Risk indictors in cats with preclinical hypertrophic cardiomyopathy: a prospective cohort study

Objectives This study aimed to identify indicators of the risk of progression of preclinical hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). Methods This was a prospective cohort study following a population of cats with preclinical HCM. Cats serially underwent physical examination, blood pressure measurement, blood sampling and echocardiography. Development of congestive heart failure (CHF), arterial thromboembolism (ATE) or sudden death (SD) were considered cardiac-related events. Associations between factors recorded at baseline, and on revisit examinations, and the development of a cardiac-related event were explored using receiver operator characteristic (ROC) analysis. Results Forty-seven cats were recruited to the study and were followed for a median period of 1135 days. Fifteen cats (31.9%) experienced at least one cardiac-related event; six CHF, five ATE and five SD. One cat experienced a cardiac-related event per 10.3 years of patient follow-up. Cats with increased left atrial (LA) size and higher concentrations of N-terminal pro B-type natriuretic peptide (NTproBNP) at baseline were more likely to experience an event. Cats with a greater rate of enlargement of LA size between examinations were also more likely to experience an event. Conclusions and relevance Factors easily measured, either once or serially, in cats with preclinical HCM can help to identify those at greater risk of going on to develop clinical signs

The molecular epidemiology of variant CJD

The emergence of the novel prion diseases bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) and, subsequently, variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) in epidemic forms has attracted much scientific attention. The oral transmission of these disorders, the causative relationship of vCJD to BSE and the resistance of the transmissible agents in both disorders to conventional forms of decontamination has caused great public health concern. The size of the still emerging vCJD epidemic is thankfully much lower than some early published estimates. This paper reviews current knowledge of the factors that influence the development of vCJD: the properties of the infectious agent; the route of inoculation and individual susceptibility factors. The current epidemiological data are reviewed, along with relevant animal transmission studies. In terms of genetic susceptibility, the best characterised is the common single nucleotide polymorphism at codon 129 of prion protein gene. Current biomarkers and future areas of research will be discussed. These issues are important in informing precautionary measures and the ongoing monitoring of vCJD

Recent developments in optical fibre based optoelectronic oscillators

The paper reports recent progress on new types of low noise and high spectral purity optoelectronic oscillators operating at optical wavelengths around 1550nm and radio frequencies (RF) up to 40GHz with RF linewidths <1kHz

Student evaluation of teachers

Who was the best judge of the effectiveness of a teacher? Was it the administrator who visited the classroom two or three times during the year? Was it the researcher who has yet to identify what constitutes an effective teacher? Was it the college instructor who hypothesizes in his teaching about what constitutes teacher effectiveness? According to William Rupley (1974) it was the pupil who spent more time each class day with the teacher than did anyone else

FIG Commission 4 – Hydrography Work Plan (2019-2022) and Commission Activities

The International Federation of Surveyors (FIG) technical work is led by ten Commissions. Hydrography is represented by Commission 4. FIG Commission 4 is focusing on development and recognition of standards of competency, development of technical standards and guidelines, developing and promoting the need to manage the oceans and seas in a sustainable manner, and a comprehensive investigation of plastic pollution at source that is concerning global environmental problem (“Mapping the Plastic”). Through all its Working Groups, Commission 4 has been actively involved in implementing its policy by working in close cooperation with relevant organisations and institutions. Commission 4 is committed with the continuous collaboration between educational institutions, non-government organisations and the Young Surveyors Network in research and development, as well as, community engagement and the realisation of United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 14 (UN SDG 14)

Genomes and geography: genomic insights into the evolution and phylogeography of the genus Schistosoma

Blood flukes within the genus 'Schistosoma' still remain a major cause of disease in the tropics and subtropics and the study of their evolution has been an area of major debate and research. With the advent of modern molecular and genomic approaches deeper insights have been attained not only into the divergence and speciation of these worms, but also into the historic movement of these parasites from Asia into Africa, via migration and dispersal of definitive and snail intermediate hosts. This movement was subsequently followed by a radiation of Schistosoma species giving rise to the S. mansoni and S. haematobium groups, as well as the S. indicum group that reinvaded Asia. Each of these major evolutionary events has been marked by distinct changes in genomic structure evident in differences in mitochondrial gene order and nuclear chromosomal architecture between the species associated with Asia and Africa. Data from DNA sequencing, comparative molecular genomics and karyotyping are indicative of major constitutional genomic events which would have become fixed in the ancestral populations of these worms. Here we examine how modern genomic techniques may give a more in depth understanding of the evolution of schistosomes and highlight the complexity of speciation and divergence in this group

Challenging the orthodoxy: union learning representatives as organic intellectuals

Teacher education and continuing professional development have become a key areas of controversy in England since the period of school sector restructuring following the 1988 Education Reform Act. More recently teacher training and professional development have often been used to promote and reinforce a narrow focus on the government’s ‘standards agenda’. However, the emerging discourse of ‘new professionalism’ has raised the profile of professional development in schools, and together with union learning representatives, there are opportunities to secure real improvements in teachers’ access to continuing professional development. This paper argues however that union learning representatives must go beyond advocating for better access to professional development and should raise more fundamental questions about the nature of professional development and the education system it serves. Drawing on Gramsci’s notion of the ‘organic intellectual’, the paper argues that union learning representatives have a key role as organisers of ideas – creating spaces in which the ideological dominance of current policy orthodoxy might be challenged

Time-Domain All-Optical Demultiplexing With A Semiconductor Directional Coupler

We report the demonstration of demultiplexing of 150 fs pulses, without pulse breakup, in an AlGaAs nonlinear directional coupler operated at photon energies below half the band gap energy of AlGaAs