8 research outputs found
Populating the Galaxy with pulsars I: stellar & binary evolution
The computation of theoretical pulsar populations has been a major component
of pulsar studies since the 1970s. However, the majority of pulsar population
synthesis has only regarded isolated pulsar evolution. Those that have examined
pulsar evolution within binary systems tend to either treat binary evolution
poorly or evolve the pulsar population in an ad-hoc manner. Thus no complete
and direct comparison with observations of the pulsar population within the
Galactic disk has been possible to date. Described here is the first component
of what will be a complete synthetic pulsar population survey code. This
component is used to evolve both isolated and binary pulsars. Synthetic
observational surveys can then be performed on this population for a variety of
radio telescopes. The final tool used for completing this work will be a code
comprised of three components: stellar/binary evolution, Galactic kinematics
and survey selection effects. Results provided here support the need for
further (apparent) pulsar magnetic field decay during accretion, while they
conversely suggest the need for a re-evaluation of the assumed \textit{typical}
MSP formation process. Results also focus on reproducing the observed
diagram for Galactic pulsars and how this precludes short timescales
for standard pulsar exponential magnetic field decay. Finally, comparisons of
bulk pulsar population characteristics are made to observations displaying the
predictive power of this code, while we also show that under standard binary
evolutionary assumption binary pulsars may accrete much mass.Comment: 26 pages, 16 figures, 1 table, accepted for publication in MNRA
Exploring the psychological health of emergency dispatch centre operatives : a systematic review and narrative synthesis
Background. The study objective was to investigate and synthesize available evidence
relating to the psychological health of Emergency Dispatch Centre (EDC) operatives,
and to identify key stressors experienced by EDC operatives.
Methods. Eight electronic databases (Embase, PubMed, Medline, CINAHL, PsycInfo,
PsycArticles, The Psychology and Behavioural Sciences Collection, and Google Scholar)
were searched. All study designs were included, and no date limits were set. Studies
were included if they were published in English, and explored the psychological health
of any EDC operatives, across fire, police, and emergency medical services. Studies were
excluded if they related solely to other emergency workers, such as police officers or
paramedics. Methodological quality of included studies was assessed using checklists
adapted from the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme. A narrative synthesis was
conducted, using thematic analysis.
Results. A total of 16 articles were included in the review. Two overarching themes were
identified during the narrative synthesis: `Organisational and Operational Factors' and
`Interactions with Others'. Stressors identified included being exposed to traumatic
calls, lacking control over high workload, and working in under-resourced and pres-
sured environments. Lack of support from management and providing an emotionally
demanding service were additional sources of stress. Peer support and social support
from friends and family were helpful in managing work-related stress.
Discussion. EDC operatives experience stress as a result of their work, which appears to
be related to negative psychological health outcomes. Future research should explore
the long-term effects of this stress, and the potential for workplace interventions to
alleviate the negative impacts on psychological health.</p
Evolution within the urban environment: the two mechanisms of human driven genetic variation
This synopsis investigates how urbanization is driving genetic divergence between urban and rural populations of non-human species
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Dynamic docking of small molecules targeting RNA CUG repeats causing myotonic dystrophy type 1.
Expansion of RNA CUG repeats causes myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1). Once transcribed, the expanded CUG repeats strongly attract muscleblind-like 1 (MBNL1) proteins and disturb their functions in cells. Because of its unique structural form, expanded RNA CUG repeats are prospective drug targets, where small molecules can be utilized to target RNA CUG repeats to inhibit MBNL1 binding and ameliorate DM1-associated defects. In this contribution, we developed two physics-based dynamic docking approaches (DynaD and DynaD/Auto) and applied them to nine small molecules known to specifically target RNA CUG repeats. While DynaD uses a distance-based reaction coordinate to study the binding phenomenon, DynaD/Auto combines results of umbrella sampling calculations performed on 1 Ă— 1 UU internal loops and AutoDock calculations to efficiently sample the energy landscape of binding. Predictions are compared with experimental data, displaying a positive correlation with correlation coefficient (R) values of 0.70 and 0.81 for DynaD and DynaD/Auto, respectively. Furthermore, we found that the best correlation was achieved with MM/3D-RISM calculations, highlighting the importance of solvation in binding calculations. Moreover, we detected that DynaD/Auto performed better than DynaD because of the use of prior knowledge about the binding site arising from umbrella sampling calculations. Finally, we developed dendrograms to present how bound states are connected to each other in a binding process. Results are exciting, as DynaD and DynaD/Auto will allow researchers to utilize two novel physics-based and computer-aided drug-design methodologies to perform in silico calculations on drug-like molecules aiming to target complex RNA loops