During nocturnal cooling over land, the 10-m wind speed falls to very low values in many parts of the world while the absolute sensible heat flux increases initially after sunset but reaches a ...maximum before decreasing later in the night. In contrast, a one-dimensional numerical model predicts that the nocturnal wind speed is constant after an initial reduction at the evening transition. The difference between observations and the model is attributed to topographic effects which can be significant even over minor orography. Using data from exceptionally flat sites, we show that, in the absence of topography, the nocturnal wind speed is constant and the sensible heat flux tends towards a limiting value during prolonged surface cooling.
Musicians with absolute pitch (AP) can name the pitch of a musical note in isolation. Expression of this unusual ability is thought to be influenced by heritability, early music training and current ...practice. However, our understanding of factors shaping its expression is hampered by testing and scoring methods that treat AP as dichotomous. These fail to capture the observed variability in pitch-naming accuracy among reported AP possessors. The aim of this study was to trial a novel explicit priming paradigm to explore phenotypic variability of AP. Thirty-five musically experienced individuals (M.sub.age = 29 years, range 18-68; 14 males) with varying AP ability completed a standard AP task and the explicit priming AP task. Results showed: 1) phenotypic variability of AP ability, including high-accuracy AP, heterogeneous intermediate performers, and chance-level performers; 2) intermediate performance profiles that were either reliant on or independent of relative pitch strategies, as identified by the priming task; and 3) the emergence of a bimodal distribution of AP performance when adopting scoring criteria that assign credit to semitone errors. These findings show the importance of methods in studying behavioural traits, and are a key step towards identifying AP phenotypes. Replication of our results in larger samples will further establish the usefulness of this priming paradigm in AP research.
Surgical site infections (SSIs) are wound infections that occur after invasive (surgical) procedures. Preoperative bathing or showering with an antiseptic skin wash product is a well-accepted ...procedure for reducing skin bacteria (microflora). It is less clear whether reducing skin microflora leads to a lower incidence of surgical site infection.
To review the evidence for preoperative bathing or showering with antiseptics for the prevention of hospital-acquired (nosocomial) surgical site infection.
We searched the Cochrane Wounds Group Specialised Register (December 2005), the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (The Cochrane Library Issue 4, 2005), MEDLINE (January 1966 to December 2005) and reference lists of articles.
Randomised controlled trials comparing any antiseptic preparation used for preoperative full-body bathing or showering with non-antiseptic preparations in patients undergoing surgery.
Two authors independently assessed studies for selection, trial quality and extracted data. Study authors were contacted for additional information.
Six trials involving a total of 10,007 participants were included. Three of the included trials had three comparison groups. The antiseptic used in all trials was 4% chlorhexidine gluconate (Hibiscrub). Three trials involving 7691 participants compared chlorhexidine with a placebo. Bathing with chlorhexidine compared with a placebo did not result in a statistically significant reduction in SSIs; the relative risk of SSI (RR) was 0.91 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.80 to 1.04). When only trials of high quality were included in this comparison, the RR of SSI was 0.95 (95%CI 0.82 to 1.10). Three trials of 1443 participants compared bar soap with chlorhexidine; when combined there was no difference in the risk of SSIs (RR 1.02, 95% CI 0.57 to 1.84). Two trials of 1092 patients compared bathing with chlorhexidine with no washing, one large study found a statistically significant difference in favour of bathing with chlorhexidine (RR 0.36, 95%CI 0.17 to 0.79). The second smaller study found no difference between patients who washed with chlorhexidine and those who did not wash preoperatively.
This review provides no clear evidence of benefit for preoperative showering or bathing with chlorhexidine over other wash products, to reduce surgical site infection. Efforts to reduce the incidence of nosocomial surgical site infection should focus on interventions where effect has been demonstrated.
•Women with antenatal depression have higher stress-related biomarkers than controls.•Women with antenatal depression have shorter length of gestation than controls.•Neonates exposed to antenatal ...depression have suboptimal neurobehavioural function.•1-year-olds exposed to antenatal depression have increased cortisol stress-response.•Maternal antenatal, and infant stress-related biomarkers are associated.
Antenatal depression is associated with a broad range of suboptimal outcomes in offspring, although the underlying mechanisms are not yet understood. Animal studies propose inflammation and glucocorticoids as mediators of the developmental programming effect of prenatal stress on offspring stress responses, but studies in humans are not yet at this stage. Indeed, to date no single study has examined the effects of a rigorously defined, clinically significant Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) in pregnancy on maternal antenatal inflammatory biomarkers and hypothalamic-pituitary (HPA) axis, as well as on offspring HPA axis, behavior and developmental outcomes in the first postnatal year.
A prospective longitudinal design was used in 106 women (49 cases vs. 57 healthy controls) to study the effect of MDD in pregnancy and associated antenatal biology (inflammatory and cortisol biomarkers), on offspring stress response (cortisol response to immunization, at 8 weeks and 12 months), early neurobehavior (Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale, NBAS, at day 6), and cognitive, language and motor development (Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development at 12 months).
Compared with healthy controls, women with MDD in pregnancy had raised interleukin (IL) IL-6 (effect size (δ) = 0.53, p = 0.031), IL-10 (δ = 0.53, p = 0.043), tumor necrosis factor alpha (δ = 0.90, p = 0.003) and vascular endothelial growth factor (δ = 0.56, p = 0.008), together with raised diurnal cortisol secretion (δ = 0.89, p = 0.006), raised evening cortisol (δ = 0.64, p = 0.004), and blunted cortisol awakening response (δ = 0.70, p = 0.020), and an 8-day shorter length of gestation (δ = 0.70, p = 0.005). Furthermore, they had neonates with suboptimal neurobehavioral function in four out of five NBAS clusters measured (range of δ = 0.45–1.22 and p = 0.049–<0.001) and increased cortisol response to stress at one year of age (δ = 0.87, p < 0.001). Lastly, maternal inflammatory biomarkers and cortisol levels were correlated with infant stress response, suggesting a mechanistic link.
This study confirms and extends the notion that depression in pregnancy is associated with altered offspring behavior and biological stress response, and demonstrates that changes in maternal antenatal stress-related biology are associated with these infant outcomes.
Two previous studies of vertical stress profiles due to gravity waves in the stable boundary layer have given differing results. The current study uses a high-resolution numerical forecast model to ...determine the effect of moderate topography on the vertical stress profile due to gravity waves in the stable boundary layer. The results show that while a quadratic stress profile is expected when topography is low compared to the stable boundary-layer height, when topography height is moderate the pressure term in the valleys becomes dominant. This results in a linear effective stress profile below the hill tops with possibly some remnant stress transmitted up into the troposphere.
Efforts are being directed to systematically analyze the non-coding regions of the genome for cancer-driving mutations
. cis-regulatory elements (CREs) represent a highly enriched subset of the ...non-coding regions of the genome in which to search for such mutations. Here we use high-throughput chromosome conformation capture techniques (Hi-C) for 19,023 promoter fragments to catalog the regulatory landscape of colorectal cancer in cell lines, mapping CREs and integrating these with whole-genome sequence and expression data from The Cancer Genome Atlas
. We identify a recurrently mutated CRE interacting with the ETV1 promoter affecting gene expression. ETV1 expression influences cell viability and is associated with patient survival. We further refine our understanding of the regulatory effects of copy-number variations, showing that RASL11A is targeted by a previously identified enhancer amplification
. This study reveals new insights into the complex genetic alterations driving tumor development, providing a paradigm for employing chromosome conformation capture to decipher non-coding CREs relevant to cancer biology.
Lizards are considered vulnerable to climate change because many operate near their thermal maxima. Exposure to higher temperatures could reduce activity of these animals by forcing them to shelter ...in thermal refugia for prolonged periods to avoid exceeding lethal limits. While rising temperatures should reduce activity in tropical species, the situation is less clear for temperate-zone species where activity can be constrained by both low and high temperatures. Here, we measure the effects of natural variation in environmental temperatures on activity in a temperate grassland lizard and show that it is operating near its upper thermal limit in summer even when sheltering in thermal refuges. As air temperatures increased above 32 °C, lizard activity declined markedly as individuals sought refuge in cool microhabitats while still incurring substantial metabolic costs. We estimate that warming over the last two decades has required these lizards to increase their energy intake up to 40% to offset metabolic losses caused by rising temperatures. Our results show that recent increases in temperature are sufficient to exceed the thermal and metabolic limits of temperate-zone grassland lizards. Extended periods of high temperatures could place natural populations of ectotherms under significantly increased environmental stress and contribute to population declines and extinction.
Music Performance Anxiety (MPA) is a common challenge for classical musicians, however its etiology has received minimal research, particularly in regards to caregiver experiences during childhood ...and adolescence. The aim of this research was to explore the impact of childhood experiences with parents along with patterns of dysfunctional cognitive schemas that develop through childhood ('Early Maladaptive Schemas'; EMSs) on the manifestation and severity of MPA in adulthood. Study 1 employed 100 adult professional, amateur, and tertiary student classical musicians from across Australia. Participants completed the Young Schema Questionnaire (YSQ) and the Kenny Music Performance Anxiety Inventory (K-MPAI). Study 2 included eight participants from Study 1, five of whom scored 1.5 standard deviations or more above the mean K-MPAI score and three of whom scored 1.5 standard deviations or more below the mean K-MPAI score. Participants were interviewed about experiences of parenting during childhood and adolescence, along with their experiences of MPA and musical training. Interpretative phenomenological analysis was used to explore themes in the interview data. Study 1 factor analysis revealed four higher-order EMS factors,
= 13.74,
< 0.001, one of which was a significant predictor of MPA,
= 3.06,
= 0.003. This factor comprised themes of failure, catastrophising, and incompetence/dependence. Study 2 qualitative analysis revealed various key parenting themes experienced in childhood that differentiated low- and high-MPA scorers in adulthood. Findings from both studies are discussed in light of clinical applications and interventions, and implications for both parents and music educators.
Analysis of screen‐level and land‐surface temperature forecasts are known to have long‐standing warm nighttime, and cold daytime, temperature biases in regional models. During a record‐breaking ...spring and subsequent summer in 2020, over 100 radiosondes were launched at the Met Office Cardington site under clear skies on ten morning and one evening transitions. We compare observations with operational Met Office UKV forecasts and a standalone land‐surface model (JULES). Wind profiles show the UKV nocturnal jet was too high, suggesting too much mixing in the modelled boundary layer. The simulated nighttime surface inversion was too weak and the profile too cold immediately above the inversion. The radiosondes were in addition to comprehensive long‐term observations. The evapotranspiration was too large on a seasonal timescale for both the UKV and JULES. For spring and summer, UKV mean screen temperature errors were −0.2 ± 1.3∘C during daytime and 1.3 ± 1.9∘C at night. The soil temperature diurnal range was too large in both the UKV (by 3.9°C) and JULES (2.9°C), suggesting the surface is too highly coupled to the soil in the simulations. For the spring experimental days, UKV mean maximum screen temperature error was −0.8 ± 0.4∘C. The buoyancy‐flux crossover times in the morning were slightly too early in the UKV (18 min on average) yet much earlier in JULES (52 min). Observations show the diagnosed boundary layer lifts too early in the UKV with onset of convection occurring on average 67 min too early. The UKV develops summertime boundary layers that are too deep by early afternoon. There was a time lag between the observed screen‐skin temperature and buoyancy‐flux crossovers in the morning that was not captured by the simulations. The evening buoyancy‐flux crossovers in JULES agreed well with the observations, but the UKV crossovers were on average 55 min too early.
During a record‐breaking spring and subsequent summer in 2020, over 100 radiosondes were launched under cloud‐free skies, in addition to comprehensive, long‐term observations at the Cardington site. The modelled evapotranspiration was too large on a seasonal timescale for both the UKV and offline JULES surface scheme. Observations indicate the simulated buoyancy‐flux morning crossover occurs too early and therefore the diagnosed boundary layer lifts too early. Modelled boundary layers tend to be too deep by early afternoon, particularly in summer.
Marine organisms are increasingly being investigated as sources of bioactive molecules with therapeutic applications as nutraceuticals and pharmaceuticals. In particular, nutraceuticals are gaining ...popularity worldwide owing to their therapeutic potential and incorporation in functional foods and dietary supplements. Abalone, a marine gastropod, contains a variety of bioactive compounds with anti-oxidant, anti-thrombotic, anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial, and anti-cancer activities. For thousands of years different cultures have used abalone as a traditional functional food believing consumption provides health benefits. Abalone meat is one of the most precious commodities in Asian markets where it is considered a culinary delicacy. Recent research has revealed that abalone is composed of many vital moieties like polysaccharides, proteins, and fatty acids that provide health benefits beyond basic nutrition. A review of past and present research is presented with relevance to the therapeutic potential of bioactive molecules from abalone.
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