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Low socioeconomic status (SES) during childhood and adolescence has been found to predict greater susceptibility to common cold viruses in adults. Here, we test whether low childhood SES is associated with shorter leukocyte telomere length in adulthood, and whether telomere length mediates the association between childhood SES and susceptibility to acute upper respiratory disease in adulthood. At baseline, 196 healthy volunteers reported whether they currently owned their home and, for each year of their childhood, whether their parents owned the family home. Volunteers also had blood drawn for assessment of specific antibody to the challenge virus, and for CD8+ CD28- T-lymphocyte telomere length (in a subset, n=135). They were subsequently quarantined in a hotel, exposed to a virus (rhinovirus [RV] 39) that causes a common cold and followed for infection and illness (clinical cold) over five post-exposure days. Lower childhood SES as measured by fewer years of parental home ownership was associated with shorter adult CD8+ CD28- telomere length and with an increased probability of developing infection and clinical illness when exposed to a common cold virus in adulthood. These associations were independent of adult SES, age, sex, race, body mass, neuroticism, and childhood family characteristics. Associations with infections and colds were also independent of pre-challenge viral-specific antibody and season. Further analyses do not support mediating roles for smoking, alcohol consumption or physical activity but suggest that CD8+ CD28- cell telomere length may act as a partial mediator of the associations between childhood SES and infection and childhood SES and colds.

Study objectivesExperimental evidence links poor sleep with susceptibility to infectious illness; however, it remains to be determined if naturally occurring sleep is associated with immune responses known to play a role in protection against infection. The aim of this study was to determine whether sleep duration, sleep efficiency, and sleep quality, assessed in the natural environment, predict magnitude of antibody responses to a novel antigen among community volunteers in midlife.DesignObservational.Measurements and resultsHealthy midlife adults (n = 125; 70 female; age 40-60 yr) received the standard 3-dose hepatitis B vaccination series. Actigraphy and electronic sleep diaries were used to assess sleep duration, sleep efficiency, and subjective sleep quality. Viral-specific antibody titers were obtained prior to the 2nd and 3rd vaccination to assess primary and secondary antibody responses. Clinical protection status (anti-hepatitis B surface antigen immunoglobulin G ≥ 10 mIU/ml) was assessed 6 mo after the final immunization. Regression analyses revealed that shorter actigraphy-based sleep duration was associated with a lower secondary antibody response independent of age, sex, body mass index, and response to the initial immunization. Shorter sleep duration, measured by actigraphy and sleep diary, also predicted a decreased likelihood of being clinically protected from hepatitis B at the conclusion of the vaccination series. Neither sleep efficiency nor subjective sleep quality were significant predictors of antibody response.ConclusionsShort sleep duration in the natural environment may negatively affect in vivo antibody responses to novel antigens, providing a possible explanation for observed associations of poor sleep with increased susceptibility to infectious disease.

This study was designed to examine macro-kinematic parameters of six female cross-country skiers during the qualifying, semi-final and final rounds of a 1.1 km sprint competition in classical technique. During each round these skiers were monitored continuously with a single micro-sensor, and their cycle parameters and relative use of these two sub-techniques calculated. Within each round six sections of the course, during which all skiers employed either double pole (DP) or diagonal stride (DS) sub-technique, were chosen for additional analysis. The mean macro-kinematic cycle parameters and relative usage of sub-techniques over the full course did not differ significantly between rounds. On average 54% of the course was covered employing DP and 13% using DS, while 32% was covered utilizing a non-cyclical or irregular technique. With DP, the mean racing speed and cycle rate (CR) on the starting, middle and finishing sections of the course differed significantly, with no differences in mean cycle length (CL) between the last two sections. At the finish, higher DP speed was achieved by increasing CR. On the three hills, where all athletes utilized DS, mean racing speed and CL, but not mean CR, differed significantly. On these sections DS speed was increased by utilizing longer cycles. The individual skiers utilized a variety of macro-kinematic strategies during different rounds and on different sections of the course, depending on individual strengths, preferences and pacing strategies, as well as the course topography and tactical interactions with other skiers. Such collection of macro-kinematic data during competitions can help to identify an individual skier's strengths and weaknesses, guiding the testing of different cycle rates, and lengths on different terrains during training in order to optimize performance.

Effective livestock vaccination has the potential to raise prosperity and food security for the rural poor in low and middle income countries. To understand factors affecting access to vaccination services, and guide future policy, smallholder farmers in three locations in India were questioned about vaccination of their cattle and buffalo, with particular reference to foot and mouth disease (FMD), haemorrhagic septicaemia (HS) and blackquarter (BQ). In the three regions 51%, 50%, and 31% of respondents reported vaccinating their livestock; well below any threshold for effective population level disease control. However, within the third region, 65% of respondents in villages immediately surrounding the Kaziranga National Park reported vaccinating their cattle. The majority of respondents in all three regions were aware of FMD and HS, awareness of BQ was high in the Kanha and Bandhavgarh regions, but much lower in the Kaziranga region. The majority of respondents had positive attitudes to vaccination; understood vaccination protected their animals from specific diseases; and wished to immunise their livestock. There was no significant association between the age or gender of respondent and the immunisation of their livestock. Common barriers to immunisation were: negative attitudes to vaccination; lack of awareness of date and time of vaccination events; and difficulty presenting animals. Poor access to vaccination services was significantly associated with not vaccinating livestock. Fear of adverse reactions to vaccines was not significantly associated with not vaccinating livestock. Respondents who reported that vets or animal health workers (AHWs) were their main source of animal health knowledge were significantly more likely to have immunised their livestock in the last twelve months. Participants cited poor communication from vaccinators as problematic, both in publicising immunisation programmes, and explaining the purpose of vaccination. Where vaccinations were provided free of charge, farmers commonly displayed passive attitudes to accessing vaccination services, awaiting organised "immunisation drives" rather than seeking vaccination themselves. Based on these findings the following recommendations are made to improve participation and effectiveness of immunisation programmes. Programmes should be planned to integrate with annual cycles of: disease risk, agricultural activity, seasonal climate, social calendar of villages; and maximise efficiency for vaccinators. Dates and times of immunisation in each village must be well publicised, as respondents frequently reported missing the vaccinators. Relevant farmer education should precede immunisation programmes to mitigate against poor knowledge or negative attitudes. Immunisation drives must properly engage beneficiaries, particularly ensuring that services are accessible to female livestock keepers, and sharing some responsibilities with local farmers. Payment of a small monetary contribution by animal keepers could be considered to encourage responsibility for disease prevention, making vaccination an active process by farmers.

Nanopore sequencing is rapidly becoming more popular for use in various microbiota-based applications. Major limitations of current approaches are that they do not enable de novo species identification and that they cannot be used to verify species assignments. This severely limits applicability of the nanopore sequencing technology in taxonomic applications. Here, we demonstrate the possibility of de novo species identification and verification using hexamer frequencies in combination with k-means clustering for nanopore sequencing data. The approach was tested on the human infant gut microbiota of 3-month-old infants. Using the hexamer k-means approach we identified two new low abundant species associated with vaginal delivery. In addition, we confirmed both the vaginal delivery association for two previously identified species and the overall high levels of bifidobacteria. Taxonomic assignments were further verified by mock community analyses. Therefore, we believe our de novo species identification approach will have widespread application in analyzing microbial communities in the future.

On the 5th of May 2020, a group of modellers, epidemiologists and biomedical scientists from the University of Edinburgh proposed a “segmenting and shielding” approach to easing the lockdown in the UK over the coming months. Their proposal, which has been submitted to the government and since been discussed in the media, offers what appears to be a pragmatic solution out of the current lockdown. The approach identifies segments of the population as at-risk groups and outlines ways in which these remain shielded, while ‘healthy’ segments would be allowed to return to some kind of normality, gradually, over several weeks. This proposal highlights how narrowly conceived scientific responses may result in unintended consequences and repeat harmful public health practices. As an interdisciplinary group of researchers from the humanities and social sciences at the University of Edinburgh, we respond to this proposal and highlight how ethics, history, medical sociology and anthropology - as well as disability studies and decolonial approaches - offer critical engagement with such responses, and call for more creative and inclusive responses to public health crises.