Pathogenesis and control of infectious avian encephalomyelitis in the chicken.

An infectious avian encephalomyelitis virus (IAEV) was isolated and characterized by physico—chemical and serological tests as well as by the disease and histological lesions it caused in chickens and chicken embryos. The behaviour of two viruses, the NSW-l isolate and the van Roekel strain of IAEV in chickens, chicken embryos and tissue cultures were studied. Both viruses could be titrated in chicken embryos. The viruses propagated in chicken embryo neuroglial, chicken embryo kidney, chicken embryo fibroblasts and chicken embryo intestinal cell cultures, but failed to produce a cytopathogenic effect. Replication of IAEV was not detected in tracheal or intestinal organ cultures

Un nuevo morbillivirus de la neumonía equina y su transmisión a humanos

En Septiembre 22 y 23 de 1994, las autoridades veterinarias en Queensland y en el CSIRO Laboratorio Australiano de Salud Animal («Australian Animal Health Laboratory») fueron avisados de un brote de enfermedad respiratoria aguda en caballos en un establo en Brisbane, suburbio de Hendra. El entrenador de los caballos había sido hospitalizado por una enfermedad respiratoria y estuvo en condición crítica. En ese momento, la causa de enfermedad de los caballos era incierta y cualquier nexo entre la enfermedad humana y equina era un pensamiento improbable. Se investigaron causas de envenenamiento, enfermedad exótica, virósica, y bacteriana. EL historial de los caballos en este aspecto fue considerada importante; (Figura 1) dos semanas antes de la enfermedad del entrenador, el 7 de Septiembre, dos caballos habían sido llevados al Hendra desde un establo de pre-carrera en Cannon Hill (6 km). Uno de éstos, una yegua preñada, enfermó y murió en 2 días. El otro caballo fue trasladado luego y nunca llegó a enfermarse. Por el 26 de Septiembre, 13 caballos habían muerto: la yegua; otros 10 caballos en el establo de Hendra; un caballo, que tuvo contacto muy cercano con caballos en el establo de Hendra, en una propiedad vecina; y uno que había sido transportado desde el establo a otro sitio (150 km). Cuatro caballos de Hendra y otros tres (uno en un establo adyacente, uno llevado a Kenilworth, y uno a Samford) se consideraron que habían estado expuestos y se habían recuperado de la enfermedad. Algunos de estos caballos fueron asintomáticos. Nueve caballos de Hendra habían permanecido inafectados. Los caballos enfermos estaban anoréxicos, deprimidos, comúnmente febriles (temperatura hasta 41ºC), mostraron tasa respiratoria elevada, y llegaron a estar atáxicos. Una descarga nasal espumosa ocurrió antes de la muerte.Facultad de Ciencias Veterinaria

Un nuevo morbillivirus de la neumonía equina y su transmisión a humanos

En Septiembre 22 y 23 de 1994, las autoridades veterinarias en Queensland y en el CSIRO Laboratorio Australiano de Salud Animal («Australian Animal Health Laboratory») fueron avisados de un brote de enfermedad respiratoria aguda en caballos en un establo en Brisbane, suburbio de Hendra. El entrenador de los caballos había sido hospitalizado por una enfermedad respiratoria y estuvo en condición crítica. En ese momento, la causa de enfermedad de los caballos era incierta y cualquier nexo entre la enfermedad humana y equina era un pensamiento improbable. Se investigaron causas de envenenamiento, enfermedad exótica, virósica, y bacteriana. EL historial de los caballos en este aspecto fue considerada importante; (Figura 1) dos semanas antes de la enfermedad del entrenador, el 7 de Septiembre, dos caballos habían sido llevados al Hendra desde un establo de pre-carrera en Cannon Hill (6 km). Uno de éstos, una yegua preñada, enfermó y murió en 2 días. El otro caballo fue trasladado luego y nunca llegó a enfermarse. Por el 26 de Septiembre, 13 caballos habían muerto: la yegua; otros 10 caballos en el establo de Hendra; un caballo, que tuvo contacto muy cercano con caballos en el establo de Hendra, en una propiedad vecina; y uno que había sido transportado desde el establo a otro sitio (150 km). Cuatro caballos de Hendra y otros tres (uno en un establo adyacente, uno llevado a Kenilworth, y uno a Samford) se consideraron que habían estado expuestos y se habían recuperado de la enfermedad. Algunos de estos caballos fueron asintomáticos. Nueve caballos de Hendra habían permanecido inafectados. Los caballos enfermos estaban anoréxicos, deprimidos, comúnmente febriles (temperatura hasta 41ºC), mostraron tasa respiratoria elevada, y llegaron a estar atáxicos. Una descarga nasal espumosa ocurrió antes de la muerte.Facultad de Ciencias Veterinaria

On the opportunity cost of crop diversification

Distance functions are increasingly being augmented, with environmental goods treated as conventional outputs. A common approach to evaluate the opportunity cost of providing an environmental good is the exploitation of the distance function's dual relationship to the value function. This implies that the opportunity cost is assumed to be non‐negative. This approach also requires a convex technology set. Focusing on crop diversification for a balanced sample of 44 cereal farms in the East of England for the years 2007–2013, this paper develops a novel opportunity cost measure that does not depend on these strong assumptions. We find that the opportunity cost of crop diversification is negative for most farms

Predictive value of sarcopenia components for all-cause mortality: findings from population-based cohorts

Background: Low grip strength and gait speed are associated with mortality. However, investigation of the additional mortality risk explained by these measures, over and above other factors, is limited. Aim: We examined whether grip strength and gait speed improve discriminative capacity for mortality over and above more readily obtainable clinical risk factors. Methods: Participants from the Health, Aging and Body Composition Study, Osteoporotic Fractures in Men Study, and the Hertfordshire Cohort Study were analysed. Appendicular lean mass (ALM) was ascertained using DXA; muscle strength by grip dynamometry; and usual gait speed over 2.4–6 m. Verified deaths were recorded. Associations between sarcopenia components and mortality were examined using Cox regression with cohort as a random effect; discriminative capacity was assessed using Harrell’s Concordance Index (C-index). Results: Mean (SD) age of participants (n = 8362) was 73.8(5.1) years; 5231(62.6%) died during a median follow-up time of 13.3 years. Grip strength (hazard ratio (95% CI) per SD decrease: 1.14 (1.10,1.19)) and gait speed (1.21 (1.17,1.26)), but not ALM index (1.01 (0.95,1.06)), were associated with mortality in mutually-adjusted models after accounting for age, sex, BMI, smoking status, alcohol consumption, physical activity, ethnicity, education, history of fractures and falls, femoral neck bone mineral density (BMD), self-rated health, cognitive function and number of comorbidities. However, a model containing only age and sex as exposures gave a C-index (95% CI) of 0.65(0.64,0.66), which only increased to 0.67(0.67,0.68) after inclusion of grip strength and gait speed. Conclusions: Grip strength and gait speed may generate only modest adjunctive risk information for mortality compared with other more readily obtainable risk factors

Recent sarcopenia definitions—prevalence, agreement and mortality associations among men: findings from population‐based cohorts

Background The 2019 European Working Group on Sarcopenia in Older People (EWGSOP2) and the Sarcopenia Definitions and Outcomes Consortium (SDOC) have recently proposed sarcopenia definitions. However, comparisons of the performance of these approaches in terms of thresholds employed, concordance in individuals and prediction of important health-related outcomes such as death are limited. We addressed this in a large multinational assembly of cohort studies that included information on lean mass, muscle strength, physical performance and health outcomes. Methods White men from the Health Aging and Body Composition (Health ABC) Study, Osteoporotic Fractures in Men (MrOS) Study cohorts (Sweden, USA), the Hertfordshire Cohort Study (HCS) and the Sarcopenia and Physical impairment with advancing Age (SarcoPhAge) Study were analysed. Appendicular lean mass (ALM) was ascertained using DXA; muscle strength by grip dynamometry; and usual gait speed over courses of 2.4–6 m. Deaths were recorded and verified. Definitions of sarcopenia were as follows: EWGSOP2 (grip strength <27 kg and ALM index <7.0 kg/m2), SDOC (grip strength <35.5 kg and gait speed <0.8 m/s) and Modified SDOC (grip strength <35.5 kg and gait speed <1.0 m/s). Cohen's kappa statistic was used to assess agreement between original definitions (EWGSOP2 and SDOC). Presence versus absence of sarcopenia according to each definition in relation to mortality risk was examined using Cox regression with adjustment for age and weight; estimates were combined across cohorts using random-effects meta-analysis. Results Mean (SD) age of participants (n = 9170) was 74.3 (4.9) years; 5929 participants died during a mean (SD) follow-up of 12.1 (5.5) years. The proportion with sarcopenia according to each definition was EWGSOP2 (1.1%), SDOC (1.7%) and Modified SDOC (5.3%). Agreement was weak between EWGSOP2 and SDOC (κ = 0.17). Pooled hazard ratios (95% CI) for mortality for presence versus absence of each definition were EWGSOP2 [1.76 (1.42, 2.18), I2: 0.0%]; SDOC [2.75 (2.28, 3.31), I2: 0.0%]; and Modified SDOC [1.93 (1.54, 2.41), I2: 58.3%]. Conclusions There was low prevalence and poor agreement among recent sarcopenia definitions in community-dwelling cohorts of older white men. All indices of sarcopenia were associated with mortality. The strong relationship between sarcopenia and mortality, regardless of the definition, illustrates that identification of appropriate management and lifecourse intervention strategies for this condition is of paramount importance

Musculoskeletal health and life-space mobility in older adults: findings from the Hertfordshire Cohort Study

This study explores the relationship between musculoskeletal conditions of ageing and life-space mobility (LSM) in 1110 community-dwelling older adults from the Hertfordshire Cohort Study. LSM is a novel measure which captures ability to mobilise within the home, locally and more widely. Among men, older age, care receipt, not driving a car, lower wellbeing, and reduced physical function were associated with lower LSM, while in women only driving status and physical function were associated with LSM. Osteoporosis, arthritis, and fractures had no significant associations with LSM in either gender. These findings provide support for sex-specificity in the determinants of LSM and inform novel approaches to improving mobility and health in older age.</p

An algorithmic approach for quantitative motion artefact grading in HRpQCT medical imaging

High Resolution Peripheral Quantitative Computed Tomography (HRpQCT) is a modern form of medical imaging that is used to extract detailed internal texture and structure information from non-invasive scans. The greater resolution means HRpQCT images are more vulnerable to motion artefact than other existing bone imaging methods. Current practice is for scan images to be manually reviewed and graded on a 1 to 5 scale for movement artefact. Analysis of scans with the most severe grades of movement artefact may not be possible. Various approaches to automatically detecting motion artefact in HRpQCT images have been described, but these typically rely on classifying scans based on the qualitative manual gradings instead of determining the amount of artefact. This paper describes research into quantitatively calculating the degree of motion affecting an HRpQCT scan. This is approached by analysing the jumps and shifts present in the raw projection data produced by the HRpQCT instrument, rather than using the reconstructed cross-sectional images. The motivation and methods of this approach are described, and results are provided, along with comparisons to existing work

Lifecourse correlates of self-rated health and associations with subsequent mortality: findings from the Hertfordshire Cohort Study

Background: poor self-rated health (SRH) has been shown to predict adverse health outcomes among older people, however these associations have traditionally only been considered at one point in the lifecourse, usually midlife or later. Here we examined lifecourse correlates of SRH in early, mid and later life, relating these to subsequent risk of mortality in a community-dwelling cohort.Methods: 2989 men and women from the Hertfordshire Cohort Study (HCS) were included in this study. The HCS was initially retrospective and linked contemporary health outcome data to early life data available from health ledgers but investigations from baseline (1998–2004, aged 59–73) onwards have been prospective. At baseline, participants completed an initial clinic visit, which included questionnaire assessment of SRH, reported as 'excellent', 'very good', 'good', 'fair', or 'poor'. Socioeconomic, lifestyle, mental health and demographic information was also collected. Deaths were recorded from baseline to 31/12/2018. Baseline characteristics in relation to SRH were examined using sex-stratified ordinal logistic regression; these factors were examined in relation to mortality using sex-stratified Cox regression. Statistically significant exposures were then included in sex-stratified mutually-adjusted models.Results: in mutually-adjusted analysis, numerous contemporaneous correlates of poorer SRH in the seventh decade were identified and included obesity, lower physical activity, greater comorbidity and higher levels of depression among men and women. For example, odds ratios for being in a lower category of SRH were as follows: obese (BMI≥30) vs underweight/healthy (BMI&lt;25) (men 1.60 (1.21, 2.11), women 1.65 (1.25, 2.17)) and per additional system medicated (men 1.62 (1.47, 1.77), women 1.53 (1.41, 1.66)). By contrast, factors earlier in the lifecourse (early growth, age left full-time education) were not associated with SRH in late adulthood. 36% of men and 26% of women died during follow-up. Hazard ratios (95% CI) for mortality per lower category of SRH were 1.22 (1.10,1.36) among men and 1.17 (1.01,1.35) among women after adjustment for age, BMI, smoking, physical activity, diet quality, education, home ownership status, comorbidity level and depression levels, suggesting residual confounding by other unrecorded factors that are related to SRH.Conclusions: poorer SRH in the seventh decade was a risk factor for mortality. Importantly modifiable adverse health behaviours in the seventh decade, such as low physical activity, were associated with poorer SRH and later mortality after adjustment for socioeconomic factors and comorbidity level. By contrast early growth and education were not related to later SRH. These data suggest that attention to lifestyle in late midlife may be associated with better SRH and subsequent health outcomes, highlighting the value of intervention at this stage of the lifecourse.</p