Yes / Motion in depth (MID) can be cued by high-resolution changes in binocular disparity over time (CD), and low-resolution interocular velocity differences (IOVD). Computational differences between these two mechanisms suggest that they may be implemented in visual pathways with different spatial and temporal resolutions. Here, we used fMRI to examine how achromatic and S-cone signals contribute to human MID perception. Both CD and IOVD stimuli evoked responses in a widespread network that included early visual areas, parts of the dorsal and ventral streams, and motion-selective area hMT+. Crucially, however, we measured an interaction between MID type and chromaticity. fMRI CD responses were largely driven by achromatic stimuli, but IOVD responses were better driven by isoluminant S-cone inputs. In our psychophysical experiments, when S-cone and achromatic stimuli were matched for perceived contrast, participants were equally sensitive to the MID in achromatic and S-cone IOVD stimuli. In comparison, they were relatively insensitive to S-cone CD. These findings provide evidence that MID mechanisms asymmetrically draw on information in precortical pathways. An early opponent motion signal optimally conveyed by the S-cone pathway may provide a substantial contribution to the IOVD mechanism. / Supported by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council Grants BB/M002543/1 (to A.R.W.), BB/M001660/1 (to J.M.H.), and BB/M001210/1 (to M.B.). / Research Development Fund Publication Prize Award winner, May 2019.

Yes / The northern and western isles of Scotland have proved fertile ground for archaeological investigation over the last 100 years. However, the nature of the landscape with its rugged coastlines and irregular topography, together with rapid peat growth rates, make for challenging surveying. Commonly, an archaeological monument or series of monuments is identified but little is known about the surrounding areas and, in particular, the palaeo-landscapes within which the monuments are located. This situation is exemplified by the standing stones of Calanais in Lewis. Here, surrounding peat bogs have buried a significant portion of the landscape around which the stones were first erected. This project identifies remote sensing geophysical techniques that are effective in mapping the buried (lost) landscape and thus aid better contextualisation of the stone monuments within it. Further, the project demonstrates the most appropriate techniques for prospecting across these buried landscapes for as yet unidentified stone features associated with the lives of the people who constructed the monuments. / Scottish Enterprise / Research Development Fund Publication Prize Award winner, December 2019.

Yes / The geographically restricted Mycobacterium africanum lineages (MAF) are primarily found in West Africa, where they account for a significant proportion of tuberculosis. Despite this phenomenon, little is known about the co-evolution of these ancient lineages with West Africans. MAF and M. tuberculosis sensu stricto lineages (MTB) differ in their clinical, in vitro and in vivo characteristics for reasons not fully understood. Therefore, we compared genomes of 289 MAF and 205 MTB clinical isolates from the 6 main human-adapted M. tuberculosis complex lineages, for mutations in their Electron Transport Chain and Central Carbon Metabolic pathway in order to explain these metabolic differences. Furthermore, we determined, in silico, whether each mutation could affect the function of genes encoding enzymes in these pathways. We found more mutations with the potential to affect enzymes in these pathways in MAF lineages compared to MTB lineages. We also found that similar mutations occurred in these pathways between MAF and some MTB lineages. Generally, our findings show further differences between MAF and MTB lineages that may have contributed to the MAF clinical and growth phenotype and indicate potential adaptation of MAF lineages to a distinct ecological niche, which we suggest includes areas characterized by low oxygen tension. / European Research CouncilINTERRUPTB starting grant nr. 311725 (to BdJ, FG, CM, LR, BO, MA) and The UK Medical Research Council and the European & Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP) Grant No. CB. 2007. 41700.007. / Research Development Fund Publication Prize Award winner, January 2020.

Yes / The carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) isotope ratios of human bone collagen have been used extensively over the last 40 years to investigate the diet of past populations. It has become apparent that bone collagen can give an unreliable temporal dietary signature especially in juveniles. With higher temporal resolution sampling of collagen from tooth dentine, it is possible to identify short‐term changes in diet previously invisible in bone. This paper discusses the inherent problems of using bone collagen for dietary studies and suggests better sample choices which can make our interpretations more robust, using breastfeeding and weaning as an example. / The modern data was collected and analysed using funding from the Rank Prize Funds New Investigator Award and sponsorship from DB Orthodontics, Bradford. The Tooth Fairy team acknowledges the support of the National Institute for Health Research Clinical Research Network (NIHR CRN). / Research Development Fund Publication Prize Award winner, February 2020.

Yes / PURPOSE. Glaucoma raises contrast detection thresholds, but our natural visual environment is dominated by high contrast that may remain suprathreshold in early to moderate glaucoma. This study investigates the effect of glaucoma on the apparent contrast of visible stimuli. METHODS. Twenty participants with glaucoma with partial visual field defects (mean age, 72 ± 7 years) and 20 age-similar healthy controls (mean age, 70 ± 7 years) took part. Contrast detection thresholds for Gabor stimuli (SD, 0.75°) of four spatial frequencies (0.5, 1.0, 2.0, and 4.0 c/deg) were first measured at 10° eccentricity, both within and outside of visual field defects for participants with glaucoma. Subsequently, the contrast of a central Gabor was matched to that of a peripheral Gabor with contrast fixed at two times or four times the detection threshold. Data were analyzed by linear mixed modelling. RESULTS. Compared with controls, detection thresholds for participants with glaucoma were raised by 0.05 ± 0.025 (Michelson units, ± SE; P = 0.12) and by 0.141 ± 0.026 (P < 0.001) outside and within visual field defects, respectively. For reference stimuli at two times the detection contrast, matched contrast ratios (matched/reference contrast) were 0.16 ± 0.039 (P < 0.001) higher outside compared with within visual field defects in participants with glaucoma. Matched contrast ratios within visual field defects were similar to controls (mean 0.033 ± 0.066 lower; P = 0.87). For reference stimuli at four times the detection contrast, matched contrast ratios were similar across all three groups (P = 0.58). Spatial frequency had a minimal effect on matched contrast ratios. CONCLUSIONS. Despite decreased contrast sensitivity, people with glaucoma perceive the contrast of visible suprathreshold stimuli similarly to healthy controls. These results suggest possible compensation for sensitivity loss in the visual system. / Supported by a College of Optometrists PhD Scholarship. / Research Development Fund Publication Prize Award winner, June 2020

Yes / User-generated reviews of visitor attractions, on publicly available websites, such as Tripadvisor, are frequently used in tourism research but feature less often in published cultural heritage research. In this paper, we describe a qualitative analysis of the text from user-generated reviews of three peatland heritage landscapes in the United Kingdom – Ilkley Moor, Thorne and Hatfield Moors, and Shapwick Heath – to better understand the role tangible and intangible cultural heritage play in visitor perceptions and narratives of these sites. Our analysis indicates that visitors tend to emphasise natural over cultural heritage of peatland landscapes and hold plural, highly contextual and sometimes dissonant perceptions; there is no single story of peatlands. This presents both challenges and opportunities for building public appreciation of peatland cultural heritage. User-generated reviews offer, as-yet under-explored, potential data for use by heritage researchers and managers who seek to explore how visitors understand and use sites, and may also contribute to the emerging intangible heritage of heritage landscapes. / Research Development Fund Publication Prize Award winner, June 2021.

Yes / Phosphoinositide 3-kinase δ (PI3Kδ) has a key role in lymphocytes, and inhibitors that target this PI3K have been approved for treatment of B cell malignancies1–3. Although studies in mouse models of solid tumours have demonstrated that PI3Kδ inhibitors (PI3Kδi) can induce anti-tumour immunity4,5, its effect on solid tumours in humans remains unclear. Here we assessed the effects of the PI3Kδi AMG319 in human patients with head and neck cancer in a neoadjuvant, double-blind, placebo-controlled randomized phase II trial (EudraCT no. 2014-004388-20). PI3Kδ inhibition decreased the number of tumour-infiltrating regulatory T (Treg) cells and enhanced the cytotoxic potential of tumour-infiltrating T cells. At the tested doses of AMG319, immune-related adverse events (irAEs) required treatment to be discontinued in 12 out of 21 of patients treated with AMG319, suggestive of systemic effects on Treg cells. Accordingly, in mouse models, PI3Kδi decreased the number of Treg cells systemically and caused colitis. Single-cell RNA-sequencing analysis revealed a PI3Kδi-driven loss of tissue-resident colonic ST2 Treg cells, accompanied by expansion of pathogenic T helper 17 (TH17) and type 17 CD8+ T (TC17) cells, which probably contributed to toxicity; this points towards a specific mode of action for the emergence of irAEs. A modified treatment regimen with intermittent dosing of PI3Kδi in mouse models led to a significant decrease in tumour growth without inducing pathogenic T cells in colonic tissue, indicating that alternative dosing regimens might limit toxicity. / Research Development Fund Publication Prize Award winner, May 2022.

Yes / Herein, we report a catalyst-free ‘click’ reaction: metal-free [2 + 2] cycloaddition–retro-electrocyclisation (CA–RE) of arylynamines with the sluggish acceptor tetracyanoquinodimethane (TCNQ) to provide orthogonal electron-push–pull light-harvesting small molecules: N-heterocyclic dicyanoquinodimethane-substituted methylene malononitriles. Ynamines are reactive alkynes and tend to induce over-reactions with the CA–RE adducts. The reactivity of arylynamines was balanced properly by ensuring the electrondensity of the nitrogen atom was delocalised more over the aromatic rings than the triple bond. / This work was supported by Guangxi Natural Science Foundation (2020JJA120032). / Research Development Fund Publication Prize Award winner, April 2022.

Yes / The novel coronavirus SARS-19 produces 'COVID-19' in patients with symptoms. COVID-19 patients admitted to the hospital require early assessment and care including isolation. The National Early Warning Score (NEWS) and its updated version NEWS2 is a simple physiological scoring system used in hospitals, which may be useful in the early identification of COVID-19 patients. We investigate the performance of multiple enhanced NEWS2 models in predicting the risk of COVID-19. Our cohort included unplanned adult medical admissions discharged over 3 months (11 March 2020 to 13 June 2020 ) from two hospitals (YH for model development; SH for external model validation). We used logistic regression to build multiple prediction models for the risk of COVID-19 using the first electronically recorded NEWS2 within ± 24 hours of admission. Model M0' included NEWS2; model M1' included NEWS2 + age + sex, and model M2' extends model M1' with subcomponents of NEWS2 (including diastolic blood pressure + oxygen flow rate + oxygen scale). Model performance was evaluated according to discrimination (c statistic), calibration (graphically), and clinical usefulness at NEWS2 ≥ 5. The prevalence of COVID-19 was higher in SH (11.0 %=277/2520) than YH (8.7 %=343/3924) with a higher first NEWS2 scores ( SH 3.2 vs YH 2.8) but similar in-hospital mortality (SH 8.4 % vs YH 8.2 %). The c-statistics for predicting the risk of COVID-19 for models M0',M1',M2' in the development dataset were: M0': 0.71 (95 %CI 0.68-0.74); M1': 0.67 (95 %CI 0.64-0.70) and M2': 0.78 (95 %CI 0.75-0.80)). For the validation datasets the c-statistics were: M0' 0.65 (95 %CI 0.61-0.68); M1': 0.67 (95 %CI 0.64-0.70) and M2': 0.72 (95 %CI 0.69-0.75) ). The calibration slope was similar across all models but Model M2' had the highest sensitivity (M0' 44 % (95 %CI 38-50 %); M1' 53 % (95 %CI 47-59 %) and M2': 57 % (95 %CI 51-63 %)) and specificity (M0' 75 % (95 %CI 73-77 %); M1' 72 % (95 %CI 70-74 %) and M2': 76 % (95 %CI 74-78 %)) for the validation dataset at NEWS2 ≥ 5. Model M2' appears to be reasonably accurate for predicting the risk of COVID-19. It may be clinically useful as an early warning system at the time of admission especially to triage large numbers of unplanned hospital admissions. / The Health Foundation (Award No 7380) and the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Yorkshire and Humber Patient Safety Translational Research Centre (NIHR Yorkshire and Humber PSTRC) (Award No PSTRC-2016-006) / Research Development Fund Publication Prize Award winner, Aug 2021.

Yes / Viewing one’s smartphone whilst walking commonly leads to a slowing of walking. Slowing walking-speed may occur because of safety concerns or because of visual constraints. We determine how walking-induced phone motion affects the ability to read on-screen information. Phone-reading performance (PRP) was assessed whilst participants walked on a treadmill at various speeds. The fastest speed was repeated, wearing an elbow-brace (Braced) or with the phone mounted stationary (Fixed). An audible cue (‘text-alert’), indicated participants had 2 seconds to lift/view the phone and read aloud a series of digits. PRP was the number of digits read correctly. Each condition was repeated 5 times. 3D-motion analyses determined phone-motion relative to the head, from which the variability in acceleration in viewing distance, and in the gaze angles in the up-down and right-left directions were assessed. A main-effect of condition indicated PRP decreased with walking speed; particularly so for the Braced and Fixed conditions (p=0.022). Walking condition also affected the phone’s relative motion (p / Research Development Fund Publication Prize Award winner, Oct 2021.