University of Oxford

Electronic cigarettes for smoking cessation

RATIONALE: Electronic cigarettes (EC) are handheld electronic vaping devices that produce an aerosol by heating a liquid. People who smoke, healthcare providers, and regulators want to know if EC can help people quit smoking, and if they are safe to use for this purpose. This upd...

Public perceptions of polygenic testing and embryo selection for non-medical traits

Abstract Some advances in reproductive technologies raise substantial ethical and psychological challenges, for example, the use of preimplantation genetic testing to select embryos based on non-medical traits. While studies have explored public willingness to use preimplantation...

Hydrodynamic Limit from Kinetic Models with Massless Electrons to the Ionic Euler–Poisson System

Abstract. We study the derivation of ion dynamics, namely, the ionic Euler–Poisson system, from kinetic descriptions. The kinetic framework consists of the ionic Vlasov–Poisson equation coupled with either a nonlinear Fokker–Planck operator or a local alignment term. In both kine...

Osteotomies around the knee are associated with low short‐term adverse event and reoperation rates: A 25‐year national Hospital Episode Statistics analysis in England

Abstract Purpose Osteotomy around the knee (OAK) is an established joint‐preserving procedure. We sought to use large‐scale registry data to examine the short‐term reoperation and adverse outcome rates after OAK. Methods Data on high tibial osteotomy (HTO) and distal femoral oste...

Recombinant shingles vaccination and the risk of cardiovascular events

Abstract The recombinant herpes zoster (shingles) vaccine may reduce risks of cardiovascular disease. However, existing studies have compared vaccine recipients with non-recipients and, thus, are susceptible to confounding. To mitigate these biases, we conducted a natural experim...

How “Micro” Is Microperimetry? Characterizing the Effect of Fundus Tracking on the Psychometric Function

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to quantify whether fundus tracking in microperimetry improves psychometric parameter estimation (as an in vivo demonstration of improved stimulus-delivery precision), and to derive a psychometrically grounded criterion intensity for suprath...

What works, for whom, and under what circumstances for recipients of training in opportunistic behaviour change conversations: A mixed methods realist evaluation protocol

Abstract Background ‘Making Every Contact Count’ (MECC) is a person-centred initiative that enables service providers across settings to support behaviour change through conversations about health and wellbeing. MECC has been widely implemented across the UK and internationally,...

A qualitative exploration of researchers’ efforts to record healthcare encounters

Recordings of healthcare encounters are a rich source of data, providing high-quality evidence to guide improvement in communication. Through a survey, we explored UK researchers’ experience of attempting to employ this method. Findings highlight challenges throughout the researc...

Resolving the Abstract–Concrete Paradox in the Angular Gyrus:A Multimethod Investigation

Abstract Despite its well-established role in memory-guided cognition, whether and how the angular gyrus (AG) contributes to semantic processing remains unresolved. Connectomic work links the AG to abstract mentation, yet neuroimaging studies paradoxically show greater AG engagem...

Portable Low-Impact Surface Hardness Testing of Mineral Materials: An Integrative Review of Applications, Interpretation, and Methodological Considerations

Abstract This integrative review critically examines portable dynamic low-impact surface hardness (LISH) testing, also known as Leeb hardness. Since its adaptation for mineral materials in 1993, LISH has been increasingly adopted across geoscience, engineering, and heritage conse...

A Methodological Plea: Sampling in Experimental Philosophy

ABSTRACT This paper highlights a methodological problem that might render the value of Experimental Philosophy (X‐Phi) research unclear. It is argued that research in X‐Phi often relies on an unrepresentative sample with respect to the target population and the contingent propert...

Should I stay or should I go? Frog breeding responses to drought events and alien predators

Abstract Climate change is a major driver of biodiversity loss worldwide, increasingly acting through extreme climatic events such as droughts. Beyond their direct impacts on habitat availability, droughts can also generate indirect effects by altering ecological interactions, su...

Grassland destruction causes shifts in plant traits that persist during recovery

Old-growth grasslands assemble over millennia and support high biodiversity and many ecosystem services, but continue to undergo widespread destruction for production of crops, timber, and minerals. How biodiversity recovers after grassland destruction and the functional conseque...

Has the situation changed? Spatio-temporal analysis of green spaces change and socioeconomic status in Liverpool, UK

Although the benefits of green space to residents’ wellbeing are well documented, more evidence is needed to track socio-spatial inequalities. This paper applied exploratory spatial data analysis and multiscale geographically weighted regression (MGWR) to analyse the relationship...

Optically induced Faraday–Goldstone waves

Faraday waves, typically observed in driven fluids, result from the confluence of nonlinearity and parametric amplification. Here we show that optical pulses can generate analogous phenomena that persist much longer than the pump time-scales in ordered quantum solids. We present...

Nitrogen Radical Photocatalysed Reduction of Nitrous Oxide

ABSTRACT Nitrous oxide (N 2 O) represents one of the most potent greenhouse gases, with a global warming potential of approximately 300× that of CO 2 . Yet protocols for its reduction to benign products such as dinitrogen (N 2 ) remain comparatively rare. In this study, we report...

Nitrogen Radical Photocatalysed Reduction of Nitrous Oxide

ABSTRACT Nitrous oxide (N 2 O) represents one of the most potent greenhouse gases, with a global warming potential of approximately 300× that of CO 2 . Yet protocols for its reduction to benign products such as dinitrogen (N 2 ) remain comparatively rare. In this study, we report...

Exclusive capital: how Ghanaian return migrants value dual citizenship

Dual citizenship is known to come with socio-economic benefits, particularly for migrants from the Global South who naturalise in a country of the Global North. This paper explores the ways in which these socio-economic benefits are portable to the Global South when migrants retu...

Fuelling the top – Metabolic control of shoot apical meristem function and plant development

Plant development relies on a complex network of transcription factors and hormone signalling pathways that guide pattern formation and developmental transitions in the meristems. Yet, how this core network is regulated to enable developmental plasticity remains poorly understood...

Single-photon double ionization of ozone: experiment and theory

Abstract The triatomic molecule ozone (O3) is of outmost physical and chemical importance in the atmospheres of our Earth and other planets. Beyond its environmental significance, a detailed understanding of the electronic structure and ionization dynamics of ozone is essential f...