Pensions on divorce: an empirical study

This is the first detailed study into pension sharing on divorce since its introduction in England and Wales in 2000. The study was designed to provide an insight into when and how pensions are included in final divorce financial remedy orders. Judicial Statistics show that the number of pension orders of any kind is low and remains well below Government predictions. The study included a survey of court files, interviews with practitioners and judges and expert assessment of data from a sub-sample of the court files. Its findings suggest that pension sharing is a positive addition to financial remedies but that it is the prerogative of a relatively privileged minority. Offsetting pension- against non-pension assets remains the most common way of approaching pensions on divorce but the economic rationality of the approach and the fairness of the outcomes were unclear, or questioned by the project pension expert, in a large proportion of cases

Pensions on divorce: an empirical study

This is the first detailed study into pension sharing on divorce since its introduction in England and Wales in 2000. The study was designed to provide an insight into when and how pensions are included in final divorce financial remedy orders. Judicial Statistics show that the number of pension orders of any kind is low and remains well below Government predictions. The study included a survey of court files, interviews with practitioners and judges and expert assessment of data from a sub-sample of the court files. Its findings suggest that pension sharing is a positive addition to financial remedies but that it is the prerogative of a relatively privileged minority. Offsetting pension- against non-pension assets remains the most common way of approaching pensions on divorce but the economic rationality of the approach and the fairness of the outcomes were unclear, or questioned by the project pension expert, in a large proportion of cases

Long-term glacial and fluvial system coupling in southern Greece and evidence for glaciation during Marine Isotope Stage 16

Pleistocene glacial activity was a major influence on runoff and sediment supply in many river systems across the Mediterranean. The geomorphological impacts of changes in sediment supply between glaciated headwater terrains and downstream depocentres spanning several glacial cycles are, however, poorly understood. By applying uranium-series and optically stimulated luminescence dating to fluvial and glacial sediments preserved on Mount Chelmos (2355 m a.s.l.) in southern Greece, we show how changes in the long-term coupling between glacial and fluvial systems are preserved within a major glaciofluvial outwash fan system that functioned during multiple cold stages. We also present evidence in the form of a cemented till unit, stratigraphically below younger Middle Pleistocene glacial deposits, yielding a U-series age close to the limit of the technique, indicating glaciation during Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 16 - one of the most severe cold stages recorded in the Mediterranean. This is the first time such early glaciation has been directly recorded in Greece and the wider Balkans and is defined here as the Valvousian Stage based on glacial deposits on Mount Chelmos. Geomorphological and geochronological data point to the formation of a more extensive plateau ice field over Chelmos during MIS 12, another severe glacial period in the Balkans that corresponds with the Skamnellian Stage glaciation of Northern Greece. During this phase, very strong coupling of glacial and fluvial systems led to meltwater flood events transferring large volumes of sediment to lower valley zones culminating in the formation of an extensive glaciofluvial outwash fan complex and glaciofluvial terraces. A smaller plateau ice field during MIS 6 and localised valley glaciers between MIS 5d to 5c correlate with the Vlasian and early Tymphian Stage glaciations in Greece, respectively. The delivery of much less meltwater and sediment through a single valley during MIS 6 and MIS 5b to MIS 4 signalled the transition to progressively weaker glacial and fluvial system coupling. After MIS 4 the uncoupling of depositional zones from sediment sources in glaciated catchments led to fluvial incision of glaciofluvial outwash deposits in several valleys. Despite this incision, the glaciofluvial outwash fans preserve a record of glacial and fluvial system interactions during the Middle Pleistocene and early stages of the Late Pleistocene

Boosting Long-term Memory via Wakeful Rest: Intentional Rehearsal is not Necessary, Automatic Consolidation is Sufficient.

<div><p>People perform better on tests of delayed free recall if learning is followed immediately by a short wakeful rest than by a short period of sensory stimulation. Animal and human work suggests that wakeful resting provides optimal conditions for the consolidation of recently acquired memories. However, an alternative account cannot be ruled out, namely that wakeful resting provides optimal conditions for intentional rehearsal of recently acquired memories, thus driving superior memory. Here we utilised non-recallable words to examine whether wakeful rest boosts long-term memory, even when new memories could not be rehearsed intentionally during the wakeful rest delay. The probing of non-recallable words requires a recognition paradigm. Therefore, we first established, via Experiment 1, that the rest-induced boost in memory observed via free recall can be replicated in a recognition paradigm, using concrete nouns. In Experiment 2, participants heard 30 non-recallable non-words, presented as ‘foreign names in a bridge club abroad’ and then either rested wakefully or played a visual spot-the-difference game for 10 minutes. Retention was probed via recognition at two time points, 15 minutes and 7 days after presentation. As in Experiment 1, wakeful rest boosted recognition significantly, and this boost was maintained for at least 7 days. Our results indicate that the enhancement of memory via wakeful rest is <i>not</i> dependent upon intentional rehearsal of learned material during the rest period. We thus conclude that consolidation is <i>sufficient</i> for this rest-induced memory boost to emerge. We propose that wakeful resting allows for superior memory consolidation, resulting in stronger and/or more veridical representations of experienced events which can be detected via tests of free recall and recognition.</p></div

Cancer Variant Interpretation Group UK (CanVIG-UK): an exemplar national subspecialty multidisciplinary network.

Advances in technology have led to a massive expansion in the capacity for genomic analysis, with a commensurate fall in costs. The clinical indications for genomic testing have evolved markedly; the volume of clinical sequencing has increased dramatically; and the range of clinical professionals involved in the process has broadened. There is general acceptance that our early dichotomous paradigms of variants being pathogenic-high risk and benign-no risk are overly simplistic. There is increasing recognition that the clinical interpretation of genomic data requires significant expertise in disease-gene-variant associations specific to each disease area. Inaccurate interpretation can lead to clinical mismanagement, inconsistent information within families and misdirection of resources. It is for this reason that 'national subspecialist multidisciplinary meetings' (MDMs) for genomic interpretation have been articulated as key for the new NHS Genomic Medicine Service, of which Cancer Variant Interpretation Group UK (CanVIG-UK) is an early exemplar. CanVIG-UK was established in 2017 and now has >100 UK members, including at least one clinical diagnostic scientist and one clinical cancer geneticist from each of the 25 regional molecular genetics laboratories of the UK and Ireland. Through CanVIG-UK, we have established national consensus around variant interpretation for cancer susceptibility genes via monthly national teleconferenced MDMs and collaborative data sharing using a secure online portal. We describe here the activities of CanVIG-UK, including exemplar outputs and feedback from the membership

Quantifying evidence toward pathogenicity for rare phenotypes: The case of succinate dehydrogenase genes, SDHB and SDHD.

PURPOSE: The weight of the evidence to attach to observation of a novel rare missense variant in SDHB or SDHD in individuals with the rare neuroendocrine tumors, pheochromocytomas and paragangliomas (PCC/PGL), is uncertain. METHODS: We compared the frequency of SDHB and SDHD very rare missense variants (VRMVs) in 6328 and 5847 cases of PCC/PGL, respectively, with that of population controls to generate a pan-gene VRMV likelihood ratio (LR). Via windowing analysis, we measured regional enrichments of VRMVs to calculate the domain-specific VRMV-LR (DS-VRMV-LR). We also calculated subphenotypic LRs for variant pathogenicity for various clinical, histologic, and molecular features. RESULTS: We estimated the pan-gene VRMV-LR to be 76.2 (54.8-105.9) for SDHB and 14.8 (8.7-25.0) for SDHD. Clustering analysis revealed an SDHB enriched region (ɑɑ 177-260, P = .001) for which the DS-VRMV-LR was 127.2 (64.9-249.4) and an SDHD enriched region (ɑɑ 70-114, P = .000003) for which the DS-VRMV-LR was 33.9 (14.8-77.8). Subphenotypic LRs exceeded 6 for invasive disease (SDHB), head-and-neck disease (SDHD), multiple tumors (SDHD), family history of PCC/PGL, loss of SDHB staining on immunohistochemistry, and succinate-to-fumarate ratio >97 (SDHB, SDHD). CONCLUSION: Using methodology generalizable to other gene-phenotype dyads, the LRs relating to rarity and phenotypic specificity for a single observation in PCC/PGL of a SDHB/SDHD VRMV can afford substantial evidence toward pathogenicity

Profiling of somatic mutations in phaeochromocytoma and paraganglioma by targeted next generation sequencing analysis.

At least 12 genes (FH, HIF2A, MAX, NF1, RET, SDHA, SDHB, SDHC, SDHD, SDHAF2, TMEM127, and VHL) have been implicated in inherited predisposition to phaeochromocytoma (PCC), paraganglioma (PGL), or head and neck paraganglioma (HNPGL) and a germline mutation may be detected in more than 30% of cases. Knowledge of somatic mutations contributing to PCC/PGL/HNPGL pathogenesis has received less attention though mutations in HRAS, HIF2A, NF1, RET, and VHL have been reported. To further elucidate the role of somatic mutation in PCC/PGL/HNPGL tumourigenesis, we employed a next generation sequencing strategy to analyse "mutation hotspots" in 50 human cancer genes. Mutations were identified for HRAS (c.37G>C; p.G13R and c.182A>G; p.Q61R) in 7.1% (6/85); for BRAF (c.1799T>A; p.V600E) in 1.2% (1/85) of tumours; and for TP53 (c.1010G>A; p.R337H) in 2.35% (2/85) of cases. Twenty-one tumours harboured mutations in inherited PCC/PGL/HNPGL genes and no HRAS, BRAF, or TP53 mutations occurred in this group. Combining our data with previous reports of HRAS mutations in PCC/PGL we find that the mean frequency of HRAS/BRAF mutations in sporadic PCC/PGL is 8.9% (24/269) and in PCC/PGL with an inherited gene mutation 0% (0/148) suggesting that HRAS/BRAF mutations and inherited PCC/PGL genes mutations might be mutually exclusive. We report the first evidence for BRAF mutations in the pathogenesis of PCC/PGL/HNPGL.Peer Reviewe

The ruin as memorial - the memorial as ruin

The ruin allows for a visualization of different forms of mourning: we mourn loss, death, decay and destruction; man-made and natural catastrophes; humanity’s futile and successful attempts to master nature; and nature’s indifference to humans and their cruelty against one another. But do we need to conceive memorial ruins differently, depending on whether they commemorate gradual decay and mortality, a natural catastrophe, or various types of governmental, military or economic violence? Could the aesthetic of the ruin dangerously confuse very different forms of terror, violence and violation, directed against other nations, political opponents or ethnic minorities, perhaps even rendering invisible human agency and erasing the specificities of the historical context? Or may the ruin help us to discern where these structures and practices of violence converge? These and related questions are explored in this article