Effects on alcohol consumption of announcing revised UK low-risk drinking guidelines : findings from a monthly cross-sectional survey

Background Health authorities publish alcohol consumption guidelines for low-risk drinking in most high-income countries but the effects of these guidelines on alcohol consumption are unclear. In January, 2016, the UK's Chief Medical Officers announced revised guidelines recommending that men and women should not regularly drink more than 14 units per week, a reduction to the previous guideline for men of 3–4 units per day. We aimed to evaluate the effect of announcing the revised guidelines on alcohol consumption. Methods Data were collected from March, 2014, to October, 2017, using the Alcohol Toolkit Survey, a monthly repeat cross-sectional survey of approximately 1800 adults (older than 16 years) resident in England. The survey uses a hybrid between random location sampling and quota sampling designed to generate a nationally representative sample, which selects random areas in England (about 300 households) from strata defined by area-level geographical and sociodemographic profiles. Participants provided verbal informed consent. The University College London ethics committee granted ethical approval for the Alcohol Toolkit Study and The University of Sheffield for the evaluation of the UK lower-risk drinking guidelines. The primary outcome is participants’ Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test for Consumption (AUDIT-C) scores. Effects were estimated using segmented regression. Secondary analyses test for alternative breakpoints in the long-term trend and pulse effects. All analyses were preregistered in the ISRCTN registry, number ISRCTN15189062. Findings At baseline, 70·4% of the sample were drinkers and the mean AUDIT-C score was 2·8. The main analysis showed no significant step-change in AUDIT-C scores immediately following announcement of the guideline (β=0·001 [95% CI –0·079 to 0·099]; p=0·82) and the trend changed significantly such that scores increased by 0·005 each month (β=0·008 [0·001–0·015]; p=0·015). This finding was not robust as secondary analyses of alternative breakpoints suggested the change in behaviour began in June, before the new guidelines were announced. Secondary analyses also suggest that AUDIT-C scores reduced temporarily for 3 months (a pulse effect) after the announcement (β=–0·126 [–0·218 to –0·034]; p=0·007). Interpretation Announcing new UK drinking guidelines with no large-scale organised promotion did not lead to a substantial or sustained reduction in drinking or a downturn in long-term alcohol consumption behaviour. Well designed promotional campaigns might improve the effect of drinking guidelines on alcohol consumption. This study is limited by potential seasonal confounding—January is typically a light-drinking month, whereas December is a heavy-drinking month. We control for seasonal trends but this approach might be inadequate if seasonality varies substantially between years as our time series is relatively short

Magnetoelectric ordering of BiFeO3 from the perspective of crystal chemistry

In this paper we examine the role of crystal chemistry factors in creating conditions for formation of magnetoelectric ordering in BiFeO3. It is generally accepted that the main reason of the ferroelectric distortion in BiFeO3 is concerned with a stereochemical activity of the Bi lone pair. However, the lone pair is stereochemically active in the paraelectric orthorhombic beta-phase as well. We demonstrate that a crucial role in emerging of phase transitions of the metal-insulator, paraelectric-ferroelectric and magnetic disorder-order types belongs to the change of the degree of the lone pair stereochemical activity - its consecutive increase with the temperature decrease. Using the structural data, we calculated the sign and strength of magnetic couplings in BiFeO3 in the range from 945 C down to 25 C and found the couplings, which undergo the antiferromagnetic-ferromagnetic transition with the temperature decrease and give rise to the antiferromagnetic ordering and its delay in regard to temperature, as compared to the ferroelectric ordering. We discuss the reasons of emerging of the spatially modulated spin structure and its suppression by doping with La3+.Comment: 18 pages, 5 figures, 3 table

Correlation dynamics of three spin under a classical dephasing environment

By starting from the stochastic Hamiltonian of the three correlated spins and modeling their frequency fluctuations as caused by dephasing noisy environments described by Ornstein-Uhlenbeck processes, we study the dynamics of quantum correlations, including entanglement and quantum discord. We prepared initially our open system with Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger or W state and present the exact solutions for evolution dynamics of entanglement and quantum discord between three spins under both Markovian and non-Markovian regime of this classical noise. By comparison the dynamics of entanglement with that of quantum discord we find that entanglement can be more robust than quantum discord against this noise. It is shown that by considering non-Markovian extensions the survival time of correlations prolong.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figure

Landscape-scale drivers of pollinator communities may depend on land-use configuration

Research into pollinators in managed landscapes has recently combined approaches of pollination ecology and landscape ecology, because key stressors are likely to interact across wide areas. While laboratory and field experiments are valuable for furthering understanding, studies are required to investigate the interacting drivers of pollinator health and diversity across a broader range of landscapes and a wider array of taxa. Here, we use a network of 96 study landscapes in six topographically diverse regions of Britain, to test the combined importance of honeybee density, insecticide loadings, floral resource availability and habitat diversity to pollinator communities. We also explore the interactions between these drivers and the cover and proximity of semi-natural habitat. We found that among our four drivers, only honeybee density was positively related to wild pollinator abundance and diversity, and the positive association between abundance and floral resources depended on insecticide loadings and habitat diversity. By contrast, our exploratory models including habitat composition metrics revealed a complex suite of interactive effects. These results demonstrate that improving pollinator community composition and health is unlikely to be achieved with general resource enhancements only. Rather, local land-use context should be considered in fine-tuning pollinator management and conservation

The Mesozoic exhumation history of the Karatau-Talas range, western Tian Shan, Kazakhstan-Kyrgyzstan

Available online 26 June 2021The Tian Shan mountain range maintains high topography across the Eurasian continent despite being distal to any modern plate boundary. Previous studies of the Tian Shan have revealed a history of mountain building in response to India-Asia collision which has overprinted much of its Mesozoic history. The Karatau and Talas ranges in the north-western Tian Shan represent a unique opportunity to investigate the erosional response to the Mesozoic tectonics of Central Asia. In this study, we present medium-to-low temperature thermochronology and thermal history modelling from a series of Neoproterozoic to Permian sedimentary and granitoid samples taken from the Karatau and Talas ranges. Our results identify three phases of late Paleozoic-Mesozoic deformation and exhumation: (1) a regional orogenic event in the Permian–Early Triassic (ca. 280–240 Ma) related to the final amalgamation of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt, (2) Late Triassic–Early Jurassic (ca. 230–190 Ma) reactivation in response to the collision of the Qiangtang block with the Eurasian margin, and a (3) phase of rapid basement cooling during the Late Jurassic–Early Cretaceous (ca. 160–140 Ma), associated with the closure of the Meso- Tethys Ocean. These results suggest that the Karatau and Talas ranges preserves extensive Mesozoic erosional signatures, which developed in response to Eurasian amalgamation of Central Asia and progressive closure of the Tethys Ocean.Gilby Jepson, Stijn Glorie, Andrey K. Khudoley, Sergey V. Malyshev, Jack Gillespie, Ulrich A. Glasmacher, Barbara Carrapa, Alexei V. Soloviev, Alan S. Collin