National survey of attitudes towards and intentions to vaccinate against COVID-19: implications for communications

OBJECTIVES: To examine public views on COVID-19 vaccination and consider the implications for communications and targeted support. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. SETTING: Online and telephone nationally representative survey in Great Britain, January to February 2021. PARTICIPANTS: 4978 adults. Survey response rate was 84%, among the 5931 panellists invited. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Sociodemographic characteristics (age, gender, ethnicity, education, financial status), COVID-19 status, vaccine acceptance, trust in COVID-19 vaccination information sources, perceptions of vaccination priority groups and perceptions of importance of second dose. RESULTS: COVID-19 vaccine acceptance (83%) was associated with increasing age, higher level of education and having been invited for vaccination. Acceptance decreased with unconfirmed past COVID-19, greater financial hardship and non-white British ethnicity; black/black British participants had lowest acceptance. Overall, healthcare and scientific sources of information were most trusted. Compared with white British participants, other ethnicities had lower trust in healthcare and scientific sources. Those with lower educational attainment or financial hardship had lower trust in healthcare and scientific sources. Those with no qualifications had higher trust in media and family/friends. While trust was low overall in community or faith leaders, it was higher among those with Asian/Asian British and black/black British ethnicity compared with white British participants. Views of vaccine prioritisation were mostly consistent with UK official policy but there was support for prioritising additional groups. There was high support for having the second vaccine dose. CONCLUSIONS: Targeted engagement is needed to address COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in non-white British ethnic groups, in younger adults, and among those with lower education, greater financial hardship and unconfirmed past infection. Healthcare professionals and scientific advisors should play a central role in communications and tailored messaging is needed for hesitant groups. Careful communication around vaccination prioritisation continues to be required

Dynamic eye colour as an honest signal of aggression

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Elsevier via the DOI in this recordAnimal eyes are some of the most widely recognisable structures in nature. Due to their salience to predators and prey, most research has focussed on how animals hide or camouflage their eyes [1]. However, across all vertebrate Classes many species actually express brightly coloured or conspicuous eyes, suggesting they may have also evolved a signalling function. Nevertheless, perhaps due to the difficulty with experimentally manipulating eye appearance, very few species beyond humans [2] have been experimentally shown to use eyes as signals [3]. Using staged behavioural trials we show that Trinidadian guppies (Poecilia reticulata), which can rapidly change their iris colour, predominantly express conspicuous eye colouration when performing aggressive behaviours towards smaller conspecifics. We then show, using a novel visually-realistic robotic system to create a mismatch between signal and relative competitive ability, that eye colour is used to honestly signal aggressive motivation. Specifically, robotic ‘cheats’, i.e. smaller and thus less-competitive robotic fish that displayed aggressive eye colouration when defending a food patch, attracted greater food competition from larger real fish. Our study suggests that eye colour may be an under-appreciated aspect of signalling in animals, shows the utility of our new biomimetic robotic system for investigations in animal behaviour, and provides rare experimental evidence that socially-mediated costs towards low-quality individuals may maintain the honesty of dynamic colour signals.This work was supported by a research grant from the Leverhulme Trust (RPG-2015-047) awarded to D.P.C. and S.K.D. D.P.C. and S.K.D. also acknowledge funding from the Danish Council for Independent Research (DFF – 1323-00105). We are very grateful to Rajendra Mahabir for assistance in the field, to Fiona Moultrie, Joah Madden, Sam Ellis, Ashley Ward, and John Endler for valuable discussion, and to Tom Houslay for advice on the R code to generate the plots

Dietary garlic and hip osteoarthritis: evidence of a protective effect and putative mechanism of action

Background Patterns of food intake and prevalent osteoarthritis of the hand, hip, and knee were studied using the twin design to limit the effect of confounding factors. Compounds found in associated food groups were further studied in vitro. Methods Cross-sectional study conducted in a large population-based volunteer cohort of twins. Food intake was evaluated using the Food Frequency Questionnaire; OA was determined using plain radiographs. Analyses were adjusted for age, BMI and physical activity. Subsequent in vitro studies examined the effects of allium-derived compounds on the expression of matrix-degrading proteases in SW1353 chondrosarcoma cells. Results Data were available, depending on phenotype, for 654-1082 of 1086 female twins (median age 58.9 years; range 46-77). Trends in dietary analysis revealed a specific pattern of dietary intake, that high in fruit and vegetables, showed an inverse association with hip OA (p = 0.022). Consumption of 'non-citrus fruit' (p = 0.015) and 'alliums' (p = 0.029) had the strongest protective effect. Alliums contain diallyl disulphide which was shown to abrogate cytokine-induced matrix metalloproteinase expression. Conclusions Studies of diet are notorious for their confounding by lifestyle effects. While taking account of BMI, the data show an independent effect of a diet high in fruit and vegetables, suggesting it to be protective against radiographic hip OA. Furthermore, diallyl disulphide, a compound found in garlic and other alliums, represses the expression of matrix-degrading proteases in chondrocyte-like cells, providing a potential mechanism of action

The contribution of diet and genotype to iron status in women:a classical twin study

This is the first published report examining the combined effect of diet and genotype on body iron content using a classical twin study design. The aim of this study was to determine the relative contribution of genetic and environmental factors in determining iron status. The population was comprised of 200 BMI- and age-matched pairs of MZ and DZ healthy twins, characterised for habitual diet and 15 iron-related candidate genetic markers. Variance components analysis demonstrated that the heritability of serum ferritin (SF) and soluble transferrin receptor was 44% and 54% respectively. Measured single nucleotide polymorphisms explained 5% and selected dietary factors 6% of the variance in iron status; there was a negative association between calcium intake and body iron (p = 0.02) and SF (p = 0.04)

Negative outcomes evoke cyclic irrational decisions in Rock, Paper, Scissors

Rock, Paper, Scissors (RPS) represents a unique gaming space in which the predictions of human rational decision-making can be compared with actual performance. Playing a computerized opponent adopting a mixed-strategy equilibrium, participants revealed a non-significant tendency to over-select Rock. Further violations of rational decision-making were observed using an inter-trial analysis where participants were more likely to switch their item selection at trial n + 1 following a loss or draw at trial n, revealing the strategic vulnerability of individuals following the experience of negative rather than positive outcome. Unique switch strategies related to each of these trial n outcomes were also identified: after losing participants were more likely to ‘downgrade’ their item (e.g., Rock followed by Scissors) but after drawing participants were more likely to ‘upgrade’ their item (e.g., Rock followed by Paper). Further repetition analysis revealed that participants were more likely to continue their specific cyclic item change strategy into trial n + 2. The data reveal the strategic vulnerability of individuals following the experience of negative rather than positive outcome, the tensions between behavioural and cognitive influences on decision making, and underline the dangers of increased behavioural predictability in other recursive, non-cooperative environments such as economics and politics

Detection of Exocometary CO within the 440 Myr Old Fomalhaut Belt: A Similar CO+CO 2 Ice Abundance in Exocomets and Solar System Comets

Recent Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array observations present mounting evidence for the presence of exocometary gas released within Kuiper Belt analogs around nearby main-sequence stars. This represents a unique opportunity to study their ice reservoir at the younger ages when volatile delivery to planets is most likely to occur. We here present the detection of CO J = 2-1 emission colocated with dust emission from the cometary belt in the 440 Myr old Fomalhaut system. Through spectrospatial filtering, we achieve a 5.4σ detection and determine that the ring's sky-projected rotation axis matches that of the star. The CO mass derived ((0.65\mbox{--}42)\times {10}^{-7}\,{M}_{\oplus }) is the lowest of any circumstellar disk detected to date and must be of exocometary origin. Using a steady-state model, we estimate the CO+CO2 mass fraction of exocomets around Fomalhaut to be between 4.6% and 76%, consistent with solar system comets and the two other belts known to host exocometary gas. This is the first indication of a similarity in cometary compositions across planetary systems that may be linked to their formation scenario and is consistent with direct interstellar medium inheritance. In addition, we find tentative evidence that $(49\pm 27)$% of the detected flux originates from a region near the eccentric belt's pericenter. If confirmed, the latter may be explained through a recent impact event or CO pericenter glow due to exocometary release within a steady-state collisional cascade. In the latter scenario, we show how the azimuthal dependence of the CO release rate leads to asymmetries in gas observations of eccentric exocometary belts

A Complete ALMA Map of the Fomalhaut Debris Disk

© 2017. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. We present ALMA mosaic observations at 1.3 mm (223 GHz) of the Fomalhaut system with a sensitivity of 14 μJy/beam. These observations provide the first millimeter map of the continuum dust emission from the complete outer debris disk with uniform sensitivity, enabling the first conclusive detection of apocenter glow. We adopt an MCMC modeling approach that accounts for the eccentric orbital parameters of a collection of particles within the disk. The outer belt is radially confined with an inner edge of 136.3 ± 0.9 au and width of 13.5 ± 1.8 au. We determine a best-fit eccentricity of 0.12 ± 0.01. Assuming a size distribution power-law index of q = 3.46 ± 0.09, we constrain the dust absorptivity power-law index β to be 0.9 < β < 1.5. The geometry of the disk is robustly constrained with inclination 65.°6 ± 0.°3, position angle 337.°9 ± 0.°3, and argument of periastron 22.°5 ± 4.°3. Our observations do not confirm any of the azimuthal features found in previous imaging studies of the disk with Hubble Space Telescope, SCUBA, and ALMA. However, we cannot rule out structures ≤10 au in size or that only affect smaller grains. The central star is clearly detected with a flux density of 0.75 ± 0.02 mJy, significantly lower than predicted by current photospheric models. We discuss the implications of these observations for the directly imaged Fomalhaut b and the inner dust belt detected at infrared wavelengths

Debris Disks: Probing Planet Formation

Debris disks are the dust disks found around ~20% of nearby main sequence stars in far-IR surveys. They can be considered as descendants of protoplanetary disks or components of planetary systems, providing valuable information on circumstellar disk evolution and the outcome of planet formation. The debris disk population can be explained by the steady collisional erosion of planetesimal belts; population models constrain where (10-100au) and in what quantity (>1Mearth) planetesimals (>10km in size) typically form in protoplanetary disks. Gas is now seen long into the debris disk phase. Some of this is secondary implying planetesimals have a Solar System comet-like composition, but some systems may retain primordial gas. Ongoing planet formation processes are invoked for some debris disks, such as the continued growth of dwarf planets in an unstirred disk, or the growth of terrestrial planets through giant impacts. Planets imprint structure on debris disks in many ways; images of gaps, clumps, warps, eccentricities and other disk asymmetries, are readily explained by planets at >>5au. Hot dust in the region planets are commonly found (<5au) is seen for a growing number of stars. This dust usually originates in an outer belt (e.g., from exocomets), although an asteroid belt or recent collision is sometimes inferred.Comment: Invited review, accepted for publication in the 'Handbook of Exoplanets', eds. H.J. Deeg and J.A. Belmonte, Springer (2018

National survey of attitudes towards and intentions to vaccinate against COVID-19: implications for communications

Objectives To examine public views on COVID-19 vaccination and consider the implications for communications and targeted support. Design Cross-sectional study. Setting Online and telephone nationally representative survey in Great Britain, January to February 2021. Participants 4978 adults. Survey response rate was 84%, among the 5931 panellists invited. Main outcome measures Sociodemographic characteristics (age, gender, ethnicity, education, financial status), COVID-19 status, vaccine acceptance, trust in COVID-19 vaccination information sources, perceptions of vaccination priority groups and perceptions of importance of second dose. Results COVID-19 vaccine acceptance (83%) was associated with increasing age, higher level of education and having been invited for vaccination. Acceptance decreased with unconfirmed past COVID-19, greater financial hardship and non-white British ethnicity; black/black British participants had lowest acceptance. Overall, healthcare and scientific sources of information were most trusted. Compared with white British participants, other ethnicities had lower trust in healthcare and scientific sources. Those with lower educational attainment or financial hardship had lower trust in healthcare and scientific sources. Those with no qualifications had higher trust in media and family/friends. While trust was low overall in community or faith leaders, it was higher among those with Asian/Asian British and black/black British ethnicity compared with white British participants. Views of vaccine prioritisation were mostly consistent with UK official policy but there was support for prioritising additional groups. There was high support for having the second vaccine dose. Conclusions Targeted engagement is needed to address COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in non-white British ethnic groups, in younger adults, and among those with lower education, greater financial hardship and unconfirmed past infection. Healthcare professionals and scientific advisors should play a central role in communications and tailored messaging is needed for hesitant groups. Careful communication around vaccination prioritisation continues to be required

Forensic microbiology reveals that Neisseria animaloris infections in harbour porpoises follow traumatic injuries by grey seals.

Neisseria animaloris is considered to be a commensal of the canine and feline oral cavities. It is able to cause systemic infections in animals as well as humans, usually after a biting trauma has occurred. We recovered N. animaloris from chronically inflamed bite wounds on pectoral fins and tailstocks, from lungs and other internal organs of eight harbour porpoises. Gross and histopathological evidence suggest that fatal disseminated N. animaloris infections had occurred due to traumatic injury from grey seals. We therefore conclude that these porpoises survived a grey seal predatory attack, with the bite lesions representing the subsequent portal of entry for bacteria to infect the animals causing abscesses in multiple tissues, and eventually death. We demonstrate that forensic microbiology provides a useful tool for linking a perpetrator to its victim. Moreover, N. animaloris should be added to the list of potential zoonotic bacteria following interactions with seals, as the finding of systemic transfer to the lungs and other tissues of the harbour porpoises may suggest a potential to do likewise in humans