Disease prevention versus data privacy : using landcover maps to inform spatial epidemic models

The availability of epidemiological data in the early stages of an outbreak of an infectious disease is vital for modelers to make accurate predictions regarding the likely spread of disease and preferred intervention strategies. However, in some countries, the necessary demographic data are only available at an aggregate scale. We investigated the ability of models of livestock infectious diseases to predict epidemic spread and obtain optimal control policies in the event of imperfect, aggregated data. Taking a geographic information approach, we used land cover data to predict UK farm locations and investigated the influence of using these synthetic location data sets upon epidemiological predictions in the event of an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease. When broadly classified land cover data were used to create synthetic farm locations, model predictions deviated significantly from those simulated on true data. However, when more resolved subclass land use data were used, moderate to highly accurate predictions of epidemic size, duration and optimal vaccination and ring culling strategies were obtained. This suggests that a geographic information approach may be useful where individual farm-level data are not available, to allow predictive analyses to be carried out regarding the likely spread of disease. This method can also be used for contingency planning in collaboration with policy makers to determine preferred control strategies in the event of a future outbreak of infectious disease in livestock

Gel chromatographic characterization of immunoreactive adrenocorticotropin in patients with ACTH hypersecretion

We investigated the molecular size of circulating immunoreactive ACTH by gel chromatography in patients with ACTH hypersecretion due to various disorders of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. 4 patients with Addison's disease, 2 with Nelson's syndrome, 4 with Cushing's disease, 6 with the ectopic ACTH syndrome (2 bronchial carcinoma, 1 medullary carcinoma, 1 metastatic islett cell carcinoma, 1 benign bronchial carcinoid and 1 patient with occult ectopic Cushing's syndrome) and 1 patient with hypersecretion of ACTH from a clinically nonfunctioning pituitary adenoma were studied. Analysis of the molecular size of immunoreactive ACTH was performed by gel chromatography on a Sephadex G-75 column (superfine, 100×1.5 cm) equilibrated with 1% formic acid. 2 ml fractions were collected and evaporated to dryness. The ACTH content of the recovered samples was determined by RIA. In Addison's disease, Nelson's syndrome and Cushing's disease the plasma showed a single peak of ACTH immunoreactivity at the expected position of 1–39 ACTH. In the ectopic ACTH syndrome the plasma of 4 patients revealed at chromatography at least one other peak eluting between the void volume and 1–39 ACTH suggestive of a high molecular weight form of ACTH whereas plasma of 2 patients showed only a single ACTH peak at the position of labeled 1–39 ACTH. The patient with a clinically non-functioning pituitary adenoma revealed a gel filtration pattern similar to the patients with ectopic ACTH syndrom and secretion of high molecular weight ACTH. We conclude that secretion of high molecular weight forms of ACTH is not a unique feature of the ectopic ACTH syndrome. It may therefore not serve as a marker of the ectopic Cushing's syndrome in the differential diagnosis of the ACTH dependent Cushing's syndrome. Vice versa, lack of high molecular weight ACTH does not exclude an ectopic source of ACTH secretion as cause of Cushing's syndrome

Comparison of the incidence, nature and cause of injuries sustained on dirt field and artificial turf field by amateur football players

Abstract Background Data on the incidence, nature, severity and cause of match football injuries sustained on dirt field are scarce. The objectives of this study was to compare the incidence, nature, severity and cause of match injuries sustained on dirt field and artificial turf field by amateur male football players. Methods A prospective two-cohort design was employed. Participants were 252 male football players (mean age 27 years, range 18-43) in 14 teams who participated in a local championship carried on a dirt field and 216 male football players (mean age 28 years, range 17-40) in 12 teams who participated in a local championship carried on a artificial turf field in the same zone of the city. Injury definitions and recording procedures were compliant with the international consensus statement for epidemiological studies of injuries in football. Results The overall incidence of match injuries for men was 36.9 injuries/1000 player hours on dirt field and 19.5 on artificial turf (incidence rate ratio 1.88; 95% CI 1.19-3.05). Most common injured part on dirt field was ankle (26.7%) and on artificial turf was knee (24.3%). The most common injury type in the dirt field was skin injuries (abrasion and laceration) and in the artificial turf was sprain and ligament injury followed by haematoma/contusion/bruise. Most injuries were acute (artificial turf 89%, dirt field 91%) and resulted from player-to-player contact (artificial turf 59.2%, dirt field 51.4%). Most injuries were slight and minimal in dirt field cohort but in artificial turf cohort the most injuries were mild. Conclusions There were differences in the incidence and type of football match injuries sustained on dirt field and artificial turf.</p

The thermal consequences of primate birth hour and its evolutionary implications

Most primates, including humans, give birth during the inactive phase of the daily cycle. Practical constraints therefore limit our knowledge of the precise timing of nocturnal birth in wild diurnal primates and so limit our understanding of selective pressures and consequences. We measured maternal core body temperature (T b) across 24 births in a population of wild vervet monkeys using biologgers. We identified distinct perturbations in T b during the birth period, including declining T b during labour and the rapid recovery of T b post-parturition. Vervet monkeys typically gave birth during their inactive phase in synchrony with the nadir of the maternal nychthemeral T b rhythm but also showed remarkable inter-individual variability in their absolute T b during birth. Our findings support the view that selection may have favoured a nocturnal timing of primate birth to coincide with lower night-time T b and environmental temperatures, which improve thermal efficiency during birth

Mother–offspring conflict and body temperature regulation during gestation and lactation in a wild primate

1. The physiological performance of a mother during reproduction represents a trade-off between continued investment in her current offspring, and the mother's own survival and ability to invest in future offspring. Here, we used core body temperature (Tb) patterns to examine the degree to which maternal body temperatures support the infant during periods of gestation and lactation. 2. We implanted 30 wild vervet monkeys (Chlorocebus pygerythrus) with miniature data loggers to obtain continuous measurements of core Tb during periods of typical (i.e. non-drought periods) and limited (i.e. drought period) resource availability. 3. We tracked maternal Tb profiles across the gestation and lactation periods, associated with 23 births, and compared those with Tb profiles of non-reproductive females. This allowed us to examine the flexibility in maternal body temperatures and test whether limited resource availability shifts priority away from offspring investment and towards self-maintenance. 4. Vervet monkeys demonstrated the predicted pattern of gestational hypothermia and improved homeothermy in the gestation period during typical conditions, consistent with the maintenance of a thermal gradient to facilitate heat loss from the foetus. During periods of limited resource availability (i.e. drought), mothers were less homeothermic and more hyperthermic during the gestation period. 5. Vervet monkeys showed no evidence of lactational hyperthermia during typical conditions. During the drought, lactating mothers demonstrated hyperthermia and increased variability in body temperature, consistent with the increased metabolic demands and water requirements for milk production required to support growing infants. 6. Although a mother's degree of homeothermy during gestation and lactation was unrelated to her infant's chance of survival to weaning, mothers did show flexibility in the degree to which they prioritized the maintenance of a thermal environment that supports their infant's development. Together, our findings demonstrate that flexibility in a mother's investment in thermoregulation during gestation and lactation may reflect a bet-hedging trade-off between self-maintenance and offspring investment

Therapeutic DNA vaccine induces broad T cell responses in the gut and sustained protection from viral rebound and AIDS in SIV-infected rhesus macaques.

Immunotherapies that induce durable immune control of chronic HIV infection may eliminate the need for life-long dependence on drugs. We investigated a DNA vaccine formulated with a novel genetic adjuvant that stimulates immune responses in the blood and gut for the ability to improve therapy in rhesus macaques chronically infected with SIV. Using the SIV-macaque model for AIDS, we show that epidermal co-delivery of plasmids expressing SIV Gag, RT, Nef and Env, and the mucosal adjuvant, heat-labile E. coli enterotoxin (LT), during antiretroviral therapy (ART) induced a substantial 2-4-log fold reduction in mean virus burden in both the gut and blood when compared to unvaccinated controls and provided durable protection from viral rebound and disease progression after the drug was discontinued. This effect was associated with significant increases in IFN-γ T cell responses in both the blood and gut and SIV-specific CD8+ T cells with dual TNF-α and cytolytic effector functions in the blood. Importantly, a broader specificity in the T cell response seen in the gut, but not the blood, significantly correlated with a reduction in virus production in mucosal tissues and a lower virus burden in plasma. We conclude that immunizing with vaccines that induce immune responses in mucosal gut tissue could reduce residual viral reservoirs during drug therapy and improve long-term treatment of HIV infection in humans

Sexual identity, attraction and behaviour in Britain: The implications of using different dimensions of sexual orientation to estimate the size of sexual minority populations and inform public health interventions.

BACKGROUND: Sexual orientation encompasses three dimensions: sexual identity, attraction and behaviour. There is increasing demand for data on sexual orientation to meet equality legislation, monitor potential inequalities and address public health needs. We present estimates of all three dimensions and their overlap in British men and women, and consider the implications for health services, research and the development and evaluation of public health interventions. METHODS: Analyses of data from Britain's third National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles, a probability sample survey (15,162 people aged 16-74 years) undertaken in 2010-2012. FINDINGS: A lesbian, gay or bisexual (LGB) identity was reported by 2·5% of men and 2·4% of women, whilst 6·5% of men and 11·5% of women reported any same-sex attraction and 5·5% of men and 6·1% of women reported ever experience of same-sex sex. This equates to approximately 547,000 men and 546,000 women aged 16-74 in Britain self-identifying as LGB and 1,204,000 men and 1,389,000 women ever having experience of same-sex sex. Of those reporting same-sex sex in the past 5 years, 28% of men and 45% of women identified as heterosexual. INTERPRETATION: There is large variation in the size of sexual minority populations depending on the dimension applied, with implications for the design of epidemiological studies, targeting and monitoring of public health interventions and estimating population-based denominators. There is also substantial diversity on an individual level between identity, behaviour and attraction, adding to the complexity of delivering appropriate services and interventions

Social integration confers thermal benefits in a gregarious primate

1. Sociality has been shown to have adaptive value for gregarious species, with more socially integrated animals within groups experiencing higher reproductive success and longevity. The value of social integration is often suggested to derive from an improved ability to deal with social stress within a group; other potential stressors have received less attention. 2. We investigated the relationship between environmental temperature, an important non-social stressor, and social integration in wild female vervet monkeys (Chlorocebus pygerythrus), using implanted data loggers to obtain direct measures of core body temperature. 3. Heterothermy (as measured by 24-h amplitude of body temperature) increased, and 24-h minima of body temperature decreased, as the 24-h minimum ambient temperature decreased. As winter progressed, monkeys became increasingly heterothermic and displayed lower 24-h minima of body temperature. 4. Monkeys with a greater number of social partners displayed a smaller 24-h amplitude (that is, were more homoeothermic) and higher 24-h minima of body temperature (that is, became less hypothermic), than did animals with fewer social partners. 5. Our findings demonstrate that social integration has a direct influence on thermoregulatory ability: individual animals that form and maintain more social relationships within their group experience improved thermal competence compared to those with fewer social relationships. 6. Given the likely energetic consequences of thermal benefits, our findings offer a viable physiological explanation that can help account for variations in fitness in relation to individual differences in social integration

Field data confirm the ability of a biophysical model to predict wild primate body temperature

In the face of climate change there is an urgent need to understand how animal performance is affected by environmental conditions. Biophysical models that use principles of heat and mass transfer can be used to explore how an animal's morphology, physiology, and behavior interact with its environment in terms of energy, mass and water balances to affect fitness and performance. We used Niche Mapper™ (NM) to build a vervet monkey (Chlorocebus pygerythrus) biophysical model and tested the model's ability to predict core body temperature (Tb) variation and thermal stress against Tb and behavioral data collected from wild vervets in South Africa. The mean observed Tb in both males and females was within 0.5 °C of NM's predicted Tbs for 91% of hours over the five-year study period. This is the first time that NM's Tb predictions have been validated against field data from a wild endotherm. Overall, these results provide confidence that NM can accurately predict thermal stress and can be used to provide insight into the thermoregulatory consequences of morphological (e.g., body size, shape, fur depth), physiological (e.g. Tb plasticity) and behavioral (e.g., huddling, resting, shade seeking) adaptations. Such an approach allows users to test hypotheses about how animals adapt to thermoregulatory challenges and make informed predictions about potential responses to environmental change such as climate change or habitat conversion. Importantly, NM's animal submodel is a general model that can be adapted to other species, requiring only basic information on an animal's morphology, physiology and behavior

Keeping cool in the heat: behavioral thermoregulation and body temperature patterns in wild vervet monkeys

Objectives: Climate change is having a significant impact on biodiversity and increasing attention is therefore being devoted to identifying the behavioral strategies that a species uses to cope with climatic stress. We explore how wild vervet monkeys (Chlorocebus pygerythrus) respond to heat stress, and how behavioral adaptations are used to regulate body temperature. Materials and methods: We implanted wild vervet monkeys with temperature-sensitive data loggers and related the body temperature rhythms of these animals to their use of thermoregulatory behaviors. Results: Environmental temperature had a positive effect on the mean, minima and maxima of daily body temperatures. Environmental temperature had a positive effect on the amount of time that vervet monkeys spent in the shade, and animals that spent more time in the shade had lower body temperature maxima. Drinking water did not have a proximate effect on body temperature, most likely a consequence of their regular access to drinking water. Body temperatures were observed to decrease after swimming events, but tended to return to pre-swim temperatures within 1 hr, suggesting a limited thermal benefit of this behavior. Conclusions: Our data support the view that vervet monkeys cope well in the heat, and use behavior as a means to aid thermoregulation. The ability of primates to be flexible in their use of thermoregulatory behaviors can contribute positively to their capacity to cope with environmental variability. However, given its broad effect on plant productivity and habitat loss, climate change is a major threat to species' biogeographical distribution and survival