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Sigmund Freud gets his turn on the couch in this week's TLS. Frank Tallis's Mortal Secrets, reviewed by George Prochnik, asks intriguing questions of psychoanalysis's founding father that bear on [...]

BACKGROUND The biology of Plasmodium vivax is markedly different from that of P. falciparum; how this shapes the immune response to infection remains unclear. To address this shortfall, we inoculated human volunteers with a clonal field isolate of P. vivax and tracked their response through infection and convalescence.METHODS Participants were injected intravenously with blood-stage parasites and infection dynamics were tracked in real time by quantitative PCR. Whole blood samples were used for high dimensional protein analysis, RNA sequencing, and cytometry by time of flight, and temporal changes in the host response to P. vivax were quantified by linear regression. Comparative analyses with P. falciparum were then undertaken using analogous data sets derived from prior controlled human malaria infection studies.RESULTS P. vivax rapidly induced a type I inflammatory response that coincided with hallmark features of clinical malaria. This acute-phase response shared remarkable overlap with that induced by P. falciparum but was significantly elevated (at RNA and protein levels), leading to an increased incidence of pyrexia. In contrast, T cell activation and terminal differentiation were significantly increased in volunteers infected with P. falciparum. Heterogeneous CD4+ T cells were found to dominate this adaptive response and phenotypic analysis revealed unexpected features normally associated with cytotoxicity and autoinflammatory disease.CONCLUSION P. vivax triggers increased systemic interferon signaling (cf P. falciparum), which likely explains its reduced pyrogenic threshold. In contrast, P. falciparum drives T cell activation far in excess of P. vivax, which may partially explain why falciparum malaria more frequently causes severe disease.TRIAL REGISTRATION ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03797989.FUNDING The European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation programme, the Wellcome Trust, and the Royal Society.

Objetivo: Descrever a contribuição do CIM da Universidade Federal do Ceará (CIM/UFC) na promoção do uso seguro da cadeia medicamentosa, através da análise de informação passiva armazenada pelo serviço. Método: Foi realizado um estudo transversal retrospectivo para identificação do perfil das solicitações de informações. Foram utilizadas 100% das solicitações de informações (SI) feitas ao CIM/UFC, no período de janeiro de 2009 a dezembro de 2022. Utilizou-se a estatística descritiva para a apresentação dos dados. Resultados: Foram recebidas 916 solicitações durante os 14 anos observados pelo estudo, 70,85% dos solicitantes eram do sexo feminino, 55,24% possuíam ensino superior completo, 58,73% eram não usuários dos medicamentos envolvidos, 59,72% eram farmacêuticos, e 19,65% atuavam no âmbito hospitalar. Os medicamentos de acordo com os subgrupos terapêuticos foram: psicoanalépticos (n= 87; 6,99%), antibacterianos para uso sistêmico (n=82; 6,59%), psicolépticos (n=68; 5,46%). As dúvidas mais frequentes foram: interações medicamentosas (n= 13,76%), reações adversas (12,30%), esquema de administração (10,09%), indicação (8,83%) e estabilidade (7,57%). Bases de dados foram usadas como fontes para resposta em 50,82% das solicitações de informação. Conclusão: O CIM/UFC tem contribuído, ao longo dos anos, de forma relevante através do fornecimento de informação de qualidade aos seus usuários, notadamente os profissionais farmacêuticos que atuam no âmbito hospitalar, subsidiando estes profissionais na sua prática, contribuindo para a prescrição racional e a segurança da cadeia medicamentosa. Diante da redução do quantitativo de solicitações feitas ao CIM/UFC, uma alternativa para a sustentabilidade do serviço é investirmos na produção de material informativo.

Abstract In this study, the temperature dependence of the carbon/polyamide 410 composite's heat capacity, thermal expansion, density, and thermal conductivity was investigated. The results demonstrated that the specific heat capacity of the C/PA410 composite increases with temperature, with major transitions observed at the glass transition (Tg) and melting (Tm) temperatures. Due to the presence of fibers, the CTE values in the fiber direction of C/PA410 specimens were one order of magnitude smaller than in the transverse direction. The density measurements reveal that as temperature rises, volume increases, causing density to decrease. The heat diffusivity of the C/PA410 composite was measured using the laser flash technique, which was then used to calculate thermal conductivity. The results show that the average thermal conductivity in the fiber direction increases linearly with temperature, while in the transverse direction it increases linearly with temperature up to 50 °C and then becomes constant between 50 °C and 100 °C.

Abstract Hyperthyroidism and clinical depression are common, and there is preliminary evidence of substantial comorbidity. The extent of the association in the general population, however, has not yet been estimated meta-analytically. Therefore we conducted this systematic review and meta-analysis (registered in PROSPERO: CRD42020164791). Until May 2020, Medline (via PubMed), PsycINFO, and Embase databases were systematically searched for studies on the association of hyperthyroidism and clinical depression, without language or date restrictions. Two reviewers independently selected epidemiological studies providing laboratory or ICD-based diagnoses of hyperthyroidism and diagnoses of depression according to operationalized criteria (e.g. DSM) or to cut-offs in established rating scales. All data, including study quality based on the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale, were independently extracted by two authors. Odds ratios for the association of clinical depression and hyperthyroidism were calculated in a DerSimonian-Laird random-effects meta-analysis. Out of 3372 papers screened we selected 15 studies on 239 608 subjects, with 61% women and a mean age of 50. Relative to euthyroid individuals, patients with hyperthyroidism had a higher chance of being diagnosed with clinical depression: OR 1.67 ([95% CI: 1.49; 1.87], I 2: 6%; prediction interval: 1.40 to 1.99), a result supported in a number of sensitivity and subgroup analyses. The OR was slightly less pronounced for subclinical as opposed to overt hyperthyroidism (1.36 [1.06; 1.74] vs. 1.70 [1.49; 1.93]). This comorbidity calls for clinical awareness and its reasons need investigation and may include neurobiological mechanisms, common genetic vulnerability and a generally heightened risk for clinical depression in patients with chronic somatic disorders.

Este estudo visa à determinação da vulnerabilidade física e ambiental da zona costeira de São Miguel do Gostoso e Pedra Grande/RN antes e depois da instalação de parques eólicos. Além disso, é realizada uma análise de vulnerabilidade na linha de costa da área mencionada, levando-se em consideração as alterações espaciais concretizadas nos últimos 30 anos, análise esta que é apresentada separadamente. Calcularam-se os índices de vulnerabilidade natural (IVN) e ambiental (IVA) por meio de análises espaciais baseadas em mapas temáticos das variáveis do meio físico e antrópico, conforme métodos de análise multicritérios hierarquizada e de redução de dimensionalidade por processo analítico hierárquico (PAH) e pela análise de componentes principais (ACP). As vulnerabilidades alta e muito alta, somadas, apresentaram proporções entre 18 e 30% em todos os cenários do IVN e IVA. O índice de vulnerabilidade costeira (IVC) foi definido por dois métodos para três cenários de aumento do nível do mar estabelecidos pelo Painel Intergovernamental de Mudanças Climáticas (IPCC): um com seis variáveis físicas e hidrodinâmicas, e outro que inclui, além destas, outras três variáveis de ação antrópica. Para todos os cenários, toda a extensão da linha de costa mostrase, majoritariamente, com vulnerabilidades média e alta. Conclui-se que a implantação do complexo de parques eólicos contribuiu para o aumento da vulnerabilidade dos ecossistemas locais nos três índices avaliados, mas não foi o fator preponderante para a definição do grau de vulnerabilidade do IVC.

One of the minor events in the literary calendar, the Bad Sex in Fiction award honours 'the year's most outstandingly awful scene of sexual description in an otherwise good novel'. [...]

Mormons have been the butt of satire (and rage) ever since Joseph Smith claimed to have seen the gold plates that bore the religion's foundational text. Most recently, Trey Parker, [...]

Everyone has their own Henry V. I have enjoyed many productions, but Laurence Olivier's Oscar-winning portrayal is mine. The film of the play, 'dedicated to the 'Commandos and Airborne Troops [...]

To the science fiction aficionado Kingsley Amis, Ray Bradbury was the 'Louis Armstrong' of the genre, 'the one practitioner well known by name to those who know nothing whatever about [...]

Anchorites and Christian ascetics perched on their pillars seldom suffered from loneliness Alypius, more or less cheerfully, sat on his for sixty-seven years. Crowds of gawpers sought their spiritual advice [...]

The past fifty years have seen a collapse in the quality of women's diary writing, argues Nicola Shulman in her review of Secret Voices: A year of women's diaries, edited [...]

In this issue The catastrophe of the First World War led Sigmund Freud to analyse the tensions between the individual and society. Human nature was predisposed towards death and destruction. [...]

The philosopher Thomas Nagel is celebrated for his insight that humans can't know what it is like to be a bat. And 'as with bats, so with friends, relatives, lovers'. [...]

Background: The emergence of novel SARS-CoV-2 variants challenges immunity, particularly among immunocompromised kidney transplant recipients (KTRs). To address this, vaccines have been adjusted to circulating variants. Despite intensive vaccination efforts, SARS-CoV-2 infections surged among KTRs during the Omicron wave, enabling a direct comparison of variant-specific immunity following-vaccination against Omicron BA.4/5 or Omicron infection in KTRs. Methods: 98 SARS-CoV-2 naïve KTRs who had received four vaccine doses were studied. Before and after a 5th antigen exposure, either via the bivalent vaccine composed of ancestral SARS-CoV-2 and Omicron BA.4/5 (29 KTRs) or via natural infection with Omicron (38 BA.4/5, 31 BA.1/2), spike-specific T cells were quantified using Elispot and serum pseudovirus neutralizing activity was assessed against the ancestral Wuhan strain, BA.5 and XBB.1.5. Results: Compared to BA.4/5 vaccination, spike-specific T-cell responses and neutralization activity were higher up to six months post-Omicron infection and reached levels similar to healthy controls. Vaccinated KTRs showed modestly boosted neutralization activity against the Wuhan strain and BA.5, but not XBB.1.5. Baseline immunity correlated with immune responses three months post-vaccination and post-infection, indicating a predictive value for peak immune responses. Tixagevimab/Cilgavimab treatment was associated with robust neutralization of the Wuhan strain, but ineffective against XBB.1.5. Conclusion: The BA.4/5 vaccine improved neutralizing activity against the BA.4/5 variant, but not against the subsequently circulating XBB.1.5 variant in KTRs. Conversely, omicron infection boosted T cells and humoral responses more effectively, showing efficacy against XBB.1.5. These findings suggest that infection-induced immunity associates with greater protection than vaccination against future variants in KTRs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bilateral coordination of the upper limbs (UL) is important for activities of daily living and physical activities. Motor coordination improves from childhood through adolescence. However, age-coordination trajectories for bilateral UL movements are not well-established, and it is unclear if bimanual coordination develops slower than unilateral coordination. In this study we examined age-related changes in UL coordination from childhood to late adolescence. Typically-developing children (N = 29, aged 7–17 years) performed unilateral and bilateral, antiphase cycling tasks with their ULs. Variations in cycling velocity and interlimb phase errors were computed as measures of coordination. Linear regression was used to examine age-coordination effects. Given the sensorimotor processing for bilateral movements and gradual development of the corpus callosum, we hypothesized different relationships between age and coordination for bilateral and unilateral movements. Results showed UL coordination was significantly related to age, where coordination was better in older compared to younger children (p < 0.001); however, there were similar significant effects for unilateral movements. Differences in unilateral and bilateral coordination were not significantly explained by biological sex, although power to detect sex differences was low. We conclude that bilateral and unilateral UL coordination are age-dependent; each improves at similar rates through childhood and adolescence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Este artículo trabaja con los estudios de Ciencia, Tecnología y Sociedad (STS, según sus siglas en inglés), una lente histórica y el concepto de gubernamentalidad de Foucault, para explorar la importancia del «pensamiento de sistemas» en las reformas escolares de los Estados Unidos posteriores a la Segunda Guerra Mundial. En ese momento, los educadores formularon la «razón» de los sistemas con la esperanza de aliviar los temores de una disfunción social percibida. En primer lugar, podemos entender la noción de gubernamentalidad de Foucault como «dar forma, guiar y dirigir la conducta de otros». En segundo lugar, el uso de la tecnología de sistemas en las ciencias sociales y educativas se combina bien con esta noción de gubernamentalidad. Los «sistemas de gobierno» preservan la estabilidad interna (homeostasis) sin intervención externa, al regular la forma en que sus partes entrelazadas responden mediante comunicaciones, procesos integrados basados ??en relaciones, estados objetivos o mecanismos de retroalimentación. En tercer lugar, en la famosa Conferencia sobre Teoría del Currículum de la Universidad de Chicago de 1947, los reformadores del currículum articularon una visión de sistemas sobre la educación como un agente de cambio para resolver los problemas sociales. Dichos reformadores ignoraron el nuevo contenido académico, para, en su lugar, centrar sus soluciones en los procesos de sistemas con la pretensión de reconfigurar unas relaciones humanas «mejoradas» entre el ser y los demás, en pos de restaurar el todo social. Suponía una reorientación que requería construir nuevos «tipos de personas» (Hacking). Finalmente, los modelos de reforma educativa de la posguerra y basados ??en sistemas como el Tyler rationale, la taxonomía de Bloom, la pedagogía del oprimido, de Freire o MACOS utilizan la tecnología de sistemas para regular la actividad social. Los académicos pueden reconsiderar las reformas educativas de posguerra basadas en sistemas como una tecnología social dirigida a diseñar personas para diseñar su libertad. Al construir y asignar espacios habitables para los cuerpos humanos, los sistemas sociales regulan la vida social sin el papel del Estado. No lo hacen componiendo un sistema de represión, sino organizando, a través del control disciplinario, un sistema predeterminado y «emancipatorio» para los cuerpos humanos. La utilización de los sistemas no busca mejorar la tecnología, sino mejorar a las personas al operar bajo una narrativa que simultáneamente las «libera» en un orden cerrado de desarrollo emancipador –como una fuerza social progresiva– al tiempo que crea un sistema de control excluyente.

Unhappy the land that is in need of heroes, said Bertolt Brecht. Make that two lands. Alexei Navalny, most likely murdered by agents of Vladimir Putin in the Russian Arctic [...]

Do androids dream of electric sheep, asks the title of Philip K. Dick's influential novel. Dick's protagonist, Rick Deckard--who makes a living hunting down fugitive androids for the San Francisco [...]

Liberal democracy is set for a testing year in 2024. Polarized contests are due in the largest polities, Indonesia, India, Europe and the US. (Here in little Britain we expect [...]