658 research outputs found

    The Scottish Mental Survey 1932 linked to the Midspan studies: a prospective investigation of childhood intelligence and future health

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    The Scottish Mental Survey of 1932 (SMS1932) recorded mental ability test scores for nearly all of the age group of children born in 1921 and at school in Scotland on 1st June 1932. The Collaborative and Renfrew/Paisley studies, two of the Midspan studies, obtained health and social data by questionnaire and a physical examination in the 1970s. Some Midspan participants were born in 1921 and may have taken part in the SMS1932, so might have mental ability data available from childhood. The 1921-born Midspan participants were matched with the computerised SMS1932 database. The total numbers successfully matched were 1032 out of 1251 people (82.5%). Of those matched, 938 (90.9%) had a mental ability test score recorded. The mean score of the matched sample was 37.2 (standard deviation [SD] 13.9) out of a possible score of 76. The mean (SD) for the boys and girls respectively was 38.3 (14.2) and 35.7 (13.9). This compared with 38.6 (15.7) and 37.2 (14.3) for boys and girls in all of Scotland. Graded relationships were found between mental ability in childhood, and social class and deprivation category of residence in adulthood. Being in a higher social class or in a more affluent deprivation category was associated with higher childhood mental ability scores and the scores reduced with increasing deprivation. Future plans for the matched data include examining associations between childhood mental ability and other childhood and adult risk factors for disease in adulthood, and modelling childhood mental ability, alongside other factors available in the Midspan database, as a risk factor for specific illnesses, admission to hospital and mortality

    Dietary quality and cardiometabolic indicators in the USA: A comparison of the Planetary Health Diet Index, Healthy Eating Index-2015, and Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension

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    Background The Planetary Health Diet Index (PHDI) measures adherence to the sustainable dietary guidance proposed by the EAT-Lancet Commission on Food, Planet, Health. To justify incorporating sustainable dietary guidance such as the PHDI in the US, the index needs to be compared to health-focused dietary recommendations already in use. The objectives of this study were to compare the how the Planetary Health Diet Index (PHDI), the Healthy Eating Index-2015 (HEI-2015) and Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) relate to cardiometabolic risk factors. Methods and findings Participants from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2015–2018) were assigned a score for each dietary index. We examined disparities in dietary quality for each index. We used linear and logistic regression to assess the association of standardized dietary index values with waist circumference, blood pressure, HDL-C, fasting plasma glucose (FPG) and triglycerides (TG). We also dichotomized the cardiometabolic indicators using the cutoffs for the Metabolic Syndrome and used logistic regression to assess the relationship of the standardized dietary index values with binary cardiometabolic risk factors. We observed diet quality disparities for populations that were Black, Hispanic, low-income, and low-education. Higher diet quality was associated with improved continuous and binary cardiometabolic risk factors, although higher PHDI was not associated with high FPG and was the only index associated with lower TG. These patterns remained consistent in sensitivity analyses.; Conclusions Sustainability-focused dietary recommendations such as the PHDI have similar cross-sectional associations with cardiometabolic risk as HEI-2015 or DASH. Health-focused dietary guidelines such as the forthcoming 2025–2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans can consider the environmental impact of diet and still promote cardiometabolic health

    Interatomic potentials for atomistic simulations of the Ti-Al system

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    Semi-empirical interatomic potentials have been developed for Al, alpha-Ti, and gamma-TiAl within the embedded atomic method (EAM) by fitting to a large database of experimental as well as ab-initio data. The ab-initio calculations were performed by the linear augmented plane wave (LAPW) method within the density functional theory to obtain the equations of state for a number of crystal structures of the Ti-Al system. Some of the calculated LAPW energies were used for fitting the potentials while others for examining their quality. The potentials correctly predict the equilibrium crystal structures of the phases and accurately reproduce their basic lattice properties. The potentials are applied to calculate the energies of point defects, surfaces, planar faults in the equilibrium structures. Unlike earlier EAM potentials for the Ti-Al system, the proposed potentials provide reasonable description of the lattice thermal expansion, demonstrating their usefulness in the molecular dynamics or Monte Carlo studies at high temperatures. The energy along the tetragonal deformation path (Bain transformation) in gamma-TiAl calculated with the EAM potential is in a fairly good agreement with LAPW calculations. Equilibrium point defect concentrations in gamma-TiAl are studied using the EAM potential. It is found that antisite defects strongly dominate over vacancies at all compositions around stoichiometry, indicating that gamm-TiAl is an antisite disorder compound in agreement with experimental data.Comment: 46 pages, 6 figures (Physical Review B, in press

    Visualising children’s participation in research: Lego Duplo, rainbows and clouds and moodboards

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    This article was published in the International Journal of Social Research Methodology [© Taylor & Francis] and the definitive version is available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13645579.2012.649410This paper examines the use of visual methods during research encounters with children and young people when investigating their perspectives and feelings towards their home and school life. By revealing the advantages and constraints of three visual approaches, including Lego Duplo, rainbows and clouds and moodboards, the paper contributes to the range of techniques available when conducting research with children and young people. In conclusion, the paper highlights the depth of information which can be elicited from visual techniques as well as the oral data which can be obtained through the utilisation of visual methods

    Proximity effect at superconducting Sn-Bi2Se3 interface

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    We have investigated the conductance spectra of Sn-Bi2Se3 interface junctions down to 250 mK and in different magnetic fields. A number of conductance anomalies were observed below the superconducting transition temperature of Sn, including a small gap different from that of Sn, and a zero-bias conductance peak growing up at lower temperatures. We discussed the possible origins of the smaller gap and the zero-bias conductance peak. These phenomena support that a proximity-effect-induced chiral superconducting phase is formed at the interface between the superconducting Sn and the strong spin-orbit coupling material Bi2Se3.Comment: 7 pages, 8 figure

    Demonstration of the temporal matter-wave Talbot effect for trapped matter waves

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    We demonstrate the temporal Talbot effect for trapped matter waves using ultracold atoms in an optical lattice. We investigate the phase evolution of an array of essentially non-interacting matter waves and observe matter-wave collapse and revival in the form of a Talbot interference pattern. By using long expansion times, we image momentum space with sub-recoil resolution, allowing us to observe fractional Talbot fringes up to 10th order.Comment: 17 pages, 7 figure

    Centrality Dependence of the High p_T Charged Hadron Suppression in Au+Au collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 130 GeV

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    PHENIX has measured the centrality dependence of charged hadron p_T spectra from central Au+Au collisions at sqrt(s_NN)=130 GeV. The truncated mean p_T decreases with centrality for p_T > 2 GeV/c, indicating an apparent reduction of the contribution from hard scattering to high p_T hadron production. For central collisions the yield at high p_T is shown to be suppressed compared to binary nucleon-nucleon collision scaling of p+p data. This suppression is monotonically increasing with centrality, but most of the change occurs below 30% centrality, i.e. for collisions with less than about 140 participating nucleons. The observed p_T and centrality dependence is consistent with the particle production predicted by models including hard scattering and subsequent energy loss of the scattered partons in the dense matter created in the collisions.Comment: 7 pages text, LaTeX, 6 figures, 2 tables, 307 authors, resubmitted to Phys. Lett. B. Revised to address referee concerns. Plain text data tables for the points plotted in figures for this and previous PHENIX publications are publicly available at http://www.phenix.bnl.gov/phenix/WWW/run/phenix/papers.htm

    Longitudinal double-spin asymmetry and cross section for inclusive neutral pion production at midrapidity in polarized proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 200 GeV

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    We report a measurement of the longitudinal double-spin asymmetry A_LL and the differential cross section for inclusive Pi0 production at midrapidity in polarized proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 200 GeV. The cross section was measured over a transverse momentum range of 1 < p_T < 17 GeV/c and found to be in good agreement with a next-to-leading order perturbative QCD calculation. The longitudinal double-spin asymmetry was measured in the range of 3.7 < p_T < 11 GeV/c and excludes a maximal positive gluon polarization in the proton. The mean transverse momentum fraction of Pi0's in their parent jets was found to be around 0.7 for electromagnetically triggered events.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. D (RC
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