Ferroelectricity in Dion–Jacobson ABiNb2O7(A = Rb, Cs) compounds

The ferroelectric properties of 2-layer Dion–Jacobson compounds ABiNb2O7 (A = Rb and Cs) were studied. Ferroelectricity and piezoelectricity of CsBiNb2O7 were demonstrated for the first time. The ferroelectric domain structure of Dion–Jacobson compounds were imaged using PFM. The Curie points of RbBiNb2O7 and CsBiNb2O7 are 1098 ± 5 and 1033 ± 5 °C, respectively. The piezoelectric constant of RbBiNb2O7 and CsBiNb2O7 are approximately 5 and 8 pC N−1. Thermal depoling was also studied to confirm the Curie temperature and the stability of the piezoelectricit

Using the ideas café to explore trust in autonomous vehicles

© Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature 2019. Trust has been shown to play a key role in our ability to safely use autonomous vehicles; hence the authors used the Ideas Café to explore the factors affecting trust in autonomous vehicles. The Ideas Café is an informal collaborative event that brings the public together with domain experts for exploratory research. The authors structured the event around factors affecting trust in the technology, privacy and societal impact. The event followed a mixed methods approach using: table discussions, spectrum lines and line ups. 36 participants attended the Ideas Café event held at the Coventry Transport Museum in June 2017. Table discussions provided the key findings for Thematic Analysis as part of Grounded Theory; which found, contrary to current research trends, designing for the technology’s integration with society as equally important for trust as the vehicle design itself. The authors also reported on the emergent high level interface guidelines

Influence of Whitebark Pine Decline on Fall Habitat Use and Movements of Grizzly Bears in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem

Seeds of whitebark pine (WBP; Pinus albicaulis) are a major food item for grizzly bears (Ursus arctos) in the greater Yellowstone ecosystem. Higher rates of bear mortality and bear-human conflicts are linked with low WBP productivity. Recently, infestations of mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae) have killed many mature, cone-bearing WBP trees. We investigated whether this decline caused bears to reduce their use of WBP and increase use of areas near humans. We used 52,332 GPS locations of 72 individuals (89 bear-years) monitored during fall (15 Aug–30 Sep) to examine temporal changes in habitat use and movements during 2000–2011. We calculated a Manley-Chesson (MC) index for selectivity of mapped WBP habitats for each individual within its 100% local convex hull home range, and determined dates of WBP use. One third of sampled grizzly bears had fall ranges with little or no mapped WBP habitat. Most other bears (72%) had a MC index > 0.5, indicating selection for WBP habitats. Over the study period, mean MC index decreased and median date of WBP use shifted about 1 week later. We detected no trends in movement indices over time. Outside of national parks, 78 percent of bears selected for secure habitat (areas ? 500 m from roads), but mean MC index decreased over the study period during years of good WBP productivity. The foraging plasticity of grizzly bears likely allowed them to adjust to declining WBP. However, the reduction in mortality risk associated with use of WBP habitat may be diminishing for bears in multiple-use areas

Population monitoring of a Critically Endangered antelope, the mountain bongo, using camera traps and a novel identification scheme

Conservation monitoring is paramount for the gathering of information on species and populations in need of conservation actions. However, monitoring of the mountain bongo Tragelaphus eurycerus isaaci, a Critically Endangered antelope endemic to Kenya, has hitherto been limited to surveillance (i.e. focused on persistence of the species in particular areas), thus limiting the information that could be retrieved on the status and trends of these populations. Using a newly developed identification system, we implemented robust design mark–recapture using existing camera-trap records of four wild subpopulations of the bongo. We provide data on sex and age structure and the first estimates of population size in the wild. Males and calves seem to be suffering higher mortality than females, and only two of the four monitored populations include adults of both sexes and calves. The combined size of these two breeding populations is estimated to be 29–50. Our findings confirm the critical situation of the mountain bongo in the wild and highlight the need for conservation actions to reinforce the wild populations for the long-term conservation of this antelope

Patient reported outcome measures (PROMs) in Radiotherapy: Qualitative results of a survey of healthcare professionals

Background: Radiotherapy provides an effective treatment modality in the management of various malignancies. However, many patients develop acute and long-term toxicities that present a significant burden to their quality of life1,2. Such toxicities are often underreported by clinicians, and therefore patient-reported outcome measures(PROMs) present a more robust assessment3. Despite the clear advantages of PROMs including stratified follow-up and evaluation of clinical effectiveness, safety and cost, barriers exist at patient, healthcare professional(HCP) and service levels3,4. Most commonly, perceived lack of time/PROMs training for HCPS, poor IT infrastructure and lack of PROMs integration into existing systems create barriers3. The NHS England Radiotherapy Service Specification calls for routine use of PROMS, which requires effective implementation within radiotherapy5. Several ‘enablers’ to PROMs implementation have been identified, including use of electronic PROMs, automatic data interpretation and HCP training3,4,6. This study aimed to identify current PROMs use within radiotherapy nationally, to evaluate current attitudes, barriers and enablers to PROMs use, and to develop practical recommendations to implement PROMs within UK radiotherapy services. The qualitative findings are presented here. Methods: An e-questionnaire consisting of 12 open and multiple-choice questions was developed. The questionnaire was piloted by radiotherapy professionals, and disseminated via email across all radiotherapy operational delivery network(ODN) managers, covering the entirety of England. 182 participants were recruited across a range of professions including therapeutic radiographers, nurses and researchers. A mixed-methods approach was utilised; thematic analysis of free-text responses provided qualitative data, whilst statistical analysis was performed on quantitative results. Results: Inductive thematic analysis of questionnaire responses resulted in identification of key themes related to the barriers and enablers of PROMs use within radiotherapy. Interestingly, identical themes emerged associated with participants’ perceptions of both barriers/enablers, with an additional theme identified pertaining to potential enablers of PROMs: Barriers - Themes: 1. I.T. Infrastructure 2. Time 3. Resources(Human/Financial) 4. Training/Education Enablers - Themes: 1. I.T. Infrastructure 2. Time 3. Resources(Human/Financial) 4. Training/Education 5. Standardisation Conclusion: Our findings further demonstrate the paucity of routine PROMs use within radiotherapy. Here, we provide recommendations to mitigate barriers and implement PROMs; such steps include HCP training on PROMs and development/integration of electronic systems. Standardisation of PROMs tools and centralised data storage is essential to assessing radiotherapy toxicity data nationally and informing practice. Referral pathways to existing specialist services are fundamental to ensuring PROMs data are used meaningfully. This study provides an important first step in driving PROMs implementation within UK radiotherapy services. References 1. Miller, K., Nogueira, L., Mariotto, A., Rowland, J., Yabroff, R., Alfano, C., et al. (2019). Cancer treatment and survivorship statistics 2019. CA: A Cancer Journal For Clincians. https://doi.org/10.3322/caac.21565 2. Macmillan Cancer Support. Cured – but at what cost? Long-term consequences of cancer and its treatment. [ Internet] (2013). Available at: https://www.macmillan.org.uk/documents/aboutus/newsroom/consequences_of_treatment_june2013.pdf [Accessed online 28th March 2021]. 3. Nguyen, H., Butow, P., Dhillon, H. & Sundaresan, P. (2020a). A review of the barriers to using Patient-Reported Outcomes (PROs) and Patient-Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) in routine cancer care. Journal of Medical Radiation Sciences. 00, 1-10. Doi: 10.1002/jmrs.421 4. Kingsley, C. & Patel, S. (2017). Patient-reported outcome measures and patient-reported experience measures. British Journal of Anaesthesia. 17, 137-144. doi: 10.1093/bjaed/mkw060 5. National Health Service (NHS) England (2019). Service Specification 170091S: Adult External Beam Radiotherapy Services Delivered as Part of a Radiotherapy Network. Available at: https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/External-Beam-Radiotherapy-Services-Delivered-as-Part-of-a-Radiotherapy-Network-Adults.pdf [Accessed online 10th April 2021]. 6. Howell, D., Molloy, S., Wilkinson, K., Green, E., Orchard, K., Wang, K. & Liberty, J. (2015). Patient-reported outcomes in routine cancer clinical practice: a scoping review of use, impact on health outcomes, and implementation factors. Annals of Oncology. 26, 1846-1858. doi: 10.1093/annonc/mdv18

Is the digital rectal exam any good as a prostate cancer screening test?

© The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY), https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/There is no shortage of references in popular culture to the prostate examination, with many a laugh built on the punchline of the finger up the bum. Interestingly, while cervical, breast, or bowel screening share barriers to uptake around the intimacy of the examination, ‘ick-factor’, or cultural taboos, they have never become comedy tropes — reflecting the uniquely emasculating perception of the rectal examination.Peer reviewe

Trends in Causes and Distribution, and Effects of Whitebark Pine Decline on Grizzly Bear Mortality in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem

Documented grizzly bear (Ursus arctos) mortalities have been increasing in recent years in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE), due, in part, to increases in bear numbers and range expansion. Previous research has documented that variable seed production of whitebark pine (WBP; Pinus albicaulis), an important fall food, is inversely related to grizzly bear fall mortality.  However, WBP has experienced widespread mortality during the last decade because of mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae) infestations. We investigated trends in causes and distribution of human-caused mortalities for independent-aged (? 2 yrs old) grizzly bears in the GYE during 1975–2012, and the effect of WBP cone production on numbers of fall (> 1 August) mortalities (n = 172) during the period of WBP decline (2000-2012) using Poisson regression. During 1975–1982, 91 percent of mortalities occurred within the Grizzly Bear Recovery Zone and primary causes were poaching/malicious killings and losses related to conflicts with livestock. During the two most recent decades most mortalities were associated with ungulate hunting, usually involving self-defense kills, or anthropogenic sites, and an increasing percentage of mortalities occurred outside the recovery zone. Using predictor variables of cone production, sex, location in or out of the Recovery Zone, and year suggests: 1) annual cone production was still predictive of human-caused fall mortalities, 2) no evidence of a difference in annual numbers of fall mortalities between males and females, and 3) an increase in annual mortalities over the study period, with most of this increase outside the Recovery Zone

Estimating Grizzly Bear Use of Large Ungulate Carcasses With GPS Telemetry Data

Ungulate meat is among the most calorie-rich food sources available to grizzly bears  (Ursus arctos) in the greater Yellowstone ecosystem (GYE). However, the ephemeral and unpredictable nature of carcasses makes them difficult to study and their influence on grizzly bear foraging and spatial ecology is poorly understood. We developed a spatial-clustering technique specifically for detecting grizzly bear use of large ungulate carcasses using Global Positioning System (GPS) telemetry locations (n = 54 bear years). We used the DBScan algorithm to identify GPS clusters of individual bears (n = 2,038) and intersected these clusters with an independent dataset of site  visits to recent bear movement paths based from randomly selected days (n = 732 site visits; 2004–2011) resulting in 174 clusters associated with field measured bear behavior. Using a suite of predictor variables derived from GPS telemetry locations, e.g., duration of cluster, area used, activity sensor values, re-visitation rate, we used multinomial logistic regression to predict the probability of belonging to  each of the five response classes (resting, multiple-use, low-biomass carcass, high-biomass carcass, old carcass). Focusing on the high-biomass carcass category, for which our top model correctly classified 88 percent of the carcasses correctly, we applied our approach to a larger dataset of GPS data to examine trends in large-ungulate carcass using of grizzly bears in the GYE from 2002-2011. We found quantitative support for a positive effect of year and mortality adjusted white bark pine cone counts on the carcass-use index during the fall months (Sep and Oct) from 2002-2011

Defining the ABC of gene essentiality in streptococci

Background Utilising next generation sequencing to interrogate saturated bacterial mutant libraries provides unprecedented information for the assignment of genome-wide gene essentiality. Exposure of saturated mutant libraries to specific conditions and subsequent sequencing can be exploited to uncover gene essentiality relevant to the condition. Here we present a barcoded transposon directed insertion-site sequencing (TraDIS) system to define an essential gene list for Streptococcus equi subsp. equi, the causative agent of strangles in horses, for the first time. The gene essentiality data for this group C Streptococcus was compared to that of group A and B streptococci. Results Six barcoded variants of pGh9:ISS1 were designed and used to generate mutant libraries containing between 33,000-66,000 unique mutants. TraDIS was performed on DNA extracted from each library and data were analysed separately and as a combined master pool. Gene essentiality determined that 19.5% of the S. equi genome was essential. Gene essentialities were compared to those of group A and group B streptococci, identifying concordances of 90.2% and 89.4%, respectively and an overall concordance of 83.7% between the three species. Conclusions The use of barcoded pGh9:ISS1 to generate mutant libraries provides a highly useful tool for the assignment of gene function in S. equi and other streptococci. The shared essential gene set of group A, B and C streptococci provides further evidence of the close genetic relationships between these important pathogenic bacteria. Therefore, the ABC of gene essentiality reported here provides a solid foundation towards reporting the functional genome of streptococci