Sun exposure behaviour, seasonal vitamin D deficiency, and relationship to bone health in adolescents

YesContext: Vitamin D is essential for bone health in adolescence, where there is rapid bone mineral content accrual. As cutaneous sun-exposure provides vitamin D, there is no recommended oral intake for UK adolescents. Objective: Assess seasonal vitamin D status and its contributors in white Caucasian adolescents, and examine bone health in those found deficient. Design: Prospective cohort study. Setting: Six schools in Greater Manchester, UK. Participants: 131 adolescents, 12–15 years. Intervention(s): Seasonal assessment of circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25OHD), personal sunexposure and dietary vitamin D. Adolescents deficient (25OHD <10 ng/mL/25 nmol/L) in ≥one season underwent dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (lumbar spine, femoral neck), with bone mineral apparent density (BMAD) correction for size, and peripheral quantitative computed tomography (distal radius) for volumetric (v)BMD. Main Outcome Measure: Serum 25OHD; BMD. Results: Mean 25OHD was highest in September: 24.1 (SD 6.9) ng/mL and lowest in January: 15.5 (5.9) ng/mL. Over the year, 16% were deficient in ≥one season and 79% insufficient (25OHD <20 ng/mL/50 nmol/L) including 28% in September. Dietary vitamin D was low year-round while personal sun-exposure was seasonal and predominantly across the school week. Holidays accounted for 17% variation in peak 25OHD (p<0.001). Nineteen adolescents underwent bone assessment, which showed low femoral neck BMAD versus matched reference data (p=0.0002), 3 with Z≤ -2.0 distal radius trabecular vBMD. Conclusions: Sun-exposure levels failed to provide adequate vitamin D, ~one-quarter adolescents insufficient even at summer-peak. Seasonal vitamin D deficiency was prevalent and those affected had low BMD. Recommendations on vitamin D acquisition are indicated in this age-group.The Bupa Foundation (Grant number TBF-M10-017)

Fractional Sunburn Threshold UVR Doses Generate Equivalent Vitamin D and DNA Damage in Skin Types I-VI but with Epidermal DNA Damage Gradient Correlated to Skin Darkness

Dermatology-oncolog

US hegemony and the origins of Japanese nuclear power : the politics of consent

This paper deploys the Gramscian concepts of hegemony and consent in order to explore the process whereby nuclear power was brought to Japan. The core argument is that nuclear power was brought to Japan as a consequence of US hegemony. Rather than a simple manifestation of one state exerting material ‘power over' another, bringing nuclear power to Japan involved a series of compromises worked out within and between state and civil society in both Japan and the USA. Ideologies of nationalism, imperialism and modernity underpinned the process, coalescing in post-war debates about the future trajectory of Japanese society, Japan's Cold War alliance with the USA and the role of nuclear power in both. Consent to nuclear power was secured through the generation of a psychological state in the public mind combining the fear of nuclear attack and the hope of unlimited consumption in a nuclear-fuelled post-modern world

Evolution of microstructure and crystallographic texture during dissimilar friction stir welding of duplex stainless steel to low carbon-manganese structural steel

Electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD) was used to analyze the evolution of microstructure and crystallographic texture during friction stir welding of dissimilar type 2205 duplex stainless steel (DSS) to type S275 low carbon-manganese structural steel. The results of microstructural analyses show that the temperature in the center of stirred zone reached temperatures between Ac 1 and Ac 3 during welding, resulting in a minor ferrite-to-austenite phase transformation in the S275 steel, and no changes in the fractions of ferrite and austenite in the DSS. Temperatures in the thermomechanically affected and shoulder-affected zones of both materials, in particular toward the root of the weld, did not exceed the Ac 1 of S275 steel. The shear generated by the friction between the material and the rotating probe occurred in austenitic/ferritic phase field of the S275 and DSS. In the former, the transformed austenite regions of the microstructure were transformed to acicular ferrite, on cooling, while the dual-phase austenitic/ferritic structure of the latter was retained. Studying the development of crystallographic textures with regard to shear flow lines generated by the probe tool showed the dominance of simple shear components across the whole weld in both materials. The ferrite texture in S275 steel was dominated by D 1, D 2, E, E¯ , and F, where the fraction of acicular ferrite formed on cooling showed a negligible deviation from the texture for the ideal shear texture components of bcc metals. The ferrite texture in DSS was dominated by D 1, D 2, I, I¯ , and F, and that of austenite was dominated by the A, A¯ , B, and B¯ of the ideal shear texture components for bcc and fcc metals, respectively. While D 1, D 2, and F components of the ideal shear texture are common between the ferrite in S275 steel and that of dual-phase DSS, the preferential partitioning of strain into the ferrite phase of DSS led to the development of I and I¯ components in DSS, as opposed to E and E¯ in the S275 steel. The formations of fine and ultrafine equiaxed grains were observed in different regions of both materials that are believed to be due to strain-induced continuous dynamic recrystallization (CDRX) in ferrite of both DSS and S275 steel, and discontinuous dynamic recrystallization (DDRX) in austenite phase of DSS

Whole-genome sequencing reveals host factors underlying critical COVID-19

Critical COVID-19 is caused by immune-mediated inflammatory lung injury. Host genetic variation influences the development of illness requiring critical care1 or hospitalization2,3,4 after infection with SARS-CoV-2. The GenOMICC (Genetics of Mortality in Critical Care) study enables the comparison of genomes from individuals who are critically ill with those of population controls to find underlying disease mechanisms. Here we use whole-genome sequencing in 7,491 critically ill individuals compared with 48,400 controls to discover and replicate 23 independent variants that significantly predispose to critical COVID-19. We identify 16 new independent associations, including variants within genes that are involved in interferon signalling (IL10RB and PLSCR1), leucocyte differentiation (BCL11A) and blood-type antigen secretor status (FUT2). Using transcriptome-wide association and colocalization to infer the effect of gene expression on disease severity, we find evidence that implicates multiple genes—including reduced expression of a membrane flippase (ATP11A), and increased expression of a mucin (MUC1)—in critical disease. Mendelian randomization provides evidence in support of causal roles for myeloid cell adhesion molecules (SELE, ICAM5 and CD209) and the coagulation factor F8, all of which are potentially druggable targets. Our results are broadly consistent with a multi-component model of COVID-19 pathophysiology, in which at least two distinct mechanisms can predispose to life-threatening disease: failure to control viral replication; or an enhanced tendency towards pulmonary inflammation and intravascular coagulation. We show that comparison between cases of critical illness and population controls is highly efficient for the detection of therapeutically relevant mechanisms of disease

Subtle and Public Notification Cues for Mobile Devices

. Mobile information technology increasingly influences everyday life. When used in social contexts several problems regarding how mobile devices convey notifications arise. Auditory notification cues, such as those generally used by mobile phones, can be intrusive and attention demanding. Tactile cues, such as vibrations, are very private and subtle. However, since it is hard for other people nearby to perceive such cues, it can be awkward to understand the actions which a notification cue can give rise to, i.e., tactile cues are not public. We discuss the design space of notification cues for mobile devices and propose an exploration of the space which combines the two dimensions of subtlety and publicity. We conclude with a description of current and future work.