Beak and feather disease virus in wild and captive parrots: an analysis of geographic and taxonomic distribution and methodological trends

Psittacine beak and feather disease (PBFD) has emerged in recent years as a major threat to wild parrot populations and is an increasing concern to aviculturists and managers of captive populations. Pathological and serological tests for screening for the presence of beak and feather disease virus (BFDV) are a critical component of efforts to manage the disease and of epidemiological studies. Since the disease was first reported in the mid-1970s, screening for BFDV has been conducted in numerous wild and captive populations. However, at present, there is no current and readily accessible synthesis of screening efforts and their results. Here, we consolidate information collected from 83 PBFD- and BFDV-based publications on the primary screening methods being used and identify important knowledge gaps regarding potential global disease hotspots. We present trends in research intensity in this field and critically discuss advances in screening techniques and their applications to both aviculture and to the management of threatened wild populations. Finally, we provide an overview of estimates of BFDV prevalence in captive and wild flocks alongside a complete list of all psittacine species in which the virus has been confirmed. Our evaluation highlights the need for standardised diagnostic tests and more emphasis on studies of wild populations, particularly in view of the intrinsic connection between global trade in companion birds and the spread of novel BFDV strains into wild populations. Increased emphasis should be placed on the screening of captive and wild parrot populations within their countries of origin across the Americas, Africa and Asia

Security, Ethics and Privacy Issues in the Remote Extended Reality for Education

Home Mixed Reality for Education ChapterSecurity, Ethics and Privacy Issues in the Remote Extended Reality for EducationMuhammad Zahid Iqbal, Xuanhui Xu, Vivek Nallur, Mark Scanlon & Abraham G. Campbell ChapterFirst Online: 17 September 202353 AccessesPart of the Gaming Media and Social Effects book series (GMSE)AbstractThe adoption of Extended Reality (XR), an umbrella term for augmented, virtual, and mixed reality, has grown over the last few years. But this adoption has been accelerated with the impact of the pandemic, which has demonstrated the value of this technology as future of learning technology. As a result, XR is becoming a popular solution to facilitate remote learning, remote conferences, and remote working. To mitigate the problems of remote learning, a trend is emerging among authorities to emphasize the potential for new technologies such as artificial intelligence and virtual, augmented, or mixed reality to create engagement, providing a kinesthetic aspect of learning and addressing students’ attention problems. XR with wearable devices can make the learning process more productive and even more interesting. Despite the fact that remote learning with XR offers several interesting educational advantages as compared to in-person classroom environments, it has its own downsides that have not been addressed in previous research and considerable research gaps remain in this area. When these devices are used in public places, they can infringe on other people’s rights as well. As for security concerns, the more we live our lives online and virtually, the more vulnerable we can become to hackers. These privacy and security risks include input and output data, user interaction data, and identification of both the user and devices. This chapter addresses these ethics, security, and privacy-related issues in line with XR in education. In the broader view, this chapter will focus on a better understanding of the human value of XR for learning purposes in the remote setting with responsible design

The heart metabolism: pathophysiological aspects in ischaemia and heart failure

The morbidity and mortality of coronary heart disease and of heart failure remain unacceptably high despite major advances in their management. The main focus of treatment has been revascularisation for ischaemic heart disease and neuro-humoral modification for heart failure. There is an urgent need for new modalities of treatment to improve mortality and morbidity. Recently, there has been a great deal of interest in the role of disturbances in cardiac energetics and myocardial metabolism in the pathophysiology of both ischaemic heart disease and heart failure and of therapeutic potential of metabolic modulation. The myocardium is a metabolic omnivore, but mainly uses fatty acids and glucose for generation of Adenosine-5'-triphosphate (ATP). This review focuses on the key changes that occur to the metabolism of the heart in ischaemia and in heart failure and its effects on cardiac energetics

Left ventricular filling patterns and its relation to left ventricular untwist in patients with type 1 diabetes and normal ejection fraction

We evaluated young patients with type 1 diabetes (T1DM) who had normal left ventricular (LV) ejection fraction and used speckle tracking echocardiography to assess changes in LV untwisting. We used cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to assess the LV filling patterns in these subjects

Evaluation of the contingent replication assay (CRA) and its application to the study of the general transcription initiation factor, TFIIF.

The Contingent replication assay (CRA) is a rapid assay for the screening and isolation of cDNAs by protein-protein or protein-DNA interactions in mammalian cells. The method has been shown to enrich a plasmid containing a cDNA encoding the bacterial replication-related protein, R6K, from a mixture of two plasmids. In this report we present data illustrating the sensitivity and selectivity of the method. Using the small subunit of TFIIF (Rap30) as a target, we demonstrate the enrichment of a clone encoding the large subunit, Rap74, from a cDNA library. Additional cDNA clones including human Rap30 and an anonymous cDNA clone homologous to members of the human cdc2 kinase family were enriched and isolated by a modified screening approach. The structure of these additional clones suggest that the CRA enriches for products that interact not only directly with the target protein but also through bridging by endogenous proteins