Sequence Matters: Primary COVID-19 Vaccination after Infection Elicits Similar Anti-spike Antibody Levels, but Stronger Antibody Dependent Cell-mediated Cytotoxicity than Breakthrough Infection.

Infection before primary vaccination (herein termed "hybrid immunity") engenders robust humoral immunity and broad Ab-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC) across SARS-CoV-2 variants. We measured and compared plasma IgG and IgA against Wuhan-Hu-1 and Omicron (B.1.

Expanded Combined Loading Injury Criterion for the Human Lumbar Spine Under Dynamic Compression.

Contemporary injury tolerance of the lumbar spine for under-body blast references axial compression and bending moments in a limited range. Since injuries often occur in a wider range of flexion and extension with increased moment contribution, this study expands a previously proposed combined loading injury criterion for the lumbar spine. Fifteen cadaveric lumbar spine failure tests with greater magnitudes of eccentric loading were incorporated into an existing injury criterion to augment its applicability and a combined loading injury risk model was proposed by means of survival analysis.

Manufacture and testing of biomass-derivable thermosets for wind blade recycling.

Wind energy is helping to decarbonize the electrical grid, but wind blades are not recyclable, and current end-of-life management strategies are not sustainable. To address the material recyclability challenges in sustainable energy infrastructure, we introduce scalable biomass-derivable polyester covalent adaptable networks and corresponding fiber-reinforced composites for recyclable wind blade fabrication. Through experimental and computational studies, including vacuum-assisted resin-transfer molding of a 9-meter wind blade prototype, we demonstrate drop-in technological readiness of this material with existing manufacture techniques, superior properties relative to incumbent materials, and practical end-of-life chemical recyclability.

Variability in zoobenthic blue carbon storage across a southern polar gradient.

The seabed of the Antarctic continental shelf hosts most of Antarctica's known species, including taxa considered indicative of vulnerable marine ecosystems (VMEs). Nonetheless, the potential impact of climatic and environmental change, including marine icescape transition, on Antarctic shelf zoobenthos, and their blue carbon-associated function, is still poorly characterised. To help narrow knowledge gaps, four continental shelf study areas, spanning a southern polar gradient, were investigated for zoobenthic (principally epi-faunal) carbon storage (a component of blue carbon), and potential environmental influences, employing a functional group approach.

Trajectory of increased iceberg kill-off in West Antarctica's shallows.

Compared with low latitude coasts, many polar latitudes are still little impacted by intense and direct anthropogenic stressors. Climate forcing is now bringing rapid physical change to nearshore polar realms. In the shallow coastal waters adjacent to the United Kingdom's Rothera Research Station in the West Antarctic Peninsula (WAP), 225 seabed markers at 5-25 m depth have been surveyed and replaced every year from 2002-2023 (75 markers at each of 5, 10 and 25 m).

An eighteen-year review of intensive care requirements for paediatric burns in a regional burns service.

Introduction: Advances in burns management have reduced mortality. Consequently, efficient resource management plays an increasingly important role in improving paediatric burns care. This study aims to assess the support requirements and outcomes of paediatric burns patients admitted to a burns centre intensive care unit in comparison to established benchmarks in burns care.

Benthic functionality under climate-induced environment changes offshore on the Antarctic Peninsula continental shelf.

Marine ecosystems in Antarctica are thought to be highly vulnerable to aspects of dynamic global climate change, such as warming. In deep-water ecosystems, there has been little physico-chemical change in seawater there for millions of years. Thus, some benthic organisms are likely to include strong potential indicators of environmental changes and give early warnings of ecosystem vulnerability.

Pelvis-Sacrum-Lumbar Spine Injury Characteristics From Underbody Blast Loading.

Introduction: Combat-related injuries from improvised explosive devices occur commonly to the lower extremity and spine. As the underbody blast impact loading traverses from the seat to pelvis to spine, energy transfer occurs through deformations of the combined pelvis-sacrum-lumbar spine complex, and the time factor plays a role in injury to any of these components. Previous studies have largely ignored the role of the time variable in injuries, injury mechanisms, and warfighter tolerance.

Insight into the genetic diversity of Mycobacterium bovis isolated from cattle in Malawi.

We describe the genetic diversity and phylogenetic relationships of Mycobacterium bovis, isolated from cattle in Malawi. Deletion analysis, spoligotyping, and MIRU-VNTR typing were used to genotype the isolates. Combined with a larger dataset from neighboring countries, the overall M.

Characteristics of Vaccine- and Infection-Induced Systemic IgA Anti-SARS-CoV-2 Spike Responses.

Mucosal IgA is widely accepted as providing protection against respiratory infections, but stimulation of mucosal immunity, collection of mucosal samples and measurement of mucosal IgA can be problematic. The relationship between mucosal and circulating IgA responses is unclear, however, whole blood is readily collected and circulating antigen-specific IgA easily measured. We measured circulating IgA against SARS-CoV-2 spike (S) to investigate vaccine- and infection-induced production and correlation with protection.

Genomic Analysis of Strains Resistant to Second-Line Anti-Tuberculosis Drugs in Lusaka, Zambia.

The emergence of pre-extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (pre-XDR-TB) is a threat to TB control programs in developing countries such as Zambia. Studies in Zambia have applied molecular techniques to understand drug-resistance-associated mutations, circulating lineages and transmission patterns of multi-drug-resistant (MDR) . However, none has reported genotypes and mutations associated with pre-XDR TB.

Molecular Characterisation of Isolates from Cattle Slaughtered in Adamawa and Gombe States, North-Eastern Nigeria.

Bovine tuberculosis is endemic in Nigeria with control measures as provided by the laws of the country being minimally enforced mostly at the abattoirs only. This study focused on bovine tuberculosis in Adamawa and Gombe States. Tuberculosis lesions were observed in 183 of 13,688 slaughtered cattle in the regions between June and December 2020.

Competitive hierarchies in bryozoan assemblages mitigate network instability by keeping short and long feedback loops weak.

Competitive hierarchies in diverse ecological communities have long been thought to lead to instability and prevent coexistence. However, system stability has never been tested, and the relation between hierarchy and instability has never been explained in complex competition networks parameterised with data from direct observation. Here we test model stability of 30 multispecies bryozoan assemblages, using estimates of energy loss from observed interference competition to parameterise both the inter- and intraspecific interactions in the competition networks.

Filling the data gaps: Transferring models from data-rich to data-poor deep-sea areas to support spatial management.

Spatial management of the deep sea is challenging due to limited available data on the distribution of species and habitats to support decision making. In the well-studied North Atlantic, predictive models of species distribution and habitat suitability have been used to fill data gaps and support sustainable management. In the South Atlantic and other poorly studied regions, this is not possible due to a massive lack of data.

Potential macroalgal expansion and blue carbon gains with northern Antarctic Peninsula glacial retreat.

The West Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) is a hotspot of physical climate change, especially glacial retreat, particularly in its northern South Shetland Islands (SSI) region. Along coastlines, this process is opening up new ice-free areas, for colonization by a high biodiversity of flora and fauna. At Potter Cove, in the SSI (Isla 25 de Mayo/King George Island), Antarctica, colonization by macroalgae was studied in two newly ice-free areas, a low glacier influence area (LGI), and a high glacier influence area (HGI) differing in the presence of sediment run-off and light penetration, which are driven by levels of glacial influence.

A supply risk perspective integrated sustainable supplier selection model in the intuitionistic fuzzy environment.

With the recent focus on supply risk management in sustainable supply chains, it is more important than ever to evaluate and select the right sustainable suppliers from a supply risk perspective. However, few existing studies consider supply risks from the perspective of all three triple-bottom-line dimensions at the same time. To bridge this research gap, this research constructs a supply risk perspective integrated sustainable supplier selection model in the intuitionistic fuzzy environment.

Quantifying microplastics in fjords along the Western Antarctic Peninsula.

Microplastics are ubiquitous around the world. Microplastics have been documented around the Southern Ocean, in coastal sediments and in Antarctic marine organisms, however microplastics data for Antarctic waters remain scarce. Microplastics concentrations were characterized from fjord habitats on the Western Antarctic Peninsula where most glaciers are rapidly retreating.

Experiences of frostbite injury from recreational use of nitrous oxide canisters in a UK burns center: Not a laughing matter.

Nitrous oxide is used as a recreational drug. Contact frostbite injury from compressed gas canisters has previously been described in the literature, but an increased number of such cases has been noted in our busy regional burns center in the UK. A single-center prospective case series of all patients referred and treated for frostbite injury secondary to misuse of nitrous oxide compressed gas canisters between January and December 2022 is presented.

Tension Pneumomediastinum and Coronary Artery Thrombosis Following a Motorcycle Accident: A Case Report.

Introduction: Tension pneumomediastinum and coronary artery thrombosis (CAT) secondary to blunt polytrauma are, rare yet have the potential for serious complication.

Case Report: A 40-year-old man presented to the emergency department following a motorcycle accident. He was found to have multiple orthopedic injuries, pneumothorax, and pneumomediastinum.

Adapted "Break the Cycle for Avant Garde" intervention to reduce injection assisting and promoting behaviours in people who inject drugs in Tallinn, Estonia: A pre- post trial.

In the context of established and emerging injection drug use epidemics, there is a need to prevent and avert injection drug use. We tested the hypothesis that an individual motivation and skills building counselling, adapted and enhanced from Hunt's Break the Cycle intervention targeting persons currently injecting drugs would lead to reduction in injection initiation-related behaviours among PWID in Tallinn, Estonia. For this quasi-experimental study, pre-post outcome measures included self-reported promoting behaviours (speaking positively about injecting to non-injectors, injecting in front of non-injectors, offering to give a first injection) and injection initiation behaviours (assisting with or giving a first injection) during the previous 6 months.

Temporal corridors of forces and moments, and injuries to pelvis-lumbar spine in vertical impact simulating underbody blast.

Pelvis and lumbar spine fractures occur in falls, motor vehicle crashes, and military combat events. They are attributed to vertical impact from the pelvis to the spine. Although whole-body cadavers were exposed to this vector and injuries were reported, spinal loads were not determined.

Universal logic with encoded spin qubits in silicon.

Quantum computation features known examples of hardware acceleration for certain problems, but is challenging to realize because of its susceptibility to small errors from noise or imperfect control. The principles of fault tolerance may enable computational acceleration with imperfect hardware, but they place strict requirements on the character and correlation of errors. For many qubit technologies, some challenges to achieving fault tolerance can be traced to correlated errors arising from the need to control qubits by injecting microwave energy matching qubit resonances.