The first demonstration of laser action in ruby was made in 1960 by T. H. Maiman of Hughes Research Laboratories, USA. Many laboratories worldwide began the search for lasers using different materials, operating at different wavelengths. In the UK, academia, industry and the central laboratories took up the challenge from the earliest days to develop these systems for a broad range of applications. This historical review looks at the contribution the UK has made to the advancement of the technology, the development of systems and components and their exploitation over the last 60 years.

Low birth weight programs diseases in adulthood, including adverse bone health. These diseases can have intergenerational and transgenerational origins, whereby transmission to subsequent generations occurs via both parental lines. Uteroplacental insufficiency surgery (Restricted) or sham surgery (Control) was performed on gestational day 18, in F0 Wistar–Kyoto rats. F1 Restricted males and females mated with breeders in order to generate F2 offspring of maternal and paternal lineages. F2 males and females were randomly selected for breeding to generate F3 offspring. F2 and F3 offspring did not have differences in birth weight irrespective of F1 low birth weight and parental line. Maternal line females had minor alterations to trabecular content and density at 6 months, these differences were not sustained at 12 months. Maternal line males had changes to trabecular content at 6 and 12 months; however, differences were no longer present at 16 months. Despite altered bone geometry at 12 and 16 months, bending strength remained unaffected at both ages. Bone health of paternal line females was not affected at 6 and 12 months. Paternal line males at 6 months had changes to trabecular and cortical content; cortical thickness, periosteal circumference and bending strength; however, these differences were no longer sustained at 12 and 16 months. Our data demonstrate that there is no transgenerational transmission of adverse bone health in F2 and F3 offspring, derived from low F1 birth weight females and males. Our results are novel, as bone health across generations and both parental lines has not been investigated in a model of low birth weight due to uteroplacental insufficiency.

Vitamin D deficiency is a global public health concern. Studies of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) determinants in young women are limited and few include objective covariates. Our aims were to define the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency and examine serum 25(OH)D correlates in an exploratory study of women aged 16–25 years. We studied 348 healthy females living in Victoria, Australia, recruited through Facebook. Data collected included serum 25(OH)D assayed by liquid chromatography-tandem MS, relevant serum biochemistry, soft tissue composition by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry, skin melanin density, Fitzpatrick skin type, sun exposure using UV dosimeters and lifestyle factors. Mean serum 25(OH)D was 68 (sd 27) nmol/l and 26 % were vitamin D deficient (25(OH)D <50 nmol/l). The final model explained 56 % of 25(OH)D variance. Serum sex hormone-binding globulin levels, creatinine levels, sun exposure measured by UV dosimeters, a positive attitude towards sun tanning, typically spending >2 h in the sun in summer daily, holidaying in the most recent summer period, serum Fe levels, height and multivitamin use were positively associated with 25(OH)D. Fat mass and a blood draw in any season except summer was inversely associated with 25(OH)D. Vitamin D deficiency is common in young women. Factors such as hormonal contraception, sun exposure and sun-related attitudes, as well as dietary supplement use are essential to consider when assessing vitamin D status. Further investigation into methods to safely optimise vitamin D status and to improve understanding of the impact of vitamin D status on long-term health outcomes is required.

Background: Persistent high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is a necessary prerequisite for development of cervical cancer and its precursor lesion, high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (HSIL). However, HPV infection is not sufficient to drive this process, and genetic and environmental factors may also play a role. Methods/Design: The Cervical Cancer, Genetics and Environment Twin Study was established to investigate the environmental and genetic influences on variation in susceptibility to cervical pre-cancer in 25- to 69-year-old monozygotic (MZ) and dizygotic (DZ) twins recruited through the Australian Twin Registry. Reviews of Papanicolaou (Pap) screening histories were undertaken to identify individual women with a history of an abnormal Pap test. This was followed by detection of HPV in archival Pap smears of selected twin pairs to determine HPV persistence. Selected twin pairs also completed a detailed questionnaire on socio-demographic characteristics, sexual behavior, and HPV knowledge. In future analyses, under the assumptions of the classical twin design, case-wise concordance for persistent HPV infection and HSIL will be calculated for MZ and DZ twin pairs, and twin pairs (both MZ and DZ) who are discordant for the above outcomes will be used to assess the contributions of measured environmental risk factors. Discussion: The study examines factors related to HPV persistence and development of HSIL among female MZ and DZ twins. The results will contribute to our understanding of the natural history of cervical HPV infection and the relative contributions of genetic and environmental factors in disease progression.

We describe the performance of the Boolardy Engineering Test Array, the prototype for the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder telescope. Boolardy Engineering Test Array is the first aperture synthesis radio telescope to use phased array feed technology, giving it the ability to electronically form up to nine dual-polarisation beams. We report the methods developed for forming and measuring the beams, and the adaptations that have been made to the traditional calibration and imaging procedures in order to allow BETA to function as a multi-beam aperture synthesis telescope. We describe the commissioning of the instrument and present details of Boolardy Engineering Test Array’s performance: sensitivity, beam characteristics, polarimetric properties, and image quality. We summarise the astronomical science that it has produced and draw lessons from operating Boolardy Engineering Test Array that will be relevant to the commissioning and operation of the final Australian Square Kilometre Array Path telescope.

We present preliminary results from a number of deep radio polarization surveys being made of the Magellanic Clouds at 2.3 GHz, 4.75 GHz and 8.55 GHz. Extended and linearly polarized radio emission has been found at 2.3 and 4.75 GHz from both the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) and the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC). However, as the analysis of these data is not yet complete we present only some of the 4.75 GHz results at this time.

Vaesen asks whether goal maintenance and planning ahead are critical for innovative tool use. We suggest that these aptitudes may have an evolutionary foundation in motor planning abilities that span all primate species. Anticipatory effects evidenced in the reaching behaviors of lemurs, tamarins, and rhesus monkeys similarly bear on the evolutionary origins of foresight as it pertains to tool use.

We report on experiments aimed at the generation and characterization of solid density plasmas at the free-electron laser FLASH in Hamburg. Aluminum samples were irradiated with XUV pulses at 13.5 nm wavelength (92 eV photon energy). The pulses with duration of a few tens of femtoseconds and pulse energy up to 100 µJ are focused to intensities ranging between 1013 and 1017 W/cm2. We investigate the absorption and temporal evolution of the sample under irradiation by use of XUV and optical spectroscopy. We discuss the origin of saturable absorption, radiative decay, bremsstrahlung and atomic and ionic line emission. Our experimental results are in good agreement with simulations.

Cervical cancer is the third most common cancer in women worldwide. Persistent infection with an oncogenic human papillomavirus (HPV) is necessary, but not sufficient, for its development. Over many years, only a small proportion of women with chronic HPV infection progress to develop disease. The role of host genes and environmental factors in the pathogenesis of, or predisposition to, cervical cancer is still unclear. We conducted a systematic review of published literature in MEDLINE–PubMed to identify studies of cervical cancer susceptibility that used a twin study design. We used standard MeSH terms (controlled vocabulary) as well as specific free-text terms and combinations of terms related to cervical cancer, with no restriction on publication date. We performed a full text review to ensure the identified articles met our inclusion criteria and, if so, extracted information on demographics, sample size, study definitions, and key statistical findings. Of the 285 articles identified, three utilized a classical twin design and reported results specific to cervical cancer. The studies were based on cancer registry data from Scandinavia, with sample sizes ranging from 312 to 710 twin pairs. The findings from one study were consistent with a genetic mechanism for the causation of carcinoma in situ. Future research studies using the strength of the classic twin design, together with incorporation of HPV DNA status, are indicated to determine whether there is a potential role for genetic factors in the development of cervical cancer or high-grade cervical dysplasia from chronic oncogenic HPV infection.

It has been proposed that low birth weight is associated with high levels of blood pressure in later life. The aim of this study was to assess the relationship of blood pressure to birth weight and current body size during growth and adulthood. A total of 711 female multiple births, with one group of 244 in their growth phase mean age 12.0 (2.3)(SD) years and the other of 467 adults (mean age 35.2 (12.6) years), had height, weight and both systolic (SBP) and diastolic (DBP) blood pressures measured, and self-reported their birth weight. Regression analyses were performed to assess the cross-sectional and within-pair associations of blood pressure to birth weight, with and without adjustments for current body size. Within-pair analysis was based on 296 twin pairs. Cross-sectionally, a reduction in birth weight of 1 kg was associated with 2 to 3 mm Hg higher age-adjusted SBP, which was of marginal significance and explained about 2% of the population variance. Adjustment for body mass index did not significantly change this association. Within-pair analyses found no association between birth weight and SBP or DBP, even after adjusting for current body size. After age, current body size was the strongest predictor of systolic BP. The weak association of blood pressure to birth weight cross-sectionally is of interest, but any within-pair effect of birth weight on blood pressure must be minimal compared with the effect of current body size.

Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2011 in Nashville, Tennessee, USA, August 7–August 11, 2011.

Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2010 in Portland, Oregon, USA, August 1 – August 5, 2010.

Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2010 in Portland, Oregon, USA, August 1 – August 5, 2010.

The effect of porosity on the kinetics of the austenite to bainite isothermal transformation in powder metallurgy steels was characterized using a high-speed quenching dilatometer. The measurements revealed that the presence of porosity shortens the incubation time as well as the overall isothermal transformation time. An Avrami-type equation was fitted to the measured data, and the effect of porosity on the nucleation rate of bainite was quantified. In addition, the activation energy for diffusion of carbon atoms during nucleation of bainite was calculated and was found to decrease with increasing porosity.

The construction of short pulse (<200 fs) tunable X-ray laser sources based on the X-ray free electron laser (XFEL) concept will be a watershed for plasma-based and warm dense matter research. These new fourth generation light sources will have extremely high fields and short wavelengths (∼0.1 nm) with peak spectral brightnesses 1010 greater than third generation sources. Further, the high intensity upgrade of the GSI accelerator facilities will lead to specific energy depositions up to 200 kJ/g and temperatures between 1 and 10 eV at almost solid-state densities, enabling interesting experiments in the regime of nonideal plasmas, such as the evolution of intense ion beams in the interior of a Jovian planet. Below we discuss several applications: the creation of warm dense matter (WDM) research, probing of near solid density plasmas, and laser–plasma spectroscopy of ions in plasmas. The study of dense plasmas has been severely hampered by the fact that laser-based methods have been unavailable and these new fourth generation sources will remove these restrictions.

Bone is characterised by age-related morphological and histological changes. We have previously established an automated method of recording bone morphometry and histology from entire transverse sections of cortical bone. Our aim was to determine whether data acquired using this automated system were useful in the prediction of age. Ninety-six specimens of human femoral middiaphysis were studied from subjects aged 21–92 y. Equations predicting specimen age were constructed using macroscopic data (total subperiosteal area (TSPA), periosteal perimeter (PP), endosteal perimeter (EP), cortical bone area (CA) and moments of area) and microscopic data (the number, size and diversity of pores and intracortical porosity) together with sex, height and weight. Both TSPA and PP were independent predictors of age but the number of pores was not a significant predictor of age in any equation. The age predicted by these equations was inaccurate by more than 8 y in over half the subjects. We conclude that we could not predict age at a clinically acceptable level using data from our automated system. This most likely reflects an insensitivity to regional age-related changes in bone histology because we recorded data from each entire cortex. Automated bone measurement according to cortical region might be more useful in the prediction of age. The inclusion of TSPA together with PP as independent predictors of age raises the possibility that a future measure of periosteal shape at the femoral diaphysis could also be helpful in the prediction of age. The accuracy reached with the relatively simple methods described here is sufficient to encourage the development of image-analysis systems for the automatic detection of more complex features.

The Southern Hemisphere VLBI Experiment (SHEVE) program is aimed at producing high-resolution images of southern radio sources. The radio telescopes of the present SHEVE array are described below and some recent results presented.