Behaviour and enclosure use of captive parma wallabies (Macropus parma): an assessment of compatibility within a mixed-species exhibit

Many zoos choose to house parma wallabies (Macropus parma) in mixed-species exhibits and a successful combination of species can provide a source of enrichment. However, there are potential health and welfare concerns, so it is important to consider species compatibility. This study investigates the effects of mixed-species housing on the parma wallaby. Parma wallabies at Dudley Zoological Gardens were observed for nine days in two different housing systems: mixed species (MS), with Patagonian mara (Dolichotis patagonum), and single species (SS). Scan sampling of all individuals, across a range of behaviours, was carried out for 90 minutes across the day. Differences in foraging behaviour were observed, with wallabies housed in the MS exhibit foraging significantly less than the SS group (W27=899.0, P<0.01). Wallabies in the MS enclosure performed a novel behaviour, agonistic directional urination that was not observed in the SS group. Enclosure use was analysed using a Spread of Participation Index (SPI); values revealed MS wallabies utilised less of their enclosure, with a notable preference for areas not frequented by the mara (W27=899.0, P<0.05). The results suggest that the MS wallabies are affected by the presence of the mara, both behaviourally and in enclosure use, which could be indicative of a negative welfare state. This study provides evidence of species incompatibility, a potential issue for the welfare of captive parma wallabies and the successful maintenance of this species in captivity. Careful and continual monitoring of species within mixed-species enclosures is recommended

Psychosocial therapy for Parkinson's-related dementia: intervention development.

Background: Group-based psychosocial therapy, such as group Cognitive Stimulation Therapy, improves cognition and quality of life in people living with dementia. Neuropsychiatric symptoms and restricted mobility are common complications for people with Parkinson's-related dementia (PRD) and may limit access to, and participation in, group activities. This study describes the development of a condition-specific, home-based psychosocial therapy for people with PRD ready to be trialled in a clinical population. Methods: By means of a multistage process, a draft therapy manual was developed in an iterative manner through collaboration with medical experts, researchers and Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) representatives. In stage 1, an extensive literature search of psychosocial therapies for dementia with potential relevance for Parkinson's disease (PD) was undertaken to select a candidate therapy for adaptation. In stage 2, qualitative feedback from stakeholders and intelligence regarding existing nonpharmacological therapies for cognitive impairment in PD was combined to produce a prototype therapy manual. In stage 3, the manual was field tested in: 1) a home-setting using a 25-item assessment tool; and 2) at a local PD support group with PPI representatives. Based on the feedback from this phase, final design modifications were implemented and a draft therapy manual produced. Results: The manual was developed in an iterative manner. Interview and focus group transcripts identified three enduring themes: manual form and content, therapy acceptability by people with PRD, and companion guidance and support. Major adaptations included: removal of discrete levels of task complexity, removal of images that were potentially hallucinogenic or lacked clarity, and updating of the content. Conclusion: We have successfully developed a Cognitive Stimulation Therapy-based psychosocial therapy specifically adapted for people with PRD. The therapy is ready to trial in a pilot randomized controlled study

RG 01.02 Records of Provincial James T. McCormick, S.J.

All physical materials associated with the New England Province Archive are currently held by the Jesuit Archives in St. Louis, MO. Any inquiries about these materials should be directed to the Jesuit Archives . Electronic versions of some items and the descriptions and finding aids to the Archives, which are hosted in CrossWorks, are provided only as a courtesy. Rev. James T. McCormick, SJ was Provincial of the New England Province of the Society of Jesus from 1932-1937. The New England Province consists of the Jesuit communities in the six states of the United States known as New England: Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine. This collection contains the administrative records of the New England Province from that period, 1932-1937. The collection is divided into 15 series: Series 1, Province Governance; Series 2, Finances; Series 3, Personnel; Series 4, Formation; Series 5, Pastoral and Spiritual Apostolates and Matters; Series 6, Education Apostolate and Academic Training of Jesuits; Series 7, Social Apostolate; Series 8, House/Community/Parish; Series 9, Missions and International Apostolates; Series 10, Curia, Rome; Series 11, General, Procurators’, and Provincial Congregations; Series 12, Jesuit Jurisdictions and Organizations: American Assistancy; Series 13, Jesuit Jurisdictions and Organizations: International; Series 14, Non-Jesuit Catholic Church Jurisdictions and Organizations; Series 15, Other Organizations, Individuals, and Issues. Series 1 through Series 11 pertain solely to matters of the New England Province in relation to the subject matter of the series. Series 12-14 include the rest of the American Assistancy Provinces, International Provinces / Jurisdictions and Non-Jesuit Catholic organizations

A cross sectional study of water quality from dental unit water lines in dental practices in the West of Scotland

OBJECTIVE: To determine the microbiological quality of water from dental units in a general practice setting and current practice for disinfection of units. DESIGN: A cross-sectional study of the water quality from 40 dental units in 39 general practices and a questionnaire of the disinfection protocols used in those practices. SETTING: NHS practices in primarydental care. SUBJECTS: Thirty-nine general practices from the West of Scotland. METHODS: Water samples were collected on two separate occasions from dental units and analysed for microbiological quality by the total viable count (TVC) method. Water specimens were collected from the triple syringe, high speed outlet, cup filler and surgery tap. Each participating practitioner was asked to complete a questionnaire. Results Microbial contamination was highest from the high speed outlet followed by the triple syringe and cup filler. On average, the TVC counts from the high speed water lines at 37 degrees C and for the high speed lines, triple syringe and cup filler at 22 degrees C were significantly higher than that from the control tap water specimens. The study included units from 11 different manufacturers with ages ranging from under one year to over eight years. The age of the dental unit analysed did not appear to influence the level of microbial contamination. Five of the practices surveyed used disinfectants to clean the dental units but these had no significant effect on the microbiological quality of the water. The majority of dental units (25 out of 40) were never flushed with water between patients. A number of different non-sterile irrigants were used for surgical procedures. CONCLUSION: The microbiological quality of water from dental units in general dental practice is poor compared with that from drinking water sources. Suitable sterile irrigants should be used for surgical procedures in dental practice. Further work is required for pragmatic decontamination regimens of dental unit water lines in a general dental practice setting

Patient-specific Computer Simulation: An Emerging Technology for Guiding the Transcatheter Treatment of Patients with Bicuspid Aortic Valve.

Transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) is increasingly being used to treat younger, lower-risk patients, many of whom have bicuspid aortic valve (BAV). As TAVI begins to enter these younger patient cohorts, it is critical that clinical outcomes from TAVI in BAV are matched to those achieved by surgery. Therefore, the identification of patients who, on an anatomical basis, may not be suitable for TAVI, would be desirable. Furthermore, clinical outcomes of TAVI in BAV might be improved through improved transcatheter heart valve sizing and positioning. One potential solution to these challenges is patient-specific computer simulation. This review presents the methodology and clinical evidence surrounding patient-specific computer simulation of TAVI in BAV

Feasibility and Validity of Computed Tomography-Derived Fractional Flow Reserve in Patients With Severe Aortic Stenosis: The CAST-FFR Study

BACKGROUND: Coronary artery disease is common in patients with severe aortic stenosis. Computed tomography-derived fractional flow reserve (CT-FFR) is a clinically used modality for assessing coronary artery disease, however, its use has not been validated in patients with severe aortic stenosis. This study assesses the safety, feasibility, and validity of CT-FFR in patients with severe aortic stenosis. METHODS: Prospectively recruited patients underwent standard-protocol invasive FFR and coronary CT angiography (CTA). CTA images were analyzed by central core laboratory (HeartFlow, Inc) for independent evaluation of CT-FFR. CT-FFR data were compared with FFR (ischemia defined as FFR ≤0.80). RESULTS: Forty-two patients (68 vessels) underwent FFR and CTA; 39 patients (92.3%) and 60 vessels (88.2%) had interpretable CTA enabling CT-FFR computation. Mean age was 76.2±6.7 years (71.8% male). No patients incurred complications relating to premedication, CTA, or FFR protocol. Mean FFR and CT-FFR were 0.83±0.10 and 0.77±0.14, respectively. CT calcium score was 1373.3±1392.9 Agatston units. On per vessel analysis, there was positive correlation between FFR and CT-FFR (Pearson correlation coefficient, R=0.64, P<0.0001). Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive values were 73.9%, 78.4%, 68.0%, and 82.9%, respectively, with 76.7% diagnostic accuracy. The area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve for CT-FFR was 0.83 (0.72-0.93, P<0.0001), which was higher than that of CTA and quantitative coronary angiography (P=0.01 and P<0.001, respectively). Bland-Altman plot showed mean bias between FFR and CT-FFR as 0.059±0.110. On per patient analysis, the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive, and negative predictive values were 76.5%, 77.3%, 72.2%, and 81.0% with 76.9% diagnostic accuracy. The per patient area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve analysis was 0.81 (0.67-0.95, P<0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: CT-FFR is safe and feasible in patients with severe aortic stenosis. Our data suggests that the diagnostic accuracy of CT-FFR in this cohort potentially enables its use in clinical practice and provides the foundation for future research into the use of CT-FFR for coronary evaluation pre-aortic valve replacement

Development of a modified floristic quality index as a rapid habitat assessment method in the northern Everglades

Floristic quality assessments (FQA) using floristic quality indices (FQIs) are useful tools for assessing and comparing vegetation communities and related habitat condition. However, intensive vegetation surveys requiring significant time and technical expertise are necessary, which limits the use of FQIs in environmental monitoring programs. This study modified standard FQI methods to develop a rapid assessment method for characterizing and modeling change in wetland habitat condition in the northern Everglades. Method modifications include limiting vegetation surveys to a subset of taxa selected as indicators of impact and eliminating richness and/or abundance factors from the equation. These modifications reduce the amount of time required to complete surveys and minimizes misidentification of species, which can skew results. The habitat characterization and assessment tool (HCAT) developed here is a FQA that uses a modified FQI to detect and model changes in habitat condition based on vegetation communities, characterize levels of impact as high, moderate, or low, provide predictive capabilities for assessing natural resource management or water management operation alternatives, and uniquely links a FQI with readily accessible environmental data. For application in the northern Everglades, surface water phosphorus concentrations, specific conductivity, distance from canal, and days since dry (5-year average) explained 67% of the variability in the dataset with \u3e 99.9% confidence. The HCAT approach can be used to monitor, assess, and evaluate habitats with the objective of informing management decisions (e.g., as a screening tool) to maximize conservation and restoration of protected areas and is transferable to other wetlands with additional modification

Appointing Women to Boards: Is There a Cultural Bias?

Companies that are serious about corporate governance and business ethics are turning their attention to gender diversity at the most senior levels of business (Institute of Business Ethics, Business Ethics Briefing 21:1, 2011). Board gender diversity has been the subject of several studies carried out by international organizations such as Catalyst (Increasing gender diversity on boards: Current index of formal approaches, 2012), the World Economic Forum (Hausmann et al., The global gender gap report, 2010), and the European Board Diversity Analysis (Is it getting easier to find women on European boards? 2010). They all lead to reports confirming the overall relatively low proportion of women on boards and the slow pace at which more women are being appointed. Furthermore, the proportion of women on corporate boards varies much across countries. Based on institutional theory, this study hypothesizes and tests whether this variation can be attributed to differences in cultural settings across countries. Our analysis of the representation of women on boards for 32 countries during 2010 reveals that two cultural characteristics are indeed associated with the observed differences. We use the cultural dimensions proposed by Hofstede (Culture’s consequences: International differences in work-related values, 1980) to measure this construct. Results show that countries which have the greatest tolerance for inequalities in the distribution of power and those that tend to value the role of men generally exhibit lower representations of women on boards

Photonics and fracture toughness of heterogeneous composite materials

Fracture toughness measures the resistance of a material to fracture. This fundamental property is used in diverse engineering designs including mechanical, civil, materials, electronics and chemical engineering applications. In spite of the advancements made in the past 40 years, the evaluation of this remains challenging for extremely heterogeneous materials such as composite concretes. By taking advantage of the optical properties of a thin birefringent coating on the surface of opaque, notched composite concrete beams, here we sense the evolution of the maximum shear stress distribution on the beams under loading. The location of the maximum deviator stress is tracked ahead of the crack tip on the experimental concrete samples under the ultimate load, and hence the effective crack length is characterised. Using this, the fracture toughness of a number of heterogeneous composite beams is evaluated and the results compare favourably well with other conventional methods using combined experimental and numerical/analytical approaches. Finally a new model, correlating the optically measured shear stress concentration factor and flexural strength with the fracture toughness of concretes is proposed. The current photonics-based study could be vital in evaluating the fracture toughness of even opaque and complex heterogeneous materials more effectively in future