Middle atmosphere measurements of small-scale electron density irregularities and ion properties during the MAC/Epsilon campaign

Rocket payloads designed to measure small scale electron density irregularities and ion properties in the middle atmosphere were flown with each of the three main salvos of the MAC/Epsilon campaign conducted at the Andoya Rocket Range, Norway, during October to November 1987. Fixed bias, hemispheric nose tip probes measured small scale electron density irregularities, indicative of neutral air turbulence, during the rocket's ascent; and subsequently, parachute-borne Gerdien condensers measured the region's polar electrical conductivity, ion mobility and density. One rocket was launched during daylight (October 15, 1052:20 UT), and the other two launches occurred at night (October 21, 2134 UT: November 12, 0021:40 UT) under moderately disturbed conditions which enhanced the detection and measurement of turbulence structures. A preliminary analysis of the real time data displays indicates the presence of small scale electron density irregularities in the altitude range of 60 to 90 km. Ongoing data reduction will determine turbulence parameters and also the region's electrical properties below 90 km

Intraspecific Competition Affects the Pupation Behavior of Spotted-Wing Drosophila (Drosophila suzukii).

In Drosophila, intraspecific competition (IC) may cause stress, cannibalism, and affect survival and reproduction. By migrating to less crowded environments, individuals can escape IC. Larvae of spottedwing drosophila (SWD, Drosophila suzukii) are often exposed to IC. They are known to pupate either attached to or detached from their hosts. Here, we hypothesized that SWD pupates detached from the larval host as a means to escape IC and increase their survival and fitness. Under laboratory conditions, IC resulted in increased pupation detached from the larval host in both cornmeal medium and blueberry fruit. Males were more prone to detached pupation than females. In blueberry, IC-exposed larvae pupated farther away from the fruit relative to singly-developed individuals. Detached pupation was associated to survival and fitness gains. For example, larvae that displayed detached pupation showed shorter egg-pupa development times, higher pupa-adult survival, and larger adult size relative to fruitattached individuals. These findings demonstrate that SWD larvae select pupation sites based on IC, and that such a strategy is associated with improved survival and fitness. This information contributes to a better understanding of SWD basic biology and behavior, offering insights to the development of improved practices to manage this pest in the field

The conceptualisation of health and disease in veterinary medicine

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The concept of health, as well as the concept of disease, is central in veterinary medicine. However, the definitions "health" and "disease" are not generally acknowledged by veterinarians. The aim of this study was to examine how the concepts "health" and "disease" are defined in veterinary textbooks.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Veterinary textbooks in several disciplines were investigated, but only textbooks with explicit definitions of the concepts were selected for examination.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Eighty out of the 500 relevant books within veterinary medicine were written for non-veterinarians. Eight percent of the books had an explicit definition of health and/or disease. More frequently, textbooks written for non veterinarians did have definitions of health or disease, compared to textbooks written for professionals. A division of health definitions in five different categories was suggested, namely:</p> <p>1. Health as normality, 2. Health as biological function, 3. Health as homeostasis, 4. Health as physical and psychological well-being and 5. Health as productivity including reproduction.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Few veterinary textbooks had any health or disease definition at all. Furthermore, explicit definitions of health stated by the authors seemed to have little impact on how health and disease are handled within the profession. Veterinary medicine would probably gain from theoretical discussions about health and disease.</p

The impact of shared financial decision making on overconfidence for married adults

Previous research has shown that overconfidence is associated with a decrease in the quality of decision making and, therefore, decision outcomes. However, less is known about the conditions or circumstances that reduce financial overconfidence. Using data from two national studies, this study was designed to provide insights into the dynamics of intrahousehold financial decision making by examining the role of shared decision making in reducing overconfidence bias. Findings suggest that a psychological sense of shared ownership of money is associated with lower levels of overconfidence. With regard to financial planning practice, these results suggest that married individuals who believe in shared ownership of household money tend to have lower levels of overconfidence

Apolipoprotein L1 gene variants associate with prevalent kidney but not prevalent cardiovascular disease in the Systolic Blood Pressure Intervention Trial.

Apolipoprotein L1 gene (APOL1) G1 and G2 coding variants are strongly associated with chronic kidney disease (CKD) in African Americans (AAs). Here APOL1 association was tested with baseline estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), urine albumin:creatinine ratio (UACR), and prevalent cardiovascular disease (CVD) in 2571 AAs from the Systolic Blood Pressure Intervention Trial (SPRINT), a trial assessing effects of systolic blood pressure reduction on renal and CVD outcomes. Logistic regression models that adjusted for potentially important confounders tested for association between APOL1 risk variants and baseline clinical CVD (myocardial infarction, coronary, or carotid artery revascularization) and CKD (eGFR under 60 ml/min per 1.73 m(2) and/or UACR over 30 mg/g). AA SPRINT participants were 45.3% female with a mean (median) age of 64.3 (63) years, mean arterial pressure 100.7 (100) mm Hg, eGFR 76.3 (77.1) ml/min per 1.73 m(2), and UACR 49.9 (9.2) mg/g, and 8.2% had clinical CVD. APOL1 (recessive inheritance) was positively associated with CKD (odds ratio 1.37, 95% confidence interval 1.08-1.73) and log UACR estimated slope (β) 0.33) and negatively associated with eGFR (β -3.58), all significant. APOL1 risk variants were not significantly associated with prevalent CVD (1.02, 0.82-1.27). Thus, SPRINT data show that APOL1 risk variants are associated with mild CKD but not with prevalent CVD in AAs with a UACR under 1000 mg/g

Who should be prioritized for renal transplantation?: Analysis of key stakeholder preferences using discrete choice experiments

Background Policies for allocating deceased donor kidneys have recently shifted from allocation based on Human Leucocyte Antigen (HLA) tissue matching in the UK and USA. Newer allocation algorithms incorporate waiting time as a primary factor, and in the UK, young adults are also favoured. However, there is little contemporary UK research on the views of stakeholders in the transplant process to inform future allocation policy. This research project aimed to address this issue. Methods Discrete Choice Experiment (DCE) questionnaires were used to establish priorities for kidney transplantation among different stakeholder groups in the UK. Questionnaires were targeted at patients, carers, donors / relatives of deceased donors, and healthcare professionals. Attributes considered included: waiting time; donor-recipient HLA match; whether a recipient had dependents; diseases affecting life expectancy; and diseases affecting quality of life. Results Responses were obtained from 908 patients (including 98 ethnic minorities); 41 carers; 48 donors / relatives of deceased donors; and 113 healthcare professionals. The patient group demonstrated statistically different preferences for every attribute (i.e. significantly different from zero) so implying that changes in given attributes affected preferences, except when prioritizing those with no rather than moderate diseases affecting quality of life. The attributes valued highly related to waiting time, tissue match, prioritizing those with dependents, and prioritizing those with moderate rather than severe diseases affecting life expectancy. Some preferences differed between healthcare professionals and patients, and ethnic minority and non-ethnic minority patients. Only non-ethnic minority patients and healthcare professionals clearly prioritized those with better tissue matches. Conclusions Our econometric results are broadly supportive of the 2006 shift in UK transplant policy which emphasized prioritizing the young and long waiters. However, our findings suggest the need for a further review in the light of observed differences in preferences amongst ethnic minorities, and also because those with dependents may be a further priority.</p

Individual quality assessment of autografting by probability estimation for clinical endpoints: a prospective validation study from the European group for blood and marrow transplantation.

The aim of supportive autografting is to reduce the side effects from stem cell transplantation and avoid procedure-related health disadvantages for patients at the lowest possible cost and resource expenditure. Economic evaluation of health care is becoming increasingly important. We report clinical and laboratory data collected from 397 consecutive adult patients (173 non-Hodgkin lymphoma, 30 Hodgkin lymphoma, 160 multiple myeloma, 7 autoimmune diseases, and 28 acute leukemia) who underwent their first autologous peripheral blood stem cell transplantation (PBSCT). We considered primary endpoints evaluating health economic efficacy (eg, antibiotic administration, transfusion of blood components, and time in hospital), secondary endpoints evaluating toxicity (in accordance with Common Toxicity Criteria), and tertiary endpoints evaluating safety (ie, the risk of regimen-related death or disease progression within the first year after PBSCT). A time-dependent grading of efficacy is proposed with day 21 for multiple myeloma and day 25 for the other disease categories (depending on the length of the conditioning regimen) as the acceptable maximum time in hospital, which together with antibiotics, antifungal, or transfusion therapy delineates four groups: favorable (≤7 days on antibiotics and no transfusions; ≤21 [25] days in hospital), intermediate (from 7 to 10 days on antibiotics and 7 days on antibiotics, >3 but 30/34 days in hospital after transplantation), and very unfavorable (>10 days on antibiotics, >6 transfusions; >30 to 34 days in hospital). The multivariate analysis showed that (1) PBSC harvests of ≥4 × 106/kg CD34 + cells in 1 apheresis procedure were associated with a favorable outcome in all patient categories except acute myelogenous leukemia and acute lymphoblastic leukemia (P = .001), (2) ≥5 × 106/kg CD34 + cells infused predicted better transplantation outcome in all patient categories (P 500 mL) (P = .002), and (5) patients with a central venous catheter during both collection and infusion of PBSC had a more favorable outcome post-PBSCT than peripheral access (P = .007). The type of mobilization regimen did not affect the outcome of auto-PBSCT. The present study identified predictive variables, which may be useful in future individual pretransplantation probability evaluations with the goal to improve supportive care

Well-being, job satisfaction, stress and burnout in speech-language pathologists: A review.

Purpose: The purpose of this review was to evaluate the factors that influence well-being, job satisfaction, stress, and burnout in speech-language pathologists (SLPs), and to identify the impact of these variables on worker recruitment and retention. Method: A systematic literature search was conducted. Four electronic databases (PsycARTICLES & PsycINFO, PubMed/Medline, CINHAL and ABI/INFORM) were searched. The search was limited to articles published in English between 1998 and June 2018. To be eligible for inclusion, studies needed to investigate or report well-being, job satisfaction, stress or burnout in SLPs. The methodological quality of each paper was assessed using the “Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology” (for quantitative data) and “Consolidated criteria for Reporting Qualitative research” (for qualitative data) checklists. A data-driven thematic analysis of the literature was used to identify key themes. Result: Seventeen of 2050 studies met the inclusion criteria, of which fifteen were cross-sectional surveys yielding quantitative data. Two were qualitative studies. There was consistent evidence for SLPs in the USA and Canada experiencing satisfaction in their jobs. Facet analysis revealed six contributory themes, three of which were clearly associated with well-being: workload/caseload size, professional support, and salary. The contribution of job control (autonomy), length of time in practice and work setting was inconclusive. Evidence for stress and dissatisfaction leading to workforce attrition was found. Conclusion: Job satisfaction, stress, and burnout were found to be associated with various occupational features, including elements of demand, support and reward. No previous studies have investigated the interaction between different elements of a job, which might boost satisfaction or ameliorate stress in SLPs. This is the first review using a systematic approach to focus on well-being, satisfaction, stress and burnout in SLPs and suggests more work needs to be done to help identify and improve the well-being of the workforce