Gyrodactylus orecchiae sp. n. (Monogenea: Gyrodactylidae) from farmed populations of gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata) in the Adriatic Sea

Gyrodactylus orecchiae sp. n. (Monogenea, Gyrodactylidae) is described from the skin, fins, eyes and gills of juvenile Sparus aurata L. (gilthead seabream) following two outbreaks of gyrodactylosis amongst stocks held in inshore floating cages on the Adriatic coast of Albania and Croatia. Fish were heavily infected (1000+ gyrodactylids/fish) with G. orecchiae which reportedly resulted in ~2–10% mortality amongst the infected stock. Morphologically, the haptoral hooks of G. orecchiae most closely resemble those of Gyrodactylus arcuatus Bychowsky, 1933 in the approximate shape of the ventral bar with its pronounced ventral bar processes and marginal hook sickles which possess a square line to the inner edge of the sickle blade and large rounded heels. The marginal hooks are also morphologically similar to those of Gyrodactylus quadratidigitus Longshaw, Pursglove et Shinn, 2003 and Gyrodactylus colemanensis Mizelle et Kritsky, 1967, but G. orecchiae can be readily discriminated from all three species by the characteristic infolding of the hamuli roots and the shape of the marginal hook sickle. Molecular sequencing of the ITS1, 5.8S, ITS2 regions (513+157+404 bp, respectively) of G. orecchiae and alignment with other gyrodactylids for which these same genomic regions have been determined, suggests that this is a new species. No similarities were found when the ITS1 region of G. orecchiae was compared with 84 species of Gyrodactylus available on GenBank

Assessment of COPD wellness tools for use in primary care:an IPCRG initiative

COPD is considered a complex disease and global problem that is predicted to be the third most common cause of death by 2030. While managing this chronic condition, primary health care practitioners are faced with the ongoing challenge of achieving good quality of life and overall "wellness" for those affected. As such, a practical tool for monitoring quality of life in a clinical setting is required. However, due to the wide variety of general and disease-specific tools from which to choose, primary health care practitioners are given minimal guidance as to which tool may be most appropriate. To address these challenges, the International Primary Care Respiratory Group (IPCRG) proposed the creation of a user's guide for primary health care practitioners to assess "wellness" in COPD patients in an everyday clinical setting. This short report outlines the process by which the IPCRG Users' Guide to COPD "Wellness" Tools was developed. It also describes why this guide has the potential to be of great value in guiding primary health care practitioners to improve patient wellness

Serum Concentrations of Legacy and Emerging Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances in the Anniston Community Health Surveys (ACHS I and ACHS II)

Background Residents of Anniston Alabama were highly exposed to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) due to longstanding manufacturing in the area. The Anniston Community Health Surveys (ACHS I-2005–2007 and II, 2014) have linked these exposures with a variety of deletereous health outcomes. In addition to PCBs, these individuals were likely simultaneously exposed to other persistent organic pollutants including per and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), which are an emerging class of ubiquitous industrial chemicals that are measurable in the blood of most individuals and have themselves been linked increased risk of some non communicable diseases. Methods To characterize PFAS exposures in ACHS I and ACHS II, we measured eight environmentally significant PFAS in serum by UPLC coupled electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry. Perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS), Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), Perfluorononanoate (PFNA), Perfluorohexane sulfonate (PFHxS), Perfluoroheptanoic acid (PFHpA), Perfluorobutanesulfonic acid (PFBS), Hexafluoropropylene oxide dimer acid (HFPO-DA), and 4:2 Fluorotelomer sulfonic acid (4.2 FTS) were extracted from matched serum samples of individuals who participated in the original ACHS I (2005–2007; n = 297) and the follow up ACHS II (2014; n = 336). Data were collected in negative multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode with monitoring of quantitation and qualifier ions for all target PFAS analytes, surrogates and internal standards. VARCLUS procedure was used to create hierarchical clusters between PFAS and other legacy persistent organic pollutants which may share similar exposure routes. Results Overall, circulating PFAS levels decreased approximately 50% from ACHS I (2005–2007) to ACHS II (2014), but these changes varied by compound. Mean levels of PFOS were \u3e3 times higher in ACHS I subjects than in conpemporaneous NHANES subjects (2005–2006; ACHS I mean: 71.1 ng/ml; NHANES mean: 20.2 ng/mL), and this relationship persisted in ACHS II subjects (2014: ACHS II mean: 34.7 ng/ml; NHANES mean: 5.92 ng/mL). PFNA was also higher in both ACHS I and ACHS II subjects in comparision to NHANES whereas levels of PFOA and PFHxS were lower than in NHANES. Finally, cluster analysis revealed that in ACHS II, most PFAS tracked with polybrominated diphenyl ethers, except PFNA and PFHpA which clustered with industrial PCBs. In ACHS I, PFAS analytes correlated more closely with industrial PCBs and chlorinated pesticides. Conclusions Participants in the Anniston Community Health Surveys have higher levels of PFOS and PFNA than the general population with average PFOS levels \u3e3 times contemporaneous NHANES levels. Since PFAS were not known to be manufactured in the area, more work needs to be completed to determine if population demographics, proximity to a military base, or regional manufacturing can explain the elevated levels

Improving primary care management of asthma:do we know what really works?

Asthma imposes a substantial burden on individuals and societies. Patients with asthma need high-quality primary care management; however, evidence suggests the quality of this care can be highly variable. Here we identify and report factors contributing to high-quality management. Twelve primary care global asthma experts, representing nine countries, identified key factors. A literature review (past 10 years) was performed to validate or refute the expert viewpoint. Key driving factors identified were: policy, clinical guidelines, rewards for performance, practice organisation and workforce. Further analysis established the relevant factor components. Review evidence supported the validity of each driver; however, impact on patient outcomes was uncertain. Single interventions (e.g. healthcare practitioner education) showed little effect; interventions driven by national policy (e.g. incentive schemes and teamworking) were more effective. The panel's opinion, supported by literature review, concluded that multiple primary care interventions offer greater benefit than any single intervention in asthma management

Deducing transport properties of mobile vacancies from perovskite solar cell characteristics

The absorber layers in perovskite solar cells possess a high concentration of mobile ion vacancies. These vacancies undertake thermally activated hops between neighboring lattice sites. The mobile vacancy concentration N 0 is much higher and the activation energy E A for ion hops is much lower than is seen in most other semiconductors due to the inherent softness of perovskite materials. The timescale at which the internal electric field changes due to ion motion is determined by the vacancy diffusion coefficient D v and is similar to the timescale on which the external bias changes by a significant fraction of the open-circuit voltage at typical scan rates. Therefore, hysteresis is often observed in which the shape of the current-voltage, J-V, characteristic depends on the direction of the voltage sweep. There is also evidence that this defect migration plays a role in degradation. By employing a charge transport model of coupled ion-electron conduction in a perovskite solar cell, we show that E A for the ion species responsible for hysteresis can be obtained directly from measurements of the temperature variation of the scan-rate dependence of the short-circuit current and of the hysteresis factor H. This argument is validated by comparing E A deduced from measured J-V curves for four solar cell structures with density functional theory calculations. In two of these structures, the perovskite is MAPbI 3, where MA is methylammonium, CH 3 NH 3; the hole transport layer (HTL) is spiro (spiro-OMeTAD, 2,2 ′,7,7 ′- tetrakis[N,N-di(4-methoxyphenyl) amino]-9,9 ′-spirobifluorene) and the electron transport layer (ETL) is TiO 2 or SnO 2. For the third and fourth structures, the perovskite layer is FAPbI 3, where FA is formamidinium, HC (NH 2) 2, or MAPbBr 3, and in both cases, the HTL is spiro and the ETL is SnO 2. For all four structures, the hole and electron extracting electrodes are Au and fluorine doped tin oxide, respectively. We also use our model to predict how the scan rate dependence of the power conversion efficiency varies with E A, N 0, and parameters determining free charge recombination. </p

Linkage between solid-phase apportionment and bioaccessible arsenic, chromium and lead in soil from Glasgow, Scotland, UK

The chemical composition of soil from the Glasgow (UK) urban area was used to identify the controls on the availability of potentially harmful elements (PHEs) in soil to humans. Total and bioaccessible concentrations of arsenic (As), chromium (Cr) and lead (Pb) in 27 soil samples, collected from different land uses, were coupled to information on their solid-phase partitioning derived from sequential extraction data. The total element concentrations in the soils were in the range <0.1–135mgkg–1 for As; 65–3680mgkg–1 for Cr and 126–2160mgkg–1 for Pb, with bioaccessible concentrations averaging 27, 5 and 27% of the total values, respectively. Land use does not appear to be a predictor of contamination; however, the history of the contamination is critically important. The Chemometric Identification of Substrates and Element Distribution (CISED) sequential chemical extraction and associated self-modelling mixture resolution analysis identified three sample groupings and 16 geochemically distinct phases (substrates). These were related to iron (n=3), aluminium–silicon (Al–Si; n=2), calcium (n=3), phosphorus (n=1), magnesium (Mg; n=3), manganese (n=1) and easily extractable (n=3), which was predominantly made up of sodium and sulphur. As, Cr and Pb were respectively found in 9, 10 and 12 of the identified phases, with bioaccessible As predominantly associated with easily extractable phases, bioaccessible Cr with the Mg-dominated phases and bioaccessible Pb with both the Mg-dominated and Al–Si phases. Using a combination of the Unified Barge Method to measure the bioaccessibility of PHEs and CISED to identify the geochemical sources has allowed a much better understanding of the complexity of PHE mobility in the Glasgow urban environment. This approach can be applied to other urban environments and cases of soil contamination, and made part of land-use planning

An evaluation of the performance in the UK Royal College of Anaesthetists primary examination by UK medical school and gender

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>There has been comparatively little consideration of the impact that the changes to undergraduate curricula might have on postgraduate academic performance. This study compares the performance of graduates by UK medical school and gender in the Multiple Choice Question (MCQ) section of the first part of the Fellowship of the Royal College of Anaesthetists (FRCA) examination.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Data from each sitting of the MCQ section of the primary FRCA examination from June 1999 to May 2008 were analysed for performance by medical school and gender.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>There were 4983 attempts at the MCQ part of the examination by 3303 graduates from the 19 United Kingdom medical schools. Using the standardised overall mark minus the pass mark graduates from five medical schools performed significantly better than the mean for the group and five schools performed significantly worse than the mean for the group. Males performed significantly better than females in all aspects of the MCQ – physiology, mean difference = 3.0% (95% CI 2.3, 3.7), p < 0.001; pharmacology, mean difference = 1.7% (95% CI 1.0, 2.3), p < 0.001; physics with clinical measurement, mean difference = 3.5% (95% CI 2.8, 4.1), p < 0.001; overall mark, mean difference = 2.7% (95% CI 2.1, 3.3), p < 0.001; and standardised overall mark minus the pass mark, mean difference = 2.5% (95% CI 1.9, 3.1), p < 0.001. Graduates from three medical schools that have undergone the change from Traditional to Problem Based Learning curricula did not show any change in performance in any aspects of the MCQ pre and post curriculum change.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Graduates from each of the medical schools in the UK do show differences in performance in the MCQ section of the primary FRCA, but significant curriculum change does not lead to deterioration in post graduate examination performance. Whilst females now outnumber males taking the MCQ, they are not performing as well as the males.</p