May Measurement Month 2018: a pragmatic global screening campaign to raise awareness of blood pressure by the International Society of Hypertension

Aims Raised blood pressure (BP) is the biggest contributor to mortality and disease burden worldwide and fewer than half of those with hypertension are aware of it. May Measurement Month (MMM) is a global campaign set up in 2017, to raise awareness of high BP and as a pragmatic solution to a lack of formal screening worldwide. The 2018 campaign was expanded, aiming to include more participants and countries. Methods and results Eighty-nine countries participated in MMM 2018. Volunteers (≥18 years) were recruited through opportunistic sampling at a variety of screening sites. Each participant had three BP measurements and completed a questionnaire on demographic, lifestyle, and environmental factors. Hypertension was defined as a systolic BP ≥140 mmHg or diastolic BP ≥90 mmHg, or taking antihypertensive medication. In total, 74.9% of screenees provided three BP readings. Multiple imputation using chained equations was used to impute missing readings. 1 504 963 individuals (mean age 45.3 years; 52.4% female) were screened. After multiple imputation, 502 079 (33.4%) individuals had hypertension, of whom 59.5% were aware of their diagnosis and 55.3% were taking antihypertensive medication. Of those on medication, 60.0% were controlled and of all hypertensives, 33.2% were controlled. We detected 224 285 individuals with untreated hypertension and 111 214 individuals with inadequately treated (systolic BP ≥ 140 mmHg or diastolic BP ≥ 90 mmHg) hypertension. Conclusion May Measurement Month expanded significantly compared with 2017, including more participants in more countries. The campaign identified over 335 000 adults with untreated or inadequately treated hypertension. In the absence of systematic screening programmes, MMM was effective at raising awareness at least among these individuals at risk

Linac4 Source and Low Energy Experience and Challenges

At the end of Long Shutdown 2 (LS2), in 2020 Linac4 became the new injector of CERN’s proton accelerator complex. The previous version of the Linac4 H⁻ ion source (IS03), produced an operational pulsed peak beam current of 35 mA, resulting in 27 mA after the Radio-Frequency Quadrupole (RFQ). This limited transmission was mainly due to the extracted beam emittance exceeding the acceptance of the RFQ. A new geometry of the Linac4 source extraction electrodes has been developed with the aim of decreasing the extracted beam emittance and increasing the transmission through the RFQ. The new source (IS04) has been studied and thoroughly tested at the Linac4 source test stand. At the start of the 2023 run, the IS04 was installed as operational source in the Linac4 tunnel and is being successfully used for operation with 27 mA peak current after the RFQ. During high-intensity tests, the source, the linac, and the transfer-line to the Proton Synchrotron Booster (PSB) were also tested with a peak beam current of up to 50 mA from the source resulting in 35 mA at the PSB injection. This paper discusses the recent developments, tests, and future plans for the Linac4 H⁻ ion source.At the end of Long Shutdown 2 (LS2), in 2020 Linac4 became the new injector of CERN’s proton accelerator complex. The previous version of the Linac4 H⁻ ion source (IS03), produced an operational pulsed peak beam current of 35 mA, resulting in 27 mA after the Radio-Frequency Quadrupole (RFQ). This limited transmission was mainly due to the extracted beam emittance exceeding the acceptance of the RFQ. A new geometry of the Linac4 source extraction electrodes has been developed with the aim of decreasing the extracted beam emittance and increasing the transmission through the RFQ. The new source (IS04) has been studied and thoroughly tested at the Linac4 source test stand. At the start of the 2023 run, the IS04 was installed as operational source in the Linac4 tunnel and is being successfully used for operation with 27 mA peak current after the RFQ. During high-intensity tests, the source, the linac, and the transfer-line to the Proton Synchrotron Booster (PSB) were also tested with a peak beam current of up to 50 mA from the source resulting in 35 mA at the PSB injection. This paper discusses the recent developments, tests, and future plans for the Linac4 H⁻ ion source

Characterization of IS04 H- ion source for CERN’s LINAC4

At the end of LS2, Linac4 became the new injector of the CERN proton accelerator complex. The previous Linac4 source version, the IS03, produced an operational beam current of 35 mA, which resulted in 25 mA after the RFQ. This limited transmission was mainly due to the extracted beam emittance exceeding the acceptance of the RFQ. A new geometry of the Linac4 source extraction electrodes has been developed with the aim of decreasing the extracted beam emittance and increasing the beam current and transmission through the RFQ. The new source, the IS04, has been studied in simulations, and thoroughly tested at the Linac4 test stand. Following the 2021 test campaign, the IS04 has been installed as operational source in the Linac4 tunnel at the start of 2023 and has been successfully tested for the operational 25 mA peak current after the RFQ

Conceptual design study for a dedicated low-energy diagnostics line at Linac3

A low-energy diagnostics upgrade of Linac3 has been studied in the last couple of years to allow a more precise characterization of the beam properties at extraction from the source, currently impeded by a complete lack of measuring devices in the first ~6 m of the accelerator layout. Due to space tightness constraints, the solution explored consists of a dedicated beam diagnostics line, branching off the main lattice through a 90o spectrometer magnet. Through a choice of pulse-to-pulse functionality, this solution would also allow permanent logging in operation and the implementation of feedback loops that could help achieve better source performance stability. This note details the design and beam dynamics performance of this line, and it provides a preliminary assessment on feasibility and costing

Healing past violence: traumatic assumptions and therapeutic interventions in war and reconciliation

Since South Africa's truth and reconciliation commission (TRC), a therapeutic moral order has become one of the dominant frameworks within which states attempt to deal with a legacy of violent conflict. As a consequence, the grammar of trauma, suffering, repression, denial, closure, truth-revelation, and catharsis has become almost axiomatic to postconflict state-building. The rise of the postconflict therapeutic framework is tied, ineluctably, to the global proliferation of amnesty agreements. This article examines the emergence and application of two therapeutic truisms that have gained political credence in postconflict contexts since the work of the TRC. The first of these is that war-torn societies are traumatized and require therapeutic management if conflict is to be ameliorated. The second, and related truism, is that one of the tasks of the postconflict state is to attend to the psychiatric health of its citizens and the nation as a whole. The article shows how, and to what effect, these truisms coalesce powerfully at the site of postconflict national reconciliation processes. It argues that the discourse of therapy provides a radically new mode of state legitimation. It is the language through which new state institutions, primarily truth commissions, attempt to acknowledge suffering, ameliorate trauma and simultaneously found political legitimacy. The article concludes by suggesting that, on a therapeutic understanding, postconflict processes of dealing with past violence justify nascent political orders on new grounds: not just because they can forcibly suppress conflict, or deliver justice and protect rights, but because they can cure people of the pathologies that are a potential cause of resurgent violenc

Brazilian Flora 2020: Leveraging the power of a collaborative scientific network

International audienceThe shortage of reliable primary taxonomic data limits the description of biological taxa and the understanding of biodiversity patterns and processes, complicating biogeographical, ecological, and evolutionary studies. This deficit creates a significant taxonomic impediment to biodiversity research and conservation planning. The taxonomic impediment and the biodiversity crisis are widely recognized, highlighting the urgent need for reliable taxonomic data. Over the past decade, numerous countries worldwide have devoted considerable effort to Target 1 of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC), which called for the preparation of a working list of all known plant species by 2010 and an online world Flora by 2020. Brazil is a megadiverse country, home to more of the world's known plant species than any other country. Despite that, Flora Brasiliensis, concluded in 1906, was the last comprehensive treatment of the Brazilian flora. The lack of accurate estimates of the number of species of algae, fungi, and plants occurring in Brazil contributes to the prevailing taxonomic impediment and delays progress towards the GSPC targets. Over the past 12 years, a legion of taxonomists motivated to meet Target 1 of the GSPC, worked together to gather and integrate knowledge on the algal, plant, and fungal diversity of Brazil. Overall, a team of about 980 taxonomists joined efforts in a highly collaborative project that used cybertaxonomy to prepare an updated Flora of Brazil, showing the power of scientific collaboration to reach ambitious goals. This paper presents an overview of the Brazilian Flora 2020 and provides taxonomic and spatial updates on the algae, fungi, and plants found in one of the world's most biodiverse countries. We further identify collection gaps and summarize future goals that extend beyond 2020. Our results show that Brazil is home to 46,975 native species of algae, fungi, and plants, of which 19,669 are endemic to the country. The data compiled to date suggests that the Atlantic Rainforest might be the most diverse Brazilian domain for all plant groups except gymnosperms, which are most diverse in the Amazon. However, scientific knowledge of Brazilian diversity is still unequally distributed, with the Atlantic Rainforest and the Cerrado being the most intensively sampled and studied biomes in the country. In times of “scientific reductionism”, with botanical and mycological sciences suffering pervasive depreciation in recent decades, the first online Flora of Brazil 2020 significantly enhanced the quality and quantity of taxonomic data available for algae, fungi, and plants from Brazil. This project also made all the information freely available online, providing a firm foundation for future research and for the management, conservation, and sustainable use of the Brazilian funga and flora