141 research outputs found
Post-exercise management of exertional hyperthermia in dogs participating in dog sport (canicross) events in the UK
Exercise is a common trigger of heat-related illness (HRI) events in dogs, accounting for 74% of canine HRI cases treated under primary veterinary care in the United Kingdom. However, few empirical studies have evaluated the effectiveness of differing cooling methods for dogs with exertional hyperthermia or HRI. This study aimed to prospectively evaluate effects of ambient conditions and post-exercise management practices (cooling methods and vehicular confinement) on the post-exercise temperature change of dogs participating in UK canicross events. Canine temperature was recorded at three intervals post-exercise: as close as possible to 0- (immediately post-exercise), 5-, and 15-min post-exercise. Ambient conditions and post-exercise management were recorded for 115 cooling profiles from 52 dogs. In 28/115 (24.4%) profiles, the dog's temperature increased during the first 5-min post-exercise. Overall, 68/115 (59.1%) profiles included passive cooling (stood or walked outside), 35 (30.4%) active cooling (cold-water immersion or application of a cooling coat), and 12 (10.4%) involved no cooling and were immediately housed in vehicles. No dogs developed hypothermia during the study and no adverse effects were observed from any cooling method. In hyperthermic dogs, overall post-exercise body temperature change was significantly negatively associated (i.e. the dogs cooled more) with 0-min post-exercise body temperature (ÎČ = â0.93, p < 0.001), and not being housed in a vehicle (ÎČ = â0.43, p = 0.013). This study provides evidence cold-water immersion (in water at 0.1â15.0 °C) can be used to effectively and safely cool dogs with exertional hyperthermia. Progressive temperature increases in many dogs - even after exercise has terminated - supports the message to âcool first, transport secondâ when managing dogs with HRI. When transporting dogs post-exercise or with HRI even after active cooling, care should be taken to cool the vehicle before entry and promote air movement around the dog during transport to facilitate ongoing cooling and prevent worsening of hyperthermia during travel.</p
Population impact and effectiveness of sequential 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate and monovalent rotavirus vaccine introduction on infant mortality: prospective birth cohort studies from Malawi
Background Pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) and rotavirus vaccine (RV) are key tools for reducing common causes of infant mortality. However, measurement of population-level mortality impact is lacking from sub-Saharan Africa. We evaluated mortality impact and vaccine effectiveness (VE) of PCV13 introduced in November 2011, with subsequent RV1 roll-out in October 2012, in Malawi. Methods We conducted two independent community-based birth cohort studies. Study 1, in northern Malawi (40000population), evaluated population impact using change-point analysis and negative-binomial regression of non-traumatic 14â51-week infant mortality preintroduction (1 January 2004 to 31 September 2011) and postintroduction (1 October 2011 to 1 July 2019), and against three-dose coverage. Study 2, in central Malawi (465 000 population), was recruited from 24 November 2011 to 1 June 2015. In the absence of preintroduction data, individual three-dose versus zero-dose VE was estimated using individual-level Cox survival models. In both cohorts, infants were followed with household visits to ascertain vaccination, socioeconomic and survival status. Verbal autopsies were conducted for deaths. Results Study 1 included 20 291 live births and 216 infant deaths. Mortality decreased by 28.6% (95% CI: 15.3 to 39.8) post-PCV13 introduction. A change point was identified in November 2012. Study 2 registered 50 731 live births, with 454 deaths. Infant mortality decreased from 17 to 10/1000 live births during the study period. Adjusted VE was 44.6% overall (95% CI: 23.0 to 59.1) and 48.3% (95% CI: â5.9 to 74.1) against combined acute respiratory infection, meningitis and sepsis-associated mortality. Conclusion These data provide population-level evidence of infant mortality reduction following sequential PCV13 and RV1 introduction into an established immunisation programme in Malawi. These data support increasing coverage of vaccine programmes in high-burden settings
Unravelling the alcohol harm paradox: a population-based study of social gradients across very heavy drinking thresholds
Background: There is consistent evidence that individuals in higher socioeconomic status groups are more likely to
report exceeding recommended drinking limits, but those in lower socioeconomic status groups experience more
alcohol-related harm. This has been called the âalcohol harm paradoxâ. Such studies typically use standard cut-offs
to define heavy drinking, which are exceeded by a large proportion of adults. Our study pools data from six years
(2008â2013) of the population-based Health Survey for England to test whether the socioeconomic distribution of
more extreme levels of drinking could help explain the paradox.
Methods: The study included 51,498 adults from a representative sample of the adult population of England for
a cross-sectional analysis of associations between socioeconomic status and self-reported drinking. Heavy weekly
drinking was measured at four thresholds, ranging from 112 g+/168 g + (alcohol for women/men, or 14/21 UK
standard units) to 680 g+/880 g + (or 85/110 UK standard units) per week. Heavy episodic drinking was also
measured at four thresholds, from 48 g+/64 g + (or 6/8 UK standard units) to 192 g+/256 g + (or 24/32 UK standard
units) in one day. Socioeconomic status indicators were equivalised household income, education, occupation and
neighbourhood deprivation.
Results: Lower socioeconomic status was associated with lower likelihoods of exceeding recommended limits
for weekly and episodic drinking, and higher likelihoods of exceeding more extreme thresholds. For example,
participants in routine or manual occupations had 0.65 (95 % CI 0.57â0.74) times the odds of exceeding the
recommended weekly limit compared to those in âhigher managerialâ occupations, and 2.15 (95 % CI 1.06â4.36)
times the odds of exceeding the highest threshold. Similarly, participants in the lowest income quintile had 0.60
(95 % CI 0.52â0.69) times the odds of exceeding the recommended weekly limit when compared to the highest
quintile, and 2.30 (95 % CI 1.28â4.13) times the odds of exceeding the highest threshold.
Conclusions: Low socioeconomic status groups are more likely to drink at extreme levels, which may partially
explain the alcohol harm paradox. Policies that address alcohol-related health inequalities need to consider extreme
drinking levels in some sub-groups that may be associated with multiple markers of deprivation. This will require a
more disaggregated understanding of drinking practice
TOI-1670 c, a 40-day Orbital Period Warm Jupiter in a Compact System, is Well-aligned
We report the measurement of the sky-projected obliquity angle of
the Warm Jovian exoplanet TOI-1670 c via the Rossiter-McLaughlin effect as part
of the Stellar Obliquities in Long-period Exoplanet Systems (SOLES) project. We
observed the transit window during UT 20 April 2023 for 7 continuous hours with
NEID on the 3.5 m WIYN Telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory. TOI-1670
hosts a sub-Neptune (P ~11 days; planet b) interior to the Warm Jovian (P ~40
days; planet c), which presents an opportunity to investigate the dynamics of a
Warm Jupiter with an inner companion. Additionally, TOI-1670 c is now among the
longest-period planets to date to have its sky-projected obliquity angle
measured. We find planet c is well-aligned to the host star, with =
-0.3 +/- 2.2 degrees. TOI-1670 c joins a growing census of aligned Warm
Jupiters around single stars and aligned planets in multi-planet systems.Comment: 11 pages, 2 figures, 1 table. Accepted to ApJ Letter
The TESS-Keck Survey XVII: Precise Mass Measurements in a Young, High Multiplicity Transiting Planet System using Radial Velocities and Transit Timing Variations
We present a radial velocity (RV) analysis of TOI-1136, a bright TESS system
with six confirmed transiting planets, and a seventh single-transiting planet
candidate. All planets in the system are amenable to transmission spectroscopy,
making TOI-1136 one of the best targets for intra-system comparison of
exoplanet atmospheres. TOI-1136 is young ( 700 Myr), and the system
exhibits transit timing variations (TTVs). The youth of the system contributes
to high stellar variability on the order of 50 m s, much larger than the
likely RV amplitude of any of the transiting exoplanets. Utilizing 359 HIRES
and APF RVs collected as a part of the TESS-Keck Survey (TKS), and 51 HARPS-N
RVs, we experiment with a joint TTV-RV fit. With seven possible transiting
planets, TTVs, more than 400 RVs, and a stellar activity model, we posit that
we may be presenting the most complex mass recovery of an exoplanet system in
the literature to date. By combining TTVs and RVs, we minimized GP overfitting
and retrieved new masses for this system: (m = 3.50,
6.32, 8.35, 6.07,
9.7, 5.6 M). We are unable to
significantly detect the mass of the seventh planet candidate in the RVs, but
we are able to loosely constrain a possible orbital period near 80 days. Future
TESS observations might confirm the existence of a seventh planet in the
system, better constrain the masses and orbital properties of the known
exoplanets, and generally shine light on this scientifically interesting
system.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astronomical Journa
Tools and data services registry: a community effort to document bioinformatics resources
Life sciences are yielding huge data sets that underpin scientific discoveries fundamental to improvement in human health, agriculture and the environment. In support of these discoveries, a plethora of databases and tools are deployed, in technically complex and diverse implementations, across a spectrum of scientific disciplines. The corpus of documentation of these resources is fragmented across the Web, with much redundancy, and has lacked a common standard of information. The outcome is that scientists must often struggle to find, understand, compare and use the best resources for the task at hand.
Here we present a community-driven curation effort, supported by ELIXIRâthe European infrastructure for biological informationâthat aspires to a comprehensive and consistent registry of information about bioinformatics resources. The sustainable upkeep of this Tools and Data Services Registry is assured by a curation effort driven by and tailored to local needs, and shared amongst a network of engaged partners.
As of November 2015, the registry includes 1785 resources, with depositions from 126 individual registrations including 52 institutional providers and 74 individuals. With community support, the registry can become a standard for dissemination of information about bioinformatics resources: we welcome everyone to join us in this common endeavour. The registry is freely available at https://bio.tools
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