Attacks on midwives, attacks on women’s choices

Nadine Edwards, Jo Murphy-Lawless, Mavis Kirkham and Sarah Davies ask whether recent attacks on midwives are a Human Rights issu

Structural concepts and experimental considerations for a versatile high-speed research airplane

Future aircraft may be hydrogen fueled and fly at hypersonic speeds. The resulting environments will require new structural concepts to satisfy performance goals. Large representative structures will have to be flight tested prior to commitment to a costly vehicle fleet. To perform flight tests, a versatile, economical, high-speed research airplane is defined. Results of this study including experimental considerations for a hypersonic research airplane are reported

Designing an English Public Services Ombudsman

This article explores the question of how to integrate the ombudsman community in England, a proposal for which there is much support but less agreement on the way forward. It is argued that, in the long-term, successful reform will not occur unless three distinct perspectives on administrative justice are incorporated into the proposal to form a single public services ombudsman for England. This approach points to a set of strong principles that should direct redesign of the ombudsman sector in England in order to establish an institution capable of responding to current and future demands

Genome instability triggered by the V(D)J recombination by-product

A newly identified process by which mistargeted V(D)J recombination could cause genome instability in childhood leukemia has been discovered. In this mechanism, called cut-and-run, the excised DNA by-products of V(D)J recombination are re-bound by the recombinase proteins and erroneously trigger double-strand breaks at multiple locations throughout the genome. Many of these breakpoints co-localize with known chromosome alterations in acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL)

Structure of self-assembled Mn atom chains on Si(001)

Mn has been found to self-assemble into atomic chains running perpendicular to the surface dimer reconstruction on Si(001). They differ from other atomic chains by a striking asymmetric appearance in filled state scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) images. This has prompted complicated structural models involving up to three Mn atoms per chain unit. Combining STM, atomic force microscopy and density functional theory we find that a simple necklace-like chain of single Mn atoms reproduces all their prominent features, including their asymmetry not captured by current models. The upshot is a remarkably simpler structure for modelling the electronic and magnetic properties of Mn atom chains on Si(001).Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Brain Volumes and Cognition in Patients with Sickle Cell Anaemia: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Cognitive decline is a major problem in paediatric and adult patients with sickle cell anaemia (SCA) and affects the quality of life. Multiple studies investigating the association between quantitative and qualitative neuroimaging findings and cognition have had mixed results. Hence, the aetiology of cognitive decline in this population is not clearly understood. Several studies have established cerebral atrophy in SCA children as well as adults, but the relationship between cognition and brain volumes remains unclear. The purpose of this systematic review was therefore to evaluate the literature on regional brain volumes and their association with cognitive outcomes. We also meta-analysed studies which compared regional brain volumes between patients and controls. Studies report that patients with SCA tend to have lower grey matter volumes, including total subcortical volumes in childhood as compared to controls, which stabilise in young adulthood and may be subjected to decline with age in older adulthood. White matter volumes remain stable in children but are subjected to reduced volumes in young adulthood. Age and haemoglobin are better predictors of cognitive outcomes as compared to regional brain volumes

Electronic coupling between Bi nanolines and the Si(001) substrate: An experimental and theoretical study

Atomic nanolines are one dimensional systems realized by assembling many atoms on a substrate into long arrays. The electronic properties of the nanolines depend on those of the substrate. Here, we demonstrate that to fully understand the electronic properties of Bi nanolines on clean Si(001) several different contributions must be accounted for. Scanning tunneling microscopy reveals a variety of different patterns along the nanolines as the imaging bias is varied. We observe an electronic phase shift of the Bi dimers, associated with imaging atomic p-orbitals, and an electronic coupling between the Bi nanoline and neighbouring Si dimers, which influences the appearance of both. Understanding the interplay between the Bi nanolines and Si substrate could open a novel route to modifying the electronic properties of the nanolines.Comment: 6 pages (main), 2 pages (SI), accepted by Phys. Rev.

Individual differences in infant fixation duration relate to attention and behavioral control in childhood

Individual differences in fixation duration are considered a reliable measure of attentional control in adults. However, the degree to which individual differences in fixation duration in infancy (0–12 months) relate to temperament and behavior in childhood is largely unknown. In the present study, data were examined from 120 infants (mean age = 7.69 months, SD = 1.90) who previously participated in an eye-tracking study. At follow-up, parents completed age-appropriate questionnaires about their child’s temperament and behavior (mean age of children = 41.59 months, SD = 9.83). Mean fixation duration in infancy was positively associated with effortful control (β = 0.20, R2 = .02, p = .04) and negatively with surgency (β = −0.37, R2 = .07, p = .003) and hyperactivity-inattention (β = −0.35, R2 = .06, p = .005) in childhood. These findings suggest that individual differences in mean fixation duration in infancy are linked to attentional and behavioral control in childhood

White coat hypertension is associated with increased small vessel disease in the brain

Objective: Small vessel disease, as measured by white matter hyperintensity (WMH) in the brain, is known to be associated with increased stroke risk and cognitive impairment. This study explored the relationship between WMH on computerised tomography (CT) and white coat hypertension/effect (WCH/E) in patients with recent transient ischaemic attack (TIA) or lacunar stroke (LS). Design and method: Ninety-six patients recruited for the ASIST trial (Arterial Stiffness in Lacunar Stroke and TIA) underwent measurement of clinic blood pressure (BP) and ambulatory BP monitoring (APBM) within two weeks of TIA or LS. Twenty-three patients had normotension (clinic BP / = 140/90mmHg and day-time ABPM < 135/85mmHg). Arterial stiffness was measured using carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (PWV) (Complior®, ALAM Medical) and carotid-ankle vascular index (CAVI) (VaSera VS-1500N®, Fukuda Denshi). CT images were scored for WMH using the four-point Fazekas visual rating scale. Patients were grouped into no-mild WMH (scores 0–1) or moderate-severe (scores 2–3) groups. The relationship between BP, vascular stiffness and WMH was explored with t-tests, chi-square and logistic regression accounting for known cardiovascular risk factors. Results: Forty-four percent of patients with WCH/E had moderate-severe WMH compared to 17% of normotensives (p = 0.047). The regression model with WMH as the dependent factor, and WCH/E and cardiovascular risk factors as independent factors showed WCH/E and either CAVI or PWV to be the only independent significant factor contributing to WMH (CAVI:p = 0.038, PWV:p = 0.043)