Color-coordinate system from a 13th-century account of rainbows.

We present a new analysis of Robert Grosseteste’s account of color in his treatise De iride (On the Rainbow), dating from the early 13th century. The work explores color within the 3D framework set out in Grosseteste’s De colore [see J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 29, A346 (2012)], but now links the axes of variation to observable properties of rainbows. We combine a modern understanding of the physics of rainbows and of human color perception to resolve the linguistic ambiguities of the medieval text and to interpret Grosseteste’s key terms

Wolbachia in the Culex pipiens group mosquitoes: introgression and superinfection.

Wolbachia bacteria in mosquitoes induce cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI), where sperm from Wolbachia-infected males can produce inviable progeny. The wPip strain in the Culex pipiens group of mosquitoes produces a complexity of CI crossing types. Several factors are thought to be capable of influencing the expression of CI including Wolbachia strain type and host genotype. In this study, the unidirectional CI that occurs between 2 C. pipiens complex laboratory strains, Col and Mol, was further investigated by nuclear genotype introgression. The unidirectional CI between Col and Mol was not found to be influenced by host genetic background, in contrast to a previous introgression study carried out using bidirectionally incompatible C. pipiens group strains. A line containing both wPip strain variants superinfection was also generated by embryonic cytoplasmic transfer. The same crossing type as the parental Col strain was observed in the superinfected line. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction demonstrated a low density of the injected wPipMol variant in the superinfected line after 18 generations, which was considered likely to be responsible for the crossing patterns observed. The Wolbachia density was also shown to be lower in the parental Mol strain males compared with Col strain males, and no inverse relationship between WO phage and Wolbachia density could be detected

Age-related curves of AMH using the Gen II, the picoAMH and the Elecsys assays in women with polycystic ovary syndrome

CONTEXT: Several challenges still exist to adopt the anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) as a marker of polycystic ovary morphology (PCOM), as included in the recently updated international guideline. Although different evaluations of age- and assay-specific reference ranges have been published in the last years, these studies have mainly been conducted in normo-ovulatory or infertile women.OBJECTIVE: To develop an age-specific percentile distribution of AMH in patients with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) measured by three different assays.DESIGN: Retrospective cross-sectional study.PATIENTS: 2,725 women aged 20 to 40 years with PCOS diagnosis were included.INTERVENTION (S): Serum AMH measurement by the Gen II (Beckman Coulter), the picoAMH (Ansh Labs), and the Elecsys (Roche) assays.MAIN OUTCOME MEAUSRE (S): Age-specific centile curves for all the assays and correlations between AMH, clinical, hormonal, and ultrasound characteristics.RESULTS: Age-related nomograms for the 5th, 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th, 90th, and 95th percentiles of AMH were calculated using the LMS method for all the assays. AMH levels were significantly different between PCOS phenotypes. AMH levels were positive correlated to luteinizing hormone (LH), LH/follicular stimulating hormone (FSH) ratio, testosterone, androstenedione, free androgen index, mean follicular number, and mean ovarian volume.CONCLUSIONS: To our knowledge this is the first study reporting age specific percentile nomograms of serum AMH levels measured by the Gen II, the picoAMH and the Elecsys assays in a large population of PCOS women. These findings may help to interpret AMH levels in PCOS patients and facilitate the use of AMH as a diagnostic tool across age ranges.</p

How was the intern year?: self and clinical assessment of four cohorts, from two medical curricula

BACKGROUND Problem-based curricula have provoked controversy amongst educators and students regarding outcome in medical graduates, supporting the need for longitudinal evaluation of curriculum change. As part of a longitudinal evaluation program at the University of Adelaide, a mixed method approach was used to compare the graduate outcomes of two curriculum cohorts: traditional lecture-based ‘old’ and problem-based ‘new’ learning. METHODS Graduates were asked to self-assess preparedness for hospital practice and consent to a comparative analysis of their work-place based assessments from their intern year. Comparative data were extracted from 692 work-place based assessments for 124 doctors who graduated from the University of Adelaide Medical School between 2003 and 2006. RESULTS Self-assessment: Overall, graduates of the lecture-based curriculum rated the medical program significantly higher than graduates of the problem-based curriculum. However, there was no significant difference between the two curriculum cohorts with respect to their preparedness in 13 clinical skills. There were however, two areas where the cohorts rated their preparedness in the 13 broad practitioner competencies as significantly different: problem-based graduates rated themselves as better prepared in their ‘awareness of legal and ethical issues’ and the lecture-based graduates rated themselves better prepared in their ‘understanding of disease processes’. Work-place based assessment: There were no significant differences between the two curriculum cohorts for ‘Appropriate Level of Competence’ and ‘Overall Appraisal’. Of the 14 work-place based assessment skills assessed for competence, no significant difference was found between the cohorts. CONCLUSIONS The differences in the perceived preparedness for hospital practice of two curriculum cohorts do not reflect the work-place based assessments of their competence as interns. No significant difference was found between the two cohorts in relation to their knowledge and clinical skills. However results suggest a trend in ‘communication with peers and colleagues in other disciplines’ (χ2 (3, N = 596) =13.10, p = 0.056) that requires further exploration. In addition we have learned that student confidence in a new curriculum may impact on their self-perception of preparedness, while not affecting their actual competence.Gillian Laven, Dorothy Keefe, Paul Duggan, and Anne Tonki

Living in a low socioeconomic status neighbourhood is associated with lower cumulative ongoing pregnancy rate after IVF treatment

Research question: Does an association exist between neighbourhood socioeconomic status (SES) and the cumulative rate of ongoing pregnancies after 2.5 years of IVF treatment? Design: A retrospective observational study involving 2669 couples who underwent IVF or IVF and intracytoplasmic sperm injection treatment between 2006 and 2020. Neighbourhood SES for each couple was determined based on their residential postal code. Subsequently, SES was categorized into low (&lt;p20), medium (p20–p80), and high (&gt;p80). Multivariable binary logistic regression analyses were conducted, with the cumulative ongoing pregnancy within 2.5 years as the outcome variable. The SES category (reference category: high), female age (reference category: 32–36 years), body mass index (reference category: 23–25 kg/m2), smoking status (yes/no), number of oocytes after the first ovarian stimulation, embryos usable for transfer or cryopreservation after the first cycle, duration of subfertility before treatment and insemination type were used as covariates. Results: A variation in ongoing pregnancy rates was observed among SES groups after the first fresh embryo transfer. No difference was found in the median number of IVF treatment cycles carried out. The cumulative ongoing pregnancy rates differed significantly between SES groups (low: 44%; medium: 51%; high: 56%; P &lt; 0.001). Low neighbourhood SES was associated with significantly lower odds for achieving an ongoing pregnancy within 2.5 years (OR 0.66, 95% CI 0.52 to 0.84, P &lt; 0.001). Conclusion: Low neighbourhood SES compared with high neighbourhood SES is associated with reducing odds of achieving an ongoing pregnancy within 2.5 years of IVF treatment.</p

Living in a low socioeconomic status neighbourhood is associated with lower cumulative ongoing pregnancy rate after IVF treatment

Research question: Does an association exist between neighbourhood socioeconomic status (SES) and the cumulative rate of ongoing pregnancies after 2.5 years of IVF treatment? Design: A retrospective observational study involving 2669 couples who underwent IVF or IVF and intracytoplasmic sperm injection treatment between 2006 and 2020. Neighbourhood SES for each couple was determined based on their residential postal code. Subsequently, SES was categorized into low (&lt;p20), medium (p20–p80), and high (&gt;p80). Multivariable binary logistic regression analyses were conducted, with the cumulative ongoing pregnancy within 2.5 years as the outcome variable. The SES category (reference category: high), female age (reference category: 32–36 years), body mass index (reference category: 23–25 kg/m2), smoking status (yes/no), number of oocytes after the first ovarian stimulation, embryos usable for transfer or cryopreservation after the first cycle, duration of subfertility before treatment and insemination type were used as covariates. Results: A variation in ongoing pregnancy rates was observed among SES groups after the first fresh embryo transfer. No difference was found in the median number of IVF treatment cycles carried out. The cumulative ongoing pregnancy rates differed significantly between SES groups (low: 44%; medium: 51%; high: 56%; P &lt; 0.001). Low neighbourhood SES was associated with significantly lower odds for achieving an ongoing pregnancy within 2.5 years (OR 0.66, 95% CI 0.52 to 0.84, P &lt; 0.001). Conclusion: Low neighbourhood SES compared with high neighbourhood SES is associated with reducing odds of achieving an ongoing pregnancy within 2.5 years of IVF treatment.</p

L-band synthetic aperture radar imagery performs better than optical datasets at retrieving woody fractional cover in deciduous, dry savannahs

Woody canopy cover (CC) is the simplesttwo dimensional metric for assessing the presence ofthe woody component in savannahs, but detailed validated maps are not currently available in southern African savannahs. A number of international EO programs (including in savannah landscapes) advocate and use optical LandSAT imagery for regional to country-wide mapping of woody canopy cover. However, previous research has shown that L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) provides good performance at retrieving woody canopy cover in southern African savannahs. This study’s objective was to evaluate, compare and use in combination L-band ALOS PALSAR and LandSAT-5 TM, in a Random Forest environment, to assess the benefits of using LandSAT compared to ALOS PALSAR. Additional objectives saw the testing of LandSAT-5 image seasonality, spectral vegetation indices and image textures for improved CC modelling. Results showed that LandSAT-5 imagery acquired in the summer and autumn seasons yielded the highest single season modelling accuracies (R2 between 0.47 and 0.65), depending on the year but the combination of multi-seasonal images yielded higher accuracies (R2 between 0.57 and 0.72). The derivation of spectral vegetation indices and image textures and their combinations with optical reflectance bands provided minimal improvement with no optical-only result exceeding the winter SAR L-band backscatter alone results (R2 of ∼0.8). The integration of seasonally appropriate LandSAT-5 image reflectance and L-band HH and HV backscatter data does provide a significant improvement for CC modelling at the higher end of the model performance (R2 between 0.83 and 0.88), but we conclude that L-band only based CC modelling be recommended for South African regionshttp://www.elsevier.com/locate/jag2017-10-31hb2016Geography, Geoinformatics and Meteorolog