Evolution of South Atlantic density and chemical stratification across the last deglaciation

The cause of the rise in atmospheric pCO2 over the last deglaciation has been a puzzle since its discovery in the early 1980s. It is widely believed to be related to changes in carbon storage in the deep ocean, but the exact mechanisms responsible for releasing CO2 from the deep-ocean reservoir, including the role of ocean density stratification, remains an open question. Here we reconstruct changes in the intermediate-deep density gradient in the South Atlantic across the last deglaciation and find evidence of an early deglacial chemical destratification and a late deglacial density destratification These results suggest that other mechanisms, besides deep-ocean density destratification, were responsible for the ocean–atmosphere transfer of carbon over the deglacial period

Safetxt: a pilot randomised controlled trial of an intervention delivered by mobile phone to increase safer sex behaviours in young people.

OBJECTIVE: To test the procedures proposed for a main trial of a safer sex intervention for young people delivered by mobile phone text message ('safetxt'). DESIGN AND SETTING: Pilot randomised controlled trial. Participants were recruited through sexual health services in the UK. An independent online randomisation system allocated participants to receive the safetxt intervention or to receive the control text messages (monthly messages about participation in the study). Texting software delivered the messages in accordance with a predetermined schedule. PARTICIPANTS: Residents of England aged 16-24 who had received either a positive chlamydia test result or reported unsafe sex in the last year (defined as more than 1 partner and at least 1 occasion of sex without a condom). INTERVENTION: The safetxt intervention is designed to reduce sexually transmitted infection in young people by supporting them in using condoms, telling a partner about an infection and testing before unprotected sex with a new partner. Safetxt was developed drawing on: behavioural science; face-to-face interventions; the factors known to influence safer sex behaviours and the views of young people. OUTCOMES: The coprimary outcomes of the pilot trial were the recruitment rate and completeness of follow-up. RESULTS: We recruited 200 participants within our target of 3 months and we achieved 81% (162/200) follow-up response for the proposed primary outcome of the main trial, cumulative incidence of chlamydia at 12 months. CONCLUSIONS: Recruitment, randomisation, intervention delivery and follow-up were successful and a randomised controlled trial of the safetxt intervention is feasible. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: ISRCTN02304709; Results

Survey of nucleon electromagnetic form factors

A dressed-quark core contribution to nucleon electromagnetic form factors is calculated. It is defined by the solution of a Poincare' covariant Faddeev equation in which dressed-quarks provide the elementary degree of freedom and correlations between them are expressed via diquarks. The nucleon-photon vertex involves a single parameter; i.e., a diquark charge radius. It is argued to be commensurate with the pion's charge radius. A comprehensive analysis and explanation of the form factors is built upon this foundation. A particular feature of the study is a separation of form factor contributions into those from different diagram types and correlation sectors, and subsequently a flavour separation for each of these. Amongst the extensive body of results that one could highlight are: r_1^{n,u}>r_1^{n,d}, owing to the presence of axial-vector quark-quark correlations; and for both the neutron and proton the ratio of Sachs electric and magnetic form factors possesses a zero.Comment: 43 pages, 17 figures, 12 tables, 5 appendice

Protocol for a feasibility study incorporating a randomised pilot trial with an embedded process evaluation and feasibility economic analysis of ThinkCancer!: a primary care intervention to expedite cancer diagnosis in Wales

Abstract Background Compared to the rest of Europe, the UK has relatively poor cancer outcomes, with late diagnosis and a slow referral process being major contributors. General practitioners (GPs) are often faced with patients presenting with a multitude of non-specific symptoms that could be cancer. Safety netting can be used to manage diagnostic uncertainty by ensuring patients with vague symptoms are appropriately monitored, which is now even more crucial due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and its major impact on cancer referrals. The ThinkCancer! workshop is an educational behaviour change intervention aimed at the whole general practice team, designed to improve primary care approaches to ensure timely diagnosis of cancer. The workshop will consist of teaching and awareness sessions, the appointment of a Safety Netting Champion and the development of a bespoke Safety Netting Plan and has been adapted so it can be delivered remotely. This study aims to assess the feasibility of the ThinkCancer! intervention for a future definitive randomised controlled trial. Methods The ThinkCancer! study is a randomised, multisite feasibility trial, with an embedded process evaluation and feasibility economic analysis. Twenty-three to 30 general practices will be recruited across Wales, randomised in a ratio of 2:1 of intervention versus control who will follow usual care. The workshop will be delivered by a GP educator and will be adapted iteratively throughout the trial period. Baseline practice characteristics will be collected via questionnaire. We will also collect primary care intervals (PCI), 2-week wait (2WW) referral rates, conversion rates and detection rates at baseline and 6 months post-randomisation. Participant feedback, researcher reflections and economic costings will be collected following each workshop. A process evaluation will assess implementation using an adapted Normalisation Measure Development (NoMAD) questionnaire and qualitative interviews. An economic feasibility analysis will inform a future economic evaluation. Discussion This study will allow us to test and further develop a novel evidenced-based complex intervention aimed at general practice teams to expedite the diagnosis of cancer in primary care. The results from this study will inform the future design of a full-scale definitive phase III trial. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04823559. </jats:sec

On the Link Between Central Black Holes, Bar Dynamics, and Dark Matter Halos in Spiral Galaxies

The discovery of a relationship between supermassive black hole (SMBH) mass and spiral arm pitch angle (P) is evidence that SMBHs are tied to the overall secular evolution of a galaxy. The discovery of SMBHs in late-type galaxies with little or no bulge suggests that an underlying correlation between the dark matter halo concentration and SMBH mass (MBH) exists, rather than between the bulge mass and MBH. In this paper we measure P using a two-dimensional fast fourier transform and estimate the bar pattern speeds of 40 barred spiral galaxies from the Carnegie-Irvine Galaxy Survey. The pattern speeds were derived by estimating the gravitational potentials of our galaxies from Ks-band images and using them to produce dynamical simulation models. The pattern speeds allow us to identify those galaxies with low central dark halo densities, or fast rotating bars, while P provides an estimate of MBH. We find that a wide range of MBH exists in galaxies with low central dark matter halo densities, which appears to support other theoretical results. We also find that galaxies with low central dark halo densities appear to follow more predictable trends in P versus de Vaucouleurs morphological type (T) and bar strength versus T than barred galaxies in general. The empirical relationship between MBH and total gravitational mass of a galaxy (Mtot) allows us to predict the minimum Mtot that will be observationally measured of our fast bar galaxies. These predictions will be investigated in a subsequent paper.Comment: 17 pages, 1 table, 11 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

Interplay in galectin expression predicts patient outcomes in a spatially restricted manner in PDAC

BACKGROUND: Galectins (Gal's) are a family of carbohydrate-binding proteins that are known to support the tumour microenvironment through their immunosuppressive activity and ability to promote metastasis. As such they are attractive therapeutic targets, but little is known about the cellular expression pattern of galectins within the tumour and its neighbouring stromal microenvironment. Here we investigated the cellular expression pattern of Gals within pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC).METHODS: Galectin gene and protein expression were analysed by scRNAseq (n=4) and immunofluorescence imaging (n=19) in fibroblasts and epithelial cells of pancreatic biopsies from PDAC patients. Galectin surface expression was also assessed on tumour adjacent normal fibroblasts and cancer associated primary fibroblasts from PDAC biopsies using flow cytometry.RESULTS: scRNAseq revealed higher Gal-1 expression in fibroblasts and higher Gal-3 and -4 expression in epithelial cells. Both podoplanin (PDPN+, stromal/fibroblast) cells and EpCAM+ epithelial cells expressed Gal-1 protein, with highest expression seen in the stromal compartment. By contrast, significantly more Gal-3 and -4 protein was expressed in ductal cells expressing either EpCAM or PDPN, when compared to the stroma. Ductal Gal-4 cellular expression negatively correlated with ductal Gal-1, but not Gal-3 expression. Higher ductal cellular expression of Gal-1 correlated with smaller tumour size and better patient survival. CONCLUSIONS: In summary, the intricate interplay and cell-specific expression patterns of galectins within the PDAC tissue, particularly the inverse correlation between Gal-1 and Gal-4 in ducts and its significant association with patient survival, highlights the complex molecular landscape underlying PDAC and provides valuable insights for future therapeutic interventions.</p

The ENIGMA Stroke Recovery Working Group: Big data neuroimaging to study brain–behavior relationships after stroke

The goal of the Enhancing Neuroimaging Genetics through Meta‐Analysis (ENIGMA) Stroke Recovery working group is to understand brain and behavior relationships using well‐powered meta‐ and mega‐analytic approaches. ENIGMA Stroke Recovery has data from over 2,100 stroke patients collected across 39 research studies and 10 countries around the world, comprising the largest multisite retrospective stroke data collaboration to date. This article outlines the efforts taken by the ENIGMA Stroke Recovery working group to develop neuroinformatics protocols and methods to manage multisite stroke brain magnetic resonance imaging, behavioral and demographics data. Specifically, the processes for scalable data intake and preprocessing, multisite data harmonization, and large‐scale stroke lesion analysis are described, and challenges unique to this type of big data collaboration in stroke research are discussed. Finally, future directions and limitations, as well as recommendations for improved data harmonization through prospective data collection and data management, are provided