Contents Schizophrenia: improving cost-effectiveness............................................4

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The democratic engagement of Britain's ethnic minorities

Democratic engagement is a multi-faceted phenomenon that embraces citizens' involvement with electoral politics, their participation in ‘conventional’ extra-parliamentary political activity, their satisfaction with democracy and trust in state institutions, and their rejection of the use of violence for political ends. Evidence from the 2010 BES and EMBES shows that there are important variations in patterns of democratic engagement across Britain's different ethnic-minority groups and across generations. Overall, ethnic-minority engagement is at a similar level to and moved by the same general factors that influence the political dispositions of whites. However, minority democratic engagement is also strongly affected by a set of distinctive ethnic-minority perceptions and experiences, associated particularly with discrimination and patterns of minority and majority cultural engagement. Second-generation minorities who grew up in Britain are less, rather than more, likely to be engaged

Intraoperative ICG-NIR Fluorescence Angiography Visualization of Testicular Perfusion in Operations for Testicular Torsion

Purpose: Indocyanine Green (ICG) near-infrared (NIR) fluorescence angiography is used in assessing testicular perfusion after reduction of testicular torsion to assess tissue viability. Introduction: Determination of viability of a testicle after reduction of a testicular torsion has been performed by numerous methods including visual assessment, Doppler ultrasound, and cutting the testicular capsule. Each of these has limitations, are not always reproducible, and may involve damage to the testicle and confusion of capsular blood flow for internal perfusion. A possible alternative to these methods is the use of ICG-NIR fluorescence angiography. ICG was FDA-approved in 1959 and has been in use for over 60 years across various fields including colorectal and breast surgery, with few reported adverse events related to the injectable dye. Intraoperative use of an NIR camera causes the dye to fluoresce. ICG -NIR is used in this report to demonstrate the perfusion or lack thereof during reduction of testicular torsion. Method: Thirty patients in a single center presented with testicular torsion from November 2015 – August 2019, and were evaluated by a combination of 3 Pediatric Surgeons and 2 Pediatric Urologists using ICG-NIR during torsion reduction procedures. An anesthesiologist injected 1.25 mg (/kg) ICG dye intravenously and the surgeon used the NIR camera to visualize the testicle In-situ to assess the local perfusion before and after testicle reduction. After investigation of testicle viability, the surgeon determined whether to proceed with an orchiopexy or orchiectomy based on tissue perfusion. Results: Thirty patients in a single center presented with testicular torsion from November 2015 – August 2019, and were evaluated by a combination of 3 Pediatric Surgeons and 2 Pediatric Urologists using ICG-NIR during torsion reduction procedures. This process identified the extent of perfusion and differentiated capsular from internal testicular perfusion. It provided assurance of blood flow or definitively confirmed lack of tissue viability, allowing surgeons to proceed with orchiopexies or orchiectomies, respectively. ICG-NIR findings were correlated with standard methods of assessing testicular perfusion, and all patients received contralateral orchiopexy. Conclusion: In patients presenting with testicular torsion, the determination of testicular viability after reduction is very subjective, and complication risk from the surgery can vary based numerous factors including surgeon level of experience, method utilized to assess perfusion, and hemodynamic status of the patient. Use of technologies that image vascular irrigation prior to decision to resect or leave the testicle in place may help to reduce these complications. This study was limited by small sample size in a single center. Future studies with higher volume should compare postoperative complications using this technology compared to other accepted methods of assessing testicle perfusion. This will help elucidate benefits to current surgical outcomes, as well as to gauge success of future novel techniques used in testicular salvage during torsion reductions

An in-plane photoelectric effect in two-dimensional electron systems for terahertz detection

Many mid- and far-infrared semiconductor photodetectors rely on a photonic response, when the photon energy is large enough to excite and extract electrons due to optical transitions. Toward the terahertz range with photon energies of a few milli–electron volts, classical mechanisms are used instead. This is the case in two-dimensional electron systems, where terahertz detection is dominated by plasmonic mixing and by scattering-based thermal phenomena. Here, we report on the observation of a quantum, collision-free phenomenon that yields a giant photoresponse at terahertz frequencies (1.9 THz), more than 10-fold as large as expected from plasmonic mixing. We artificially create an electrically tunable potential step within a degenerate two-dimensional electron gas. When exposed to terahertz radiation, electrons absorb photons and generate a large photocurrent under zero source-drain bias. The observed phenomenon, which we call the “in-plane photoelectric effect,” provides an opportunity for efficient direct detection across the entire terahertz range.George and Lilian Schiff Studentship, Schiff Foundation, University of Cambridge Honorary Vice-Chancellor’s Award, Cambridge Trust, University of Cambridg

Towards quantification of protective antibody responses by passive transfer of the 1st WHO International Standard for Ebola virus antibody in a guinea pig model.

Ebola virus (EBOV) represents a major concern to global health due to the unpredictable nature of outbreaks. Infection with EBOV can cause a severe viral haemorrhagic fever with no licensed vaccine or treatment, restricting work with live EBOV to Containment/Biosafety Level 4 facilities. Whilst the magnitude of recent outbreaks has provided an impetus for vaccine and antiviral development, establishing the efficacy of candidate vaccine materials relies on EBOV challenge models and advanced human trials should outbreaks occur and where logistics and funding allow. To address these hurdles in vaccine development, we investigated whether a recently established serological reference standard, the 1st WHO International Standard for Ebola virus antibody, could be used to provide a quantifiable correlate of immune protection in vivo. Dilutions of the International Standard were inoculated into naïve guinea pigs 24 h before challenge with a lethal dose of Ebola virus. Only subjects receiving the highest dose of the International Standard exhibited evidence of delayed progression. Due to it being a WHO established reagent and available globally upon request, this standard allows for effective comparisons of data between laboratories and may prove valuable to select the candidate vaccines that are most likely to confer humoral immune protection ensuring the most promising candidates progress into efficacy studies

Metamaterial/graphene active terahertz modulators

Within the last years there has been a tremendous thrust into research and technology in the THz spectral region (broadly defined as 0.1-10 THz) mainly driven by the unique potential where this radiation finds applications in, such as imaging, spectroscopy and communication. In all these fields a fast, integrated and versatile platform for modulating light is required. Metamaterial/graphene devices fulfill all these requirements as their subwavelength nature lends itself naturally to strong light-matter interaction, and therefore highly efficient and miniaturized devices. Graphene's unique properties, e.g. the large carrier concentration modulation, provide a large degree of compatibility with several architectures which can be exploited in a range of modulation or detection schemes. Finally, metamaterial/graphene devices realize a fast, versatile platform, which can be easily scaled to other frequencies, and adapted into amplitude, frequency, polarization and phase modulators, as well as integrated detectors, for the next generation of wireless-communication

Active frequency modulation of metamaterial/graphene optoelectronic device using coupled resonators

We present the continuous frequency modulation of a metamaterial resonance using selective damping of coupled plasmonic resonators with electrostatically gated graphene. A resonance frequency tuning range >150 GHz is achieved at 1.5 THz making this device suitable for use as an optoelectronic, tunable frequency modulator for THz frequencies