Investigating the Effect of Stratospheric Radiation on Seed Germination and Growth

Three seed types: bean (Phaseolus vulgaris), corn (Zea mays) and radish (Raphanus sativus) were flown in a high altitude weather balloon into the mid-stratosphere to investigate the effects of high altitude radiation on germination success and seedling growth. After recovering and planting the seeds, the bean seeds showed lower germination success with exposure to high altitude radiation, and consequently stunted seedling growth. Cord and radish seeds experienced a statistically significant positive effect on germination success form radiation exposure compared to control seeds, but negative effect on seedling growth. Overall, the field experiments presented here support laboratory studies that show radiation exposure on vegetable seeds has a mixed effect on the germination success and negative effect on seedling growth on investigated seed types

Galaxy Counts, Sizes, Colours and Redshifts in the Hubble Deep Field

We compare the galaxy evolution models of Bruzual & Charlot (1993) with the faint galaxy count, size and colour data from the Hubble and Herschel Deep Fields (Metcalfe et al 1996). For qo=0.05, we find that models where the SFR increases exponentially out to z>2 are consistent with all of the observational data. For qo=0.5, such models require an extra population of galaxies which are only seen at high redshift and then rapidly fade or disappear. We find that, whatever the cosmology, the redshift of the faint blue galaxies and hence the epoch of galaxy formation is likely to lie at z>2. We find no implied peak in the SFR at z=1 and we suggest that the reasons for this contradiction with the results of Madau et al (1996) include differences in faint galaxy photometry, in the treatment of spiral dust and in the local galaxy count normalisation.Comment: 8 pages, 5 eps figures, needs paspconf.st

On the full Boltzmann equations for Leptogenesis

We consider the full Boltzmann equations for standard and soft leptogenesis, instead of the usual integrated Boltzmann equations which assume kinetic equilibrium for all species. Decays and inverse decays may be inefficient for thermalising the heavy-(s)neutrino distribution function, leading to significant deviations from kinetic equilibrium. We analyse the impact of using the full kinetic equations in the case of a previously generated lepton asymmetry, and find that the washout of this initial asymmetry due to the interactions of the right-handed neutrino is larger than when calculated via the integrated equations. We also solve the full Boltzmann equations for soft leptogenesis, where the lepton asymmetry induced by the soft SUSY-breaking terms in sneutrino decays is a purely thermal effect, since at T=0 the asymmetry in leptons cancels the one in sleptons. In this case, we obtain that in the weak washout regime (K ~< 1) the final lepton asymmetry can change up to a factor four with respect to previous estimates.Comment: 34 pages, 6 figures, to be published in JCA

The electronic specific heat in the pairing pseudogap regime

When pairing correlations in a quasi two dimensional electron system induce a pseudogap in the single particle density of states, the specific heat must also contain a sizeable pair contribution. The theoretically calculated specific heat for such a system is compared to the experimental results of Loram and his collaborators for underdoped YBa_2Cu_3O_{6+x} and La_{2-x}Sr_{x}CuO_4 samples. The size and doping dependence of the extracted pseudogap energy scale for both materials is comparable to the values obtained from a variety of other experiments.Comment: 4 pages, 5 eps figure

Collective Spin Fluctuation Mode and Raman Scattering in Superconducting Cuprates

Although the low frequency electronic Raman response in the superconducting state of the cuprates can be largely understood in terms of a d-wave energy gap, a long standing problem has been an explanation for the spectra observed in the $A_{1g}$ polarization orientations. We present calculations which suggest that the peak position of the observed $A_{1g}$ spectra is due to a collective spin fluctuation mode.Comment: 4 pages, 5 eps figure

Optimizing lung cancer MDT data for maximum clinical impact-a scoping literature review.

Multidisciplinary care in is widely recommended as best practice for lung cancer in many countries and jurisdictions. A number of studies suggest multidisciplinary care benefits patient outcomes, with analyses based on a range of data sources including national, state and local registries as well as multidisciplinary team meeting (MDT)-based data collections, often focused on different questions depending on data sources. MDT data collection and linkage are not standardized and not routine although data collection and feedback are specifically recommended by at least one statutory body. We performed a scoping review of current evidence for lung cancer MDT data collection and analysis, to identify discrete strategies through illustrative examples and to make recommendations for future approaches. Thirteen studies were identified that presented lung cancer MDT-related clinical outcomes, three included MDTs from multiple tumour streams while 10 studies focussed on lung cancer MDT meetings. Eleven studies measured the effect of MDT discussion on clinical outcomes of which eight were positive. Data sources included MDT records (3 studies), medical or hospital records (3 studies), institutional registries (5 studies) and state or national administrative datasets (6 studies), with some overlap. Examples of studies based on different data sources (local MDT, institutional registry, national registry) exemplified the different types of clinical research questions appropriate for each data source. While MDT data collection is not well-defined, the importance of clinical audit and data feedback and the potential for real-time analysis to improve outcomes deserve further investigation. Optimized datasets and linkage strategies are likely to maximize benefits for patients

Mental health of staff working in intensive care during COVID-19

BACKGROUND: Staff working in intensive care units (ICUs) have faced significant challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic which have the potential to adversely affect their mental health. AIMS: To identify the rates of probable mental health disorder in staff working in ICUs in nine English hospitals during June and July 2020. METHODS: An anonymized brief web-based survey comprising standardized questionnaires examining depression, anxiety symptoms, symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), well-being and alcohol use was administered to staff. RESULTS: Seven hundred and nine participants completed the surveys comprising 291 (41%) doctors, 344 (49%) nurses and 74 (10%) other healthcare staff. Over half (59%) reported good well-being; however, 45% met the threshold for probable clinical significance on at least one of the following measures: severe depression (6%), PTSD (40%), severe anxiety (11%) or problem drinking (7%). Thirteen per cent of respondents reported frequent thoughts of being better off dead, or of hurting themselves in the past 2 weeks. Within the sample used in this study, we found that doctors reported better mental health than nurses across a range of measures. CONCLUSIONS: We found substantial rates of probable mental health disorders, and thoughts of self-harm, amongst ICU staff; these difficulties were especially prevalent in nurses. Whilst further work is needed to better understand the real level of clinical need amongst ICU staff, these results indicate the need for a national strategy to protect the mental health, and decrease the risk of functional impairment, of ICU staff whilst they carry out their essential work during COVID-19

Neutron Scattering and the B_{1g} Phonon in the Cuprates

The momentum dependent lineshape of the out-of-phase oxygen vibration as measured in recent neutron scattering measurements is investigated. Starting from a microscopic coupling of the phonon vibration to a local crystal field, the phonon lineshift and broadening is calculated as a function of transfered momentum in the superconducting state of YBa$_{2}$Cu$_{3}$O$_{7}$. It is shown that the anisotropy of the density of states, superconducting energy gap, and the electron-phonon coupling are all crucial in order to explain these experiments.Comment: new figures and discussio