A review of the population and conservation status of British mammals: technical summary

A report by the Mammal Society under contract to Natural England, Natural Resources Wales and Scottish Natural Heritage. We present the first comprehensive review of the status of British mammal populations for over 20 years. The population size, range size, temporal trends and future prospects of Britain’s 58 terrestrial mammals are assessed. Island races and feral mammals are excluded from the main review, but are considered in the appendi

Factors Influencing the Participation of Older People in Clinical Trials : Data Analysis from the MAVIS Trial

Peer reviewedPostprin

Direct amplification of nodD from community DNA reveals the genetic diversity of Rhizobium leguminosarum in soil

Sequences of nodD, a gene found only in rhizobia, were amplified from total community DNA isolated from a pasture soil. The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) primers used, Y5 and Y6, match nodD from Rhizobium leguminosarum biovar trifolii, R. leguminosarum biovar viciae and Sinorhizobium meliloti. The PCR product was cloned and yielded 68 clones that were identified by restriction pattern as derived from biovar trifolii [11 restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) types] and 15 clones identified as viciae (seven RFLP types). These identifications were confirmed by sequencing. There were no clones related to S. meliloti nodD. For comparison, 122 strains were isolated from nodules of white clover (Trifolium repens) growing at the field site, and 134 from nodules on trap plants of T. repens inoculated with the soil. The nodule isolates were of four nodD RFLP types, with 77% being of a single type. All four of these patterns were also found among the clones from soil DNA, and the same type was the most abundant, although it made up only 34% of the trifolii-like clones. We conclude that clover selects specific genotypes from the available soil population, and that R. leguminosarum biovar trifolii was approximately five times more abundant than biovar viciae in this pasture soil, whereas S. meliloti was rare

Naturally light right-handed neutrinos in a 3-3-1 Model

In this work we show that light right-handed neutrinos, with mass in the sub-eV scale, is a natural outcome in a 3-3-1 model. By considering effective dimension five operators, the model predicts three light right-handed neutrinos, weakly mixed with the left-handed ones. We show also that the model is able to explain the LSND experiment and still be in agreement with solar and atmospheric data for neutrino oscillation.Comment: About 5 pages, no-figure

Childhood Adversity Moderates Change in Latent Patterns of Psychological Adjustment during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Results of a Survey of U.S. Adults

Emerging evidence suggests that the consequences of childhood adversity impact later psychopathology by increasing individuals’ risk of experiencing difficulties in adjusting to stressful situations later in life. The goals of this study were to: (a) identify sociodemographic factors associated with subgroups of psychological adjustment prior to and after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and (b) examine whether and to what extent types of childhood adversity predict transition probabilities. Participants were recruited via multiple social media platforms and listservs. Data were collected via an internet-based survey. Our analyses reflect 1942 adults (M = 39.68 years); 39.8% reported experiencing at least one form of childhood adversity. Latent profile analyses (LPAs) and latent transition analyses (LTAs) were conducted to determine patterns of psychological adjustment and the effects of childhood adversity on transition probabilities over time. We identified five subgroups of psychological adjustment characterized by symptom severity level. Participants who were younger in age and those who endorsed marginalized identities exhibited poorer psychological adjustment during the pandemic. Childhood exposure to family and community violence and having basic needs met as a child (e.g., food, shelter) significantly moderated the relation between latent profile membership over time. Clinical and research implications are discussed

Impacts of local human activities on the Antarctic environment

We review the scientific literature, especially from the past decade, on the impacts of human activities on the Antarctic environment. A range of impacts has been identified at a variety of spatial and temporal scales. Chemical contamination and sewage disposal on the continent have been found to be long-lived. Contemporary sewage management practices at many coastal stations are insufficient to prevent local contamination but no introduction of non-indigenous organisms through this route has yet been demonstrated. Human activities, particularly construction and transport, have led to disturbances of flora and fauna. A small number of non-indigenous plant and animal species has become established, mostly on the northern Antarctic Peninsula and southern archipelagos of the Scotia Arc. There is little indication of recovery of overexploited fish stocks, and ramifications of fishing activity oil bycatch species and the ecosystem could also be far-reaching. The Antarctic Treaty System and its instruments, in particular the Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources and the Environmental Protocol, provide a framework within which management of human activities take place. In the face of the continuing expansion of human activities in Antarctica, a more effective implementation of a wide range of measures is essential, in order to ensure comprehensive protection of the Antarctic environment, including its intrinsic, wilderness and scientific values which remains a fundamental principle of the Antarctic Treaty System. These measures include effective environmental impact assessments, long-term monitoring, mitigation measures for non-indigenous species, ecosystem-based management of living resources, and increased regulation of National Antarctic Programmes and tourism activities

Implementation of a pharmacogenomics consult service to support the INGENIOUS trial

Hospital systems increasingly utilize pharmacogenomic testing to inform clinical prescribing. Successful implementation efforts have been modeled at many academic centers. In contrast, this report provides insights into the formation of a pharmacogenomics consultation service at a safety-net hospital, which predominantly serves low-income, uninsured, and vulnerable populations. The report describes the INdiana GENomics Implementation: an Opportunity for the UnderServed (INGENIOUS) trial and addresses concerns of adjudication, credentialing, and funding

Multilocal programming and applications

Preprint versionMultilocal programming aims to identify all local minimizers of unconstrained or constrained nonlinear optimization problems. The multilocal programming theory relies on global optimization strategies combined with simple ideas that are inspired in deflection or stretching techniques to avoid convergence to the already detected local minimizers. The most used methods to solve this type of problems are based on stochastic procedures and a population of solutions. In general, population-based methods are computationally expensive but rather reliable in identifying all local solutions. In this chapter, a review on recent techniques for multilocal programming is presented. Some real-world multilocal programming problems based on chemical engineering process design applications are described.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT

Single Spin Asymmetry ANA_N in Polarized Proton-Proton Elastic Scattering at s=200\sqrt{s}=200 GeV

We report a high precision measurement of the transverse single spin asymmetry $A_N$ at the center of mass energy $\sqrt{s}=200$ GeV in elastic proton-proton scattering by the STAR experiment at RHIC. The $A_N$ was measured in the four-momentum transfer squared $t$ range $0.003 \leqslant |t| \leqslant 0.035$ \GeVcSq, the region of a significant interference between the electromagnetic and hadronic scattering amplitudes. The measured values of $A_N$ and its $t$-dependence are consistent with a vanishing hadronic spin-flip amplitude, thus providing strong constraints on the ratio of the single spin-flip to the non-flip amplitudes. Since the hadronic amplitude is dominated by the Pomeron amplitude at this $\sqrt{s}$, we conclude that this measurement addresses the question about the presence of a hadronic spin flip due to the Pomeron exchange in polarized proton-proton elastic scattering.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figure