Protection of cattle from Culicoides spp. in Australia by shelter and chemical treatments

Trials were conducted in three regions of Australia to investigate the potential for improvised shelters and chemical treatments to reduce feeding by Culicoides on cattle and thereby minimise the risk of bluetongue transmission during transport of cattle to ports. Various designs and combinations of roofs and walls were placed around penned cattle. Chemical treatments were applied to other penned cattle. Culicoides were collected from the cattle by vacuum samplers or by light traps in the pens. Roofs alone did not consistently reduce the numbers of Culicoides brevitarsis or C. fulvus and increased the numbers of C. actoni collected. Walls alone reduced the numbers of C. wadai but not C. brevitarsis. Roofs and walls in combination reduced the numbers of C. brevitarsis and C. wadai. The chemical treatments ‘Flyaway’ (a blend of repellents) and fenvalerate reduced the numbers of C. brevitarsis and C. wadai up to 52 h post treatment

Assessing the risk of bluetongue to UK livestock: uncertainty and sensitivity analyses of a temperature-dependent model for the basic reproduction number

Since 1998 bluetongue virus (BTV), which causes bluetongue, a non-contagious, insect-borne infectious disease of ruminants, has expanded northwards in Europe in an unprecedented series of incursions, suggesting that there is a risk to the large and valuable British livestock industry. The basic reproduction number, R0, provides a powerful tool with which to assess the level of risk posed by a disease. In this paper, we compute R0 for BTV in a population comprising two host species, cattle and sheep. Estimates for each parameter which influences R0 were obtained from the published literature, using those applicable to the UK situation wherever possible. Moreover, explicit temperature dependence was included for those parameters for which it had been quantified. Uncertainty and sensitivity analyses based on Latin hypercube sampling and partial rank correlation coefficients identified temperature, the probability of transmission from host to vector and the vector to host ratio as being most important in determining the magnitude of R0. The importance of temperature reflects the fact that it influences many processes involved in the transmission of BTV and, in particular, the biting rate, the extrinsic incubation period and the vector mortality rate

Generating Sustainable Value from Open Data in a Sharing Society

Part 1: Creating ValueInternational audienceOur societies are in the midst of a paradigm shift that transforms hierarchal markets into an open and networked economy based on digital technology and information. In that context, open data is widely presumed to have a positive effect on social, environmental and economic value; however the evidence to that effect has remained scarce. Subsequently, we address the question how the use of open data can stimulate the generation of sustainable value. We argue that open data sharing and reuse can empower new ways of generating value in the sharing society. Moreover, we propose a model that describes how different mechanisms that take part within an open system generate sustainable value. These mechanisms are enabled by a number of contextual factors that provide individuals with the motivation, opportunity and ability to generate sustainable value

Biochemical and haematological values in farmed saltwater crocodile Crocodylus porosus in the Northern Territory

"This volume grew out of a conference Crocodilian Biology and Evolution which was held at the University of Queensland in July 1998, with significant support from the (then) Department of Zoology

Genome-wide association study identifies 48 common genetic variants associated with handedness.

Handedness has been extensively studied because of its relationship with language and the over-representation of left-handers in some neurodevelopmental disorders. Using data from the UK Biobank, 23andMe and the International Handedness Consortium, we conducted a genome-wide association meta-analysis of handedness (N = 1,766,671). We found 41 loci associated (P < 5 × 10 <sup>-8</sup> ) with left-handedness and 7 associated with ambidexterity. Tissue-enrichment analysis implicated the CNS in the aetiology of handedness. Pathways including regulation of microtubules and brain morphology were also highlighted. We found suggestive positive genetic correlations between left-handedness and neuropsychiatric traits, including schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Furthermore, the genetic correlation between left-handedness and ambidexterity is low (r <sub>G</sub> = 0.26), which implies that these traits are largely influenced by different genetic mechanisms. Our findings suggest that handedness is highly polygenic and that the genetic variants that predispose to left-handedness may underlie part of the association with some psychiatric disorders