we address this concern focusing on the case of acute care public hospitals that have undergone corporatisation (to become Foundation Trusts) in the English National Health Service. Using administrative data spanning six years (2007-2012), the analysis shows that corporatisation is having mixed effects. While it is associated with a shift in the focus of managers to strategic concerns, it has not led to an expansion of management functions overall. Both tendencies are found to be mediated by institutional pressures, in the form of media scrutiny, and, indirectly, by the involvement of clinical professions in management. These results advance ongoing debates about the emergence of new organisational forms in the public sector, highlighting the limitations of technical accounts of change and raising the possibility that corporatisation is leading to organisations that are both more managed and undermanagered at the same time

Mental health in relation to changes in sleep, exercise, alcohol and diet during the COVID-19 pandemic: examination of four UK cohort studies

BACKGROUND: Responses to the COVID-19 pandemic have included lockdowns and social distancing with considerable disruptions to people's lives. These changes may have particularly impacted on those with mental health problems, leading to a worsening of inequalities in the behaviours which influence health. METHODS: We used data from four national longitudinal British cohort studies (N = 10 666). Respondents reported mental health (psychological distress and anxiety/depression symptoms) and health behaviours (alcohol, diet, physical activity and sleep) before and during the pandemic. Associations between pre-pandemic mental ill-health and pandemic mental ill-health and health behaviours were examined using logistic regression; pooled effects were estimated using meta-analysis. RESULTS: Worse mental health was related to adverse health behaviours; effect sizes were largest for sleep, exercise and diet, and weaker for alcohol. The associations between poor mental health and adverse health behaviours were larger during the May lockdown than pre-pandemic. In September, when restrictions had eased, inequalities had largely reverted to pre-pandemic levels. A notable exception was for sleep, where differences by mental health status remained high. Risk differences for adverse sleep for those with the highest level of prior mental ill-health compared to those with the lowest were 21.2% (95% CI 16.2–26.2) before lockdown, 25.5% (20.0–30.3) in May and 28.2% (21.2–35.2) in September. CONCLUSIONS: Taken together, our findings suggest that mental health is an increasingly important factor in health behaviour inequality in the COVID era. The promotion of mental health may thus be an important component of improving post-COVID population health

Stellar Coronal and Wind Models: Impact on Exoplanets

Surface magnetism is believed to be the main driver of coronal heating and stellar wind acceleration. Coronae are believed to be formed by plasma confined in closed magnetic coronal loops of the stars, with winds mainly originating in open magnetic field line regions. In this Chapter, we review some basic properties of stellar coronae and winds and present some existing models. In the last part of this Chapter, we discuss the effects of coronal winds on exoplanets.Comment: Chapter published in the "Handbook of Exoplanets", Editors in Chief: Juan Antonio Belmonte and Hans Deeg, Section Editor: Nuccio Lanza. Springer Reference Work

Changes in the behavioural determinants of health during the COVID-19 pandemic: gender, socioeconomic and ethnic inequalities in five British cohort studies

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic is expected to have far-reaching consequences on population health. We investigated whether these consequences included changes in health-impacting behaviours which are important drivers of health inequalities. METHODS: Using data from five representative British cohorts (born 2000-2002, 1989-1990, 1970, 1958 and 1946), we investigated sleep, physical activity (exercise), diet and alcohol intake (N=14 297). We investigated change in each behaviour (pre/during the May 2020 lockdown), and differences by age/cohort, gender, ethnicity and socioeconomic position (childhood social class, education attainment and adult financial difficulties). Logistic regression models were used, accounting for study design and non-response weights, and meta-analysis used to pool and test cohort differences in association. RESULTS: Change occurred in both directions-shifts from the middle part of the distribution to both declines and increases in sleep, exercise and alcohol use. Older cohorts were less likely to report changes in behaviours while the youngest reported more frequent increases in sleep, exercise, and fruit and vegetable intake, yet lower alcohol consumption. Widening inequalities in sleep during lockdown were more frequent among women, socioeconomically disadvantaged groups and ethnic minorities. For other outcomes, inequalities were largely unchanged, yet ethnic minorities were at higher risk of undertaking less exercise and consuming lower amounts of fruit and vegetables. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings provide new evidence on the multiple changes to behavioural outcomes linked to lockdown, and the differential impacts across generation, gender, socioeconomic circumstances across life, and ethnicity. Lockdown appeared to widen some (but not all) forms of health inequality

Physical activity across age and study: a guide to data in six CLOSER studies

Explore the measures used to assess diverse aspects of physical activity within and across six CLOSER partner studie

Living with a transplanted liver is associated with cytopenias:a nationwide cohort study

Hematological abnormalities are common in liver transplant recipients, but evidence beyond the first-year post-transplantation is scarce. We aimed to evaluate hematological abnormalities in liver transplant recipients beyond the first-year post-transplantation. We included 437 liver transplant recipients and 1,744 age- and sex-matched controls from the general population. Odds for cytopenias were assessed using logistic regression analyses adjusted for age, sex, ethnicity, hs-CRP, smoking, and alcohol use. Potential transplant-related risk factors were assessed in liver transplant recipients only. The median time since transplantation was 7.8 years, and 47% had autoimmune liver disease as the indication for transplantation. Compared to controls, liver transplant recipients had a higher prevalence of anemia (24.5% vs. 3.5%), neutropenia (2.1% vs. 0.1%), lymphocytopenia (18.4% vs. 1.5%), and thrombocytopenia (19.2% vs. 2.2%). Living with a transplanted liver was independently associated with higher odds of anemia (aOR, 7.84 [95% CI: 5.04 – 12.18], p&lt;0.001), lymphocytopenia (aOR 16.69 [95% CI: 9.56 – 29.12], p&lt;0.001), and thrombocytopenia (aOR 10.19 [95% CI: 6.07 – 17.13], p&lt;0.001). No association was found between cytopenias, specific types of immunosuppressive treatments, or cirrhosis at transplantation. In conclusion, hematological abnormalities are common in liver transplant recipients, even several years post-transplantation, and increased attention towards cytopenia in this population is warranted.</p