Spatial and temporal evolution of an experimental debris flow, exhibiting coupled fluid and particulate phases

The internal behaviour of debris flows provides fundamental insight into the mechanics responsible for their motion. We provide robust velocity data within a small-scale experimental debris flow, consisting of the instantaneous release of a granular material along a rectangular flume, inclined at 31∘. The results show a unique layered transition from a collisional, turbulent front to a non-fluctuating viscous-type flow body, exhibiting strong fluid-particulate coupling. This is the first time that the internal dynamics have been documented within the full architecture of a developing experimental debris flow, from the head to the tail

Building Babies - Chapter 16

In contrast to birds, male mammals rarely help to raise the offspring. Of all mammals, only among rodents, carnivores, and primates, males are sometimes intensively engaged in providing infant care (Kleiman and Malcolm 1981). Male caretaking of infants has long been recognized in nonhuman primates (Itani 1959). Given that infant care behavior can have a positive effect on the infant’s development, growth, well-being, or survival, why are male mammals not more frequently involved in “building babies”? We begin the chapter defining a few relevant terms and introducing the theory and hypotheses that have historically addressed the evolution of paternal care. We then review empirical findings on male care among primate taxa, before focusing, in the final section, on our own work on paternal care in South American owl monkeys (Aotus spp.). We conclude the chapter with some suggestions for future studies.Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (HU 1746/2-1) Wenner-Gren Foundation, the L.S.B. Leakey Foundation, the National Geographic Society, the National Science Foundation (BCS-0621020), the University of Pennsylvania Research Foundation, the Zoological Society of San Dieg

Garden and landscape-scale correlates of moths of differing conservation status: significant effects of urbanization and habitat diversity

Moths are abundant and ubiquitous in vegetated terrestrial environments and are pollinators, important herbivores of wild plants, and food for birds, bats and rodents. In recent years, many once abundant and widespread species have shown sharp declines that have been cited by some as indicative of a widespread insect biodiversity crisis. Likely causes of these declines include agricultural intensification, light pollution, climate change, and urbanization; however, the real underlying cause(s) is still open to conjecture. We used data collected from the citizen science Garden Moth Scheme (GMS) to explore the spatial association between the abundance of 195 widespread British species of moth, and garden habitat and landscape features, to see if spatial habitat and landscape associations varied for species of differing conservation status. We found that associations with habitat and landscape composition were species-specific, but that there were consistent trends in species richness and total moth abundance. Gardens with more diverse and extensive microhabitats were associated with higher species richness and moth abundance; gardens near to the coast were associated with higher richness and moth abundance; and gardens in more urbanized locations were associated with lower species richness and moth abundance. The same trends were also found for species classified as increasing, declining and vulnerable under IUCN (World Conservation Union) criteria

Predicting Impacts of Climate Change on Fasciola hepatica Risk

Fasciola hepatica (liver fluke) is a physically and economically devastating parasitic trematode whose rise in recent years has been attributed to climate change. Climate has an impact on the free-living stages of the parasite and its intermediate host Lymnaea truncatula, with the interactions between rainfall and temperature having the greatest influence on transmission efficacy. There have been a number of short term climate driven forecasts developed to predict the following season's infection risk, with the Ollerenshaw index being the most widely used. Through the synthesis of a modified Ollerenshaw index with the UKCP09 fine scale climate projection data we have developed long term seasonal risk forecasts up to 2070 at a 25 km square resolution. Additionally UKCIP gridded datasets at 5 km square resolution from 1970-2006 were used to highlight the climate-driven increase to date. The maps show unprecedented levels of future fasciolosis risk in parts of the UK, with risk of serious epidemics in Wales by 2050. The seasonal risk maps demonstrate the possible change in the timing of disease outbreaks due to increased risk from overwintering larvae. Despite an overall long term increase in all regions of the UK, spatio-temporal variation in risk levels is expected. Infection risk will reduce in some areas and fluctuate greatly in others with a predicted decrease in summer infection for parts of the UK due to restricted water availability. This forecast is the first approximation of the potential impacts of climate change on fasciolosis risk in the UK. It can be used as a basis for indicating where active disease surveillance should be targeted and where the development of improved mitigation or adaptation measures is likely to bring the greatest benefits

The Effect of Pose on the distribution of Edge Gradients in Omnidirectional Images

Images from omnidirectional cameras are used frequently in applications involving artificial intelligence and robotics as a source of rich information about the surroundings. A useful feature that can be extracted from these images is the distribution of gradients of the edges in the scene. This distribution is affected by the pose of the camera on-board a robot at any given location in the environment. This paper investigates the effect of the pose on this distribution. The gradients in the images are extracted and arranged into a histogram which is then compared to the histograms of other images using a chi-squared test. It is found that any differences in the distribution are not specific to either the position or orientation and that there is a significant difference in the distributions of two separate locations. This can aid in the localisation of robots when navigating

Assessing mechanical integrity of spinal fusion by in situ endochondral osteoinduction in the murine model

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Historically, radiographs, micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) exams, palpation and histology have been used to assess fusions in a mouse spine. The objective of this study was to develop a faster, cheaper, reproducible test to directly quantify the mechanical integrity of spinal fusions in mice.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Fusions were induced in ten mice spine using a previously described technique of in situ endochondral ossification, harvested with soft tissue, and cast in radiolucent alginate material for handling. Using a validated software package and a customized mechanical apparatus that flexed and extended the spinal column, the amount of intervertebral motion between adjacent vertebral discs was determined with static flexed and extended lateral spine radiographs. Micro-CT images of the same were also blindly reviewed for fusion.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Mean intervertebral motion between control, non-fused, spinal vertebral discs was 6.1 ± 0.2° during spine flexion/extension. In fusion samples, adjacent vertebrae with less than 3.5° intervertebral motion had fusions documented by micro-CT inspection.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Measuring the amount of intervertebral rotation between vertebrae during spine flexion/extension is a relatively simple, cheap (<$100), clinically relevant, and fast test for assessing the mechanical success of spinal fusion in mice that compared favorably to the standard, micro-CT.</p

Visual detail about the body modulates tactile localisation biases

The localisation of tactile stimuli requires the integration of visual and somatosensory inputs within an internal representation of the body surface, and is prone to consistent bias. Joints may play a role in segmenting such internal body representations, and may therefore influence tactile localisation biases, although the nature of this influence remains unclear. Here, we investigate the relationship between conceptual knowledge of joint locations and tactile localisation biases on the hand. In one task, participants localised tactile stimuli applied to the dorsum of their hand. A distal localisation bias was observed in all participants, consistent with previous results. We also manipulated the availability of visual information during this task, to determine whether the absence of this information could account for the distal bias observed here and by Mancini and colleagues (2011). The observed distal bias increased in magnitude when visual information was restricted, without a corresponding decrease in precision. In a separate task, the same participants indicated, from memory, knuckle locations on a silhouette image of their hand. Analogous distal biases were also seen in the knuckle localisation task. The accuracy of conceptual joint knowledge was not correlated with tactile localisation bias magnitude, although a similarity in observed bias direction suggests that both tasks may rely on a common, higher-order body representation. These results also suggest that distortions of conceptual body representation may be more common in healthy individuals than previously thought

Low utilization of health care services following screening for hypertension in Dar es Salaam (Tanzania): a prospective population-based study

Drug therapy in high-risk individuals has been advocated as an important strategy to reduce cardiovascular disease in low income countries. We determined, in a low-income urban population, the proportion of persons who utilized health services after having been diagnosed as hypertensive and advised to seek health care for further hypertension management. A population-based survey of 9254 persons aged 25-64 years was conducted in Dar es Salaam. Among the 540 persons with high blood pressure (defined here as BP >or= 160/95 mmHg) at the initial contact, 253 (47%) had high BP on a 4th visit 45 days later. Among them, 208 were untreated and advised to attend health care in a health center of their choice for further management of their hypertension. One year later, 161 were seen again and asked about their use of health services during the interval. Among the 161 hypertensive persons advised to seek health care, 34% reported to have attended a formal health care provider during the 12-month interval (63% public facility; 30% private; 7% both). Antihypertensive treatment was taken by 34% at some point of time (suggesting poor uptake of health services) and 3% at the end of the 12-month follow-up (suggesting poor long-term compliance). Health services utilization tended to be associated with older age, previous history of high BP, being overweight and non-smoking, but not with education or wealth. Lack of symptoms and cost of treatment were the reasons reported most often for not attending health care. Low utilization of health services after hypertension screening suggests a small impact of a patient-centered screen-and-treat strategy in this low-income population. These findings emphasize the need to identify and address barriers to health care utilization for non-communicable diseases in this setting and, indirectly, the importance of public health measures for primary prevention of these diseases

Physicochemical and biological characterization of 1E10 Anti-Idiotype vaccine

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>1E10 monoclonal antibody is a murine anti-idiotypic antibody that mimics N-glycolyl-GM3 gangliosides. This antibody has been tested as an anti-idiotypic cancer vaccine, adjuvated in Al(OH)₃, in several clinical trials for melanoma, breast, and lung cancer. During early clinical development this mAb was obtained <it>in vivo </it>from mice ascites fluid. Currently, the production process of 1E10 is being transferred from the <it>in vivo </it>to a bioreactor-based method.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Here, we present a comprehensive molecular and immunological characterization of 1E10 produced by the two different production processes in order to determine the impact of the manufacturing process in vaccine performance. We observed differences in glycosylation pattern, charge heterogeneity and structural stability between <it>in vivo</it>-produced 1E10 and bioreactor-obtained 1E10. Interestingly, these modifications had no significant impact on the immune responses elicited in two different animal models.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Changes in 1E10 primary structure like glycosylation; asparagine deamidation and oxidation affected 1E10 structural stability but did not affect the immune response elicited in mice and chickens when compared to 1E10 produced in mice.</p

Dementia and COVID-19 in New Zealand, Chile, and Germany: A Research Agenda for Cross-Country Learning for Resilience in Health Care Systems

The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed existing gaps in policies, systems and services, stressing the need for concerted global action on healthy aging. Similar to the COVID-19 pandemic, dementia is a challenge for health systems on a global scale. Our hypothesis is that translational potential lies in cross-country learning by involving three high-income countries with distinct geo political-cultural-social systems in Latin America (Chile), the South Pacific (New Zealand) and Eu rope (Germany). Our vision is that such cross-country learning will lead to providing adequate, equitable and sustainable care and support for families living with dementia during a pandemic and beyond. We are proposing a vision for research that takes a multi-disciplinary, strength-based approach at the intersection of health care research, disaster research, global health research and dementia research. We present some insights in support of our hypothesis and proposed research agenda. We anticipate that this research has the potential to contribute towards strengthening and transforming health care systems in times of crises and beyond