Precautionary advice about mobile phones: Public understandings and intended responses

The official published version can be obtained from the link below - Copyright @ Taylor & FrancisThere is a widespread academic and policy debate about public responses to precaution in public health campaigns. This paper explores these issues in relation to the precautionary stance adopted in the UK around the regulation of mobile telecommunications. The aim of the paper is to examine the nature of attitudes to precaution, and the way in which these, along with other relevant variables, relate to the intention to adopt relevant behaviours. The results from an experimental study (n = 173) indicate that people distinguish between two dimensions of precaution: firstly in relation to its value or necessity per se and secondly as anchored to notions of governance. The two variables differentially relate to other variables including trust and uncertainty, and are predictive of intended behaviour change indirectly, through worry about mobile phone risks. Precautionary advice was generally interpreted as causing concern rather than providing reassurance. The results suggest that precaution may be considered a valuable stance but this does not mean that it is seen as good governance or that it will reduce concern. Whilst the discourse of precaution is aimed at reducing concern, it appears that the uptake of relevant behaviours is largely triggered by worry

In vitro susceptibility of contagious ovine digital dermatitis associated Treponema spp. isolates to antimicrobial agents in the UK

Background: Contagious ovine digital dermatitis (CODD) is an important cause of infectious lameness in sheep in the UK and Ireland and has a severe impact on the welfare of affected individuals. The three treponemal phylogroups Treponema medium/Treponema vincentii-like, Treponema phagedenis-like and Treponema pedis spirochaetes have been associated with clinical CODD lesions and are considered to be a necessary cause of disease. There are scant data on the antimicrobial susceptibility of the treponemes cultured from CODD lesions. Objective: The aim of this study was to determine in vitro the miniumum inhibitory concentration/ minimum bactericidal concentration (MIC/MBC) of antimicrobials used in the sheep industry for isolates of the three CODD associated treponeme phylogroups T. medium/T. vincentii-like, T. phagedenis-like and T. pedis. Animals: Twenty treponeme isolates; from 19 sheep with clinical CODD lesions. Methods: A microdilution method was used to determine in vitro the MIC/MBC of 10 antimicrobial agents for 20 treponeme isolates (five T. medium/T. vincentii-like, 10 T. phagedenis-like and five T. pedis). The antimicrobials tested were penicillin G, amoxicillin, oxytetracycline, tilmicosin, lincomycin, spectinomycin, tylosin, tildipirosin, tulathromycin and gamithromycin. Results: The treponeme isolates tested showed low MICs and MBCs to all 10 antimicrobials tested. They were most susceptible to gamithromycin and tildipirosin (MIC90: 0.0469 mg/L), and were least susceptible to lincomycin, spectinomycin and oxytetracycline (MIC90: 48 mg/L, 24 mg/L and 3 mg/L, respectively). Conclusions: These data are comparable to in vitro antimicrobial susceptibility data for treponemes cultured from bovine digital dermatitis lesions. Dependent on local licensing, penicillin and tilmicosin appear to be the best candidates for future in vivo studies. © 2015 ESVD & ACVD

Confidence does not mediate a relationship between owner experience and likelihood of using weight management approaches for native ponies

Funding: This study was funded by Mars Petcare and is part of a PhD studentship funded by the Scottish Funding Council Research Excellence Grant (REG). Authors WR and MN receive salary support from the Rural and Environment Science and Analytical Services Division (RESAS). With the exception of PH (employed by the funding organization), the funding organization did not have any additional role in the conceptualization, methodology, investigation, data curation, formal analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. PH was involved in study design, data interpretation, and manuscript preparation.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

The grit in the oyster: using energy biographies to question socio-technical imaginaries of ‘smartness’

It has been argued that responsible research and innovation (RRI) requires critique of the ‘worlds’ implicated in the future imaginaries associated with new technologies. Qualitative social science research can aid deliberation on imaginaries by exploring the meanings of technologies within everyday practices, as demonstrated by Yolande Strengers’ work on imaginaries of ‘smartness’. In this paper, we show how a novel combination of narrative interviews and multimodal methods can help explore future imaginaries of smartness through the lens of biographical experiences of socio-technical changes in domestic energy use. In particular, this approach can open up a critical space around socio-technical imaginaries by exploring the investments that individuals have in different forms of engagement with the world. The paper works with a psychosocial conceptual framework that draws on theoretical resources from science and technology studies to explain how valued forms of subjectivity may be conceptualised as emerging out of the ‘friction’ of engagement with the world. Using this framework, we show how biographical narratives of engagement with technologies from the Energy Biographies project can extend into critical deliberation on future imaginaries. The paper demonstrates the value of ‘thick’ data relating to the affective dimensions of subjective experience for RRI

A molecular epidemiology of treponemes in beef cattle digital dermatitis lesions and comparative analyses with sheep contagious ovine digital dermatitis and dairy cattle digital dermatitis lesions

Bovine digital dermatitis (BDD) is an infective foot disease commonly reported in dairy cattle where Treponema are considered as the primary causative infectious agents. There still remains little definitive information on the etiology of BDD in beef cattle suggesting further investigations are warranted. Beef BDD lesions (. n=. 34) and healthy beef foot tissues (. n=. 38) were analysed by PCR for three BDD-associated Treponema phylogroups and also for Dichelobacter nodosus and Fusobacterium necrophorum. Spirochete culture was attempted on all BDD lesion samples. One or more BDD-associated Treponema phylogroups were detected in 100 of beef BDD lesions. ". Treponema medium/Treponema vincentii-like", ". Treponema phagedenis-like" and Treponema pedis spirochetes were identified in 27/34 (79), 31/34 (91) and 24/34 (71) of BDD lesions, respectively. No BDD-associated treponeme DNA was amplified from beef healthy foot tissues. D. nodosus and F. necrophorum were present in 24/34 (71) and 15/34 (44) of lesions and 10/38 (26) and 12/38 (32) of healthy foot tissues, respectively. Twenty spirochetes were isolated from beef BDD lesions; 19 were representatives of the three BDD-associated Treponema phylogroups. One spirochete isolate shared less than 97 16S rRNA gene similarity to the three cultivable BDD-associated Treponema phylogroups and therefore may represent a novel taxa of Treponema. Upon comparison, sheep contagious ovine digital dermatitis (CODD), dairy cattle and beef cattle BDD lesions appear to have extremely similar bacteriological data and therefore provides evidence of a shared etiopathogenesis posing concerns for cross-species transmission. © 2015 Elsevier B.V

Do Olivine Crystallization Temperatures Faithfully Record Mantle Temperature Variability?

Abstract: Crystallization temperatures of primitive olivine crystals have been widely used as both a proxy for, or an intermediate step in calculating, mantle temperatures. The olivine‐spinel aluminum‐exchange thermometer has been applied to samples from mid‐ocean ridges and large igneous provinces, yielding considerable variability in olivine crystallization temperatures. We supplement the existing data with new crystallization temperature estimates for Hawaii, between 1282 ± 21 and 1375 ± 19°C. Magmatic temperatures may be linked to mantle temperatures if the thermal changes during melting can be quantified. The magnitude of this temperature change depends on melt fraction, itself controlled by mantle temperature, mantle composition and lithosphere thickness. Both mantle composition and lithosphere thickness vary spatially and temporally, with systematic differences between mid‐ocean ridges, ocean islands and large igneous provinces. For crystallization temperatures to provide robust evidence of mantle temperature variability, the controls of lithosphere thickness and mantle lithology on crystallization temperature must be isolated. We develop a multi‐lithology melting model for predicting crystallization temperatures of magmas in both intra‐plate volcanic provinces and mid‐ocean ridges. We find that the high crystallization temperatures seen at mantle plume localities do require high mantle temperatures. In the absence of further constraints on mantle lithology or melt productivity, we cannot robustly infer variable plume temperatures between ocean‐islands and large igneous provinces from crystallization temperatures alone; for example, the extremely high crystallization temperatures obtained for the Tortugal Phanerozoic komatiite could derive from mantle of comparable temperature to modern‐day Hawaii. This work demonstrates the limit of petrological thermometers when other geodynamic parameters are poorly known

Thermodynamic Properties of the Dimerised and Frustrated S=1/2 Chain

By high temperature series expansion, exact diagonalisation and temperature density-matrix renormalisation the magnetic susceptibility $\chi(T)$ and the specific heat $C(T)$ of dimerised and frustrated $S=1/2$ chains are computed. All three methods yield reliable results, in particular for not too small temperatures or not too small gaps. The series expansion results are provided in the form of polynomials allowing very fast and convenient fits in data analysis using algebraic programmes. We discuss the difficulty to extract more than two coupling constants from the temperature dependence of $\chi(T)$.Comment: 14 pages, 13 figures, 4 table

Contagious Ovine Digital Dermatitis: A Novel Bacterial Aetiology and Lesion Pathogenesis.

Contagious ovine digital dermatitis (CODD) is a severe and common infectious foot disease of sheep and a significant animal welfare issue for the sheep industry in the UK and some European countries. The aetiology and pathogenesis of the disease are incompletely understood. In this longitudinal, experimental study, CODD was induced in 18 sheep, and for the first time, the clinical lesion development and associated microbiological changes in CODD affected feet are described over time, resulting in a completely new understanding of the aetiopathogenesis of CODD. The majority of CODD lesions (83.9%) arose from pre-existing interdigital dermatitis (ID) and/or footrot (FR) lesions. All stages of foot disease were associated with high levels of poly-bacterial colonisation with five pathogens which were detected by qPCR; Treponema medium, Treponema phagedenis, Treponema pedis, Dichelobacter nodosus and Fusobacterium necrophorum. Temporal colonisation patterns showed a trend for early colonisation by Treponema phagedenis, followed by Fusobacterium necrophorum and Dichelobacter nodosus, Treponema medium and then Treponema pedis. Dichelobacter nodosus was present at significantly higher predicted mean log10 genome copy numbers in FR lesions compared to both ID and CODD whilst Treponema species were significantly higher in CODD & FR lesions compared to ID lesions (P < 0.001). Treatment of CODD affected sheep with 2 doses of 10mg/kg long acting amoxicillin resulted in a 91.7% clinical cure rate by 3 weeks post treatment, however a bacteriological cure was not established for all CODD affected feet. The study found that in an infected flock, healthy feet, healed CODD feet, and treated CODD feet can be colonised by some or all of the 5 pathogens associated with CODD and therefore could be a source of continued infection in flocks. The study is an experimental study and the findings require validation in field CODD cases. However, it does provide a new understanding of the aetiopathogenesis of CODD and further supportive evidence for the importance of current advice on the control of CODD; namely ensuring optimum flock control of footrot and prompt isolation and effective treatment of clinical cases

High Resolution and Broad Band Spectra of Low Mass X-ray Binaries: A Comparison between Black Holes and Neutron Stars

A common question about compact objects in high energy astrophysics is whether it is possible to distinguish black hole from neutron star systems with some other property that is not the mass of the compact object. Up to now a few characteristics have been found which are typical of neutron stars (like quasi periodic oscillations at kHz frequencies or type-I X-ray bursts), but in many respects black hole and neutron star systems show very similar behaviors. We present here a spectral study of low mass X-ray binaries containing neutron stars and show that these systems have spectral characteristics that are very similar to what is found for black hole systems. This implies that it is unlikely we can distinguish between black holes and neutron stars from their X-ray spectra, except for the fact that black hole systems show sometimes a more extreme behavior with respect to neutron star systems.Comment: Proceedings of the Frascati Workshop 2005: Multifrequency Behaviour of High Energy Cosmic Sources, Vulcano, May 23-28. 13 pages including 4 figure