Role of Nonbehavioral Factors in Adjusting Long Bone Diaphyseal Structure in Free-ranging Pan troglodytes

Limb bones deform during locomotion and can resist the deformations by adjusting their shapes. For example, a tubular-shaped diaphysis best resists variably-oriented deformations. As behavioral profiles change during adulthood, patterns of bone deformation may exhibit age trends. Habitat characteristics, e.g., annual rainfall, tree density, and elevation changes, may influence bone deformations by eliciting individual components of behavioral repertoires and suppressing others, or by influencing movements during particular components. Habituated chimpanzee communities provide a unique opportunity to examine these factors because of the availability of morphological data and behavioral observations from known-age individuals inhabiting natural habitats. We evaluated adult femora and humeri of 18 female and 10 male free-ranging chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) from communities in Gombe (Tanzania), Mahale Mountains (Tanzania), and Taï Forest (Côte d’Ivoire) National Parks. We compare cross sections at several locations (35%, 50%, 65% diaphyseal lengths). Community comparisons highlight different diaphyseal shapes of Taï females relative to Mahale and Gombe females, particularly in humeral diaphyses. Age trends in diaphyseal shapes are consistent with reduced activity levels in general, not only reduced arboreal activity. Age-related bone loss is apparent among community females, but is less striking among males. Community trends in diaphyseal shape are qualitatively consistent with ranked annual rainfall at localities, tree density, and elevation change or ruggedness of terrain. Habitat characteristics may contribute to variation in diaphyseal shape among chimpanzee communities, much like among modern human groups, but verification awaits further rigorous experimental and comparative analyses

Nurses' perceptions of aids and obstacles to the provision of optimal end of life care in ICU

Contains fulltext : 172380.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access

P–167 Assuring quality in embryology decision making: blastocyst grading agreement assessed via a smartphone application

Abstract Study question Given the subjectivity of blastocyst grading and the challenge of performing routine competency assessments, how consistently do embryologists grade blastocysts when using an easily accessible phone application? Summary answer Grading agreement was fair to moderate for inner cell mass (ICM) and trophectoderm (TE), evidence that a mobile application can be used for quality assurance. What is known already Embryologists routinely perform external quality assessments (EQA), though the utility of EQA for quality improvement is limited, and more active, user-friendly tools are needed to improve quality assurance in embryology. Blastocyst grading is one of the most important and subjective tasks in clinical embryology, important for both blastocyst ranking and decision to freeze. Inter-user agreement is only fair for ICM (kappa 0.349) and TE grade (kappa 0.397; Storr et al., 2017). Fair agreement has also been reported for decision to freeze for a cohort of blastocysts that exhibited borderline morphology (kappa 0.301; Hammond et al., 2020). Study design, size, duration A prospective study of blastocyst grading consistency using ARTCompass, a mobile phone application designed to assess clinical decision making of laboratory staff for andrology and embryology competency. Two assessments, each with 100 images of expanded blastocysts in three planes, were performed by 42 embryologists from 9 clinics in 2 countries between April to July 2020. Survey 1 assessed ICM grading and survey 2 assessed TE grading using the same set of images for consistency. Participants/materials, setting, methods Blastocysts were of proportionally mixed grades (ranging from grade A to X) using a modified Gardner system that included “X” for non-viable ICM/TE. Embryologists were advised to complete the tests individually in one sitting. The Fleiss kappa coefficient (k) measured inter-rater agreement among embryologists when assigning blastocyst grade. Kappa value interpretation is as follows &amp;lt;0.20: poor; 0.21–0.40: fair; 0.41–0.60: moderate; 0.61–0.80: good and 0.81–1.00: very good. Main results and the role of chance Overall, agreement for ICM and TE grades was moderate among embryologists (kappa 0.47, 0.52, respectively). ICM grade B and C had the lowest agreement (0.37, 0.39), while ICM grade X (no, or degenerate ICM), and TE grade A showed the highest agreement (0.68, 0.62). These results illustrate that embryologists had difficultly classifying ICM grade when it was of moderate to poor quality (grade b or c), likely due to subjectivity in grading size and compaction level, but were good at classifying ICM grade when there was no apparent ICM (grade x). For TE grade, embryologists consistently identified a top-quality TE (grade a), which is reassuring as TE grade is the primary morphological feature used for blastocyst ranking. In general, this QA platform offers ease of use and shows agreement values for ICM and TE that are similar to other studies, suggesting that blastocyst grading with a mobile phone application is a viable option for quality assurance. Limitations, reasons for caution Only blastocyst grading was assessed, therefore additional competency assessments using a mobile device should be assessed for accuracy. Further studies are needed to determine if mobile applications can improve competency. Wider implications of the findings: Ease of use by 42 embryologists indicates mobile applications may provide a user-friendly and accessible platform for QA. Since effective and efficient assessment of competency and KPIs is an ongoing challenge for laboratories, a mobile application is a novel and effective tool to monitor QA parameters in the IVF laboratory Trial registration number Not applicable </jats:sec