How was trust created and reinforced between the inhabitants of medieval and early modern cities? And how did the social foundations of trusting relationships change over time? Current research highlights the role of kinship, neighbourhood, and associations, particularly guilds, in creating ‘relationships of trust’ and social capital in the face of high levels of migration, mortality, and economic volatility, but tells us little about their relative importance or how they developed. We uncover a profound shift in the contribution of family and guilds to trust networks among the middling and elite of one of Europe's major cities, London, over three centuries, from the 1330s to the 1680s. We examine almost 15,000 networks of sureties created to secure orphans’ inheritances to measure the presence of trusting relationships connected by guild membership, family, and place. We uncover a profound increase in the role of kinship – a re-embedding of trust within the family – and a decline of the importance of shared guild membership in connecting Londoners who secured orphans’ inheritances together. These developments indicate a profound transformation in the social fabric of urban society.

The effect of electrolyte concentration, exchangeable sodium percentage (ESP), sodium adsorption ratio (SAR), and pH on the flocculation-dispersion behavior of 50/50 mixtures of reference illite with reference kaolinite or reference montmorillonite was investigated. The clays were Na- or Ca-saturated and freeze-dried before use. Critical coagulation concentrations (CCCs) were investigated in the range of pH 5.9 to 9.6, percent Na-clay 0, 10, 20, 40, 60, 80, and 100 and SAR 0, 10, 20, 40, 60, 80, and ∞. CCC values increased with increasing ESP, increasing SAR, and increasing pH. The pH dependence of illite/kaolinite was greater than that of illite/montmorillonite especially at high ESP and SAR. The presence of illite did not play a dominant role in determining flocculation-dispersion behavior of the 50/50 clay mixtures. The CCCs of illite/kaolinite resembled reference illite more than reference kaolinite for SAR 0 to SAR 60. Illite/montmorillonite exhibited CCCs more similar to reference illite than reference montmorillonite at SAR 40 and SAR 60. At the agriculturally desirable ESP and SAR values of 0 to 15, all the 2:1 clays and 2:1 clay mixtures demonstrated similar CCC values.

In July 1979, the Sunday Mirror published an article with the headline: “HOSPITALS AT CRISIS POINT: Jobs and beds to go in cash curbs.” In this article we explore the role of hospital beds in such public discussions of “crisis” within the British National Health Service (NHS). In the 1970s, the media and politicians paid increasing attention to bed numbers as an indicator of resource scarcity within the NHS. While this in part reflected a genuine trend, it was also a powerful narrative device. The hospital bed has become a cipher for NHS resourcing and resilience, but throughout the twentieth century, there has been a tension between stories of declining bed numbers as a sign of “crisis,” and declining bed numbers as a marker of more efficient, high-quality healthcare. This article will show that the hospital bed was an extremely important political device because it was imbued with rich social and cultural symbolism, and that stories of declining bed numbers were not as straightforward as they first appear. While discussions in the public sphere tended to focus on bed numbers and waiting times, discussions in the healthcare sector and among policymakers attended to what beds could—and should—do for both patients and staff. Public rhetoric about decline was less about the object itself, and more about the role of the hospital bed as a symbol of care and as a politically pertinent shorthand for the health of the NHS as an institution.

Childhood infections have been shown to stunt growth, contribute to malnutrition and reduce cognition in early adulthood. This study aimed to assess relationships between early life infections and childhood cognition at age 11 years in the Newcastle Thousand Families Study (NTFS). The analysis included 741 members from the NTFS who had complete data for infections between birth and 5 years, and the 11-plus examinations. School records from the 11-plus examinations showed cognitive (IQ), English (EQ) and arithmetic (AQ) abilities. Housing conditions, overcrowding, birth order and social class were recorded at birth. Helicobacter pylori seropositivity was measured at age 49–51 years. Multivariable linear regression was used to examine relationships between infections and cognition. The total number of infections in the first 5 years of life was not significantly associated with IQ, EQ or AQ, nor were there significant relationships between cognitive outcomes and most infections. Tonsillitis did display a positive, significant association with IQ after adjustment for confounders (b = 6.43, 95% CI 0.92, 11.94, p = 0.022). Lower respiratory tract infections (LRTIs) showed significant negative relationships with all cognitive outcomes. H. pylori seropositivity at age 50 exhibited negative, significant relationships with EQ (p = 0.014) and AQ (p = 0.024) after adjustment for confounders. Although no significant relationship between overall infections and cognition were found, there were indications that LRTIs and gastrointestinal system infections may limit cognitive development. Given these infections remain prevalent, further research regarding severity and recurrence of infections and how they affect childhood cognition is needed.

This article interrogates the scientific conference as a means by which the organizers of the World League for Sexual Reform's 1929 conference attempted to marshal the ‘scientific spirit’ in order to present progressive sexual reform as a rational and scientifically informed undertaking. The conference was carefully curated to make the sex reform movement (and the assorted characters that gathered under its banner) look serious, legitimate and, most importantly, scientific. The conference was also an attempt by organizer Norman Haire to exert control over the strategy of sexology, an enterprise that put him at odds with other prominent sexologists of the time. Crucially, Haire understood sexology as inherently intellectually interdisciplinary, but was strategically convinced that the only sound rubric through which to promote and gain acceptance for the movement was through medical science. This central debate, about how best to define the contested concept of sexology, continues among historians today. By examining how the 1929 conference organizers wrestled to define their sex-reforming remit and how they curated the conference to that end, this paper will offer a window onto the mechanisms via which adherents of intellectual communities contend with heterogeneity, how we judge forms of knowledge and, ultimately, what constitutes science.

Fluorbritholite-(Nd), ideally Ca2Nd3(SiO4)3F, has been approved by the International Mineralogical Association (IMA2023–001) and constitutes a new member of the britholite group of the apatite supergroup. It occurs in skarn from the Malmkärra iron mine, Norberg, Västmanland (one of the Bastnäs-type deposits in Sweden), associated with calcite, dolomite, magnetite, lizardite, talc, fluorite, baryte, scheelite, gadolinite-(Nd) and other REE minerals. Fluorbritholite-(Nd) forms anhedral and small grains, rarely up to 250 μm across. They are brownish pink and transparent with a vitreous to greasy lustre. The mineral is brittle, with an uneven or subconchoidal fracture and lacks a cleavage. In thin section, the mineral is nonpleochroic, uniaxial (–). Dcalc = 4.92(1) g⋅cm−3 and ncalc = 1.795. The empirical chemical formula from electron microprobe (WDS) point analyses is (Ca1.62Nd0.97Ce0.83Y0.52Sm0.30Gd0.23Pr0.17La0.16Dy0.11Er0.03Tb0.03Ho0.01Yb0.01)Σ4.99(Si2.92P0.08As0.01)Σ3.01O12.00[O0.48F0.26(OH)0.14Cl0.10Br0.02]Σ1.00. The crystal structure of fluorbritholite-(Nd) was refined from single-crystal X-ray diffraction data to R1= 0.043 for 704 unique reflections. It belongs to the hexagonal system, space group P63/m, with unit cell parameters a = 9.5994(3), c = 6.9892(4) Å and V = 557.76(5) Å3 for Z = 2. Fluorbritholite-(Nd) and other britholite-group minerals are a major sink for neodymium in REE-bearing skarns of Bastnäs type.

We outline two points of criticism. Firstly, we argue that robots do constitute a separate category of beings in people's minds rather than being mere depictions of non-robotic characters. Secondly, we find that (semi-)automatic processes underpinning communicative interaction play a greater role in shaping robot-directed speech than Clark and Fischer's theory of social robots as depictions indicate.

A conceptual model, based on field observations and assumed physics of a perennial firn aquifer near Helheim Glacier (southeast Greenland), is evaluated via steady-state 2-D simulation of liquid water flow and energy transport with phase change. The simulation approach allows natural representation of flow and energy advection and conduction that occur in vertical meltwater recharge through the unsaturated zone and in lateral flow within the saturated aquifer. Agreement between measured and simulated aquifer geometry, temperature, and recharge and discharge rates confirms that the conceptual field-data-based description of the aquifer is consistent with the primary physical processes of groundwater flow, energy transport and phase change. Factors that are found to control simulated aquifer configuration include surface temperature, meltwater recharge rate, residual total-water saturation and capillary fringe thickness. Simulation analyses indicate that the size of perennial firn aquifers depends primarily on recharge rates from surface snowmelt. Results also imply that the recent aquifer expansion, likely due to a warming climate, may eventually produce lakes on the ice-sheet surface that would affect the surface energy balance.

Background: Bacterial coinfections with COVID-19 appear to be rare, yet antibiotic use in this population is high. Limited guidance is available regarding the use of antibiotics in these patients. In response, a multidisciplinary group of physicians and pharmacists from 5 VISN9 facilities developed a guideline for the use of antibiotics with COVID-19 in July 2021. This guideline created a network-wide standard for antibiotic use and facilitates the assessment of antibiotic appropriateness in hospitalized veterans with COVID-19. Methods: In this observational, cross-sectional study, we reviewed veterans diagnosed with COVID-19 from August 1 through September 30, 2021, who were admitted to VISN9 facilities. Use of antibiotics was assessed during the first 4 days of admission. If antibiotics were prescribed, their use was determined to be appropriate or inappropriate based on the presence or absence of a finding concerning for bacterial coinfection as outlined in the guideline (Table 1). Additional data including procalcitonin results as well as positive sputum cultures were collected. Results: In total, 377 veterans were admitted for COVID-19 during the study period. Among them, 42 veterans (11%) received antibiotics for nonrespiratory infections and were removed from this analysis. Of the remaining 335 veterans, 229 (68%) received antibiotics and 116 (51%) of those met guideline criteria that were concerning for bacterial coinfection. Additionally, 32 (14%) of the 229 veterans who received antibiotics had >1 finding concerning for bacterial coinfection. Procalcitonin levels were obtained in 97 (42%) of 229. Only 33 veterans (14%) who received antibiotics had an elevated procalcitonin, and only 19 (8%) had a positive sputum culture. Conclusions: Antibiotic use was common in hospitalized veterans with COVID-19 in VISN9 facilities. This results are comparable to findings in the published literature. Among those receiving antibiotics early in their hospitalization, half were considered appropriate based on our guideline. Quality improvement initiatives are needed to improve implementation of the network guideline to reduce the overuse of antibiotics for management of COVID-19. Additionally, procalcitonin may be a helpful tool for hospitalized veterans with COVID-19.

Funding: None

Disclosures: None

The publicity of journalism has long been central to anti-corruption politics in the United States. This article explores relations between journalism and corruption in early twentieth-century Chicago and shows how newspapers could be used by corrupt politicians to consolidate and even constitute their power. By examining the three-term mayoralty of William Hale ‘Big Bill’ Thompson, the article considers a range of media strategies, from press-baiting to propaganda and boosterism, that fuelled public controversies about press hypocrisy and limited journalism's anti-corruption potential. Thompson's Chicago sheds light on broader debates about the politics of journalism in capitalist societies with commercial media environments; it also helps illuminate wider histories of corruption in America.