Audiogenic reflex seizures in cats

This study aims at characterizing feline audiogenic reflex seizures (FARS). An online questionnaire was developed to capture information from owners with cats suffering FARS. This was collated with the medical records from the primary veterinarian. Ninety-six cats were included. Myoclonic seizures were one of the cardinal signs of this syndrome (90/96), frequently occurring prior to generalized tonic-clonic seizures (GTCS) in this population. Other features include a late-onset (median 15 years) and absence seizures (6/96), with most seizures triggered by high frequency sounds amid occasional spontaneous seizures (up to 20%). Half the population (48/96) had hearing impairment or were deaf. One third of cats (35/96) had concurrent diseases, most likely reflecting the age distribution. Birmans were strongly represented (30/96). Levetiracetam gave good seizure control. The course of the epilepsy was non-progressive in the majority (68/96) with an improvement over time in some (23/96). Only 33/96 and 11/90 owners respectively felt the GTCS and myoclonic seizures affected their cat’s quality of life (QoL). Despite this, many owners (50/96) reported a slow decline in their cat’s health becoming less responsive (43/50), not jumping (41/50), uncoordinated or weak in the pelvic limbs (24/50), and exhibiting dramatic weight loss (39/50). These signs were exclusively reported in cats experiencing seizures for >2 years with 42/50 owners stating these signs affected their cat’s QoL. In gathering data on audiogenic seizures in cats, we have identified a new epilepsy syndrome named FARS with a geriatric-onset. Further studies are warranted to investigate potential genetic predispositions to this condition

Ephemeral active regions and coronal bright points: A solar maximum Mission 2 guest investigator study

A dominate association of coronal bright points (as seen in He wavelength 10830) was confirmed with the approach and subsequent disappearance of opposite polarity magnetic network. While coronal bright points do occur with ephemeral regions, this association is a factor of 2 to 4 less than with sites of disappearing magnetic flux. The intensity variations seen in He I wavelength 10830 are intermittent and often rapid, varying over the 3 minute time resolution of the data; their bright point counterparts in the C IV wavelength 1548 and 20 cm wavelength show similar, though not always coincident time variations. Ejecta are associated with about 1/3 of the dark points and are evident in the C IV and H alpha data. These results support the idea that the anti-correlation of X-ray bright points with the solar cycle can be explained by the correlation of these coronal emission structures with sites of cancelling flux, indicating that, in some cases, the process of magnetic flux removal results in the release of energy. That the intensity variations are rapid and variable suggests that this process works intermittently

Employability Blog Series: The Big College Challenge – A Case Study Presenting Interdisciplinary Development of Employability Skills

This forms part of a regular series of Employability Blogs for the Higher Education Policy Institute. During January 2020, students of the College of Life and Natural Sciences (CLANS) at the University of Derby took part in an interdisciplinary challenge, termed “The Big Challenge”, alongside academics in their subject specialities and several leading industry professionals. This challenge aimed to support the development of key employability skills and was staged as part of a knowledge exchange activity to encourage mutual learning for both the academics and the employers involved (Reed, 2018). Since staging the Challenge, a research project has been in progress assessing the impact and the value of the Challenge on students, employers and the academics and professional services staff involved in delivering it. This piece presents early findings

Coleridge, Thoreau, and the Transatlantic Riddle of the World

[T]he benefits conferred by [Coleridge] on this and future ages are as yet incalculable...To the unprepared he is nothing, to the prepared, every thing. Margaret Fuller1 When Henry David Thoreau alludes to Samuel Taylor Coleridge\u27s Dejection: An Ode in his epigraph to Walden, he situates his Walden Pond experiment as a contribution to a transatlantic conversation concerning a central theme in Coleridge\u27s poem - namely, how the self makes meaning of its relation to the world.2 In fact, Coleridge\u27s corpus shaped Thoreau\u27s dedicated exploration of just this relation - that between the self and nature. For Thoreau, and for Coleridge before him, this relation involved a third integral category: spirit. While today we tend to separate the human self, the external world of nature, adn the world of spirit, Coleridge envisioned these categories as comprising a continuum accessible through the human mind. Hence, he wrote, Then it is, that Nature, like an individual spirit or fellow soul, seems to think and hold commune with us. 3 Thoreau expressed a similar interest in nature, spirit, and self: My desire to commune with the spirit of the universe - to be intoxicated even with the fumes, call it, of that divine nectar - to bear my head through atmospheres and over heights unknown to my feet - is perennial & constant. 4 Both writers pursued a notion of spirit as interrelated and integrated with the self and with the natural world

The dark side of humanity scale: A reconstruction of the Dark Tetrad constructs

There has been an absence of consideration regarding measurement invariance across males and females in the widely available Dark Tetrad (DT) scales which measure psychopathy, Machiavellianism, narcissism and everyday sadism. This has resulted in criticisms of the measures, suggesting that the assessed constructs are not wholly relatable between the groups. This article documents the construction and validation of the Dark Side of Humanity Scale (DSHS), which measures dark personalities from an alternative viewpoint, determined by the constructs as they emerged from the male and female data, whilst aligning with theory and attaining invariance between sex. Across four samples (n = 2409), using a diverse range of statistical methods, including exploratory graph analysis, item response theory and confirmatory factor analysis, a divergence from the widely available DT measures emerged, whereby primary psychopathy and Machiavellianism were unified. This corroborated past research which had discussed the two constructs as being parallel. It further supported the DSHS with a shift away from the traditional DT conceptualisation. The resulting scale encompasses four factors which are sex invariant across samples and time. The first factor represents the successful psychopath, factor two addresses the grandiose form of entitlement, factor three taps into everyday sadism whilst the fourth factor pertains to narcissistic entitlement rage. Construct and external validity of the DSHS across two samples (n = 1338), as well as test-retest reliability (n = 413), was achieved. The DSHS provides an alternative approach to investigating the dark side of human nature, whilst also being sex invariant, thus making it highly suitable for use with mixed sex samples

The Ursinus Weekly, October 17, 1932

Fighting bears trounce F. & M. 16-6: McAvoy\u27s grid men make game look easy as they pile up big score • Old timers return for annual fete • Anniversary celebration to be held on Monday • New equipment aids work in biology fields • Dr. Rubin leaves campus to continue study abroad • Cross country men open season with 25-30 victory • Eighteen pre-medics in honorary society • Gay crowd gathers for dance on even of holiday • Cubs fall before fast attack of Villanova frosh • Hockeyists romp over grads in first game, 8-1 • Various committees named • Poverty Day prize winners • Biology Club to organize • Women gather at dinner • Alumni dine after game • Co-eds make known aims • Pajamas and torches feature at pre-game pep parade • Erring freshmen become clowns for student council • Frosh girls breakfast with junior advisors • Foreign problems reviewed • Men\u27s chorus progressing • Curtain Club plans varied play season • Pan-Hellenic ball date announced by councils • F. and M. flasheshttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/weekly/2032/thumbnail.jp

Growth curves of crossbred cows sired by Hereford, Angus, Belgian Blue, Brahman, Boran, and Tuli bulls, and the fraction of mature body weight and height at puberty

The objective of this study was to evaluate the growth curves of females to determine if mature size and relative rates of maturation among breeds differed. Body weight and hip height data were fitted to the nonlinear function BW = f(age) = A − Bek×age, where A is an estimate of mature BW and k determines the rate that BW or height moves from B to A. Cows represented progeny from 28 Hereford, 38 Angus, 25 Belgian Blue, 34 Brahman, 8 Boran, and 9 Tuli sires. Bulls from these breeds were mated by AI to Angus, Hereford, and U.S. Meat Animal Research Center III composite (1/4 Angus, ¼ Hereford, 1/4 Red Poll, and 1/4 Pinzgauer) cows to produce calves in 1992, 1993, and 1994. These matings resulted in 516 mature cows whose growth curves were subsequently evaluated. Hereford-sired cows tended to have heavier mature BW, as estimated by parameter A, than Angus- (P = 0.09) and Brahman-sired cows(P = 0.06), and were heavier than the other breeds (P \u3c 0.001). Angus-sired cows were heavier than Boran-(P \u3c 0.001) and Tuli-sired cows (P \u3c 0.001), and tended to be heavier than Belgian Blue-sired cows (P = 0.097). Angus-sired cows did not differ from Brahman- sired cows (P = 0.94). Brahman-sired cows had a heavier mature BW than Boran- (P \u3c 0.001), Tuli- (P \u3c 0.001), and Belgian Blue-sired cows (P \u3c 0.04). Angus-sired cows matured faster (k) than cows sired by Hereford (P = 0.03), Brahman (P \u3c 0.001), Boran (P = 0.03), and Tuli (P \u3c 0.001) sires, but did not differ from Belgian Blue-sired (P = 0.13) cows. Brahmansired cows took longer to mature than Boran- (P = 0.03) or Belgian Blue-sired cows (P = 0.003). Belgian Blue-sired cows were faster maturing than Tuli-sired cows (P = 0.02). Brahman-sired cows had reached a greater proportion of their mature BW at puberty than had Hereford- (P \u3c 0.001), Tuli- (P = 0.003), and Belgian Blue-sired cows (P = 0.001). Boran-sired cows tended to have reached a greater proportion of their mature BW at puberty than had Angus-sired cows (P = 0.09), and had reached a greater proportion of their mature BW at puberty than had Hereford- (P \u3c 0.001), Tuli- (P \u3c 0.001), and Belgian Blue-sired cows (P \u3c 0.001). Within species of cattle, the relative range in proportion of mature BW at puberty (Bos taurus 0.56 through 0.58, and Bos indicus 0.60) was highly conserved, suggesting that proportion of mature BW is a more robust predictor of age at puberty across breeds than is absolute weight or age