A ring shear device to simulate cryosphere processes.

We have developed a new cryogenic ring shear device at the University of Wisconsin-Madison to simulate cryosphere processes, with an emphasis on the physics of glacier slip. The device spins a ring of ice (inner diameter of 20 cm, outer diameter of 60 cm, height of ∼20-30 cm) at the pressure melting point over a rotationally fixed bed. The ice ring is spun at a prescribed velocity (range of ∼0.01-1000 m a-1) while the resistance to slip is measured. A ram at the base of the device applies a vertical load to the sample chamber to simulate the overburden pressure (range ∼5-915 kPa) felt at a glacier's base. The sample chamber is constructed with transparent acrylic walls, allowing subglacial processes to be observed directly by a series of cameras. The entire device is housed in a large walk-in freezer. In the freezer, the sample chamber is submerged in a tub of temperature-controlled fluid that precisely regulates heat flux into the sample chamber, replicating in situ conditions and allowing for prolonged experiments that last weeks to months. This device can be used to study several of the most unconstrained physical processes that regulate glacier movement and, in doing so, greatly improve predictions of glacier contributions to sea-level rise.

Assessing the impact of a gynaecomastia assessment and treatment infographic in primary care in Greater Manchester.

INTRODUCTION: Men with gynaecomastia are routinely referred to breast clinics, yet most do not require breast surgical intervention. The aim of this study was to assess the impact of a novel point-of-care gynaecomastia decision infographic in primary care on the assessment, management and referral practices to tertiary breast surgical services. METHODS: A study was carried out of male patient referrals from primary care in Greater Manchester to a tertiary breast centre between January and March in 2018-2020. Referral patterns were compared before and after the infographic went live in general practices in Greater Manchester in January 2020. Data were collected for gynaecomastia referrals, including aetiology, investigation and management. RESULTS: In total, 394 men were referred to a tertiary breast centre from 163 general practices, of which 271 (68.8%) had a diagnosis of gynaecomastia. Use of the decision infographic by primary healthcare providers was associated with a decrease in male breast referrals with gynaecomastia (79.6% to 62.0%). Fewer gynaecomastia patients were referred with a benign physiological or drug-related cause after implementation of the infographic (52.2% vs 41.8%). Only 10 (3.7%) patients with gynaecomastia underwent breast surgery during the study period. CONCLUSION: Implementation of a gynaecomastia infographic in primary care in Manchester was associated with a reduction in gynaecomastia referrals to secondary care. We hypothesise that implementation of the infographic into primary care nationally may potentially translate to hundreds of patients receiving more specialty-appropriate referrals, improving overall management of gynaecomastia. Further study is warranted to test this hypothesis.

Speleothem record of mild and wet mid-Pleistocene climate in northeast Greenland.

The five interglacials before the Mid-Brunhes Event (MBE) [c.430 thousand years (ka) ago] are generally considered to be globally cooler than those post-MBE. Inhomogeneities exist regionally, however, which suggest that the Arctic was warmer than present during Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 15a. Using the first speleothem record for the High Arctic, we investigate the climatic response of northeast Greenland between c.588 and c.549 ka ago. Our results indicate an enhanced warmth of at least +3.5°C relative to the present, leading to permafrost thaw and increased precipitation. We find that δ18O of precipitation was at least 3‰ higher than today and recognize two local cooling events (c.571 and c.594 ka ago) thought to be caused by freshwater forcing. Our results are important for improving understanding of the regional climatic response leading up to the MBE and specifically provide insights into the climatic response of a warmer Arctic.

Climate change and landscape development in post-closure safety assessment of solid radioactive waste disposal: Results of an initiative of the IAEA.

The International Atomic Energy Agency has coordinated an international project addressing climate change and landscape development in post-closure safety assessments of solid radioactive waste disposal. The work has been supported by results of parallel on-going research that has been published in a variety of reports and peer reviewed journal articles. The project is due to be described in detail in a forthcoming IAEA report. Noting the multi-disciplinary nature of post-closure safety assessments, here, an overview of the work is given to provide researchers in the broader fields of radioecology and radiological safety assessment with a review of the work that has been undertaken. It is hoped that such dissemination will support and promote integrated understanding and coherent treatment of climate change and landscape development within an overall assessment process. The key activities undertaken in the project were: identification of the key processes that drive environmental change (mainly those associated with climate and climate change), and description of how a relevant future may develop on a global scale; development of a methodology for characterising environmental change that is valid on a global scale, showing how modelled global changes in climate can be downscaled to provide information that may be needed for characterising environmental change in site-specific assessments, and illustrating different aspects of the methodology in a number of case studies that show the evolution of site characteristics and the implications for the dose assessment models. Overall, the study has shown that quantitative climate and landscape modelling has now developed to the stage that it can be used to define an envelope of climate and landscape change scenarios at specific sites and under specific greenhouse-gas emissions assumptions that is suitable for use in quantitative post-closure performance assessments. These scenarios are not predictions of the future, but are projections based on a well-established understanding of the important processes involved and their impacts on different types of landscape. Such projections support the understanding of, and selection of, plausible ranges of scenarios for use in post-closure safety assessments.

Assessment of fungal diversity using terminal restriction fragment (TRF) pattern analysis: comparison of 18S and ITS ribosomal regions.

Assessment of fungal diversity in environmental samples is currently a challenge. Several recently developed molecular methods offer new avenues for determining the presence and diversity of fungi in complex microbial communities. Terminal restriction fragment (TRF) pattern analysis was tested as a method for assessing the fungal molecular diversity of a terrestrial microbial community. Community DNA was isolated from sand samples taken from a pilot-scale petroleum-contaminated land treatment unit. PCR amplification was carried out using primers, one of which was fluorescently labeled, designed to hybridize to conserved sequences in the fungal ribosomal small subunit (18S) or the internal transcribed spacer ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 (ITS) ribosomal region. Amplicons were then digested separately with HpaII or HaeIII; fluorescently labeled TRFs were detected by capillary gel electrophoresis. ITS region TRF patterns were predicted and observed to generate a greater richness than 18S TRF patterns. Unique TRF patterns were also observed for each community examined. Finally, the ITS region showed a higher degree of specificity in matching observed TRF profiles to those generated from GenBank sequence data for species identification. These data suggest that ITS rDNA TRF pattern analysis has great potential as a rapid and specific method for fungal community analysis and species identification.

Dose-related effects of estazolam on sleep of patients with insomnia.

The dose range of estazolam for hypnotic effects was studied in seven men and eight women (mean age 30.3 +/- 8.6 years) who complained of insomnia and had polysomnographic evidence of disturbed sleep. Patients slept in the laboratory and were monitored using standard polysomnographic techniques. Four consecutive nights in the laboratory with placebo, which served as baseline and screening nights, were followed by five 2-night drug administration periods separated by 5-day drug washout periods spent at home. Each of the patients received a sequence of four doses (0.25, 0.5, 1.0, and 2.0 mg) of estazolam and placebo administered according to a Latin square design and in a double-blind manner. Estazolam significantly increased total sleep time and reduced time awake during sleep in a dose-dependent manner. Sleep latency parameters were reduced systematically with increasing doses of estazolam, but these effects on sleep latency were not statistically significant. Increasing doses of estazolam had systematic and statistically significant effects on sleep stages. Subjective estimations of sleep were consistent with the polysomnographic findings bur were not statistically significant.