ORCID Profile
0000-0002-4702-5489
Current Organisations
University of Cambridge
,
University of Oxford
,
University of Bristol
Does something not look right? The information on this page has been harvested from data sources that may not be up to date. We continue to work with information providers to improve coverage and quality. To report an issue, use the Feedback Form.
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 02-2011
DOI: 10.1375/TWIN.14.1.53
Abstract: Background: Somatic symptoms often co-occur with psychological symptoms but this overlap is poorly understood. Some aspects of this overlap differ in the South Asian context, but it is not clear whether this is a reporting effect or an underlying difference in experienced illness. Methods: Home interviews were administered to 4,024 twins randomly selected from a population-based twin register in the Colombo district of Sri Lanka (the CoTASS study). These included assessments of psychological, somatic and fatigue symptoms. The data were analyzed using factor analytic and quantitative genetic approaches. Results: Confirmatory factor analysis showed that the symptoms from the three scales represented three separate dimensions, rather than all tapping into a single dimension. However, familial correlations among the data were most consistent with a common pathway model. This implies that a portion of the underlying vulnerability is common across psychological, fatigue and somatic symptoms. There were sex differences in the etiology of this model, with shared environmental and genetic influences playing different roles in men and women. Conclusions: There is a complex etiological relationship between psychological, fatigue and somatic symptoms. This is similar in Sri Lanka to Western countries, but there may be a greater influence from the family environment, suggesting that care needs to be taken when generalizing research findings between countries. People who complain of certain fatigue or somatic symptoms may well also have psychological symptoms, or may have genetic or environmental vulnerabilities to such problems.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 05-2020
Publisher: BMJ
Date: 28-03-2023
Abstract: Functional neurological disorder (FND) is a common and disabling disorder, often misunderstood by clinicians. Although viewed sceptically by some, FND is a diagnosis that can be made accurately, based on positive clinical signs, with clinical features that have remained stable for over 100 years. Despite some progress in the last decade, people with FND continue to suffer subtle and overt forms of discrimination by clinicians, researchers and the public. There is abundant evidence that disorders perceived as primarily affecting women are neglected in healthcare and medical research, and the course of FND mirrors this neglect. We outline the reasons why FND is a feminist issue, incorporating historical and contemporary clinical, research and social perspectives. We call for parity for FND in medical education, research and clinical service development so that people affected by FND can receive the care they need.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 04-2021
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 17-03-2022
Publisher: American Geophysical Union (AGU)
Date: 05-2016
DOI: 10.1002/2016GC006300
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 02-2015
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 15-05-2019
DOI: 10.1038/S41467-019-10028-Z
Abstract: During the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM ~20,000 years ago), the global ocean sequestered a large amount of carbon lost from the atmosphere and terrestrial biosphere. Suppressed CO 2 outgassing from the Southern Ocean is the prevailing explanation for this carbon sequestration. By contrast, the North Atlantic Ocean—a major conduit for atmospheric CO 2 transport to the ocean interior via the overturning circulation—has received much less attention. Here we demonstrate that North Atlantic carbon pump efficiency during the LGM was almost doubled relative to the Holocene. This is based on a novel proxy approach to estimate air–sea CO 2 exchange signals using combined carbonate ion and nutrient reconstructions for multiple sediment cores from the North Atlantic. Our data indicate that in tandem with Southern Ocean processes, enhanced North Atlantic CO 2 absorption contributed to lowering ice-age atmospheric CO 2 .
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 27-06-2008
Abstract: The Sri Lankan twin registry is one of the first to be established in a developing country, and its design has ensured s ling from a wide range of environmental conditions. It thus has great potential to examine environmental and genetic influences on erse phenotypes, including psychiatric disorders, in the context of a ersity of environmental exposures, which may not have been fully explored in previous twin studies in developed countries. This paper presents the rationale for the study, describes its context, and the methods for twin ascertainment and data collection. A population-based twin register was established in the Colombo district of Sri Lanka using infrastructure designed to periodically update the electoral register. We invited a subs le from this register to participate in the project on common mental disorders, using random ascertainment. A separate non-twin s le was randomly selected from the geographical areas where twins were found. Home interviewers collected diagnostic information on common mental disorders, as well as environmental exposures including life events, socio-economic conditions, and the impact of the civil war and the Tsunami of 2004. We identified 19,302 in iduals in the creation of the population based twin register. We randomly selected a subs le, of whom 4,387 were eligible to participate and 4,024 agreed to be interviewed (including data on 1,954 complete pairs of twins and 5 sets of triplets). Those who refused consent had a similar mean age and sex ratio to those who were interviewed. We invited 2,485 singletons to participate and 2,019 were interviewed. Initial exploration of the data suggests the s les are very representative of the Colombo district of Sri Lanka, so we have created a unique resource for understanding the influences on mental disorders in developing countries, and to compare to the influences found in developed countries.
Publisher: American Geophysical Union (AGU)
Date: 04-2019
DOI: 10.1029/2018PA003441
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 02-02-2010
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 10-01-2013
DOI: 10.1017/THG.2012.119
Abstract: The Sri Lankan Twin Registry (SLTR), established in 1997, is a unique resource for twin and genetic research in a low- and middle-income country (LMIC). It comprises of a volunteer cohort of 14,120 twins (7,060 pairs) and 119 sets of triplets, and a population-based cohort of 19,040 (9,520 pairs) twins and 89 sets of triplets. Several studies have been conducted using this registry, including the Colombo Twin and Singleton Study (CoTaSS 1 4,387 twins, 2,311 singletons), which have explored the prevalence and heritability of a range of psychiatric disorders as well as gene-environmental interplay. Currently, a follow-up study (CoTaSS 2) of the same cohort is underway, looking at the prevalence and interrelationship of key cardiovascular and metabolic risk markers (e.g., metabolic syndrome). A significant feature of CoTaSS 2 is the establishment of a biobank. Current SLTR work is extending beyond mental health and the interface between mental and physical health to new horizons, extending collaborations with the wider global twin research community. Ethics and governance have been given special emphasis in the initiative. Capacity building and public engagement are two crucial components. Establishment of a state-of-the-art genetic laboratory was a major accomplishment. SLTR is a classic showcase of successful North–South partnership in building a progressive research infrastructure in a LMIC.
Publisher: Royal College of Psychiatrists
Date: 08-2010
DOI: 10.1192/BJP.BP.109.069674
Abstract: Fatigue is a common symptom in Western high-income countries but is often medically unexplained and little is known about its presentation in other populations. To explore the epidemiology and aetiology of fatigue in Sri Lanka, and of its overlap with depression. A total of 4024 randomly selected twins from a population-based register in Sri Lanka (Colombo district) completed home interviews including the Chalder Fatigue Questionnaire. The prevalence of fatigue was similar to that in other countries, although prolonged fatigue may be less common. There was substantial comorbidity with a screen for lifetime depression. Non-shared environmental factors made the largest contributions, although genetic/family factors also contributed. The aetiology appeared consistent across the spectrum of severity. The aetiology of fatigue is broadly similar in Sri Lanka and Western high-income countries. Abnormal experiences of fatigue appear to be the extreme form of more common fatigue, rather than representing independent entities with different genetic or environmental risk factors.
Publisher: Royal College of Psychiatrists
Date: 12-2009
DOI: 10.1192/BJP.BP.109.063529
Abstract: Susceptibility to depression results from genetic and non-familially shared environmental influences in high-income, Western countries. Environments may play a different role for populations in different contexts. To examine heritability of depression in the first large, population-based twin study in a low-income country. Lifetime depression and a broader measure of depression susceptibility (D-probe) were assessed in 3908 adult twins in Sri Lanka (the CoTASS study). There were gender differences for the broad definition (D-probe), with a higher genetic contribution in females (61%) than males (4%). Results were similar for depression, but the prevalence was too low to estimate heritability for males. Genetic influences on depression in women appear to be at least as strong in this Sri Lankan s le as in higher-income countries. Conclusions are less clear for men but suggest a larger role for environments rather than genes. The nature as well as the magnitude of environmental influences may also differ across populations.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 19-04-2022
Publisher: American Geophysical Union (AGU)
Date: 30-05-2013
DOI: 10.1002/PALO.20024
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 12-2016
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 13-07-2017
DOI: 10.1038/NCOMMS16010
Abstract: While the ocean’s large-scale overturning circulation is thought to have been significantly different under the climatic conditions of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), the exact nature of the glacial circulation and its implications for global carbon cycling continue to be debated. Here we use a global array of ocean–atmosphere radiocarbon disequilibrium estimates to demonstrate a ∼689±53 14 C-yr increase in the average residence time of carbon in the deep ocean at the LGM. A predominantly southern-sourced abyssal overturning limb that was more isolated from its shallower northern counterparts is interpreted to have extended from the Southern Ocean, producing a widespread radiocarbon age maximum at mid-depths and depriving the deep ocean of a fast escape route for accumulating respired carbon. While the exact magnitude of the resulting carbon cycle impacts remains to be confirmed, the radiocarbon data suggest an increase in the efficiency of the biological carbon pump that could have accounted for as much as half of the glacial–interglacial CO 2 change.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 19-05-2012
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 12-2020
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 06-2010
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 12-2013
Location: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Location: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Location: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
No related grants have been discovered for Nick McCave.