Mental time travel in dysphoria: Differences in the content and subjective experience of past and future episodes

Previous research has shown that depressed individuals demonstrate a number of biases in their ability to retrieve past events and simulate future events. The current study investigated the content and phenomenological experience of past and future events in dysphoric and non-dysphoric individuals. Results indicated that dysphoric, compared with non-dysphoric, individuals reported fewer positive events across both temporal directions. Furthermore, phenomenological characteristics ratings suggested that dysphoric individuals saw future, but not past, events as less vivid, coherent, sensorially detailed, bodily experienced, emotionally intense and important with respect to their life story and identity. These findings are discussed with reference to theories regarding the functions of ‘mental time travel’, in particular how the muted subjective experience of future episodes in depression may impair future planning, problem-solving and self regulation

Isomorphology

When I was at school my art projects always seemed to involve human anatomy, plant anatomy and forms in the landscape. As an artist, I have become increasingly interested in observing the morphology of animal, vegetable and mineral species. Gradually, I have built up a practice based upon observational drawing and collaboration, working with scientists and mathematicians at the Natural History Museum, Kew Gardens and University College London. Because my interest spans zoological, mineralogical and botanical collections I spend a lot of time drawing specimens and observing form – which has led to an awareness of the resemblances between species of separate kingdoms. As I worked, I became aware that there was no specific documentation of cross-kingdom resemblances between the animal, the vegetable and the mineral. With further thought, I have realized that behind these resemblances are various forms and symmetries. These form the basis of ‘Isomorphology’ – a new term which I have coined. It is derived from ‘Isomorphism’; a mathematical and biological concept

Inflationary model constraints using higher-order statistics of the primordial curvature perturbation

Cosmological inflation is the leading candidate for the origin of structure in the Universe. However, a huge number of inflationary models currently exist. Higher-order statistics, particularly the bispectrum and trispectrum, of the primordial curvature perturbation can potentially be used to discriminate between competing models. This can provide an insight into the precise physical mechanism of inflation. Current constraints on inflationary models using the amplitude fNL of the bispectrum are quoted for specific templates. This results in much of the inflationary parameter space remaining unexplored. By utilizing the symmetries of the underlying quasi-de Sitter spacetime to construct a generic ‘effective field theory’ Lagrangian with adjustable parameters, one can encompass many single-field models of inflation in a unifying framework. In the first part of this thesis we perform a partial-wave decomposition of the bispectrum produced at horizon-exit by each operator in the effective Lagrangian, which we use to find the principal components using a Fisher-matrix approach. This allows us to probe much more of the parameter space. Cosmic Microwave Background bispectrum data is used to estimate the amplitude of each component, which can then translated into constraints on particular classes of single-field models. We consider the implications for DBI and ghost inflation as examples. In the second part of this thesis we extend the transport formalism, first introduced by Mulryne, Seery and Wesley, to calculate the trispectrum generated during superhorizon evolution in inflationary models with multiple fields. We provide transport equations that track the evolution of the local trispectrum non-linearity parameters tNL and gNL throughout inflation. We compute these for several models as examples

The socioeconomic impact of equine epizootic lymphangitis in working equids in low and middle income countries: a scoping review

Equine epizootic lymphangitis (EEL) is a very infectious and contagious fungal disease that, with its ocular, respiratory and skin forms, causes severe effects on the health and welfare of working equids. Treatment is expensive and rarely available in low and middle-income countries (LMICs). Epidemiological data is lacking in most countries where the disease is known to exist. The purpose of this scoping review is to identify the current knowledge on the socioeconomic impact of EEL in working equids in LMICs, to highlight knowledge gaps and provide recommendations for future research. Seven eligible papers were obtained from the search of four databases and backward citation searching. The review showed that the available research on this subject is very scarce and restricted to Ethiopia. From the results it emerged that EEL causes detrimental socioeconomic effects on working equids’ owners, compromising their health and livelihood. Its economic consequences were attributed to the reduced working capacity and loss of sick animals. Among the social impacts, authors highlighted the stigma around sick equids and their owners. Further studies on the socioeconomic impact of EEL conducted in endemic areas are highly required. The integration of epidemiological data with socioeconomic impact studies from LMICs may promote funding allocation for the development of cost-effective treatments and vaccines and for implementing disease prevention and control programmes. Future research would gain from applying the One Health approach to better examine the multiplicity of the disease socioeconomic effects, therefore increasing the potential of research to orientate policy

The Socioeconomic Impact of Diseases on Working Equids in Low and Middle-Income Countries: A Critical Review

Working equids provide a crucial contribution to the livelihoods and food security of communities in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Nevertheless, they are a neglected category within animal health policies and interventions of governmental and non-governmental institutions. This critical review aims to assess the socioeconomic impact of diseases on working equids in LMICs. By highlighting the implications of diseases on working equid welfare, human wellbeing and livelihoods, this review seeks to sensitise policymakers within governments and international or-ganisations to develop policies and interventions aimed at protecting the health of working equids and, consequently, the health and livelihoods of their dependent communities. Twenty relevant publications were identified through the search of five databases (CAB Abstracts, Web of Science Core Collection, BIOSIS, EMBASE and Scopus), backward citation searching, and screening of indexes of proceedings and Special Issues retrieved from the database search. The review findings show that diseases of working equids have detrimental socioeconomic effects. However, this subject is under-researched and restricted to few diseases and geographical settings. Considering the complexity of the issue, this review demonstrates that the ‘One Health’ approach represents an opportunity to clarify the link between equid health, human wellbeing, and livelihoods, facilitating the translation of research into policy

Drawing to Extend Waddington’s Epigenetic Landscape

We describe a collaboration between an artist, a mathematician, and a biologist, which examines the potential of drawing for understanding biological process. As a case study, it considers C. H. Waddington’s powerful visual representation of the “epigenetic landscape,” whose purpose it is to unify research in genetics, embryology, and evolutionary biology. We explore the strengths, but also the limitations of Waddington’s landscape and attempt to transcend the latter through a collaborative series of exploratory images. Through careful description of this drawing process, we touch on the epistemological consequences it had on all participants, artist and scientist alike

Human immunodeficiency virus type 2 (HIV-2) Gag is trafficked in an AP-3 and AP-5 dependent manner

Although human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) types 1 and 2 are closely related lentiviruses with similar replication cycles, HIV-2 infection is associated with slower progression to AIDS, a higher proportion of long term non-progressors, and lower rates of transmission than HIV-1, likely as a consequence of a lower viral load during HIV-2 infection. A mechanistic explanation for the differential viral load remains unclear but knowledge of differences in particle production between HIV-1 and HIV-2 may help to shed light on this issue. In contrast to HIV-1, little is known about the assembly of HIV-2 particles, and the trafficking of HIV-2 Gag, the structural component of the virus, within cells. We have established that HIV-2 Gag accumulates in intracellular CD63 positive compartments, from which it may be delivered or recycled to the cell surface, or degraded. HIV-2 particle release was dependent on the adaptor protein complex AP-3 and the newly identified AP-5 complex, but much less so on AP-1. In contrast, HIV-1 particle release required AP-1 and AP-3, but not AP-5. AP-2, an essential component of clathrin-mediated endocytosis, which was previously shown to be inhibitory to HIV-1 particle release, had no effect on HIV-2. The differential requirement for adaptor protein complexes confirmed that HIV-1 and HIV-2 Gag have distinct cellular trafficking pathways, and that HIV-2 particles may be more susceptible to degradation prior to release

An HI absorption distance to the black hole candidate X-ray binary MAXI J1535-571

With the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) we monitored the black hole candidate X-ray binary MAXI J1535--571 over seven epochs from 21 September to 2 October 2017. Using ASKAP observations, we studied the HI absorption spectrum from gas clouds along the line-of-sight and thereby constrained the distance to the source. The maximum negative radial velocities measured from the HI absorption spectra for MAXI J1535--571 and an extragalactic source in the same field of view are $-69\pm4$ km s$^{-1}$ and $-89\pm4$ km s$^{-1}$, respectively. This rules out the far kinematic distance ($9.3^{+0.5}_{-0.6}$ kpc), giving a most likely distance of $4.1^{+0.6}_{-0.5}$ kpc, with a strong upper limit of the tangent point at $6.7^{+0.1}_{-0.2}$ kpc. At our preferred distance, the peak unabsorbed luminosity of MAXI J1535--571 was $>78$ per cent of the Eddington luminosity, and shows that the soft-to-hard spectral state transition occurred at the very low luminosity of 1.2 -- 3.4 $\times$ 10$^{-5}$ times the Eddington luminosity. Finally, this study highlights the capabilities of new wide-field radio telescopes to probe Galactic transient outbursts, by allowing us to observe both a target source and a background comparison source in a single telescope pointing.Comment: Revised after favorable referee report from MNRAS Letter