The Cambridge sheep — its exploitation for increased efficiency of lamb production

The Cambridge breed has been developed since 1964, based on a foundation group of 54 ewes representing 11 breeds mated initially to seven Finnsheep rams. Data presented show that a high litter size(LS) has been established (mean 2.8 in 3 year old ewes) by a policy of selection coupled with minimising generation interval. Observations on ovulation rate (OR)show a large range (1—13) and are consistent with an hypothesis that OR is influenced by a major gene effect superimposed on a basal level of about 2.5 ova. The gene appears to increase ovulation by about two ova per copy and to have a frequency approaching 0.3 in the Bangor University flock. Data on the relationship of LS at birth and of lambs weaned per ewe are presented which indicate that under ideal conditions the optima for OR and LS at birth cannot exceed 5 and 3.5 respectively for mature ewes. The practical utilisation of the breed as a dam-line sire of crossbred ewes show that the Cambridge crossbreds are more precocious, more prolific, have slower growing lambs with carcasses of similar quality to the corresponding Border Leicester crosses. Overall superiority inefficiency of feed utilisation is about 20 %. Methods of genotyping sheep and utilising the major gene in practice are discussed

Modelling the occupational assimilation of immigrants by ancestry, age group and generational differences in Australia:a random effects approach to a large table of counts

A novel exploratory approach is developed to the analysis of a large table of counts. It uses random-effects models where the cells of the table (representing types of individuals) form the higher level in a multilevel model. The model includes Poisson variation and an offset to model the ratio of observed to expected values thereby permitting the analysis of relative rates. The model is estimated as a Bayesian model through MCMC procedures and the estimates are precision-weighted so that unreliable rates are down-weighted in the analysis. Once reliable rates have been obtained graphical and tabular analysis can be deployed. The analysis is illustrated through a study of the occupational class distribution for people of different age, birthplace-origin and generation in Australia. The case is also made that even where there is a full census there is a need to move beyond a descriptive analysis to a proper inferential and modelling framework. We also discuss the relative merits of Full and Empirical Bayes approaches to model estimation.21 page(s

The melting-pot and the economic integration of immigrant families:ancestral and generational variations in Australia

The melting-pot argument, whereby economically heterogeneous multi-cultural societies, characterised by high levels of immigration from a variety of origins, become more homogeneous over time, has attracted much attention, especially in North America. Australia has similarly experienced major waves of immigration from a wide range of cultural backgrounds. This paper reports successful tests of hypotheses, derived from the melting-pot model, that economic integration of immigrant groups there has also resulted in reduced inter-group occupational and income differences across successive generations, but that the pace of integration can vary across ethnic groups. Using a bespoke tabulation from the 2011 Australian census we explore differences among ten immigrant (ancestry) groups in their educational qualifications, and their occupational and income distributions, using a recently developed method to identify significant patterns within large contingency tables. We find that by the third generation there were no substantial differences either across the ten groups chosen to represent four main waves of immigration to Australia or between these groups and the non-immigrant population.20 page(s

Multicentre evaluation of two multiplex PCR platforms for the rapid microbiological investigation of nosocomial pneumonia in UK ICUs: the INHALE WP1 study

BACKGROUND: Culture-based microbiological investigation of hospital-acquired or ventilator-associated pneumonia (HAP or VAP) is insensitive, with aetiological agents often unidentified. This can lead to excess antimicrobial treatment of patients with susceptible pathogens, while those with resistant bacteria are treated inadequately for prolonged periods. Using PCR to seek pathogens and their resistance genes directly from clinical samples may improve therapy and stewardship. METHODS: Surplus routine lower respiratory tract samples were collected from intensive care unit patients about to receive new or changed antibiotics for hospital-onset lower respiratory tract infections at 15 UK hospitals. Testing was performed using the BioFire FilmArray Pneumonia Panel (bioMérieux) and Unyvero Pneumonia Panel (Curetis). Concordance analysis compared machine and routine microbiology results, while Bayesian latent class (BLC) analysis estimated the sensitivity and specificity of each test, incorporating information from both PCR panels and routine microbiology. FINDINGS: In 652 eligible samples; PCR identified pathogens in considerably more samples compared with routine microbiology: 60.4% and 74.2% for Unyvero and FilmArray respectively vs 44.2% by routine microbiology. PCR tests also detected more pathogens per sample than routine microbiology. For common HAP/VAP pathogens, FilmArray had sensitivity of 91.7%-100.0% and specificity of 87.5%-99.5%; Unyvero had sensitivity of 50.0%-100.0%%, and specificity of 89.4%-99.0%. BLC analysis indicated that, compared with PCR, routine microbiology had low sensitivity, ranging from 27.0% to 69.4%. INTERPRETATION: Conventional and BLC analysis demonstrated that both platforms performed similarly and were considerably more sensitive than routine microbiology, detecting potential pathogens in patient samples reported as culture negative. The increased sensitivity of detection realised by PCR offers potential for improved antimicrobial prescribing