scholarly journals Lineage replacement and evolution captured by the United Kingdom Covid Infection Survey

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katrina A Lythgoe ◽  
Tanya Golubchik ◽  
Matthew Hall ◽  
Thomas House ◽  
George MacIntyre-Cockett ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Evolutionary Dynamics ◽  
Surveillance Studies ◽  
National Statistics ◽  
Major Lineage ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Rates Of Evolution ◽  
Large Household ◽  
Viral Sequencing

The Office for National Statistics COVID-19 Infection Survey is a large household-based surveillance study based in the United Kingdom. Here, we report on the epidemiological and evolutionary dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 determined by analysing sequenced samples collected up until 13th November 2021. We observed four distinct sweeps or partial-sweeps, by lineages B.1.177, B.1.1.7/Alpha, B.1.617.2/Delta, and finally AY.4.2, a sublineage of B.1.617.2, with each sweeping lineage having a distinct growth advantage compared to their predecessors. Evolution was characterised by steady rates of evolution and increasing diversity within lineages, but with step increases in divergence associated with each sweeping major lineage, leading to a faster overall rate of evolution and fluctuating levels of diversity. These observations highlight the value of viral sequencing integrated into community surveillance studies to monitor the viral epidemiology and evolution of SARS-CoV-2, and potentially other pathogens, particularly as routine PCR testing is phased out or in settings where large-scale sequencing is not feasible.

scholarly journals Impact of vaccination on new SARS-CoV-2 infections in the United Kingdom

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emma Pritchard ◽  
Philippa C. Matthews ◽  
Nicole Stoesser ◽  
David W. Eyre ◽  
Owen Gethings ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Viral Load ◽  
Threshold Value ◽  
Community Based ◽  
National Statistics ◽  
Private Households ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Viral Burden ◽  
General Community ◽  
Nose And Throat

AbstractThe effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccination in preventing new severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infections in the general community is still unclear. Here, we used the Office for National Statistics COVID-19 Infection Survey—a large community-based survey of individuals living in randomly selected private households across the United Kingdom—to assess the effectiveness of the BNT162b2 (Pfizer–BioNTech) and ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 (Oxford–AstraZeneca; ChAdOx1) vaccines against any new SARS-CoV-2 PCR-positive tests, split according to self-reported symptoms, cycle threshold value (<30 versus ≥30; as a surrogate for viral load) and gene positivity pattern (compatible with B.1.1.7 or not). Using 1,945,071 real-time PCR results from nose and throat swabs taken from 383,812 participants between 1 December 2020 and 8 May 2021, we found that vaccination with the ChAdOx1 or BNT162b2 vaccines already reduced SARS-CoV-2 infections ≥21 d after the first dose (61% (95% confidence interval (CI) = 54–68%) versus 66% (95% CI = 60–71%), respectively), with greater reductions observed after a second dose (79% (95% CI = 65–88%) versus 80% (95% CI = 73–85%), respectively). The largest reductions were observed for symptomatic infections and/or infections with a higher viral burden. Overall, COVID-19 vaccination reduced the number of new SARS-CoV-2 infections, with the largest benefit received after two vaccinations and against symptomatic and high viral burden infections, and with no evidence of a difference between the BNT162b2 and ChAdOx1 vaccines.

Discourse and Democracy

2020 ◽  
pp. 233-261
Author(s):  
Chris Heffer
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Weapons Of Mass Destruction ◽  
Democratic Legitimacy ◽  
Common Theme ◽  
The European Union ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Voter Fraud

This chapter summarizes the main analytical moves in the TRUST heuristic for analyzing untruthfulness. It then applies the heuristic to three short texts that have been widely called out as lies: Trump’s tweet about large-scale voter fraud just before the 2016 presidential elections; the “Brexit Battle Bus” claim that the United Kingdom sent £350 million per week to the European Union; and Tony Blair’s 2002 statement to Parliament about Iraq possessing weapons of mass destruction. The cases share a common theme: the capacity of untruthful public discourse to undermine democratic legitimacy by, respectively, questioning the integrity of electoral procedures, harming the capacity of voters to make a rational choice, and undermining faith in the rational and responsible deliberation of one’s leaders. The chapter troubles the simple attribution of lying in these cases and shows how a TRUST analysis can lead to a deeper understanding of the types and ethical value of untruthfulness.

Smoking Profiles of Patients Admitted for Neurosis

1981 ◽  
Vol 139 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paula Salmons ◽  
Andrew Sims
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Cigarette Smoking ◽  
Varicose Veins ◽  
Household Survey ◽  
Control Group ◽  
National Statistics ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Younger Age ◽  
Detailed Record ◽  
General Household Survey

SummaryA detailed record of the smoking habits of 83 patients treated in hospital for neurosis was compared with national statistics derived from the General Household Survey and Statistics of Smoking in the United Kingdom, and with a control group of patients admitted for treatment of varicose veins. Neurotic patients were more likely to be smokers. They started to smoke at a younger age, smoked more cigarettes and were more likely to inhale deeply. It is concluded that neurotic patients have a greater exposure to the potentially toxic effects of cigarette smoking than non-neurotic individuals.

How Do Children of Mixed Partnerships Fare in the United Kingdom? Understanding the Implications for Children of Parental Ethnic Homogamy and Heterogamy

2012 ◽  
Vol 643 (1) ◽  
pp. 239-266 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucinda Platt
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Ethnic Group ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Growing Up ◽  
Sociological Analysis ◽  
Life Chances ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Majority Group ◽  
Extensive Analysis ◽  
Mixed Ethnicity

Many claims are made about the significance of interethnic partnerships for individuals and for society. Such partnerships continue to be seen as a “barometer” of the openness of society and have spawned extensive analysis investigating their patterns, trends, and determinants. But we know little about the experience of children growing up in families of mixed parentage. In the United Kingdom, the increase in the self-defined “mixed” population is often celebrated. But there has been little quantitative sociological analysis that has investigated the circumstances of the children of mixed ethnicity partnerships. Using two large-scale UK datasets that cover a similar period, this article evaluates the extent to which mixed parentage families are associated with circumstances (both economic and in terms of family structure) that tend to be positive or negative for children’s future life chances and how these compare to those of children with parents from the same ethnic group. It shows that there is substantial variation according to the outcome considered but also according to ethnic group. Overall, children in mixed parentage families do not unequivocally experience the equality of outcomes with majority group children that the assimilation hypothesis implies.

'Golden visas' will persist despite EU clampdown

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Money Laundering ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Public Knowledge ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Transparency International ◽  
Eu Countries ◽  
Background Checks ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The Eu

Subject The 'golden visa' controversy in the EU. Significance The European Commission's announcement on October 10 that it would investigate so-called 'golden visa' schemes follows a report by Global Witness and Transparency International warning that insufficient applicant background checks exposed the EU to large-scale money laundering and corruption. Impacts Greater public knowledge of golden visas will increase domestic pressure on governments. Scandals could worsen relations between the EU and non-EU countries. Applications for visas in the United Kingdom will likely decline if there is a Brexit deal.

scholarly journals The 23–26 September 2012 U.K. Floods: Using PV Surgery to Quantify Sensitivity to Upper-Level Forcing

2017 ◽  
Vol 145 (10) ◽  
pp. 4055-4079 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sam Hardy ◽  
David M. Schultz ◽  
Geraint Vaughan
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Extreme Event ◽  
Initial Conditions ◽  
Initial Position ◽  
River Flooding ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Accumulated Rainfall ◽  
Upper Level ◽  
The Impact

Major river flooding affected the United Kingdom in late September 2012 as a slow-moving extratropical cyclone brought over 150 mm of rain to parts of northern England and north Wales. The cyclone deepened over the United Kingdom on 24–26 September as a potential vorticity (PV) anomaly approached from the northwest, elongated into a PV streamer, and wrapped around the cyclone. The strength and position of the PV anomaly is modified in the initial conditions of Weather Research and Forecasting Model simulations, using PV surgery, to examine whether different upper-level forcing, or different phasing between the PV anomaly and cyclone, could have produced an even more extreme event. These simulations reveal that quasigeostrophic (QG) forcing for ascent ahead of the anomaly contributed to the persistence of the rainfall over the United Kingdom. Moreover, weakening the anomaly resulted in lower rainfall accumulations across the United Kingdom, suggesting that the impact of the event might be proportional to the strength of the upper-level QG forcing. However, when the anomaly was strengthened, it rotated cyclonically around a large-scale trough over Iceland rather than moving eastward as in the verifying analysis, with strongly reduced accumulated rainfall across the United Kingdom. A similar evolution developed when the anomaly was moved farther away from the cyclone. Conversely, moving the anomaly nearer to the cyclone produced a similar solution to the verifying analysis, with slightly increased rainfall totals. These counterintuitive results suggest that the verifying analysis represented almost the highest-impact scenario possible for this flooding event when accounting for sensitivity to the initial position and strength of the PV anomaly.

Communicating Public Health Advice After a Chemical Spill: Results From National Surveys in the United Kingdom and Poland

2013 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-74 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia M. Pearce ◽  
G. James Rubin ◽  
Richard Amlôt ◽  
Simon Wessely ◽  
M. Brooke Rogers
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Hazardous Substance ◽  
Crisis Communications ◽  
Public Health Preparedness ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The Cost ◽  
And Coping ◽  
The Impact

AbstractObjectiveThe aim of this study was to enhance public health preparedness for incidents that involve the large-scale release of a hazardous substance by examining factors likely to influence public responses to official guidance on how to limit their exposure.MethodsAn online demographically representative survey was conducted in the United Kingdom (n = 601) and Poland (n = 602) to test the strength of association of trust in authorities, anxiety, threat, and coping appraisals with the intention to comply with advice to shelter in place following a hypothetical chemical spill. The impact of ease of compliance and style of message presentation were also examined.ResultsParticipants were more likely to comply if at home when the incident happened, but message presentation had little impact. Coping appraisals and trust were key predictors of compliance, but threat appraisals were associated with noncompliance. Anxiety was seen to promote behavioral change. UK participants were more likely to comply than Polish participants.ConclusionsSuccessful crisis communications during an emergency should aim to influence perceptions regarding the efficacy of recommended behaviors, the difficulties people may have in following advice, and perceptions about the cost of following recommended behaviors. Generic principles of crisis communication may need adaptation for national contexts. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2013;7:65-74)

Asylum and the Expansion of Deportation in the United Kingdom

2008 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 146-167 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew J. Gibney
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Policy Innovation ◽  
Liberal Democratic ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Secondary Instrument ◽  
Migration Control

AbstractDeportation has traditionally been seen as a secondary instrument of migration control, one used by liberal democratic states relatively infrequently and with some trepidation. This secondary status has been assured by the fact that deportation is both a complicated and a controversial power. It is complicated because tracking individuals down and returning them home are time-consuming and resource-intense activities; it is controversial because deportation is a cruel power, one that sometimes seems incompatible with respect for human rights. In the light of these constraints, how can one explain the fact that since 2000 the United Kingdom has radically increased the number of failed asylum seekers deported from its territory? I argue in the article that this increase has been achieved through a conscious and careful process of policy innovation that has enabled state officials to engage in large-scale expulsions without directly violating liberal norms.

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