2D:4D digit ratio and religiosity in university student and general population samples

The ratio of index to ring finger length (2D:4D) is used as a proxy for prenatal sex hormone exposure. It has been hypothesised to correlate with religiosity, though no published research has explored this possibility. Here, we initially examined 2D:4D in relation to self-reported religious affiliation and questionnaire measures of general religiosity, spirituality, religious fundamentalism, and religious commitment in male (N = 106) and female (N = 105) university students (Study 1). Although no significant correlations were observed between 2D:4D and the questionnaire measures, females who affiliated with organised religions had higher right and left hand digit ratios compared to agnostic or atheist females. Study 2 attempted to replicate these findings in an adult general population sample (N = 172 males, N = 257 females), but did not observe significant effects in either sex. Overall, these findings suggest that high 2D:4D may be relatively-specifically associated with increased religious affiliation in young, highly-educated, females.This work was supported by a Student Research Grant from the European Human Behaviour and Evolution Association (EHBEA), and an Experimental Psychology Society (EPS) Grindley Grant awarded to GR. The work was partially undertaken within the Medical Research Council UK Centre for Neuropsychiatric Genetics and Genomics (MR/L010305/1). The funders played no role in study design, data collection, analysis and interpretation, writing of the manuscript, or the decision to submit the article for publication

An Experimental Study of the Doctor Fox Effect

Colleges and universities are employing student evaluations of faculty with increasing frequency. On some campuses, the forms are used at the instructor\u27s option and serve primarily as a source of feedback for faculty development purposes. Others require student evaluation of instruction and publish the results in academic consumer\u27s guides. Still others consider student evaluations of instruction in making decisions with regard to faculty salary increases, retention, tenure and promotion. The optional use of student ratings in order to improve instruction often evolves to the mandatory consideration of student rating data in making decisions about faculty retention, promotion and tenure. As this occurs it is important that the validity of these measures also increases. Unfortunately, however, not much is known about what student ratings of faculty really measure and experimental studies which can extend this knowledge base are virtually non-existent

Multimorbidity in a marginalised, street-health Australian population: a retrospective cohort study

OBJECTIVES: Demographic and presentation profile of patients using an innovative mobile outreach clinic compared with mainstream practice. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study. SETTING: Primary care mobile street health clinic and mainstream practice in Western Australia. PARTICIPANTS: 2587 street health and 4583 mainstream patients. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Prevalence and patterns of chronic diseases in anatomical domains across the entire age spectrum of patients and disease severity burden using Cumulative Illness Rating Scale (CIRS). RESULTS: Multimorbidity (2+ CIRS domains) prevalence was significantly higher in the street health cohort (46.3%, 1199/2587) than age-sex-adjusted mainstream estimate (43.1%, 2000/4583), p=0.011. Multimorbidity prevalence was significantly higher in street health patients(37.7%, 615/1649) compared with age-sex-adjusted mainstream patients (33%, 977/2961), p=0.003 but significantly lower if 65+ years (62%, 114/184 vs 90.7%, 322/355, p CONCLUSIONS: Age-sex-adjusted multimorbidity prevalence and disease severity is higher in the street health cohort. Earlier onset (23-34 years) multimorbidity is found in the street health cohort but prevalence is lower in 65+ years than in mainstream patients. Multimorbidity prevalence is higher for Aboriginal patients of all ages

Expression of the SmB′ splicing protein in rodent cells capable of following an alternative RNA splicing pathway

AbstractThe expression of the SmB and SmB′ spliceosome proteins in a variety of cell types and tissues has been investigated. Although SmB is found in all cells studied, the SmB′ protein is found only in a small number of rodent cell types. The presence of this protein is correlated with the ability to utilize an alternative pathway of RNA splicing which is not available in most cell types. This is the first demonstration of tissue specific expression of a protein component of the spliceosome and suggests a role for SmB′ in the regulation of some cases of alternative RNA splicing

The RMS Survey: 13CO observations of candidate massive YSOs in the southern hemisphere

Abridged: The Red MSX Source (RMS) survey is an ongoing multi-wavelength observational programme designed to return a large, well-selected sample of massive young stellar objects (MYSOs). Here we present 13CO observations made towards 854 MYSOs candidates located in the 3rd and 4th quadrants. We detected 13CO emission towards a total of 751 of the 854 RMS sources observed (~88%). In total 2185 emission components are detected above 3$\sigma$ level. Multiple emission profiles are observed towards the majority of these sources - 455 sources (~60%) - with an average of ~4 molecular clouds along the line of sight. These multiple emission features make it difficult to assign a kinematic velocity to many of our sample. We have used archival CS (J=2-1) and maser velocities to resolved the component multiplicity towards 82 sources and have derived a criterion which is used to identify the most likely component for a further 202 multiple component sources. Combined with the single component detections we have obtained unambiguous kinematic velocities towards 580 sources (~80% of the detections). The 171 sources for which we have not been able to determine the kinematic velocity will require additional line data. Using the rotation curve of Brand and Blitz (1993) and their radial velocities we calculate kinematic distances for all components detected.Comment: Summitted to A&A, the resolution of figure 1 has been reduced, samples of Table 3 and Figure 11 are now included but the full version will only be available in the online version of the journa

Exploring tandem ruthenium-catalyzed hydrogen transfer and SNAr chemistry

A hydrogen-transfer strategy for the catalytic functionalization of benzylic alcohols via electronic arene activation, accessing a diverse range of bespoke diaryl ethers and aryl amines in excellent isolated yields (38 examples, 70% average yield), is reported. Taking advantage of the hydrogen-transfer approach, the oxidation level of the functionalized products can be selected by judicious choice of simple and inexpensive additives

The Genetic Structure and History of Africans and African Americans.

Africa is the source of all modern humans, but characterization of genetic variation and of relationships among populations across the continent has been enigmatic. We studied 121 African populations, four African American populations, and 60 non-African populations for patterns of variation at 1327 nuclear microsatellite and insertion/deletion markers. We identified 14 ancestral population clusters in Africa that correlate with self-described ethnicity and shared cultural and/or linguistic properties. We observed high levels of mixed ancestry in most populations, reflecting historical migration events across the continent. Our data also provide evidence for shared ancestry among geographically diverse hunter-gatherer populations (Khoesan speakers and Pygmies). The ancestry of African Americans is predominantly from Niger-Kordofanian (approximately 71%), European (approximately 13%), and other African (approximately 8%) populations, although admixture levels varied considerably among individuals. This study helps tease apart the complex evolutionary history of Africans and African Americans, aiding both anthropological and genetic epidemiologic studies

Turning big bang into big bounce: II. Quantum dynamics

We analyze the big bounce transition of the quantum FRW model in the setting of the nonstandard loop quantum cosmology (LQC). Elementary observables are used to quantize composite observables. The spectrum of the energy density operator is bounded and continuous. The spectrum of the volume operator is bounded from below and discrete. It has equally distant levels defining a quantum of the volume. The discreteness may imply a foamy structure of spacetime at semiclassical level which may be detected in astro-cosmo observations. The nonstandard LQC method has a free parameter that should be fixed in some way to specify the big bounce transition.Comment: 14 pages, no figures, version accepted for publication in Class. Quant. Gra

The RMS Survey: Distribution and properties of a sample of massive young stars

The Red MSX Source (RMS) survey has identified a large sample of massive young stellar objects (MYSOs) and ultra compact (UC) HII regions from a sample of ~2000 MSX and 2MASS colour selected sources. Using a recent catalogue of molecular clouds derived from the Boston University-Five College Radio Astronomy Observatory Galactic Ring Survey (GRS), and by applying a Galactic scaleheight cut off of 120 pc, we solve the distance ambiguity for RMS sources located within 18\degr 54\degr. These two steps yield kinematic distances to 291 sources out of a possible 326 located within the GRS longitude range. Combining distances and integrated fluxes derived from spectral energy distributions, we estimate luminosities to these sources and find that > 90% are indicative of the presence of a massive star. We find the completeness limit of our sample is ~10^4 Lsun, which corresponds to a zero age main sequence (ZAMS) star with a mass of ~12 Msun. Selecting only these sources, we construct a complete sample of 196 sources. Comparing the properties of the sample of young massive stars with the general population, we find the RMS-clouds are generally larger, more massive, and more turbulent. We examine the distribution of this sub-sample with respect to the location of the spiral arms and the Galactic bar and find them to be spatially correlated. We identify three significant peaks in the source surface density at Galactocentric radii of approximately 4, 6 and 8 kpc, which correspond to the proposed positions of the Scutum, Sagittarius and Perseus spiral arms, respectively. Fitting a scale height to the data we obtain an average value of ~29+-0.5 pc, which agrees well with other reported values in the literature, however, we note a dependence of the scale height on galactocentric radius with it increases from 30 pc to 45 pc between 2.5 and 8.5 kpc.Comment: Accepted for publication by MNRAS. Paper consists of 15 pages including 12 figures and four tables. Full versions of Tables 2 and 3 will only be available online. The resolution of Figure 9 has been reduced - a full resolution version of the paper can be download from here: http://www.ast.leeds.ac.uk/cgi-bin/RMS/RMS_PUBLICATIONS.cg