One Person’s Journey at One School: Preventing Transgender Discrimination

This article presents a case study of good practice to demonstrate the ways in which some schools are meeting the Public Sector Equality Duty in relation to the support they provide for young people who are expressing gender variance or are identifying as transgender or genderqueer . This article will also identify common examples of practice in schools where discrimination on the basis of a young person’s gender identity occurs. These concrete examples enable a reflection on how procedures, policies and practices relating to the Public Sector Equality Duty, with specific regard to gender reassignment, can impact positively on young people’s individual experiences of being part of an institution’s community. The examples also seek to demonstrate the detrimental impact that poor practice, or a lack of support and intervention can have on young people in school setting

The Effect of Kinesiology Tape on Pain and Neck Range of Motion After Cervical Manipulation

Background: Annually, 30%–50% of adults will experience some form of debilitating neck pain. One approach to treating neck pain is cervical manipulation. This treatment modality has, at times, been reported to result in a short-term increase in pain, which in turn has been linked to reduced neck range of motion (ROM). Elastic therapeutic tape (ETT) has been shown to reduce musculoskeletal pain, although limited research has been conducted to determine if ETT can mitigate pain and facilitate neck ROM following cervical manipulation. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to compare the pain and neck ROM among patients with acute neck pain who do and do not receive ETT following cervical manipulation. Methods: A convenience sample of 50 patients between 18 and 64 years of age presented with acute noncomplicated neck pain was recruited from an outpatient chiropractic clinic. Patients were randomly assigned to 2 groups. In the tape group (n = 27), ETT was applied to their neck immediately following cervical manipulation for neck pain. In the control group (n = 23), cervical manipulation was performed with no application of ETT following the procedure. Pain and neck ROM were recorded at the following 3 different intervals: pre-cervical manipulation (T1), within 5 minutes of cervical manipulation (T2), and 24–48 hours after manipulation (T3). In total, 6 cervical ROM values were recorded with dual inclinometers. Pain was measured by asking of each patient to rate their neck pain using the numeric pain rating scale from 0 to 10. Results: The tape group demonstrated a significant decline (P \u3c 0.00) in pain between T1 (x = 6.15) and T2 (x = 5.37) and between T1 and T3 (x = 4.89). The control group did not report significant changes in their pain over the duration of the study. Neither group reported any significant change in any measure of neck ROM over the duration of the study. Clinical Relevance: Results from this study support the use of ETT to reduce pain immediately and 24–48 hours following cervical manipulation among patients presenting with acute neck pain

Reducing driving forces for pressed-in piles

Pile jacking techniques use static loading to install sheet piles with minimal environmental effects, such as noise and ground vibrations, which are often associated with other methods of driven piling. This paper describes a series of 20g centrifuge tests conducted to investigate two methods of reducing the large driving forces that can be associated with jacked sheet piles in stiff clay. In practice, pre-auguring at the clutch positions and water jetting techniques are routinely carried out prior to the installation of sheet piling in order to reduce the driving forces. However, these methods are known to contribute to ground movements and can detract from the advantages of jacked sheet piles. The tests involved driving model sheet piles, which were modified either by installing driving shoes to the base of the pile, or by ribbing the profile of the pile shaft. The driving forces of the modified piles were compared with those of a plain pile. The tests showed that the use of driving shoes and ribs can lead to the reduction of driving forces at greater depth

Hyporheic Exchange and Water Chemistry of Two Arctic Tundra Streams of Contrasting Geomorphology

The North Slope of Alaska’s Brooks Range is underlain by continuous permafrost, but an active layer of thawed sediments develops at the tundra surface and beneath streambeds during the summer, facilitating hyporheic exchange. Our goal was to understand how active layer extent and stream geomorphology influence hyporheic exchange and nutrient chemistry. We studied two arctic tundra streams of contrasting geomorphology: a high-gradient, alluvial stream with riffle-pool sequences and a low-gradient, peat-bottomed stream with large deep pools connected by deep runs. Hyporheic exchange occurred to ~50 cm beneath the alluvial streambed and to only ~15 cm beneath the peat streambed. The thaw bulb was deeper than the hyporheic exchange zone in both stream types. The hyporheic zone was a net source of ammonium and soluble reactive phosphorus in both stream types. The hyporheic zone was a net source of nitrate in the alluvial stream, but a net nitrate sink in the peat stream. The mass flux of nutrients regenerated from the hyporheic zones in these two streams was a small portion of the surface water mass flux. Although small, hyporheic sources of regenerated nutrients help maintain the in-stream nutrient balance. If future warming in the arctic increases the depth of the thaw bulb, it may not increase the vertical extent of hyporheic exchange. The greater impacts on annual contributions of hyporheic regeneration are likely to be due to longer thawed seasons, increased sediment temperatures or changes in geomorphology

Influence of Morphology and Permafrost Dynamics on Hyporheic Exchange in Arctic Headwater Streams under Warming Climate Conditions

We investigated surface-subsurface (hyporheic) exchange in two morphologically distinct arctic headwater streams experiencing warming (thawing) sub-channel conditions. Empirically parameterized and calibrated groundwater flow models were used to assess the influence of sub-channel thaw on hyporheic exchange. Average thaw depths were at least two-fold greater under the higher-energy, alluvial stream than under the lowenergy, peat-lined stream. Alluvial hyporheic exchange had shorter residence times and longer flowpaths that occurred across greater portions of the thawed sediments. For both reaches, the morphologic (longitudinal bed topography) and hydraulic conditions (surface and groundwater flow properties) set the potential for hyporheic flow. Simulations of deeper thaw, as predicted under a warming arctic climate, only influence hyporheic exchange until a threshold depth. This depth is primarily determined by the hydraulic head gradients imposed by the stream morphology. Therefore, arctic hyporheic exchange extent is likely to be independent of greater sub-stream thaw depths

Comparison of Instantaneous and Constant-Rate Stream Tracer Experiments Through Parametric Analysis of Residence Time Distributions

Artificial tracers are frequently employed to characterize solute residence times in stream systems and infer the nature of water retention. When the duration of tracer application is different between experiments, tracer breakthrough curves at downstream locations are difficult to compare directly. We explore methods for deriving stream solute residence time distributions (RTD) from tracer test data, allowing direct, non-parametric comparison of results from experiments of different durations. Paired short- and long-duration field experiments were performed using instantaneous and constant-rate tracer releases, respectively. The experiments were conducted in two study reaches that were morphologically distinct in channel structure and substrate size. Frequency- and time domain deconvolution techniques were used to derive RTDs from the resulting tracer concentrations. Comparisons of results between experiments of different duration demonstrated few differences in hydrologic retention characteristics inferred from short- and long-term tracer tests. Because non-parametric RTD analysis does not presume any shape of the distribution, it is useful for comparisons across tracer experiments with variable inputs and for validations of fundamental transport model assumptions

New Limits on an Intermediate Mass Black Hole in Omega Centauri: II. Dynamical Models

We present a detailed dynamical analysis of the projected density and kinematical data available for the globular cluster Omega Cen. We solve the spherical anisotropic Jeans equation to predict the projected profiles of the RMS velocity in each of the three orthogonal coordinate directions (line of sight, proper motion radial, and proper motion tangential). We fit the models to new HST star count and proper motion data near the cluster center presented in Paper I, combined with existing ground-based measurements. We also derive and model the Gauss-Hermite moments of the observed proper motion distributions. The projected density profile is consistent with being flat near the center, with an upper limit gamma=0.07 on the central logarithmic slope. The RMS proper motion profile is also consistent with being flat near the center, and there are no unusually fast-moving stars. The models provide a good fit and yield a 1-sigma upper limit MBH < 1.2E4 solar masses on the mass of a possible intermediate-mass black hole (IMBH). The inferred upper limit corresponds to MBH/Mtot < 0.43%. We combine this with results for other clusters and discuss the implications for globular cluster IMBH demographics. Tighter limits will be needed to rule out or establish whether globular clusters follow the same black hole demographics correlations as galaxies. The arguments put forward by Noyola et al. (2008) to suspect an IMBH in Omega Cen are not confirmed by our study; the IMBH mass they suggested is firmly ruled out.Comment: 28 pages, 11 figures, ApJ in press. v2 includes additions in response to referee comment

Hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells are a distinct HIV reservoir that contributes to persistent viremia in suppressed patients

Long-lived reservoirs of persistent HIV are a major barrier to a cure. CD4+ hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) have the capacity for lifelong survival, self-renewal, and the generation of daughter cells. Recent evidence shows that they are also susceptible to HIV infection in vitro and in vivo. Whether HSPCs harbor infectious virus or contribute to plasma virus (PV) is unknown. Here, we provide strong evidence that clusters of identical proviruses from HSPCs and their likely progeny often match residual PV. A higher proportion of these sequences match residual PV than proviral genomes from bone marrow and peripheral blood mononuclear cells that are observed only once. Furthermore, an analysis of near-full-length genomes isolated from HSPCs provides evidence that HSPCs harbor functional HIV proviral genomes that often match residual PV. These results support the conclusion that HIV-infected HSPCs form a distinct and functionally significant reservoir of persistent HIV in infected people

Transient Storage as a Function of Geomorphology, Discharge, and Permafrost Active Layer Conditions in Arctic Tundra Streams

Transient storage of solutes in hyporheic zones or other slow-moving stream waters plays an important role in the biogeochemical processes of streams. While numerous studies have reported a wide range of parameter values from simulations of transient storage, little field work has been done to investigate the correlations between these parameters and shifts in surface and subsurface flow conditions. In this investigation we use the stream properties of the Arctic (namely, highly varied discharges, channel morphologies, and subchannel permafrost conditions) to isolate the effects of discharge, channel morphology, and potential size of the hyporheic zone on transient storage. We repeated stream tracer experiments in five morphologically diverse tundra streams in Arctic Alaska during the thaw season (May–August) of 2004 to assess transient storage and hydrologic characteristics. We compared transient storage model parameters to discharge (Q), the Darcy-Weisbach friction factor (f), and unit stream power (ω). Across all studied streams, permafrost active layer depths (i.e., the potential extent of the hyporheic zone) increased throughout the thaw season, and discharges and velocities varied dramatically with minimum ranges of eight-fold and four-fold, respectively. In all reaches the mean storage residence time (tstor) decreased exponentially with increasing Q, but did not clearly relate to permafrost active layer depths. Furthermore, we found that modeled transient storage metrics (i.e., tstor, storage zone exchange rate (αOTIS), and hydraulic retention (Rh)) correlated better with channel hydraulic descriptors such as f and ω than they did with Q or channel slope. Our results indicate that Q is the first-order control on transient storage dynamics of these streams, and that f and ω are two relatively simple measures of channel hydraulics that may be important metrics for predicting the response of transient storage to perturbations in discharge and morphology in a given stream

Surveillance and control of meningococcal disease in the COVID-19 era: A Global Meningococcal Initiative review

RevisiónThis review article incorporates information from the 4th Global Meningococcal Initiative summit meeting. Since the introduction of stringent COVID-19 infection control and lockdown measures globally in 2020, there has been an impact on IMD prevalence, surveillance, and vaccination compliance. Incidence rates and associated mortality fell across various regions during 2020. A reduction in vaccine uptake during 2020 remains a concern globally. In addition, several Neisseria meningitidis clonal complexes, particularly CC4821 and CC11, continue to exhibit resistance to antibiotics, with resistance to ciprofloxacin or beta-lactams mainly linked to modifications of gyrA or penA alleles, respectively. Beta-lactamase acquisition was also reported through horizontal gene transfer (blaROB-1) involving other bacterial species. Despite the challenges over the past year, progress has also been made on meningococcal vaccine development, with several pentavalent (serogroups ABCWY and ACWYX) vaccines currently being studied in late-stage clinical trial programmes.Medical writing support was funded by Sanofi Pasteur.S