Mental Well-Being in UK Higher Education During Covid-19: Do Students Trust Universities and the Government?

This paper draws upon the concept of recreancy to examine the mental well-being of university students during the Covid-19 pandemic. Briefly, recreancy is loss of societal trust that results when institutional actors can no longer be counted on to perform their responsibilities. Our study of mental well-being and recreancy focuses on the role of universities and government regulators within the education sector. We surveyed 600 UK students attending 161 different public higher education providers in October 2020 during a time when many UK students were isolated in their residences and engaged in online learning. We assessed student well-being using the Short Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (scored 7–35) and found the mean score to be 19.9 [95% confidence interval (CI) 19.6, 20.2]. This level of well-being indicates that a significant proportion of UK students face low levels of mental well-being. Structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis indicates that high recreancy—measured as a low trust in universities and the government—is associated with low levels of mental well-being across the student sample. While these findings are suggestive, they are also important and we suggest that government and university leaders should not only work to increase food and housing security during the Covid-19 pandemic, but also consider how to combat various sector trends that might intensify recreancy

Fully convolutional neural networks applied to large-scale marine morphology mapping

In this study we applied for the first time Fully Convolutional Neural Networks (FCNNs) to a marine bathymetric dataset to derive morphological classes over the entire Irish continental shelf. FCNNs are a set of algorithms within Deep Learning that produce pixel-wise classifications in order to create semantically segmented maps. While they have been extensively utilised on imagery for ecological mapping, their application on elevation data is still limited, especially in the marine geomorphology realm. We employed a high-resolution bathymetric dataset to create a set of normalised derivatives commonly utilised in seabed morphology and habitat mapping that include three bathymetric position indexes (BPIs), the vector ruggedness measurement (VRM), the aspect functions and three types of hillshades. The class domains cover ten or twelve semantically distinct surface textures and submarine landforms present on the shelf, with our definitions aiming for simplicity, prevalence and distinctiveness. Sets of 50 or 100 labelled samples for each class were used to train several U-Net architectures with ResNet-50 and VGG-13 encoders. Our results show a maximum model precision of 0.84 and recall of 0.85, with some classes reaching as high as 0.99 in both. A simple majority (modal) voting combining the ten best models produced an excellent map with overall F1 score of 0.96 and class precisions and recalls superior to 0.87. For target classes exhibiting high recall (proportion of positives identified), models also show high precision (proportion of correct identifications) in predictions which confirms that the underlying class boundary has been learnt. Derivative choice plays an important part in the performance of the networks, with hillshades combined with bathymetry providing the best results and aspect functions and VRM leading to an overall deterioration of prediction accuracies. The results show that FCNNs can be successfully applied to the seabed for a morphological exploration of the dataset and as a baseline for more in-depth habitat mapping studies. For example, prediction of semantically distinct classes as “submarine dune” and “bedrock outcrop” can be precise and reliable. Nonetheless, at present state FCNNs are not suitable for tasks that require more refined geomorphological classifications, as for the recognition of detailed morphogenetic processes

Macrophage migration inhibitory factor may play a protective role in osteoarthritis

Background Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most prevalent form of arthritis and the major cause of disability and overall diminution of quality of life in the elderly population. Currently there is no cure for OA, partly due to the large gaps in our understanding of its underlying molecular and cellular mechanisms. Macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) is a procytokine that mediates pleiotropic inflammatory effects in inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and ankylosing spondylitis (AS). However, data on the role of MIF in OA is limited with conflicting results. We undertook this study to investigate the role of MIF in OA by examining MIF genotype, mRNA expression, and protein levels in the Newfoundland Osteoarthritis Study. Methods One hundred nineteen end-stage knee/hip OA patients, 16 RA patients, and 113 healthy controls were included in the study. Two polymorphisms in the MIF gene, rs755622, and -794 CATT5-8, were genotyped using polymerase chain reaction–restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) and PCR followed by automated capillary electrophoresis, respectively. MIF mRNA levels in articular cartilage and subchondral bone were measured by quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Plasma concentrations of MIF, tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and interleukin-1 beta (IL-1β) were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Results rs755622 and -794 CATT5-8 genotypes were not associated with MIF mRNA or protein levels or OA (all p ≥ 0.19). MIF mRNA level in cartilage was lower in OA patients than in controls (p = 0.028) and RA patients (p = 0.004), while the levels in bone were comparable between OA patients and controls (p = 0.165). MIF protein level in plasma was lower in OA patients than in controls (p = 3.01 × 10−10), while the levels of TNF-α, IL-6 and IL-1β in plasma were all significantly higher in OA patients than in controls (all p ≤ 0.0007). Multivariable logistic regression showed lower MIF and higher IL-1β protein levels in plasma were independently associated with OA (OR per SD increase = 0.10 and 8.08; 95% CI = 0.04–0.19 and 4.42–16.82, respectively), but TNF-α and IL-6 became non-significant. Conclusions Reduced MIF mRNA and protein expression in OA patients suggested MIF might have a protective role in OA and could serve as a biomarker to differentiate OA from other joint disorders

Multi-scale lidar measurements suggest miombo woodlands contain substantially more carbon than thought

Miombo woodlands are integral to livelihoods across southern Africa, biodiversity in the region, and the global carbon cycle, making accurate and precise monitoring of their state and change essential. Here, we assembled a terrestrial and airborne lidar dataset covering 50 kha of intact and degraded miombo woodlands, and generated aboveground biomass estimates with low uncertainty via direct 3D measurements of forest structure. We found 1.71 ± 0.09 TgC was stored in aboveground biomass across this landscape, between 1.5 and 2.2 times more than the 0.79–1.14 TgC estimated by conventional methods. This difference is in part owing to the systematic underestimation of large trees by allometry. If these results were extrapolated across Africa’s miombo woodlands, their carbon stock would potentially require an upward revision of approximately 3.7 PgC, implying we currently underestimate their carbon sequestration and emissions potential, and disincentivise their protection and restoration

Biophysical and electrochemical studies of protein-nucleic acid interactions

This review is devoted to biophysical and electrochemical methods used for studying protein-nucleic acid (NA) interactions. The importance of NA structure and protein-NA recognition for essential cellular processes, such as replication or transcription, is discussed to provide background for description of a range of biophysical chemistry methods that are applied to study a wide scope of protein-DNA and protein-RNA complexes. These techniques employ different detection principles with specific advantages and limitations and are often combined as mutually complementary approaches to provide a complete description of the interactions. Electrochemical methods have proven to be of great utility in such studies because they provide sensitive measurements and can be combined with other approaches that facilitate the protein-NA interactions. Recent applications of electrochemical methods in studies of protein-NA interactions are discussed in detail

Kisah Nabi Musa as dalam perspektif studi stilistika al­ Qur'an

Al-Qur'an merupakan kitab sastra terbesar sepanjang sejarah dan mukjizat terbesar Rasulullah Muhammad saw. Salah satu bentuk i'jaz Al-Qur'an dimuatnya kisah-kisah umat terdahulu, seperti kisah Nabi Musa. Kisah tersebut dalam Al­ Qur'an dipaparkan dengan gaya yang sangat variatif dan diulang-ulang. Hal itu berhubungan dengan studi tentang kesustraan yaitu stilistika Al-Qur'an. Faktor ini yang mendorong penulis melak.ukan penelitian untuk mengetahui gaya pemaparan kisah Nabi Musa as dalam Al-Qur'an dalam perspektif studi stilistika Al-Qur'an. Disamping itu untuk mengetahui pengulangan kisah Nabi Musa as dalam Al-Qur'an. Penelitian ini bertolak dari pemikiran bahwa stilistika Al-Qur'an merupakan kajian bahasa yang menitik beratkan pada gaya bahasa Al-Qur'an. Penelitian ini bersifat penelitian kepustakaan (library research) dengan menggunakan metode penyajian data deskriptif dan analitis. Sesuai dengan tujuan tersebut, data primer yang digunakan berasal dari Al-Qur'an dan tulisan yang membahas tentang stilistika Al-Qur'an. Sedangkan data sekunder berasal dari tulisan-tulisan yang relevan dengan penelitian ini. Data yang ditemukan menunjukkan bahwa kisah Nabi Musa dalam Al­ Qur'an dituturkan dengan beberapa variasi, yaitu pendek, sedang, dan panjang. Kisah tersebut tertuang dalam beberapa fragmen yang tersebar dibeberapa surah Al-Qur'an, yaitu surah Al-Baqarah, surah Al-Mai.dab, surah Al-A'rfil, surah Vii.nus, surah 18hi, surah Al-Mu'miniin, surah Ash-Shu'ara', surah Az-Zukhruf, surah An­ Nazi'at. Hasil penelitian menyimpulkan bahwa Gaya bahasa Al-Qur'an yang digunakan dalam memaparkan kisah Nabi Musa menggunakan gaya naratif. Kisah Nabi Musa dalam Al-Qur'an ditampilkan sebanyak 189 ayat yang tersebar dalam I 0 surah. Hampir setiap surat dalam Al-Qur'an versi sendiri dalam pemaparannya. Meskipun demikian, repetisi atau pengulangan merupakan sesuatu yang tak terelakkan. Repetisi atau pengulangan kisah Nabi Musa dalam Al-Qur'an bukan pengulangan secara 100 persen. Ada hal-hal yang baru baik dalam aspeks konteksnya maupun dalam aspek struktur kalimatnya (penambahan, pengurangan, pendahuluan, pengakhiran) tanpa mengabaikan unsur-unsur keindahan

Multiomic analyses implicate a neurodevelopmental program in the pathogenesis of cerebral arachnoid cysts

Cerebral arachnoid cysts (ACs) are one of the most common and poorly understood types of developmental brain lesion. To begin to elucidate AC pathogenesis, we performed an integrated analysis of 617 patient-parent (trio) exomes, 152,898 human brain and mouse meningeal single-cell RNA sequencing transcriptomes and natural language processing data of patient medical records. We found that damaging de novo variants (DNVs) were highly enriched in patients with ACs compared with healthy individuals (P = 1.57 × 10-33). Seven genes harbored an exome-wide significant DNV burden. AC-associated genes were enriched for chromatin modifiers and converged in midgestational transcription networks essential for neural and meningeal development. Unsupervised clustering of patient phenotypes identified four AC subtypes and clinical severity correlated with the presence of a damaging DNV. These data provide insights into the coordinated regulation of brain and meningeal development and implicate epigenomic dysregulation due to DNVs in AC pathogenesis. Our results provide a preliminary indication that, in the appropriate clinical context, ACs may be considered radiographic harbingers of neurodevelopmental pathology warranting genetic testing and neurobehavioral follow-up. These data highlight the utility of a systems-level, multiomics approach to elucidate sporadic structural brain disease

Baseline study of Essential Ocean Variable monitoring in Irish waters; current measurement programmes & data quality

This report provides an initial assessment of Ireland’s current measurement programmes and capacity for Essential Ocean Variables (EOV) data collection. These are typically programmes that involve physical sampling of the marine environment, using a combination of ship-based measurements, fixed platforms e.g. tide and wave gauges, offshore buoys, autonomous platforms e.g. underwater gliders, and conventional collection of physical samples that are analysed on board ships or in shore-based laboratories. Systematic measurement of essential ocean variables underpins the delivery of services to government and the public in terms of real-time decision support, assessments of ocean health e.g. Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD), Oslo & Paris Conventions (OSPAR), International Council on the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) and long-term observations to inform policy on marine climate change and provide climate information to guide related adaptation measures required under climate change sectoral adaptation plans e.g. seafood sector, transport, biodiversity, and built heritage

Genome-Wide DNA Methylation Scan in Major Depressive Disorder

While genome-wide association studies are ongoing to identify sequence variation influencing susceptibility to major depressive disorder (MDD), epigenetic marks, such as DNA methylation, which can be influenced by environment, might also play a role. Here we present the first genome-wide DNA methylation (DNAm) scan in MDD. We compared 39 postmortem frontal cortex MDD samples to 26 controls. DNA was hybridized to our Comprehensive High-throughput Arrays for Relative Methylation (CHARM) platform, covering 3.5 million CpGs. CHARM identified 224 candidate regions with DNAm differences >10%. These regions are highly enriched for neuronal growth and development genes. Ten of 17 regions for which validation was attempted showed true DNAm differences; the greatest were in PRIMA1, with 12–15% increased DNAm in MDD (p = 0.0002–0.0003), and a concomitant decrease in gene expression. These results must be considered pilot data, however, as we could only test replication in a small number of additional brain samples (n = 16), which showed no significant difference in PRIMA1. Because PRIMA1 anchors acetylcholinesterase in neuronal membranes, decreased expression could result in decreased enzyme function and increased cholinergic transmission, consistent with a role in MDD. We observed decreased immunoreactivity for acetylcholinesterase in MDD brain with increased PRIMA1 DNAm, non-significant at p = 0.08

The accessible chromatin landscape of the human genome

DNaseI hypersensitive sites (DHSs) are markers of regulatory DNA and have underpinned the discovery of all classes of cis-regulatory elements including enhancers, promoters, insulators, silencers, and locus control regions. Here we present the first extensive map of human DHSs identified through genome-wide profiling in 125 diverse cell and tissue types. We identify ~2.9 million DHSs that encompass virtually all known experimentally-validated cis-regulatory sequences and expose a vast trove of novel elements, most with highly cell-selective regulation. Annotating these elements using ENCODE data reveals novel relationships between chromatin accessibility, transcription, DNA methylation, and regulatory factor occupancy patterns. We connect ~580,000 distal DHSs with their target promoters, revealing systematic pairing of different classes of distal DHSs and specific promoter types. Patterning of chromatin accessibility at many regulatory regions is choreographed with dozens to hundreds of co-activated elements, and the trans-cellular DNaseI sensitivity pattern at a given region can predict cell type-specific functional behaviors. The DHS landscape shows signatures of recent functional evolutionary constraint. However, the DHS compartment in pluripotent and immortalized cells exhibits higher mutation rates than that in highly differentiated cells, exposing an unexpected link between chromatin accessibility, proliferative potential and patterns of human variation