Reducing SARS-CoV-2 transmission in the UK: A behavioural science approach to identifying options for increasing adherence to social distancing and shielding vulnerable people.

PURPOSE: To describe and discuss a systematic method for producing a very rapid response (3 days) to a UK government policy question in the context of reducing SARS-CoV-2 transmission. METHODS: A group of behavioural and social scientists advising the UK government on COVID-19 contributed to the analysis and writing of advice through the Government Office for Science. The question was as follows: What are the options for increasing adherence to social distancing (staying at home except for essential journeys and work) and shielding vulnerable people (keeping them at home and away from others)? This was prior to social distancing legislation being implemented. The first two authors produced a draft, based on analysis of the current government guidance and the application of the Behaviour Change Wheel (BCW) framework to identify and evaluate the options. RESULTS: For promoting social distancing, 10 options were identified for improving adherence. They covered improvements in ways of achieving the BCW intervention types of education, persuasion, incentivization, and coercion. For promoting shielding of vulnerable people, four options were identified covering the BCW intervention types of incentivization, coercion, and enablement. CONCLUSIONS: Responding to policymakers very rapidly as has been necessary during the COVID-19 pandemic can be facilitated by using a framework to structure the thinking and reporting of multidisciplinary academics and policymakers

EXOGEN ultrasound bone healing system for long bone fractures with non-union or delayed healing: a NICE medical technology guidance

Open Access. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and the source are credited.This article has been made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund.A routine part of the process for developing National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) medical technologies guidance is a submission of clinical and economic evidence by the technology manufacturer. The Birmingham and Brunel Consortium External Assessment Centre (EAC; a consortium of the University of Birmingham and Brunel University) independently appraised the submission on the EXOGEN bone healing system for long bone fractures with non-union or delayed healing. This article is an overview of the original evidence submitted, the EAC’s findings, and the final NICE guidance issued.The Birmingham and Brunel Consortium is funded by NICE to act as an External Assessment Centre for the Medical Technologies Evaluation Programme

Global analysis of patterns of gene expression during Drosophila embryogenesis

Embryonic expression patterns for 6,003 (44%) of the 13,659 protein-coding genes identified in the Drosophila melanogaster genome were documented, of which 40% show tissue-restricted expression

Computational identification of developmental enhancers: conservation and function of transcription factor binding-site clusters in Drosophila melanogaster and Drosophila pseudoobscura

BACKGROUND: The identification of sequences that control transcription in metazoans is a major goal of genome analysis. In a previous study, we demonstrated that searching for clusters of predicted transcription factor binding sites could discover active regulatory sequences, and identified 37 regions of the Drosophila melanogaster genome with high densities of predicted binding sites for five transcription factors involved in anterior-posterior embryonic patterning. Nine of these clusters overlapped known enhancers. Here, we report the results of in vivo functional analysis of 27 remaining clusters. RESULTS: We generated transgenic flies carrying each cluster attached to a basal promoter and reporter gene, and assayed embryos for reporter gene expression. Six clusters are enhancers of adjacent genes: giant, fushi tarazu, odd-skipped, nubbin, squeeze and pdm2; three drive expression in patterns unrelated to those of neighboring genes; the remaining 18 do not appear to have enhancer activity. We used the Drosophila pseudoobscura genome to compare patterns of evolution in and around the 15 positive and 18 false-positive predictions. Although conservation of primary sequence cannot distinguish true from false positives, conservation of binding-site clustering accurately discriminates functional binding-site clusters from those with no function. We incorporated conservation of binding-site clustering into a new genome-wide enhancer screen, and predict several hundred new regulatory sequences, including 85 adjacent to genes with embryonic patterns. CONCLUSIONS: Measuring conservation of sequence features closely linked to function - such as binding-site clustering - makes better use of comparative sequence data than commonly used methods that examine only sequence identity

The transposable elements of the Drosophila melanogaster euchromatin: a genomics perspective.

BACKGROUND: Transposable elements are found in the genomes of nearly all eukaryotes. The recent completion of the Release 3 euchromatic genomic sequence of Drosophila melanogaster by the Berkeley Drosophila Genome Project has provided precise sequence for the repetitive elements in the Drosophila euchromatin. We have used this genomic sequence to describe the euchromatic transposable elements in the sequenced strain of this species. RESULTS: We identified 85 known and eight novel families of transposable element varying in copy number from one to 146. A total of 1,572 full and partial transposable elements were identified, comprising 3.86% of the sequence. More than two-thirds of the transposable elements are partial. The density of transposable elements increases an average of 4.7 times in the centromere-proximal regions of each of the major chromosome arms. We found that transposable elements are preferentially found outside genes; only 436 of 1,572 transposable elements are contained within the 61.4 Mb of sequence that is annotated as being transcribed. A large proportion of transposable elements is found nested within other elements of the same or different classes. Lastly, an analysis of structural variation from different families reveals distinct patterns of deletion for elements belonging to different classes. CONCLUSIONS: This analysis represents an initial characterization of the transposable elements in the Release 3 euchromatic genomic sequence of D. melanogaster for which comparison to the transposable elements of other organisms can begin to be made. These data have been made available on the Berkeley Drosophila Genome Project website for future analyses.RIGHTS : This article is licensed under the BioMed Central licence at http://www.biomedcentral.com/about/license which is similar to the 'Creative Commons Attribution Licence'. In brief you may : copy, distribute, and display the work; make derivative works; or make commercial use of the work - under the following conditions: the original author must be given credit; for any reuse or distribution, it must be made clear to others what the license terms of this work are

Recent Eruptions Between 2012 and 2018 Discovered at West Mata Submarine Volcano (NE Lau Basin, SW Pacific) and Characterized by New Ship, AUV, and ROV Data

West Mata is a submarine volcano located in the SW Pacific Ocean between Fiji and Samoa in the NE Lau Basin. West Mata was discovered to be actively erupting at its summit in September 2008 and May 2009. Water-column chemistry and hydrophone data suggest it was probably continuously active until early 2011. Subsequent repeated bathymetric surveys of West Mata have shown that it changed to a style of frequent but intermittent eruptions away from the summit since then. We present new data from ship-based bathymetric surveys, high-resolution bathymetry from an autonomous underwater vehicle, and observations from remotely operated vehicle dives that document four additional eruptions between 2012 and 2018. Three of those eruptions occurred between September 2012 and March 2016; one near the summit on the upper ENE rift, a second on the NE flank away from any rift zone, and a third at the NE base of the volcano. The latter intruded a sill into a basin with thick sediments, uplifted them, and then extruded lava onto the seafloor around them. The most recent of the four eruptions occurred between March 2016 and November 2017 along the middle ENE rift zone and produced pillow lava flows with a shingled morphology and tephra as well as clastic debris that mantled the SE slope. ROV dive observations show that the shallower recent eruptions at West Mata include a substantial pyroclastic component, based on thick (>1 m) tephra deposits near eruptive vents. The deepest eruption sites lack these near-vent tephra deposits, suggesting that pyroclastic activity is minimal below ∼2500 mbsl. The multibeam sonar re-surveys constrain the timing, thickness, area, morphology, and volume of the new eruptions. The cumulative erupted volume since 1996 suggests that eruptions at West Mata are volume-predictable with an average eruption rate of 7.8 × 106 m3/yr. This relatively low magma supply rate and the high frequency of eruptions (every 1–2 years) suggests that the magma reservoir at West Mata is relatively small. With its frequent activity, West Mata continues to be an ideal natural laboratory for the study of submarine volcanic eruptions

What do measures of patient satisfaction with the doctor tell us?

Objective: To gain an understanding of how patient satisfaction (PS) with the doctor (PSD) is conceptualized through an empirical review of how it is currently being measured. The content of PS questionnaire items was examined to (a) determine the primary domains underlying PSD, and (b) summarize the specific doctor-related characteristics and behaviors, and patient-related perceptions, composing each domain. Methods: A scoping review of empirical articles that assessed PSD published from 2000 to November 2013. MEDLINE and PsycINFO databases were searched. Results: The literature search yielded 1726 articles, 316 of which fulfilled study inclusion criteria. PSD was realized in one of four health contexts, with questions being embedded in a larger questionnaire that assessed PS with either: (1) overall healthcare, (2) a specific medical encounter, or (3) the healthcare team. In the fourth context, PSD was the questionnaire's sole focus. Five broad domains underlying PSD were revealed: (1) Communication Attributes; (2) Relational Conduct; (3) Technical Skill/Knowledge; (4) Personal Qualities; and (5) Availability/Accessibility. Conclusions: Careful consideration of measurement goals and purposes is necessary when selecting a PSD measure. Practice implications: The five emergent domains underlying PSD point to potential key areas of physician training and foci for quality assessment

Cumulative Inflammatory Load Is Associated with Short Leukocyte Telomere Length in the Health, Aging and Body Composition Study

Background: Leukocyte telomere length (LTL) is an emerging marker of biological age. Chronic inflammatory activity is commonly proposed as a promoter of biological aging in general, and of leukocyte telomere shortening in particular. In addition, senescent cells with critically short telomeres produce pro-inflammatory factors. However, in spite of the proposed causal links between inflammatory activity and LTL, there is little clinical evidence in support of their covariation and interaction. Methodology/Principal Findings: To address this issue, we examined if individuals with high levels of the systemic inflammatory markers interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and C-reactive protein (CRP) had increased odds for short LTL. Our sample included 1,962 high-functioning adults who participated in the Health, Aging and Body Composition Study (age range: 70-79 years). Logistic regression analyses indicated that individuals with high levels of either IL-6 or TNF-α had significantly higher odds for short LTL. Furthermore, individuals with high levels of both IL-6 and TNF-α had significantly higher odds for short LTL compared with those who had neither high (OR = 0.52, CI = 0.37-0.72), only IL-6 high (OR = 0.57, CI = 0.39-0.83) or only TNF-α high (OR = 0.67, CI = 0.46-0.99), adjusting for a wide variety of established risk factors and potential confounds. In contrast, CRP was not associated with LTL. Conclusions/Significance: Results suggest that cumulative inflammatory load, as indexed by the combination of high levels of IL-6 and TNF-α, is associated with increased odds for short LTL. In contrast, high levels of CRP were not accompanied by short LTL in this cohort of older adults. These data provide the first large-scale demonstration of links between inflammatory markers and LTL in an older population

Assessing the impact of comparative genomic sequence data on the functional annotation of the Drosophila genome

BACKGROUND: It is widely accepted that comparative sequence data can aid the functional annotation of genome sequences; however, the most informative species and features of genome evolution for comparison remain to be determined. RESULTS: We analyzed conservation in eight genomic regions (apterous, even-skipped, fushi tarazu, twist, and Rhodopsins 1, 2, 3 and 4) from four Drosophila species (D. erecta, D. pseudoobscura, D. willistoni, and D. littoralis) covering more than 500 kb of the D. melanogaster genome. All D. melanogaster genes (and 78-82% of coding exons) identified in divergent species such as D. pseudoobscura show evidence of functional constraint. Addition of a third species can reveal functional constraint in otherwise non-significant pairwise exon comparisons. Microsynteny is largely conserved, with rearrangement breakpoints, novel transposable element insertions, and gene transpositions occurring in similar numbers. Rates of amino-acid substitution are higher in uncharacterized genes relative to genes that have previously been studied. Conserved non-coding sequences (CNCSs) tend to be spatially clustered with conserved spacing between CNCSs, and clusters of CNCSs can be used to predict enhancer sequences. CONCLUSIONS: Our results provide the basis for choosing species whose genome sequences would be most useful in aiding the functional annotation of coding and cis-regulatory sequences in Drosophila. Furthermore, this work shows how decoding the spatial organization of conserved sequences, such as the clustering of CNCSs, can complement efforts to annotate eukaryotic genomes on the basis of sequence conservation alone