THE TRADE RESTRICTIVENESS INDEX: THE POTENTIAL CONTRIBUTION TO AGRICULTURAL POLICY ANALYSIS

In the policy arena, there is a demand for "trade distortion indicators", but many of the traditional indices are difficult to compute and interpret. Recent developments in the literature have led to a new indicator: the Trade Restrictiveness Index (TRI). This paper analyzes some problems related to the TRI's computation and interpretation. We argue that the index is theoretically well grounded and offers potential for measuring the relative importance of agricultural policy distortions. However, the name of "trade restrictiveness" index is seriously misleading, since the TRI does not provide a measure of trade flows restrictions.Agricultural and Food Policy, International Relations/Trade,

To understand the biology and epidemiology of potato phytoplasmas

Success story of the Euphresco project 2015-B-115 'The biology and epidemiology of ‘Candidatus Liberibacter solanacearum’ and potato phytoplasmas and their contribution to risk management in potato and other crops' (PhyLib II

Ideology and deviance.

The work herein is essentially an exploration into social theory. This theoretical re-search was precipitated by my dissatisfaction with a semiological analysis of the press reporting of political demonstrations, which I worked on for 6 months in 1973. My critique of that analysis is presented in chapter five. A more fundamental driving force was my concern with the importance of dominant ideology. I soon discovered that Marxian analysis has tended to neglect ideology as an objective force in social history. The thesis constantly refers itself to the need for historical research on the social origins, forms and functions of ideology. Initially, I was attempting to establish a satisfactory paradigm in the sociology of deviance. Extant theories proved to be inadequate and Hirst’s critique offered little. However, I found that Hirst implicitly reconceptualised deviance in a way that corresponded with my own nascent ideas; as a form of ideological formation. The search for a theory of ideology and a theory of deviance thus became doubly important. Hence, the thesis has three main objects: (a.) the concept of deviance, (b) the concept of ideology, and (c) a theorised reading of ideologies in discursive materials. I have concluded that the essence of deviance is as a social censure (a type of ideological formation reflecting collisions in class practices), that ideology is, in Marxian analysis, the structure of consciousness, and that one can only rationally read an ideology from a discursive text when one has a theory of its specificity and of the forms of appearance of its referent. In the process of the investigation I was forced to try to re-think the major concepts of science, class, dominant ideology, law, crime and social practice, and to develop the new concept of the ideological formation. The work can be seen as a prolegomenon to an historical analysis of political ideologies

Factors associated with attendance, engagement and wellbeing change in an arts on prescription intervention

Background Arts on prescription interventions have grown in number in recent years with a corresponding evidence base in support. Despite the growth and presence of these interventions, there have been no evaluations to date as to what factors predict patient success within these referral schemes. Methods Using the largest cohort of patient data to date in the field (N = 1297), we set out to understand those factors that are associated with attendance, programme engagement and wellbeing change of patients. Factors associated with these outcomes were assessed using three binary logistic regression models. Results Baseline wellbeing was associated with each outcome, with higher baseline wellbeing being associated with attendance and engagement, and lower baseline wellbeing associated with positive wellbeing change. Additionally, deprivation was associated with attendance, with those from the median deprivation quintile being more likely to attend. Conclusions The role of baseline wellbeing in each outcome of these analyses is the most critical associative factor. Whilst those that are lower in wellbeing have more to gain from these interventions, they are also less likely to attend or engage, meaning they may need additional support in commencing these types of social prescribing interventions

First Constraints on Source Counts at 350 Microns

We have imaged a $\sim$6 arcminute$^2$ region in the Bo\"otes Deep Field using the 350 $\mu$m-optimised second generation Submillimeter High Angular Resolution Camera (SHARC II), achieving a peak 1$\sigma$ sensitivity of $\sim$5 mJy. We detect three sources above 3$\sigma$, and determine a spurious source detection rate of 1.09 in our maps. In the absence of $5\sigma$ detections, we rely on deep 24 $\mu$m and 20 cm imaging to deduce which sources are most likely to be genuine, giving two real sources. From this we derive an integral source count of 0.84$^{+1.39}_{-0.61}$ sources arcmin$^{-2}$ at $S>13$ mJy, which is consistent with 350 $\mu$m source count models that have an IR-luminous galaxy population evolving with redshift. We use these constraints to consider the future for ground-based short-submillimetre surveys.Comment: accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journa

A professional development model to integrate computational thinking into middle school science through codesigned storylines

This article describes a professional development (PD) model, the CT-Integration Cycle, that supports teachers in learning to integrate computational thinking (CT) and computer science principles into their middle school science and STEM instruction. The PD model outlined here includes collaborative design (codesign; Voogt et al., 2015) of curricular units aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) that use programmable sensors. Specifically, teachers can develop or modify curricular materials to ensure a focus on coherent, student-driven instruction through the investigation of scientific phenomena that are relevant to students and integrate CT and sensor technology. Teachers can implement these storylines and collaboratively reflect on their instructional practices and student learning. Throughout this process, teachers may develop expertise in CT-integrated science instruction as they plan and use instructional practices aligned with the NGSS and foreground CT. This paper describes an examination of a group of five middle school teachers&rsquo; experiences during one iteration of the CT-Integration Cycle, including their learning, planning, implementation, and reflection on a unit they codesigned. Throughout their participation in the PD, the teachers expanded their capacity to engage deeply with CT practices and thoughtfully facilitated a CT-integrated unit with their students.</p

Does Viral Co-Infection Influence the Severity of Acute Respiratory Infection in Children?

Background Multiple viruses are often detected in children with respiratory infection but the significance of co-infection in pathogenesis, severity and outcome is unclear. Objectives To correlate the presence of viral co-infection with clinical phenotype in children admitted with acute respiratory infections (ARI). Methods We collected detailed clinical information on severity for children admitted with ARI as part of a Spanish prospective multicenter study (GENDRES network) between 2011–2013. A nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) approach was used to detect respiratory viruses in respiratory secretions. Findings were compared to an independent cohort collected in the UK. Results 204 children were recruited in the main cohort and 97 in the replication cohort. The number of detected viruses did not correlate with any markers of severity. However, bacterial superinfection was associated with increased severity (OR: 4.356; P-value = 0.005), PICU admission (OR: 3.342; P-value = 0.006), higher clinical score (1.988; P-value = 0.002) respiratory support requirement (OR: 7.484; P-value < 0.001) and longer hospital length of stay (OR: 1.468; P-value < 0.001). In addition, pneumococcal vaccination was found to be a protective factor in terms of degree of respiratory distress (OR: 2.917; P-value = 0.035), PICU admission (OR: 0.301; P-value = 0.011), lower clinical score (-1.499; P-value = 0.021) respiratory support requirement (OR: 0.324; P-value = 0.016) and oxygen necessity (OR: 0.328; P-value = 0.001). All these findings were replicated in the UK cohort. Conclusion The presence of more than one virus in hospitalized children with ARI is very frequent but it does not seem to have a major clinical impact in terms of severity. However bacterial superinfection increases the severity of the disease course. On the contrary, pneumococcal vaccination plays a protective roleThis work was supported by the Spanish Government (Research Program Health Research Fund (FIS; PI10/00540) National Plan I + D + I and FEDER funds), by Regional Galician funds (Promotion of Research Project 10 PXIB 918 184PR) (FMT), by Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (SAF2011-26983), and by the Plan Galego IDT, Xunta de Galicia (EM 2012/045) (AS). A grant was received from the Sistema Universitario Gallego -Modalidad REDES (2014-PG139) from the Xunta de Galicia (to AS and FMT). MCL research activities have been supported by grants from Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria de Santiago de Compostela. FMT research activities have been supported by grants from Instituto Carlos III (Intensificación de la actividad investigadora). Investigators received funding from the European Union’s seventh Framework program under ECGA no. 279185 (EUCLIDS) during the production of this paper. JH was supported by the Imperial College Comprehensive Biomedical Research Centre and the Wellcome Trust Centre for Respiratory Infection at Imperial College (DMPED P26077 to JH). Micropathology Ltd. provided support in the form of salaries for authors ES and CF, but did not have any additional role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. The specific roles of these authors are articulated in the ‘author contributions’ sectionS

Untargeted metabolic profiling of saliva by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry for the identification of potential diagnostic biomarkers of asthma

Current clinical tests employed to diagnose asthma are inaccurate and limited by their invasive nature. New metabolite profiling technologies offer an opportunity to improve asthma diagnosis using non-invasive sampling. A rapid analytical method for metabolite profiling of saliva is reported using ultra-high performance liquid chromatography combined with high resolution time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS). The only sample pre-treatment required was protein precipitation with acetonitrile. The method has been applied to a pilot study of saliva samples obtained by passive drool from well phenotyped patients with asthma and healthy controls. Stepwise data reduction and multivariate statistical analysis was performed on the complex dataset obtained from the UHPLC-MS analysis to identify potential metabolomic biomarkers of asthma in saliva. Ten discriminant features were identified that distinguished between moderate asthma and healthy control samples with an overall recognition ability of 80% during training of the model and 97% for model cross-validation. The reported method demonstrates the potential for a non-invasive approach to the clinical diagnosis of asthma using mass spectrometry-based metabolic profiling of saliva

“Artlift” Arts-on-Referral Intervention in UK Primary Care: Updated findings from an ongoing observational study

Background: Arts for health interventions are an accepted option for medical management of mental wellbeing in health care. Updated findings are presented from a prospective longitudinal follow-up (observational) design study of an arts on referral programme in UK general practice, over a 7-year period (2009–2016). Methods: Primary care process and mental wellbeing outcomes were investigated, including progress through the intervention, changes in mental wellbeing, and factors associated with those outcomes. A total of n =1297 patients were referred to an eight or 10-week intervention over a period from 2009 to 2016. Patient sociodemographic information was recorded at baseline, and patient progress (e.g. attendance) assessed throughout the intervention. Results: Of all referrals, 51.7% completed their course of prescribed art (the intervention). Of those that attended, 74.7% engaged with the intervention as rated by the artists leading the courses. A significant increase in wellbeing was observed from pre- to post-intervention (t = −19.29, df =523, P < 0.001, two-tailed) for those that completed and/or engaged. A sub sample (N =103) of these referrals self-reported multi-morbidities. These multiple health care service users were majority completers (79.6%), and were rated as having engaged (81.0%). This group also had a significant increase in well-being, although this was smaller than for the group as a whole (t = −7.38, df =68, P < 0.001). Conclusion: Findings confirm that art interventions can be effective in the promotion of well-being for those that complete, including those referred with multi-morbidity, with significant changes in wellbeing evident across the intervention periods

Distinct monkeypox virus lineages co-circulating in humans before 2022

The 2022 global mpox outbreak raises questions about how this zoonotic disease established effective human-to-human transmission and its potential for further adaptation. The 2022 outbreak virus is related to an ongoing outbreak in Nigeria originally reported in 2017, but the evolutionary path linking the two remains unclear due to a lack of genomic data between 2018, when virus exportations from Nigeria were first recorded, and 2022, when the global mpox outbreak began. Here, 18 viral genomes obtained from patients across southern Nigeria in 2019-2020 reveal multiple lineages of monkeypox virus (MPXV) co-circulated in humans for several years before 2022, with progressive accumulation of mutations consistent with APOBEC3 activity over time. We identify Nigerian A.2 lineage isolates, confirming the lineage that has been multiply exported to North America independently of the 2022 outbreak originated in Nigeria, and that it has persisted by human-to-human transmission in Nigeria for more than 2 years before its latest exportation. Finally, we identify a lineage-defining APOBEC3-style mutation in all A.2 isolates that disrupts gene A46R, encoding a viral innate immune modulator. Collectively, our data demonstrate MPXV capacity for sustained diversification within humans, including mutations that may be consistent with established mechanisms of poxvirus adaptation.</p