Further notes on the natural history of the Ethiopian Bush-crow Zavattariornis stresemanni

The Ethiopian Bush-crow Zavattariornis stresemanni is a charismatic and Endangered endemic bird of southern Ethiopia, whose general biology remains under-studied. We present field notes and observations from 2008 to 2014, covering many aspects of the species’ behaviour and morphology. Bush-crows breed co-operatively in response to both of the local rainy seasons, but group size and fidelity of helpers appears to be variable. Bush-crow nests were found for the first time on man-made structures; a low power distribution pole and a tall electricity pylon. The display of one bush-crow to another is further described. Juveniles can be identified by darker coloration around the face, bright red gapes and distinctive begging calls. Adults possess lightweight, low-density body feathers and it appears that bush-crows have a moult phenology that overlaps extensively with breeding, a trait unusual in birds. Post-breeding dispersal is often limited, although anecdotal evidence and a handful of observations suggest that some individuals cover greater distances between breeding seasons. We report the first confirmed predation of a bush-crow, and supplement this with notes on other interspecific interactions. Finally, bush-crows were found for the first time north-west of Yabello (a small range extension), and we discuss the implications of local movements and range fluctuations in the context of the species’ apparent climatic range limitation.This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from African Bird Club via https://www.africanbirdclub.org/bulletins/abc-bulletin-231-march-2016/further-notes-natural-history-ethiopian-bush-cro

Deducing the source and composition of rare earth mineralising fluids in carbonatites: insights from isotopic (C, O, 87Sr/86Sr) data from Kangankunde, Malawi

This is the final version of the article. Available from Springer Verlag via the DOI in this record.Carbonatites host some of the largest and highest grade rare earth element (REE) deposits but the composition and source of their REE-mineralising fluids remains enigmatic. Using C, O and 87Sr/86Sr isotope data together with major and trace element compositions for the REE-rich Kangankunde carbonatite (Malawi), we show that the commonly observed, dark brown, Fe-rich carbonatite that hosts REE minerals in many carbonatites is decoupled from the REE mineral assemblage. REE-rich ferroan dolomite carbonatites, containing 8–15 wt% REE2O3, comprise assemblages of monazite-(Ce), strontianite and baryte forming hexagonal pseudomorphs after probable burbankite. The 87Sr/86Sr values (0.70302–0.70307) affirm a carbonatitic origin for these pseudomorph-forming fluids. Carbon and oxygen isotope ratios of strontianite, representing the REE mineral assemblage, indicate equilibrium between these assemblages and a carbonatite-derived, deuteric fluid between 250 and 400 °C (δ18O + 3 to + 5‰VSMOW and δ13C − 3.5 to − 3.2‰VPDB). In contrast, dolomite in the same samples has similar δ13C values but much higher δ18O, corresponding to increasing degrees of exchange with low-temperature fluids (< 125 °C), causing exsolution of Fe oxides resulting in the dark colour of these rocks. REE-rich quartz rocks, which occur outside of the intrusion, have similar δ18O and 87Sr/86Sr to those of the main complex, indicating both are carbonatite-derived and, locally, REE mineralisation can extend up to 1.5 km away from the intrusion. Early, REE-poor apatite-bearing dolomite carbonatite (beforsite: δ18O + 7.7 to + 10.3‰ and δ13C −5.2 to −6.0‰; 87Sr/86Sr 0.70296–0.70298) is not directly linked with the REE mineralisation.This project was funded by the UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) SoS RARE project (NE/M011429/1) and by NIGL (NERC Isotope Geoscience Laboratory) Project number 20135

Pan-cancer analysis of whole genomes

Cancer is driven by genetic change, and the advent of massively parallel sequencing has enabled systematic documentation of this variation at the whole-genome scale(1-3). Here we report the integrative analysis of 2,658 whole-cancer genomes and their matching normal tissues across 38 tumour types from the Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) Consortium of the International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). We describe the generation of the PCAWG resource, facilitated by international data sharing using compute clouds. On average, cancer genomes contained 4-5 driver mutations when combining coding and non-coding genomic elements; however, in around 5% of cases no drivers were identified, suggesting that cancer driver discovery is not yet complete. Chromothripsis, in which many clustered structural variants arise in a single catastrophic event, is frequently an early event in tumour evolution; in acral melanoma, for example, these events precede most somatic point mutations and affect several cancer-associated genes simultaneously. Cancers with abnormal telomere maintenance often originate from tissues with low replicative activity and show several mechanisms of preventing telomere attrition to critical levels. Common and rare germline variants affect patterns of somatic mutation, including point mutations, structural variants and somatic retrotransposition. A collection of papers from the PCAWG Consortium describes non-coding mutations that drive cancer beyond those in the TERT promoter(4); identifies new signatures of mutational processes that cause base substitutions, small insertions and deletions and structural variation(5,6); analyses timings and patterns of tumour evolution(7); describes the diverse transcriptional consequences of somatic mutation on splicing, expression levels, fusion genes and promoter activity(8,9); and evaluates a range of more-specialized features of cancer genomes(8,10-18).Peer reviewe

Measurement of the tt¯tt¯ production cross section in pp collisions at √s=13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

A measurement of four-top-quark production using proton-proton collision data at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV collected by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 139 fb−1 is presented. Events are selected if they contain a single lepton (electron or muon) or an opposite-sign lepton pair, in association with multiple jets. The events are categorised according to the number of jets and how likely these are to contain b-hadrons. A multivariate technique is then used to discriminate between signal and background events. The measured four-top-quark production cross section is found to be 26+17−15 fb, with a corresponding observed (expected) significance of 1.9 (1.0) standard deviations over the background-only hypothesis. The result is combined with the previous measurement performed by the ATLAS Collaboration in the multilepton final state. The combined four-top-quark production cross section is measured to be 24+7−6 fb, with a corresponding observed (expected) signal significance of 4.7 (2.6) standard deviations over the background-only predictions. It is consistent within 2.0 standard deviations with the Standard Model expectation of 12.0 ± 2.4 fb

Measurements of W+W−+ ≥ 1 jet production cross-sections in pp collisions at s \sqrt{s} = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Fiducial and differential cross-section measurements of W+W− production in association with at least one hadronic jet are presented. These measurements are sensitive to the properties of electroweak-boson self-interactions and provide a test of perturbative quantum chromodynamics and the electroweak theory. The analysis is performed using proton-proton collision data collected at p s = 13TeV with the ATLAS experiment, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 139 fb−1. Events are selected with exactly one oppositely charged electron-muon pair and at least one hadronic jet with a transverse momentum of pT > 30 GeV and a pseudorapidity of |�| < 4.5. After subtracting the background contributions and correcting for detector effects, the jet-inclusive W+W−+ � 1 jet fiducial cross-section and W+W−+ jets differential cross-sections with respect to several kinematic variables are measured. These measurements include leptonic quantities, such as the lepton transverse momenta and the transverse mass of the W+W− system, as well as jet-related observables such as the leading jet transverse momentum and the jet multiplicity. Limits on anomalous triple-gauge-boson couplings are obtained in a phase space where interference between the Standard Model amplitude and the anomalous amplitude is enhanced

Search for chargino–neutralino pair production in final states with three leptons and missing transverse momentum in s√=13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for chargino–neutralino pair production in three-lepton final states with missing transverse momentum is presented. The study is based on a dataset of s√=13 TeV pp collisions recorded with the ATLAS detector at the LHC, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 139 fb−1. No significant excess relative to the Standard Model predictions is found in data. The results are interpreted in simplified models of supersymmetry, and statistically combined with results from a previous ATLAS search for compressed spectra in two-lepton final states. Various scenarios for the production and decay of charginos (χ~±1) and neutralinos (χ~02) are considered. For pure higgsino χ~±1χ~02 pair-production scenarios, exclusion limits at 95% confidence level are set on χ~02 masses up to 210 GeV. Limits are also set for pure wino χ~±1χ~02 pair production, on χ~02 masses up to 640 GeV for decays via on-shell W and Z bosons, up to 300 GeV for decays via off-shell W and Z bosons, and up to 190 GeV for decays via W and Standard Model Higgs bosons

Thigh-length compression stockings and DVT after stroke

Controversy exists as to whether neoadjuvant chemotherapy improves survival in patients with invasive bladder cancer, despite randomised controlled trials of more than 3000 patients. We undertook a systematic review and meta-analysis to assess the effect of such treatment on survival in patients with this disease

Nuorten päihteiden käyttö ja vanhempien saama tuki

Nuorten päihteiden käyttö on lisääntynyt viime vuosina. Nuoret eivät yleensä ole päihteistä riippuvaisia, mutta satunnainenkin kokeilu ja käyttö ovat haitallisia. Päihteiden käyttö voi olla yksittäinen ongelma, mutta myös osa suurempaa ongelmakokonaisuutta. Tämän vuoksi nuoren tilannetta tulee tarkastella kokonaisvaltaisesti. Päihteiden käyttöä ei aina huomata, ja sen ilmeneminen voi olla sokki läheisille. Päihteiden käyttö on ongelma käyttäjälle, mutta voi sairastuttaa myös läheiset. Läheiset, usein nuorten vanhemmat, tarvitsevat myös tukea ja neuvoa tilanteessa. Vanhempien oma asenne ja päihdekäyttäytyminen sekä nuoren asioista perillä oleminen ovat tärkeitä ehkäiseviä tekijöitä nuoren päihteiden käytölle. Myös nuoren oma asenne päihteisiin sekä sosiaaliset suhteet ja onnistumisen kokemukset ovat päihteiltä suojaavia tekijöitä. Tämä opinnäytetyö on tehty kokoamalla kattavasti teoriatietoa päihteistä, niiden käytöstä ja haitoista. Etelä-Karjalan sosiaali- ja terveyspiirin (Eksoten) internet-sivuilta selvitettiin, mistä ja miten voi hakea apua ja neuvoja läheisen päihteiden käytön ongelmiin. Lisäksi tehtiin kysely päihdenuorten vanhemmille. Kyselyllä selvitettiin päihdenuorten vanhempien omaa kokemusta saamastaan tuesta sosiaali- ja terveysalan ammattilaisilta. Tulokset analysoitiin empiirisesti. Tulosten mukaan osa vanhemmista on tyyty-väisiä saamaansa tukeen, osa taas kokee, ettei ole saanut tarpeeksi tukea ja tietoa. Päihdepalvelujen parempi ja määrällisesti laajempi saatavuus on kyse-lyyn vastanneiden vanhempien toiveissa. Tästä voidaan päätellä, että päih-denuorten vanhemmat otetaan huomioon ja tukea on tarjolla, mutta kaikkia tuki ei tavoita. Jatkotutkimuksessa voisi selvittää millaiseksi päihdenuoret kokevat saamansa hoidon. Lisäksi voisi selvittää miten sosiaali- ja terveysalan ammattilaiset koke-vat voivansa vaikuttaa nuorten päihdekäyttäytymiseen ja miten sosiaali- ja ter-veysalan ammattilaiset voisivat ottaa päihdenuorten vanhemmat paremmin huomioon. Kirjallisen nuorten päihdeasioita käsittelevän oppaan tekeminen ja jakaminen vanhemmille voisi olla hyödyllinen.Intoxicant use and abuse in young people has increased in recent years. Young people are generally not dependent on intoxicants, but occasional experimentation and use are harmful. Intoxicant use can be a single problem or part of a larger set of problems. Because of this, the situation of the young people should be considered from a broad perspective. Intoxicant use is not always noticed and its appearance may be a shock to those close to the user. Intoxicant use is a problem in the user, but can cause problems for families and friends, as well. Closely related, commonly parents, also need support and counsel in these situations. Parent's own attitudes and customs to use intoxicants, and knowing well issues about young people are important preventive factors for young people's intoxicant use. Also young people's attitude to intoxicant use and social affairs and experience of success are protective factors for intoxicant use. This thesis has been done by collecting comprehensive information on theory of intoxicant consumption and drawbacks of them. With the help of South Karelia District of Social and Health Service's websites, information about where and how to get help and advice for those close to young people with problems was found. In addition to this has been done an inquiry to parents of young people who use intoxicants. By the inquiry, the parents own experiences of having support from professionals in social and health care were examined. The results were analyzed empirically. According to the results, a proportion of parents are satisfied for support they have got, whereas part of parents find that they have not had enough support and information. The parents hope for better and wider availability of services for intoxicant users. Parents of young intoxicant abusers were taken into ac-count, and support services are available, but they do not reach all who need them. For further study, the opinions of the young people, and also of the health professionals about care of intoxicant abusers would be of interest