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Background: Up to 70% of young Nigerian children have been reported to have blood lead concentrations ⩾10 μg/dl. Aims: To better elucidate risk factors for lead toxicity among Nigerian families with children at risk for lead toxicity. Methods: Two geographic wards in Jos, Nigeria were selected for study, one previously reported to have a high mean blood lead level (37 (SD 13) μg/dl) and one with a lower mean blood lead level (17 (SD 10) μg/dl) in young children. Data pertaining to potential risk factors for lead exposure were collected from children and adults in 34 households. Results: The mean (SD) blood lead concentration of 275 subjects, aged 3 weeks to 90 years, was 8.7 (5.7) μg/dl (range 1–34 μg/dl); 92 (34%) had concentrations ⩾10 μg/dl. In multivariate analysis, an age of 5 years and under, flaking house paint, residence near a gasoline seller, male gender, increasing maternal and paternal education, and use of a lead ore eye cosmetic were independently associated with greater blood lead concentration. Vehicle ownership was associated with reduced lead concentration. Compared with the low-lead ward, residence in the high-lead ward remained significantly associated with greater lead values, indicating that additional factors likely contribute to lead exposure. Conclusion: Although the cause of increased lead levels in Jos appears to be multi-factorial, several remediable sources contribute to lead exposure in Nigeria.

The United Kingdom Ministry of Justice recently highlighted the extent of buprenorphine (Subutex) misuse in English andWelsh prisons, naming it the third most misused drug overall. Yet little is known regarding how illicit buprenorphine is obtained in prison and what influences prisoners to use it. Qualitative research was used to explore prison drug using practices. Thirty men who were former prisoners with a history of injecting drug use were interviewed in depth about their illicit prison drug use, including buprenorphine. Interviews were conducted over 18 months, from August 2006 to January 2008 and were analysed using Framework. The misuse of Subutex by snorting emerged as a significant theme. Accounts suggested that the diversion of prison prescribed Subutex was widespread and prisoners used various tactics to obtain the medication. Various complex and interlinked reasons were given to explain why Subutex was snorted in prison. The main motivation for snorting was to experience a prolonged euphoric opiate effect, believed to help to combat the boredom of being in prison. The price of illicit Subutex in prison was linked to its availability, but it was generally cheaper than heroin, thus contributing to its use. Participants'narratives identified the belief that snorting Subutex in prison was not risk free, but risks were lower than continuing to use other drugs, particularly injecting illicit opiates. The implications of prison Subutex misuse for prisoners, prison medical services, commissioners, and prescribing policy and practice are discussed.

How do we make social democracy? Should we seize the unknown possibilities offered by the future, or does lasting change really occur when we focus our attention on the immediate present in which we live? These arguments are fundamental to the divisions within left-wing politics in particular. The modernist vision of revolution suggests that the present is precisely the time that needs to be surpassed. But can society change without putting today’s experience of social injustice at the heart of our programme?This book asks how, from the mid-nineteenth to the mid-twentieth centuries, socialists in France tried to follow a democratic commitment to political voices in the present. The debate about time and modernity that emerged in French socialism sat beneath the surface of political arguments within the left. Socialists reflected on how political programmes of change connected with social experience. But how did this focus on the present relate to the tradition of revolution in France? And in particular, what did socialism have to say about the human experience of the present?The book examines French socialism’s fascination with modern history, through a new reading of the multi-authored project to write a ‘socialist history’ of France since 1789, led by Jean Jaurès. Then, in four interlocking biographical essays, it analyses the search for a new timeframe of social transformation, by uncovering the reformist and idealist socialism of the Third Republic, long side-lined in the historical literature. With an intimate and emotional focus on the present-times of Benoit Malon, Georges Renard, Marcel Sembat and Léon Blum, a personal history of socialist thought emerges that allows us to revisit the story of left-wing intellectual life and modern socialism through the ‘human scale’ of time—that of the present.

In low-mass stars, the connection between magnetic activity, rotation period, and age provides key insights into the functioning of dynamos. Fully understanding the activity-rotation-age relationship requires stars with precise fundamental parameters, measured rotation periods, and reliable magnetic activity indicators (e.g. X-ray luminosity). Thanks to space-based photometry, asteroseismology is now the leading method for determining stellar parameters with unprecedented precision and accuracy. The best-characterized solar-like stars compose the Kepler LEGACY sample, with highest-quality asteroseismic data for 66 stars, most of which have measured rotation periods. In the X-ray band, these stars were observed by the ROentgen Survey with an Imaging Telescope Array (eROSITA) telescope on the Russian Spektrum-Roentgen-Gamma (SRG) satellite in the course of its all-sky survey. We reviewed different components of the stellar activity-rotation-age relationship using the largest sample of solar-like stars with highly accurate fundamental parameters from asteroseismology, along with measured rotation periods and X-ray luminosities. We cross-correlated the Kepler LEGACY sample with the SRG/eROSITA source catalogue, finding X-ray detections for 13 of them. We derived their fundamental parameters using the Forward and Inversion COmbination procedure and revisited widely studied activity-age and activity-rotation relationships by consistently incorporating our 13-star subsample with literature samples. By implementing revised activity-rotation-age relationships in a Star-Planet Interaction code to compute X-ray luminosity tracks and comparing the results with observations, we found improved agreement for 7 stars of our subsample. We explored the effect of the revised relationships on the mass loss of planets in the radius valley, finding a modest impact on planet size distributions.

In large scale maps of the Galactic disc, the Carina Arm stands out as a clear spiral feature, hosting prominent star clusters and associations rich in massive stars. We study the proper motions of 4199 O and early B most likely in the far Carina Arm, at distances mainly in excess of 4 kpc from the Sun, within the sky region, \\(282^{\\circ} < \\ell < 294^{\\circ}\\) and \\(-3^{\\circ} < b < +1^{\\circ}\\) (Galactic coordinates). The sample is constructed by extending an existing blue-selected catalogue, and cross-matching with Gaia EDR3 astrometry. The observed pattern of proper motions is modulated into a saw-tooth pattern, with full amplitude approaching 1 mas yr\\(^{-1}\\), recurring roughly every 2--3 degrees of longitude (200--300 pc at the median OB-star distance of 5.8 kpc). Kinematic perturbation of underlying circular rotation is most likely present. The data also reveal a moving group containing \\(>50\\) OB stars at \\(\\ell \\sim 286^{\\circ}\\), \\(b \\sim -1^{\\circ}.4\\) behind the main run of the far arm. An analysis of relative proper motions is performed that yields an incidence of runaway O stars of at least 10\\% (potentially \\(>20\\)\\% when full space motions become available). To map where runaways have run away from, we set up simulations for the region that assume linear trajectories and test for trajectory impact parameter in order to identify likely ejection hot spots. We find the method currently gives good results for times of flight of up to \\(\\sim\\)4 Myr. It shows convincingly that only NGC 3603 and Westerlund 2 have ejected OB stars in significant numbers. Indeed, both clusters have experienced intense spells of ejection between 0.6--0.9 and 0.5--0.8 Myr ago, respectively.

Soft gamma repeaters (SGRs) are highly magnetised neutron stars (magnetars) notable for their gamma-ray and X-ray outbursts. In this paper, we use near-infrared (NIR) imaging of SGR 0501+4516 in the days, weeks, and years after its 2008 outburst to characterise the multi-wavelength emission, and to obtain a proper motion from our long temporal baseline observations. Unlike most magnetars, the source has only moderate foreground extinction with minimal crowding. Our observations began only 2 hours after the first activation of SGR 0501+4516 in August 2008, and continued for 4 years, including two epochs of Hubble Space Telescope (HST) imaging. The proper motion constraint is improved by a third HST epoch 10 years later. The near-infrared and X-rays faded slowly during the first week, thereafter following a steeper power-law decay. The behaviour is satisfactorily fit by a broken power-law. Three epochs of HST imaging with a 10-year baseline allow us to determine a quiescent level, and to measure a proper motion of 5.4+/-0.6 mas/yr. This corresponds to a low transverse peculiar velocity of 51+/-14 km/s (at 2 kpc). The magnitude and direction of the proper motion rules out supernova remnant HB9 as the birth-site. We can find no other supernova remnants or groups of massive stars within the region traversed by SGR 0501+4516 during its characteristic lifetime (20 kyr). Our observations of SGR 0501+4516 suggest that some magnetars may be either significantly older than expected, that their progenitors produce low supernova ejecta masses, or alternatively that they can be formed through accretion-induced collapse (AIC) or low-mass neutron star mergers. Although the progenitor of SGR 0501+4516 remains unclear, we propose that SGR 0501+4516 is the best Galactic candidate for a magnetar formed through a mechanism other than massive star core-collapse.

We present results from a catalogue of 1696 X-ray point sources detected in the massive star-forming region Cygnus OB2, the majority of which have optical or near-infrared associations. We derive ages of 3.5 and 5.25 Myr for the stellar populations in our two fields, in agreement with recent studies that suggest that the central 1–3 Myr-old OB association is surrounded and contaminated by an older population with an age of 5–10 Myr. The fraction of sources with protoplanetary disks, as traced by K-band excesses, is unusually low. Although this has previously been interpreted as due to the influence of the large number of OB stars in Cyg OB2, contamination from an older population of stars in the region could also be responsible. An initial mass function is derived and found to have a slope of Γ = −1.27, in agreement with the canonical value. Finally, we introduce the recently approved Chandra Cygnus OB2 Legacy Survey that will image a 1 square degree area of the Cygnus OB2 association to a depth of 120~ks, likely detecting ~ 10 000 stellar X-ray sources.

Congenital anomalies are the fifth leading cause of mortality in children younger than 5 years globally. Many gastrointestinal congenital anomalies are fatal without timely access to neonatal surgical care, but few studies have been done on these conditions in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs). We compared outcomes of the seven most common gastrointestinal congenital anomalies in low-income, middle-income, and high-income countries globally, and identified factors associated with mortality. We did a multicentre, international prospective cohort study of patients younger than 16 years, presenting to hospital for the first time with oesophageal atresia, congenital diaphragmatic hernia, intestinal atresia, gastroschisis, exomphalos, anorectal malformation, and Hirschsprung's disease. Recruitment was of consecutive patients for a minimum of 1 month between October, 2018, and April, 2019. We collected data on patient demographics, clinical status, interventions, and outcomes using the REDCap platform. Patients were followed up for 30 days after primary intervention, or 30 days after admission if they did not receive an intervention. The primary outcome was all-cause, in-hospital mortality for all conditions combined and each condition individually, stratified by country income status. We did a complete case analysis. We included 3849 patients with 3975 study conditions (560 with oesophageal atresia, 448 with congenital diaphragmatic hernia, 681 with intestinal atresia, 453 with gastroschisis, 325 with exomphalos, 991 with anorectal malformation, and 517 with Hirschsprung's disease) from 264 hospitals (89 in high-income countries, 166 in middle-income countries, and nine in low-income countries) in 74 countries. Of the 3849 patients, 2231 (58·0%) were male. Median gestational age at birth was 38 weeks (IQR 36–39) and median bodyweight at presentation was 2·8 kg (2·3–3·3). Mortality among all patients was 37 (39·8%) of 93 in low-income countries, 583 (20·4%) of 2860 in middle-income countries, and 50 (5·6%) of 896 in high-income countries (p<0·0001 between all country income groups). Gastroschisis had the greatest difference in mortality between country income strata (nine [90·0%] of ten in low-income countries, 97 [31·9%] of 304 in middle-income countries, and two [1·4%] of 139 in high-income countries; p≤0·0001 between all country income groups). Factors significantly associated with higher mortality for all patients combined included country income status (low-income vs high-income countries, risk ratio 2·78 [95% CI 1·88–4·11], p<0·0001; middle-income vs high-income countries, 2·11 [1·59–2·79], p<0·0001), sepsis at presentation (1·20 [1·04–1·40], p=0·016), higher American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) score at primary intervention (ASA 4–5 vs ASA 1–2, 1·82 [1·40–2·35], p<0·0001; ASA 3 vs ASA 1–2, 1·58, [1·30–1·92], p<0·0001]), surgical safety checklist not used (1·39 [1·02–1·90], p=0·035), and ventilation or parenteral nutrition unavailable when needed (ventilation 1·96, [1·41–2·71], p=0·0001; parenteral nutrition 1·35, [1·05–1·74], p=0·018). Administration of parenteral nutrition (0·61, [0·47–0·79], p=0·0002) and use of a peripherally inserted central catheter (0·65 [0·50–0·86], p=0·0024) or percutaneous central line (0·69 [0·48–1·00], p=0·049) were associated with lower mortality. Unacceptable differences in mortality exist for gastrointestinal congenital anomalies between low-income, middle-income, and high-income countries. Improving access to quality neonatal surgical care in LMICs will be vital to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 3.2 of ending preventable deaths in neonates and children younger than 5 years by 2030. Wellcome Trust.

We present a photometric analysis of the properties of asymptotic giant branch stars identified in the INT Photometric H-alpha Survey (IPHAS) of the northern Galactic plane. Follow-up spectroscopy has revealed that the IPHAS (r - Ha) colour is a valuable diagnostic of the photospheric C/O ratio, and may be used to identify hundreds of carbon and S-type stars.

The very bright and compact massive young cluster, NGC 3603, has been cited as an example of a starburst in the Milky Way and compared with the much-studied R136/30 Doradus region in the Large Magellanic Cloud. Here we build on the discovery by Mohr-Smith et al. (2017) of a large number of reddened O stars around this cluster. We construct a list of 288 candidate O stars with proper motions, in a region of sky spanning 1.5x1.5 square degrees centered on NGC 3603, by cross-matching the Mohr-Smith et al. (2017) catalogue with Gaia DR2 (Gaia Collaboration et al. 2018). This provides the basis for a first comprehensive examination of the proper motions of these massive stars in the halo of NGC 3603, relative to the much better studied central region. We identify up to 11 likely O star ejections -- 8 of which would have been ejected between 0.60 and 0.95 Myr ago (supporting the age of c.1 Myr that has been attributed to the bright cluster centre). Seven candidate ejections are arranged in a partial ring to the south of the cluster core spanning radii of 9-18 arcmin (18-36 pc if the cluster is 7 kpc away). We also show that the cluster has a halo of a further 100 O stars extending to a radius of at least 5 arcmin, adding to the picture of NGC 3603 as a scaled down version of the R136/30 Dor region.