149 research outputs found
The power of suggestion: examining the impact of presence or absence of shared first language in the antenatal clinic
© 2019 Foundation for the Sociology of Health & Illness Healthcare encounters involving participants from diverse linguistic backgrounds are becoming more common due to the globalisation of health care and increasing migration levels. Research suggests that this diversity has a significant impact on health outcomes; however less is known about how it is managed in the actual consultation process. This article presents an analysis of antenatal screening consultations video recorded in Hong Kong, using conversation analysis. We consider how the use of a second or subsequent language impacts on these consultations, and on discussions and decisions about further action. The presence or absence of shared first language did not appear to affect the extent to which particular courses of action were promoted or recommended. Recommendations were a common occurrence across consultations with and without shared first language. However, we argue that the routine use of recommendations can be consequential, as second language speakers may have more limited resources to interrogate or contest these. This finding has implications for the ability for professionals to maximise patient involvement in decision-making
Intra-sexual competition alters the relationship between testosterone and ornament expression in a wild territorial bird
Open Access funded by Natural Environment Research Council Under a Creative Commons licensePeer reviewedPublisher PD
Fitting the integrated Spectral Energy Distributions of Galaxies
Fitting the spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of galaxies is an almost
universally used technique that has matured significantly in the last decade.
Model predictions and fitting procedures have improved significantly over this
time, attempting to keep up with the vastly increased volume and quality of
available data. We review here the field of SED fitting, describing the
modelling of ultraviolet to infrared galaxy SEDs, the creation of
multiwavelength data sets, and the methods used to fit model SEDs to observed
galaxy data sets. We touch upon the achievements and challenges in the major
ingredients of SED fitting, with a special emphasis on describing the interplay
between the quality of the available data, the quality of the available models,
and the best fitting technique to use in order to obtain a realistic
measurement as well as realistic uncertainties. We conclude that SED fitting
can be used effectively to derive a range of physical properties of galaxies,
such as redshift, stellar masses, star formation rates, dust masses, and
metallicities, with care taken not to over-interpret the available data. Yet
there still exist many issues such as estimating the age of the oldest stars in
a galaxy, finer details ofdust properties and dust-star geometry, and the
influences of poorly understood, luminous stellar types and phases. The
challenge for the coming years will be to improve both the models and the
observational data sets to resolve these uncertainties. The present review will
be made available on an interactive, moderated web page (sedfitting.org), where
the community can access and change the text. The intention is to expand the
text and keep it up to date over the coming years.Comment: 54 pages, 26 figures, Accepted for publication in Astrophysics &
Space Scienc
Domestic Violence and Health Care: Opening Pandora¿s Box ¿ Challenges and Dilemmas
In this article we take a critical stance toward the rational progressive narrative
surrounding the integration of domestic violence within health care. Whilst changes in
recent UK policy and practice have resulted in several tangible benefits, it is argued that
there may be hidden dilemmas and challenges. We suggest that the medical model of care
and its discursive practices position women as individually accountable for domestic
violence-related symptoms and injuries. This may not only be ineffective in terms of
service provision but could also have the potential to reduce the political significance of
domestic violence as an issue of concern for all women. Furthermore, it is argued that the
use of specific metaphors enables practitioners to distance themselves from interactions
that may prove to be less comfortable and provide less than certain outcomes. Our analysis
explores the possibilities for change that might currently be available. This would
appear to involve a consideration of alternative discourses and the reformulation of power
relations and subject positions in health care
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Linking soil microbial community structure to potential carbon mineralization: A continental scale assessment of reduced tillage
Potential carbon mineralization (Cmin) is a commonly used indicator of soil health, with greater Cmin values interpreted as healthier soil. While Cmin values are typically greater in agricultural soils managed with minimal physical disturbance, the mechanisms driving the increases remain poorly understood. This study assessed bacterial and archaeal community structure and potential microbial drivers of Cmin in soils maintained under various degrees of physical disturbance. Potential carbon mineralization, 16S rRNA sequences, and soil characterization data were collected as part of the North American Project to Evaluate Soil Health Measurements (NAPESHM). Results showed that type of cropping system, intensity of physical disturbance, and soil pH influenced microbial sensitivity to physical disturbance. Furthermore, 28% of amplicon sequence variants (ASVs), which were important in modeling Cmin, were enriched under soils managed with minimal physical disturbance. Sequences identified as enriched under minimal disturbance and important for modeling Cmin, were linked to organisms which could produce extracellular polymeric substances and contained metabolic strategies suited for tolerating environmental stressors. Understanding how physical disturbance shapes microbial communities across climates and inherent soil properties and drives changes in Cmin provides the context necessary to evaluate management impacts on standardized measures of soil microbial activity
Female chromosome X mosaicism is age-related and preferentially affects the inactivated X chromosome
To investigate large structural clonal mosaicism of chromosome X, we analysed the SNP
microarray intensity data of 38,303 women from cancer genome-wide association studies
(20,878 cases and 17,425 controls) and detected 124 mosaic X events42Mb in 97 (0.25%)
women. Here we show rates for X-chromosome mosaicism are four times higher than mean
autosomal rates; X mosaic events more often include the entire chromosome and participants
with X events more likely harbour autosomal mosaic events. X mosaicism frequency
increases with age (0.11% in 50-year olds; 0.45% in 75-year olds), as reported for Y and
autosomes. Methylation array analyses of 33 women with X mosaicism indicate events
preferentially involve the inactive X chromosome. Our results provide further evidence that
the sex chromosomes undergo mosaic events more frequently than autosomes, which could
have implications for understanding the underlying mechanisms of mosaic events and their
possible contribution to risk for chronic diseases
Detectable clonal mosaicism and its relationship to aging and cancer
In an analysis of 31,717 cancer cases and 26,136 cancer-free controls from 13 genome-wide association studies, we observed large chromosomal abnormalities in a subset of clones in DNA obtained from blood or buccal samples. We observed mosaic abnormalities, either aneuploidy or copy-neutral loss of heterozygosity, of >2 Mb in size in autosomes of 517 individuals (0.89%), with abnormal cell proportions of between 7% and 95%. In cancer-free individuals, frequency increased with age, from 0.23% under 50 years to 1.91% between 75 and 79 years (P = 4.8 × 10(-8)). Mosaic abnormalities were more frequent in individuals with solid tumors (0.97% versus 0.74% in cancer-free individuals; odds ratio (OR) = 1.25; P = 0.016), with stronger association with cases who had DNA collected before diagnosis or treatment (OR = 1.45; P = 0.0005). Detectable mosaicism was also more common in individuals for whom DNA was collected at least 1 year before diagnosis with leukemia compared to cancer-free individuals (OR = 35.4; P = 3.8 × 10(-11)). These findings underscore the time-dependent nature of somatic events in the etiology of cancer and potentially other late-onset diseases
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