Using coloured filters to reduce the symptoms of visual stress in children with reading delay

Background: Meares Irlen Syndrome (MIS), otherwise known as “visual stress”, is one condition that can cause difficulties with reading. Aim: This study aimed to compare the effect of two coloured-filter systems on the symptoms of visual stress in children with reading delay. Methods: The study design was a pre-test, post-test, randomized head-to-head comparison of two filter systems on the symptoms of visual stress in school children. A total of 68 UK mainstream schoolchildren with significant impairment in reading ability completed the study. Results: The filter systems appeared to have a large effect on the reported symptoms between pre and post three-month time points (d = 2.5, r = 0.78). Both filter types appeared to have large effects (Harris d = 1.79, r = 0.69 and DRT d = 3.22, r = 0.85). Importantly, 35% of participants’ reported that their symptoms had resolved completely; 72% of the 68 children appeared to gain improvements in three or more visual stress symptoms. Conclusion and significance: The reduction in symptoms, which appeared to be brought about by the use of coloured filters, eased the visual discomfort experienced by these children when reading. This type of intervention therefore has the potential to facilitate occupational engagement

Solitonic supersymmetry restoration

Q-balls are a possible feature of any model with a conserved, global U(1) symmetry and no massless, charged scalars. It is shown that for a broad class of models of metastable supersymmetry breaking they are extremely influential on the vacuum lifetime and make seemingly viable vacua catastrophically short lived. A net charge asymmetry is not required as there is often a significant range of parameter space where statistical fluctuations alone are sufficient. This effect is examined for two supersymmetry breaking scenarios. It is found that models of minimal gauge mediation (which necessarily have a messenger number U(1)) undergo a rapid, supersymmetry restoring phase transition unless the messenger mass is greater than 10^8 GeV. Similarly the ISS model, in the context of direct mediation, quickly decays unless the perturbative superpotential coupling is greater than the Standard Model gauge couplings.Comment: 17 pages, 3 figures, minor comments added, accepted for publication in JHE

Population Genetics of Franciscana Dolphins (Pontoporia blainvillei): Introducing a New Population from the Southern Edge of Their Distribution

Due to anthropogenic factors, the franciscana dolphin, Pontoporia blainvillei, is the most threatened small cetacean on the Atlantic coast of South America. Four Franciscana Management Areas have been proposed: Espiritu Santo to Rio de Janeiro (FMA I), São Paulo to Santa Catarina (FMA II), Rio Grande do Sul to Uruguay (FMA III), and Argentina (FMA IV). Further genetic studies distinguished additional populations within these FMAs. We analyzed the population structure, phylogeography, and demographic history in the southernmost portion of the species range. From the analysis of mitochondrial DNA control region sequences, 5 novel haplotypes were found, totalizing 60 haplotypes for the entire distribution range. The haplotype network did not show an apparent phylogeographical signal for the southern FMAs. Two populations were identified: Monte Hermoso (MH) and Necochea (NC)+Claromecó (CL)+Río Negro (RN). The low levels of genetic variability, the relative constant size over time, and the low levels of gene flow may indicate that MH has been colonized by a few maternal lineages and became isolated from geographically close populations. The apparent increase in NC+CL+RN size would be consistent with the higher genetic variability found, since genetic diversity is generally higher in older and expanding populations. Additionally, RN may have experienced a recent split from CL and NC; current high levels of gene flow may be occurring between the latter ones. FMA IV would comprise four franciscana dolphin populations: Samborombón West+Samborombón South, Cabo San Antonio+Buenos Aires East, NC+CL+Buenos Aires Southwest+RN and MH. Results achieved in this study need to be taken into account in order to ensure the long-term survival of the species.Fil: Gariboldi, María Constanza. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Maimónides. Área de Investigaciones Biomédicas y Biotecnológicas. Centro de Estudios Biomédicos, Biotecnológicos, Ambientales y de Diagnóstico; ArgentinaFil: Tunez, Juan Ignacio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Luján; ArgentinaFil: Dejean, Cristina Beatriz. Universidad Maimónides. Área de Investigaciones Biomédicas y Biotecnológicas. Centro de Estudios Biomédicos, Biotecnológicos, Ambientales y de Diagnóstico; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Filosofía y Letras. Instituto de Ciencias Antropológicas. Sección Antropología Biológica; ArgentinaFil: Failla, Mauricio. Fundación Cethus; ArgentinaFil: Vitullo, Alfredo Daniel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Maimónides. Área de Investigaciones Biomédicas y Biotecnológicas. Centro de Estudios Biomédicos, Biotecnológicos, Ambientales y de Diagnóstico; ArgentinaFil: Negri, Maria Fernanda. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales ; ArgentinaFil: Cappozzo, Humberto Luis. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Maimónides. Área de Investigaciones Biomédicas y Biotecnológicas. Centro de Estudios Biomédicos, Biotecnológicos, Ambientales y de Diagnóstico; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales ; Argentin

Refractory septic shock in children: a European Society of Paediatric and Neonatal Intensive Care definition

PURPOSE: Although overall paediatric septic shock mortality is decreasing, refractory septic shock (RSS) is still associated with high mortality. A definition for RSS is urgently needed to facilitate earlier identification and treatment. We aim to establish a European society of paediatric and neonatal intensive care (ESPNIC) experts' definition of paediatric RSS. METHODS: We conducted a two-round Delphi study followed by an observational multicentre retrospective study. One hundred and fourteen paediatric intensivists answered a clinical case-based, two-round Delphi survey, identifying clinical items consistent with RSS. Multivariate analysis of these items in a development single-centre cohort (70 patients, 30 % mortality) facilitated development of RSS definitions based on either a bedside or computed severity score. Both scores were subsequently tested in a validation cohort (six centres, 424 patients, 11.6 % mortality). RESULTS: From the Delphi process, the draft definition included evidence of myocardial dysfunction and high blood lactate levels despite high vasopressor treatment. When assessed in the development population, each item was independently associated with the need for extracorporeal life support (ECLS) or death. Resultant bedside and computed septic shock scores had high discriminative power against the need for ECLS or death, with areas under the receiver operating characteristics curve of 0.920 (95 % CI 0.89-0.94), and 0.956 (95 % CI 0.93-0.97), respectively. RSS defined by a bedside score equal to or higher than 2 and a computed score equal to or higher than 3.5 was associated with a significant increase in mortality. CONCLUSIONS: This ESPNIC definition of RSS accurately identifies children with the most severe form of septic shock

Prevention of Neural Tube Defects: A Cross-Sectional Study of the Uptake of Folic Acid Supplementation in Nearly Half a Million Women

BACKGROUND: Taking folic acid supplements before pregnancy to reduce the risk of a neural tube defect (NTD) is especially important in countries without universal folic acid fortification. The extent of folic acid supplementation among women who had antenatal screening for Down's syndrome and NTDs at the Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine, London between 1999 and 2012 was assessed. METHODS AND FINDINGS: 466,860 women screened provided details on folic acid supplementation. The proportion of women who took folic acid supplements before pregnancy was determined according to year and characteristics of the women. The proportion of women taking folic acid supplements before pregnancy declined from 35% (95% CI 34%-35%) in 1999-2001 to 31% (30%-31%) in 2011-2012. 6% (5%-6%) of women aged under 20 took folic acid supplements before pregnancy compared with 40% of women aged between 35 and 39. Non-Caucasian women were less likely to take folic acid supplements before pregnancy than Caucasian women; Afro-Caribbean 17% (16%-17%), Oriental 25% (24%-25%) and South Asian 20% (20%-21%) compared with 35% (35%-35%) for Caucasian women. 51% (48%-55%) of women who previously had an NTD pregnancy took folic acid supplements before the current pregnancy. CONCLUSIONS: The policy of folic acid supplementation is failing and has led to health inequalities. This study demonstrates the need to fortify flour and other cereal grain with folic acid in all countries of the world

Quantum Gravity in 2+1 Dimensions: The Case of a Closed Universe

In three spacetime dimensions, general relativity drastically simplifies, becoming a ``topological'' theory with no propagating local degrees of freedom. Nevertheless, many of the difficult conceptual problems of quantizing gravity are still present. In this review, I summarize the rather large body of work that has gone towards quantizing (2+1)-dimensional vacuum gravity in the setting of a spatially closed universe.Comment: 61 pages, draft of review for Living Reviews; comments, criticisms, additions, missing references welcome; v2: minor changes, added reference

Internet-based medical education: a realist review of what works, for whom and in what circumstances

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0

Improved methodical approach for quantitative BRET analysis of G protein coupled receptor dimerization

G Protein Coupled Receptors (GPCR) can form dimers or higher ordered oligomers, the process of which can remarkably influence the physiological and pharmacological function of these receptors. Quantitative Bioluminescence Resonance Energy Transfer (qBRET) measurements are the gold standards to prove the direct physical interaction between the protomers of presumed GPCR dimers. For the correct interpretation of these experiments, the expression of the energy donor Renilla luciferase labeled receptor has to be maintained constant, which is hard to achieve in expression systems. To analyze the effects of non-constant donor expression on qBRET curves, we performed Monte Carlo simulations. Our results show that the decrease of donor expression can lead to saturation qBRET curves even if the interaction between donor and acceptor labeled receptors is non-specific leading to false interpretation of the dimerization state. We suggest here a new approach to the analysis of qBRET data, when the BRET ratio is plotted as a function of the acceptor labeled receptor expression at various donor receptor expression levels. With this method, we were able to distinguish between dimerization and non-specific interaction when the results of classical qBRET experiments were ambiguous. The simulation results were confirmed experimentally using rapamycin inducible heterodimerization system. We used this new method to investigate the dimerization of various GPCRs, and our data have confirmed the homodimerization of V2 vasopressin and CaSR calcium sensing receptors, whereas our data argue against the heterodimerization of these receptors with other studied GPCRs, including type I and II angiotensin, β2 adrenergic and CB1 cannabinoid receptors

21st Century drought-related fires counteract the decline of Amazon deforestation carbon emissions

Tropical carbon emissions are largely derived from direct forest clearing processes. Yet, emissions from drought-induced forest fires are, usually, not included in national-level carbon emission inventories. Here we examine Brazilian Amazon drought impacts on fire incidence and associated forest fire carbon emissions over the period 2003–2015. We show that despite a 76% decline in deforestation rates over the past 13 years, fire incidence increased by 36% during the 2015 drought compared to the preceding 12 years. The 2015 drought had the largest ever ratio of active fire counts to deforestation, with active fires occurring over an area of 799,293 km2. Gross emissions from forest fires (989 ± 504 Tg CO2 year−1) alone are more than half as great as those from old-growth forest deforestation during drought years. We conclude that carbon emission inventories intended for accounting and developing policies need to take account of substantial forest fire emissions not associated to the deforestation process

Survival benefits of statins for primary prevention: a cohort study

Objectives: Estimate the effect of statin prescription on mortality in the population of England and Wales with no previous history of cardiovascular disease.  Methods: Primary care records from The Health Improvement Network 1987-2011 were used.Four cohorts of participants aged 60, 65, 70, or 75 years at baseline included 118,700,199,574, 247,149, and 194,085 participants; and 1.4, 1.9, 1.8, and 1.1 million person-years of data, respectively. The exposure was any statin prescription at any time before the participant reached the baseline age (60, 65, 70 or 75) and the outcome was all-cause mortality at any age above the baseline age. The hazard of mortality associated with statin prescription was calculated by Cox's proportional hazard regressions, adjusted for sex, year of birth, socioeconomic status, diabetes,antihypertensive medication, hypercholesterolaemia, body mass index, smoking status, and general practice. Participants were grouped by QRISK2 baseline risk of afirst cardiovascular event in the next ten years of <10%, 10-19%, or ≥20%.  Results: There was no reduction in all-cause mortality for statin prescription initiated in participants with a QRISK2 score <10% at any baseline age, or in participants aged 60at baseline in any risk group. Mortality was lower in participants with a QRISK2 score≥20% if statin prescription had been initiated by age 65 (adjusted hazard ratio (HR)0.86 (0.79-0.94)), 70 (HR 0.83 (0.79-0.88)), or 75 (HR 0.82 (0.79-0.86)). Mortality reduction was uncertain with a QRISK2 score of 10-19%: the HR was 1.00 (0.91-1.11)for statin prescription by age 65, 0.89 (0.81-0.99) by age 70, or 0.79 (0.52-1.19) by age75.  Conclusions: The current internationally recommended thresholds for statin therapy for primary prevention of cardiovascular disease in routine practice may be too low and may lead to overtreatment of younger people and those at low risk