Predicting sexual risk behavior in British and European Union university students in the United Kingdom

Drawing on the Health Adversity Risk Model, this study examines the relationship between mental health and sexual risk behaviors in British and European Union (EU) university students in the United Kingdom. Four hundred and thirty-one undergraduate students completed a cross-sectional survey. Data were analyzed using independent samples t-tests, multiple regression and structural equation modeling. Results showed that female students and British students exhibited higher levels of psychological distress, self-harm and sexual risk behaviors than males and EU students; and that female and EU students were more likely to adopt adaptive coping styles than male and British students, respectively. The structural equation model suggests that the relationship between gender and citizenship and sexual risk-taking is mediated by identity threat, psychological distress, coping styles and self-harm. Adaptive coping styles are not necessarily protective against sexual risk-taking but rather determine the type of sexual risk behavior: re-thinking/planning is associated with volitional risk behaviors and social engagement with non-volitional behaviors. Social and cultural norms may shed light on mental health outcomes and sexual risk-taking in university students

Young people, crime and school exclusion: a case of some surprises

During the 1990s the number of young people being permanently excluded from schools in England and Wales increased dramatically from 2,910 (1990/91) to a peak of 12,700 (1996/97). Coinciding with this rise was a resurgence of the debate centring on lawless and delinquent youth. With the publication of Young People and Crime (Graham and Bowling 1995) and Misspent Youth (Audit Commission 1996) the 'common sense assumption' that exclusion from school inexorably promoted crime received wide support, with the school excludee portrayed as another latter day 'folk devil'. This article explores the link between school exclusion and juvenile crime, and offers some key findings from a research study undertaken with 56 young people who had experience of being excluded from school. Self-report interview questions reveal that whilst 40 of the young people had offended, 90% (36) reported that the onset of their offending commenced prior to their first exclusion. Moreover, 50 (89.2% of the total number of young people in the sample), stated that they were no more likely to offend subsequent to being excluded and 31 (55.4%) stated that they were less likely to offend during their exclusion period. Often, this was because on being excluded, they were 'grounded' by their parents

Middle and Late Pleistocene environmental history of the Marsworth area, south-central England

To elucidate the Middle and Late Pleistocene environmental history of south-central England, we report the stratigraphy, sedimentology, palaeoecology and geochronology of some deposits near the foot of the Chiltern Hills scarp at Marsworth, Buckinghamshire. The Marsworth site is important because its sedimentary sequences contain a rich record of warm stages and cold stages, and it lies close to the Anglian glacial limit. Critical to its history are the origin and age of a brown pebbly silty clay (diamicton) previously interpreted as weathered till. The deposits described infill a river channel incised into chalk bedrock. They comprise clayey, silty and gravelly sediments, many containing locally derived chalk and some with molluscan, ostracod and vertebrate remains. Most of the deposits are readily attributed to periglacial and fluvial processes, and some are dated by optically stimulated luminescence to Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 6. Although our sedimentological data do not discriminate between a glacial or periglacial interpretation of the diamicton, amino-acid dating of three molluscan taxa from beneath it indicates that it is younger than MIS 9 and older than MIS 5e. This makes a glacial interpretation unlikely, and we interpret the diamicton as a periglacial slope deposit. The Pleistocene history reconstructed for Marsworth identifies four key elements: (1) Anglian glaciation during MIS 12 closely approached Marsworth, introducing far-travelled pebbles such as Rhaxella chert and possibly some fine sand minerals into the area. (2) Interglacial environments inferred from fluvial sediments during MIS 7 varied from fully interglacial conditions during sub-stages 7e and 7c, cool temperate conditions during sub-stage 7b or 7a, temperate conditions similar to those today in central England towards the end of the interglacial, and cool temperate conditions during sub-stage 7a. (3) Periglacial activity during MIS 6 involved thermal contraction cracking, permafrost development, fracturing of chalk bedrock, fluvial activity, slopewash, mass movement and deposition of loess and coversand. (4) Fully interglacial conditions during sub-stage 5e led to renewed fluvial activity, soil formation and acidic weathering

Impact of stratospheric air and surface emissions on tropospheric nitrous oxide during ATom

We measured the global distribution of tropospheric N2O mixing ratios during the NASA airborne Atmospheric Tomography (ATom) mission. ATom measured concentrations of ∼ 300 gas species and aerosol properties in 647 vertical profiles spanning the Pacific, Atlantic, Arctic, and much of the Southern Ocean basins, nearly from pole to pole, over four seasons (2016–2018). We measured N2O concentrations at 1 Hz using a quantum cascade laser spectrometer (QCLS). We introduced a new spectral retrieval method to account for the pressure and temperature sensitivity of the instrument when deployed on aircraft. This retrieval strategy improved the precision of our ATom QCLS N2O measurements by a factor of three (based on the standard deviation of calibration measurements). Our measurements show that most of the variance of N2O mixing ratios in the troposphere is driven by the influence of N2O-depleted stratospheric air, especially at mid- and high latitudes. We observe the downward propagation of lower N2O mixing ratios (compared to surface stations) that tracks the influence of stratosphere–troposphere exchange through the tropospheric column down to the surface. The highest N2O mixing ratios occur close to the Equator, extending through the boundary layer and free troposphere. We observed influences from a complex and diverse mixture of N2O sources, with emission source types identified using the rich suite of chemical species measured on ATom and the geographical origin calculated using an atmospheric transport model. Although ATom flights were mostly over the oceans, the most prominent N2O enhancements were associated with anthropogenic emissions, including from industry (e.g., oil and gas), urban sources, and biomass burning, especially in the tropical Atlantic outflow from Africa. Enhanced N2O mixing ratios are mostly associated with pollution-related tracers arriving from the coastal area of Nigeria. Peaks of N2O are often associated with indicators of photochemical processing, suggesting possible unexpected source processes. In most cases, the results show how difficult it is to separate the mixture of different sources in the atmosphere, which may contribute to uncertainties in the N2O global budget. The extensive data set from ATom will help improve the understanding of N2O emission processes and their representation in global models.This research has been supported by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (grant nos. NNX15AJ23G, NNX17AF54G, NNX15AG58A, NNX15AH33A, and 80NSSC19K0124) and the National Science Foundation (grant nos. 1852977, AGS-1547626, and AGS-1623745)

Segregation of myoblast fusion and muscle-specific gene expression by distinct ligand-dependent inactivation of GSK-3β

Myogenic differentiation involves myoblast fusion and induction of muscle-specific gene expression, which are both stimulated by pharmacological (LiCl), genetic, or IGF-I-mediated GSK-3β inactivation. To assess whether stimulation of myogenic differentiation is common to ligand-mediated GSK-3β inactivation, myoblast fusion and muscle-specific gene expression were investigated in response to Wnt-3a. Moreover, crosstalk between IGF-I/GSK-3β/NFATc3 and Wnt/GSK-3β/β-catenin signaling was assessed. While both Wnt-3a and LiCl promoted myoblast fusion, muscle-specific gene expression was increased by LiCl, but not by Wnt-3a or β-catenin over-expression. Furthermore, LiCl and IGF-I, but not Wnt-3a, increased NFATc3 transcriptional activity. In contrast, β-catenin-dependent transcriptional activity was increased by Wnt-3a and LiCl, but not IGF-I. These results for the first time reveal a segregated regulation of myoblast fusion and muscle-specific gene expression following stimulation of myogenic differentiation in response to distinct ligand-specific signaling routes of GSK-3β inactivation

Study protocol: Determinants of participation and quality of life of adolescents with cerebral palsy: a longitudinal study (SPARCLE2)

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Children and adults with impairments such as cerebral palsy have lower participation in life situations than able-bodied people. Less is known about their subjective perception of their lives, called their quality of life.</p> <p>During adolescence, rapid physical and psychological changes occur; although these may be more difficult for disabled than for able-bodied adolescents, little research has examined the lives of disabled adolescents.</p> <p>In 2003-4 a European Union funded project, SPARCLE, visited 818 children aged 8-12 years with cerebral palsy, sampled from population-based registers in nine European regions. The quality of life reported by these disabled children was similar to that of the general population but their participation was lower; levels of participation varied between countries even for children with similar severity of cerebral palsy.</p> <p>We are currently following up these children, now aged 13-17 years, to identify (i) to what extent contemporaneous factors (pain, impairment, psychological health and parental stress) predict their participation and quality of life, (ii) what factors modify how participation and quality of life at age 8-12 years are associated with participation and quality of life in adolescence, and (iii) whether differences between European countries in participation and quality of life can be explained by variations in environmental factors.</p> <p>Methods/Design</p> <p>Trained researchers will visit families to administer questionnaires to capture the adolescents' type and severity of impairment, socio-demographic characteristics, participation, quality of life, psychological health, pain, environmental access and parental stress. We will use multivariable models (linear, logistic or ordinal) to assess how adolescent participation, quality of life, psychological health, pain, environmental access and parental stress, vary with impairment and socio-demographic characteristics and, where possible, how these outcomes compare with general population data. For participation and quality of life, longitudinal analyses will assess to what extent these are predicted by corresponding levels in childhood and what factors modify this relationship. Structural equation modelling will be used to identify indirect relationships mediated by other factors.</p

OxPhos Defects Cause Hypermetabolism and Reduce Lifespan in Cells and in Patients With Mitochondrial Diseases

Patients with primary mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation (OxPhos) defects present with fatigue and multi-system disorders, are often lean, and die prematurely, but the mechanistic basis for this clinical picture remains unclear. By integrating data from 17 cohorts of patients with mitochondrial diseases (n = 690) we find evidence that these disorders increase resting energy expenditure, a state termed hypermetabolism. We examine this phenomenon longitudinally in patient-derived fibroblasts from multiple donors. Genetically or pharmacologically disrupting OxPhos approximately doubles cellular energy expenditure. This cell-autonomous state of hypermetabolism occurs despite near-normal OxPhos coupling efficiency, excluding uncoupling as a general mechanism. Instead, hypermetabolism is associated with mitochondrial DNA instability, activation of the integrated stress response (ISR), and increased extracellular secretion of age-related cytokines and metabokines including GDF15. In parallel, OxPhos defects accelerate telomere erosion and epigenetic aging per cell division, consistent with evidence that excess energy expenditure accelerates biological aging. To explore potential mechanisms for these effects, we generate a longitudinal RNASeq and DNA methylation resource dataset, which reveals conserved, energetically demanding, genome-wide recalibrations. Taken together, these findings highlight the need to understand how OxPhos defects influence the energetic cost of living, and the link between hypermetabolism and aging in cells and patients with mitochondrial diseases

The impact of viral mutations on recognition by SARS-CoV-2 specific T cells.

We identify amino acid variants within dominant SARS-CoV-2 T cell epitopes by interrogating global sequence data. Several variants within nucleocapsid and ORF3a epitopes have arisen independently in multiple lineages and result in loss of recognition by epitope-specific T cells assessed by IFN-γ and cytotoxic killing assays. Complete loss of T cell responsiveness was seen due to Q213K in the A∗01:01-restricted CD8+ ORF3a epitope FTSDYYQLY207-215; due to P13L, P13S, and P13T in the B∗27:05-restricted CD8+ nucleocapsid epitope QRNAPRITF9-17; and due to T362I and P365S in the A∗03:01/A∗11:01-restricted CD8+ nucleocapsid epitope KTFPPTEPK361-369. CD8+ T cell lines unable to recognize variant epitopes have diverse T cell receptor repertoires. These data demonstrate the potential for T cell evasion and highlight the need for ongoing surveillance for variants capable of escaping T cell as well as humoral immunity.This work is supported by the UK Medical Research Council (MRC); Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences(CAMS) Innovation Fund for Medical Sciences (CIFMS), China; National Institute for Health Research (NIHR)Oxford Biomedical Research Centre, and UK Researchand Innovation (UKRI)/NIHR through the UK Coro-navirus Immunology Consortium (UK-CIC). Sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 samples and collation of data wasundertaken by the COG-UK CONSORTIUM. COG-UK is supported by funding from the Medical ResearchCouncil (MRC) part of UK Research & Innovation (UKRI),the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR),and Genome Research Limited, operating as the Wellcome Sanger Institute. T.I.d.S. is supported by a Well-come Trust Intermediate Clinical Fellowship (110058/Z/15/Z). L.T. is supported by the Wellcome Trust(grant number 205228/Z/16/Z) and by theUniversity of Liverpool Centre for Excellence in Infectious DiseaseResearch (CEIDR). S.D. is funded by an NIHR GlobalResearch Professorship (NIHR300791). L.T. and S.C.M.are also supported by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Medical Countermeasures Initiative contract75F40120C00085 and the National Institute for Health Research Health Protection Research Unit (HPRU) inEmerging and Zoonotic Infections (NIHR200907) at University of Liverpool inpartnership with Public HealthEngland (PHE), in collaboration with Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and the University of Oxford.L.T. is based at the University of Liverpool. M.D.P. is funded by the NIHR Sheffield Biomedical ResearchCentre (BRC – IS-BRC-1215-20017). ISARIC4C is supported by the MRC (grant no MC_PC_19059). J.C.K.is a Wellcome Investigator (WT204969/Z/16/Z) and supported by NIHR Oxford Biomedical Research Centreand CIFMS. The views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the NIHR or MRC