54 research outputs found
Local conservation and community participation
Paper presented at the Wits History Workshop: Myths, Monuments, Museums; New Premises? 16-18 July, 199
Lead pulling as a welfare concern in pet dogs: What can veterinary professionals learn from current research?
Investigating maternal risk factors as potential targets of intervention to reduce socioeconomic inequality in small for gestational age: a population-based study
The influence of dog ownership on objective measures of free-living physical activity and sedentary behaviour in community-dwelling older adults : a longitudinal case-controlled study
Background: There is some evidence to suggest that dog ownership may improve physical activity (PA) among
older adults, but to date, studies examining this, have either depended on self-report or incomplete datasets due to
the type of activity monitor used to record physical activity. Additionally, the effect of dog ownership on sedentary
behaviour (SB) has not been explored. The aim of the current study was to address these issues by using activPAL
monitors to evaluate the influence of dog ownership on health enhancing PA and SB in a longitudinal study of
independently-mobile, community-dwelling older adults.
Methods: Study participants (43 pairs of dog owners and non-dog owners, matched on a range of demographic
variables) wore an activPAL monitor continuously for three, one-week data collection periods over the course of
a year. Participants also reported information about their own and their dog demographics, caring responsibilities,
and completed a diary of wake times. Diary data was used to isolate waking times, and outcome measures of time spent
walking, time spent walking at a moderate cadence (>100 steps/min), time spent standing, time spent sitting, number of
sitting events (continuous periods of sitting), and the number of and of time spent sitting in prolonged events (>30 min).
For each measure, a linear mixed effects model with dog ownership as a fixed effect, and a random effects structure of
measurement point nested in participant nested in pair was used to assess the effect of dog ownership.
Results: Owning a dog indicated a large, potentially health improving, average effect of 22 min additional time spent
walking, 95%CI (12, 34), and 2760 additional steps per day, 95%CI (1667, 3991), with this additional walking undertaken at a moderate intensity cadence. Dog owners had significantly fewer sitting events. However, there were no significant differences between the groups for either the total time spent sitting, or the number or duration of prolonged sedentary events.
Conclusions: The scale of the influence of dog ownership on PA found in this study, indicates that future research regarding PA in older adults should assess and report dog ownership and/or dog walking statu
Uncertainty in predictions of extinction risk/Effects of changes in climate and land use/Climate change and extinction risk (reply)
Shared heritability and functional enrichment across six solid cancers
Correction: Nature Communications 10 (2019): art. 4386 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-12095-8Quantifying the genetic correlation between cancers can provide important insights into the mechanisms driving cancer etiology. Using genome-wide association study summary statistics across six cancer types based on a total of 296,215 cases and 301,319 controls of European ancestry, here we estimate the pair-wise genetic correlations between breast, colorectal, head/neck, lung, ovary and prostate cancer, and between cancers and 38 other diseases. We observed statistically significant genetic correlations between lung and head/neck cancer (r(g) = 0.57, p = 4.6 x 10(-8)), breast and ovarian cancer (r(g) = 0.24, p = 7 x 10(-5)), breast and lung cancer (r(g) = 0.18, p = 1.5 x 10(-6)) and breast and colorectal cancer (r(g) = 0.15, p = 1.1 x 10(-4)). We also found that multiple cancers are genetically correlated with non-cancer traits including smoking, psychiatric diseases and metabolic characteristics. Functional enrichment analysis revealed a significant excess contribution of conserved and regulatory regions to cancer heritability. Our comprehensive analysis of cross-cancer heritability suggests that solid tumors arising across tissues share in part a common germline genetic basis.Peer reviewe
Shared heritability and functional enrichment across six solid cancers
Quantifying the genetic correlation between cancers can provide important insights into the mechanisms driving cancer etiology. Using genome-wide association study summary statistics across six cancer types based on a total of 296,215 cases and 301,319 controls of European ancestry, here we estimate the pair-wise genetic correlations between breast, colorectal, head/neck, lung, ovary and prostate cancer, and between cancers and 38 other diseases. We observed statistically significant genetic correlations between lung and head/neck cancer (r(g) = 0.57, p = 4.6 x 10(-8)), breast and ovarian cancer (r(g) = 0.24, p = 7 x 10(-5)), breast and lung cancer (r(g) = 0.18, p = 1.5 x 10(-6)) and breast and colorectal cancer (r(g) = 0.15, p = 1.1 x 10(-4)). We also found that multiple cancers are genetically correlated with non-cancer traits including smoking, psychiatric diseases and metabolic characteristics. Functional enrichment analysis revealed a significant excess contribution of conserved and regulatory regions to cancer heritability. Our comprehensive analysis of cross-cancer heritability suggests that solid tumors arising across tissues share in part a common germline genetic basis
HERITAGE SURVEYING/MAPPING/RECORDING ITS INTEGRATION INTO THE PLANNING PROCESSES WITHIN THE CONTEXT OF COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION AND TRAINING AND JOB CREATION
Abstract The South African Heritage Resources Agency (SAHRA) is South Africa's official heritage body responsible for the protection of the country's cultural heritage. SAHRA is aware of the imbalance in the sites that have been identified and the lack of involvement of black communities in heritage, given apartheid. It is also conscious of the lack of integration of environmental management and heritage into development planning. The only option is to democratize the process. What I outline is a strategy for networking within communities, heritage and planning agencies, schools and non-governmental and community-based organizations to share and participate in this task. This includes a vigorous program of training in heritage surveying and mapping, which is linked to job creation. SAHRA's Heritage Surveying and Mapping Kit will be used to transform heritage within the ambit of methodically identifying and evaluating and mapping sites of social, political, cultural, historical and environmental significance. The essence of heritage work is in people valuing the environment from which they draw a sense of identity, in which they feel they belong. And in the same way, for the needs and values of communities to be recognized and acknowledged in heritage practice, people's participation in the identification of culturally important sites is essential. The program will be a healing process and create the space for people to tell the stories of pain and joy in the context of the identification program
Lead-pulling as a welfare concern in pet-dogs: what can veterinary professionals learn from current research?
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