Guidance for better governance towards a sustainable, participatory and inclusive wild meat sector.

Agenda item 4 at the twenty-first meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA) established under Article 25 of the Convention will be held in Montreal, Canada, at the Palais des Congrès, from 11 to 14 December 2017

Study protocol for a multicentre longitudinal mixed methods study to explore the Outcomes of ChildrEn and fAmilies in the first year after paediatric Intensive Care: the OCEANIC study.

INTRODUCTION: Annually in the UK, 20 000 children become very ill or injured and need specialist care within a paediatric intensive care unit (PICU). Most children survive. However, some children and their families may experience problems after they have left the PICU including physical, functional and/or emotional problems. It is unknown which children and families experience such problems, when these occur or what causes them. The aim of this mixed-method longitudinal cohort study is to understand the physical, functional, emotional and social impact of children surviving PICU (aged: 1 month-17 years), their parents and siblings, during the first year after a PICU admission. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: A quantitative study involving 300 child survivors of PICU; 300 parents; and 150-300 siblings will collect data (using self-completion questionnaires) at baseline, PICU discharge, 1, 3, 6 and 12 months post-PICU discharge. Questionnaires will comprise validated and reliable instruments. Demographic data, PICU admission and treatment data, health-related quality of life, functional status, strengths and difficulties behaviour and post-traumatic stress symptoms will be collected from the child. Parent and sibling data will be collected on the impact of paediatric health conditions on the family's functioning capabilities, levels of anxiety and social impact of the child's PICU admission. Data will be analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Concurrently, an embedded qualitative study involving semistructured interviews with 24 enrolled families at 3 months and 9 months post-PICU discharge will be undertaken. Framework analysis will be used to analyse the qualitative data. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: The study has received ethical approval from the National Health Services Research Ethics Committee (Ref: 19/WM/0290) and full governance clearance. This will be the first UK study to comprehensively investigate physical, functional, emotional and social consequences of PICU survival in the first-year postdischarge.Clinical Trials Registration Number: ISRCTN28072812 [Pre-results]

A systematic mapping review of links between handling wild meat and zoonotic diseases

1. Hunting, trade, and consumption of wildlife present a serious threat to global public health as it places humans in close contact with zoonotic pathogens. 2. We systematically mapped the literature on wild meat handling and zoonotic disease transmission (1996–2022) using the online database Web of Science and Google search engine and identified 6229 articles out of which 253 were finally selected for use in our mapping review; 51 of these provided specific information regarding transmission risks. 3. The reviewed studies reported 43 zoonotic pathogens (17 bacteria, 15 viruses, and 11 parasites) that could pose a potential risk to human health. 4. Sixteen hygienic and sanitary behaviours were described in the reviewed studies. Disease surveillance was the most frequent. Most of the surveillance studies were carried out in Europe and were less common in the tropics. 5. To inform policy and practical actions effectively, it is imperative to broaden our understanding of how various mitigation behaviours can be employed to minimize the risk of transmission

Routine use of ancillary investigations in staging diffuse large B-cell lymphoma improves the International Prognostic Index (IPI)

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The International Prognostic Index (IPI) is used to determine prognosis in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). One of the determinants of IPI is the stage of disease with bone marrow involvement being classified as stage IV. For the IPI, involvement on bone marrow is traditionally defined on the basis of histology with ancillary investigations used only in difficult cases to aid histological diagnosis. This study aimed to determine the effect of the routine use of flow cytometry, immunohistochemistry and molecular studies in bone marrow staging upon the IPI.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Bone marrow trephines of 156 histologically proven DLBCL cases at initial diagnosis were assessed on routine histology, and immunohistochemistry using two T-cell markers (CD45RO and CD3), two B-cell markers (CD20 and CD79a) and kappa and lambda light chains. Raw flow cytometry data on all samples were reanalysed and reinterpreted blindly. DNA extracted from archived paraffin-embedded trephine biopsy samples was used for immunoglobulin heavy chain and light chain gene rearrangement analysis. Using immunophenotyping (flow cytometry and immunohistochemistry), 30 (19.2%) cases were upstaged to stage IV. A further 8 (5.1%) cases were upstaged using molecular studies. A change in IPI was noted in 18 cases (11.5%) on immunophenotyping alone, and 22 (14.1%) cases on immunophenotyping and molecular testing. Comparison of two revised IPI models, 1) using immunophenotyping alone, and 2) using immunophenotyping with molecular studies, was performed with baseline IPI using a Cox regression model. It showed that the revised IPI model using immunophenotyping provides the best differentiation between the IPI categories.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Improved bone marrow staging using flow cytometry and immunohistochemistry improves the predictive value of the IPI in patients with DLBCL and should be performed routinely in all cases.</p

COVID-19, systemic crisis, and possible implications for the wild meat trade in sub-Saharan Africa

Wild animals play an integral and complex role in the economies and ecologies of many countries across the globe, including those of West and Central Africa, the focus of this policy perspective. The trade in wild meat, and its role in diets, have been brought into focus as a consequence of discussions over the origins of COVID-19. As a result, there have been calls for the closure of China’s “wet markets”; greater scrutiny of the wildlife trade in general; and a spotlight has been placed on the potential risks posed by growing human populations and shrinking natural habitats for animal to human transmission of zoonotic diseases. However, to date there has been little attention given to what the consequences of the COVID-19 economic shock may be for the wildlife trade; the people who rely on it for their livelihoods; and the wildlife that is exploited. In this policy perspective, we argue that the links between the COVID-19 pandemic, rural livelihoods and wildlife are likely to be more complex, more nuanced, and more far-reaching, than is represented in the literature to date. We develop a causal model that tracks the likely implications for the wild meat trade of the systemic crisis triggered by COVID-19. We focus on the resulting economic shockwave, as manifested in the collapse in global demand for commodities such as oil, and international tourism services, and what this may mean for local African economies and livelihoods. We trace the shockwave through to the consequences for the use of, and demand for, wild meats as households respond to these changes. We suggest that understanding and predicting the complex dynamics of wild meat use requires increased collaboration between environmental and resource economics and the ecological and conservation sciences

Business performance and angels presence: A fresh look from France 2008–2011

Business angels enjoy a strong reputation for being more efficient than other investors among policy makers, practitioners, and scholars. However, due to the limited availability of specific financial data, previous research has barely assessed the impact of angels on companies’ performance. This paper seeks to bridge this gap by providing evidence from a unique dataset made up of 432 angel-backed French companies which are compared to two control groups, one randomly selected and another one consisting of similar enterprises. This double comparison process enables us to purge our analysis of structural effect and to demonstrate the importance of the methodology in generating the sample. Indeed, the results we obtain significantly differ depending on the control group. Our results show that the positive influence of angels depends on the condition of the comparison. The set of BA-backed companies is more likely to exhibit superior performance when it is compared to a random sample whereas the companies’ performance is either identical or worse when it is compared to a sample composed of k-nearest neighbors. In addition, using a quantile regression technique makes it possible to differentiate the effect of business angels based on the distribution of the value of the growth rate. © 2017, Springer Science+Business Media New York

Small and medium-sized enterprise policy: Designed to fail?

Significant doubts persist over the effectiveness of government policy to increase the numbers or performance of small and medium-sized enterprises in the UK economy. We analyse UK political manifestoes from 1964-2015 to examine the development of SME policy in political discourse. We do this by analysing how the broadly-defined category of ‘SME’ has been characterised in the manifestoes and assess these characterisations in relation to the empirical evidence base. We highlight three consistent themes in UK political manifestoes during 1964-2015 where SMEs have been characterised as having the potential for growth, struggling to access finance and being over-burdened by regulation. We argue that homogenising the broad range of businesses represented by the SME category and characterising them in these terms misrepresents them, undermining policies developed in relation to this mischaracterisation

A multidisciplinary systematic review of the use of diagrams as a means of collecting data from research subjects: application, benefits and recommendations

BACKGROUND: In research, diagrams are most commonly used in the analysis of data and visual presentation of results. However there has been a substantial growth in the use of diagrams in earlier stages of the research process to collect data. Despite this growth, guidance on this technique is often isolated within disciplines. METHODS: A multidisciplinary systematic review was performed, which included 13 traditional healthcare and non-health-focused indexes, non-indexed searches and contacting experts in the field. English-language articles that used diagrams as a data collection tool and reflected on the process were included in the review, with no restriction on publication date. RESULTS: The search identified 2690 documents, of which 80 were included in the final analysis. The choice to use diagrams for data collection is often determined by requirements of the research topic, such as the need to understand research subjects' knowledge or cognitive structure, to overcome cultural and linguistic differences, or to understand highly complex subject matter. How diagrams were used for data collection varied by the degrees of instruction for, and freedom in, diagram creation, the number of diagrams created or edited and the use of diagrams in conjunction with other data collection methods. Depending on how data collection is structured, a variety of options for qualitative and quantitative analysis are available to the researcher. The review identified a number of benefits to using diagrams in data collection, including the ease with which the method can be adapted to complement other data collection methods and its ability to focus discussion. However it is clear that the benefits and challenges of diagramming depend on the nature of its application and the type of diagrams used. DISCUSSION/CONCLUSION: The results of this multidisciplinary systematic review examine the application of diagrams in data collection and the methods for analyzing the unique datasets elicited. Three recommendations are presented. Firstly, the diagrammatic approach should be chosen based on the type of data needed. Secondly, appropriate instructions will depend on the approach chosen. And thirdly, the final results should present examples of original or recreated diagrams. This review also highlighted the need for a standardized terminology of the method and a supporting theoretical framework

Capacity shortfalls hinder the performance of marine protected areas globally

Marine protected areas (MPAs) are increasingly being used globally to conserve marine resources. However, whether many MPAs are being effectively and equitably managed, and how MPA management influences substantive outcomes remain unknown. We developed a global database of management and fish population data (433 and 218 MPAs, respectively) to assess: MPA management processes; the effects of MPAs on fish populations; and relationships between management processes and ecological effects. Here we report that many MPAs failed to meet thresholds for effective and equitable management processes, with widespread shortfalls in staff and financial resources. Although 71% of MPAs positively influenced fish populations, these conservation impacts were highly variable. Staff and budget capacity were the strongest predictors of conservation impact: MPAs with adequate staff capacity had ecological effects 2.9 times greater than MPAs with inadequate capacity. Thus, continued global expansion of MPAs without adequate investment in human and financial capacity is likely to lead to sub-optimal conservation outcomes