An investigation into the prevalence of dog bites to primary school children in Trinidad

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>To estimate the prevalence of dog bites to primary school children between the ages of 8–12 years using a semi-structured interview process. With the increase in the pet population and popularity of dangerous breeds of dog and a high stray dog population combined with a dearth of information on the risk of dog attacks to children in Trinidad, a semi-structured interview process was used to determine risk factors associated with dog attacks.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A questionnaire survey of 1109 primary school children between the ages of 8–12 years was conducted in Trinidad from November 2002 to September 2003. The survey was conducted to determine the risk factors such as age, gender, size of dog and relationship of dog and victim, in dog bite incidents. The chi-square statistic and odds ratios were used to estimate risk factors for a bite incident.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Twenty-eight percent of children were bitten at least once by a dog. Gender (male) and owning a dog were statistically significant risk factors (p = 0.003 and 0.008 respectively, χ²<it>df</it>, 95% confidence). Most attacks occurred outside of the home (58.0%) followed by the victims' home (42.0%) and were by a dog known but not owned (54.6%) by the victim. Many victims (33.0%) were bitten without having any interaction with the dog and the majority (61.9%) of victims did not receive professional medical assistance. Overall, the lower leg or foot was most often injured (39.3%).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>A public educational campaign is needed on responsible pet ownership. In addition, children must be taught effective ways of avoiding attacks or reducing injury in the event of a dog attack. The Dangerous dogs Act 2000 must be proclaimed in parliament by the Government of Trinidad and Tobago to exert more pressure on pet owners to safeguard the public from the menace of dog attacks.</p

Convergent and parallel evolution in life habit of the scallops (Bivalvia: Pectinidae)

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>We employed a phylogenetic framework to identify patterns of life habit evolution in the marine bivalve family Pectinidae. Specifically, we examined the number of independent origins of each life habit and distinguished between convergent and parallel trajectories of life habit evolution using ancestral state estimation. We also investigated whether ancestral character states influence the frequency or type of evolutionary trajectories.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We determined that temporary attachment to substrata by byssal threads is the most likely ancestral condition for the Pectinidae, with subsequent transitions to the five remaining habit types. Nearly all transitions between life habit classes were repeated in our phylogeny and the majority of these transitions were the result of parallel evolution from byssate ancestors. Convergent evolution also occurred within the Pectinidae and produced two additional gliding clades and two recessing lineages. Furthermore, our analysis indicates that byssal attaching gave rise to significantly more of the transitions than any other life habit and that the cementing and nestling classes are only represented as evolutionary outcomes in our phylogeny, never as progenitor states.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Collectively, our results illustrate that both convergence and parallelism generated repeated life habit states in the scallops. Bias in the types of habit transitions observed may indicate constraints due to physical or ontogenetic limitations of particular phenotypes.</p

Osteological and Soft-Tissue Evidence for Pneumatization in the Cervical Column of the Ostrich (Struthio camelus) and Observations on the Vertebral Columns of Non-Volant, Semi-Volant and Semi-Aquatic Birds

© 2015 Apostolaki et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License [4.0], which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. The attached file is the published version of the article

Barriers and enablers for participation in healthy lifestyle programs by adolescents who are overweight: a qualitative study of the opinions of adolescents, their parents and community stakeholders

Background: Overweight or obesity during adolescence affects almost 25% of Australian youth, yet limited research exists regarding recruitment and engagement of adolescents in weight-management or healthy lifestyle interventions, or best-practice for encouraging long-term healthy behaviour change. A sound understanding of community perceptions, including views from adolescents, parents and community stakeholders, regarding barriers and enablers to entering and engaging meaningfully in an intervention is critical to improve the design of such programs. Methods: This paper reports findings from focus groups and semi-structured interviews conducted with adolescents (n=44), parents (n=12) and community stakeholders (n=39) in Western Australia. Three major topics were discussed to inform the design of more feasible and effective interventions: recruitment, retention in the program and maintenance of healthy change. Data were analysed using content and thematic analyses.Results: Data were categorised into barriers and enablers across the three main topics. For recruitment, identified barriers included: the stigma associated with overweight, difficulty defining overweight, a lack of current health services and broader social barriers. The enablers for recruitment included: strategic marketing, a positive approach and subsidising program costs. For retention, identified barriers included: location, timing, high level of commitment needed and social barriers. Enablers for retention included: making it fun and enjoyable for adolescents, involving the family, having an on-line component, recruiting good staff and making it easy for parents to attend. For maintenance, identified barriers included: the high degree of difficulty in sustaining change and limited services to support change. Enablers for maintenance included: on-going follow up, focusing on positive change, utilisation of electronic media and transition back to community services. Conclusions: This study highlights significant barriers for adolescents and parents to overcome to engage meaningfully with weight-management or healthy lifestyle programs. A number of enablers were identified to promote ongoing involvement with an intervention. This insight into specific contextual opinions from the local community can be used to inform the delivery of healthy lifestyle programs for overweight adolescents, with a focus on maximising acceptability and feasibility

Effective healthcare teams require effective team members: defining teamwork competencies

BACKGROUND: Although effective teamwork has been consistently identified as a requirement for enhanced clinical outcomes in the provision of healthcare, there is limited knowledge of what makes health professionals effective team members, and even less information on how to develop skills for teamwork. This study identified critical teamwork competencies for health service managers. METHODS: Members of a state branch of the professional association of Australian health service managers participated in a teamwork survey. RESULTS: The 37% response rate enabled identification of a management teamwork competency set comprising leadership, knowledge of organizational goals and strategies and organizational commitment, respect for others, commitment to working collaboratively and to achieving a quality outcome. CONCLUSION: Although not part of the research question the data suggested that the competencies for effective teamwork are perceived to be different for management and clinical teams, and there are differences in the perceptions of effective teamwork competencies between male and female health service managers. This study adds to the growing evidence that the focus on individual skill development and individual accountability and achievement that results from existing models of health professional training, and which is continually reinforced by human resource management practices within healthcare systems, is not consistent with the competencies required for effective teamwork

The Effects of Governmental Protected Areas and Social Initiatives for Land Protection on the Conservation of Mexican Amphibians

Traditionally, biodiversity conservation gap analyses have been focused on governmental protected areas (PAs). However, an increasing number of social initiatives in conservation (SICs) are promoting a new perspective for analysis. SICs include all of the efforts that society implements to conserve biodiversity, such as land protection, from private reserves to community zoning plans some of which have generated community-protected areas. This is the first attempt to analyze the status of conservation in Latin America when some of these social initiatives are included. The analyses were focused on amphibians because they are one of the most threatened groups worldwide. Mexico is not an exception, where more than 60% of its amphibians are endemic. We used a niche model approach to map the potential and real geographical distribution (extracting the transformed areas) of the endemic amphibians. Based on remnant distribution, all the species have suffered some degree of loss, but 36 species have lost more than 50% of their potential distribution. For 50 micro-endemic species we could not model their potential distribution range due to the small number of records per species, therefore the analyses were performed using these records directly. We then evaluated the efficiency of the existing set of governmental protected areas and established the contribution of social initiatives (private and community) for land protection for amphibian conservation. We found that most of the species have some proportion of their potential ecological niche distribution protected, but 20% are not protected at all within governmental PAs. 73% of endemic and 26% of micro-endemic amphibians are represented within SICs. However, 30 micro-endemic species are not represented within either governmental PAs or SICs. This study shows how the role of land conservation through social initiatives is therefore becoming a crucial element for an important number of species not protected by governmental PAs