Evidence for changes in the radiative efficiency of transient black hole X-ray binaries

We have used pointed RXTE data to examine the long-term X-ray light curves of six transient black hole X-ray binaries during their decay from outburst to quiescence. In most cases there is a period of exponential decay as the source approaches the soft-to-hard state transition, and another period of exponential decay following this transition as the source decays in the hard state. The e-folding times change around the time of the state transition, from typically approx 12 days at the end of the soft state to approx 7 days at the beginning of the hard state. This factor ~2 change in the decay timescale is expected if there is a change from radiatively efficient emission in the soft state to radiatively inefficient emission in the hard state, overlying an exponential decay in the mass accretion rate. This adds support to the idea that the X-ray emitting region is governed by radiatively inefficient accretion (such as an advection-dominated or jet-dominated accretion flow) during the fading hard state.Comment: 9 pages, 18 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS, minor changes following proo

The Haunted School on Horror Hill

As gaming technology for personal computers has advanced over the last two decades, the text-adventures that predominated in the 1980s ceased to be commercially viable. However, the easy availability of powerful authoring systems developed by enthusiasts and distributed free over the Internet has led to a renaissance in text-adventures, now called “Interactive Fiction.” The educational potential in playing these text-based games and simulations was recognised when they were first popular; the new authoring systems now allow educators to explore the educational potential of creating these works. The authors present here a case-study using the ADRIFT authoring system to create a work of interactive fiction in a split grade 4/5 class (9 and 10 year-olds) in Quebec. They find that the process of creating the game helped improve literary and social skills amongst the student

Generation Z\u27s Influence on Campus Discourse: Expectations, Entitlement, and Legal Rights to Freedom of Expression

It is not unusual for colleges and universities to respond to the shifts in student culture. In recent years, shifts in self-censorship, freedom speech and expression, harassment, and student expectations have accompanied Generation Z. Born between 1994 and 2014, this generation requires university leadership to be prepared to respond to student concerns, expectations, and entitlement in innovative ways. This session will include a discussion about Generation Z, its motivations, and the legal framework for determining and addressing speech rights on campus

Efforts Targeting Factors of Health Disparities that Impair HIV Treatment Engagement

Health disparities exist in Northeast Florida. Some locations experience morbidities at higher rates than others. Health zone 1 is a prime example. Differences in disease rates are interlaced with the social determinants of health, (SDOH). Long-standing social and structural influences of disparities are beyond the scope of Ryan White programs. However, empowerment for health promotion is a strategy for targeting health disparities. The Theory of Health Empowerment targets sense of agency and offers some leverage for helping people living with HIV/AIDS, (PLWHA) despite environments blemished by SDOH. Eclectic leadership occurring in a climate of respectful point-counter point discussions established the context for implemented projects in Northeast Florida. Nine activities directed efforts to reduce disparities. These activities are in the infancy stage of development. Some successes have been achieved, but much more remains to be accomplished to increase overall viral suppression above the 80% threshold. Directions for the future suggest that perhaps external influences of federal Ryan White Parts may be a catalyst for incentivizing the JTGA to participate in national efforts to reduce health disparities. Opportunities to strengthen understanding of approaches to nullify SDOH using science-based approaches hold promise to pursue health equity in treatment cascade outcomes for PLWHAs

Effects of wheat and oat-based whole grain foods on serum lipoprotein size and distribution in overweight middle aged people : a randomised controlled trial

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Seabed corrugations beneath an Antarctic ice shelf revealed by autonomous underwater vehicle survey: Origin and implications for the history of Pine Island Glacier

Ice shelves are critical features in the debate about West Antarctic ice sheet change and sea level rise, both because they limit ice discharge and because they are sensitive to change in the surrounding ocean. The Pine Island Glacier ice shelf has been thinning rapidly since at least the early 1990s, which has caused its trunk to accelerate and retreat. Although the ice shelf front has remained stable for the past six decades, past periods of ice shelf collapse have been inferred from relict seabed "corrugations" (corrugated ridges), preserved 340 km from the glacier in Pine Island Trough. Here we present high-resolution bathymetry gathered by an autonomous underwater vehicle operating beneath an Antarctic ice shelf, which provides evidence of long-term change in Pine Island Glacier. Corrugations and ploughmarks on a sub-ice shelf ridge that was a former grounding line closely resemble those observed offshore, interpreted previously as the result of iceberg grounding. The same interpretation here would indicate a significantly reduced ice shelf extent within the last 11 kyr, implying Holocene glacier retreat beyond present limits, or a past tidewater glacier regime different from today. The alternative, that corrugations were not formed in open water, would question ice shelf collapse events interpreted from the geological record, revealing detail of another bed-shaping process occurring at glacier margins. We assess hypotheses for corrugation formation and suggest periodic grounding of ice shelf keels during glacier unpinning as a viable origin. This interpretation requires neither loss of the ice shelf nor glacier retreat and is consistent with a "stable" grounding-line configuration throughout the Holocene

Neuropsychiatric Features of Fregoli Syndrome: An Individual Patient Meta-Analysis

OBJECTIVE: Fregoli syndrome is a rare delusion characterized by the belief that familiar people are presenting themselves disguised as others to the affected person. Theories of delusional misidentification have suggested secondary ("organic") underlying mechanisms; however, the pathoetiology of Fregoli syndrome has not been systematically evaluated. The investigators aimed to compare the neuropsychiatric features of Fregoli syndrome in primary and secondary psychoses. METHODS: A systematic review and patient-level meta-analysis were conducted. Five databases were searched, ultimately yielding 83 studies that met selection criteria. Demographic characteristics, diagnosis, delusional content, neuropsychiatric features, investigations, and treatment information were extracted. Random-effects models were calculated, and odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated. RESULTS: A total of 119 patients with Fregoli syndrome were identified: 62 patients (52%) with primary psychosis, 50 (42%) with secondary psychosis, and seven (6%) with an unclear etiology. Patients with secondary psychosis were less likely than patients with primary psychosis to experience persecutory features (OR=0.26, 95% CI=0.10, 0.67; p=0.0057). Moreover, patients with secondary psychosis were more likely to experience Fregoli syndrome during a first episode of psychosis (OR=11.00, 95% CI=2.45, 49.39; p=0.0017). Right-sided brain lesions were more prominent than left-sided brain lesions in the total sample (χ2=5.0, df=1, p=0.025) and in the secondary psychosis subgroup (χ2=4.26, df=1, p=0.039). CONCLUSIONS: This is the first meta-analysis to investigate Fregoli syndrome. An estimated 42% of the reported cases involved a secondary etiology. These findings provide clinicians with a better understanding of the symptomatology of Fregoli syndrome and have potential to be applied in future research and clinical practice

Endocrine regulation of placental phenotype

Hormones have an important role in regulating fetal development. They act as environmental signals and integrate tissue growth and differentiation with relation to nutrient availability. While hormones control the developmental fate of resources available to the fetus, the actual supply of nutrients and oxygen to the fetus depends on the placenta. However, much less is known about the role of hormones in regulating placental development, even though the placenta has a wide range of hormone receptors and produces hormones itself from early in gestation. The placenta is, therefore, exposed to hormones by autocrine, paracrine and endocrine mechanisms throughout its lifespan. It is known to adapt its phenotype in response to environmental cues and fetal demand signals, particularly when there is a disparity between the fetal genetic drive for growth and the nutrient supply. These adaptive responses help to maintain fetal growth during adverse conditions and are likely to depend, at least in part, on the hormonal milieu. This review examines the endocrine regulation of placental phenotype with particular emphasis on the glucocorticoid hormones. It focuses on the availability of placental hormone receptors and on the effects of hormones on the morphology, transport capacity and endocrine function of the placenta.We would like to thank the many members of the Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience who have contributed to discussions and helped with our own studies cited here. We are also grateful for financial support from the BBSRC (BB/I011773/1), Horserace Betting Levy Board (VET/PRJ/726 and 736), the Wellcome Trust 084804/2/08/Z and the Centre for Trophoblast Research at the University of Cambridge.This is the accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Elsevier at http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.placenta.2014.11.01

Pediatric traumatic brain injury as a risk factor for psychosis and psychotic symptoms: a systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Psychosis is one of the most disabling psychiatric disorders. Pediatric traumatic brain injury (pTBI) has been cited as a developmental risk factor for psychosis, however this association has never been assessed meta-analytically. METHODS: A systematic review and meta-analysis of the association between pTBI and subsequent psychotic disorders/symptoms was performed. The study was pre-registered (CRD42022360772) adopting a random-effects model to estimate meta-analytic odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) using the Paule–Mandel estimator. Subgroup (study location, study design, psychotic disorder v. subthreshold symptoms, assessment type, and adult v. adolescent onset) and meta-regression (quality of evidence) analyses were also performed. The robustness of findings was assessed through sensitivity analyses. The meta-analysis is available online as a computational notebook with an open dataset. RESULTS: We identified 10 relevant studies and eight were included in the meta-analysis. Based on a pooled sample size of 479686, the pooled OR for the association between pTBI and psychosis outcomes was 1.80 (95% CI 1.11–2.95). There were no subgroup effects and no outliers. Both psychotic disorder and subthreshold symptoms were associated with pTBI. The overall association remained robust after removal of low-quality studies, however the OR reduced to 1.43 (95% CI 1.04–1.98). A leave-one-out sensitivity analysis showed the association was robust to removal of all but one study which changed the estimate to marginally non-significant. CONCLUSIONS: We report cautious meta-analytic evidence for a positive association between pTBI and future psychosis. New evidence will be key in determining long-term reliability of this finding

Flow and retreat of the Late Quaternary Pine Island-Thwaites palaeo-ice stream, West Antarctica

Multibeam swath bathymetry and sub-bottom profiler data are used to establish constraints on the flow and retreat history of a major palaeo-ice stream that carried the combined discharge from the parts of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet now occupied by the Pine Island and Thwaites glacier basins. Sets of highly elongated bedforms show that, at the last glacial maximum, the route of the Pine Island-Thwaites palaeo-ice stream arced north-northeast following a prominent cross-shelf trough. In this area, the grounding line advanced to within similar to 68 km of, and probably reached, the shelf edge. Minimum ice thickness is estimated at 715 m on the outer shelf, and we estimate a minimum ice discharge of similar to 108 km(3) yr(-1) assuming velocities similar to today's Pine Island glacier (similar to 2.5 km yr(-1)). Additional bed forms observed in a trough northwest of Pine Island Bay likely formed via diachronous ice flows across the outer shelf and demonstrate switching ice stream behavior. The "style" of ice retreat is also evident in five grounding zone wedges, which suggest episodic deglaciation characterized by halts in grounding line migration up-trough. Stillstands occurred in association with changes in ice bed gradient, and phases of inferred rapid retreat correlate to higher bed slopes, supporting theoretical studies that show bed geometry as a control on ice margin recession. However, estimates that individual wedges could have formed within several centuries still imply a relatively rapid overall retreat. Our findings show that the ice stream channeled a substantial fraction of West Antarctica's discharge in the past, just as the Pine Island and Thwaites glaciers do today