A Birth Cohort Analysis to Study Dog Walking in Adolescence Shows No Relationship with Objectively Measured Physical Activity.

Physical inactivity during childhood and adolescence is a serious health concern. There are few studies of the activity undertaken by adolescents when walking with the family dog, and the effect of this on objectively measured physical activity levels. Objective measures of physical activity using accelerometers were recorded at age 11-12, 13-14, and 15-16 years in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) (ALSPAC, UK) birth cohort during the 2000s. Family pet ownership was collected retrospectively using a questionnaire at age 18 years, for the ages 7, 11, 13, and 15 years. In addition, approximate frequency per week of walks undertaken with dogs were also reported. Multilevel, multivariable modeling was used to investigate the relationship between dog ownership and dog walking status, and physical activity outcomes. There were a total of 4,373 complete data observations for use in 2,055 children. Reported participation in dog walking tended to increase during adolescence, as did dog ownership. The majority of who own dogs reported walking them either 2-6 times/week (range 39-46%) or never (range 27-37%). A small minority (7-8%) reported walking their dog every day. Most reported never walking any other dog either (94-87%). We found no evidence for an association between dog ownership or reported dog walking, and objectively measured physical activity (counts per minute, P = 0.3, or minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, P = 0.7) during adolescence. This study provides no evidence to support a relationship between adolescent dog ownership and physical activity, and demonstrates the importance of using objective activity measures and considering dog walking rather than just dog ownership

Farmers' willingness to pay for a village poultry vaccine service in Ethiopia: prospect for enhancing rural livelihoods

This research examines farmers’ willingness to pay for village poultry vaccine programmes using data from 400 household heads from two districts in Ethiopia, Horro and Jarso. The study applied a contingent valuation method to elicit farmers’ willingness to pay for village poultry vaccine services. Two hypothetical vaccine programmes were designed for Newcastle disease and Gumboro disease. Both parametric and non-parametric approaches were employed in data analysis. The results show that farmers recognise the benefits of the vaccine programme and that many would be willing to pay for it. Results from non-parametric estimates produced households’ mean willingness to pay Ethiopian Birr (ETB) 80 up to ETB 87 per year based on vaccine programme type. This demonstrates the potential and prospect of reducing the impact of infectious poultry diseases and enhancing rural livelihoods through village poultry. Exponential probit analysis revealed that farmers’ willingness to pay for village poultry vaccine service is influenced by age, education level, and region of respondents. Younger and more-educated farmers were more likely to pay for village poultry vaccine services and farmers from Horro, a relatively food secure and educated area, were more likely to pay than those from the less food secure Jarso district

Optimization and Control of Agent-Based Models in Biology: A Perspective

Agent-based models (ABMs) have become an increasingly important mode of inquiry for the life sciences. They are particularly valuable for systems that are not understood well enough to build an equation-based model. These advantages, however, are counterbalanced by the difficulty of analyzing and using ABMs, due to the lack of the type of mathematical tools available for more traditional models, which leaves simulation as the primary approach. As models become large, simulation becomes challenging. This paper proposes a novel approach to two mathematical aspects of ABMs, optimization and control, and it presents a few first steps outlining how one might carry out this approach. Rather than viewing the ABM as a model, it is to be viewed as a surrogate for the actual system. For a given optimization or control problem (which may change over time), the surrogate system is modeled instead, using data from the ABM and a modeling framework for which ready-made mathematical tools exist, such as differential equations, or for which control strategies can explored more easily. Once the optimization problem is solved for the model of the surrogate, it is then lifted to the surrogate and tested. The final step is to lift the optimization solution from the surrogate system to the actual system. This program is illustrated with published work, using two relatively simple ABMs as a demonstration, Sugarscape and a consumer-resource ABM. Specific techniques discussed include dimension reduction and approximation of an ABM by difference equations as well systems of PDEs, related to certain specific control objectives. This demonstration illustrates the very challenging mathematical problems that need to be solved before this approach can be realistically applied to complex and large ABMs, current and future. The paper outlines a research program to address them

Excitation of Pygmy Dipole Resonance in neutron-rich nuclei via Coulomb and nuclear fields

We study the nature of the low-lying dipole strength in neutron-rich nuclei, often associated to the Pygmy Dipole Resonance. The states are described within the Hartree-Fock plus RPA formalism, using different parametrizations of the Skyrme interaction. We show how the information from combined reactions processes involving the Coulomb and different mixtures of isoscalar and isovector nuclear interactions can provide a clue to reveal the characteristic features of these states.Comment: 9 Pages, 8 figures, contribution to International Symposium On Nuclear Physics, December 8-12, 2009,Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai, Indi

Development and evaluation of a molecular diagnostic method to rapidly detect Histoplasma capsulatum var. farciminosum, the causative agent of epizootic lymphangitis, in equine clinical samples.

Histoplasma capsulatum var. farciminosum (HCF), the causative agent of epizootic lymphangitis (EZL), is endemic in parts of Africa. Diagnosis based on clinical signs and microscopy lacks specificity, and is a barrier to further understanding this neglected disease. Here, a nested PCR method targeting the ITS region of the rRNA operon was validated for application to equine clinical samples. Twenty-nine horses with signs of EZL, from different climatic regions of Ethiopia, were clinically examined. Blood samples and aspirates of pus from cutaneous nodules were taken, along with blood from a further 20 horses with no cutaneous EZL lesions. HCF was confirmed in DNA extracts of pus and blood samples from 25 and 17 horses, respectively, of the 29 suspected EZL cases. Positive PCR results were also obtained from heat-inactivated pus (24 horses) and blood (23 horses) spotted onto Whatman FTA cards. Two positives were obtained among blood samples from 20 horses that did not exhibit clinical signs of EZL. These are the first reports of the direct detection of HCF in equine blood, and at high frequency amongst horses exhibiting cutaneous lesions. The nested PCR outperformed conventional microscopic diagnosis, as characteristic yeast cells could only be observed in 14 pus samples. HCF DNA was confirmed by sequencing the cloned PCR products, and while alignment of the ITS amplicons showed very little sequence variation, there was preliminary SNP-based evidence for the existence of two subgroups of HCF. This molecular diagnostic method now permits investigation of the epidemiology of EZL

Preventing and mitigating farmed bivalve disease: a Northern Ireland case study

Publication history: Accepted - 13 August 2020; Published online - 26 August 2020.Shellfish production forms a large proportion of marine aquaculture production in Northern Ireland (NI). Diseases represent a serious threat to the maintenance and growth of shellfish cultivation with severe consequences to production output and profitability. In Northern Ireland, production generally benefits from a good health status with the absence of notifiable diseases, except for localised cases of Bonamia ostreae, Marteilia refringens and ostreid herpes virus. In this paper, we qualitatively explore that the prevalence, risk, impact, mitigation and experience shellfish farmers in this region have in relation to disease. Sixteen semistructured interviews were conducted with stakeholders within the sector. The interviews were transcribed verbatim, and Nvivo 12 was used to facilitate an inductive thematic analysis. Our results highlighted that the industry has varying attitudes and experiences with disease. At present-day temperatures, disease is not an issue and this provides vast market opportunities for the region. However, disease outbreaks have led to detrimental consequences to financial income, production output and reputation in the past, whilst control and mitigation remain reactive. It is imperative proactive disease prevention and control that are employed and enforced to sustain NI’s reputation as a healthy shellfish region, particularly under increasing global temperatures and intensified production systems. A cultural shift to disease appreciation, risk analysis and surveillance through research, education, training and collaboration is essential. This study highlights the importance of providing a bottom-up communication platform with the stakeholders directly involved in shellfish culture and management, the value of cross sector engagement and the need to improve knowledge transfer between science the sector.The authors received financial support provided by Horizon 2020 project VIVALDI (Scientific basis and tools for preventing and mitigating farmed mollusc diseases; grant agreement 678589) of the European Commission and by the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) for the post-graduate studentship to conduct Ph.D. research on Aquaculture Security

Non-adiabatic corrections to elastic scattering of halo nuclei

We derive the formalism for the leading order corrections to the adiabatic approximation to the scattering of composite projectiles. Assuming a two-body projectile of core plus loosely-bound valence particle and a model (the core recoil model) in which the interaction of the valence particle and the target can be neglected, we derive the non-adiabatic correction terms both exactly, using a partial wave analysis, and using the eikonal approximation. Along with the expected energy dependence of the corrections, there is also a strong dependence on the valence-to-core mass ratio and on the strength of the imaginary potential for the core-target interaction, which relates to absorption of the core in its scattering by the target. The strength and diffuseness of the core-target potential also determine the size of the corrections. The first order non-adiabatic corrections were found to be smaller than qualitative estimates would expect. The large absorption associated with the core-target interaction in such halo nuclei as Be11 kills off most of the non-adiabatic corrections. We give an improved estimate for the range of validity of the adiabatic approximation when the valence-target interaction is neglected, which includes the effect of core absorption. Some consideration was given to the validity of the eikonal approximation in our calculations.Comment: 14 pages with 10 figures, REVTeX4, AMS-LaTeX v2.13, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Fecal microbiota transplant rescues mice from human pathogen mediated sepsis by restoring systemic immunity.

Death due to sepsis remains a persistent threat to critically ill patients confined to the intensive care unit and is characterized by colonization with multi-drug-resistant healthcare-associated pathogens. Here we report that sepsis in mice caused by a defined four-member pathogen community isolated from a patient with lethal sepsis is associated with the systemic suppression of key elements of the host transcriptome required for pathogen clearance and decreased butyrate expression. More specifically, these pathogens directly suppress interferon regulatory factor 3. Fecal microbiota transplant (FMT) reverses the course of otherwise lethal sepsis by enhancing pathogen clearance via the restoration of host immunity in an interferon regulatory factor 3-dependent manner. This protective effect is linked to the expansion of butyrate-producing Bacteroidetes. Taken together these results suggest that fecal microbiota transplantation may be a treatment option in sepsis associated with immunosuppression

Coulomb and nuclear breakup of 8^8B

The cross sections for the ($^8$B,$^7$Be-$p$) breakup reaction on $^{58}$Ni and $^{208}$Pb targets at the beam energies of 25.8 MeV and 415 MeV have been calculated within a one-step prior-form distorted-wave Born approximation. The relative contributions of Coulomb and nuclear breakup of dipole and quadrupole multipolarities as well as their interference have been determined. The nuclear breakup contributions are found to be substantial in the angular distributions of the $^7$Be fragment for angles in the range of 30$^\circ$ - 80$^\circ$ at 25.8 MeV beam energy. The Coulomb-nuclear interference terms make the dipole cross section larger than that of quadrupole even at this low beam energy. However, at the incident energy of 415 MeV, these effects are almost negligible in the angular distributions of the ($^7$Be-p) coincidence cross sections at angles below 4$^\circ$.Comment: Revised version, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

Quantum Tunneling in Nuclear Fusion

Recent theoretical advances in the study of heavy ion fusion reactions below the Coulomb barrier are reviewed. Particular emphasis is given to new ways of analyzing data, such as studying barrier distributions; new approaches to channel coupling, such as the path integral and Green function formalisms; and alternative methods to describe nuclear structure effects, such as those using the Interacting Boson Model. The roles of nucleon transfer, asymmetry effects, higher-order couplings, and shape-phase transitions are elucidated. The current status of the fusion of unstable nuclei and very massive systems are briefly discussed.Comment: To appear in the January 1998 issue of Reviews of Modern Physics. 13 Figures (postscript file for Figure 6 is not available; a hard copy can be requested from the authors). Full text and figures are also available at http://nucth.physics.wisc.edu/preprints