Spatial and Seasonal Distribution of American Whaling and Whales in the Age of Sail

American whalemen sailed out of ports on the east coast of the United States and in California from the 18th to early 20th centuries, searching for whales throughout the world’s oceans. From an initial focus on sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) and right whales (Eubalaena spp.), the array of targeted whales expanded to include bowhead whales (Balaena mysticetus), humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae), and gray whales (Eschrichtius robustus). Extensive records of American whaling in the form of daily entries in whaling voyage logbooks contain a great deal of information about where and when the whalemen found whales. We plotted daily locations where the several species of whales were observed, both those caught and those sighted but not caught, on world maps to illustrate the spatial and temporal distribution of both American whaling activity and the whales. The patterns shown on the maps provide the basis for various inferences concerning the historical distribution of the target whales prior to and during this episode of global whaling

Adaptation of the By-Band randomized clinical trial to By-Band-Sleeve to include a new intervention and maintain relevance of the study to practice

This is the final version. Available on open access from Wiley via the DOI in this recordBACKGROUND: Recruitment into surgical RCTs can be threatened if new interventions available outside the trial compete with those being evaluated. Adapting the trial to include the new intervention may overcome this issue, yet this is not often done in surgery. This paper describes the challenges, rationale and methods for adapting an RCT to include a new intervention. METHODS: The By-Band study was designed in the UK in 2009-2010 to compare the effectiveness of laparoscopic adjustable gastric band and Roux-en-Y gastric bypass for severe obesity. It contained a pilot phase to establish whether recruitment was possible, and the grant proposal specified that an adaptation to include sleeve gastrectomy would be considered if practice changed and recruitment was successful. Information on changing obesity surgery practice, updated evidence and expert opinion about trial design were used to inform the adaptation. RESULTS: The pilot phase recruited over 13 months in 2013-2014 and randomized 80 patients (79 anticipated). During this time, major changes in obesity practice in the UK were observed, with gastric band reducing from 32·6 to 15·8 per cent and sleeve gastrectomy increasing from 9·0 to 28·1 per cent. The evidence base had not changed markedly. The British Obesity and Metabolic Surgery Society and study oversight committees supported an adaptation to include sleeve gastrectomy, and a proposal to do so was approved by the funder. CONCLUSION: Adaptation of a two-group surgical RCT can allow evaluation of a third procedure and maintain relevance of the RCT to practice. It also optimizes the use of existing trial infrastructure to answer an additional important research question. Registration number: ISRCTN00786323 (http://www.isrctn.com/).National Institute of Health Research Health Technology Assessment ProgrammeMedical Research Council (MRC

A Core Outcome Set for the Benefits and Adverse Events of Bariatric and Metabolic Surgery: The BARIACT Project.

This is the final version. Available from PLoS via the DOI in this record.BACKGROUND: Bariatric and metabolic surgery is used as a treatment for patients with severe and complex obesity. However, there is a need to improve outcome selection and reporting in bariatric surgery trials. A Core Outcome Set (COS), an agreed minimum set of outcomes reported in all studies of a specific condition, may achieve this. Here, we present the development of a COS for BARIAtric and metabolic surgery Clinical Trials-the BARIACT Study. METHODS AND FINDINGS: Outcomes identified from systematic reviews and patient interviews informed a questionnaire survey. Patients and health professionals were surveyed three times and asked to rate the importance of each item on a 1-9 scale. Delphi methods provided anonymised feedback to participants. Items not meeting predefined criteria were discarded between rounds. Remaining items were discussed at consensus meetings, held separately with patients and professionals, where the COS was agreed. Data sources identified 2,990 outcomes, which were used to develop a 130-item questionnaire. Round 1 response rates were moderate but subsequently improved to above 75% for other rounds. After rounds 2 and 3, 81 and 14 items were discarded, respectively, leaving 35 items for discussion at consensus meetings. The final COS included nine items: "weight," "diabetes status," "cardiovascular risk," "overall quality of life (QOL)," "mortality," "technical complications of the specific operation," "any re-operation/re-intervention," "dysphagia/regurgitation," and "micronutrient status." The main limitation of this study was that it was based in the United Kingdom only. CONCLUSIONS: The COS is recommended to be used as a minimum in all trials of bariatric and metabolic surgery. Adoption of the COS will improve data synthesis and the value of research data. Future work will establish methods for the measurement of the outcomes in the COS.Medical Research Council (MRC)National Institute for Health Research (NIHR)National Institute for Health Research (NIHR

The By-Band study: gastric bypass or adjustable gastric band surgery to treat morbid obesity: study protocol for a multi-centre randomised controlled trial with an internal pilot phase

This is the final version. Available on open access from BMC via the DOI in this recordBACKGROUND: The prevalence of severe and complex obesity is increasing worldwide and surgery may offer an effective and lasting treatment. Laparoscopic adjustable gastric band and Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery are the two main surgical procedures performed. DESIGN: This open parallel-group randomised controlled trial will compare the effectiveness, cost-effectiveness and acceptability of gastric band (Band) versus gastric bypass (Bypass) in adults with severe and complex obesity. It has an internal pilot phase (in two centres) with integrated qualitative research to establish effective and optimal methods for recruitment. Adults with a body mass index (BMI) of 40 kg/m2 or more, or a BMI of 35 kg/m2 or more and other co-morbidities will be recruited. At the end of the internal pilot the study will expand into more centres if the pre-set progression criteria of numbers and rates of eligible patients screened and randomised are met and if the expected rates of retention and adherence to treatment allocation are achieved. The trial will test the joint hypotheses that Bypass is non-inferior to Band with respect to more than 50% excess weight loss and that Bypass is superior to Band with respect to health related quality of life (HRQOL, EQ-5D) at three years. Secondary outcomes include other weight loss measures, waist circumference and remission/resolution of co-morbidities; generic and symptom-specific HRQOL; nutritional blood test results; resource use; eating behaviours and adverse events. A core outcome set for reporting the results of obesity surgery will be developed and a systematic review of the evidence for sleeve gastrectomy undertaken to inform the main study design. DISCUSSION: By-Band is the first pragmatic study to compare the two most commonly performed bariatric surgical procedures for severe and complex obesity. The design will enable and empower surgeons to learn to recruit and participate in a randomised study. Early evidence shows that timely recruitment is possible. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN00786323.National Institute for Health Research Technology Assessment (NIHR HTA) programm

Interstellar Turbulence II: Implications and Effects

Interstellar turbulence has implications for the dispersal and mixing of the elements, cloud chemistry, cosmic ray scattering, and radio wave propagation through the ionized medium. This review discusses the observations and theory of these effects. Metallicity fluctuations are summarized, and the theory of turbulent transport of passive tracers is reviewed. Modeling methods, turbulent concentration of dust grains, and the turbulent washout of radial abundance gradients are discussed. Interstellar chemistry is affected by turbulent transport of various species between environments with different physical properties and by turbulent heating in shocks, vortical dissipation regions, and local regions of enhanced ambipolar diffusion. Cosmic rays are scattered and accelerated in turbulent magnetic waves and shocks, and they generate turbulence on the scale of their gyroradii. Radio wave scintillation is an important diagnostic for small scale turbulence in the ionized medium, giving information about the power spectrum and amplitude of fluctuations. The theory of diffraction and refraction is reviewed, as are the main observations and scintillation regions.Comment: 46 pages, 2 figures, submitted to Annual Reviews of Astronomy and Astrophysic

Perspectives of ammunition users on the use of lead ammunition and its potential impacts on wildlife and humans

This is the final version. Available on open access from Wiley via the DOI in this recordData availability statement: All data supporting the results in this paper are available from Zenodo (digital repository): https://zenodo.org/record/2653514#.XMbMXKbsZD8 (Newth et al., 2019).1. Recent national and international policy initiatives have aimed to reduce the exposure of humans and wildlife to lead from ammunition. Despite restrictions, in the UK, lead ammunition remains the most widespread source of environmental lead contamination to which wildlife may be exposed. 2. The risks arising from the use of lead ammunition and the measures taken to mitigate these have prompted intense and sometimes acrimonious discussion between stakeholder groups, including those advancing the interests of shooting, wildlife conservation, public health and animal welfare. 3. However, relatively little is known of the perspectives of individual ammunition users, despite their role in adding lead to the environment and their pivotal place in any potential changes to practice. Using Q‐methodology, we identified the perspectives of ammunition users in the UK on lead ammunition in an effort to bring forward evidence from these key stakeholders. 4. Views were characterised by two statistically and qualitatively distinct perspectives: (a) Open to change—comprised ammunition users that refuted the view that lead ammunition is not a major source of poisoning in wild birds, believed that solutions to reduce the risks of poisoning are needed, were happy to use non‐lead alternatives and did not feel that the phasing out of lead shot would lead to the demise of shooting; and (b) Status quo—comprised ammunition users who did not regard lead poisoning as a major welfare problem for wild birds, were ambivalent about the need for solutions and felt that lead shot is better than steel at killing and not wounding an animal. They believed opposition to lead ammunition was driven more by a dislike of shooting than evidence of any harm. 5. Adherents to both perspectives agreed that lead is a toxic substance. There was consensus that involvement of stakeholders from all sides of the debate was desirable and that to be taken seriously by shooters, information about lead poisoning should come from the shooting community

A train-the-trainer education and promotion program: chronic fatigue syndrome – a diagnostic and management challenge

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is a complicated illness for providers and patients. Fewer than 20% of persons with CFS have been diagnosed and treated. For providers, compounding the issue are the challenges in making a diagnosis due to the lack of a biomedical marker.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The objective of the CFS diagnosis and management curriculum was to instruct core trainers as to the evaluation, diagnosis, and management of CFS. Over a two year period, 79 primary care physicians, physician assistants, and nurse practitioners from diverse regions in the U.S. participated as core trainers in a two day Train-the-Trainer (TTT) workshop. As core trainers, the workshop participants were expected to show increases in knowledge, self-efficacy, and management skills with the primary goal of conducting secondary presentations.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The optimal goal for each core trainer to present secondary training to 50 persons in the health care field was not reached. However, the combined core trainer group successfully reached 2064 primary care providers. Eighty-two percent of core trainers responded "Very good" or "Excellent" in a post-tessurvey of self-efficacy expectation and CFS diagnosis. Data from the Chicago workshops showed significant improvement on the Primary Care Opinion Survey (p < 0.01) and on the Relevance and Responsibility Factors of the CAT survey (p = 0.03 and p = 0.04, respectively). Dallas workshop data show a significant change from pre- to post-test scores on the CFS Knowledge test (p = 0.001). Qualitative and process evaluation data revealed that target audience and administrative barriers impacted secondary training feasibility.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Data show the workshop was successful in meeting the objectives of increasing CFS knowledge and raising perceived self-efficacy towards making a diagnosis. The CFS TTT program informed an educational provider project by shifting the format for physicians to grand rounds and continuing medical education design while retaining TTT aspects for nurse practitioners and physicians assistants. Evaluations also indicate that secondary trainings may be more readily employed and accepted if administrative barriers are addressed early in the planning phases.</p

Dietary soy and meat proteins induce distinct physiological and gene expression changes in rats

This study reports on a comprehensive comparison of the effects of soy and meat proteins given at the recommended level on physiological markers of metabolic syndrome and the hepatic transcriptome. Male rats were fed semi-synthetic diets for 1 wk that differed only regarding protein source, with casein serving as reference. Body weight gain and adipose tissue mass were significantly reduced by soy but not meat proteins. The insulin resistance index was improved by soy, and to a lesser extent by meat proteins. Liver triacylglycerol contents were reduced by both protein sources, which coincided with increased plasma triacylglycerol concentrations. Both soy and meat proteins changed plasma amino acid patterns. The expression of 1571 and 1369 genes were altered by soy and meat proteins respectively. Functional classification revealed that lipid, energy and amino acid metabolic pathways, as well as insulin signaling pathways were regulated differently by soy and meat proteins. Several transcriptional regulators, including NFE2L2, ATF4, Srebf1 and Rictor were identified as potential key upstream regulators. These results suggest that soy and meat proteins induce distinct physiological and gene expression responses in rats and provide novel evidence and suggestions for the health effects of different protein sources in human diets

“It’s just a theory”: trainee science teachers’ misunderstandings of key scientific terminology

Background: This article presents the findings from a survey of 189 pre-service science teachers who were asked to provide definitions of key scientific terms ('theory'; 'fact'; 'law'; 'hypothesis'). The survey was a scoping and mapping exercise to establish the range and variety of definitions. Methods: Graduates on a pre-service science teacher training course were asked to complete a short, free response survey and define key science terminology a >95% response rate was achieved and respondents definitions were categorised according to a best fit model. Results: In some cases, definitions contrary to accepted scientific meanings were given. In other cases, terminology was defined in a wholly non-scientific way, e.g., one-fifth of the respondents defined a ‘law’ in the context of rules that govern society rather than in a scientific context. Science graduates’ definitions and their understanding of key terminology is poor despite their study of science in formal university settings (with many respondents being recent science graduates). Conclusions: Key terminology in science, such as 'theory', 'law', 'fact', 'hypothesis', tends not to be taught and defined with consideration for the differences in meaning that different audiences/users give to them. This article calls for better instruction for pre-service science teachers’ in the importance of accurate and precise definitions of key science terminology in order to better differentiate between the scientific and colloquial usage of key terms