The role of the ventrolateral frontal cortex in inhibitory oculomotor control

It has been proposed that the inferior/ventrolateral frontal cortex plays a critical role in the inhibitory control of action during cognitive tasks.However, the contribution of this region to the control of eye movements has not been clearly established.Here, we describe the performance of a group of 23 frontal lobe damaged patients in an oculomotor rule switching task for which the association between a centrally presented visual cue and the direction of a saccade could change from trial to trial. A subset of 16 patients also completed the standard antisaccade task.Ventrolateral damage was found to be a significant predictor of errors in both tasks. Analysis of the rate at which patients corrected errors in the rule switching task also revealed an important dissociation between left and right hemisphere damaged patients.Whilst patients with left ventrolateral damage usually corrected response errors with secondary saccades, those with right hemisphere lesions often failed to do so. The results suggest that the inferior frontal cortex forms part of a wider frontal network mediating inhibitory control over stimulus elicited eye movements. The critical role played by the right ventrolateral region in cognitive tasks may arise due to an additional functional specialization for the monitoring and updating of task rules

BIOCONTROL POTENTIAL OF ENDOPHYTIC Aspergillus spp. AGAINST Fusarium verticillioides

Fusarium verticillioides is the causal agent of ear, stalk and root rot of maize that results in the severe reduction in yields and quality of infected products. Endophytic fungi have been purported as potential candidates in controlling pathogens since they are considered strong plant mutualists that confer disease resilience to their host. The present study was carried out to determine the in vitro antagonistic activity and biocontrol potential of endophytic Aspergillus spp. associated with P. amboinicus leaves against F. verticillioides. Three fungal endophytes from the genus Aspergillus were isolated and identified from the leaves of P. amboinicus, namely A. flavus, A. terreus and A. niger. The fungal isolates were tested for antagonism against F. verticillioides in dual culture plates. Results indicate that the Aspergillus endophytes can restrict growth of F. verticillioides and employ varying mechanisms of antagonism. A. niger inhibited F. verticillioides by 47.37%, followed by A. flavus (41.02%) and A. terreus (27.91%) respectively. Observations of dual culture plates revealed that A. flavus and A. niger antagonized the pathogen via overgrowth mechanism while A. terreus employed antibiosis to restrict the growth of F. verticillioides. The varying degrees of antagonism exhibited by the Aspergillus endophytes show their potential as biocontrol agents and source of bioactive compound

The use of training in graduate recruitment: Emerging trends and business opportunities

The initial aim of the management project was to review the UK training industry, identify and investigate a suitable research topic, and use this work to identify a business opportunity and develop a business plan. Following a literature review the research has focused on investigating how employers utilise training programmes to attract graduate recruits compared with four other factors: financial benefits; corporate identity; quality of life; and the nature of the work itself. The methodology employed was semi-quantitative content analysis on the graduate recruitment websites of 15 FTSE 100 companies across 5 business sectors:- 1. Banking, Finance,Investment: HSBC, Barclays, HBOS 2. Consumer Goods: BAT, Diageo, Unilever 3. Natural Resources: Shell, BP, Anglo American 4. Health: Glaxo Smith Kline, Astra Zeneca, Smith&Nephew 5. Engineering and Industrials: BAE Systems, Rolls-Royce, ICI Twenty five separate subsections divided under the five broad headings were reviewed and rated for each company. The research has concluded that training is the second most significant area detailed in graduate recruitment websites, behind corporate identity, but ahead of both the nature of the work itself and quality of life. Perhaps surprisingly financial benefits were the least significant factor. There were large differences between individual companies, even within the same business sector. This in itself is a highly significant finding, but does mean that detailed analysis between business sectors is limited due to statistical considerations. Best practice and emerging trends have been identified and discussed. All of the companies studied would benefit from improving their graduate recruitment websites, in some cases significantly, by incorporating some of the best practice highlighted in this research. Several areas for further research are suggested. The research has led to the identification of a market for a specialist niche consultancy focusing on corporate recruitment website benchmarking and consulting, supported by the sale of best practice reports. A business plan has been constructed detailing the business vision, mission, and values, the marketing approach, business strategy, financial analysis, and risk analysis. The business plan demonstrates the potential for high profits and high growth for a modest start-up investment and acceptable risk. Due to the commercially sensitive nature of this work the management project is classified as confidential

Management of urinary tract infections in the community; clinical audit and patient survey

Background: Urinary tract infection (UTI) is a common ailment but can develop into sepsis. The outcomes related to UTI may potentially be affected by both patient and clinician management of UTI. Aim: To explore the circumstances around a single UTI episode, to determine if there are patient and clinician related variables that may contribute to differences in management. Design & setting: Survey and clinical audit in 12 General Practices in England. Method: Patients, n=504, completed a bespoke survey and their corresponding index UTI consultation was audited . The TARGET (Treat Antibiotics Responsibly, Guidance, Education and Tools) UTI audit toolkit was utilised. Results: Males self-manage their UTI symptoms – eg, increased fluid intake ( P <0.001, Chi-squared test) and analgesic s use ( P 0.036, Chi-squared test) – and indicate they lack UTI knowledge when compared to females ( P 0.002, Kruskal-Wallis test). Males also claimed to have waited significantly longer for a consultation appointment ( P 0.027, Chi-squared test). Antibiotics were prescribed in 98% of all cases, with adherence to clinical diagnostic guidelines lowest in females <65 years. Only 41% (89/221 of cases in this guideline sub-cohort) would have been a UTI - according to TARGET criteria - following a medical record audit. Conclusion: UTI symptom management by clinicians is sub-optimal; (the lack of) symptoms are often insufficiently recorded in medical records. Additionally, suboptimal adhere to guidelines concerning urinalysis and microbiological investigation is common. Known increased clinical risks for males may be compounded by their more limited knowledge of (self)-managing UTI and their comparatively late presentation

The public health implications of the Paris Agreement: a modelling study.

BACKGROUND: nationally determined contributions (NDCs) serve to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement of staying "well below 2°C", which could also yield substantial health co-benefits in the process. However, existing NDC commitments are inadequate to achieve this goal. Placing health as a key focus of the NDCs could present an opportunity to increase ambition and realise health co-benefits. We modelled scenarios to analyse the health co-benefits of NDCs for the year 2040 for nine representative countries (ie, Brazil, China, Germany, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, South Africa, the UK, and the USA) that were selected for their contribution to global greenhouse gas emissions and their global or regional influence. METHODS: Modelling the energy, food and agriculture, and transport sectors, and mortality related to risk factors of air pollution, diet, and physical activity, we analysed the health co-benefits of existing NDCs and related policies (ie, the current pathways scenario) for 2040 in nine countries around the world. We compared these health co-benefits with two alternative scenarios, one consistent with the goal of the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals (ie, the sustainable pathways scenario), and one in line with the sustainable pathways scenario, but also placing health as a central focus of the policies (ie, the health in all climate policies scenario). FINDINGS: Compared with the current pathways scenario, the sustainable pathways scenario resulted in an annual reduction of 1·18 million air pollution-related deaths, 5·86 million diet-related deaths, and 1·15 million deaths due to physical inactivity, across the nine countries, by 2040. Adopting the more ambitious health in all climate policies scenario would result in a further reduction of 462 000 annual deaths attributable to air pollution, 572 000 annual deaths attributable to diet, and 943 000 annual deaths attributable to physical inactivity. These benefits were attributable to the mitigation of direct greenhouse gas emissions and the commensurate actions that reduce exposure to harmful pollutants, as well as improved diets and safe physical activity. INTERPRETATION: A greater consideration of health in the NDCs and climate change mitigation policies has the potential to yield considerable health benefits as well as achieve the "well below 2°C" commitment across a range of regional and economic contexts. FUNDING: This work was in part funded through an unrestricted grant from the Wellcome Trust (award number 209734/Z/17/Z) and supported by an Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council grant (grant number EP/R035288/1)

The public health implications of the Paris Agreement: a modelling study.

BACKGROUND: nationally determined contributions (NDCs) serve to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement of staying "well below 2°C", which could also yield substantial health co-benefits in the process. However, existing NDC commitments are inadequate to achieve this goal. Placing health as a key focus of the NDCs could present an opportunity to increase ambition and realise health co-benefits. We modelled scenarios to analyse the health co-benefits of NDCs for the year 2040 for nine representative countries (ie, Brazil, China, Germany, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, South Africa, the UK, and the USA) that were selected for their contribution to global greenhouse gas emissions and their global or regional influence. METHODS: Modelling the energy, food and agriculture, and transport sectors, and mortality related to risk factors of air pollution, diet, and physical activity, we analysed the health co-benefits of existing NDCs and related policies (ie, the current pathways scenario) for 2040 in nine countries around the world. We compared these health co-benefits with two alternative scenarios, one consistent with the goal of the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals (ie, the sustainable pathways scenario), and one in line with the sustainable pathways scenario, but also placing health as a central focus of the policies (ie, the health in all climate policies scenario). FINDINGS: Compared with the current pathways scenario, the sustainable pathways scenario resulted in an annual reduction of 1·18 million air pollution-related deaths, 5·86 million diet-related deaths, and 1·15 million deaths due to physical inactivity, across the nine countries, by 2040. Adopting the more ambitious health in all climate policies scenario would result in a further reduction of 462 000 annual deaths attributable to air pollution, 572 000 annual deaths attributable to diet, and 943 000 annual deaths attributable to physical inactivity. These benefits were attributable to the mitigation of direct greenhouse gas emissions and the commensurate actions that reduce exposure to harmful pollutants, as well as improved diets and safe physical activity. INTERPRETATION: A greater consideration of health in the NDCs and climate change mitigation policies has the potential to yield considerable health benefits as well as achieve the "well below 2°C" commitment across a range of regional and economic contexts. FUNDING: This work was in part funded through an unrestricted grant from the Wellcome Trust (award number 209734/Z/17/Z) and supported by an Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council grant (grant number EP/R035288/1)

A national-scale dataset for threats impacting Australia's imperiled flora and fauna

Australia is in the midst of an extinction crisis, having already lost 10% of terrestrial mammal fauna since European settlement and with hundreds of other species at high risk of extinction. The decline of the nation's biota is a result of an array of threatening processes; however, a comprehensive taxon-specific understanding of threats and their relative impacts remains undocumented nationally. Using expert consultation, we compile the first complete, validated, and consistent taxon-specific threat and impact dataset for all nationally listed threatened taxa in Australia. We confined our analysis to 1,795 terrestrial and aquatic taxa listed as threatened (Vulnerable, Endangered, or Critically Endangered) under Australian Commonwealth law. We engaged taxonomic experts to generate taxon-specific threat and threat impact information to consistently apply the IUCN Threat Classification Scheme and Threat Impact Scoring System, as well as eight broad-level threats and 51 subcategory threats, for all 1,795 threatened terrestrial and aquatic threatened taxa. This compilation produced 4,877 unique taxon–threat–impact combinations with the most frequently listed threats being Habitat loss, fragmentation, and degradation (n = 1,210 taxa), and Invasive species and disease (n = 966 taxa). Yet when only high-impact threats or medium-impact threats are considered, Invasive species and disease become the most prevalent threats. This dataset provides critical information for conservation action planning, national legislation and policy, and prioritizing investments in threatened species management and recovery