The effect of sole hardness on the metatarsophalangeal joint in children

Conference abstract

Diagenesis in tephra-rich sediments from the Lesser Antilles Volcanic Arc: Pore fluid constraints

We present sediment pore fluid and sediment solid phase results obtained during IODP Expedition 340 from seven sites located within the Grenada Basin of the southern Lesser Antilles Volcanic Arc region. These sites are generally characterized as being low in organic carbon content and rich in calcium carbonate and volcanogenic material. In addition to the typical reactions related to organic matter diagenesis, pore fluid chemistry indicates that the diagenetic reactions fall within two broad categories; (1) reactions related to chemical exchange with volcanogenic material and (2) reactions related to carbonate dissolution, precipitation, or recrystallization. For locations dominated by reaction with volcanogenic material, these sites exhibit increases in dissolved Ca with coeval decreases in Mg. We interpret this behavior as being driven by sediment-water exchange reactions from the alteration of volcanic material that is dispersed throughout the sediment package, which likely result in formation of Mg-rich secondary authigenic clays. In contrast to this behavior, sediment sequences that exhibit decreases in Ca, Mg, Mn, and Sr with depth suggest that carbonate precipitation is an active diagenetic process affecting solute distributions. The distributions of pore fluid 87Sr /86Sr reflect these competitive diagenetic reactions between volcanic material and carbonate, which are inferred by the major cation distributions. From one site where we have solid phase 87Sr /86Sr (site U1396), the carbonate fraction is found to be generally consistent with the contemporaneous seawater isotope values. However, the 87Sr /86Sr of the non-carbonate fraction ranges from 0.7074 to 0.7052, and these values likely represent a mixture of local arc volcanic sources and trans-Atlantic eolian sources. Even at this site where there is clear evidence for diagenesis of volcanogenic material, carbonate diagenesis appears to buffer pore fluid 87Sr /86Sr from the larger changes that might be expected given the high abundance of tephra in these sediments. Part of this carbonate buffering, at this site as well as throughout the region, derives from the fact that the Sr concentration in the non-carbonate fraction is generally low (< 200 ppm), whereas the carbonate fraction has Sr concentrations approaching ∼1000 ppm

Searching for online information on the fit of children’s footwear during the COVID-19 pandemic: an analysis of Google Trends data

Background Selecting footwear with appropriate fit in children is challenging due the changes with foot size and dimensions which occur throughout childhood. Access to appropriate footwear is important but recent challenges with the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in closure of retail stores for prolonged periods where parents/carers could not physically purchase footwear for their children and the footwear industry suffered disruption to their supply chain, and falls in retail sales. Simultaneously increased use of social media platforms for health information seeking throughout the pandemic have been documented. This likely would have included parents/carers seeking information online to support footwear purchases for their children. The primary aim of this work was to explore how searches for online fitting information for children changed throughout the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown periods. A secondary aim was to identify how searches were influenced by footwear style. Methods We employed Google Trends to obtain search engine traffic related to footwear fitting information for children. We collected data spanning the three years pre, during and post the main national lockdown for three eight-week windows: (1) first eight weeks of the U.K. national lockdown; (2) the first eight weeks of the calendaryear; (3) the eight weeks leading up to children going back-to-school for the new academic year in the U.K. The search terms reflected parents/carers searching for footwear fit information relating to children and were grouped by style of footwear: children, infants, babies and toddlers as well as school shoes. Results We identified increased searching for footwear fit information for children during the pandemic, which reduced following post pandemic in all except the searches which related to school shoes. We saw reductions in searching related to fit of school shoes as schools closed indefinitely and an increase in online searches with the pandemic. This was also maintained post-pandemic despite shops reopening, suggesting that some of these changes in information reflect new consumer behaviours which may continue. Conclusions Increased searches for online resources regarding footwear fit highlights the importance of ensuring high quality accessible online information on footwear fit is available to support those buying footwear for their children

Individuals with unilateral transtibial amputation exhibit reduced accuracy and precision during a targeted stepping task

Accurate foot placement is important for dynamic balance during activities of daily living. Disruption of sensory information and prosthetic componentry characteristics may result in increased locomotor task difficulty for individuals with lower limb amputation. This study investigated the accuracy and precision of prosthetic and intact foot placement during a targeted stepping task in individuals with unilateral transtibial amputation (IUTAs; N=8, 47±13 yrs), compared to the preferred foot of control participant’s (N=8, 33±15 yrs). Participants walked along a 10-metre walkway, placing their foot into a rectangular floor-based target with dimensions normalised to a percentage of participant’s foot length and width; ‘standard’ = 150%x150%, ‘wide’ = 150%x200%, ‘long’ = 200%x150%. Foot placement accuracy (relative distance between foot and target centre), precision (between-trial variability), and foot-reach kinematics were determined for each limb and target, using three-dimensional motion capture. A significant foot-by-target interaction revealed less mediolateral foot placement accuracy for IUTAs in the wide target, which was significantly less accurate for the intact (28±12mm) compared to prosthetic foot (16±14mm). Intact peak foot velocity (4.6±0.8m.s-1) was greater than the prosthetic foot (4.5±0.8m.s-1) for all targets. Controls were more accurate and precise than IUTAs, regardless of target size. Less accurate and precise intact foot placement in IUTAs, coupled with a faster moving intact limb, is likely due to several factors including reduced proprioceptive feedback and active control during prosthetic limb single stance. This could affect activities of daily living where foot placement is critical, such as negotiating cluttered travel paths or obstacles whilst maintaining balance

Author Correction: Bayesian reassessment of the epigenetic architecture of complex traits

The original version of this Article contains an error in Fig. 3 in which panel B was inadvertently duplicated from panel A. This has been corrected in both the PDF and HTML versions of the Article

Use of different RT-QuIC substrates for detecting CWD prions in the brain of Norwegian cervids

Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a highly contagious prion disease affecting captive and free-ranging cervid populations. CWD has been detected in United States, Canada, South Korea and, most recently, in Europe (Norway, Finland and Sweden). Animals with CWD release infectious prions in the environment through saliva, urine and feces sustaining disease spreading between cervids but also potentially to other non-cervids ruminants (e.g. sheep, goats and cattle). In the light of these considerations and due to CWD unknown zoonotic potential, it is of utmost importance to follow specific surveillance programs useful to minimize disease spreading and transmission. The European community has already in place specific surveillance measures, but the traditional diagnostic tests performed on nervous or lymphoid tissues lack sensitivity. We have optimized a Real-Time Quaking-Induced Conversion (RT-QuIC) assay for detecting CWD prions with high sensitivity and specificity to try to overcome this problem. In this work, we show that bank vole prion protein (PrP) is an excellent substrate for RT-QuIC reactions, enabling the detection of trace-amounts of CWD prions, regardless of prion strain and cervid species. Beside supporting the traditional diagnostic tests, this technology could be exploited for detecting prions in peripheral tissues from live animals, possibly even at preclinical stages of the disease

Core components for effective infection prevention and control programmes: new WHO evidence-based recommendations

Abstract Health care-associated infections (HAI) are a major public health problem with a significant impact on morbidity, mortality and quality of life. They represent also an important economic burden to health systems worldwide. However, a large proportion of HAI are preventable through effective infection prevention and control (IPC) measures. Improvements in IPC at the national and facility level are critical for the successful containment of antimicrobial resistance and the prevention of HAI, including outbreaks of highly transmissible diseases through high quality care within the context of universal health coverage. Given the limited availability of IPC evidence-based guidance and standards, the World Health Organization (WHO) decided to prioritize the development of global recommendations on the core components of effective IPC programmes both at the national and acute health care facility level, based on systematic literature reviews and expert consensus. The aim of the guideline development process was to identify the evidence and evaluate its quality, consider patient values and preferences, resource implications, and the feasibility and acceptability of the recommendations. As a result, 11 recommendations and three good practice statements are presented here, including a summary of the supporting evidence, and form the substance of a new WHO IPC guideline

The Impact of Contact Isolation on the Quality of Inpatient Hospital Care

Background: Contact Isolation is a common hospital infection prevention method that may improve infectious outcomes but may also hinder healthcare delivery. Methods: To evaluate the impact of Contact Isolation on compliance with individual and composite process of care quality measures, we formed four retrospective diagnosis-based cohorts from a 662-bed tertiary-care medical center. Each cohor