Epidemiology of diabetes mellitus among 193,435 cats attending primary-care veterinary practices in England

BACKGROUND: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a common endocrine disease of cats. The prevalence of DM in cats in England is not well‐defined. HYPOTHESIS/OBJECTIVES: To estimate the prevalence and identify risk factors for DM in a large population of cats attending primary‐care practices. ANIMALS: A cohort of 193,563 cats in the VetCompass Programme attending 118 primary‐care practices in England. METHODS: Cross‐sectional analysis of cohort clinical data. Data were extracted covering September 1st 2009 and August 31st 2014. Period prevalence of DM was calculated. Associations between risk factors and DM were assessed using logistic regression modelling. RESULTS: Of 1,128 DM cases were identified among 194,563 cats (period prevalence 0.58%; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.54–0.61). Multivariable modelling indicated that Tonkinese (OR 4.1; 95% CI 1.8–9.6; P = .001), Norwegian Forest (odds ratio [OR] 3.5; 95% CI 1.3–9.6; P = .001) and Burmese (OR 3.0; 95% CI 2.0–4.4; P < .001) cats had increased odds of DM compared with crossbred cats. DM odds increased as bodyweight categories increased above 4 kg (P < .001), as cats aged beyond 6 years old (P < .001) and in insured cats (OR 2.0; 95% CI 1.6–2.4; P < .001) but sex was not significantly associated with DM. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL IMPORTANCE: Diabetes mellitus is an important component of the primary‐care practice caseload with 1‐in‐200 cats affected. An increased risk of DM in certain cat breeds supports a genetic predisposition. These results can guide future research and preventative healthcare

Large scale surface structure formed during GaAs (001) homoepitaxy

Atomic force microscopy studies have been performed on GaAs (001) homoepitaxy films grown by molecular beam epitaxy. Multilayered features are seen to evolve when the growth conditions favor island nucleation. As the epilayer thickness is increased these features grow in all dimensions but the angle of inclination remains approximately constant at 1°. The mounding does not occur on surfaces grown in step flow. We propose that the multilayered features are an unstable growth mode which relies on island nucleation and the presence of a step edge barrier.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/70983/2/APPLAB-64-7-860-1.pd

The global distribution and drivers of alien bird species richness

Alien species are a major component of human-induced environmental change. Variation in the numbers of alien species found in different areas is likely to depend on a combination of anthropogenic and environmental factors, with anthropogenic factors affecting the number of species introduced to new locations, and when, and environmental factors influencing how many species are able to persist there. However, global spatial and temporal variation in the drivers of alien introduction and species richness remain poorly understood. Here, we analyse an extensive new database of alien birds to explore what determines the global distribution of alien species richness for an entire taxonomic class. We demonstrate that the locations of origin and introduction of alien birds, and their identities, were initially driven largely by European (mainly British) colonialism. However, recent introductions are a wider phenomenon, involving more species and countries, and driven in part by increasing economic activity. We find that, globally, alien bird species richness is currently highest at midlatitudes and is strongly determined by anthropogenic effects, most notably the number of species introduced (i.e., "colonisation pressure"). Nevertheless, environmental drivers are also important, with native and alien species richness being strongly and consistently positively associated. Our results demonstrate that colonisation pressure is key to understanding alien species richness, show that areas of high native species richness are not resistant to colonisation by alien species at the global scale, and emphasise the likely ongoing threats to global environments from introductions of species.Ellie E. Dyer, Phillip Cassey, David W. Redding, Ben Collen, Victoria Franks, Kevin J. Gaston, Kate E. Jones, Salit Kark, C. David L. Orme, Tim M. Blackbur

Anisotropic States of Two-Dimensional Electron Systems in High Landau Levels: Effect of an In-Plane Magnetic Field

We report the observation of an acute sensitivity of the anisotropic longitudinal resistivity of two-dimensional electron systems in half-filled high Landau levels to the magnitude and orientation of an in-plane magnetic field. In the third and higher Landau levels, at filling fractions nu=9/2, 11/2, etc., the in-plane field can lead to a striking interchange of the "hard" and "easy" transport directions. In the second Landau level the normally isotropic resistivity and the weak nu=5/2 quantized Hall state are destroyed by a large in-plane field and the transport becomes highly anisotropic.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, minor errors correcte

Anisotropy and periodicity in the density distribution of electrons in a quantum-well

We use low temperature near-field optical spectroscopy to image the electron density distribution in the plane of a high mobility GaAs quantum well. We find that the electrons are not randomly distributed in the plane, but rather form narrow stripes (width smaller than 150 nm) of higher electron density. The stripes are oriented along the [1-10 ] crystal direction, and are arranged in a quasi-periodic structure. We show that elongated structural mounds, which are intrinsic to molecular beam epitaxy, are responsible for the creation of this electron density texture.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figure

Orientation of the Stripe Formed by the Two-Dimensional Electrons in Higher Landau Levels

Effect of periodic potential on the stripe phase realized in the higher Landau levels is investigated by the Hartree-Fock approximation. The period of the potential is chosen to be two to six times of the fundamental period of the stripe phase. It is found that the stripe aligns perpendicularly to the external potential in contrast to a naive expectation and hydrodynamic theory. Charge modulation towards the Wigner crystallization along the stripe is essential for the present unexpected new result.Comment: 5 pages, RevTex, two figures included in the tex

The UK's Global Health Respiratory Network: Improving respiratory health of the world's poorest through research collaborations.

Respiratory disorders are responsible for considerable morbidity, health care utilisation, societal costs and approximately one in five deaths worldwide [1-4]. Yet, despite this substantial health and societal burden – which particularly affects the world’s poorest populations and as such is a major contributor to global health inequalities – respiratory disorders have historically not received the policy priority they warrant. For example, despite causing an estimated 1000 deaths per day, less than half of the world’s countries collect data on asthma prevalence (http://www.globalasthmareport.org/). This is true for both communicable and non-communicable respiratory disorders, many of which are either amenable to treatment or preventable

Density Induced Interchange of Anisotropy Axes at Half-Filled High Landau Levels

We observe density induced 90$^{\circ}$ rotations of the anisotropy axes in transport measurements at half-filled high Landau levels in the two dimensional electron system, where stripe states are proposed ($\nu$=9/2, 11/2, etc). Using a field effect transistor, we find the transition density to be $2.9\times10^{11}$cm$^{-2}$ at $\nu$=9/2. Hysteresis is observed in the vicinity of the transition. We construct a phase boundary in the filling factor-magnetic field plane in the regime $4.4<\nu<4.6$. An in-plane magnetic field applied along either anisotropy axis always stabilizes the low density orientation of the stripes.Comment: 1 revtex file, 3 eps figure

The marketing firm and co‐creation: An empirical study of marketer and customer's co‐creation process

This study empirically investigates the marketer and customer's co‐creation process within the context of the marketing firm. Based on principles from bilateral contingencies, findings from a conjoint study (n = 98) indicate that utilitarian and informational reinforcing consequences from the marketer have a stronger impact on customers' co‐creation behavior relative to informational reinforcing consequences from other customers. Consequently, analyzing the impact of important reinforcing contingencies through the lens of bilateral contingencies expands our understanding of how and why co‐creation outcomes might occur. Also, a good co‐creation process may increase the business companies' research and intelligence and, as a consequence, strengthen their competitiveness.The marketing firm and co‐creation: An empirical study of marketer and customer's co‐creation processacceptedVersio

Measurement of inclusive charged current interactions on carbon in a few-GeV neutrino beam

The SciBooNE Collaboration reports a measurement of inclusive charged current interactions of muon neutrinos on carbon with an average energy of 0.8 GeV using the Fermilab Booster Neutrino Beam. We compare our measurement with two neutrino interaction simulations: NEUT and NUANCE. The charged current interaction rates (product of flux and cross section) are extracted by fitting the muon kinematics, with a precision of 6-15% for the energy dependent and 3% for the energy integrated analyses. We also extract CC inclusive interaction cross sections from the observed rates, with a precision of 10-30% for the energy dependent and 8% for the energy integrated analyses. This is the first measurement of the CC inclusive cross section on carbon around 1 GeV. These results can be used to convert previous SciBooNE cross section ratio measurements to absolute cross section values.Comment: 21 pages, 16 figures. Accepted by Phys. Rev. D. Minor revisions to match the accepted versio