„Voneinander lernen und Hilfe für Angehörige gemeinsam verbessern". Es hat sich viel getan in Peine

"Angehörige als Experten sehen", "psychische Belastungen Angehöriger", "körperliche Beschwerden" - allein diese drei Punkte können helfen aufzuzeigen, wie die Einbeziehung von Angehörigen in Forschung und Praxis in Zukunft zu einer weiteren Verbesserung der Lebenssituation Angehöriger beitragen kann. Im Rahmen des AnNet-Projektes haben wir eigene Forschungsdaten erhoben, ausgewertet und u. a. beim Deutschen Suchtkongress im Angehörigensymposium und bei der Jahrestagung der Niedersächsischen Landesstelle für Suchtfragen präsentiert, durch Radioshows und Zeitungsartikel Öffentlichkeit hergestellt und durch Interviews und Diskussionen Daten und Rückmeldungen unserer Forschung beigesteuert. Auch zukünftige Forschung sollte nicht nur zu, sondern auch mit Angehörigen stattfinden, sodass Angehörigen- und Universitätsforscher, Praktiker und Entscheider des Sozial- und Gesundheitswesens miteinander diskutieren, voneinander lernen und durch ihre Austausch- und Forschungsergebnisse gemeinsame (finanzielle) Grundlagen für Praxisinitiativen wie Dream Team schaffen können

"Sucht und Beschäftigungsfähigkeit". Durch Austausch und Forschung die Teilhabeprozesse Angehöriger am Arbeitsmarkt besser verstehen und fördern

Für die rund 10,5 Millionen Angehörigen sind gesundheitliche Auswirkungen und die damit verbundenen Folgekosten zunehmend gut belegt. Allerdings stehen umfassende Studien zu den sozialen Folgen ebenso wie eine systematische Entwicklung von Unterstützungsansätzen der Arbeitsmarktteilhabe Angehöriger noch aus. Die AnNet-Gruppe "Perspektiven am Arbeitsmarkt" ist aus der Kooperation des Jobcenters Peine mit der Universität Hildesheim entstanden. In einem ersten Schritt ging es darum, mittels Erfahrungsaustausch, Diskussionen, Literaturrecherche und einer darauf aufbauenden Interviewstudie explorativ nachzuvollziehen, welche Rolle der problematische Konsum von Alkohol oder illegalen Drogen einer nahestehenden Person für die Arbeitsmarktteilhabe Angehöriger spielt. Der zweite Schritt bestand in der Entwicklung einer "Checkliste: Unternehmens- und Arbeitsmarkt-Partizipation Angehöriger (Check-UP)"

Livestock trade networks for guiding animal health surveillance

BACKGROUND: Trade in live animals can contribute to the introduction of exotic diseases, the maintenance and spread endemic diseases. Annually millions of animals are moved across Europe for the purposes of breeding, fattening and slaughter. Data on the number of animals moved were obtained from the Directorate General Sanco (DG Sanco) for 2011. These were converted to livestock units to enable direct comparison across species and their movements were mapped, used to calculate the indegrees and outdegrees of 27 European countries and the density and transitivity of movements within Europe. This provided the opportunity to discuss surveillance of European livestock movement taking into account stopping points en-route. RESULTS: High density and transitivity of movement for registered equines, breeding and fattening cattle, breeding poultry and pigs for breeding, fattening and slaughter indicates that hazards have the potential to spread quickly within these populations. This is of concern to highly connected countries particularly those where imported animals constitute a large proportion of their national livestock populations, and have a high indegree. The transport of poultry (older than 72 hours) and unweaned animals would require more rest breaks than the movement of weaned animals, which may provide more opportunities for disease transmission. Transitivity is greatest for animals transported for breeding purposes with cattle, pigs and poultry having values of over 50%. CONCLUSIONS: This paper demonstrated that some species (pigs and poultry) are traded much more frequently and at a larger scale than species such as goats. Some countries are more vulnerable than others due to importing animals from many countries, having imported animals requiring rest-breaks and importing large proportions of their national herd or flock. Such knowledge about the vulnerability of different livestock systems related to trade movements can be used to inform the design of animal health surveillance systems to facilitate the trade in animals between European member states. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12917-015-0354-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

Making the most of survey data: Incorporating age uncertainty when fitting growth parameters

Individual growth is an important parameter and is linked to a number of other biological processes. It is commonly modeled using the von Bertalanffy growth function (VBGF), which is regularly fitted to age data where the ages of the animals are not known exactly but are binned into yearly age groups, such as fish survey data. Current methods of fitting the VBGF to these data treat all the binned ages as the actual ages. We present a new VBGF model that combines data from multiple surveys and allows the actual age of an animal to be inferred. By fitting to survey data for Atlantic herring (Clupea harengus) and Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua), we compare our model with two other ways of combining data from multiple surveys but where the ages are as reported in the survey data. We use the fitted parameters as inputs into a yield-per-recruit model to see what would happen to advice given to management. We found that each of the ways of combining the data leads to different parameter estimates for the VBGF and advice for policymakers. Our model fitted to the data better than either of the other models and also reduced the uncertainty in the parameter estimates and models used to inform management. Our model is a robust way of fitting the VBGF and can be used to combine data from multiple sources. The model is general enough to fit other growth curves for any taxon when the age of individuals is binned into groups

A practical guide and power analysis for GLMMs: detecting among treatment variation in random effects

In ecology and evolution generalized linear mixed models (GLMMs) are becoming increasingly used to test for differences in variation by treatment at multiple hierarchical levels. Yet, the specific sampling schemes that optimize the power of an experiment to detect differences in random effects by treatment/group remain unknown. In this paper we develop a blueprint for conducting power analyses for GLMMs focusing on detecting differences in variance by treatment. We present parameterization and power analyses for random-intercepts and random-slopes GLMMs because of their generality as focal parameters for most applications and because of their immediate applicability to emerging questions in the field of behavioral ecology. We focus on the extreme case of hierarchically structured binomial data, though the framework presented here generalizes easily to any error distribution model. First, we determine the optimal ratio of individuals to repeated measures within individuals that maximizes power to detect differences by treatment in among-individual variation in intercept, among-individual variation in slope, and within-individual variation in intercept. Second, we explore how power to detect differences in target variance parameters is affected by total variation. Our results indicate heterogeneity in power across ratios of individuals to repeated measures with an optimal ratio determined by both the target variance parameter and total sample size. Additionally, power to detect each variance parameter was low overall (in most cases >1,000 total observations per treatment needed to achieve 80% power) and decreased with increasing variance in non-target random effects. With growing interest in variance as the parameter of inquiry, these power analyses provide a crucial component for designing experiments focused on detecting differences in variance. We hope to inspire novel experimental designs in ecology and evolution investigating the causes and implications of individual-level phenotypic variance, such as the adaptive significance of within-individual variation

Application of a surplus production model to assess environmental impacts on exploited populations of Daphnia pulex in the laboratory

The surplus production model is a simple and easily applied model for the assessment of environmental impacts on exploited fish populations. However, its application requires several assumptions about the relationships between the degree of impact and the population response that are difficult to test using field data. To examine these assumptions, the model is applied to exploited laboratory populations of Daphnia pulex exposed to chronic radiation stress. The model describes the observed relationship between equilibrium population size and the level of radiation exposure. It also describes the relationship between yield and population size.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/23914/1/0000158.pd

Global Diversity Hotspots and Conservation Priorities for Sharks

Sharks are one of the most threatened groups of marine animals, as high exploitation rates coupled with low resilience to fishing pressure have resulted in population declines worldwide. Designing conservation strategies for this group depends on basic knowledge of the geographic distribution and diversity of known species. So far, this information has been fragmented and incomplete. Here, we have synthesized the first global shark diversity pattern from a new database of published sources, including all 507 species described at present, and have identified hotspots of shark species richness, functional diversity and endemicity from these data. We have evaluated the congruence of these diversity measures and demonstrate their potential use in setting priority areas for shark conservation. Our results show that shark diversity across all species peaks on the continental shelves and at mid-latitudes (30–40 degrees N and S). Global hotspots of species richness, functional diversity and endemicity were found off Japan, Taiwan, the East and West coasts of Australia, Southeast Africa, Southeast Brazil and Southeast USA. Moreover, some areas with low to moderate species richness such as Southern Australia, Angola, North Chile and Western Continental Europe stood out as places of high functional diversity. Finally, species affected by shark finning showed different patterns of diversity, with peaks closer to the Equator and a more oceanic distribution overall. Our results show that the global pattern of shark diversity is uniquely different from land, and other well-studied marine taxa, and may provide guidance for spatial approaches to shark conservation. However, similar to terrestrial ecosystems, protected areas based on hotspots of diversity and endemism alone would provide insufficient means for safeguarding the diverse functional roles that sharks play in marine ecosystems

Seroepidemiology of Bovine Viral Diarrhoea Virus (BVDV) in the Adamawa Region of Cameroon and Use of the SPOT Test to Identify Herds with PI Calves

Bovine viral diarrhoea, caused by the bovine viral diarrhoea virus (BVDV) in the Pestivirus genus of the Flaviviridae, is one of the most important diseases of cattle world wide causing poor reproductive performance in adult cattle and mucosal disease in calves. In addition it causes immunosuppression and increased susceptibility to other infections, the impact of which is uncertain, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa where animals are exposed to a much wider range and higher intensity of infections compared to Europe. There are no previous estimates of the seroprevalence of BVDV in cattle in Cameroon. This paper describes the serological screening for antibodies to BVDV and antigen of BVDV in a cattle population in the Adamawa Region of Cameroon in 2000. The estimates of herd-level and within herd seroprevalences adjusted for test imperfections were 92% and 30% respectively and 16.5% of herds were classed as having a persistently infected calf (PI) in the herd within the last year based on the “spot” test approach. There was evidence of clustering of herds with PI calves across the north and west of the Region which corresponds with the higher cattle density areas and of self-clearance of infection from herds. A multivariable model was developed for the risk of having a PI calf in the herd; proximity to antelope, owning a goat, mixing with 10 other herds at grazing and the catchment area of the veterinary centre the herd was registered at were all significant risk factors. Very little is known about BVDV in sub-Saharan Africa and these high seroprevalences suggest that there is a large problem which may be having both direct impacts on fertility and neonate mortality and morbidity and also indirect effects through immunosuppression and susceptibility to other infections. Understanding and accounting for BVDV should be an important component of epidemiological studies of other diseases in sub-Saharan Africa