Implicit self-comparisons against others could bias quality of life assessments

Objectives: To explore how patient-reported health related quality of life (HRQL) and global health status are affected by use of differing personal reference frames. We hypothesised that implicit comparisons against self at an earlier time, against healthy peers or against ill patients would greatly affect patients’ response values. Study design and setting: Patients in a randomised trial for treatment of Paget’s disease completed annual HRQL questionnaires. Supplementary questions were appended, asking the patients whether they were aware of having made implicit comparisons. Results: The majority of patients reported considering themselves a year ago (31% at baseline), themselves before becoming ill (23%) or other healthy people (24%), with similar proportions during follow up. Mean HRQL scores varied substantially according to the declared frame of reference, with differences as big as 19% of the scale score, or a standardised mean effect size of 0.74 standard deviations. Conclusion: Reported reference frames were associated with effects of similar magnitude to the differences in HRQL that are regarded as clinically important. This may be of particular concern in trials that andomise patients to management in different settings, such as treatment at home / in hospital, or surgery / chemotherapy, and might bias or obscure HRQL differences

hERG Gating Microdomains Defined by S6 Mutagenesis and Molecular Modeling

Human ether-à-go-go–related gene (hERG) channels mediate cardiac repolarization and bind drugs that can cause acquired long QT syndrome and life-threatening arrhythmias. Drugs bind in the vestibule formed by the S6 transmembrane domain, which also contains the activation gate that traps drugs in the vestibule and contributes to their efficacy of block. Although drug-binding residues have been identified, we know little about the roles of specific S6 residues in gating. We introduced cysteine mutations into the hERG channel S6 domain and measured mutational effects on the steady-state distribution and kinetics of transitions between the closed and open states. Energy-minimized molecular models based on the crystal structures of rKv1.2 (open state) and MlotiK1 and KcsA (closed state) provided structural contexts for evaluating mutant residues. The majority of mutations slowed deactivation, shifted conductance voltage curves to more negative potentials, or conferred a constitutive conductance over voltages that normally cause the channel to close. At the most intracellular extreme of the S6 region, Q664, Y667, and S668 were especially sensitive and together formed a ringed domain that occludes the pore in the closed state model. In contrast, mutation of S660, more than a full helical turn away and corresponding by alignment to a critical Shaker gate residue (V478), had little effect on gating. Multiple substitutions of chemically distinct amino acids at the adjacent V659 suggested that, upon closing, the native V659 side chain moves into a hydrophobic pocket but likely does not form the occluding gate itself. Overall, the study indicated that S6 mutagenesis disrupts the energetics primarily of channel closing and identified several residues critical for this process in the native channel

Counter and Complicit Masculine Discourse Among Men’s Shed Members

Men’s Sheds is a growing international movement aimed at providing men with places and activities that facilitate social connectedness. Despite Men’s Sheds’ focus on males, little attention has been paid to masculinities within the specific context of these settings. The current study used a gender relations framework to explore the ways in which attendees discussed Men’s Sheds, with particular attention to discussions that were complicit and counter to traditional, hegemonic views of masculinity, and diverse positions in between these binaries. The data consisted of transcripts and field notes from four focus groups comprised of mostly older, White, retired male members of a Canadian shed (N = 22). The analysis revealed three overall themes: (1) focus on work, (2) independence, and (3) need for male-focused spaces. These themes and associated subthemes suggest that shed members ascribe to dominant masculine values and ideals, but also support more fluid and flexible views of masculinity. Implications are discussed for how working with an array of masculinities within the Men’s Sheds movement will be helpful with respect to their future growth in Canada and internationally

Regional-scale drivers of groundwater faunal distributions

Freshwater aquifers are a major source of drinking water; they also possess unique assemblages of organisms. However, little is known about the distributional drivers of obligate groundwater organisms at the regional scale. We examine the distribution and composition of stygobiont assemblages in a complex geological setting and explore the relationship between groundwater fauna, hydrogeology and water chemistry. In the study area we grouped similar geologies into five hydrogeological formations (hydro-units) within which habitats for groundwater fauna were broadly similar. We found that the occurrence of stygobionts differed significantly between hydro-units. Stygobionts were significantly less likely to be recorded in mudstone/siltstone and sandstone aquifers compared with carbonate rocks or with igneous/metamorphic rocks. Variance partitioning indicated that the hydro-units explained a greater proportion of the variance (7.52%) in the groundwater community than water chemistry (5.02%). However, much of the variation remained unexplained. The macrofaunal stygobiont species in our study area formed three groups: (1) Niphargus glenniei was recorded in a range of hydro- units but only in the west of the study area. (2) Niphargus kochianus , Niphargus fontanus, Proasellus cavaticus and Crangonyx subterraneus were predominately recorded in carbonate aquifers in the east of the study area. (3) Niphargus aquilex and Microniphargus leruthi, were found throughout the study area and in a range of hydro-units. We hypothesise that physical barriers exist that prevent some stygobiont taxa from colonizing apparently suitable geologies; the low permeability deposits dividing the western and eastern parts of the study area may partly explain the observed distributions

Meaning behind measurement : self-comparisons affect responses to health related quality of life questionnaires

Purpose The subjective nature of quality of life is particularly pertinent to the domain of health-related quality of life (HRQOL) research. The extent to which participants’ responses are affected by subjective information and personal reference frames is unknown. This study investigated how an elderly population living with a chronic metabolic bone disorder evaluated self-reported quality of life. Methods Participants (n = 1,331) in a multi-centre randomised controlled trial for the treatment of Paget’s disease completed annual HRQOL questionnaires, including the SF-36, EQ-5D and HAQ. Supplementary questions were added to reveal implicit reference frames used when making HRQOL evaluations. Twenty-one participants (11 male, 10 female, aged 59–91 years) were interviewed retrospectively about their responses to the supplementary questions, using cognitive interviewing techniques and semi-structured topic guides. Results The interviews revealed that participants used complex and interconnected reference frames to promote response shift when making quality of life evaluations. The choice of reference frame often reflected external factors unrelated to individual health. Many participants also stated that they were unclear whether to report general or disease-related HRQOL. Conclusions It is important, especially in clinical trials, to provide instructions clarifying whether ‘quality of life’ refers to disease-related HRQOL. Information on selfcomparison reference frames is necessary for the interpretation of responses to questions about HRQOL.The Chief Scientist Office of the Scottish Government Health Directorates, The PRISM funding bodies (the Arthritis Research Campaign, the National Association for the Relief of Paget’s disease and the Alliance for Better Bone Health)Peer reviewedAuthor final versio

G313.3+00.3: A New Planetary Nebula discovered by the Australia Telescope Compact Array and the Spitzer Space Telescope

We present a new planetary nebula, first identified in images from the Australia Telescope Compact Array, although not recognized at that time. Recent observations with the Spitzer Space Telescope during the GLIMPSE Legacy program have rediscovered the object. The high-resolution radio and infrared images enable the identification of the central star or its wind, the recognition of the radio emission as thermal, and the probable presence of polycylic aromatic hydrocarbons in and around the source. These lead to the conclusion that G313.3+00.3 is a planetary nebula. This object is of particular interest because it was discovered solely through radio and mid-infrared imaging, without any optical (or near-infrared) confirmation, and acts as a proof of concept for the discovery of many more highly extinguished planetary nebulae. G313.3+00.3 is well-resolved by both the instruments with which it was identified, and suffers extreme reddening due to its location in the Scutum-Crux spiral arm.Comment: 18 pages, LaTeX (aastex), incl. 8 PostScript (eps) figures and 1 table. Accepted by ApJ (Part 1

Invertebrate traits, diversity and the vulnerability of groundwater ecosystems

Funding Information: This manuscript evolved from a workshop titled Trait‐based analyses in groundwater ecology and bioassessment held as part of the 24th International Conference on Subterranean Biology, 20–24th August 2018, University of Aveiro, Portugal. The workshop was supported by the conference organisers and the Macquarie University Species Spectrum Research Centre. Financial support was also provided to M.A.D. by the Portuguese government (Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia; FCT) through the research unit UIDB/04085/2020 (CENSE). A.S.P.S.R. was supported by the VILLUM FONDEN (research grant 15471) and by Portuguese National Funds through Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia within the cE3c Unit funding UIDB/00329/2020. S.I.S. acknowledges funding through EU Operational Programme Research, Development and Education No. CZ.02.2.69/0.0/0.0/16_027/0008357, and by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic [grant number CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/16 025/0007417]. K.L.K. was supported in part by Australian Research Council grant LP190100927. The comments of the Editor, Associate Editor and an anonymous reviewer greatly improved the MS. Open access publishing facilitated by Macquarie University, as part of the Wiley ‐ Macquarie University agreement via the Council of Australian University Librarians. Publisher Copyright: © 2022 The Authors. Functional Ecology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Ecological Society.Groundwater comprises the largest freshwater ecosystem on the planet. It has a distinct regime of extreme, yet stable environmental conditions that have favoured the development of similar morphological and functional traits in the resident invertebrate fauna (stygofauna). The analysis of community traits is increasingly used as an alternative to taxonomy-based assessments of biodiversity, especially for monitoring ecosystem status and linking the functions of organisms to ecological processes, yet it has been rarely applied to stygofauna and groundwater ecosystems. In this paper, we review the variation in functional traits among the invertebrate fauna of this important ecosystem. We focus on the stygofauna and processes of alluvium and fractured rock aquifers that are typified by small voids and fissures that constrain the habitats and environmental conditions. As a first step, we compare trait variability between groundwater and surface water invertebrate communities and then examine the significance of the ranges of these traits to the vulnerability of the ecosystem to change. Fifteen potentially useful functional traits are recognised. Eight of these have narrower ranges (i.e. exhibit fewer states, or attributes, of a particular trait) in groundwater than they do in surface water. Two traits have wider ranges. Our synthesis suggests that the relative stability of groundwater environments has led to low trait variability. The low biomass and low reproductive rate of stygofauna suggest that recovery potential following disturbance is likely to be low. For the purposes of both improved understanding and effective management, further work is needed to document additional functional traits and their states in groundwater fauna, enabling a better understanding of the relationship between response and effect traits in these ecosystems. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.publishersversionpublishe

Defining geo-habitats for groundwater ecosystem assessments: an example from England and Wales (UK)

Groundwater ecosystems comprising micro-organisms and metazoans provide an important contribution to global biodiversity. Their complexity depends on geology, which determines the physical habitat available, and the chemical conditions within it. Despite this, methods of classifying groundwater habitats using geological data are not well established, and researchers have called for higher resolution habitat frameworks. A novel habitat typology for England and Wales (UK) is proposed, which distinguishes 11 geological habitats (geo-habitats) on hydrogeological principles and maps their distribution. Hydrogeological and hydrochemical data are used to determine the characteristics of each geo-habitat, and demonstrate their differences. Using these abiotic parameters, a new method to determine abiotic habitat quality is then developed. The geo-habitats had significantly different characteristics validating the classification system. Karstic and porous habitats were generally of higher quality than fractured habitats. All geo-habitats were highly heterogeneous, containing both high quality habitat patches that are likely to be suitable for fauna, and areas of low quality that may limit faunal distributions. Overall, 70 % of England and Wales are covered by lower quality fractured habitats, with only 13 % covered by higher quality habitats. The main areas of high quality habitats occur in central England as north-south trending belts, possibly facilitating dispersal along this axis. They are separated by low quality geo-habitats that may prevent east-west dispersal of fauna. In south-west England and in Wales suitable geo-habitats occur as small isolated patches. Overall, this paper provides a new national-scale typology that is adaptable for studies in other geographic areas

A multicenter study on chronic cough in children: Burden and etiologies based on a standardized management pathway

Background: While the burden of chronic cough in children has been documented, etiologic factors across multiple settings and age have not been described. In children with chronic cough, we aimed (1) to evaluate the burden and etiologies using a standar

The Erotic and the Vulgar: Visual Culture and Organized Labor's Critique of U.S. Hegemony in Occupied Japan

This essay engages the colonial legacy of postwar Japan by arguing that the political cartoons produced as part of the postwar Japanese labor movement’s critique of U.S. cultural hegemony illustrate how gendered discourses underpinned, and sometimes undermined, the ideologies formally represented by visual artists and the organizations that funded them. A significant component of organized labor’s propaganda rested on a corpus of visual media that depicted women as icons of Japanese national culture. Japan’s most militant labor unions were propagating anti-imperialist discourses that invoked an engendered/endangered nation that accentuated the importance of union roles for men by subordinating, then eliminating, union roles for women