Longevity and mortality of owned dogs in England

Improved understanding of longevity represents a significant welfare opportunity for the domestic dog, given its unparalleled morphological diversity. Epidemiological research using electronic patient records (EPRs) collected from primary veterinary practices overcomes many inherent limitations of referral clinic, owner questionnaire and pet insurance data. Clinical health data from 102,609 owned dogs attending first opinion veterinary practices (n = 86) in central and southeast England were analysed, focusing on 5095 confirmed deaths. Of deceased dogs with information available, 3961 (77.9%) were purebred, 2386 (47.0%) were female, 2528 (49.8%) were neutered and 1105 (21.7%) were insured. The overall median longevity was 12.0 years (IQR 8.9–14.2). The longest-lived breeds were the Miniature poodle, Bearded collie, Border collie and Miniature dachshund, while the shortest-lived were the Dogue de Bordeaux and Great Dane. The most frequently attributed causes of death were neoplastic, musculoskeletal and neurological disorders. The results of multivariable modelling indicated that longevity in crossbred dogs exceeded purebred dogs by 1.2 years (95% confidence interval 0.9–1.4; P < 0.001) and that increasing bodyweight was negatively correlated with longevity. The current findings highlight major breed differences for longevity and support the concept of hybrid vigour in dogs

Approaches to canine health surveillance

Effective canine health surveillance systems can be used to monitor disease in the general population, prioritise disorders for strategic control and focus clinical research, and to evaluate the success of these measures. The key attributes for optimal data collection systems that support canine disease surveillance are representativeness of the general population, validity of disorder data and sustainability. Limitations in these areas present as selection bias, misclassification bias and discontinuation of the system respectively. Canine health data sources are reviewed to identify their strengths and weaknesses for supporting effective canine health surveillance. Insurance data benefit from large and well-defined denominator populations but are limited by selection bias relating to the clinical events claimed and animals covered. Veterinary referral clinical data offer good reliability for diagnoses but are limited by referral bias for the disorders and animals included. Primary-care practice data have the advantage of excellent representation of the general dog population and recording at the point of care by veterinary professionals but may encounter misclassification problems and technical difficulties related to management and analysis of large datasets. Questionnaire surveys offer speed and low cost but may suffer from low response rates, poor data validation, recall bias and ill-defined denominator population information. Canine health scheme data benefit from well-characterised disorder and animal data but reflect selection bias during the voluntary submissions process. Formal UK passive surveillance systems are limited by chronic under-reporting and selection bias. It is concluded that active collection systems using secondary health data provide the optimal resource for canine health surveillance

Prevalence of disorders recorded in Cavalier King Charles Spaniels attending primary-care veterinary practices in England

Concerns have been raised over breed-related health issues in purebred dogs, but reliable prevalence estimates for disorders within specific breeds are sparse. Electronically stored patient health records from primary-care practice are emerging as a useful source of epidemiological data in companion animals. This study used large volumes of health data from UK primary-care practices participating in the VetCompass animal health surveillance project to evaluate in detail the disorders diagnosed in a random selection of over 50% of dogs recorded as Cavalier King Charles Spaniels (CKCSs). Confirmation of breed using available microchip and Kennel Club (KC) registration data was attempted

An epidemiological study of diabetes mellitus in dogs attending first opinion practice in the UK

This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of canine diabetes mellitus (DM) in primary-care clinics in England, to identify risk factors associated with DM and to describe the survival of affected dogs. Cases of DM were identified within the electronic patient records of 89 small-animal practices. A nested case–control study identified risk factors for the diagnosis of DM using logistic regression models. Cox proportional hazards models were used to analyse variables associated with survival. Four-hundred and thirty-nine canine DM cases were identified, giving an apparent prevalence of 0.34% (95% CI 0.31% to 0.37%). Neutered males were at an increased risk of diabetes compared with entire males, whereas neutering was not associated with DM in females. When compared with crossbred dogs, Yorkshire terriers had increased odds, whereas German shepherd dogs and golden retrievers had lower odds of DM. Being classified as overweight and having a diagnosis of pancreatitis, hyperadrenocorticism or a urinary tract infection were positively associated with DM. Older dogs and those diagnosed with pancreatitis had a higher hazard of death, whereas insured and neutered dogs had a lower hazard. This study provides an objective assessment of canine DM using primary-care veterinary practice data and is a valuable benchmark against which future epidemiological trends in DM can be assessed and improvements in the management of DM in primary-care practice can be judged

Interpretation of combined wind profiler and aircraft-measured tropospheric winds and clear air turbulence

In the first experiment, it was found that wind profilers are far better suited for the detailed examination of jet stream structure than are weather balloons. The combination of good vertical resolution with not previously obtained temporal resolution reveals structural details not seen before. Development of probability-derived shear values appears possible. A good correlation between pilot reports of turbulence and wind shear was found. In the second experiment, hourly measurements of wind speed and direction obtained using two wind profiling Doppler radars during two prolonged jet stream occurrences over western Pennsylvania were analyzed. In particular, the time-variant characteristics of derived shear profiles were examined. Profiler data dropouts were studied in an attempt to determine possible reasons for the apparently reduced performance of profiling radar operating beneath a jet stream. Richardson number and wind shear statistics were examined along with pilot reports of turbulence in the vicinity of the profiler

Network ST radar and related measurements at Pennsylvania State University

Mesoscale meteorological measurements, analysis and prediction are some of the principal areas of research in the Department of Meteorology at Penn State. In anticipation of a staged turn-on of the three systems during the Summer and Fall of 1984, the nonconstruction-related efforts have focused on the software development necessary to allow essentially immediate use of network data. A 16-bit microcomputer has been programmed to serve as the network controller, communications interface and, at least for real-time purposes, the operational display system. Insofar as possible we have in this task built upon our substantial accumulated experience in working with the processing and display of Doppler sodar system signals. Once the radar-derived wind and turbulence profiles are communicated to the various interconnected Departmental computers they become just one component of a comprehensive data base which can be applied to a diverse set of ongoing basic and operational research programs

Mesoscale variability of free tropospheric humidity near San Nicolas Island during FIRE

Humidity variability at the top of the marine boundary layer (MBL) and in the free troposphere was examined using a variety of measurements taken on and around San Nicolas Island (SNI) during the FIRE IFO in July, 1987. Doppler wind profiler reflectivity recorded at two minute time resolution has provided the most continuous record and detail of small scale humidity fluctuations. Rawinsonde data were available from both an island site and the research vessel Point Sur. The information extractable from these sources is somewhat limited due to the frequency of launches (3 to 4/day at SNI and 6/day on the Point Sur). Some additional data were available from instrumented aircraft although scheduling flights in the neighborhood of the island was difficult due to restrictions on the air space. Other relevant data were collected at SNI near the radar and rawinsonde launch sites. A continuous record of cloud base altitude was logged by a ceilometer. Doppler acoustic sounder (sodar) reflectivity data provided a good record of inversion height. The sodar also monitored turbulent temperature fluctuations in the MBL. A small ground station recorded hourly averages of solar irradiance and downward longwave irradiance. The analysis in progress of the various data sets for two adjacent two day periods from 11 July to 14 July is described. The earlier period was chosen because the marine inversion was unusually high and there was increased frequency of rawinsonde launches at SNI. The later period was chosen because of the significant descent with time of an elevated inversion indicated by the radar data. Throughout the four day period, but especially in the first half, the turbulent humidity structure calculated from Doppler radar reflectivity shows excellent agreement with humidity profiles evaluated from rawinsonde data

A very British national security state: Formal and informal institutions in the design of UK security policy

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from SAGE Publications via the DOI in this record.What are the roles of government institutions in the design and implementation of effective national security policy? Using the case of post-2010 reform to Britain’s central government security policy machinery, we find that formal institutions can help the informal strategy-making institutions on their periphery to function better. Through interviews with 25 senior officials, we find that Britain’s National Security Council and quinquennial Strategic Defence and Security Reviews – both instituted in 2010 with the intention of improving UK security policymaking – remain limited as formal makers of national strategy. But the networks of individuals and ideas they support, by absolving some decision-makers of audience costs while immersing others in creative yet coherent strategy-development communities, have improved the overall quality of UK security policymaking compared to its pre-2010 condition. This finding also carries implications for other contexts and thus represents a promising avenue for future research

Quantum Analogue Computing

We briefly review what a quantum computer is, what it promises to do for us, and why it is so hard to build one. Among the first applications anticipated to bear fruit is quantum simulation of quantum systems. While most quantum computation is an extension of classical digital computation, quantum simulation differs fundamentally in how the data is encoded in the quantum computer. To perform a quantum simulation, the Hilbert space of the system to be simulated is mapped directly onto the Hilbert space of the (logical) qubits in the quantum computer. This type of direct correspondence is how data is encoded in a classical analogue computer. There is no binary encoding, and increasing precision becomes exponentially costly: an extra bit of precision doubles the size of the computer. This has important consequences for both the precision and error correction requirements of quantum simulation, and significant open questions remain about its practicality. It also means that the quantum version of analogue computers, continuous variable quantum computers (CVQC) becomes an equally efficient architecture for quantum simulation. Lessons from past use of classical analogue computers can help us to build better quantum simulators in future.Comment: 10 pages, to appear in the Visions 2010 issue of Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc.