Don\u27t Bite The Hand That\u27s Feeding You

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Relationship Between Hydrocarbon Composition on the Cuticle of Melipona quadrifasciata (Hymenoptera: Apidae) Workers and the Secretion of the Cephalic Salivary Glands

Since chemical communication is pivotal for social insect success, the present paper aimed to quantify and qualify the chemical compounds that might have pheromonal role in both cephalic salivary gland and epicuticle of workers of Melipona quadrifasciata Lepeletier using gas chromatographymass spectrometry (GC/MS). The results indicated that the hydrocarbons were the main compounds in both cephalic salivary gland and epicuticle, followed by esters. Positive Mantel correspondence analysis suggests that the glands could contribute to replenishment of surface compounds as an auxiliary source. Discriminant analysis also pointed out that gland and epicuticle chemical profiles were phase-related

Chemical vapor deposition and Van der Waals epitaxy for wafer-scale emerging 2D transition metal di-chalcogenides

Transition metal di-chalcogenides (TMDCs) such as MoS2, MoSe2, WS2 and WSe2 have become promising complimentary materials to graphene sharing many of its attributes. They may however offer properties that are unattainable in graphene, in particular TMDCs offer a bandgap tunable through both composition and number of layers. This has led to use of TMDCs in applications such as transistors, photodetectors, electroluminescent and bio-sensing devices. The current challenge in this emerging research field is to provide a reliable process to fabricate large area of atomically thin 2D TMDCs on the desired substrate. Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) technology has the advantage of offering conformal, scalable, and controllable thin film growth on a variety of different substrates. In addition, Van der Waals epitaxy could provide the vapor phase epitaxy of these TMDCs on the substrates with mismatched lattice constants. In this talk we describe our recent development in TMDCs materials using CVD technology and Van der Waals epitaxy and discuss their properties and potential applications

Emerging CVD technology for functional chalcogenide materials

Chalcogenide materials, formed from metallic alloys of S, Se, and Te, have received considerable attention for applications in optoelectronic devices over the past two decades in part due to their unique properties such as high infrared transparency, strong photosensitivity, large nonlinearity, capability of high rare-earth doping, and ability to readily change phase. Thin amorphous chalcogenide films are of particular interest because their diverse active properties are easily exploited in integrated planar optical circuits, as well as for memory and other optoelectronic applications. More recently, transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs), two-dimensional (2D) layered materials, such as MoS2, MoSe2, WS2, and WSe2 have become a noteworthy complimentary material to field. Sharing many of the properties of graphene they also offer properties that are unattainable in 2D graphene including a tunable bandgap; easily modified through both composition and the number of layers. This has led to use of TMDCs in applications such as transistors, photodetectors, electroluminescent and bio-sensing devices. In this talk we describe our development of functional chalcogenide materials by the chemical vapour deposition technology and discuss their potential applications

A survey of owners' perceptions of fear of fireworks in a sample of dogs and cats in New Zealand

AIMS: To establish reliable information regarding the behavioural responses of dogs and cats to fireworks in New Zealand; record interventions used by owners, and their perceived efficacies; and establish the prevalence of firework-related injury, and quantify owners' attitudes towards fireworks. METHODS: A questionnaire targeting dog and cat owners was distributed via the Auckland Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) Animals Voice magazine and 25 veterinary clinics. The questionnaire covered demographics of animals, fear of fireworks, severity of the fear, and behaviours exhibited. Also included were treatments tried, source and perceived efficacy, prevalence of injury, and owners' attitudes towards the sale of fireworks for private use. RESULTS: From a total of 8,966 questionnaires distributed, 1,007 valid questionnaires were returned, representing 3,527 animals. Of these 1,635 (46%) animals displayed a level of fear of fireworks recognisable to their owners. Owners of dogs identified a significantly higher fear response than owners of cats but the duration of these fear responses did not differ between species. Fear of fireworks frequently resulted in dogs exhibiting active fear behaviours, whereas cats were more likely to exhibit hiding and cowering behaviours. A significantly increased severity and duration of fear response over time in dogs and cats was associated with owners who comforted them when they displayed a fearful response. Only 141/890 (15.8%) of owners sought professional treatment from a veterinarian, animal behaviourist or animal trainer for their animals, with variable efficacy. Six percent (51/923) of animals had received physical injuries from fireworks. The majority (837/1,007; 83%) of respondents, regardless of whether they owned a fearful animal or not, supported a ban on the sale of fireworks for private use. CONCLUSIONS: The results provide valuable information that is, as yet, unsubstantiated in New Zealand, although potential biases exist due to the non-random selection of respondents. Differences between dogs and cats were likely due to differing responses to fear-provoking stimuli between the species. Owner-reported increase in fearful response over time for comforted animals may indicate a negative impact on the longer-term psychological welfare of their animal. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: The greater the awareness of effective treatment plans for animals that suffer from a fear of fireworks, the greater the possibility that this fear can be reduced. Wider dissemination of effective owner behaviour and treatment programmes for firework fears is needed to improve levels of professional treatment for dogs and cats

A sub-group of patients with hospital-acquired pneumonia do not require broad-spectrum gram-negative antimicrobial coverage

C.D.R. is supported by an Edinburgh Clinical Academic Track (ECAT)/Wellcome Trust PhD Training Fellowship for Clinicians award (214178/Z/18/Z).Among 200 patients developing hospital-acquired pneumonia (HAP) outside the intensive care unit, 61% were treated empirically without broad-spectrum Gram-negative coverage, with clinical cure in 69.7%. Lower disease severity markers (systemic inflammatory response syndrome, hypoxia, tachypnoea, neutrophilia) and the absence of diabetes mellitus and prior doxycycline treatment (but not the time to HAP onset) identified patients not requiring broad-spectrum Gram-negative coverage.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe