Reported Acquisition Practices of Australian Dog Owners

In Australia, the UK and the US dog ownership is prevalent with an estimated 40% ofAustralian households, 25% of UK households, and 50% of US households owning a dog. Onceacquired, a dog usually becomes a family companion so, unlike a faulty product, it can rarely bereturned or resold without some emotional impact on both the acquirer and the dog. Regarding thereality of dog relinquishment, there is a growing need for cross-disciplinary research that considershow dog owners are making their acquisition choices and, if prioritising different attributes, leads tomore optimal acquisition choices. This research collected data from 2840 dog owners via an onlinesurvey and examines how owners prioritised various attributes when acquiring their latest dog.The Pearson-Blotchky analysis of survey results show owners are split into two groups, with eachgroup prioritising different attributes or characteristics in their search for a new dog. The first groupare those dog owners who prioritised: the ability to rescue a dog, how compatible the dog wason the first meeting, and how compatible they believed the dog would be with their household.The second group are those owners who prioritised: a dog’s morphology, temperament predictability,and breeding practices. While each group prioritised different attributes, neither group madesubstantially more optimal acquisition choices in terms of overall satisfaction with the dog that theyultimately selected

Chemical vapour deposition of group Vb metal phosphide thin films

The atmospheric pressure chemical vapour deposition (APCVD) reaction of VCl4 or VOCl3 with cyclohexylphosphine at substrate temperatures of 600 degreesC deposits thin films of amorphous vanadium phosphide. The films are black - gold, hard, chemically resistant and conductive. The APCVD reaction of MCl5 (where M = Nb or Ta) with cyclohexylphosphine at 500 - 600 degreesC deposits films of crystalline beta-MP and at 400 degreesC - 450 degreesC amorphous films of stoichiometry MP are formed. The MP films are metallic, conductive, adherent and chemically resistant

Chemical vapour deposition of crystalline thin films of tantalum phosphide

Tantalum phosphide coatings were prepared by chemical vapour deposition reaction of TaCl5 and PH2Cy at 350-500 degreesC. The films are hard, stable to corrosive environments and show reflection properties in the infrared. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved

A review of Australian animal welfare legislation, regulation, codes of practice, and policy, and their influence on stakeholders caring for wildlife and the animals for whom they care

The Australian constitution makes no mention of native animals. Responsibility for animal welfare is largely retained by the states and territories via a fragmented, complex, contradictory, inconsistent system of regulatory management. Given that most jurisdictions have expressly made the possession of wildlife unlawful, the action of taking and possessing an animal, to rehabilitate it, defies the regulatory process. In most jurisdictions, it is illegal to microchip, band, or mark an animal, meaning that no reliable method is available to monitor an animal. Each year, a minimum of 50,000 rehabilitated native animals are released back to the wild, with little post-release monitoring. Where required, the assessments of behavioural and health requirements to confirm suitability for release may be undertaken by people with either negligible or questionable qualifications. Whilst it can be appropriate to rehabilitate and release injured native animals back to the wild, there may be moral, ethical, and practical reasons for not releasing hand-reared orphan native animals. This article examines the evolution, and explains the consequences, of decentralised regulation on wildlife carers and rehabilitating animals. It recommends that the practice of placing hand-reared native animals into the wild, and the regulatory framework that provides for it, should be reviewed

Photo-induced enhanced Raman spectroscopy (PIERS): Sensing atomic-defects, explosives and biomolecules

Enhanced Raman relies heavily on finding ideal hot-spot regions which enable significant enhancement factors. In addition, the termed “chemical enhancement” aspect of SERS is often neglected due to its relatively low enhancement factors, in comparison to those of electromagnetic (EM) nature. Using a metal-semiconductor hybrid system, with the addition of induced surface oxygen vacancy defects, both EM and chemical enhancement pathways can be utilized on cheap reusable surfaces. Two metal-oxide semiconductor thin films, WO3 and TiO2, were used as a platform for investigating size dependent effects of Au nanoparticles (NPs) for SERS (surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy) and PIERS (photo-induced enhanced Raman spectroscopy – UV pre-irradiation for additional chemical enhancement) detection applications. A set concentration of spherical Au NPs (5, 50, 100 and 150 nm in diameter) was drop-cast on preirradiated metal-oxide substrates. Using 4-mercaptobenzoic acid (MBA) as a Raman reporter molecule, a significant dependence on the size of nanoparticle was found. The greatest surface coverage and ideal distribution of AuNPs was found for the 50 nm particles during SERS tests, resulting in a high probability of finding an ideal hot-spot region. However, more significantly a strong dependence on nanoparticle size was also found for PIERS measurements – completely independent of AuNP distribution and orientation affects – where 50 nm particles were also found to generate the largest PIERS enhancement. The position of the analyte molecule with respect to the metal-semiconductor interface and position of generated oxygen vacancies within the hot-spot regions was presented as an explanation for this result

An Inhibitory Antibody Blocks Interactions between Components of the Malarial Invasion Machinery

Host cell invasion by apicomplexan pathogens such as the malaria parasite Plasmodium spp. and Toxoplasma gondii involves discharge of proteins from secretory organelles called micronemes and rhoptries. In Toxoplasma a protein complex comprising the microneme apical membrane antigen 1 (AMA1), two rhoptry neck proteins, and a protein called Ts4705, localises to the moving junction, a region of close apposition between parasite and host cell during invasion. Antibodies against AMA1 prevent invasion and are protective in vivo, and so AMA1 is of widespread interest as a malaria vaccine candidate. Here we report that the AMA1 complex identified in Toxoplasma is conserved in Plasmodium falciparum. We demonstrate that the invasion-inhibitory monoclonal antibody (mAb) 4G2, which recognises P. falciparum AMA1 (PfAMA1), cannot bind when PfAMA1 is in a complex with its partner proteins. We further show that a single completely conserved PfAMA1 residue, Tyr251, lying within a conserved hydrophobic groove adjacent to the mAb 4G2 epitope, is required for complex formation. We propose that mAb 4G2 inhibits invasion by preventing PfAMA1 from interacting with other components of the invasion complex. Our findings should aid the rational design of subunit malaria vaccines based on PfAMA1

Infarct Size Following Treatment With Second‐ Versus Third‐Generation P2Y₁₂ Antagonists in Patients With Multivessel Coronary Disease at ST‐Segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction in the CvLPRIT Study

Background-Third-generation P2Y12 antagonists (prasugrel and ticagrelor) are recommended in guidelines on ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction. Mechanisms translating their more potent antiplatelet activity into improved clinical outcomes versus the second-generation P2Y12 antagonist clopidogrel are unclear. The aim of this post hoc analysis of the Complete Versus Lesion-Only PRImary PCI Trial-CMR (CvLPRIT-CMR) substudy was to assess whether prasugrel and ticagrelor were associated with reduced infarct size compared with clopidogrel in patients undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention. Methods and Results-CvLPRIT-CMR was a multicenter, prospective, randomized, open-label, blinded end point trial in 203 STsegment elevation myocardial infarction patients with multivessel disease undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention with either infarct-related artery-only or complete revascularization. P2Y12 inhibitors were administered according to local guidelines. The primary end point of infarct size on cardiovascular magnetic resonance was not significantly different between the randomized groups. P2Y12 antagonist administration was not randomized. Patients receiving clopidogrel (n=70) compared with those treated with either prasugrel or ticagrelor (n=133) were older (67.8±12 versus 61.5±10 years, P < 0.001), more frequently had hypertension (49% versus 29%, P=0.007), and tended to have longer symptom-to-revascularization time (234 versus 177 minutes, P=0.05). Infarct size (median 16.1% [quartiles 1-3, 10.5-27.7%] versus 12.1% [quartiles 1-3, 4.8-20.7%] of left ventricular mass, P=0.013) and microvascular obstruction incidence (65.7% versus 48.9%, P=0.022) were significantly greater in patients receiving clopidogrel. Infarct size remained significantly different after adjustment for important covariates using both generalized linear models (P=0.048) and propensity score matching (P=0.025). Conclusions-In this analysis of CvLPRIT-CMR, third-generation P2Y12 antagonists were associated with smaller infarct size and lower microvascular obstruction incidence versus the second-generation P2Y12 antagonist clopidogrel for ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction

Infarct size following complete revascularization in patients presenting with STEMI: a comparison of immediate and staged in-hospital non-infarct related artery PCI subgroups in the CvLPRIT study

Background: The CvLPRIT study showed a trend for improved clinical outcomes in the complete revascularisation (CR) group in those treated with an immediate, as opposed to staged in-hospital approach in patients with multivessel coronary disease undergoing primary percutaneous intervention (PPCI). We aimed to assess infarct size and left ventricular function in patients undergoing immediate compared with staged CR for multivessel disease at PPCI. Methods: The Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance (CMR) substudy of CvLPRIT was a multicentre, prospective, randomized, open label, blinded endpoint trial in PPCI patients with multivessel disease. These data refer to a post-hoc analysis in 93 patients randomized to the CR arm (63 immediate, 30 staged) who completed a pre-discharge CMR scan (median 2 and 4 days respectively) after PPCI. The decision to stage non-IRA revascularization was at the discretion of the treating interventional cardiologist. Results: Patients treated with a staged approach had more visible thrombus (26/30 vs. 31/62, p = 0.001), higher SYNTAX score in the IRA (9.5, 8–16 vs. 8.0, 5.5–11, p = 0.04) and a greater incidence of no-reflow (23.3 % vs. 1.6 % p < 0.001) than those treated with immediate CR. After adjustment for confounders, staged patients had larger infarct size (19.7 % [11.7–37.6] vs. 11.6 % [6.8–18.2] of LV Mass, p = 0.012) and lower ejection fraction (42.2 ± 10 % vs. 47.4 ± 9 %, p = 0.019) compared with immediate CR. Conclusions: Of patients randomized to CR in the CMR substudy of CvLPRIT, those in whom the operator chose to stage revascularization had larger infarct size and lower ejection fraction, which persisted after adjusting for important covariates than those who underwent immediate CR. Prospective randomized trials are needed to assess whether immediate CR results in better clinical outcomes than staged CR

Juxtamembrane Shedding of Plasmodium falciparum AMA1 Is Sequence Independent and Essential, and Helps Evade Invasion-Inhibitory Antibodies

The malarial life cycle involves repeated rounds of intraerythrocytic replication interspersed by host cell rupture which releases merozoites that rapidly invade fresh erythrocytes. Apical membrane antigen-1 (AMA1) is a merozoite protein that plays a critical role in invasion. Antibodies against AMA1 prevent invasion and can protect against malaria in vivo, so AMA1 is of interest as a malaria vaccine candidate. AMA1 is efficiently shed from the invading parasite surface, predominantly through juxtamembrane cleavage by a membrane-bound protease called SUB2, but also by limited intramembrane cleavage. We have investigated the structural requirements for shedding of Plasmodium falciparum AMA1 (PfAMA1), and the consequences of its inhibition. Mutagenesis of the intramembrane cleavage site by targeted homologous recombination abolished intramembrane cleavage with no effect on parasite viability in vitro. Examination of PfSUB2-mediated shedding of episomally-expressed PfAMA1 revealed that the position of cleavage is determined primarily by its distance from the parasite membrane. Certain mutations at the PfSUB2 cleavage site block shedding, and parasites expressing these non-cleavable forms of PfAMA1 on a background of expression of the wild type gene invade and replicate normally in vitro. The non-cleavable PfAMA1 is also functional in invasion. However – in contrast to the intramembrane cleavage site - mutations that block PfSUB2-mediated shedding could not be stably introduced into the genomic pfama1 locus, indicating that some shedding of PfAMA1 by PfSUB2 is essential. Remarkably, parasites expressing shedding-resistant forms of PfAMA1 exhibit enhanced sensitivity to antibody-mediated inhibition of invasion. Drugs that inhibit PfSUB2 activity should block parasite replication and may also enhance the efficacy of vaccines based on AMA1 and other merozoite surface proteins