Association of genetic liability for psychiatric disorders with accelerometer-assessed physical activity in the UK Biobank.

Levels of activity are often affected in psychiatric disorders and can be core symptoms of illness. Advances in technology now allow the accurate assessment of activity levels but it remains unclear whether alterations in activity arise from shared risk factors for developing psychiatric disorders, such as genetics, or are better explained as consequences of the disorders and their associated factors. We aimed to examine objectively-measured physical activity in individuals with psychiatric disorders, and assess the role of genetic liability for psychiatric disorders on physical activity. Accelerometer data were available on 95,529 UK Biobank participants, including measures of overall mean activity and minutes per day of moderate activity, walking, sedentary activity, and sleep. Linear regressions measured associations between psychiatric diagnosis and activity levels, and polygenic risk scores (PRS) for psychiatric disorders and activity levels. Genetic correlations were calculated between psychiatric disorders and different types of activity. Having a diagnosis of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression, or autism spectrum disorders (ASD) was associated with reduced overall activity compared to unaffected controls. In individuals without a psychiatric disorder, reduced overall activity levels were associated with PRS for schizophrenia, depression, and ASD. ADHD PRS was associated with increased overall activity. Genetic correlations were consistent with PRS findings. Variation in physical activity is an important feature across psychiatric disorders. Whilst levels of activity are associated with genetic liability to psychiatric disorders to a very limited extent, the substantial differences in activity levels in those with psychiatric disorders most likely arise as a consequences of disorder-related factors

Resonant tunnelling features in the transport spectroscopy of quantum dots

We present a review of features due to resonant tunnelling in transport spectroscopy experiments on quantum dots and single donors. The review covers features attributable to intrinsic properties of the dot as well as extrinsic effects, with a focus on the most common operating conditions. We describe several phenomena that can lead to apparently identical signatures in a bias spectroscopy measurement, with the aim of providing experimental methods to distinguish between their different physical origins. The correct classification of the resonant tunnelling features is an essential requirement to understand the details of the confining potential or predict the performance of the dot for quantum information processing.Comment: 18 pages, 7 figures. Short review article submitted to Nanotechnology, special issue on 'Quantum Science and Technology at the Nanoscale

Modeling Single Electron Transfer in Si:P Double Quantum Dots

Solid-state systems such as P donors in Si have considerable potential for realization of scalable quantum computation. Recent experimental work in this area has focused on implanted Si:P double quantum dots (DQDs) that represent a preliminary step towards the realization of single donor charge-based qubits. This paper focuses on the techniques involved in analyzing the charge transfer within such DQD devices and understanding the impact of fabrication parameters on this process. We show that misalignment between the buried dots and surface gates affects the charge transfer behavior and identify some of the challenges posed by reducing the size of the metallic dot to the few donor regime.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures, submitted to Nanotechnolog

Evaluation of the ACRRM National Radiology Program for Australian rural and remote medical practitioners

Introduction: In 2000, the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine (ACRRM) developed a national radiology quality assurance (QA) and continuing medical education (CME) program for rural and remote non-specialist Australian doctors. The program commenced on 1 January 2001. It required rural doctors to obtain 30 radiology QA/CME points over a 4 year period. At least 15-20 of these points had to be obtained by one of two mandatory options of the program, either: (1) film interpretation, report and review clinical audit activity; or (2) a radiology clinical attachment.\ud \ud Method: Doctors submitted their completed film review forms and clinical attachment logbooks to the program manager as confirmation of their educational activity to receive their professional development points. Data from film review forms and clinical attachment logbooks were de-identified and entered into two Microsoft EXCEL spreadsheets. The data were categorised and analysed in EXCEL.\ud \ud Results: From 1 January 2001 to September 2004, 823 rural and remote doctors enrolled in the ACRRM radiology program. This included 281 locums who enrolled in the short-term locum option of the program and 563 doctors who enrolled in the full program. In September 2004, 419 doctors had completed a radiology film review with a radiologist and 41 doctors completed a radiology clinical attachment in 31 different public and private radiology practices. One hundred and ninety-five doctors completed the short-term locum activity. Ninety-two different specialist radiologists participated in the program and assisted rural and remote doctors to enhance their radiology knowledge, confidence and skills. This article describes results from the two mandatory activities.\ud \ud Conclusion: The evaluation of the ACRRM radiology program after its first 3 years and 9 months shows there are a large number of rural and remote Australian doctors undertaking professional development and quality assurance activities in radiology

Electrical control over single hole spins in nanowire quantum dots

Single electron spins in semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) are a versatile platform for quantum information processing, however controlling decoherence remains a considerable challenge. Recently, hole spins have emerged as a promising alternative. Holes in III-V semiconductors have unique properties, such as strong spin-orbit interaction and weak coupling to nuclear spins, and therefore have potential for enhanced spin control and longer coherence times. Weaker hyperfine interaction has already been reported in self-assembled quantum dots using quantum optics techniques. However, challenging fabrication has so far kept the promise of hole-spin-based electronic devices out of reach in conventional III-V heterostructures. Here, we report gate-tuneable hole quantum dots formed in InSb nanowires. Using these devices we demonstrate Pauli spin blockade and electrical control of single hole spins. The devices are fully tuneable between hole and electron QDs, enabling direct comparison between the hyperfine interaction strengths, g-factors and spin blockade anisotropies in the two regimes

Genetic risk for alzheimer disease is distinct from genetic risk for amyloid deposition

OBJECTIVE: Alzheimer disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia and is responsible for a huge and growing health care burden in the developed and developing world. The polygenic risk score (PRS) approach has shown 75 to 84% prediction accuracy of identifying individuals with AD risk. // METHODS: In this study, we tested the prediction accuracy of AD, mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and amyloid deposition risks with PRS, including and excluding APOE genotypes in a large publicly available dataset with extensive phenotypic data, the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative cohort. Among MCI individuals with amyloid-positive status, we examined PRS prediction accuracy in those who converted to AD. In addition, we divided polygenic risk score by biological pathways and tested them independently for distinguishing between AD, MCI, and amyloid deposition. // RESULTS: We found that AD and MCI are predicted by both APOE genotype and PRS (area under the curve [AUC] = 0.82% and 68%, respectively). Amyloid deposition is predicted by APOE only (AUC = 79%). Further progression to AD of individuals with MCI and amyloid-positive status is predicted by PRS over and above APOE (AUC = 67%). In pathway-specific PRS analyses, the protein-lipid complex has the strongest association with AD and amyloid deposition even when genes in the APOE region were removed (p = 0.0055 and p = 0.0079, respectively). // INTERPRETATION: The results showed different pattern of APOE contribution in PRS risk predictions of AD/MCI and amyloid deposition. Our study suggests that APOE mostly contributes to amyloid accumulation and the PRS affects risk of further conversion to AD

ADVANCE-TBI study protocol: traumatic brain injury outcomes in UK military personnel serving in Afghanistan between 2003 and 2014 - a longitudinal cohort study

INTRODUCTION: Outcomes of traumatic brain injury (TBI) are highly variable, with cognitive and psychiatric problems often present in survivors, including an increased dementia risk in the long term. Military personnel are at an increased occupational risk of TBI, with high rates of complex polytrauma including TBI characterising the UK campaign in Afghanistan. The ArmeD SerVices TrAuma and RehabilitatioN OutComE (ADVANCE)-TBI substudy will describe the patterns, associations and long-term outcomes of TBI in the established ADVANCE cohort. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: The ADVANCE cohort comprises 579 military personnel exposed to major battlefield trauma requiring medical evacuation, and 566 matched military personnel without major trauma. TBI exposure has been captured at baseline using a standardised interview and registry data, and will be refined at first follow-up visit with the Ohio State Method TBI interview (a National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke TBI common data element). Participants will undergo blood sampling, MRI and detailed neuropsychological assessment longitudinally as part of their follow-up visits every 3-5 years over a 20-year period. Biomarkers of injury, neuroinflammation and degeneration will be quantified in blood, and polygenic risk scores calculated for neurodegeneration. Age-matched healthy volunteers will be recruited as controls for MRI analyses. We will describe TBI exposure across the cohort, and consider any relationship with advanced biomarkers of injury and clinical outcomes including cognitive performance, neuropsychiatric symptom burden and function. The influence of genotype will be assessed. This research will explore the relationship between military head injury exposure and long-term outcomes, providing insights into underlying disease mechanisms and informing prevention interventions. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: The ADVANCE-TBI substudy has received a favourable opinion from the Ministry of Defence Research Ethics Committee (ref: 2126/MODREC/22). Findings will be disseminated via publications in peer-reviewed journals and presentations at conferences

'To live and die [for] Dixie': Irish civilians and the Confederate States of America

Around 20,000 Irishmen served in the Confederate army in the Civil War. As a result, they left behind, in various Southern towns and cities, large numbers of friends, family, and community leaders. As with native-born Confederates, Irish civilian support was crucial to Irish participation in the Confederate military effort. Also, Irish civilians served in various supporting roles: in factories and hospitals, on railroads and diplomatic missions, and as boosters for the cause. They also, however, suffered in bombardments, sieges, and the blockade. Usually poorer than their native neighbours, they could not afford to become 'refugees' and move away from the centres of conflict. This essay, based on research from manuscript collections, contemporary newspapers, British Consular records, and Federal military records, will examine the role of Irish civilians in the Confederacy, and assess the role this activity had on their integration into Southern communities. It will also look at Irish civilians in the defeat of the Confederacy, particularly when they came under Union occupation. Initial research shows that Irish civilians were not as upset as other whites in the South about Union victory. They welcomed a return to normalcy, and often 'collaborated' with Union authorities. Also, Irish desertion rates in the Confederate army were particularly high, and I will attempt to gauge whether Irish civilians played a role in this. All of the research in this paper will thus be put in the context of the Drew Gilpin Faust/Gary Gallagher debate on the influence of the Confederate homefront on military performance. By studying the Irish civilian experience one can assess how strong the Confederate national experiment was. Was it a nation without a nationalism

Association Between Schizophrenia-Related Polygenic Liability and the Occurrence and Level of Mood-Incongruent Psychotic Symptoms in Bipolar Disorder

Importance Bipolar disorder (BD) overlaps schizophrenia in its clinical presentation and genetic liability. Alternative approaches to patient stratification beyond current diagnostic categories are needed to understand the underlying disease processes/mechanisms. Objectives To investigate the relationship between common-variant liability for schizophrenia, indexed by polygenic risk scores (PRS) and psychotic presentations of BD, using clinical descriptions which consider both occurrence and level of mood-incongruent psychotic features. Design Case-control design: using multinomial logistic regression, to estimate differential associations of PRS across categories of cases and controls. Settings & Participants 4399 BD cases, 2966 (67%) female, mean age-at-interview 46 [sd 12] years, from the BD Research Network (BDRN) were included in the final analyses. For comparison genotypic data for 4976 schizophrenia cases and 9012 controls from the Type-1 diabetes genetics consortium and Generation Scotland were included. Exposure Standardised PRS, calculated using alleles with an association p-value threshold < 0.05 in the second Psychiatric Genomics Consortium genome-wide association study of schizophrenia, adjusted for the first 10 population principal components and genotyping-platform. Main outcome measure Multinomial logit models estimated PRS associations with BD stratified by (1) Research Diagnostic Criteria (RDC) BD subtypes (2) Lifetime occurrence of psychosis.(3) Lifetime mood-incongruent psychotic features and (4) ordinal logistic regression examined PRS associations across levels of mood-incongruence. Ratings were derived from the Schedule for Clinical Assessment in Neuropsychiatry interview (SCAN) and the Bipolar Affective Disorder Dimension Scale (BADDS). Results Across clinical phenotypes, there was an exposure-response gradient with the strongest PRS association for schizophrenia (RR=1.94, (95% C.I. 1.86, 2.01)), then schizoaffective BD (RR=1.37, (95% C.I. 1.22, 1.54)), BD I (RR= 1.30, (95% C.I. 1.24, 1.36)) and BD II (RR=1.04, (95% C.I. 0.97, 1.11)). Within BD cases, there was an effect gradient, indexed by the nature of psychosis, with prominent mood-incongruent psychotic features having the strongest association (RR=1.46, (95% C.I. 1.36, 1.57)), followed by mood-congruent psychosis (RR= 1.24, (95% C.I. 1.17, 1.33)) and lastly, BD cases with no history of psychosis (RR=1.09, (95% C.I. 1.04, 1.15)). Conclusion We show for the first time a polygenic-risk gradient, across schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, indexed by the occurrence and level of mood-incongruent psychotic symptoms

Learning from Ninjas: young people’s films as a lens for an expanded view of literacy and language

This article examines young people’s films to provide insights about language and literacy practices. It offers a heuristic for thinking about how to approach data that is collectively produced. It tries to make sense of new ways of knowing that locate the research in the field rather than in the academic domain. The authors develop a lens for looking at films made by young people that acknowledge multiple modes and materiality within their meaning-making practices. We make an argument about the cultural politics of research, to consider how the language and literacy practices of young people are positioned. We argue for more consideration of how language and literacy appear entangled within objects and other stuff within young people’s media productions, so as to trouble disciplinary boundaries within and beyond literacy and language studies