Financial concern predicts deteriorations in mental and physical health among university students

Objective. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether students’ financial concerns predicted subsequent changes in their mental and physical health. In addition the opportunity was taken to test for reverse causality, by exploring whether initial levels of health predicted subsequent changes in financial concern. Design. The study employed a prospective correlational design. Main Outcome Measures. Undergraduate students at a British university (N = 337) completed measures of financial concern and health at two time points, approximately eight weeks apart. Results. Regression analyses indicated that experiencing greater financial concern at baseline was associated with subsequent deteriorations in health on the following outcomes: role limitation due to physical health problems, role limitation due to emotional problems, social functioning, mental health, general health perception and change in health. By contrast, there was no evidence that initial health influenced subsequent changes in financial concern. Conclusion. Findings suggest that financial concern might adversely impact mental and physical health outcomes in student populations

Effect of heat stress on sow fertility and health

Abstract only availableHigh summer temperatures increase the chance that sow herds will be exposed to heat stress. Heat stress in sows causes a longer weaning to estrus interval, decreased farrowing rates and failure to maintain pregnancy. Conception rates of sows are also particularly lower in the summer than any other breeding season. When sows are bred in the summer, they farrow smaller litters and the average piglet weaning weight is significantly smaller than other seasons. The purpose of this research project is to directly test the effect of heat stress on sow health and fertility at the South Farm Complex in coordination with the Animal Science Research Center (ASRC) at the University of Missouri. Thermal temperatures were taken at the ear, shoulder, rump, tail and rectum for a group of sixteen sows on alternating days for two months. Sow body weight, loin muscle area (LMA) and backfat (BF) measurements were taken at three specific points during the study: the first day of the trial, the day the sows were moved into farrowing, and the day sows were moved into breeding .Once parturition occurred, information regarding the number, health and weight of each piglet was recorded. The results from this project will be compared to a previous heat stress study performed at the Brody Environmental Center within the ASRC. The study concludes that heat stress affects the sow's reproductive efficiency and health, but when and where the elevated temperatures specifically affect each sow and her offspring will be further discussed.F.B. Miller Undergraduate Research Program in Animal Science

Chytrid fungus infections in laboratory and introduced <i>Xenopus laevis </i>populations:assessing the risks for U.K. native amphibians

The chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) is notorious amongst current conservation biology challenges, responsible for mass mortality and extinction of amphibian species. World trade in amphibians is implicated in global dissemination. Exports of South African Xenopus laevis have led to establishment of this invasive species on four continents. Bd naturally infects this host in Africa and now occurs in several introduced populations. However, no previous studies have investigated transfer of infection into co-occurring native amphibian faunas. A survey of 27 U.K. institutions maintaining X. laevis for research showed that most laboratories have low-level infection, a risk for native species if animals are released into the wild. RT-PCR assays showed Bd in two introduced U.K. populations of X. laevis, in Wales and Lincolnshire. Laboratory and field studies demonstrated that infection levels increase with stress, especially low temperature. In the U.K., native amphibians may be exposed to intense transmission in spring when they enter ponds to spawn alongside X. laevis that have cold-elevated Bd infections. Exposure to cross-infection has probably been recurrent since the introduction of X. laevis, &gt;20years in Lincolnshire and 50years in Wales. These sites provide an important test for assessing the impact of X. laevis on Bd spread. However, RT-PCR assays on 174 native amphibians (Bufo, Rana, Lissotriton and Triturus spp.), sympatric with the Bd-infected introduced populations, showed no foci of self-sustaining Bd transmission associated with X. laevis. The abundance of these native amphibians suggested no significant negative population-level effect after the decades of co-occurrence

Feedback from activity trackers improves daily step count after knee and hip arthroplasty: A randomized controlled trial

Background: Commercial wrist-worn activity monitors have the potential to accurately assess activity levels and are being increasingly adopted in the general population. The aim of this study was to determine if feedback from a commercial activity monitor improves activity levels over the first 6 weeks after total hip arthroplasty (THA) or total knee arthroplasty (TKA). Methods: One hundred sixty-three consecutive subjects undergoing primary TKA or THAwere randomized into 2 groups. Subjects received an activity tracker with the step display obscured 2 weeks before surgery and completed patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs). On day 1 after surgery, participants were randomized to either the “feedback (FB) group” or the “no feedback (NFB) group.” The FB group was able to view their daily step count and was given a daily step goal. Participants in the NFB group wore the device with the display obscured for 2 weeks after surgery, after which time they were also able to see their daily step count but did not receive a formal step goal. The mean daily steps at 1, 2, 6 weeks, and 6 months were monitored. At 6 months after surgery, subjects repeated PROMs and daily step count collection. Results: Of the 163 subjects, 95 underwent THA and 68 underwent TKA. FB subjects had a significantly higher (P \u3c .03) mean daily step count by 43% in week 1, 33% in week 2, 21% in week 6, and 17% at 6 months, compared with NFB. The FB subjects were 1.7 times more likely to achieve a mean 7000 steps per day than the NFB subjects at 6 weeks after surgery (P ¼ .02). There was no significant difference between the groups in PROMs at 6 months. Ninety percent of FB and 83% of NFB participants reported that they were satisfied with the results of the surgery (P ¼ .08). At 6 months after surgery, 70% of subjects had a greater mean daily step count compared with their preoperative level. Conclusion: Subjects who received feedback from a commercial activity tracker with a daily step goal had significantly higher activity levels after hip and knee arthroplasty over 6 weeks and 6 months, compared with subjects who did not receive feedback in a randomized controlled trial. Commercial activity trackers may be a useful and effective adjunct after arthroplasty

High resolution imaging of the M​L​ 2.9 August 2019 earthquake in Lancashire, UK, induced by hydraulic fracturing during Preston New Road PNR-2 operations

Hydraulic fracturing (HF) at Preston New Road (PNR), Lancashire, United Kingdom, in August 2019, induced a number of felt earthquakes. The largest event (⁠ML 2.9) occurred on 26 August 2019, approximately three days after HF operations at the site had stopped. Following this, in November 2019, the United Kingdom Government announced a moratorium on HF for shale gas in England. Here we provide an analysis of the microseismic observations made during this case of HF‐induced fault activation. More than 55,000 microseismic events were detected during operations using a downhole array, the vast majority measuring less than Mw 0. Event locations revealed the growth of hydraulic fractures and their interaction with several preexisting structures. The spatiotemporal distribution of events suggests that a hydraulic pathway was created between the injection points and a nearby northwest–southeast‐striking fault, on which the largest events occurred. The aftershocks of the ML 2.9 event clearly delineate the rupture plane, with their spatial distribution forming a halo of activity around the mainshock rupture area. Across clusters of events, the magnitude distributions are distinctly bimodal, with a lower Gutenberg–Richter b‐value for events above Mw 0, suggesting a break in scaling between events associated with hydraulic fracture propagation, and events associated with activation of the fault. This poses a challenge for mitigation strategies that rely on extrapolating microseismicity observed during injection to forecast future behavior. The activated fault was well oriented for failure in the regional stress field, significantly more so than the fault activated during previous operations at PNR in 2018. The differing orientations within the stress field likely explain why this PNR‐2 fault produced larger events compared with the 2018 sequence, despite receiving a smaller volume of injected fluid. This indicates that fault orientation and in situ stress conditions play a key role in controlling the severity of seismicity induced by HF

Expression of ISG15, UBE1L and MX2 in white blood cells of early pregnant and bred-nonpregnant dairy cows

Abstract only availableIdentifying pregnant and nonpregnant cows shortly after insemination can improve reproductive efficiency in dairy cows if resynchronization is practiced on nonpregnant cows. Bovine Interferon Stimulated Gene Product 15 (ISG15), Bovine Ubiquitin-Activating E1-Like (UBE1L) Enzyme and MX2 are produced in response to conceptus-dervied interferon-τ. The objective was to determine the level of these mRNA in pregnant and bred-nonpregnant Holstein cows (n=14). We hypothesized that the amount of ISG15, UBE1L and MX2 mRNA would increase between d 14 to 20 in pregnant cows but not increase in bred-nonpregnant cows. Cows were synchronized to estrus and inseminated (d 0). Blood samples were collected on d 14, 16, 18 and 20 following insemination. Pregnancy status was determined at approximately 30 and 60 d after insemination. RNA was isolated, reverse transcribed into cDNA and amplified using quantitative RTPCR. Six cows were nonpregnant (open) and eight cows were pregnant on d 30. On d 60, four of the pregnant cows remained pregnant (pregnant-pregnant) and four were found open (aborted; pregnant-open). mRNA data were expressed as fold increase above control and relative to cyclophilin. A status by day interaction was detected for ISG15 (P<.001) and MX2 (P<.02). The interaction was not significant for UBE1L. Mean ISG15 and mean MX2 remained low for open cows, but increased markedly on d 18 and 20 in pregnant-pregnant cows. Pregnant-open cows either had low levels of ISG15 and MX2 or underwent an increase in ISG15 and MX2 on d 18 and 20. We conclude that ISG15, UBE1L and MX2 are differentially regulated in dairy cows during pregnancy recognition. ISG15 and MX2 mRNA expression could be used as an indicator of early pregnancy. Cows that abort their pregnancy after d 28 (pregnant-open) have abnormal ISG15 and MX2 mRNA expression between d 14 to 20.F.B. Miller Undergraduate Research Program in Animal Science

Opioid and Non-Opioid Prescribing Rates for Ankle Fractures in Emergency Departments across the United States between 2006 and 2015

This presentation describes the percentage of patients prescribed a controlled and non-controlled medication in an United States Emergency Department for a diagnosed ankle fracture

Concurrent and long-term associations between the endometrial microbiota and endometrial transcriptome in postpartum dairy cows

peer-reviewedBackground Fertility in dairy cows depends on ovarian cyclicity and on uterine involution. Ovarian cyclicity and uterine involution are delayed when there is uterine dysbiosis (overgrowth of pathogenic bacteria). Fertility in dairy cows may involve a mechanism through which the uterine microbiota affects ovarian cyclicity as well as the transcriptome of the endometrium within the involuting uterus. The hypothesis was that the transcriptome of the endometrium in postpartum cows would be associated with the cyclicity status of the cow as well as the microbiota during uterine involution. The endometrium of first lactation dairy cows was sampled at 1, 5, and 9 weeks postpartum. All cows were allowed to return to cyclicity without intervention until week 5 and treated with an ovulation synchronization protocol so that sampling at week 9 was on day 13 of the estrous cycle. The endometrial microbiota was measured by 16S rRNA gene sequencing and principal component analysis. The endometrial transcriptome was measured by mRNA sequencing, differential gene expression analysis, and Ingenuity Pathway Analysis. Results The endometrial microbiota changed from week 1 to week 5 but the week 5 and week 9 microbiota were similar. The endometrial transcriptome differed for cows that were either cycling or not cycling at week 5 and cyclicity status depended in part on the endometrial microbiota. Compared with cows cycling at week 5, there were large changes in the transcriptome of cows that progressed from non-cycling at week 5 to cycling at week 9. There was evidence for concurrent and longer-term associations between the endometrial microbiota and transcriptome. The week 1 endometrial microbiota had the greatest effect on the subsequent endometrial transcriptome and this effect was greatest at week 5 and diminished by week 9. Conclusions The cumulative response of the endometrial transcriptome to the microbiota represented the combination of past microbial exposure and current microbial exposure. The endometrial transcriptome in postpartum cows, therefore, depended on the immediate and longer-term effects of the uterine microbiota that acted directly on the uterus. There may also be an indirect mechanism through which the microbiome affects the transcriptome through the restoration of ovarian cyclicity postpartum