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We present an overview of the Middle Ages Galaxy Properties with Integral Field Spectroscopy (MAGPI) survey, a Large Program on the European Southern Observatory Very Large Telescope. MAGPI is designed to study the physical drivers of galaxy transformation at a lookback time of 3–4 Gyr, during which the dynamical, morphological, and chemical properties of galaxies are predicted to evolve significantly. The survey uses new medium-deep adaptive optics aided Multi-Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) observations of fields selected from the Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey, providing a wealth of publicly available ancillary multi-wavelength data. With these data, MAGPI will map the kinematic and chemical properties of stars and ionised gas for a sample of 60 massive (
${>}7 \times 10^{10} {\mathrm{M}}_\odot$
) central galaxies at
$0.25 < z <0.35$
in a representative range of environments (isolated, groups and clusters). The spatial resolution delivered by MUSE with Ground Layer Adaptive Optics (
$0.6-0.8$
arcsec FWHM) will facilitate a direct comparison with Integral Field Spectroscopy surveys of the nearby Universe, such as SAMI and MaNGA, and at higher redshifts using adaptive optics, for example, SINS. In addition to the primary (central) galaxy sample, MAGPI will deliver resolved and unresolved spectra for as many as 150 satellite galaxies at
$0.25 < z <0.35$
, as well as hundreds of emission-line sources at
$z < 6$
. This paper outlines the science goals, survey design, and observing strategy of MAGPI. We also present a first look at the MAGPI data, and the theoretical framework to which MAGPI data will be compared using the current generation of cosmological hydrodynamical simulations including EAGLE, Magneticum, HORIZON-AGN, and Illustris-TNG. Our results show that cosmological hydrodynamical simulations make discrepant predictions in the spatially resolved properties of galaxies at
$z\approx 0.3$
. MAGPI observations will place new constraints and allow for tangible improvements in galaxy formation theory.
To assess the relationship between food insecurity, sleep quality, and days with mental and physical health issues among college students.
Design:
An online survey was administered. Food insecurity was assessed using the ten-item Adult Food Security Survey Module. Sleep was measured using the nineteen-item Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). Mental health and physical health were measured using three items from the Healthy Days Core Module. Multivariate logistic regression was conducted to assess the relationship between food insecurity, sleep quality, and days with poor mental and physical health.
Setting:
Twenty-two higher education institutions.
Participants:
College students (n 17 686) enrolled at one of twenty-two participating universities.
Results:
Compared with food-secure students, those classified as food insecure (43·4 %) had higher PSQI scores indicating poorer sleep quality (P < 0·0001) and reported more days with poor mental (P < 0·0001) and physical (P < 0·0001) health as well as days when mental and physical health prevented them from completing daily activities (P < 0·0001). Food-insecure students had higher adjusted odds of having poor sleep quality (adjusted OR (AOR): 1·13; 95 % CI 1·12, 1·14), days with poor physical health (AOR: 1·01; 95 % CI 1·01, 1·02), days with poor mental health (AOR: 1·03; 95 % CI 1·02, 1·03) and days when poor mental or physical health prevented them from completing daily activities (AOR: 1·03; 95 % CI 1·02, 1·04).
Conclusions:
College students report high food insecurity which is associated with poor mental and physical health, and sleep quality. Multi-level policy changes and campus wellness programmes are needed to prevent food insecurity and improve student health-related outcomes.
Genotype-first and within-family studies can elucidate factors that contribute to psychiatric illness. Combining these approaches, we investigated the patterns of influence of parental scores, a high-impact variant, and schizophrenia on dimensional neurobehavioral phenotypes implicated in major psychiatric disorders.
Methods
We quantitatively assessed cognitive (FSIQ, VIQ, PIQ), social, and motor functioning in 82 adult individuals with a de novo 22q11.2 deletion (22 with schizophrenia), and 148 of their unaffected parents. We calculated within-family correlations and effect sizes of the 22q11.2 deletion and schizophrenia, and used linear regressions to assess contributions to neurobehavioral measures.
Results
Proband-parent intra-class correlations (ICC) were significant for cognitive measures (e.g. FSIQ ICC = 0.549, p < 0.0001), but not for social or motor measures. Compared to biparental scores, the 22q11.2 deletion conferred significant impairments for all phenotypes assessed (effect sizes −1.39 to −2.07 s.d.), strongest for PIQ. There were further decrements in those with schizophrenia. Regression models explained up to 37.7% of the variance in IQ and indicated that for proband IQ, parental IQ had larger effects than schizophrenia.
Conclusions
This study, for the first time, disentangles the impact of a high-impact variant from the modifying effects of parental scores and schizophrenia on relevant neurobehavioral phenotypes. The robust proband-parent correlations for cognitive measures, independent of the impact of the 22q11.2 deletion and of schizophrenia, suggest that, for certain phenotypes, shared genetic variation plays a significant role in expression. Molecular genetic and predictor studies are needed to elucidate shared factors and their contribution to psychiatric illness in this and other high-risk groups.
Identifying factors that influence the functional outcome is an important goal in schizophrenia research. The 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (22q11DS) is a unique genetic model with high risk (20–25%) for schizophrenia. This study aimed to identify potentially targetable domains of neurocognitive functioning associated with functional outcome in adults with 22q11DS.
Methods
We used comprehensive neurocognitive test data available for 99 adults with 22q11DS (n = 43 with schizophrenia) and principal component analysis to derive four domains of neurocognition (Verbal Memory, Visual and Logical Memory, Motor Performance, and Executive Performance). We then investigated the association of these neurocognitive domains with adaptive functioning using Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales data and a linear regression model that accounted for the effects of schizophrenia status and overall intellectual level.
Results
The regression model explained 46.8% of the variance in functional outcome (p < 0.0001). Executive Performance was significantly associated with functional outcome (p = 0.048). Age and schizophrenia were also significant factors. The effects of Executive Performance on functioning did not significantly differ between those with and without psychotic illness.
Conclusion
The findings provide the impetus for further studies to examine the potential of directed (early) interventions targeting Executive Performance to improve long-term adaptive functional outcome in individuals with, or at high risk for, schizophrenia. Moreover, the neurocognitive test profiles may benefit caregivers and clinicians by providing insight into the relative strengths and weaknesses of individuals with 22q11DS, with and without psychotic illness.
To test the hypothesis that more frequent consumption of sugar-sweetened soft drinks would be associated with increased risk of obesity-related cancers. Associations for artificially sweetened soft drinks were assessed for comparison.
Design
Prospective cohort study with cancers identified by linkage to cancer registries. At baseline, participants completed a 121-item FFQ including separate questions about the number of times in the past year they had consumed sugar-sweetened or artificially sweetened soft drinks. Anthropometric measurements, including waist circumference, were taken and questions about smoking, leisure-time physical activity and intake of alcoholic beverages were completed.
Setting
The Melbourne Collaborative Cohort Study (MCCS) is a prospective cohort study which recruited 41 514 men and women aged 40–69 years between 1990 and 1994. A second wave of data collection occurred in 2003–2007.
Subjects
Data for 35 593 participants who developed 3283 incident obesity-related cancers were included in the main analysis.
Results
Increasing frequency of consumption of both sugar-sweetened and artificially sweetened soft drinks was associated with greater waist circumference at baseline. For sugar-sweetened soft drinks, the hazard ratio (HR) for obesity-related cancers increased as frequency of consumption increased (HR for consumption >1/d v. <1/month=1·18; 95 % CI 0·97, 1·45; P-trend=0·007). For artificially sweetened soft drinks, the HR for obesity-related cancers was not associated with consumption (HR for consumption >1/d v. <1/month=1·00; 95 % CI 0·79, 1·27; P-trend=0·61).
Conclusions
Our results add to the justification to minimise intake of sugar-sweetened soft drinks.
Phenylketonuria (PKU), a genetic metabolic disorder that is characterized by the inability to convert phenylalanine to tyrosine, leads to severe intellectual disability and other cerebral complications if left untreated. Dietary treatment, initiated soon after birth, prevents most brain-related complications. A leading hypothesis postulates that a shortage of brain monoamines may be associated with neurocognitive deficits that are observable even in early-treated PKU. However, there is a paucity of evidence as yet for this hypothesis.
Methods
We therefore assessed in vivo striatal dopamine D2/3 receptor (D2/3R) availability and plasma monoamine metabolite levels together with measures of impulsivity and executive functioning in 18 adults with PKU and average intellect (31.2 ± 7.4 years, nine females), most of whom were early and continuously treated. Comparison data from 12 healthy controls that did not differ in gender and age were available.
Results
Mean D2/3R availability was significantly higher (13%; p = 0.032) in the PKU group (n = 15) than in the controls, which may reflect reduced synaptic brain dopamine levels in PKU. The PKU group had lower plasma levels of homovanillic acid (p < 0.001) and 3-methoxy-4-hydroxy-phenylglycol (p < 0.0001), the predominant metabolites of dopamine and norepinephrine, respectively. Self-reported impulsivity levels were significantly higher in the PKU group compared with healthy controls (p = 0.033). Within the PKU group, D2/3R availability showed a positive correlation with both impulsivity (r = 0.72, p = 0.003) and the error rate during a cognitive flexibility task (r = 0.59, p = 0.020).
Conclusions
These findings provide further support for the hypothesis that executive functioning deficits in treated adult PKU may be associated with cerebral dopamine deficiency.
To evaluate the reliability and validity of the FFQ administered to participants in the follow-up of the Melbourne Collaborative Cohort Study (MCCS), and to provide calibration coefficients.
Design
A random sample stratified by country of birth, age, sex and BMI was selected from MCCS participants. Participants completed two FFQ and three 24 h recalls over 1 year. Reliability was evaluated by intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC). Validity coefficients (VC) were estimated from structural equation models and calibration coefficients obtained from regression calibration models.
Setting
Adults born in Australia, Greece or Italy.
Subjects
Nine hundred and sixty-five participants consented to the study; of these, 459 participants were included in the reliability analyses and 615 in the validity and calibration analyses.
Results
The FFQ showed good repeatability for twenty-three nutrients with ICC ranging from 0·66 to 0·80 for absolute nutrient intakes for Australian-born and from 0·51 to 0·74 for Greek/Italian-born. For Australian-born, VC ranged from 0·46 (monounsaturated fat) to 0·83 (Ca) for nutrient densities, comparing well with other studies. For Greek/Italian-born, VC were between 0·21 (Na) and 0·64 (riboflavin). Calibration coefficients for nutrient densities ranged from 0·39 (retinol) to 0·74 (Mg) for Australian-born and from 0·18 (Zn) to 0·54 (riboflavin) for Greek/Italian-born.
Conclusions
The FFQ used in the MCCS follow-up study is suitable for estimating energy-adjusted nutrients for Australian-born participants. However, its performance for estimating intakes is poorer for southern European migrants and alternative dietary assessment methods ought to be considered if dietary data are to be measured in similar demographic groups.
To assess subjective preference using three nasal hygiene systems: Stérimar Original®, Emcur® and Sinus Rinse™.
Design:
We used a prospective, single-blind, randomised, crossover study to compare three nasal hygiene systems: Stérimar Original, Emcur and Sinus Rinse.
Subjects:
Eighteen adult volunteers were recruited and were asked to rate their experience over three days using three well-established nasal hygiene systems. A standard visual analogue scale was used to assess five criteria: (1) simplicity of instructions; (2) ease of use; (3) comfort; (4) perceived nasal clearance (effectiveness) and (5) single best overall system.
Results:
Stérimar Original was found to have the easiest instructions to understand compared to the other two systems. There was no significant difference between Stérimar Original and Sinus Rinse with regards to ease of use but they were both significantly easier to use than Emcur (p < 0.05). There was no statistically significant difference between the three systems when comparing the last three criteria. There was no alteration in preference when the cost of each treatment was disclosed to the subjects, and no significant side effects were reported.
Conclusion:
The instructions accompanying Stérimar Original appeared to be the easiest to understand, while Stérimar Original and Sinus Rinse were easier to use than Emcur.
Using data from The National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions, the strength of social networks and the association of self-reported health among American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/AN) and non-Hispanic Whites (NHW) were compared. Differences in social network–health relationships between AI/ANs and NHWs were also examined. For both groups, those with fewer network members were more likely to report fair or poor health than those with average or more network members, and persons with the fewest types of relationships had worse self-reported health than those with the average or very diverse types of relationships. Furthermore, small social networks were associated with much worse self-reported health in AI/ANs than in NHWs.
The recent epidemic of acute glomerulonephritis in Trinidad had two peaks, separated by an interval of about 6 months.
Evidence is presented that there were in fact two successive but overlapping epidemics, the first due to streptococci of provisional M-type 55, and the second to streptococci of M-type 49.
New exposures of Upper Llandovery and Cambrian strata are described from the southern Malvern Hills. The rocks occur in a small faulted outlier between Midsummer and Hollybush Hills, within the main Pre-Cambrian outcrop. The Cambrian is represented by a thin succession of Malvern Quartzite and Hollybush Sandstone and is overlain by an Upper Llandovery limestone with a basal conglomerate containing rounded pebbles of Hollybush Sandstone. The new exposures weaken the case for a major post-Llandoverian fault at the western boundary of the local Pre-Cambrian outcrop, but provide further evidence of an important phase of pre-Llandoverian tectonism in the Malvern area.
Faunas of brachiopods, graptolites and conodonts from the Llandoverian limestone allow a correlation with the C5 substage of the shelly sequence, the griestoniensis graptolite zone and a position near the boundary of the celloni and amorphognathoides conodont zones.
Fission-track dating of zircons and apatites from tuffs and bentonites has produced the first isotopic ages for the type sections of the Ordovician and Silurian Systems. In the Ordovician the following ages have been determined: lower Arenig 493 Ma, lower Llanvirn 487 Ma, lower Llandeilo 477 Ma, upper Caradoc 463 Ma and upper Ashgill 434 Ma. In the Silurian, the following: lower Llandovery 437 Ma, lower Wenlock 422 Ma, upper Wenlock 414 Ma and Ludlow 407 Ma. The Ordovician-Silurian boundary is interpreted as occurring at about 436 Ma. Three North American Rocklandian bentonites yielded zircons whose ages average 453 Ma. This is about 10 Ma younger than supposedly correlative units in the British type sections.
A diverse fauna of trilobites, graptolites, inarticulate brachiopods, sponges, and a worm is described from the Tremadoc rocks cropping out in the Llangynog district, SW of Carmarthen. It permits identification of the Clonograptus tenellus Zone and older Tremadoc strata; younger Tremadoc strata are apparently absent. The fauna shows closest affinities with the Shineton Shales of Shropshire, while some of the trilobites also indicate a close relationship with those from the Tremadoc of NW Argentina.
A conodont fauna from a thin limestone bed, considered to be of Wenlockian age, in the Usk inlier, Monmouthshire, is described. Ninety-seven specimens are assigned to four genera and eight species. The fauna is referable to the sagitta conodont zone and suggested correlations are made with the upper part of the Ostra-coden-Kalkes in Germany, with part of the Aulacopleura Schichten and Kok-Kalk in Austria, and with part of the Lockport Dolomite and Rochester Shale in North America.
Twenty-four reciprocal crosses between two green and six chimera cultivars, containing respectively normal green and mutant white plastids in their germ layers, were analysed for their segregation patterns of green, variegated and white embryos, and for their fertility data.
Analysis of variance of fertility data showed that W × G crosses were generally less fertile than the reciprocal G × W crosses, but this was not correlated with selection against any particular class of embryo.
Analysis of segregation patterns showed that they were essentially the same with a constant female and varying male parent, but change the female and the pattern could be radically altered. The six different mutant females with both constant green males could be arranged in a sequence in which white plastids were increasingly successful, and white and variegated embryos increasingly frequent. A similar sequence was demonstrated with three green females and two constant white males. It was concluded that the major control of plastid inheritance was determined by the female nuclear and plastid genotypes, with the male having only a minor, modifying influence even when male plastids were more successfully transmitted than female ones.
The very low frequencies of variegated embryos in some crosses led to a rejection of the classical hypothesis of sorting-out from mixed cells, and its replacement by the hypothesis that pure green or pure white embryos arise by the replication of only one plastid at a time, whereas variegated embryos arise by replication of both plastids.
Nonlinear kink instabilities of high-Reynolds-number supersonic shear layers have been studied using high-resolution computer simulations with the piecewise-parabolic-method (PPM). The transition region between the two fluids of the shear layer is spread out over many computational zones to avoid numerical effects introduced on the smallest lengthscales. Mach number, density contrast, and perturbation speed and amplitude were varied to study their effects on the growth of the kink instabilities. In response to a perturbing sound wave, a travelling kink mode grows in amplitude until enough of a disturbance on the shear layer has been created for it to roll up and rapidly grow in thickness. The time it takes for this rapid growth to be initiated is proportional to the initial shear-layer thickness and increases for increasing Mach number or decreasing perturbation amplitude. For equal density, Mach 4 shear layers, perturbed by a sound wave with a 2% amplitude at the travelling mode velocity, the growth time is τg = (546 ± 24) δ/c, where c is the sound speed and δ the half-width of the shear layer.