An Outrageous Suggestion

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Assessing the effects of the first 2 years of industry-led badger culling in England on the incidence of bovine tuberculosis in cattle in 2013–2015

Culling badgers to control the transmission of bovine tuberculosis (TB) between this wildlife reservoir and cattle has been widely debated. Industry-led culling began in Somerset and Gloucestershire between August and November 2013 to reduce local badger populations. Industry-led culling is not designed to be a randomised and controlled trial of the impact of culling on cattle incidence. Nevertheless, it is important to monitor the effects of the culling and, taking the study limitations into account, perform a cautious evaluation of the impacts. A standardised method for selecting areas matched to culling areas in factors found to affect cattle TB risk has been developed to evaluate the impact of badger culling on cattle TB incidence. The association between cattle TB incidence and badger culling in the first two years has been assessed. Descriptive analyses without controlling for confounding showed no association between culling and TB incidence for Somerset, or for either of the buffer areas for the first two years since culling began. A weak association was observed in Gloucestershire for Year 1 only. Multivariable analysis adjusting for confounding factors showed that reductions in TB incidence were associated with culling in the first two years in both the Somerset and Gloucestershire intervention areas when compared to areas with no culling (IRR: 0.79, 95%CI: 0.72-0.87, p<0.001 and IRR: 0.42, 95%CI: 0.34-0.51, p<0.001 respectively). An increase in incidence was associated with culling in the 2 km buffer surrounding the Somerset intervention area (IRR: 1.38, 95%CI: 1.09-1.75, p=0.008), but not in Gloucestershire (IRR: 0.91, 95%CI: 0.77-1.07, p=0.243). As only two intervention areas with two years’ of data are available for analysis, and the biological cause-effect relationship behind the statistical associations is difficult to determine, it would be unwise to use these findings to develop generalisable inferences about the effectiveness of the policy at present

Eccentricity Growth Rates of Tidally Distorted Discs

We consider discs that orbit a central object and are tidally perturbed by a circular orbit companion. Such discs are sometimes subject to an eccentric instability due to the effects of certain resonances. Eccentric instabilities may be present in planetary rings perturbed by satellites, protostellar discs perturbed by planets, and discs in binary star systems. Although the basic mechanism for eccentric instability is well understood, the detailed response of a gaseous disc to such an instability is not understood. We apply a linear eccentricity evolution equation developed by Goodchild and Ogilvie. We explore how the eccentricity is distributed in such a disc and how the distribution in turn affects the instability growth rate for a range of disc properties. We identify a disc mode, termed the superhump mode, that is likely at work in the superhump binary star case. The mode results from the excitation of the fundamental free precession mode. We determine an analytic expression for the fundamental free mode precession rate that is applicable to a sufficiently cool disc. Depending on the disc sound speed and disc edge location, other eccentric modes can grow faster than the superhump mode and dominate.Comment: 11 pages, 15 figures to be published on MNRA

A systematic review of non-pharmacological interventions for primary Sjögren’s syndrome

The objective of this systematic review was to assess the efficacy of non-pharmacological interventions for the management of primary Sjögren’s syndrome. We searched the following databases from inception to September 2014; Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews; Medline; Embase; PsychINFO; Cinahl and clinical trials registers. We included randomised controlled trials of any non-pharmacological interventions. Two review authors independently reviewed titles and abstracts against the inclusion/exclusion criteria and independently assessed trial quality and extracted data. 1463 studies were identified of which 17 full text articles were screened and 5 studies were included in the review with a total of 130 participants randomised. The included studies investigated effectiveness of an oral lubricating device for dry mouth, acupuncture for dry mouth, lacrimal punctum plugs for dry eyes and psychodynamic group therapy for coping with symptoms. Overall the studies were of low quality and at high risk of bias. Although one study showed punctum plugs to improve dry eyes it was too small for the findings to be conclusive. Overall we identified no evidence to support any non-pharmacological interventions to improve PSS. The area needs quality large randomised controlled trials that are reported according to CONSORT guidelines and address important issues to patients

Spatially Explicit Data: Stewardship and Ethical Challenges in Science

Scholarly communication is at an unprecedented turning point created in part by the increasing saliency of data stewardship and data sharing. Formal data management plans represent a new emphasis in research, enabling access to data at higher volumes and more quickly, and the potential for replication and augmentation of existing research. Data sharing has recently transformed the practice, scope, content, and applicability of research in several disciplines, in particular in relation to spatially specific data. This lends exciting potentiality, but the most effective ways in which to implement such changes, particularly for disciplines involving human subjects and other sensitive information, demand consideration. Data management plans, stewardship, and sharing, impart distinctive technical, sociological, and ethical challenges that remain to be adequately identified and remedied. Here, we consider these and propose potential solutions for their amelioration

Foresight and action learning supporting transition: An account of practice

Integrating foresight into corporations has proved to be challenging. This account of practice reports on the introduction of futures and foresight (FF) teaching content into an executive Masters programme. The FF contentwas further linked to and provided a background for action learning sets. The purpose was to identify how introducing distant time horizons would help participants to adapt and change their perspectives in problem solving and professional development. The report describes how FF was incorporated across the programme and used to develop insightful conversations in the action learning sets. Citing two case examples, the authors reflect on how participants responded to these new elements and offer insights into the value of introducing FF as an interdisciplinary element in a programme

Regulation of the Membrane Insertion and Conductance Activity of the Metamorphic Chloride Intracellular Channel Protein CLIC1 by Cholesterol

The Chloride Intracellular ion channel protein CLIC1 has the ability to spontaneously insert into lipid membranes from a soluble, globular state. The precise mechanism of how this occurs and what regulates this insertion is still largely unknown, although factors such as pH and redox environment are known contributors. In the current study, we demonstrate that the presence and concentration of cholesterol in the membrane regulates the spontaneous insertion of CLIC1 into the membrane as well as its ion channel activity. The study employed pressure versus area change measurements of Langmuir lipid monolayer films; and impedance spectroscopy measurements using tethered bilayer membranes to monitor membrane conductance during and following the addition of CLIC1 protein. The observed cholesterol dependent behaviour of CLIC1 is highly reminiscent of the cholesterol-dependent-cytolysin family of bacterial pore-forming proteins, suggesting common regulatory mechanisms for spontaneous protein insertion into the membrane bilayer. © 2013 Valenzuela et al

Who is the key decision maker in the structural frame selection process?

ABSTRACT: Selecting the correct structural frame is crucial to a project’s feasibility and success, but this de-cision can have profound implications for the future performance of a building project. In practice, the even-tual choice of a frame may involve various parties including client, project manager, cost consultant, structural engineer, architect, main contractor, etc. This paper presents research findings on the levels of influence of these project team members on the structural frame selection process. It describes the results of a two-year study in which various research methods were undertaken including a state-of-the-art literature review, semi-structured interviews and a postal questionnaire survey. The interviews showed that cost consultants, project managers and clients were found to be the most influential people in the structural frame decision-making pro-cess, so a postal questionnaire survey was sent to a sample of UK companies operating in these areas to further examine their priorities and views in detail. The data collected was subsequently analyzed and produced a rank ordering of project team members in relation to the influence they have on the choice of frame type at each stage of design process. In fact, they agreed that the structural engineer was the most influential deci-sion-maker in the structural frame selection process. So, this paper asks the question ‘who really is the key de-cision maker?’ The conclusions will be of interest to all those concerned with project teams, structural frame design and selection and effective leadership in decision making

Molecular dissection of the soluble photosynthetic antenna from the cryptophyte alga Hemiselmis andersenii

Cryptophyte algae have a unique phycobiliprotein light-harvesting antenna that fills a spectral gap in chlorophyll absorption from photosystems. However, it is unclear how the antenna transfers energy efficiently to these photosystems. We show that the cryptophyte Hemiselmis andersenii expresses an energetically complex antenna comprising three distinct spectrotypes of phycobiliprotein, each composed of two αβ protomers but with different quaternary structures arising from a diverse α subunit family. We report crystal structures of the major phycobiliprotein from each spectrotype. Two-thirds of the antenna consists of open quaternary form phycobiliproteins acting as primary photon acceptors. These are supplemented by a newly discovered open-braced form (~15%), where an insertion in the α subunit produces ~10 nm absorbance red-shift. The final components (~15%) are closed forms with a long wavelength spectral feature due to substitution of a single chromophore. This chromophore is present on only one β subunit where asymmetry is dictated by the corresponding α subunit. This chromophore creates spectral overlap with chlorophyll, thus bridging the energetic gap between the phycobiliprotein antenna and the photosystems. We propose that the macromolecular organization of the cryptophyte antenna consists of bulk open and open-braced forms that transfer excitations to photosystems via this bridging closed form phycobiliprotein