Soil, wheat, cabbage and drinking water iodine in relation to human iodine status and iodine deficiency disorders in Xinjiang Province, China

Iodine is an essential trace element for humans and animals. A lack in the diet can lead to iodine deficiency disorders (IDD) the most common manifestation being goitre, an enlargement of the thyroid gland in the neck. Infants born to severely Ideficient mothers may suffer cretinism and I-deficiency is the world's most common cause of preventable mental retardation. In many countries this problem has been tackled successfully using medical interventions such as the iodination of table salt. Xinjiang Province in northwest China is a remote desert region where goitre and cretinism have been reported for many years. People in this region do not like the taste of iodised salt and prefer to use local rock-salt with very low concentrations of iodine. As an alternative treatment, previous investigators added potassium-iodate to irrigation waters in an attempt to increase the I-concentrations of crops and animals in the food supply and the I-status of the population. Initial successes were reported but the long-term effectiveness of the method had not been tested. The present study aims to assess environmental controls on iodine uptake into the food chain and in Xinjiang had the opportunity to study three contrasting area

A study into marine landscapes applied to habitat mapping

In recent years there have been many new seabed-mapping programmes carried out around the world using the latest data acquisition techniques. The need for these maps is driven by the recognition that an ecosystem-based approach to the management of national Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs), as required by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) adopted at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992, requires both detailed bathymetry and maps of the physical properties of the sea floor. In Europe, the implementation of the CBD is through the Habitats and Birds Directives, which require the identification of Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) and Special Protected Areas (SPAs). A network of SACs and SPAs will be set up across Europe known as Natura 2000. In addition, the International Council for the Exploration of the Seas has developed the concept of the ecosystem-based approach in the context of fisheries management, subsequently adopted by the European Union in its review of the Common Fisheries Policy; the World Wildlife Fund for Natures’ marine policy has developed the concept of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs); the OSPAR Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North East Atlantic is also working to promote networks of MPAs and Ecological Quality Objectives (EcoQOs). In the UK, the Department of Environment, Fisheries and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) major reports on Marine Stewardship,’ Safeguarding our Seas: A Strategy for the Conservation and Sustainable Development of our Marine Environment’ published in 2002 and followed by a consultation paper ‘ Seas of Change’, form the basis for developing a practical application of the ecosystem-based approach. The DEFRA Review of Marine Nature Conservation (RMNC) produced an interim report in 2001, which recommended that a pilot scheme at a regional scale to test a proposed framework for nature conservation. This has led to the Irish Sea Pilot Study managed by the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC), which has adopted the concept of ‘marine landscapes’, first developed in Canadian waters, based on geophysical features recognising that their importance in determining the nature of biological communities. As a result of these national and international initiatives, a number of habitat classification schemes have been introduced in different parts of the world. Since 2001, a group of geologists with interests in the application of geological data to habitat mapping have met each year to present their views and mapping programmes and to discuss their ideas with scientists from other disciplines, mainly biologists and oceanographers. The GeoHab (Geological Mapping of Habitats for Marine Resources and Management) group have provided the impetus for this review of BGS geological data in the context of habitat mapping classification schemes, and proposes ways in which our BGS data may be applied automatically, within a Geographical Information System, to the selection of relevant sources of information

The Shallow Geological Model: mapping and monitoring the marine landscape

Managing our seas without a sound knowledge of the sea-bed environment and the processes that shape the sea-bed characteristics makes it difficult to conserve key areas, maintain biodiversity and economically develop our marine resources in an efficient and sustainable way. Recent developments in marine landscape mapping, visualisation techniques and instant data access provide timely, proven technologies that are now in widespread use

The geochemistry of sea-bed sediments of the United Kingdom Continental Shelf : the North Sea, Hebrides and West Shetland shelves, and the Malin-Hebrides sea area

The sea area around the United Kingdom is used for a wide range of human activities all of which have a significant impact on the marine environment. The naturally-occurring concentrations of chemical elements in sea-bed sediments may be enhanced by contaminants introduced by input from rivers and the atmosphere and by more localised sources arising from shipping operations, exploitation of oil and gas, and by direct discharges from drainage systems, sewage outfalls, effluents from industry and waste' disposal at sea. It is therefore important to identify components of sea-floor sediments which are due to the rocks or older sediments from which they are derived, and those which are introduced into the environment. This report presents regional geochemical data for a variety of sediment types occurring in a wide range of environments. Samples have been collected offshore of the eastern coast of the UK where major river systems which drain heavily populated and industrialised catchment areas, such as the Thames, Humber and Tyne, flow into the North Sea, and on the shelf west of Scotland where man's activities have had much less impact. The data presented here provide a baseline for chemical element concentrations in sea-bed sediments against which future work may be assessed. It should therefore be of significance to a diverse range of interests including pollution control, fishing, natural resources, nature conservation, shipping, tourism, recreation, and waste disposal management. In addition the information will be of use to geologists in identifying the source of sea-bed sediments and the underlying glacial deposits

A natural experiment during lockdown and on-going care-home COVID-19 outbreaks showed a single dose of vaccine reduced hospitalisation and deaths of care-home residents in North West England

To examine the effectiveness of one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine on care-home residents. Natural experiment. We compared the effectiveness of single doses of Pfizer/BioNTech BNT162b2 (effective at 10 days) and AstraZeneca ChAdOx1 (effective at 14 days) vaccines in vaccinated and control (unvaccinated) homes. Using routine data, all care-homes reporting COVID-19 outbreaks between 11/12/2020 and 12/3/2021 in a sub-region of North West England were included. Of 126 care-homes (4042 residents), with outbreaks, 55 (44%, 1686 residents) reported onset dates before vaccination commenced; 38 (30%, 1304 residents) reported onset < 10 (BNT162b2) and < 14 days (ChAdOx1) after vaccine administration; and 33 (26%, 1052 residents) reported onset > 10 (BNT162b2) and > 14 (ChAdOx1) days after vaccination. Eighty-nine (71%) homes used ChAdOx1 vaccine. A single dose of vaccine before the outbreak onset significantly lowered the risk of symptoms (reduced by 48%), positivity (by 65%), hospitalisation (by 68%), and death (by 81%). Some vaccine effectiveness was also noted in care-homes that received one dose of vaccine within 10-14 days of outbreak onset. The number needed to vaccinate to prevent one resident from COVID-19-related hospitalisation was 34, and death was 17. This real-world, natural experiment adds to the evidence of COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness from different studies using varying designs. In the context of lockdown's impact on infection rates and on-going care-home outbreaks, a single dose of either ChAdOx1 or BNT162b2 vaccine had a significant impact on reducing COVID-19 related hospitalisation and death in care-home residents. Natural experiments should be used more in public health

The Johannesburg cardiac rehabilitation programme

Cardiac rehabilitation has become a generally accepted mode of treatment for patients suffering from coronary artery disease. The Johannesburg cardiac rehabilitation programme has started in 1982 and has rapidly grown to become one of the largest programmes in southern Africa. This paper describes the 387 patients admitted to the unit l;Ietween June 1986 and July 1988 and evaluates the effects of a combined exercise training and lifestyle modification programme. The mean age on admission was 55 years for males and 58 years for females. Most patients were from social classes I and 11. Myocardial infarction, coronary artery bypass graft and a combination of both were the most common reasons for admission (35,4%. 23% and 21,2% respectively). On admission 72,9% of patients were smokers, 26,3% had hypertension and 34,3% had hypercholesterolaemia. A 50% drop-out rate within 12 months of starting the programme was noted. An increase in peak oxygen uptake, weight and skinfold thickness reduction, and improvement in the lipogram were seen after 6 months in patients who complied well with the programme. Cardiac rehabilitation is a secondary preventive strategy that can complement traditional medical and surgical therapies

Seabed characterization: developing fit for purpose methodologies

We briefly describe three methods of seabed characterization which are ‘fit for purpose’, in that each approach is well suited to distinct objectives e.g. characterizing glacial geomorphology and shallow glacial geology vs. rapid prediction of seabed sediment distribution via geostatistics. The methods vary from manual ‘expert’ interpretation to increasingly automated and mathematically based models, each with their own attributes and limitations. We would note however that increasing automation and mathematical sophistication does not necessarily equate to improve map outputs, or reduce the time required to produce them. Judgements must be made to select methodologies which are most appropriate to the variables mapped, and according to the extent and presentation scale of final maps

The General Solution of Bianchi Type VIIhVII_h Vacuum Cosmology

The theory of symmetries of systems of coupled, ordinary differential equations (ODE) is used to develop a concise algorithm in order to obtain the entire space of solutions to vacuum Bianchi Einstein Field Equations (EFEs). The symmetries used are the well known automorphisms of the Lie algebra for the corresponding isometry group of each Bianchi Type, as well as the scaling and the time re-parametrization symmetry. The application of the method to Type VII_h results in (a) obtaining the general solution of Type VII_0 with the aid of the third Painlev\'{e} transcendental (b) obtaining the general solution of Type $VII_h$ with the aid of the sixth Painlev\'{e} transcendental (c) the recovery of all known solutions (six in total) without a prior assumption of any extra symmetry (d) The discovery of a new solution (the line element given in closed form) with a G_3 isometry group acting on T_3, i.e. on time-like hyper-surfaces, along with the emergence of the line element describing the flat vacuum Type VII_0 Bianchi Cosmology.Comment: latex2e source file, 27 pages, 2 tables, no fiure

Linkage of national health and social care data: a cross-sectional study of multimorbidity and social care use in people aged over 65 years in Scotland

Background: Little is known about the relationship between multimorbidity and social care use (also known as long-term care). The aim of this study was to assess the relationship between receipt of formal social care services and multimorbidity. Methods: This retrospective data linkage, observational study included all individuals over the age of 65 in the population of Scotland in financial years 2014/15 and 2015/16 (n= 975,265). The main outcome was receipt of social care measured by presence in the Scottish Social Care Survey. Logistic regression models were used to assess the influence of multimorbidity, age, sex, and socioeconomic position on the outcome reporting Average Marginal Effects (AME). Findings: 93.3% of those receiving social care had multimorbidity. 16.2% of those with multimorbidity received social care compared to 3.7% of those without. The strongest magnitudes of AME for receiving social care were seen for age and multimorbidity (respectively 50% and 18% increased probability comparing oldest to youngest and most severe multimorbidity to none). A 5.5% increased probability of receiving social care was observed for the most-deprived compared to the least-deprived. Interpretation: Higher levels of social care receipt are observed in those with increasing age, severe multimorbidity and living in more deprived areas. Multimorbidity does not fully moderate the relationship between social care receipt and either age or deprivation