The Ecology of Sandy Shores provides the students and researchers with a one- volume resource for understanding the conservation and management of the sandy shore ecosystem. Covering all beach types, ...and addressing issues from the behavioral and physiological adaptations of the biota to exploring the effects of pollution and the impact of man's activities, this book should become the standard reference for those interested in Sandy Shore study, management and preservation. * More than 25% expanded from the previous edition * Three entirely new chapters: Energetics and Nutrient Cycling, Turtles and Terrestrial Vertebrates, and Benthic Macrofauna Populations * New sections on the interstitial environment, seagrasses, human impacts and coastal zone management * Examples drawn from virtually all parts of the world, considering all beach types from the most exposed to the most sheltered
Background
Although intention to breastfeed in Western culture is high, many women stop breastfeeding before they are ready. From a physiological perspective, rates of primary milk insufficiency or ...contraindications to breastfeed should be low. However, numerous women encounter numerous barriers to breastfeeding, many of which occur at the social, cultural and political level and are therefore outside of maternal control. This review identifies and examines the impact of these barriers and considers how public health services should play a central role in creating a supportive breastfeeding environment.
Methods
A narrative review to synthesise themes in the literature was conducted, using Web of Science, PubMed and Science Direct. Barriers to breastfeeding at the societal rather than individual level were identified (e.g. in relation to health services, policies and economic factors). Only English language papers were included.
Results
Many barriers to breastfeeding exist at the societal rather than individual level. These influences are typically outside mothers’ control. Five core themes were identified; the need for investment in (i) health services; (ii) population level health promotion; (iii) supporting maternal legal rights; (iv) protection of maternal wellbeing; and (v) reducing the reach of the breast milk substitute industry.
Conclusions
Although individual support is important, breastfeeding must be considered a public health issue that requires investment at a societal level. Focusing solely on solving individual issues will not lead to the cultural changes needed to normalise breastfeeding. Countries that have adopted a multicomponent public heath strategy to increase breastfeeding levels have had significant success. These strategies must be emulated more widely.
The rapid development of COVID-19 vaccines has brought an unprecedented focus on public attitudes to vaccines, with intention to accept a COVID-19 vaccine fluctuating during the pandemic. However, it ...is unclear how the pandemic may influence attitudes and behaviour in relation to vaccines in general. The aim of the current study is to examine older adults' changes in vaccination attitudes and behaviour over the first year of the pandemic.
In February-March 2020 (before the first COVID-19 national lockdown in the UK), 372 older adults (aged 65+) provided sociodemographic information, self-reported influenza vaccine uptake, and completed two measures of vaccination attitudes: the 5C scale and the Vaccination Attitudes Examination Scale. One-year later, following rollout of COVID-19 vaccines to older adults, participants provided information on their COVID-19 and influenza vaccine uptake in the previous 12 months, and completed the 5C and VAX scales again. Paired samples t-tests were used to examine changes in vaccination attitudes over time.
Almost all participants (98.7%) had received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, and a significant increase in influenza uptake was identified (83.6% in 2020 to 91.6% in 2021). Complacency, mistrust of vaccine benefit, concerns about commercial profiteering, and constraints to vaccination had significantly decreased between Time 1 and Time 2, and collective responsibility had significant increased. However, calculation and worries about unforeseen future effects had increased, indicating that participants now perceived higher risks related to vaccination and were taking a more deliberative information-seeking approach.
The results show significant changes in vaccination attitudes across the pandemic. These changes suggest that while older adults became less complacent about the importance of vaccines, concerns about potential risks associated with vaccination increased. It will be important for public health communication to address these concerns for all vaccines offered to this group.
Background
Baby‐led weaning (BLW) where infants self‐feed family foods during the period that they are introduced to solid foods is growing in popularity. The method may promote healthier eating ...patterns, although concerns have been raised regarding its safety. The present study therefore explored choking frequency amongst babies who were being introduced to solid foods using a baby‐led or traditional spoon‐fed approach.
Methods
In total, 1151 mothers with an infant aged 4–12 months reported how they introduced solid foods to their infant (following a strict BLW, loose BLW or traditional weaning style) and frequency of spoon‐feeding and puree use (percentage of mealtimes). Mothers recalled if their infant had ever choked and, if so, how many times and on what type of food (smooth puree, lumpy puree, finger food and specific food examples).
Results
In total, 13.6% of infants (n = 155) had ever choked. No significant association was found between weaning style and ever choking, or the frequency of spoon or puree use and ever choking. For infants who had ever choked, infants following a traditional weaning approach experience significantly more choking episodes for finger foods (F2,147 = 4.417, P = 0.014) and lumpy purees (F2,131 = 6.46, P = 0.002) than infants following a strict or loose baby‐led approach.
Conclusions
Baby‐led weaning was not associated with increased risk of choking and the highest frequency of choking on finger foods occurred in those who were given finger foods the least often. However, the limitations of noncausal results, a self‐selecting sample and reliability of recall must be emphasised.
Breast cancer affects approximately 12 % women worldwide and results in 14 % of all cancer-related fatalities. Breast cancer is commonly categorized into one of four main subtypes (luminal A, luminal ...B, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) positive and basal), indicating molecular characteristics and informing treatment regimes. The most severe form of breast cancer is metastasis, when the tumour spreads from the breast tissue to other parts of the body. Significantly, the primary tumour subtype affects rates and sites of metastasis. Currently, up to 5 % of patients present with incurable metastasis, with an additional 10–15 % of patients going on to develop metastasis within 3 years of diagnosis. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are short 21–25 long nucleotides that have been shown to significantly affect gene expression. Currently, >2000 miRNAs have been identified and significantly, specific miRNAs have been found associated with diseases states. Importantly, miRNAs are found circulating in the blood, presenting an opportunity to use these circulating disease-related miRNAs as biomarkers. Clearly, the identification of circulating miRNA specific to metastatic breast cancer presents a unique opportunity for early disease identification and for monitoring disease burden. Currently however, few groups have identified miRNA associated with metastatic breast cancer. Here, we review the literature surrounding the identification of metastatic miRNA in breast cancer patients, highlighting key areas where miRNA biomarker discovery could be beneficial, identifying key concepts, recognizing critical areas requiring further research and discussing potential problems.
The chemistry and physics of charged interfaces is regulated by the structure of the electrical double layer (EDL). Herein we quantify the average thickness of the Stern layer at the silica (SiO2) ...nanoparticle/aqueous electrolyte interface as a function of NaCl concentration following direct measurement of the nanoparticles’ surface potential by X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). We find the Stern layer compresses (becomes thinner) as the electrolyte concentration is increased. This finding provides a simple and intuitive picture of the EDL that explains the concurrent increase in surface charge density, but decrease in surface and zeta potentials, as the electrolyte concentration is increased.
The electrical double layer (EDL) is presented in a simple and intuitive picture that explains the concurrent increase in surface charge density, but decrease in surface and zeta potentials, as electrolyte concentration is increased.
Gaia Data Release 2 Luri, X.; Brown, A. G. A.; Sarro, L. M. ...
Astronomy and astrophysics (Berlin),
08/2018, Letnik:
616
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Context.
The second
Gaia
data release (
Gaia
DR2) provides precise five-parameter astrometric data (positions, proper motions, and parallaxes) for an unprecedented number of sources (more than 1.3 ...billion, mostly stars). This new wealth of data will enable the undertaking of statistical analysis of many astrophysical problems that were previously infeasible for lack of reliable astrometry, and in particular because of the lack of parallaxes. However, the use of this wealth of astrometric data comes with a specific challenge: how can the astrophysical parameters of interest be properly inferred from these data?
Aims.
The main focus of this paper, but not the only focus, is the issue of the estimation of distances from parallaxes, possibly combined with other information. We start with a critical review of the methods traditionally used to obtain distances from parallaxes and their shortcomings. Then we provide guidelines on how to use parallaxes more efficiently to estimate distances by using Bayesian methods. In particular we also show that negative parallaxes, or parallaxes with relatively large uncertainties still contain valuable information. Finally, we provide examples that show more generally how to use astrometric data for parameter estimation, including the combination of proper motions and parallaxes and the handling of covariances in the uncertainties.
Methods.
The paper contains examples based on simulated
Gaia
data to illustrate the problems and the solutions proposed. Furthermore, the developments and methods proposed in the paper are linked to a set of tutorials included in the
Gaia
archive documentation that provide practical examples and a good starting point for the application of the recommendations to actual problems. In all cases the source code for the analysis methods is provided.
Results.
Our main recommendation is to always treat the derivation of (astro-)physical parameters from astrometric data, in particular when parallaxes are involved, as an inference problem which should preferably be handled with a full Bayesian approach.
Conclusions.
Gaia
will provide fundamental data for many fields of astronomy. Further data releases will provide more data, and more precise data. Nevertheless, to fully use the potential it will always be necessary to pay careful attention to the statistical treatment of parallaxes and proper motions. The purpose of this paper is to help astronomers find the correct approach.
Combining the precise parallaxes and optical photometry delivered by Gaia’s second data release with the photometric catalogues of Pan-STARRS1, 2MASS, and AllWISE, we derived Bayesian stellar ...parameters, distances, and extinctions for 265 million of the 285 million objects brighter than G = 18. Because of the wide wavelength range used, our results substantially improve the accuracy and precision of previous extinction and effective temperature estimates. After cleaning our results for both unreliable input and output data, we retain 137 million stars, for which we achieve a median precision of 5% in distance, 0.20 mag in V-band extinction, and 245 K in effective temperature for G ≤ 14, degrading towards fainter magnitudes (12%, 0.20 mag, and 245 K at G = 16; 16%, 0.23 mag, and 260 K at G = 17, respectively). We find a very good agreement with the asteroseismic surface gravities and distances of 7000 stars in the Kepler, K2-C3, and K2-C6 fields, with stellar parameters from the APOGEE survey, and with distances to star clusters. Our results are available through the ADQL query interface of the Gaia mirror at the Leibniz-Institut für Astrophysik Potsdam (gaia.aip.de) and as binary tables at data.aip.de. As a first application, we provide distance- and extinction-corrected colour-magnitude diagrams, extinction maps as a function of distance, and extensive density maps. These demonstrate the potential of our value-added dataset for mapping the three-dimensional structure of our Galaxy. In particular, we see a clear manifestation of the Galactic bar in the stellar density distributions, an observation that can almost be considered direct imaging of the Galactic bar.
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