The Theory of evolution: 150 years afterwards

La introducció de la teoria d'evolució per selecció natural marca un canvi fonamental en el pensament humà. Darwin mateix va dir que era casi com confessar un assassinat. Després, les idees anteriors sobre la vida en el passat s'han anat refutant una darrere l'altra. Des de 1859 hi ha hagut altres canvis: des de la consciència del temps i espai profunds, passant pel moviment de les plaques tectòniques, fins a la ciència dels sistemes terrestres i la hipòtesi Gaia. La teoria de l'evolució naturalment s'ha modificat durant els anys amb una millor comprensió dels mecanismes de l'herència genètica i el paper de simbiosi en la selecció. Tot i que encara hi hagi un grapat de gent que la desafiï amb bases religioses o pseudo-religioses, són molt pocs els que els prenen seriosament. La metodologia de l'evolució té aplicacions més enllà de la biologia, per exemple en el camp de la tecnologia. Sobretot, és una interpretació verificable de canvi continu en el desenvolupament de la vida a la Terra, que no és de cap manera contrari a la segona llei de termodinàmica. Com Thomas H. Huxley, amic i defensor de Darwin, va remarcar una vegada: havia estat ben estúpid no haver-hi pensat abans.The introduction of the theory of evolution by natural selection marks a fundamental shift in human thinking. Darwin himself said it was like confessing to murder. Afterwards earlier ideas about life in the past crashed one after another. Since 1859 there have been other shifts: from awareness of deep time and space to tectonic plate movement to earth systems science and the Gaia hypothesis. Evolution theory has of course been modified over the years with greater understanding of the mechanics of genetic inheritance and the role of symbiosis in selection. Even if there is still a handful of people who challenge it on religious or crypto religious grounds, very few can now take them seriously. Evolution methodology has applications beyond biology, for example in the field of technology. Above all it is a verifiable interpretation of continuous change in the development of life on Earth, which is in no way contrary to the 2nd law of thermodynamics. As T.H. Huxley, Darwin’s friend and advocate, once remarked: how stupid it was of him not to have thought of it himself

The theory of evolution: 150 years afterwards

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Raising Our Game: Can We Sustain Globalization?

Depicts four alternate scenarios of the state of sustainable development and globalization in the year 2027, and looks at the associated environmental and societal wins and losses of each situation

Using new and innovative technologies to assess clinical stage in early intervention youth mental health services: Evaluation study

Background: Globally there is increasing recognition that new strategies are required to reduce disability due to common mental health problems. As 75% of mental health and substance use disorders emerge during the teenage or early adulthood years, these strategies need to be readily accessible to young people. When considering how to provide such services at scale, new and innovative technologies show promise in augmenting traditional clinic-based services. Objective: The aim of this study was to test new and innovative technologies to assess clinical stage in early intervention youth mental health services using a prototypic online system known as the Mental Health eClinic (MHeC). Methods: The online assessment within the MHeC was compared directly against traditional clinician assessment within 2 Sydney-based youth-specific mental health services (headspace Camperdown and headspace Campbelltown). A total of 204 young people were recruited to the study. Eligible participants completed both face-to-face and online assessments, which were randomly allocated and counterbalanced at a 1-to-3 ratio. These assessments were (1) a traditional 45- to 60-minute headspace face-to-face assessment performed by a Youth Access Clinician and (2) an approximate 60-minute online assessment (including a self-report Web-based survey, immediate dashboard of results, and a video visit with a clinician). All assessments were completed within a 2-week timeframe from initial presentation. Results: Of the 72 participants who completed the study, 71% (51/72) were female and the mean age was 20.4 years (aged 16 to 25 years); 68% (49/72) of participants were recruited from headspace Camperdown and the remaining 32% (23/72) from headspace Campbelltown. Interrater agreement of participants’ stage, as determined after face-to-face assessment or online assessment, demonstrated fair agreement (kappa=.39, P\u3c.001) with concordance in 68% of cases (49/72). Among the discordant cases, those who were allocated to a higher stage by online raters were more likely to report a past history of mental health disorders (P=.001), previous suicide planning (P=.002), and current cannabis misuse (P=.03) compared to those allocated to a lower stage. Conclusions: The MHeC presents a new and innovative method for determining key clinical service parameters. It has the potential to be adapted to varied settings in which young people are connected with traditional clinical services and assist in providing the right care at the right tim

Late diagnosis among our ageing HIV population: a cohort study

INTRODUCTION: With the advent of combined antiretroviral therapy (cART), more people infected with HIV are living into older age; 22% of adults receiving care in the UK are aged over 50 years [1]. Age influences HIV infection; the likelihood of seroconversion illness, mean CD4 count and time from infection to development of AIDs defining illnesses decreases with increasing age. A UK study estimates that half of HIV infections in persons over 50 years are acquired at an age over 50 [2]. Studies exploring sexual practices in older persons have repeatedly shown that we cannot assume there is no risk of STI and HIV infection [3,4]. Physicians should be alert to risk of HIV even in the older cohort, where nearly half diagnoses are made late [2]. Local audit has demonstrated poor testing rates in the over 50's on the Acute Medical Unit. Late diagnosis (CD4<350) results in poorer outcomes and age confounds further; older late presenters are 2.4 times more likely to die within the first year of diagnosis than younger counterparts [2]. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A retrospective case notes review was conducted of all patients aged 60 years and over attending HIV clinic in the last 2 years. Outcomes audited included features around diagnosis; age, presentation, missed testing opportunities and CD4 count at diagnosis. RESULTS: Of the current cohort of 442 patients, 34 were over 60 years old (8%). Age at diagnosis in this group ranged from 36 to 80 years, mean 56.6 years. Presentation triggers included opportunistic infections or malignancies (n=10), constitutional symptoms (n=6), diagnosis of another STI (n=4), seroconversion illness (n=2), partner status (n=3). Eight patients were diagnosed through asymptomatic screening at Sexual Health. We identified missed opportunities in five patients who were not tested despite diagnoses or symptoms defined as clinical indicators for HIV. Half of older patients had a CD4 count of <200 at diagnosis. CONCLUSIONS: It is imperative that general medical physicians and geriatricians are alert to enquiring about risk and testing for HIV where clinical indicators are present, irrespective of age. The oldest patient in the cohort was diagnosed with HIV aged 80 years. All patients with missed opportunities for testing were over 47 years old

Firm finances, weather derivatives and geography

This paper considers some intellectual, practical and political dimensions of collaboration between human and physical geographers exploring how firms are using relatively new financial products – weather derivatives – to displace any costs of weather-related uncertainty and risk. The paper defines weather derivatives and indicates how they differ from weather insurance products before considering the geo-political, cultural and economic context for their creation. The paper concludes by reflecting on the challenges of research collaboration across the human–physical geography divide and suggests that while such initiatives may be undermined by a range of institutional and intellectual factors, conversations between physical and human geographers remain and are likely to become increasingly pertinent. The creation of a market in weather derivatives raises a host of urgent political and regulatory questions and the confluence of natural and social knowledges, co-existing within and through the geography academy, provides a constructive and creative basis from which to engage with this new market and wider discourses of uneven economic development and climate change

Written Submission on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (Incorporation) (Scotland) Bill

This written evidence contributes to the the Scottish Parliament's reconsideration of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (Incorporation) (Scotland) Bill. In 2021, the UK Supreme Court decided that elements of the Bill as originally passed fell beyond the Scottish Parliament's legislative competence (2021 UKSC 42). Submitted to Holyrood's Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee, this written evidence highlights some of the challenges for the coherent and accessible incorporation of children's rights into Scots law in the wake of the Supreme Court's judgment. Implications for the domestic incorporation of other international human rights regimes are also analysed