Prevalence and predictors of psychological distress before, during, and after a COVID-19 pandemic wave in Switzerland, 2021.

There are concerns about acute and long-term mental health effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. This study examined the prevalence and predictors of psychological distress before, during, and after a pandemic wave in Switzerland, 2021. Prevalence of psychological distress was estimated in adults aged 35-96 years using the General Health Questionnaire-12 administered in June 2021 (Specchio-COVID19 cohort, N = 3965), and compared to values from 2003 to 2006 (CoLaus|PsyCoLaus cohort, N = 5667). Anxiety and depression were assessed from February to June 2021 using the Generalised Anxiety Disorder scale-2 and the Patient Health Questionnaire-2, respectively. Prevalence of psychological distress in June 2021, after the pandemic wave (16.0% [95% CI, 14.6%-17.4%]) was comparable to pre-pandemic levels (15.1% [14.0%-16.2%]). Anxiety and depression were highest at the start of the pandemic wave in February 2021, and declined from February to June with the relaxation of measures. Predictors of psychological distress included being younger, female, a single parent, unemployed, a change in working hours or job loss in the past 6 months, greater perceived severity and contagiousness of COVID-19, and self-reported post COVID-19. By June 2021, following a pandemic wave, prevalence of psychological distress in Switzerland was closer to pre-pandemic levels. These findings highlight the need for additional mental health support during times of stricter government policies relating to COVID-19; yet they also suggest that individuals can adapt relatively quickly to the changing context

Air temperature changes in Toruń (central Poland) from 1871 to 2010

The article presents a detailed analysis of changes in air temperature in Toruń in the period 1871–2010 on the basis of homogenised monthly, seasonal and annual air temperature series which have been newly constructed (i.e. extended by the 50 years of 1871–1920). Over the 140-year study period, a sizeable and statistically significant increase of 0.1 °C per decade was found in the air temperature in Toruń. The greatest increases occurred for spring and winter, at 0.12 and 0.11 °C, respectively. A lesser warming, meanwhile, was recorded for autumn (0.10 °C/10 years), and particularly for summer (0.07 °C/10 years). The air temperature trends are statistically significant for all seasons. Air temperature differences between the monthly averages of three analysed subperiods (1871–1900, 1901–1950 and 1951–2010) and averages for the entire period under review rarely exceeded ± 0.5 °C. In all of these periods, the highest average air temperatures occurred in July and the lowest in January. The period of 1981–2010 had the highest frequency of occurrence of very and extremely warm seasons and years. Meanwhile, the highest frequency of very and extremely cool seasons and years was recorded in the 1940s and in the nineteenth century. In the period of 1871–2010, winters shortened markedly (by 7%) and summers lengthened by 3.8%. All of the presented aspects of air temperature in Toruń, which is representative of the climate of central Poland, are in close agreement with the findings of analogous studies of the same for other areas of Poland and Central Europe

Health and safety issues in the Victorian workplace: an example of mandibular phosphorus necrosis from Gloucester, UK

Working conditions in factories during the Industrial Era in Great Britain have been linked to numerous occupational diseases. In this paper, the authors present a case study from Victorian Gloucester, where skeletal remains of a young male recovered from the Southgate Street 3/89 excavation exhibit osteonecrosis on the left mandibular ramus, a condition known as “phossy jaw”. The case is examined in terms of macroscopic characteristics, distribution and severity of lesions and differential diagnosis. The lesions consist of extensive bone necrosis with periosteal reaction and subperiosteal new bone formation that affects the left side of the mandible. Conditions that may have produced similar changes were considered and include various forms of neoplasms, actinomycosis and taphonomic alterations. However, these are rejected as they are not supported by the lesion characteristics. Additional supportive evidence for the case of phosphorus necrosis is offered by the historical context: in the 19th century, Gloucester was one of the main centres for match manufacture and it is well known that individuals who were directly exposed to phosphorus fumes developed a condition known as “phossy jaw”. The potential contribution of the current analysis in our understanding of working conditions in Victorian Gloucester is evaluated

Insights into household transmission of SARS-CoV-2 from a population-based serological survey

Understanding the risk of infection from household- and community-exposures and the transmissibility of asymptomatic infections is critical to SARS-CoV-2 control. Limited previous evidence is based primarily on virologic testing, which disproportionately misses mild and asymptomatic infections. Serologic measures are more likely to capture all previously infected individuals. We apply household transmission models to data from a cross-sectional, household-based population serosurvey of 4,534 people ≥5 years from 2,267 households enrolled April-June 2020 in Geneva, Switzerland. We found that the risk of infection from exposure to a single infected household member aged ≥5 years (17.3%,13.7-21.7) was more than three-times that of extra-household exposures over the first pandemic wave (5.1%,4.5-5.8). Young children had a lower risk of infection from household members. Working-age adults had the highest extra-household infection risk. Seropositive asymptomatic household members had 69.4% lower odds (95%CrI,31.8-88.8%) of infecting another household member compared to those reporting symptoms, accounting for 14.5% (95%CrI, 7.2-22.7%) of all household infections

Physically Similar Systems - A History of the Concept

PreprintThe concept of similar systems arose in physics, and appears to have originated with Newton in the seventeenth century. This chapter provides a critical history of the concept of physically similar systems, the twentieth century concept into which it developed. The concept was used in the nineteenth century in various fields of engineering (Froude, Bertrand, Reech), theoretical physics (van der Waals, Onnes, Lorentz, Maxwell, Boltzmann) and theoretical and experimental hydrodynamics (Stokes, Helmholtz, Reynolds, Prandtl, Rayleigh). In 1914, it was articulated in terms of ideas developed in the eighteenth century and used in nineteenth century mathematics and mechanics: equations, functions and dimensional analysis. The terminology physically similar systems was proposed for this new characterization of similar systems by the physicist Edgar Buckingham. Related work by Vaschy, Bertrand, and Riabouchinsky had appeared by then. The concept is very powerful in studying physical phenomena both theoretically and experimentally. As it is not currently part of the core curricula of STEM disciplines or philosophy of science, it is not as well known as it ought to be

IMPROVING THE EVALUATION OF PETROPHYSICAL PROPERTIES FOR UNCONSOLIDATED SANDS

ABSTRACT The importance of inter-bedded turbiditic sand formations and its reservoir production potential is widely recognized. The reservoir quality of thin laminated units is often very good and can contribute a significant amount of the reservoir production. Logging and interpretation methods can lead to an underestimation of hydrocarbon reserves or, in extreme cases, even missing these reservoir zones. Core data, when available, play an important role in the characterization of these laminated sands. However, some of these formations are unconsolidated or very poorly cemented, so core plugs are very difficult to obtain. The aim of this paper is to assess the type and quality of data that can be obtained from synthetic core plugs, built from loose turbiditic reservoir sands, following a novel experimental procedure. The synthetic plugs were prepared with the material, mineral compositions, from the cores. They were then loaded into the multi-sample pressure cell and overburden stress cycles applied to investigate the effect of hydrostatic pressure on porosity, formation factor and water permeability. The loading-unloading stress cycles produce large hysteresis in these properties. On the other hand, the cementation exponent is almost constant. The results obtained at the end of the stress cycle were compared with data from ten core plugs, which after some initial tests lost their integrity (became loose sand) and were afterwards used to prepare synthetic core plugs. An excellent agreement was found for porosity, formation factor, and cementation exponent; while a fair agreement was also found for permeability. These synthetic plugs were also used to measure some additional petrophysical properties such as NMR (T 2 distribution and cut off), gas-brine capillary pressures and resistivity index. The results show that this new laboratory methodology can be used to obtain and predict reliable petrophysical properties for poorly consolidated sands to improve reservoir evaluation