Australian Fathers\u27 Study: What influences paternal engagement with antenatal care?

This mixed-methods study explores factors associated with and levels of engagement of fathers in antenatal care. One hundred expectant fathers were recruited from antenatal clinics and community settings in Western Australia. They completed validated questionnaires. Eighty-three percent of expectant fathers reported a lack of engagement with antenatal care. Factors significantly associated with lack of engagement in multivariate analysis were working more than 40 hours a week and lack of adequate consultation by antenatal care staff. In qualitative analysis, 6 themes emerged in association with a lack of engagement. They were role in decision making, time pressures, the observer effect, lack of knowledge, barriers to attendance, and feeling unprepared or anxious. Care providers should involve fathers in consultations to improve paternal engagement

Drilling of shallow marine sulfide-sulfate mineralisation in south-eastern Tyrrhenian Sea, Italy; Seafloor sulfides, Tyrrhenian Sea, highsulfidation; hydrothermal systems, Palinuro

Semi-massive to massive sulfides with abundant late native sulfur were drilled in a shallowwater hydrothermal system in an island arc volcanic setting at the Palinuro volcanic complex in the Tyrrhenian Sea, Italy. Overall, 12.7 m of sulfide mineralisation were drilled in a sediment-filled depression at a water depth of 630 - 650 m using the lander-type Rockdrill I drill rig of the British Geological Survey. Polymetallic (Zn, Pb, Sb, As, Ag) sulfides overlie massive pyrite. The massive sulfide mineralisation contains a number of atypical minerals, including enargite-famatinite, tennantite-tetrahedrite, stibnite, bismuthinite, and Pb-,Sb-, and Ag-sulfosalts, that do not commonly occur in mid-ocean ridge massive sulfides. Analogous to subaerial epithermal deposits, the occurrence of these minerals and the presence of abundant native sulfur suggest an intermediate to high sulfidation and/or high oxididation state of the hydrothermal fluids in contrast to the near-neutral and reducing fluids from which base metal-rich massive sulfides along mid-ocean ridges typically form. Oxidised conditions during sulfide deposition are likely related to the presence of magmatic volatiles in the mineralising fluids that were derived from a degassing magma chamber below the Palinuro volcanic complex

Outbreak of West Nile virus causing severe neurological involvement in children, Nuba Mountains, Sudan, 2002.

An atypical outbreak of West Nile virus (WNV) occurred in Ngorban County, South Kordophan, Sudan, from May to August 2002. We investigated the epidemic and conducted a case-control study in the village of Limon. Blood samples were obtained for cases and controls. Patients with obvious sequelae underwent cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) sampling as well. We used enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and neutralization tests for laboratory diagnosis and identified 31 cases with encephalitis, four of whom died. Median age was 36 months. Bivariate analysis did not reveal any significant association with the risk factors investigated. Laboratory analysis confirmed presence of IgM antibodies caused by WNV in eight of 13 cases, indicative of recent viral infection. The unique aspects of the WNW outbreak in Sudan, i.e. disease occurrence solely among children and the clinical domination of encephalitis, involving severe neurological sequelae, demonstrate the continuing evolution of WNV virulence. The spread of such a virus to other countries or continents cannot be excluded

Time Trends in Incidence of Reported Memory Concerns and Cognitive Decline: A Cohort Study in UK Primary Care

PURPOSE: To investigate time trends in incidence of recorded memory concerns (MC) and cognitive decline (CD) in a UK older population presenting to primary care with no prior diagnosis of dementia. To determine the risk of developing dementia in people with recorded memory concern and cognitive decline. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We included individuals aged 65–99 years who contributed to data within the IQVIA medical research database from 1st January 2009 to 31st December 2018. We reported crude incidence rates for MC (study population n=1,310,838) and CD (n=1,348,796). We conducted survival analysis to estimate the risk of developing dementia using fine-grey sub-distribution hazard model with competing risk of death. RESULTS: We identified 55,941 individuals (4.3%) with a record of incident MC; rates were fairly stable over the decade of study. We identified 14,869 people (1.1%) with a record of incident CD, and these rates increased from 1.29/1000 PYAR (95% CI 1.21 to 1.38) in 2009 to 3.49/1000 PYAR (95% CI 3.30 to 3.68) in 2018. Within 3 years of follow up from the first record of MC, 45.5% of individuals received a diagnosis of dementia, while of those with a record of CD, 51.7% received a dementia diagnosis. Women, people in older age groups and those living in more deprived areas were more likely to have a record of MC or CD, and their symptoms were more likely to progress to a dementia diagnosis. CONCLUSION: Incidence rates of MC and CD estimated from routinely collected primary care data are lower than those reported in community surveys, suggesting that a minority of people who experience memory loss consult their GP and have it recorded. Our findings indicate that those who do report concerns to primary care, especially women, those in older age groups and those in more deprived areas, are at a higher risk for developing dementia

Distinct nature of static and dynamic magnetic stripes in cuprate superconductors

We present detailed neutron scattering studies of the static and dynamic stripes in an optimally doped high-temperature superconductor, La$_2$CuO$_{4+y}$. We find that the dynamic stripes do not disperse towards the static stripes in the limit of vanishing energy transfer. We conclude that the dynamic stripes observed in neutron scattering experiments are not the Goldstone modes associated with the broken symmetry of the simultaneously observed static stripes, but rather that the signals originate from different domains in the sample. These domains may be related by structural twinning, or may be entirely different phases, where the static stripes in one phase are pinned versions of the dynamic stripes in the other. Our results explain earlier observations of unusual dispersions in underdoped La$_{2-x}$Sr$_x$CuO$_{4}$ ($x=0.07$) and La$_{2-x}$Ba$_x$CuO$_{4}$ ($x=0.095$). Our findings are relevant for all compounds exhibiting magnetic stripes, and may thus be a vital part in unveiling the nature of high temperature superconductivity