The diversity of functional feeding anatomy is particularly impressive in fishes and correlates with various interspecific ecological specializations. Intraspecific polymorphism can manifest in divergent feeding morphology and ecology, often along a benthic-pelagic axis. Arctic charr (Salvelinus alpinus) is a freshwater salmonid known for morphological variation and sympatric polymorphism and in Lake Þingvallavatn, Iceland, four morphs of charr coexist that differ in preferred prey, behaviour, habitat use, and external feeding morphology.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: Commentators and professional organisations note that an expanding market in human milk-based products (HMBPs) could reduce breastfeeding, compromising maternal and infant health, and undermine public milk bank donations. We investigate whether English NHS trusts purchased these products and whether HMBP companies have marketed to them.
Design: Freedom of Information (FOI) requests asking: (1) whether trusts obtained human milk; (2) if so, how; and (3) whether HMBP companies had approached them.
Animal personality has been shown to be influenced by both genetic and environmental factors and shaped by natural selection. Currently, little is known about mechanisms influencing the development of personality traits. This study examines the extent to which personality development is genetically influenced and/or environmentally responsive (plastic).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: Sexual misconduct adversely affects the mental and physical health of millions of people each year and has been declared a global pandemic. Incidence in both educational and clinical settings remains high. In the last 5 years, the NHS spent over £4 million settling sexual misconduct-related claims.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAdaptations occur at many levels, for example, from DNA sequence of regulatory elements and cellular homeostatic systems to organismal physiology and behaviour (Mayr, 1997). Established adaptations are maintained by purifying and stabilizing selection. Students of animal diversity tend to focus on higher order traits, anatomy, physiology, organismal function and interactions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe 4.1-billion-year-old meteorite Allan Hills 84001 (ALH 84001) may preserve a magnetic record of the extinct martian dynamo. However, previous paleomagnetic studies have reported heterogeneous, nonunidirectional magnetization in the meteorite at submillimeter scales, calling into question whether it records a dynamo field.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: Reports identify that sexual harassment is troublingly pervasive in the NHS. Active bystander training (ABT) has been promoted to address sexual harassment, alongside other forms of poor behaviour, discrimination, and harassment. We explore ABT across all English NHS Trusts and determine whether the programmes address sexual misconduct in the training content.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Public Health Policy
March 2023
The United Nations (UN) recognises free school meals as critical, yet widely disrupted by COVID-19. We investigate caregiver perceptions and responses to interruptions to the universal infant free school meal programme (UIFSM) in Cambridgeshire, England, using an opt-in online survey. From 586 responses, we find 21 per cent of respondents' schools did not provide UIFSM after lockdown or advised caregivers to prepare packed lunches.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: Research identifies that multinational corporations, including The Coca-Cola Company ('Coca-Cola'), seek to influence public health research and policy through scientific events, such as academic and professional conferences. This study aims to understand how different forms of funding and sponsorship impact the relationship between Coca-Cola, academic institutions, public health organisations, academics and researchers.
Design: The study was conducted using Freedom of Information (FOI) requests and systematic website searches.
Background: Delirium is costly for patients, carers, and healthcare systems. In addition, non-pharmacological and pharmacological management of delirium is challenging. Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) has been proposed and used as an anecdotal treatment of delirium in clinical practice.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFProc Natl Acad Sci U S A
August 2022
River deltas are home to hundreds of millions of people worldwide and are in danger of sinking due to anthropogenic sea-level rise, land subsidence, and reduced sediment supply. Land loss is commonly forecast by averaging river sediment supply across the entire delta plain to assess whether deposition can keep pace with sea-level rise. However, land loss and deposition vary across the landscape because rivers periodically jump course, rerouting sediment to distinct subregions called delta lobes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn South Africa, where an estimated 34% of nearly 7-million HIV-positive people were not on antiretroviral therapy (ART) in 2019, innovative strategies to diagnose and link people to care are needed. HIV self-testing (HIVST) is one such strategy. However, there is concern that access to HIVST might result in re-testing among people on ART, with a risk of false negative results and disengagement from care.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: There are growing concerns that the public's trust in science is eroding, including concerns that vested interests are corrupting what we know about our food. We know the food industry funds third-party 'front groups' to advance its positions and profits. Here we ask whether this is the case with International Food Information Council (IFIC) and its associated Foundation, exploring its motivations and the potential for industry influence on communications around nutritional science.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDaily oral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is a key tool in addressing high HIV incidence among young women, and breaking the cycle of transmission. From 2017 to 2020, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) offered PrEP, in conjunction with contraception and risk-reduction counselling, to women aged 18-25, in a government-run clinic in Khayelitsha, a low income high HIV prevalence area in South Africa. Drawing on clinical, quantitative, and qualitative interview data, we describe participants' experiences and engagement with the PrEP program, participant adherence (measured by TFV-DP levels in dried blood spots) over time, and the indirect benefits of the PrEP program.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFChildren are strikingly underrepresented in COVID-19 case counts. In the United States, children represent 22% of the population but only 1.7% of confirmed SARS-CoV-2 cases as of April 2, 2020.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFChildren are strikingly underrepresented in COVID-19 case counts. In the United States, children represent 22% of the population but only 1.7% of confirmed SARS-CoV-2 cases.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: There are concerns that some non-profit organisations, financed by the food industry, promote industry positions in research and policy materials. Using Freedom of Information (FOI) requests, we test the proposition that the International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI), one prominent non-for profit in international health and nutrition research, promotes industry positions.
Design: U.
Background: Across the last decade, healthcare emerged as a critical space for combatting modern slavery. Accurate and informative training of healthcare professionals is, therefore, essential. In the UK, the National Health Service (NHS) plays a central role in the identification and care of survivors.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSince the publication of this article [1], the journal and the authors have received further context about the position of ILSI on the issue with the ILSI Mexico branch.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Estimates for the prevalence of rape and other forms of sexual violence (SV) vary in South Africa. This survey aimed to provide clarity by quantifying the prevalence of SV (forced sex or sexual acts) by 1) sexual partners, and 2) non-partners, and to describe factors associated with these outcomes among women (18-49 years) living in Rustenburg Municipality.
Materials And Methods: We conducted a cluster-randomized household survey (November-December 2015).
Background: The antiretroviral therapy (ART) adherence club (AC) differentiated service delivery model, where clinically stable ART patients receive their ART refills and psychosocial support in groups has supported clinically stable patients' retention and viral suppression. Patients and health systems could benefit further by reducing visit frequency and increasing ART refills. We designed a cluster-randomized control trial comparing standard of care (SoC) ACs and six-month ART refill (Intervention) ACs in a large primary care facility in Khayelitsha, South Africa.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Industry sponsorship of public health research has received increasing scrutiny, and, as a result, many multinational corporations (MNCs), such as The Coca-Cola Company and Mars Inc., have committed to transparency with regard to what they fund, and the findings of funded research. However, these MNCs often fund charities, both national and international, which then support research and promote industry-favourable policy positions to leaders.
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