542 research outputs found
Attitudes Towards Parents of Trans Children and Their Rights: An Australian Study
OnlinePublIntroduction: Trans children and their parents face challenges in both their private and public lives. In terms of the latter, public attitudes toward trans children and their parents can signifcantly impact experiences of inclusion or exclusion, including in terms of rights. Yet, to date, while a substantive body of research has focused on attitudes toward trans people in general, lacking is a focus on trans children and their parents. Methods: The study reported in this paper involved data collected in 2021 with a convenience sample of people living in Australia, who were asked to respond to a series of vignettes featuring accounts of parents of children of different gender modalities and genders, and participants were asked to rate the parents of the children in the vignettes. Participants also completed measures about traditional views of motherhood and fatherhood, a social dominance measure, a measure of values, and a measure of attitudes towards trans rights. Results: The findings suggest mothers were rated more negatively than fathers, those with more traditional views about mothers and fathers rated all vignettes more negatively, and those with more positive attitudes toward trans rights rated all vignettes more positively. There were no differences in ratings of parents based on the gender modality of the child; however, parents of non-binary children were rated most negatively. Conclusions: Together, the findings suggest broad support for trans children and their parents among the sample. Policy Implications The findings suggest that any restrictions to the rights or inclusion of trans children and their parents would likely not align with the views of people living in Australia.Damien W. Riggs, Shoshana Rosenberg, Danielle J. Navarr
Healthcare-associated outbreak of meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia: role of a cryptic variant of an epidemic clone
BACKGROUND
New strains of meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) may be associated with changes in rates of disease or clinical presentation. Conventional typing techniques may not detect new clonal variants that underlie changes in epidemiology or clinical phenotype.
AIM
To investigate the role of clonal variants of MRSA in an outbreak of MRSA bacteraemia at a hospital in England.
METHODS
Bacteraemia isolates of the major UK lineages (EMRSA-15 and -16) from before and after the outbreak were analysed by whole-genome sequencing in the context of epidemiological and clinical data. For comparison, EMRSA-15 and -16 isolates from another hospital in England were sequenced. A clonal variant of EMRSA-16 was identified at the outbreak hospital and a molecular signature test designed to distinguish variant isolates among further EMRSA-16 strains.
FINDINGS
By whole-genome sequencing, EMRSA-16 isolates during the outbreak showed strikingly low genetic diversity (P < 1 × 10(-6), Monte Carlo test), compared with EMRSA-15 and EMRSA-16 isolates from before the outbreak or the comparator hospital, demonstrating the emergence of a clonal variant. The variant was indistinguishable from the ancestral strain by conventional typing. This clonal variant accounted for 64/72 (89%) of EMRSA-16 bacteraemia isolates at the outbreak hospital from 2006.
CONCLUSIONS
Evolutionary changes in epidemic MRSA strains not detected by conventional typing may be associated with changes in disease epidemiology. Rapid and affordable technologies for whole-genome sequencing are becoming available with the potential to identify and track the emergence of variants of highly clonal organisms
Immune-driven recombination and loss of control after HIV superinfection
After acute HIV infection, CD8+ T cells are able to control viral replication to a set point. This control is often lost after superinfection, although the mechanism behind this remains unclear. In this study, we illustrate in an HLA-B27+ subject that loss of viral control after HIV superinfection coincides with rapid recombination events within two narrow regions of Gag and Env. Screening for CD8+ T cell responses revealed that each of these recombination sites (∼50 aa) encompassed distinct regions containing two immunodominant CD8 epitopes (B27-KK10 in Gag and Cw1-CL9 in Env). Viral escape and the subsequent development of variant-specific de novo CD8+ T cell responses against both epitopes were illustrative of the significant immune selection pressures exerted by both responses. Comprehensive analysis of the kinetics of CD8 responses and viral evolution indicated that the recombination events quickly facilitated viral escape from both dominant WT- and variant-specific responses. These data suggest that the ability of a superinfecting strain of HIV to overcome preexisting immune control may be related to its ability to rapidly recombine in critical regions under immune selection pressure. These data also support a role for cellular immune pressures in driving the selection of new recombinant forms of HIV
A complete 3D numerical study of the effects of pseudoscalar-photon mixing on quasar polarizations
We present the results of three-dimensional simulations of quasar
polarizations in the presence of pseudoscalar-photon mixing in the
intergalactic medium. The intergalactic magnetic field is assumed to be
uncorrelated in wave vector space but correlated in real space. Such a field
may be obtained if its origin is primordial. Furthermore we assume that the
quasars, located at cosmological distances, have negligible initial
polarization. In the presence of pseudoscalar-photon mixing we show, through a
direct comparison with observations, that this may explain the observed large
scale alignments in quasar polarizations within the framework of big bang
cosmology. We find that the simulation results give a reasonably good fit to
the observed data.Comment: 15 pages, 8 figures, significant changes, to appear in EPJ
Facilitating children's self-concept: A rationale and evaluative study
This study reports on the design and effectiveness of the Exploring Self-Concept program for primary school children using self-concept as the outcome measure. The program aims to provide a procedure that incorporates organisation, elaboration, thinking, and problem-solving strategies and links these to children's multidimensional self-concept. The results of this research support the notion that teachers and guidance counsellors need to establish a nonthreatening framework that allows them to discuss with children a range of relevant issues related to peer pressure, parent relations, self-image, body image, gender bias, media pressure, values and life goals, in a systematic, objective and cooperative manner. Within the paper, notions associated with self-concept maturation, 'crystallisation' of self-concept beliefs, cognitive differentiation and self-concept segmentation are reviewed
Search for composite and exotic fermions at LEP 2
A search for unstable heavy fermions with the DELPHI detector at LEP is
reported. Sequential and non-canonical leptons, as well as excited leptons and
quarks, are considered. The data analysed correspond to an integrated
luminosity of about 48 pb^{-1} at an e^+e^- centre-of-mass energy of 183 GeV
and about 20 pb^{-1} equally shared between the centre-of-mass energies of 172
GeV and 161 GeV. The search for pair-produced new leptons establishes 95%
confidence level mass limits in the region between 70 GeV/c^2 and 90 GeV/c^2,
depending on the channel. The search for singly produced excited leptons and
quarks establishes upper limits on the ratio of the coupling of the excited
fermio
Spin-polarized low-energy positron beams and their applications
The production and use of low-energy (100 eV to 5 keV) high-intensity, spin-polarized positron beams is reviewed. Methods for obtaining beams with high polarization are discussed. Applications include studies of the moderation process, surface and bulk magnetism, optically active molecules, and the production of polarized anti-protons.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/47033/1/339_2004_Article_BF00635183.pd
Search for charginos in e+e- interactions at sqrt(s) = 189 GeV
An update of the searches for charginos and gravitinos is presented, based on
a data sample corresponding to the 158 pb^{-1} recorded by the DELPHI detector
in 1998, at a centre-of-mass energy of 189 GeV. No evidence for a signal was
found. The lower mass limits are 4-5 GeV/c^2 higher than those obtained at a
centre-of-mass energy of 183 GeV. The (\mu,M_2) MSSM domain excluded by
combining the chargino searches with neutralino searches at the Z resonance
implies a limit on the mass of the lightest neutralino which, for a heavy
sneutrino, is constrained to be above 31.0 GeV/c^2 for tan(beta) \geq 1.Comment: 22 pages, 8 figure
Search for lightest neutralino and stau pair production in light gravitino scenarios with stau NLSP
Promptly decaying lightest neutralinos and long-lived staus are searched for
in the context of light gravitino scenarios. It is assumed that the stau is the
next to lightest supersymmetric particle (NLSP) and that the lightest
neutralino is the next to NLSP (NNLSP). Data collected with the Delphi detector
at centre-of-mass energies from 161 to 183 \GeV are analysed. No evidence of
the production of these particles is found. Hence, lower mass limits for both
kinds of particles are set at 95% C.L.. The mass of gaugino-like neutralinos is
found to be greater than 71.5 GeV/c^2. In the search for long-lived stau,
masses less than 70.0 to 77.5 \GeVcc are excluded for gravitino masses from 10
to 150 \eVcc . Combining this search with the searches for stable heavy leptons
and Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model staus a lower limit of 68.5 \GeVcc
may be set for the stau mas
Hadronization properties of b quarks compared to light quarks in e+e- -> q qbar from 183 to 200 GeV
The DELPHI detector at LEP has collected 54 pb^{-1} of data at a
centre-of-mass energy around 183 GeV during 1997, 158 pb^{-1} around 189 GeV
during 1998, and 187 pb^{-1} between 192 and 200 GeV during 1999. These data
were used to measure the average charged particle multiplicity in e+e- -> b
bbar events, _{bb}, and the difference delta_{bl} between _{bb} and the
multiplicity, _{ll}, in generic light quark (u,d,s) events: delta_{bl}(183
GeV) = 4.55 +/- 1.31 (stat) +/- 0.73 (syst) delta_{bl}(189 GeV) = 4.43 +/- 0.85
(stat) +/- 0.61 (syst) delta_{bl}(200 GeV) = 3.39 +/- 0.89 (stat) +/- 1.01
(syst). This result is consistent with QCD predictions, while it is
inconsistent with calculations assuming that the multiplicity accompanying the
decay of a heavy quark is independent of the mass of the quark itself.Comment: 13 pages, 2 figure
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