Functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to assess cognitive function in infants in rural Africa

Cortical mapping of cognitive function during infancy is poorly understood in low-income countries due to the lack of transportable neuroimaging methods. We have successfully piloted functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) as a neuroimaging tool in rural Gambia. Four-to-eight month old infants watched videos of Gambian adults perform social movements, while haemodynamic responses were recorded using fNIRS. We found distinct regions of the posterior superior temporal and inferior frontal cortex that evidenced either visual-social activation or vocally selective activation (vocal > non-vocal). The patterns of selective cortical activation in Gambian infants replicated those observed within similar aged infants in the UK. These are the first reported data on the measurement of localized functional brain activity in young infants in Africa and demonstrate the potential that fNIRS offers for field-based neuroimaging research of cognitive function in resource-poor rural communities

Functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to assess cognitive function in infants in rural Africa

Cortical mapping of cognitive function during infancy is poorly understood in low-income countries due to the lack of transportable neuroimaging methods. We have successfully piloted functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) as a neuroimaging tool in rural Gambia. Four-to-eight month old infants watched videos of Gambian adults perform social movements, while haemodynamic responses were recorded using fNIRS. We found distinct regions of the posterior superior temporal and inferior frontal cortex that evidenced either visual-social activation or vocally selective activation (vocal > non-vocal). The patterns of selective cortical activation in Gambian infants replicated those observed within similar aged infants in the UK. These are the first reported data on the measurement of localized functional brain activity in young infants in Africa and demonstrate the potential that fNIRS offers for field-based neuroimaging research of cognitive function in resource-poor rural communities

Exploring the behavioural drivers of veterinary surgeon antibiotic prescribing: a qualitative study of companion animal veterinary surgeons in the UK

Background: Multi-drug resistant bacteria are an increasing concern in both human and veterinary medicine. Inappropriate prescribing and use of antibiotics within veterinary medicine may be a contributory factor to antimicrobial resistance (AMR). The ‘One Health’ Initiative aims to work across species and environments to reduce AMR, however; little is currently known about the factors which influence antibiotic prescribing among veterinary surgeons in companion animal practice. This paper reports on qualitative data analysis of interviews with veterinary surgeons whose practice partially or wholly focuses on companion animals (N = 16). The objective of the research was to explore the drivers of companion animal veterinary surgeons’ antibiotic prescribing behaviours. The veterinary surgeons interviewed were all practising within the UK (England (n = 4), Scotland (n = 11), Northern Ireland (n = 1)). A behavioural thematic analysis of the data was undertaken, which identified barriers and facilitators to specific prescribing-related behaviours. Results: Five components of prescribing behaviours were identified: 1) confirming clinical need for antibiotics; 2) responding to clients; 3) confirming diagnosis; 4) determining dose, duration and type of antibiotic; and 5) preventing infection around surgery (with attendant appropriate and inappropriate antibiotic prescribing behaviours). Barriers to appropriate prescribing identified include: business, diagnostic, fear, habitual practice and pharmaceutical factors. Facilitators include: AMR awareness, infection prevention, professional learning and regulation and government factors. Conclusion: This paper uses a behavioural lens to examine drivers which are an influence on veterinary surgeons’ prescribing behaviours. The paper contributes new understandings about factors which influence antibiotic prescribing behaviours among companion animal veterinary surgeons. This analysis provides evidence to inform future interventions, which are focused on changing prescribing behaviours, in order to address the pressing public health concern of AMR

Nonlocal observables and lightcone-averaging in relativistic thermodynamics

The unification of relativity and thermodynamics has been a subject of considerable debate over the last 100 years. The reasons for this are twofold: (i) Thermodynamic variables are nonlocal quantities and, thus, single out a preferred class of hyperplanes in spacetime. (ii) There exist different, seemingly equally plausible ways of defining heat and work in relativistic systems. These ambiguities led, for example, to various proposals for the Lorentz transformation law of temperature. Traditional 'isochronous' formulations of relativistic thermodynamics are neither theoretically satisfactory nor experimentally feasible. Here, we demonstrate how these deficiencies can be resolved by defining thermodynamic quantities with respect to the backward-lightcone of an observation event. This approach yields novel, testable predictions and allows for a straightforward-extension of thermodynamics to General Relativity. Our theoretical considerations are illustrated through three-dimensional relativistic many-body simulations.Comment: typos in Eqs. (12) and (14) corrected, minor additions in the tex

Leukocyte populations in human preterm and term breast milk identified by multicolour flow cytometry

Background Extremely preterm infants are highly susceptible to bacterial infections but breast milk provides some protection. It is unknown if leukocyte numbers and subsets in milk differ between term and preterm breast milk. This study serially characterised leukocyte populations in breast milk of mothers of preterm and term infants using multicolour flow cytometry methods for extended differential leukocyte counts in blood. Methods Sixty mothers of extremely preterm (<28 weeks gestational age), very preterm (28–31 wk), and moderately preterm (32–36 wk), as well as term (37–41 wk) infants were recruited. Colostrum (d2–5), transitional (d8–12) and mature milk (d26–30) samples were collected, cells isolated, and leukocyte subsets analysed using flow cytometry. Results The major CD45+ leukocyte populations circulating in blood were also detectable in breast milk but at different frequencies. Progression of lactation was associated with decreasing CD45+ leukocyte concentration, as well as increases in the relative frequencies of neutrophils and immature granulocytes, and decreases in the relative frequencies of eosinophils, myeloid and B cell precursors, and CD16- monocytes. No differences were observed between preterm and term breast milk in leukocyte concentration, though minor differences between preterm groups in some leukocyte frequencies were observed. Conclusions Flow cytometry is a useful tool to identify and quantify leukocyte subsets in breast milk. The stage of lactation is associated with major changes in milk leukocyte composition in this population. Fresh preterm breast milk is not deficient in leukocytes, but shorter gestation may be associated with minor differences in leukocyte subset frequencies in preterm compared to term breast milk

Modern optical astronomy: technology and impact of interferometry

The present `state of the art' and the path to future progress in high spatial resolution imaging interferometry is reviewed. The review begins with a treatment of the fundamentals of stellar optical interferometry, the origin, properties, optical effects of turbulence in the Earth's atmosphere, the passive methods that are applied on a single telescope to overcome atmospheric image degradation such as speckle interferometry, and various other techniques. These topics include differential speckle interferometry, speckle spectroscopy and polarimetry, phase diversity, wavefront shearing interferometry, phase-closure methods, dark speckle imaging, as well as the limitations imposed by the detectors on the performance of speckle imaging. A brief account is given of the technological innovation of adaptive-optics (AO) to compensate such atmospheric effects on the image in real time. A major advancement involves the transition from single-aperture to the dilute-aperture interferometry using multiple telescopes. Therefore, the review deals with recent developments involving ground-based, and space-based optical arrays. Emphasis is placed on the problems specific to delay-lines, beam recombination, polarization, dispersion, fringe-tracking, bootstrapping, coherencing and cophasing, and recovery of the visibility functions. The role of AO in enhancing visibilities is also discussed. The applications of interferometry, such as imaging, astrometry, and nulling are described. The mathematical intricacies of the various `post-detection' image-processing techniques are examined critically. The review concludes with a discussion of the astrophysical importance and the perspectives of interferometry.Comment: 65 pages LaTeX file including 23 figures. Reviews of Modern Physics, 2002, to appear in April issu

From "Infant Hercules" to "Ghost Town":Industrial collapse and social harm on Teesside

This article explicates the harms associated with deindustrialization in Teesside in the North East of England in the context of neoliberalism. Drawing on in-depth qualitative interviews (n = 25), the article explores how ongoing industrial collapse, typified by Sahaviriya Steel Industries’ (SSI) closure in 2015, has generated various harms. First, the article examines industrialism’s socioeconomic security and stability. It then explores the negative impact of SSI’s closure in 2015, including a sense of loss and unemployment. Next, it demonstrates how the absence of economic stability produces harmful outcomes, namely insecurity, mental health problems and bleak visions of the future. The article concludes by casting industrial ruination as an impediment to human flourishing; the normal functioning of capitalism represents a “negative motivation to harm” that prevents the stability and security necessary for individual and collective flourishin

Persistent Gastric Colonization with Burkholderia pseudomallei and Dissemination from the Gastrointestinal Tract following Mucosal Inoculation of Mice

Melioidosis is a disease of humans caused by opportunistic infection with the soil and water bacterium Burkholderia pseudomallei. Melioidosis can manifest as an acute, overwhelming infection or as a chronic, recurrent infection. At present, it is not clear where B. pseudomallei resides in the mammalian host during the chronic, recurrent phase of infection. To address this question, we developed a mouse low-dose mucosal challenge model of chronic B. pseudomallei infection and investigated sites of bacterial persistence over 60 days. Sensitive culture techniques and selective media were used to quantitate bacterial burden in major organs, including the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. We found that the GI tract was the primary site of bacterial persistence during the chronic infection phase, and was the only site from which the organism could be consistently cultured during a 60-day infection period. The organism could be repeatedly recovered from all levels of the GI tract, and chronic infection was accompanied by sustained low-level fecal shedding. The stomach was identified as the primary site of GI colonization as determined by fluorescent in situ hybridization. Organisms in the stomach were associated with the gastric mucosal surface, and the propensity to colonize the gastric mucosa was observed with 4 different B. pseudomallei isolates. In contrast, B. pseudomallei organisms were present at low numbers within luminal contents in the small and large intestine and cecum relative to the stomach. Notably, inflammatory lesions were not detected in any GI tissue examined in chronically-infected mice. Only low-dose oral or intranasal inoculation led to GI colonization and development of chronic infection of the spleen and liver. Thus, we concluded that in a mouse model of melioidosis B. pseudomallei preferentially colonizes the stomach following oral inoculation, and that the chronically colonized GI tract likely serves as a reservoir for dissemination of infection to extra-intestinal sites

Community Management of Endemic Scabies in Remote Aboriginal Communities of Northern Australia: Low Treatment Uptake and High Ongoing Acquisition

Like many impoverished areas around the world, Aboriginal communities in Australia experience an unacceptably high burden of scabies, skin infections, and secondary complications. Young children are most at risk. Our study investigated scabies in a remote setting with very high rates of skin disease, a high level of household overcrowding, and limited infrastructure for sanitation and preventive health measures. We assessed uptake of scabies treatment and scabies acquisition following provision of treatment by a community-based skin program. In a household where scabies was present, we found that treatment with topical permethrin cream of all close contacts can significantly reduce a susceptible individual's risk of infection. Our findings also demonstrate the challenges of achieving a high level of treatment participation, with limited permethrin use observed among household contacts. This suggests an urgent need for a more practical treatment option. International efforts to reduce childhood morbidity and mortality have demonstrated the efficacy of numerous child health interventions but have also highlighted the deficits in their delivery and implementation. Experiences like this, where the effectiveness of a coordinated local program delivering an efficacious intervention is hampered by poor treatment uptake and ongoing transmission, are an important and timely message for researchers, program managers, and policy-makers

An exploratory study of the relationship between parental attitudes and behaviour and young people's consumption of alcohol

Background Concern is growing regarding frequent and excessive misuse of alcohol by young people. The average age at which young people in Europe start to drink is twelve and a half, and during the last decade, the quantity of alcohol consumed by younger adolescents in the UK has increased. Families are known to play an important role in shaping young people's alcohol misuse, although family risk and protective factors associated with misuse in a UK context are in need of further investigation. Methods The study used a cross-sectional design, involving secondary analyses of self-completion questionnaire responses from 6,628 secondary school children (i.e. aged 11-16 years), from 12 schools within an urban location in Wales. Items relating to family functioning and perceived parental attitudes were first subjected to factor analysis. Associations of family closeness and conflict, parental monitoring and attitudes and family history of substance misuse with children's self reported alcohol consumption were examined using logistic regression analyses. Results Approximately three quarters of respondents reported having tried alcohol, most of whom had first tried alcohol aged 12 or under. Parental monitoring and family closeness were positively correlated with one another and were both associated with significantly lower levels of drinking behaviours. Family violence and conflict, more liberal parental attitudes towards substance use and towards alcohol and petty crime, and family history of substance misuse were positively correlated with one another and with higher levels of drinking behaviours. Parental monitoring was identified as the family functioning factor most consistently associated with drinking behaviour in multivariate analyses. Conclusions Significant relationships were found between young people's drinking behaviours and perceptions of risk and protective factors in the family environment. Parental monitoring was strongly associated with family closeness and appeared to form one part of a parenting style of more general communication and regulation of children's behaviour. Findings support the need for alcohol misuse prevention interventions which address risk and protective factors within the family setting. Timing of such prevention work should be related both to the development of family relationships and the age at which young people begin drinking alcohol