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Background: Universal health coverage (UHC) improves national health outcomes while addressing social inequalities in access to quality healthcare services. The district health system (DHS) is critical to the success of UHC in South Africa through the National Health Insurance (NHI) scheme. Family physicians (FPs), as champions of primary care, are central to the DHS operation and implementation of NHI. Methods: This was a qualitative exploratory study that used semi-structured interviews to explore FPs views and engagement on NHI policy and implementation in their districts. Ten FPs were included through purposive sampling. Results: Most of the FPs interviewed were not engaged in either policy formulation or strategic planning. The NHI bill was seen as a theoretical ideology that lacked any clear plan. Family physicians expressed several concerns around corruption in governmental structures that could play out in NHI implementation. Family physicians felt unsupported within their district structures and disempowered to engage in rollout strategies. The FPs were able to provide useful solutions to health system challenges because of the design of their training programmes, as well as their experience at the primary care level. Conclusion: Healthcare governance in South Africa remains located in national and provincial structures. Devolution of governance to the DHS is required if NHI implementation is to succeed. The FPs need to be engaged in NHI strategies, to translate plans into actionable objectives at the primary care level. Contribution: This study highlights the need to involve FPs as key actors in implementing NHI strategies at a decentralised DHS governance level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Incels ("involuntary celibates") are online communities of young men, broadly aligned by anti-feminism, concern over an inability to form sexual relationships with women, and a strong negative focus on their own appearance. Incels have been linked to violent misogyny and several mass killings. Using critical discourse analysis on data from nine different incel online forums, this article explores how incels discussed the Plymouth shooting in August 2021, often reported as an incel attack, looking at the discourses which are invoked to justify or delegitimize violence. As well as violent rhetoric, our research also pays attention to anti-violent rhetoric in incel communities, an area not yet discussed in the literature regarding incels, but which may be invaluable to those hoping to address the issue of incel violence. Our findings identify significant differences in the way the shooting is discussed across different incel forums, and reveal that both pro and anti-violence discourses frequently invoke lookism and mental health to justify victimhood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated the plant species diversity, community assemblage, net primary production and soil carbon sequestration in an old field (OF), which went through passive restoration with spontaneous secondary succession, and a restored prairie (RP), which went through active restoration with reintroduction of native plants. The passive restoration in OF did not attain as high diversity and richness of plant species as did in RP. Our NMS (nonmetric multidimensional scaling) ordination revealed a clear divergence of RP and OF vegetation with dissimilar species compositions to separate paths of succession trajectory. The spontaneous succession in OF has made very little progress due to a potentially strong inhibitory priority effect of invasive plants. The belowground biomass in the high‐diversity RP was 1.3× higher than the low‐diversity OF. We found no measurable difference in soil C sequestration between RP and OF at this time, possibly due to edaphic factors, lack of legumes, or both. Human intervention is needed for restoring abandoned croplands—highly disturbed, fragmented and isolated habitats—to tallgrass prairies in the U.S. Midwest. Our recommended intervention includes but is not limited to removal of exotic plants, further augmentation of native plants (particularly legumes), and periodic burns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: The quality of running mechanics is often characterized by limb pattern symmetry and used to support clinical decisions throughout the rehabilitation of lower-extremity injuries. It is valuable to ensure that gait analyses provide stable measures while not asking an individual to complete an excessive number of running strides. The present study aimed to determine the minimum number of strides required to establish a stable mean symmetry index (SMSI) of discrete-level measures of spatiotemporal parameters, joint kinematics, and joint kinetics. Further, the study aimed to determine if differences occurred between random and consecutive strides for directional and absolute symmetry indices. Design: Descriptive laboratory study. Methods: A sequential average was used to determine how many strides were required to achieve a SMSI within a 60-second trial. Multiple 2-factor repeated-measure analysis of variances were used to determine if differences between bins of strides and symmetry calculations were significantly different. Results: A median SMSI was achieved in 15 strides for all biomechanical variables. There were no significant differences (P > .05) found between consecutive and random bins of 15 strides within a 60-second trial. Although there were significant differences between symmetry calculation values for most variables (P < .05), there appeared to be no systematic difference between the numbers of strides required for stable symmetry for either index. Conclusions: As 15 strides were sufficient to achieve a SMSI during running, a continued emphasis should be placed on the number of strides collected when examining interlimb symmetry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Individuals returning to sport after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR) are at an increased risk of sustaining a subsequent ACL injury. It is suspected that increased reliance on visual information to maintain stability may factor into this increased risk. The connection between visual reliance and ACLR is not well understood during dynamic tasks. Examination of the proposed visual reliance may help improve returning to sport standards and reduce subsequent ACL injury risk. A total of 12 ACLR individuals and 12 age- and sex-matched controls completed several trials of a normalized dynamic hop task on both limbs under 3 different visual conditions (eyes open, low visual disruption, and high visual disruption). Stroboscopic eyewear were worn by each participant to disrupt vision during testing. Ground reaction force data were collected during landing. Dynamic postural stability was assessed using 2 separate calculations: dynamic postural stability index and time to stability. No significant statistical interactions or group differences were observed. The stroboscopic eyewear did increase the medial–lateral stability index from the eyes open to the low visual disruption condition (P <.05). These findings suggest that ACLR individuals do not rely on visual information more than controls during a dynamic hop task. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aerosol absorption of visible light has an important impact on global radiative forcing. Wildfires are one of the major sources of light-absorbing aerosol, but there remains significant uncertainty about the magnitude, wavelength dependence and bleaching of absorption from biomass burning aerosol. We collected and analyzed data from 21 Western United States wildfire smoke plumes during the 2018 WE-CAN airborne measurement campaign to determine the contribution of black carbon (BC), brown carbon (BrC), and lensing to the aerosol mass absorption cross-section (MAC). MACBC, MAC of organics (MACBrC+lensing), and the MAC of water-soluble BrC (MACws_BrC660) are calculated using Photoacoustic Absorption Spectrometer, Single Particle Soot Photometer and Particle-into-Liquid Sampler measurements. MACBC660 does not change significantly with physical age, organic aerosol (OA) concentration, oxygen to carbon ratio (O:C), gas-phase toluene:benzene ratio, modified combustion efficiency (MCE), altitude, or temperature, and has a relatively stable average value of 10.9 ± 2.1 m2 g-1. On average, 54 % of non-BC absorption (23 % total absorption) at 660 nm is from water-soluble BrC. MACws_BrC660 is 0.06 ± 0.04 m2 g-1 while MACBrC+lensing is 0.11 ± 0.06 m2 g-1 at 660 nm, increasing to 0.59 ± 0.19 m2 g-1 at 405 nm. MACBrC+lensing is constant with physical age and MCE, but increases slightly with increasing O:C or decreasing toluene:benzene, while total absorption (normalized to CO) slightly decreases with increasing O:C or decreasing toluene:benzene due to decreasing OA. No evidence of BrC bleaching is observed. Comparison to commonly used parameterizations, modeling studies, and the FIREX-AQ observations suggest model overestimation of absorption is likely due to incorrect BrC refractive indices. Quantification of significant brown carbon in the red wavelengths and the stability of MACBC, the observation of minimal bleaching, and the observation of changes in OA with O:C and toluene:benzene markers all serve as important constraints on aerosol absorption in regional and global climate models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aerosol absorption of visible light has an important impact on global radiative forcing. Wildfires are one of the major sources of light-absorbing aerosol, but there remains significant uncertainty about the magnitude, wavelength dependence and bleaching of absorption from biomass burning aerosol. We collected and analyzed data from 21 Western United States wildfire smoke plumes during the 2018 WE-CAN airborne measurement campaign to determine the contribution of black carbon (BC), brown carbon (BrC), and lensing to the aerosol mass absorption cross-section (MAC). MACBC, MAC of organics (MACBrC+lensing), and the MAC of water-soluble BrC (MACws_BrC660) are calculated using Photoacoustic Absorption Spectrometer, Single Particle Soot Photometer and Particle-into-Liquid Sampler measurements. MACBC660 does not change significantly with physical age, organic aerosol (OA) concentration, oxygen to carbon ratio (O:C), gas-phase toluene:benzene ratio, modified combustion efficiency (MCE), altitude, or temperature, and has a relatively stable average value of 10.9 ± 2.1 m² g-1. On average, 54% of non-BC absorption (23% total absorption) at 660 nm is from water-soluble BrC. MACws_BrC660 is 0.06 ± 0.04 m² g-1 while MACBrC+lensing is 0.11 ± 0.06 m² g-1 at 660 nm, increasing to 0.59 ± 0.19 m² g-1 at 405 nm. MACBrC+lensing is constant with physical age and MCE, but increases slightly with increasing O:C or decreasing toluene:benzene, while total absorption (normalized to CO) slightly decreases with increasing O:C or decreasing toluene:benzene due to decreasing OA. No evidence of BrC bleaching is observed. Comparison to commonly used parameterizations, modeling studies, and the FIREX-AQ observations suggest model overestimation of absorption is likely due to incorrect BrC refractive indices. Quantification of significant brown carbon in the red wavelengths and the stability of MACBC, the observation of minimal bleaching, and the observation of changes in OA with O:C and toluene:benzene markers all serve as important constraints on aerosol absorption in regional and global climate models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]