Parents’ experiences of health visiting for children with Down syndrome

© MA Healthcare Limited.Children with Down syndrome have an increased likelihoodof experiencing serious health conditions. Health visitors canhave an important role in monitoring and promoting healthand development for young children with Down syndrome.This study aimed to explore parents’ experiences of healthvisiting services for children with Down syndrome. Twentyfour parents of children with Down syndrome aged 0–5 yearscompleted a brief questionnaire about the number and natureof visits from health visitors in the previous 12 months andtheir support needs. Some parents commented that otherprofessionals met the needs of their child, whereas others saidthat they would like more advice and support from healthvisitors. A further exploration of broader health serviceprovision, including health visiting, for young children withDown syndrome is needed.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

“Cycles upon cycles, stories upon stories” : contemporary audio media and podcast horror’s new frights

During the last ten years the ever-fertile horror and Gothic genres have birthed a new type of fright-fiction: podcast horror. Podcast horror is a narrative horror form based in audio media and the properties of sound. Despite association with oral ghost tales, radio drama, and movie and TV soundscapes, podcast horror remains academically overlooked. Podcasts offer fertile ground for the revitalization and evolution of such extant audio-horror traditions, yet they offer innovation too. Characterized by their pre-recorded nature, individualized listening times and formats, often “amateur” or non-corporate production, and isolation from an ongoing media stream more typical of radio or TV, podcasts potentialize the instigation of newer audio-horror methods and traits. Podcast horror shows vary greatly in form and content, from almost campfire-style oral tales, comprising listener-produced and performed content (Drabblecast; Tales to Terrify; NoSleep); to audio dramas reminiscent of radio’s Golden Era (Tales from Beyond the Pale; 19 Nocturne Boulevard); to dramas delivered in radio-broadcast style (Welcome to Night Vale; Ice Box Theatre); to, most recently, dramas, which are themselves acknowledging and exploratory of the podcast form (TANIS; The Black Tapes Podcast; Lime Town). Yet within this broad spectrum, sympathies and conventions arise which often not only explore and expand notions of Gothic sound, but which challenge broader existing horror and Gothic genre norms. This article thus demonstrates the extent to which podcast horror uses its audio form, technology and mediation to disrupt and evolve Gothic/horror fiction, not through a cumulative chronological formulation of podcast horror but through a maintained and alternately synthesized panorama of forms. Herein new aspects of generic narration, audience, narrative and aesthetic emerge. Exploring a broad spectrum of American and British horror podcasts, this article shows horror podcasting to utilize podcasting’s novel means of horror and Gothic distribution/consumption to create fresh, unique and potent horror forms. This article reveals plot details about some of the podcasts examined

Extinction times in the subcritical stochastic SIS logistic epidemic

Many real epidemics of an infectious disease are not straightforwardly super- or sub-critical, and the understanding of epidemic models that exhibit such complexity has been identified as a priority for theoretical work. We provide insights into the near-critical regime by considering the stochastic SIS logistic epidemic, a well-known birth-and-death chain used to model the spread of an epidemic within a population of a given size $N$. We study the behaviour of the process as the population size $N$ tends to infinity. Our results cover the entire subcritical regime, including the "barely subcritical" regime, where the recovery rate exceeds the infection rate by an amount that tends to 0 as $N \to \infty$ but more slowly than $N^{-1/2}$. We derive precise asymptotics for the distribution of the extinction time and the total number of cases throughout the subcritical regime, give a detailed description of the course of the epidemic, and compare to numerical results for a range of parameter values. We hypothesise that features of the course of the epidemic will be seen in a wide class of other epidemic models, and we use real data to provide some tentative and preliminary support for this theory.Comment: Revised; 34 pages; 6 figure

Molecular Epidemiology of Campylobacter Isolates from Poultry Production Units in Southern Ireland

This study aimed to identify the sources and routes of transmission of Campylobacter in intensively reared poultry farms in the Republic of Ireland. Breeder flocks and their corresponding broilers housed in three growing facilities were screened for the presence of Campylobacter species from November 2006 through September 2007. All breeder flocks tested positive for Campylobacter species (with C. jejuni and C. coli being identified). Similarly, all broiler flocks also tested positive for Campylobacter by the end of the rearing period. Faecal and environmental samples were analyzed at regular intervals throughout the rearing period of each broiler flock. Campylobacter was not detected in the disinfected house, or in one-day old broiler chicks. Campylobacter jejuni was isolated from environmental samples including air, water puddles, adjacent broiler flocks and soil. A representative subset of isolates from each farm was selected for further characterization using flaA-SVR sub-typing and multi-locus sequence typing (MLST) to determine if same-species isolates from different sources were indistinguishable or not. Results obtained suggest that no evidence of vertical transmission existed and that adequate cleaning/disinfection of broiler houses contributed to the prevention of carryover and cross-contamination. Nonetheless, the environment appears to be a potential source of Campylobacter. The population structure of Campylobacter isolates from broiler farms in Southern Ireland was diverse and weakly clonal

Determinants of participation in a web-based health risk assessment and consequences for health promotion programs

Background: The health risk assessment (HRA) is a type of health promotion program frequently offered at the workplace. Insight into the underlying determinants of participation is needed to evaluate and implement these interventions. Objective: To analyze whether individual characteristics including demographics, health behavior, self-rated health, and work-related factors are associated with participation and nonparticipation in a Web-based HRA. Methods: Determinants of participation and nonparticipation were investigated in a cross-sectional study among individuals employed at five Dutch organizations. Multivariate logistic regression was performed to identify determinants of participation and nonparticipation in the HRA after controlling for organization and all other variables. Results: Of the 8431 employees who were invited, 31.9% (2686/8431) enrolled in the HRA. The online questionnaire was completed by 27.2% (1564/5745) of the nonparticipants. Determinants of participation were some periods of stress at home or work in the preceding year (OR 1.62, 95% CI 1.08-2.42), a decreasing number of weekdays on which at least 30 minutes were spent on moderate to vigorous physical activity (ORdayPA0.84, 95% CI 0.79-0.90), and increasing alcohol consumption. Determinants of nonparticipation were less-than-positive self-rated health (poor/very poor vs very good, OR 0.25, 95% CI 0.08-0.81) and tobacco use (at least weekly vs none, OR 0.65, 95% CI 0.46-0.90). Conclusions: This study showed that with regard to isolated health behaviors (insufficient physical activity, excess alcohol consumption, and stress), those who could benefit most from the HRA were more likely to participate. However, tobacco users and those who rate

A Novel Multi-Antigen Virally Vectored Vaccine against Mycobacterium avium Subspecies paratuberculosis

BACKGROUND: Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis causes systemic infection and chronic intestinal inflammation in many species including primates. Humans are exposed through milk and from sources of environmental contamination. Hitherto, the only vaccines available against Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis have been limited to veterinary use and comprised attenuated or killed organisms. METHODS: We developed a vaccine comprising a fusion construct designated HAV, containing components of two secreted and two cell surface Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis proteins. HAV was transformed into DNA, human Adenovirus 5 (Ad5) and Modified Vaccinia Ankara (MVA) delivery vectors. Full length expression of the predicted 95 kDa fusion protein was confirmed. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Vaccination of naïve and Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis infected C57BL/6 mice using DNA-prime/MVA-boost or Ad5-prime/MVA-boost protocols was highly immunogenic resulting in significant IFN-gamma ELISPOT responses by splenocytes against recombinant vaccine antigens and a range of HAV specific peptides. This included strong recognition of a T-cell epitope GFAEINPIA located near the C-terminus of the fusion protein. Antibody responses to recombinant vaccine antigens and HAV specific peptides but not GFAEINPIA, also occurred. No immune recognition of vaccine antigens occurred in any sham vaccinated Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis infected mice. Vaccination using either protocol significantly attenuated pre-existing Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis infection measured by qPCR in spleen and liver and the Ad5-prime/MVA-boost protocol also conferred some protection against subsequent challenge. No adverse effects of vaccination occurred in any of the mice. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: A range of modern veterinary and clinical vaccines for the treatment and prevention of disease caused by Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis are needed. The present vaccine proved to be highly immunogenic without adverse effect in mice and both attenuated pre-existing Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis infection and conferred protection against subsequent challenge. Further studies of the present vaccine in naturally infected animals and humans are indicated

The latent stem cell population is retained in the hippocampus of transgenic Huntington's disease mice but not wild-type mice

The demonstration of the brain's ability to initiate repair in response to disease or injury has sparked considerable interest in therapeutic strategies to stimulate adult neurogenesis. In this study we examined the effect of a progressive neurodegenerative condition on neural precursor activity in the subventricular zone (SVZ) and hippocampus of the R6/1 transgenic mouse model of Huntington's disease (HD). Our results revealed an age-related decline in SVZ precursor numbers in both wild-type (WT) and HD mice. Interestingly, hippocampal precursor numbers declined with age in WT mice, although we observed maintenance in hippocampal precursor number in the HD animals in response to advancement of the disease. This maintenance was consistent with activation of a recently identified latent hippocampal precursor population. We found that the small latent stem cell population was also maintained in the HD hippocampus at 33 weeks, whereas it was not present in the WT. Our findings demonstrate that, despite a loss of neurogenesis in the HD hippocampus in vivo, there is a unique maintenance of the precursor and stem cells, which may potentially be activated to ameliorate disease symptoms