When the going gets tough the beautiful get going: aesthetic appeal facilitates task performance.

The current studies examined the effect of aesthetic appeal on performance. According to one hypothesis, appeal would lead to overall decrements or enhancements in performance [e.g. Sonderegger & Sauer, (Applied Ergonomics, 41, 403-410, 2010)]. Alternatively, appeal might influence performance only in problem situations, such as when the task is difficult [e.g. Norman, (2004)]. The predictions of these hypotheses were examined in the context of an icon search-and-localisation task. Icons were used because they are well-defined stimuli and pervasive to modern everyday life. When search was made difficult using visually complex stimuli (Experiment 1), or abstract and unfamiliar stimuli (Experiment 2), icons that were appealing were found more quickly than their unappealing counterparts. These findings show that in a low-level visual processing task, with demand characteristics related to appeal eliminated, appeal can influence performance, especially under duress

Screening out irrelevant cell-based models of disease

The common and persistent failures to translate promising preclinical drug candidates into clinical success highlight the limited effectiveness of disease models currently used in drug discovery. An apparent reluctance to explore and adopt alternative cell-and tissue-based model systems, coupled with a detachment from clinical practice during assay validation, contributes to ineffective translational research. To help address these issues and stimulate debate, here we propose a set of principles to facilitate the definition and development of disease-relevant assays, and we discuss new opportunities for exploiting the latest advances in cell-based assay technologies in drug discovery, including induced pluripotent stem cells, three-dimensional (3D) co-culture and organ-on-a-chip systems, complemented by advances in single-cell imaging and gene editing technologies. Funding to support precompetitive, multidisciplinary collaborations to develop novel preclinical models and cell-based screening technologies could have a key role in improving their clinical relevance, and ultimately increase clinical success rates

Evaluation of appendicitis risk prediction models in adults with suspected appendicitis

Background Appendicitis is the most common general surgical emergency worldwide, but its diagnosis remains challenging. The aim of this study was to determine whether existing risk prediction models can reliably identify patients presenting to hospital in the UK with acute right iliac fossa (RIF) pain who are at low risk of appendicitis. Methods A systematic search was completed to identify all existing appendicitis risk prediction models. Models were validated using UK data from an international prospective cohort study that captured consecutive patients aged 16–45 years presenting to hospital with acute RIF in March to June 2017. The main outcome was best achievable model specificity (proportion of patients who did not have appendicitis correctly classified as low risk) whilst maintaining a failure rate below 5 per cent (proportion of patients identified as low risk who actually had appendicitis). Results Some 5345 patients across 154 UK hospitals were identified, of which two‐thirds (3613 of 5345, 67·6 per cent) were women. Women were more than twice as likely to undergo surgery with removal of a histologically normal appendix (272 of 964, 28·2 per cent) than men (120 of 993, 12·1 per cent) (relative risk 2·33, 95 per cent c.i. 1·92 to 2·84; P < 0·001). Of 15 validated risk prediction models, the Adult Appendicitis Score performed best (cut‐off score 8 or less, specificity 63·1 per cent, failure rate 3·7 per cent). The Appendicitis Inflammatory Response Score performed best for men (cut‐off score 2 or less, specificity 24·7 per cent, failure rate 2·4 per cent). Conclusion Women in the UK had a disproportionate risk of admission without surgical intervention and had high rates of normal appendicectomy. Risk prediction models to support shared decision‐making by identifying adults in the UK at low risk of appendicitis were identified

Semantic congruency of auditory warnings

The aim of this study was to explore operator experience and performance for semantically congruent and incongruent auditory icons and abstract alarm sounds. It was expected that performance advantages for congruent sounds would be present initially but would reduce over time for both alarm types. Twenty four participants (12M/12F) were placed into auditory icon or abstract alarm groupings. For each group both congruent and incongruent alarms were used to represent different driving task scenarios. Once sounded, participants were required to respond to each alarm by selecting a corresponding driving scenario. User performance for all sound types improved over time, however even with experience a decrement in speed of response remained for the incongruent iconic sounds and in accuracy of performance for the abstract warning sounds when compared to the congruent auditory icons. Semantic congruency was found to be of more importance for auditory icons than for abstract sounds

Chlorella pyrenoidosa supplementation increased the concentration of unsaturated fatty acids in the rumen fluid of cattle fed a low-quality tropical forage

© 2020. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of algae and cottonseed meal (CSM) supplementation on the fatty acid (FA) profile in the rumen fluid (RF) of steers fed a low-quality forage. Five Bos indicus crossbred steers, 187±7.5 kg liveweight (LW; mean±SD), were fed a low crude protein speargrass (Heteropogon contortus) hay as the basal diet alone or supplemented with either Spirulina platensis, Chlorella pyrenoidosa, Dunaliella salina, or CSM in Latin square design. The proportion of individual FA in the RF of steers varied in response to supplement, and these were most likely due to differences in the FA profile in supplements. Steers supplemented with Chlorella pyrenoidosa and CSM had a higher concentration of linoleic acid (C18:2n-6) in RF than unsupplemented steers or steers offered the other supplements, but there was no difference in the concentration in RF in steers supplemented with Chlorella pyrenoidosa and CSM. The concentration of linolenic acid (C18:3n-3) was higher in the RF of unsupplemented steers compared with supplemented steers. Steers receiving Chlorella pyrenoidosa supplementation showed an increase in total unsaturated FA in the RF compared with other supplemented and unsupplemented steers, which if transferred to meat, could have health related benefits to consumers. None of the supplements led to the formation of isomers known to inhibit fat synthesis

Small differences in biohydrogenation resulted from the similar retention times of fluid in the rumen of cattle grazing wet season C3 and C4 forage species

The effects of forage type and season on retention time (RT) and the fatty acid (FA) profile of the rumen fluid (RF) of steers grazing a range of grasses and a legume/grass mix were evaluated. Four rumen cannulated steers (790 ± 17 kg body weight (BW) grazed individual wet season pastures (herbage mass 2600-6200 kg DM/ha of C3 ryegrass Lolium perenne and C4 grasses pangola Digitaria eriantha, signal grass Brachiaria decumbens, star grass Cynodon dactylon, kikuyu Pennisetum clandestinum, and speargrass Heteropogon contortus in both seasons, and a mixture of leucaena Leucaena leucocephala and green panic Panicum maximum in the dry season. Each grazing period consisted of at least 21 d, followed by a 3 d collection period. On d 22 CrEDTA was used to estimate RT (182 mg Cr/100 kg BW via the cannula) and RF samples were collected at 0, 4, 8, 12, 16, 24, 28, 32 and 48 h after dosing for Cr analysis. Diet crude protein (CP) and dry matter digestibility (DMD) were estimated by faecal NIRS. Concentration of NH3N and volatile fatty acids (VFA) in RF was determined at 0, 8 and 16 h after dosing. Dry season speargrass had the lowest CP (18 and 39 g/kg DM in plucked sample (PS) and estimated by faecal NIRS, respectively) and DMD (49%), which was associated with a low NH3N (9 mg NH3N/L) and VFA concentration (70 mM) in RF, and much longer RT of Cr (20 h) than the other grasses. The RT of Cr of the other wet season grasses was similar across all forage species (8- to 11 hours). Total VFA in RF was lowest for steers grazing dry season grass, intermediate for grasses in the wet season and highest for steers grazing the legume/grass mix. Speargrass had the highest non-glucogenic:glucogenic VFA. Ryegrass had higher CP (190 g/kg DM) and DMD (68%), but steers grazing this pasture had similar NH3N concentration in RF to steers grazing kikuyu and leaucaena/grass mix (above 100 mg NH3N /L). Palmitic and stearic acid in RF were much higher than in plucked samples, but all grasses had similar total saturated FA in RF with a greater degree of saturation for ryegrass. A higher CLA c9,t11 in RF of steers grazing ryegrass most likely resulted from the linoleic content in the forage and the higher intake of ryegrass resulting in accumulation in RF. Total unsaturated FA (TUFA) content of RF was reduced markedly compared to forage samples with some small differences between species indicating an extensive biohydrogenation despite the grass type and season. It was concluded that RT of Cr in the rumen of cattle grazing wet season grasses was similar across all forage species (8 to 11 hours) and would not result in different times for biohydrogenation within the rumen. © 2019 Elsevier B.V

The inclusion of low quantities of lipids in the diet of ruminants fed low quality forages has little effect on rumen function

Biohydrogenation within rumen fluid (RF) proceeds to varying degrees depending on retention time (RT) and type of basal diet, especially the profile of fatty acid (FA) being hydrogenised. The objective of this study was to examine the FA profile and the RT of liquid in the rumen of steers fed a low crude protein (CP) tropical grass (Chloris gayana hay, 38 g CP, 17 g crude lipid and 752 g neutral detergent fibre (aNDFom)/kg dry matter (DM)) supplemented with various lipids. Five rumen cannulated Bos indicus cross, five-year-old steers (799 ± 15 kg live weight (LW)) were allocated to a 5 × 5 Latin square design. The treatments were control, hay only, or the addition of 30 g/kg hay DM of lipid sources: Coconut (high lauric acid), cottonseed and soybean (high linoleic acid) or fish oil (high long chain FA (LCFA)). Retention time decreased with addition of soybean oil (14 h) but no differences between other treatments (mean 17 h). Coconut oil increased lauric and myristic acids in RF. There were no changes in total saturated FA (TSFA) in RF, with exception of a lower concentration for fish oil treatment. Addition of fish oil also decreased the concentration in RF of stearic and linolenic acid, but no differences to coconut and cottonseed treatments for linolenic acid. Fish oil also resulted in higher LCFA, linoleic and total unsaturated FA (TUFA), but no differences to soybean oil for the latter two acids. The conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) was only different in RF between cottonseed and fish oil treatments. Differences in FA profile of oils were only partially translated into the FA profile in RF of steers fed a tropical hay, without great changes in the proportion of CLA isomers observed. © 2017 Elsevier B.V