Longevity and mortality in Kennel Club registered dog breeds in the UK in 2014

Abstract Background The domestic dog is one of the most diverse mammalian species, exhibiting wide variations in morphology, behaviour and morbidity across breeds. Therefore, it is not unexpected that breeds should also exhibit variation in mortality and longevity. While shorter longevity per se may not necessarily be a welfare issue, a generally foreshortened lifespan in a breed that is accompanied by a high prevalence of a particular cause of death may reveal potentially serious welfare concerns and highlight scope to improve breed welfare. Survey data gathered directly from owners offer useful insights into canine longevity and mortality that can support the overall evidence base for welfare reforms within breeds. Results Mortality data on 5663 deceased dogs registered with the UK Kennel Club were collected from an owner-based survey. The most commonly reported causes of death were old age (13.8%), unspecified cancer (8.7%) and heart failure (4.9%); with 5.1% of deaths reported as unknown cause. Overall median age at death was 10.33 years (interquartile range: 7.17–12.83 years). Breeds varied widely in median longevity overall from the West Highland Terrier (12.71 years) to the Dobermann Pinscher (7.67 years). There was also wide variation in the prevalence of some common causes of death among breeds, and in median longevity across the causes of death. Conclusion Substantial variation in the median lifespan and the prominent causes of death exists across breeds. This study has identified some breeds with both a low median lifespan and also a high proportional mortality for one or more specific causes of death that should be considered as both potential welfare concerns as well as opportunities for improvement

Large-scale survey to estimate the prevalence of disorders for 192 Kennel Club registered breeds

Abstract Background Pedigree or purebred dogs are often stated to have high prevalence of disorders which are commonly assumed to be a consequence of inbreeding and selection for exaggerated features. However, few studies empirically report and rank the prevalence of disorders across breeds although such data are of critical importance in the prioritisation of multiple health concerns, and to provide a baseline against which to explore changes over time. This paper reports an owner survey that gathered disorder information on Kennel Club registered pedigree dogs, regardless of whether these disorders received veterinary care. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of disorders among pedigree dogs overall and, where possible, determine any variation among breeds. Results This study included morbidity data on 43,005 live dogs registered with the Kennel Club. Just under two thirds of live dogs had no reported diseases/conditions. The most prevalent diseases/conditions overall were lipoma (4.3%; 95% confidence interval 4.13-4.52%), skin (cutaneous) cyst (3.1%; 2.94-3.27%) and hypersensitivity (allergic) skin disorder (2.7%; 2.52-2.82%). For the most common disorders in the most represented breeds, 90 significant differences between the within breed prevalence and the overall prevalence are reported. Conclusion The results from this study have added vital epidemiological data on disorders in UK dogs. It is anticipated that these results will contribute to the forthcoming Breed Health & Conservation Plans, a Kennel Club initiative aiming to assist in the identification and prioritisation of breeding selection objectives for health and provide advice to breeders/owners regarding steps that may be taken to minimise the risk of the disease/disorders. Future breed-specific studies are recommended to report more precise prevalence estimates within more breeds

A Systematic Review of the Incidence of Arrhythmias in Hemodialysis Patients Undergoing Long-Term Monitoring With Implantable Loop Recorders

Funding Funders who supported this work. Boston Scientific Corporation MedtronicPeer reviewedPublisher PD

Universal deformation rings for the symmetric group S_4

Let k be an algebraically closed field of characteristic 2, and let W be the ring of infinite Witt vectors over k. Let S_4 denote the symmetric group on 4 letters. We determine the universal deformation ring R(S_4,V) for every kS_4-module V which has stable endomorphism ring k and show that R(S_4,V) is isomorphic to either k, or W[t]/(t^2,2t), or the group ring W[Z/2]. This gives a positive answer in this case to a question raised by the first author and Chinburg whether the universal deformation ring of a representation of a finite group with stable endomorphism ring k is always isomorphic to a subquotient ring of the group ring over W of a defect group of the modular block associated to the representation.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figure

‘Not easily put into a box’: constructing professional identity

Researching the interplay between social work students' personal and professional identities, I found that, in talking about becoming professionals, students drew on a wide range of discourses. Three common usages of the term ‘professional identity’ are explored here: it can be thought of in relation to desired traits; it can also be used in a collective sense to convey the ‘identity of the profession’. Taking a more subjective approach, professional identity can be regarded as a process in which each individual comes to have a sense of themselves as a social worker. I argue that the variations in students' talk reflect a wide range of cultural understandings that are prevalent within the social work community and society in general, and conclude that professional identity is more complicated than adopting certain traits or values, or even demonstrating competence. The different meanings of professional identity all have something to offer, providing resources for students as they construct themselves as social workers. This is important for social work education because it acknowledges the dynamic nature of professional identity, highlights the difficult identity work which each student must undertake, and prompts us to consider how this process might best be supported

Modular symbols in Iwasawa theory

This survey paper is focused on a connection between the geometry of $\mathrm{GL}_d$ and the arithmetic of $\mathrm{GL}_{d-1}$ over global fields, for integers $d \ge 2$. For $d = 2$ over $\mathbb{Q}$, there is an explicit conjecture of the third author relating the geometry of modular curves and the arithmetic of cyclotomic fields, and it is proven in many instances by the work of the first two authors. The paper is divided into three parts: in the first, we explain the conjecture of the third author and the main result of the first two authors on it. In the second, we explain an analogous conjecture and result for $d = 2$ over $\mathbb{F}_q(t)$. In the third, we pose questions for general $d$ over the rationals, imaginary quadratic fields, and global function fields.Comment: 43 page

Numerical evidence toward a 2-adic equivariant ''Main Conjecture''

International audienceWe test a conjectural non abelian refinement of the classical 2-adic Main Conjecture of Iwasawa theory. In the first part, we show how, in the special case that we study, the validity of this refinement is equivalent to a congruence condition on the coefficients of some power series. Then, in the second part, we explain how to compute the first coefficients of this power series and thus numerically check the conjecture in that setting

Managing lifestyle change to reduce coronary risk: a synthesis of qualitative research on peoples’ experiences

Background Coronary heart disease is an incurable condition. The only approach known to slow its progression is healthy lifestyle change and concordance with cardio-protective medicines. Few people fully succeed in these daily activities so potential health improvements are not fully realised. Little is known about peoples’ experiences of managing lifestyle change. The aim of this study was to synthesise qualitative research to explain how participants make lifestyle change after a cardiac event and explore this within the wider illness experience. Methods A qualitative synthesis was conducted drawing upon the principles of meta-ethnography. Qualitative studies were identified through a systematic search of 7 databases using explicit criteria. Key concepts were identified and translated across studies. Findings were discussed and diagrammed during a series of audiotaped meetings. Results The final synthesis is grounded in findings from 27 studies, with over 500 participants (56% male) across 8 countries. All participants experienced a change in their self-identity from what was ‘familiar’ to ‘unfamiliar’. The transition process involved ‘finding new limits and a life worth living’ , ‘finding support for self’ and ‘finding a new normal’. Analyses of these concepts led to the generation of a third order construct, namely an ongoing process of ‘reassessing past, present and future lives’ as participants considered their changed identity. Participants experienced a strong urge to get back to ‘normal’. Support from family and friends could enable or constrain life change and lifestyle changes. Lifestyle change was but one small part of a wider ‘life’ change that occurred. Conclusions The final synthesis presents an interpretation, not evident in the primary studies, of a person-centred model to explain how lifestyle change is situated within ‘wider’ life changes. The magnitude of individual responses to a changed health status varied. Participants experienced distress as their notion of self identity shifted and emotions that reflected the various stages of the grief process were evident in participants’ accounts. The process of self-managing lifestyle took place through experiential learning; the level of engagement with lifestyle change reflected an individual’s unique view of the balance needed to manage ‘realistic change’ whilst leading to a life that was perceived as ‘worth living’. Findings highlight the importance of providing person centred care that aligns with both psychological and physical dimensions of recovery which are inextricably linked

Characterising the types of paediatric adverse events detected by the global trigger tool - CareTrack Kids

Introduction A common method of learning about adverse events (AEs) is by reviewing medical records using the global trigger tool (GTT). However, these studies generally report rates of harm. The aim of this study is to characterise paediatric AEs detected by the GTT using descriptive and qualitative approaches. Methods Medical records of children aged 0–15 were reviewed for presence of harm using the GTT. Records from 2012–2013 were sampled from hospital inpatients, emergency departments, general practice and specialist paediatric practices in three Australian states. Nurses undertook a review of each record and if an AE was suspected a doctor performed a verification review of a summary created by the nurse. A qualitative content analysis was undertaken on the summary of verified AEs. Results A total of 232 AEs were detected from 6,689 records reviewed. Over four-fifths of the AEs (193/232, 83%) resulted in minor harm to the patient. Nearly half (112/232, 48%) related to medication/intravenous (IV) fluids. Of these, 83% (93/112) were adverse drug reactions. Problems with medical devices/equipment were the next most frequent with nearly two-thirds (32/51, 63%) of these related to intravenous devices. Problems associated with clinical processes/procedures comprise one in six AEs (38/232, 16%), of which diagnostic problems (12/38, 32%) and procedural complications (11/38, 29%) were the most frequent. Conclusion Adverse drug reactions and issues with IVs are frequently identified AEs reflecting their common use in paediatrics. The qualitative approach taken in this study allowed AE types to be characterised, which is a prerequisite for developing and prioritising improvements in practice

Predicting evolution and visualizing high-dimensional fitness landscapes

The tempo and mode of an adaptive process is strongly determined by the structure of the fitness landscape that underlies it. In order to be able to predict evolutionary outcomes (even on the short term), we must know more about the nature of realistic fitness landscapes than we do today. For example, in order to know whether evolution is predominantly taking paths that move upwards in fitness and along neutral ridges, or else entails a significant number of valley crossings, we need to be able to visualize these landscapes: we must determine whether there are peaks in the landscape, where these peaks are located with respect to one another, and whether evolutionary paths can connect them. This is a difficult task because genetic fitness landscapes (as opposed to those based on traits) are high-dimensional, and tools for visualizing such landscapes are lacking. In this contribution, we focus on the predictability of evolution on rugged genetic fitness landscapes, and determine that peaks in such landscapes are highly clustered: high peaks are predominantly close to other high peaks. As a consequence, the valleys separating such peaks are shallow and narrow, such that evolutionary trajectories towards the highest peak in the landscape can be achieved via a series of valley crossingsComment: 12 pages, 7 figures. To appear in "Recent Advances in the Theory and Application of Fitness Landscapes" (A. Engelbrecht and H. Richter, eds.). Springer Series in Emergence, Complexity, and Computation, 201