Density and geometry of the third metacarpal in juvenile racehorses treated with exogenous equine somatotropin

The effect of exogenous somatotropin (eST) on bone changes were evaluated in twenty-nine juvenile horses in race training using radiographs of the third metacarpal obtained over the course of a 128 day research project. A biodensitometer was used to measure bone density, and a micrometer was used to measure cortical bone width and medullary cavity width. Fifteen horses were given daily intramuscular injections of eST and fourteen horses were given daily intramuscular injections of sterile saline and served as the control group. By day 128, the increase in total radiographic bone aluminum equivalence (RBAE) was significantly greater in the eST horses than in the control horses. The increases in RBAE in the dorsal and the medial cortices were greater in the eST horses than in the control horses, but these differences were not significant. There was a trend for changes in the ratio of RBAE in the dorsal to palmar and in the medial to lateral cortices to be greater in the eST than in the control horses. By day 128, the increases in both the dorsal and the medial cortical bone width were significantly greater in the eST than in the control group of horses. The eST horses had a significantly greater decrease in dorsal to palmar medullary cavity width, and increase in dorsal to palmar bone diameter than the control group. A computed index of dorsal cortical bone increased significantly more in the eST than in the control group. The stresses applied to bone are greater in the dorso-medial direction in racehorses. To decrease the strain, bone must either increase in bone mineral density, cortical width, and/or bone diameter. Both the eST group and the control group did make these changes in bone over time, but the eST group more effectively remodeled and modeled bone to increase the strength of the third metacarpal than did the control group of horses. In this research project, exogenous somatotropin treatment had a positive effect on the density and geometry of the third metacarpal. These changes are believed to result in a decreased risk of bone injury to the eST treated horses

Targeting, monitoring and effect of oral iron therapy on haemoglobin levels in older patients discharged to primary care from inpatient rehabilitation:a cohort study using routinely collected data

Background: Oral iron is commonly prescribed to older patients with suspected or confirmed iron deficiency anaemia, however few studies have examined the effectiveness of oral iron therapy in the real world in this population. We therefore determined the prevalence of iron deficiency in older people prescribed oral iron, examined the response mounted to therapy and ascertained predictors of response to oral iron.Methods: We analysed a routinely collected, linked dataset from older patients who had undergone inpatient rehabilitation between 1999 and 2011. An initial analysis examined patients within this cohort who were prescribed iron after rehabilitation and derived three groups based upon their ferritin and transferrin indices; probably, possibly and not iron deficient. A second analysis compared pre- and post-treatment haemoglobin to determine the degree of response to iron therapy across each category of deficiency. Finally, patient demographics, linked biochemistry data and comorbid disease based on International Statistical Classification of Disease (ICD-10) codes from previous hospital admissions were used in regression modelling to evaluate factors affecting response to therapy.Results: 490 patients were prescribed oral iron within 90 days of rehabilitation discharge. 413/490 (84%) had iron indices performed; 94 (23%) were possibly deficient, 224 (54%) were probably deficient, and 95 (23%) were not deficient. 360/490 patients had both pre and post treatment haemoglobin data and iron indices; probably deficient patients mounted a slightly greater response to oral iron (17g/L vs 12g/L for not deficient; p&lt;0.05). Only pre-treatment haemoglobin, mean cell volume (MCV) and lower gastrointestinal pathology were significant predictors of a response to oral iron therapy. Notably, acid-suppressant use was not a predictor of response.Conclusion: We conclude that many older patients are exposed to oral iron without good evidence of either iron deficiency or a significant response to therapy.<br/

Perspectives on Cohabitation and Care Partnerships in the Context of Low Socioeconomic Status

Research Aims: To explore professional perspectives on experiences of low socioeconomic status (SES) families who are living together and in care partnerships

The relationship between the subjective experience of real-world cognitive failures and objective target-detection performance in visual search

Visual search is a common occurrence in everyday life, such as searching for the location of keys, identifying a friend in a crowd, or scanning an upcoming intersection for hazards while driving. Visual search is also used in professional contexts, such as medical diagnostic imaging and airport baggage screening. These contexts are often characterised by low-prevalence or rare targets. Here we tested whether individual differences in the detection of targets in visual search could be predicted from variables derived from the rich informational source of participants' subjective experience of their cognitive and attentional function in everyday life. We tested this in both low-prevalence (Experiment 1) and high-prevalence (Experiment 2) visual search conditions. In both experiments, participants completed a visual search with arrays containing multiple photorealistic objects, and their task was to detect the presence of a gun. Following this, they completed the Cognitive Failures Questionnaire (CFQ) and the Attentional Control Scale (ACS). In Experiment 1, the target was present on 2% of trials, while in Experiment 2, it was present on 50%. In both experiments, participants' scores on the False Triggering component of the CFQ were negatively associated with accuracy on target-present trials, while participants' scores on the Forgetfulness component of the CFQ were positively associated with target-present accuracy. These results show that objective performance in visual search can be predicted from subjective experiences of cognitive function. They also highlight that the CFQ is not monolithic. Instead, the CFQ subfactors can have qualitatively different relationships with performance. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.This work was supported by an Australian Research Council (ARC) Future Fellowship (FT170100021) awarded to S.C.G. The authors thank Prof Mike Smithson for his helpful guidance on the mixed-effects binary logistic regression

Responses of floodplain birds to high-amplitude precipitation fluctuations over two decades

Globally, high-amplitude variation in weather (e.g. precipitation) is increasing in frequency and magnitude. This appears to be so for the southern Murray-Darling Basin, Australia, where droughts of unprecedented (in the instrumental record, extending back to the mid-1800s) depth and duration (1997–first half of 2010; second half of 2012–) are being punctuated by extreme wet periods, albeit of shorter duration (‘Big Wet’, second half of 2010–first half of 2012). We have previously reported on the responses of floodplain-forest birds to the cessation of the longest recorded drought (‘Big Dry’, 1997–first half of 2010), but we found little evidence of a rebound, at least shortly after the Big Wet. However, we reasoned that there may have been insufficient time for the birds to have responded in that short time, so we repeated the survey program 5 years after the end of the Big Wet (2017). Bird occurrences, reproductive activity and success were substantially greater compared with late in the Big Dry (2009) than they had been soon after the Big Wet (2013). However, bird occurrences still fell well below measurements in the early-Big Dry (1998), so that the avifauna appears to be in decline, most probably because the length of drought periods far exceeds that of wet periods giving the birds too little time to recover fully. © 2022 The Authors. Austral Ecology published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of Ecological Society of Australia

The Iowa Homemaker vol.28, no.6

Your Dream Man, Margaret Wallace, page 3 County Home Economist, Ruth Foster, page 4 Mirror, Mirror On the Wall, Emogene Olson, page 6 I Resolve, Katherine Williams, page 7 These Women Drivers, Merritt Bailey, page 8 Vicky, Jo Ann Breckenridge, page 10 What’s New, Peggy Krenek, page 14 American Dietetic Association, Christine Thomson, page 1

Expression of the neuroprotective slow Wallerian degeneration (WldS) gene in non-neuronal tissues

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The slow Wallerian Degeneration (<it>Wld</it>^<it>S</it>) gene specifically protects axonal and synaptic compartments of neurons from a wide variety of degeneration-inducing stimuli, including; traumatic injury, Parkinson's disease, demyelinating neuropathies, some forms of motor neuron disease and global cerebral ischemia. The <it>Wld</it>^{<it>S </it>}gene encodes a novel Ube4b-Nmnat1 chimeric protein (Wld^Sprotein) that is responsible for conferring the neuroprotective phenotype. How the chimeric Wld^Sprotein confers neuroprotection remains controversial, but several studies have shown that expression in neurons <it>in vivo </it>and <it>in vitro </it>modifies key cellular pathways, including; NAD biosynthesis, ubiquitination, the mitochondrial proteome, cell cycle status and cell stress. Whether similar changes are induced in non-neuronal tissue and organs at a basal level <it>in vivo </it>remains to be determined. This may be of particular importance for the development and application of neuroprotective therapeutic strategies based around <it>Wld</it>^<it>S</it>-mediated pathways designed for use in human patients.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We have undertaken a detailed analysis of non-neuronal <it>Wld</it>^{<it>S </it>}expression in <it>Wld</it>^{<it>S </it>}mice, alongside gravimetric and histological analyses, to examine the influence of <it>Wld</it>^{<it>S </it>}expression in non-neuronal tissues. We show that expression of <it>Wld</it>^{<it>S </it>}RNA and protein are not restricted to neuronal tissue, but that the relative RNA and protein expression levels rarely correlate in these non-neuronal tissues. We show that <it>Wld</it>^{<it>S </it>}mice have normal body weight and growth characteristics as well as gravimetrically and histologically normal organs, regardless of Wld^Sprotein levels. Finally, we demonstrate that previously reported <it>Wld</it>^<it>S</it>-induced changes in cell cycle and cell stress status are neuronal-specific, not recapitulated in non-neuronal tissues at a basal level.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>We conclude that expression of Wld^Sprotein has no adverse effects on non-neuronal tissue at a basal level <it>in vivo</it>, supporting the possibility of its safe use in future therapeutic strategies targeting axonal and/or synaptic compartments in patients with neurodegenerative disease. Future experiments determining whether Wld^Sprotein can modify responses to injury in non-neuronal tissue are now required.</p