Social identification and prevalence of PTSD in Northern Ireland

Background Understanding of the psychological impact of politically motivated violence is poor. Aims To examine the prevalence of post-traumatic symptoms subsequentto the ‘troubles’ in Northern Ireland. Method A telephone survey of 3000 adults, representative of the population in Northern Ireland and the border counties of the Irish Republic, examined exposure to political violence, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and national identity. Results Ten per cent of respondents had symptoms suggestive of clinical PTSD. These people were most likely to come from low-income groups, rate national identity as relatively unimportant and have higher overall experience of the ‘troubles’than other respondents. Conclusions Direct experience of violence and poverty increase the risk of PTSD, whereas strong national identification appears to reduce this risk.

Lowest energy potentials of Li2 + F accessible at ultracold temperatures

Ab initio calculations for the strongly exoergic Li2+F harpoon reaction are presented using density-functional theory, complete active space self-consistent field, and multireference configuration interaction methods to argue that this reaction would be an ideal candidate for investigation with ultracold molecules. The lowest six states are calculated with the aug-correlation-consistent polarized valence triple-zeta basis set and at least two can be accessed by a ground rovibronic Li2 molecule with zero collision energy at all reaction geometries. The large reactive cross section (characteristic of harpoon reactions) and chemiluminescent products are additional attractive features of these reactions.

Ab initio potentials of F + Li-2 accessible at ultracold temperatures

Ab initio calculations for the strongly exoergic Li-2 + F harpoon reaction are presented using density-functional theory, complete active space self-consistent field, and multireference configuration interaction methods to argue that this reaction would be an ideal candidate for investigation with ultracold molecules. The lowest six states are calculated with the aug-correlation-consistent polarized valence triple-zeta basis set and at least two can be accessed by a ground rovibronic Li-2 molecule with zero collision energy at all reaction geometries. The large reactive cross section (characteristic of harpoon reactions) and chemiluminescent products are additional attractive features of these reactions.

Defense peptides secreted by helminth pathogens: antimicrobial and/or immunomodulator molecules?

Host defense peptides (HDPs) are an evolutionarily conserved component of the innate immune response found in all living species. They possess antimicrobial activities against a broad range of organisms including bacteria, fungi, eukaryotic parasites, and viruses. HDPs also have the ability to enhance immune responses by acting as immunomodulators. We discovered a new family of HDPs derived from pathogenic helminth (worms) that cause enormous disease in animals and humans worldwide. The discovery of these peptides was based on their similar biochemical and functional characteristics to the human defense peptide LL-37. We propose that these new peptides modulate the immune response via molecular mimicry of mammalian HDPs thus providing a mechanism behind the anti-inflammatory properties of helminth infections.

Long working hours and risk of coronary heart disease and stroke: a systematic review and meta-analysis of published and unpublished data for 603 838 individuals

Background: Long working hours might increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, but prospective evidence is scarce, imprecise, and mostly limited to coronary heart disease. We aimed to assess long working hours as a risk factor for incident coronary heart disease and stroke. 

Methods We identified published studies through a systematic review of PubMed and Embase from inception to Aug 20, 2014. We obtained unpublished data for 20 cohort studies from the Individual-Participant-Data Meta-analysis in Working Populations (IPD-Work) Consortium and open-access data archives. We used cumulative random-effects meta-analysis to combine effect estimates from published and unpublished data. 

Findings We included 25 studies from 24 cohorts in Europe, the USA, and Australia. The meta-analysis of coronary heart disease comprised data for 603 838 men and women who were free from coronary heart disease at baseline; the meta-analysis of stroke comprised data for 528 908 men and women who were free from stroke at baseline. Follow-up for coronary heart disease was 5·1 million person-years (mean 8·5 years), in which 4768 events were recorded, and for stroke was 3·8 million person-years (mean 7·2 years), in which 1722 events were recorded. In cumulative meta-analysis adjusted for age, sex, and socioeconomic status, compared with standard hours (35-40 h per week), working long hours (≥55 h per week) was associated with an increase in risk of incident coronary heart disease (relative risk [RR] 1·13, 95% CI 1·02-1·26; p=0·02) and incident stroke (1·33, 1·11-1·61; p=0·002). The excess risk of stroke remained unchanged in analyses that addressed reverse causation, multivariable adjustments for other risk factors, and different methods of stroke ascertainment (range of RR estimates 1·30-1·42). We recorded a dose-response association for stroke, with RR estimates of 1·10 (95% CI 0·94-1·28; p=0·24) for 41-48 working hours, 1·27 (1·03-1·56; p=0·03) for 49-54 working hours, and 1·33 (1·11-1·61; p=0·002) for 55 working hours or more per week compared with standard working hours (p_trend<0·0001).

Interpretation Employees who work long hours have a higher risk of stroke than those working standard hours; the association with coronary heart disease is weaker. These findings suggest that more attention should be paid to the management of vascular risk factors in individuals who work long hours. 

Towards a spectroscopically accurate set of potentials for heavy hydride laser cooling candidates: effective core potential calculations of BaH

BaH (and its isotopomers) is an attractive molecular candidate for laser cooling to ultracold temperatures and a potential precursor for the production of ultracold gases of hydrogen and deuterium. The theoretical challenge is to simulate the laser cooling cycle as reliably as possible and this paper addresses the generation of a highly accurate ab initio $^{2}\Sigma^+$ potential for such studies. The performance of various basis sets within the multi-reference configuration-interaction (MRCI) approximation with the Davidson correction (MRCI+Q)is tested and taken to the Complete Basis Set (CBS) limit. It is shown that the calculated molecular constants using a 46 electron Effective Core-Potential (ECP) and even-tempered augmented polarized core-valence basis sets (aug-pCV$n$Z-PP, n= 4 and 5) but only including three active electrons in the MRCI calculation are in excellent agreement with the available experimental values. The predicted dissociation energy De for the X$^2\Sigma^+$ state (extrapolated to the CBS limit) is 16895.12 cm$^{-1}$ (2.094 eV), which agrees within 0.1$\%$ of a revised experimental value of <16910.6 cm$^{-1}$, while the calculated re is within 0.03 pm of the experimental result.