Interactive rhythms across species: The evolutionary biology of animal chorusing and turn-taking

The study of human language is progressively moving toward comparative and interactive frameworks, extending the concept of turn‐taking to animal communication. While such an endeavor will help us understand the interactive origins of language, any theoretical account for cross‐species turn‐taking should consider three key points. First, animal turn‐taking must incorporate biological studies on animal chorusing, namely how different species coordinate their signals over time. Second, while concepts employed in human communication and turn‐taking, such as intentionality, are still debated in animal behavior, lower level mechanisms with clear neurobiological bases can explain much of animal interactive behavior. Third, social behavior, interactivity, and cooperation can be orthogonal, and the alternation of animal signals need not be cooperative. Considering turn‐taking a subset of chorusing in the rhythmic dimension may avoid overinterpretation and enhance the comparability of future empirical work

Sending femtosecond pulses in circles: highly non-paraxial accelerating beams

We use caustic beam shaping on 100 fs pulses to experimentally generate non-paraxial accelerating beams along a 60 degree circular arc, moving laterally by 14 \mum over a 28 \mum propagation length. This is the highest degree of transverse acceleration reported to our knowledge. Using diffraction integral theory and numerical beam propagation simulations, we show that circular acceleration trajectories represent a unique class of non-paraxial diffraction-free beam profile which also preserves the femtosecond temporal structure in the vicinity of the caustic

Children as frequent attenders in primary care: a systematic review

Background: Frequent paediatric attendances make up a large proportion of the general practitioner (GP) workload. Currently no systematic reviews on frequent paediatric attendances in primary care exists. Aim: To identify the socio-demographic and clinical characteristics of children who attend primary care frequently. Design and setting: A systematic review.Methods: The electronic databases MEDLINE, EMBASE and PsycINFO were searched up to January 2020, using terms relating to frequent attendance in primary care settings. Studies were eligible if they considered children frequently attending in primary care (0-19 years). Relevant data were extracted and analysed by narrative synthesis.Results: Six studies, of overall fair quality, were included in the review. Frequent attendance was associated with presence of psycho-social and mental health problems, younger age, school absence, presence of chronic conditions, and high level of anxiety in their parents.Conclusions: Various sociodemographic and medical characteristics of children were associated with frequent attendance in primary care. Research on interventions needs to account for the social context and community characteristics. Integrating GP services with mental health and social care could potentially provide a response to medical and psycho-social needs of frequently attending children and their families

Mechanism of action of 5-arninosalicylic acid

5-Aminosalicylic Acid (5-ASA) has been used for over 50 years in the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease in the pro-drug form sulphasalazine (SASP). SASP is also used to treat rheumatoid arthritis. However whether the therapeutic properties of SASP are due to the intact molecule, the 5-ASA or sulphapyridine components is unknown. Several mechanisms of action have been proposed for 5-ASA and SASP including interference in the metabolism of arachidonic acid to prostaglandins and leukotrienes, scavenging,of reactive oxygen species, effects on leucocyte function and production of cytokines. However, it is unlikely that the anti-inflammatory properties of SASP and 5-ASA are due to several different properties but more likely that a single property of 5-ASA explains the theraapeutic effects of 5-ASA and SASP. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are involved in the metabolism of prostaglandins and leukotrienes and can act as second messengers, and so the scavenging of ROS may be the single mechanism of action of 5-ASA that gives rise to its antiinflammatory effects in both inflammatory bowel disease and rheumatoid arthritis

Historic Churches and Their Hygrothermal Environment: A Review of Criteria Related to Building Fabric, Artefacts, Artwork and Occupants

Regarded as important cultural heritage, historic churches have been utilised over hundreds of years for worship and community benefit. Simple on/off space heating systems are installed in many churches to increase human comfort. However, the conservation of the important historic artefacts and artwork contained within may not have been fully considered. This review attempts to appraise the standards in place for artefacts and artwork. A consensus of 15–25 °C and 40–65% relative humidity is established as safe from the standards reviewed. Consideration is given to the environment within the church to understand if such exacting conditions can be met. The review finds that the conservation and preservation of artefacts and buildings are aligned goals, although striving to meet specified target ranges for artefact types is not fully compatible with historic churches. The stability of the internal environment is clearly an important factor in conservation and benefits human comfort expectations. Churches may contain microclimates throughout the building, complicating the use of target ranges for artefacts, artwork and comfort. The findings of this study can assist historic churches in managing the change, alteration or installation of heating systems

Extent of use of electronic records in children's primary care and public health in Europe

EHRs are widely seen as a key resource in modern health care. For children not only is primary care vital, but also case-based public health systems can help ensure that all children receive immunisation and other preventive programmes. A European study showed that in 2016 in the 30 EU and EEA countries, 19 countries had widespread use of EHRs in children's primary care, while 20 countries had case-based child public health systems. However, the results show a bias of disadvantage for poorer or smaller countries. More study is needed in this area

A Comparison of Boosted-Discharge Hollow Cathode Lamps and an Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP) as Excitation Sources in ICP Atomic Fluorescence Spectrometry

Copper, nickel and lead boosted-discharge hollow cathode lamps, run at recommended currents, have been compared with a high-powered inductively coupled plasma (ICP) as excitation sources in atomic fluorescence spectrometry (AFS). A similar comparison was made with a copper lamp run at higher currents. It was found that for lead and nickel, the fluorescence spectra differed in the relative intensities of the transitions observed with the two sources. No evidence was found for a difference in radiances between the two sources when the lamp was overrun. Although the lamps gave rise to lower blank standard deviation values, detection limits were worse because of poorer sensitivity due to the inability of the circular source to illuminate the required atom cell volume in the atomiser. It was concluded that the ICP was the better source, when the criterion is detection limits, but the lamps may be more convenient in some circumstances

Sexually dimorphic expression of secreted frizzled-related (SFRP) genes in the developing mouse Mullerian duct

In developing male embryos, the female reproductive tract primordia (Müllerian ducts) regress due to the production of testicular anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH). Because of the association between secreted frizzled-related proteins (SFRPs) and apoptosis, their reported developmental expression patterns and the role of WNT signaling in female reproductive tract development, we examined expression of Sfrp2 and Sfrp5 during development of the Müllerian duct in male (XY) and female (XX) mouse embryos. We show that expression of both Sfrp2 and Sfrp5 is dynamic and sexually dimorphic. In addition, the male-specific expression observed for both genes prior to the onset of regression is absent in mutant male embryos that fail to undergo Müllerian duct regression. We identified ENU-induced point mutations in Sfrp5 and Sfrp2 that are predicted to severely disrupt the function of these genes. Male embryos and adults homozygous for these mutations, both individually and in combination, are viable and apparently fertile with no overt abnormalities of reproductive tract development