Application of interdisciplinary approaches to improve the welfare of big cats

This research, across five studies, examines the effectiveness of broad interdisciplinary approaches from the fields of natural and social sciences to assess big cat welfare. It first reviews the research on the role of individual variation in understanding the relationship between personality and stress physiology in big cats. In reviewing the past literature on big cat personality and stress physiology, we compared the methods used and identified five factors - social interactions, environment, life history and evolutionary traits, genetics, and health, that may influence this integrated relationship. We then applied these inferences to explore personality in captive Twenty-two African lions (13 males and 9 females). A strong correlation was found between lion personality and cortisol levels, where African lions with agreeable personality types had lower cortisol levels. Next, we examined social and environmental factors identified as influencing factors in the review and measured it using the association index, the spread of participation index and electivity index in these captive African lions (n=22). These three indices were then compared with the lion’s personality, cortisol levels, enclosure size and age, to determine the driving factors affecting social and environmental preferences. The social interactions in African lions were negatively influenced by dominant personality types and lions rated higher on agreeableness showed some tendency to use secluded shaded areas with enrichments to remove themselves. While previous study focused on understanding the individual animal’s welfare by observing animals directly, this time we analysed the role of human attitudes towards big cat welfare. We assessed the attitudes of the general public (n=375) towards captive big cats in India and Australia via an online survey and identified the demographic factors influencing their attitudes and found that the number of zoo visits is a common factor influencing people’s perspectives of captive big cats and their welfare, with factors such as location, age, gender and education, and some of their interactions, also influencing several parameters. Finally, we assessed the attitudes of thirty-five stakeholders towards wild leopards in the Sanjay Gandhi National Park, India using an online survey followed by a semi-structured. We examined if these perceptions varied with their role but found that there was no difference in the perceptions of the seven stakeholder groups towards leopards as an issue, in threats towards leopards in the Sanjay Gandhi National Park as part of the urban landscape of Mumbai, and factors resulting in the reduction of leopard attacks

Conservation Physiology of Tigers in Zoos: Integrating Stress Physiology and Behaviour to Monitor Their Health and Welfare

Big cats in zoos can face challenges associated with captive environments such as inadequate biological adaptation, increased occurrence abnormal behaviour and health-related problems. Conservation physiology is an emerging theme and a dynamic field of research, which aims to reduce these challenges of big cats captive management programmes through new scientific research integrating physiology and behaviour. This field of research applies cutting-edge physiological tools (e.g. non-invasive reproductive and stress hormone monitoring) in combination with traditional methods of behaviour and veterinary health assessments to provide a holistic account of how big cats respond to the captive environment. This book chapter discusses the applications of conservation physiology tools in the captive management of tigers in zoos. Our goal is to bolster tiger captive management in zoos by studying their stress physiology. Overall, the application of conservation physiology tools into captive management programmes for tigers and other big cat species can provide valuable information for evaluating and managing stress, thus improving tiger welfare

Managing children's postural risk when using mobile technology at home: Challenges and strategies

Maintaining the musculoskeletal health of children using mobile information and communication technologies (ICT) at home presents a challenge. The physical environment influences postures during ICT use and can contribute to musculoskeletal complaints. Few studies have assessed postures of children using ICT in home environments. The present study investigated the Rapid Upper Limb Assessment (RULA) scores determined by 16 novice and 16 experienced raters. Each rater viewed 11 videotaped scenarios of a child using two types of mobile ICT at home. The Grand Scores and Action Levels determined by study participants were compared to those of an ergonomist experienced in postural assessment. All postures assessed were rated with an Action Level of 2 or above; representing a postural risk that required further investigation and/or intervention. The sensitivity of RULA to assess some of the unconventional postures adopted by children in the home is questioned

Personality matters : exploring the relationship between personality and stress physiology in captive African lions

Background: Considering animals as individuals and not as species is becoming increasingly essential to animal welfare management in captive settings. Recent studies on big cat personalities and coping strategies suggest personality can help big cats cope in their surroundings. Yet a large portion of the published literature focuses on understanding either the personality or stress physiology of big cats. Our research shows how integrating an improved understanding of the personality of big cats with stress physiology may enhance welfare, especially for endangered species like African lions. By using a wild cat personality checklist, this study compared the key personality dimensions of 22 African lions with its faecal glucocorticoids and assessed factors influencing their personality and stress physiology. Results: We found two reliable personality dimensions for African lions (dominance and agreeableness) and identified key factors (sex, age and location) that may influence their personality. Further, on testing if these factors influenced the stress physiology through variations in glucocorticoid levels, there was no significant difference. However, there was a strong negative association between agreeableness and glucocorticoid levels. These results suggest that the behavioural traits loading positively and higher for agreeableness are associated with lower glucocorticoid stress levels, which may assist a lion to cope with stressors in its surroundings. Conclusions: Our findings highlight this integrated approach of linking personality and stress physiology of big cats can be beneficial for caretakers. For example, during stressful veterinary procedures or in reintroduction programs, recognizing the personality of lions can help in designing or providing them with resources that will alleviate stress. Thus, there is a need for more interdisciplinary approaches that will contribute towards enhancing the individual and overall welfare of big cats

The Health of Nursing Professionals: Reviewing Health Promotion Strategies / Saúde dos Trabalhadores de Enfermagem: Revisando as Estratégias de Promoção à Saúde

Objetivo: Conhecer as estratégias de promoção à saúde para os trabalhadores de enfermagem. Método: Revisão integrativa composta por 23 artigos que respondem a questão norteadora: Quais as estratégias de promoção à saúde, desenvolvidas para os trabalhadores de enfermagem? Aplicou-se uma abordagem qualitativa. Resultados: As estratégias para Promoção da Organização do Trabalho pautam-se na regulação da relação carga de trabalho e salário. As do Conhecimento, na atualização profissional com uso de tecnologias. Já as da Atividade Física, na garantia do acesso ao exercício físico, intra e extra, ambiente de trabalho. As de Promoção de Práticas Integrativas e Complementares indica a musicoterapia, as técnicas de relaxamento e yoga, que em conjunto com as demais, contribuem para reduzir o estresse laboral e problemas musculoesqueléticos e cardiovasculares. Conclusão: A organização do trabalho pode ser considerada a principal estratégia de promoção à saúde para trabalhadores de enfermagem, pois a ela associa-se o desenvolvimento das demais

The Health of Nursing Professionals: Reviewing Health Promotion Strategies / Saúde dos Trabalhadores de Enfermagem: Revisando as Estratégias de Promoção à Saúde

Objetivo: Conhecer as estratégias de promoção à saúde para os trabalhadores de enfermagem. Método: Revisão integrativa composta por 23 artigos que respondem a questão norteadora: Quais as estratégias de promoção à saúde, desenvolvidas para os trabalhadores de enfermagem? Aplicou-se uma abordagem qualitativa. Resultados: As estratégias para Promoção da Organização do Trabalho pautam-se na regulação da relação carga de trabalho e salário. As do Conhecimento, na atualização profissional com uso de tecnologias. Já as da Atividade Física, na garantia do acesso ao exercício físico, intra e extra, ambiente de trabalho. As de Promoção de Práticas Integrativas e Complementares indica a musicoterapia, as técnicas de relaxamento e yoga, que em conjunto com as demais, contribuem para reduzir o estresse laboral e problemas musculoesqueléticos e cardiovasculares. Conclusão: A organização do trabalho pode ser considerada a principal estratégia de promoção à saúde para trabalhadores de enfermagem, pois a ela associa-se o desenvolvimento das demais

Atypical Development of Attentional Control Associates with Later Adaptive Functioning, Autism and ADHD Traits

Funder: H2020 European Research Council; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100010663Funder: Research Foundation FlandersFunder: Universiteit Gent; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100004385Funder: Marguerite-Marie DelacroixFunder: Autistica; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100011706Funder: Riksbankens Jubileumsfond; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100004472; Grant(s): NHS14-1802:1Funder: K.F. Hein FondsFunder: Scott Family Junior Research FellowshipAbstract: Autism is frequently associated with difficulties with top-down attentional control, which impact on individuals’ mental health and quality of life. The developmental processes involved in these attentional difficulties are not well understood. Using a data-driven approach, 2 samples (N = 294 and 412) of infants at elevated and typical likelihood of autism were grouped according to profiles of parent report of attention at 10, 15 and 25 months. In contrast to the normative profile of increases in attentional control scores between infancy and toddlerhood, a minority (7–9%) showed plateauing attentional control scores between 10 and 25 months. Consistent with pre-registered hypotheses, plateaued growth of attentional control was associated with elevated autism and ADHD traits, and lower adaptive functioning at age 3 years

Robust estimation of bacterial cell count from optical density

Optical density (OD) is widely used to estimate the density of cells in liquid culture, but cannot be compared between instruments without a standardized calibration protocol and is challenging to relate to actual cell count. We address this with an interlaboratory study comparing three simple, low-cost, and highly accessible OD calibration protocols across 244 laboratories, applied to eight strains of constitutive GFP-expressing E. coli. Based on our results, we recommend calibrating OD to estimated cell count using serial dilution of silica microspheres, which produces highly precise calibration (95.5% of residuals <1.2-fold), is easily assessed for quality control, also assesses instrument effective linear range, and can be combined with fluorescence calibration to obtain units of Molecules of Equivalent Fluorescein (MEFL) per cell, allowing direct comparison and data fusion with flow cytometry measurements: in our study, fluorescence per cell measurements showed only a 1.07-fold mean difference between plate reader and flow cytometry data