Long term time variability of cosmic rays and possible relevance to the development of life on Earth

An analysis is made of the manner in which the cosmic ray intensity at Earth has varied over its existence and its possible relevance to both the origin and the evolution of life. Much of the analysis relates to the 'high energy' cosmic rays ($E>10^{14}eV;=0.1PeV$) and their variability due to the changing proximity of the solar system to supernova remnants which are generally believed to be responsible for most cosmic rays up to PeV energies. It is pointed out that, on a statistical basis, there will have been considerable variations in the likely 100 My between the Earth's biosphere reaching reasonable stability and the onset of very elementary life. Interestingly, there is the increasingly strong possibility that PeV cosmic rays are responsible for the initiation of terrestrial lightning strokes and the possibility arises of considerable increases in the frequency of lightnings and thereby the formation of some of the complex molecules which are the 'building blocks of life'. Attention is also given to the well known generation of the oxides of nitrogen by lightning strokes which are poisonous to animal life but helpful to plant growth; here, too, the violent swings of cosmic ray intensities may have had relevance to evolutionary changes. A particular variant of the cosmic ray acceleration model, put forward by us, predicts an increase in lightning rate in the past and this has been sought in Korean historical records. Finally, the time dependence of the overall cosmic ray intensity, which manifests itself mainly at sub-10 GeV energies, has been examined. The relevance of cosmic rays to the 'global electrical circuit' points to the importance of this concept.Comment: 18 pages, 5 figures, accepted by 'Surveys in Geophysics

Delineating ethnic and religious identities in research with British South Asians

The present essay presents a rationale for delineating ethnic and religious identities in empirical research into self-identification among British South Asians. It is argued that the delineation of these identities is important in order to (i) predict and explain the identificatory possibilities available to these individuals; (ii) explore the differential values attributed to these identities; (iii) the level of psychological 'connectedness' between the identities; and (iv) the inter-relations between these identities, particularly in relation to psychological coherence. It is argued that a systematic delineation of these identities may have favourable theoretical, empirical and practical outcomes

Current opportunities to catalyze research in nutrition and cancer prevention – an interdisciplinary perspective

Cancer Research UK and Ludwig Cancer Research convened an inaugural international Cancer Prevention and Nutrition Conference in London on December 3–4, 2018. Much of the discussion focused on the need for systematic, interdisciplinary approaches to better understand the relationships of nutrition, exercise, obesity and metabolic dysfunction with cancer development. Scientists at the meeting underscored the importance of studying the temporal natural history of exposures that may cumulatively impact cancer risk later in life. A robust dialogue identified obesity as a major risk for cancer, and the food environment, especially high energy and low nutrient processed foods, as strong and prevalent risk factors for obesity. Further engagement highlighted challenges in the post-diagnostic setting, where similar opportunities to understand the complex interplay of nutrition, physical activity, and weight will inform better health outcomes. Going forward, holistic research approaches, encompassing insights from multiple disciplines and perspectives, will catalyze progress urgently needed to prevent cancer and improve public health

Creating the Back Ward: The Triumph of Custodialism and the Uses of Therapeutic Failure in Nineteenth Century Idiot Asylums

My focus in this chapter is on the origin of the back ward rather than its demise. Where did the “back wards” that [Burton] Blatt and [Senator Robert] Kennedy witnessed come from in the first place? What 3 exactly were those “antecedents of the problems observed” that Blatt cited? This chapter reviews that history and argues that, in fact, there is a specific narrative to the evolution of the institutional “back ward” as an identifiable place where people with the most significant intellectual disabilities were to be incarcerated and largely forgotten.https://digitalcommons.chapman.edu/education_books/1006/thumbnail.jp

Extensor tendon release in tennis elbow: results and prognostic factors in 80 elbows

Purpose The objectives of this study were to evaluate the results in the outpatient treatment of recalcitrant lateral epicondylitis with release of the common extensor origin according to Hohmann and to determine any prognostic factors. Methods Eighty tennis elbows in 77 patients with a characteristic history of activity-related pain at the lateral epicondyle interfering with the activities of daily living refractory to conservative care for at least 6 months and a confirmatory physical examination were included. Clinical outcome was evaluated using the QuickDASH score system. Data were collected before the operation and at the medians of 18 months (range 6–36 months; short term) and 4 years (range 3–6 years; medium term) postoperatively. Results The mean QuickDASH was improved both at the short- and the medium-term follow-ups and did not change significantly between the follow-ups. At the final followup, the QuickDASH was improved in 78 out of 80 elbows and 81% was rated as excellent or good (QuickDASH\40 points). We found a weak correlation between residual symptoms (a high QuickDASH score) at the final follow-up and high level of baseline symptoms (r = 0.388), acute occurrence of symptoms (r = 0.362), long duration of symptoms (r = 0.276), female gender (r = 0.269) and young age (r = 0.203), whereas occurrence in dominant arm, a work-related cause or strenuous work did not correlate significantly with the outcome. Conclusion Open lateral extensor release performed as outpatient surgery results in improved clinical outcome at both short- and medium-term follow-ups with few complications. High baseline disability, sudden occurrence of symptoms, long duration of symptoms, female gender and young age were found to be weak predictors of poor outcome

Resistance to Wheat streak mosaic virus identified in synthetic wheat lines

Citation: Shoup Rupp, J. L., Simon, Z. G., Gillett-Walker, B., & Fellers, J. P. (2014). Resistance to Wheat streak mosaic virus identified in synthetic wheat lines. Retrieved from http://krex.ksu.eduWheat streak mosaic virus (WSMV) is an important pathogen in wheat that causes significant yield losses each year. WSMV is typically controlled using cultural practices such as the removal of volunteer wheat. Genetic resistance is limited. Until recently, no varieties have been available with major resistance genes to WSMV. Two resistance genes have been derived from Thinopyrum intermedium through chromosome engineering, while a third gene was transferred from bread wheat through classical breeding. New sources of resistance are needed and synthetic wheat lines provide a means of accessing genetic variability in wheat progenitors. A collection of wheat synthetic lines was screened for WSMV resistance. Four lines, 07-SYN-27, -106, -164, and -383 had significant levels of resistance. Resistance was effective at 18 °C and virus accumulation was similar to the resistant control, WGGRC50 containing Wsm1. At 25 °C, resistance was no longer effective and virus accumulation was similar to the susceptible control, Tomahawk

Calcium Sulfate and Platelet-Rich Plasma make a novel osteoinductive biomaterial for bone regeneration

BACKGROUND: With the present study we introduce a novel and simple biomaterial able to induce regeneration of bone. We theorized that nourishing a bone defect with calcium and with a large amount of activated platelets may initiate a series of biological processes that culminate in bone regeneration. Thus, we engineered CS-Platelet, a biomaterial based on the combination of Calcium Sulfate and Platelet-Rich Plasma in which Calcium Sulfate also acts as an activator of the platelets, therefore avoiding the need to activate the platelets with an agonist. METHODS: First, we tested CS-Platelet in heterotopic (muscle) and orthotopic (bone) bone regeneration bioassays. We then utilized CS-Platelet in a variety of dental and craniofacial clinical cases, where regeneration of bone was needed. RESULTS: The heterotopic bioassay showed formation of bone within the muscular tissue at the site of the implantation of CS-Platelet. Results of a quantitative orthotopic bioassay based on the rat calvaria critical size defect showed that only CS-Platelet and recombinant human BMP2 were able to induce a significant regeneration of bone. A non-human primate orthotopic bioassay also showed that CS-Platelet is completely resorbable. In all human clinical cases where CS-Platelet was used, a complete bone repair was achieved. CONCLUSION: This study showed that CS-Platelet is a novel biomaterial able to induce formation of bone in heterotopic and orthotopic sites, in orthotopic critical size bone defects, and in various clinical situations. The discovery of CS-Platelet may represent a cost-effective breakthrough in bone regenerative therapy and an alternative or an adjuvant to the current treatments

Religious affiliation modulates weekly cycles of cropland burning in Sub-Saharan Africa

Research ArticleVegetation burning is a common land management practice in Africa, where fire is used for hunting, livestock husbandry, pest control, food gathering, cropland fertilization, and wildfire prevention. Given such strong anthropogenic control of fire, we tested the hypotheses that fire activity displays weekly cycles, and that the week day with the fewest fires depends on regionally predominant religious affiliation.We also analyzed the effect of land use (anthrome) on weekly fire cycle significance. Fire density (fire counts.km-2) observed per week day in each region was modeled using a negative binomial regression model, with fire counts as response variable, region area as offset and a structured random effect to account for spatial dependence. Anthrome (settled, cropland, natural, rangeland), religion (Christian, Muslim, mixed) week day, and their 2-way and 3-way interactions were used as independent variables. Models were also built separately for each anthrome, relating regional fire density with week day and religious affiliation. Analysis revealed a significant interaction between religion and week day, i.e. regions with different religious affiliation (Christian, Muslim) display distinct weekly cycles of burning. However, the religion vs. week day interaction only is significant for croplands, i.e. fire activity in African croplands is significantly lower on Sunday in Christian regions and on Friday in Muslim regions. Magnitude of fire activity does not differ significantly among week days in rangelands and in natural areas, where fire use is under less strict control than in croplands. These findings can contribute towards improved specification of ignition patterns in regional/global vegetation fire models, and may lead to more accurate meteorological and chemical weather forecastinginfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Facial expression training optimises viewing strategy in children and adults

This study investigated whether training-related improvements in facial expression categorization are facilitated by spontaneous changes in gaze behaviour in adults and nine-year old children. Four sessions of a self-paced, free-viewing training task required participants to categorize happy, sad and fear expressions with varying intensities. No instructions about eye movements were given. Eye-movements were recorded in the first and fourth training session. New faces were introduced in session four to establish transfer-effects of learning. Adults focused most on the eyes in all sessions and increased expression categorization accuracy after training coincided with a strengthening of this eye-bias in gaze allocation. In children, training-related behavioural improvements coincided with an overall shift in gaze-focus towards the eyes (resulting in more adult-like gaze-distributions) and towards the mouth for happy faces in the second fixation. Gaze-distributions were not influenced by the expression intensity or by the introduction of new faces. It was proposed that training enhanced the use of a uniform, predominantly eyes-biased, gaze strategy in children in order to optimise extraction of relevant cues for discrimination between subtle facial expressions