Notes on Cavalry Employed in Upper Burma From October 1886 to October 1887 by Colonel Heyland, edited by Michael W. Charney

Colonel Heyland’s observations on army horses and cavalry regiments in the final stages of the Third Anglo-Burmese War was originally published as a chapter (XVII) in History of the Third Burmese War, 1885, 1886, and 1887, in 1889. The organization of transport and mobile field forces was a significant problem for British forces in the early months of the war. This account thus remains a critical source on an otherwise obscure topic of Burma’s colonial history and Burmese resistance to British imperial expansion

The quantitative genetics of two life history trade-offs in the yellow dung fly in abundant and limited food environments

The trade-offs between body size and development time and between egg size and egg number (clutch size) are central to life history theory, but evidence for them, particularly in terms of genetic correlations, is equivocal. For the yellow dung fly Scathophaga stercoraria (Diptera: Scathophagidae), we investigated variation in phenotypic and genetic variances and covariances, i.e. heritabilities and genetic correlations, of these life history traits (plus diapause) in benign and stressful larval field or adult laboratory food environments. We found both trade-offs to be weak, as evidenced by low phenotypic and genetic correlations, but stronger in the food limited environments. Broad sense heritabilities were generally significant for all traits considered, whereas the narrow sense heritabilities for egg and clutch size were nil. With regard to the question of how environmental stress affects heritabilities, we found a whole range of responses within one single species depending on the traits considered. All three possible patterns occurred, i.e. increased h2 due to increased VG or decreased $$V_{P^{\prime}}$$ decreased h2 due to increased $$V_{P^{\prime}}$$ and no change in h2 due to increased VG and VP. These can be explained by the particular ecological circumstances yellow dung flies face in their natural environment. Nevertheless, the majority of patterns was consistent with the idea that stressful conditions amplify phenotypic differences between genotypes. Such variable responses of traits even within one organism underscores the complexity of this issue and may well explain the multiple patterns found in various organism

An Attack by a Polar Bear on a Juvenile Beluga

Cunningham Inlet, Somerset Island, in the Canadian Arctic is frequented each summer by large numbers of beluga (Delphinapterus leucas). They migrate to the head of the inlet, and then invade the mouths of the two streams which drain into it. … On 26 July 1974, a sexually-immature female beluga was discovered stranded on a gravel bar at the head of the inlet. Because it could not be manhandled back to water, and would have died from suffocating and dehydration, the whale was shot. The brown colour, shape of head and length (271 cm) of the animal suggested that it was between three and four years old, while the five to six growth layers present in the teeth indicated an age of 2½-3 years. The stomach was found to contain a few amphipods and some seaweed. The carcass carried deep but well-healed scars on the left dorso-lateral aspect caudal to the dorsal ridge. Their depth, and the fact that they were parallel in three cases, strongly suggested that the animal had been attacked by a large-clawed animal, probably a polar bear (Ursus maritimus). … To our knowledge this paper constitutes only the third documented account of an attack on a beluga by a polar bear in the Canadian Arctic …. [All previously reported attacks, including an attack of captive belugas near Churchill, are also discussed in this article.

The Living Room, a Community Crisis Respite Program: Offering People in Crisis an Alternative to Emergency Departments

Objective: To describe The Living Room, a community crisis respite center that offers individuals in crisis an alternative to obtaining services in an emergency department (ED).Methods: This article describes the problems individuals in a mental health crisis may encounter in traditional EDs and explains how The Living Room addresses these problems.  The Living Room’s development, setting, staffing and procedures are described in order to promote increased use of this type of program. Results: In its first year of operation, The Living Room hosted 228 visits by 87 distinct individuals (termed “guests”).  Guests were deflected from EDs on 213 of those visits – a 93% deflection rate.  These deflections represent a savings of approximately $550,000 to the State of Illinois since guests of The Living Room are overwhelmingly individuals with Medicaid or no insurance of any kind.  On 84% (n=192) of the occurrences in which guests were deflected from EDs, they alleviated their crises sufficiently to decide to leave The Living Room and return to the community.  These guests reported an average decrease of 2.13 points on the Subjective Units of Distress Scale. Conclusions: Community crisis respite centers such as The Living Room represent an important alternative to EDs by remedying many criticisms of traditional EDs made by individuals in crisis. Outcomes from The Living Room’s first year of operation suggest that community crisis respite centers are cost-effective, effective in helping many individuals alleviate crises, and have the potential to decrease the use of EDs for mental health crisis

Approach to splitting an academic group into project teams

A detection of communities in a group of people allows researchers to study the modular organizationof the network and use this information for various applications. The purpose of the study is to develop anapproach of uniform split the academic group on project teams. The project team is a group of people who areable to act in concert and collectively to achieve a common goal. In our experiments, we formed a social networkbased on reciprocal nomination. Using methods of social network analysis in the designed social network, project teams have been identified. Programming language R and library igraph were used to simulation

Pro/con clinical debate: The use of a protected specimen brush in the diagnosis of ventilator associated pneumonia

Although mechanical ventilation is instituted as a life-saving technique, it may lead to complications that can negatively impact on patients' morbidity and/or mortality. Ventilator associated pneumonia (VAP) is one such complication that is a common challenge to intensivists. Although most experts would agree that early 'appropriate' antibiotic use is essential in patients who develop VAP, the best diagnostic test to guide decision-making is far from clear. One diagnostic test that is capable of providing microbiological samples from the lower respiratory tree is invasive bronchoscopy with a protected specimen brush. Such a procedure has long been available to intensivists and is frequently employed in many intensive care units. However, this procedure has associated costs and potential complications, and its utility in VAP has been challenged. In this issue of Critical Care Forum, the two sides of this debate are brought forward with compelling arguments. The authors' arguments should fuel future trials

The Living Room, a Community Crisis Respite Program: Offering People in Crisis an Alternative to Emergency Departments

Objective: To describe The Living Room, a community crisis respite center that offers individuals in crisis an alternative to obtaining services in an emergency department (ED).Methods: This article describes the problems individuals in a mental health crisis may encounter in traditional EDs and explains how The Living Room addresses these problems.  The Living Room’s development, setting, staffing and procedures are described in order to promote increased use of this type of program. Results: In its first year of operation, The Living Room hosted 228 visits by 87 distinct individuals (termed “guests”).  Guests were deflected from EDs on 213 of those visits – a 93% deflection rate.  These deflections represent a savings of approximately $550,000 to the State of Illinois since guests of The Living Room are overwhelmingly individuals with Medicaid or no insurance of any kind.  On 84% (n=192) of the occurrences in which guests were deflected from EDs, they alleviated their crises sufficiently to decide to leave The Living Room and return to the community.  These guests reported an average decrease of 2.13 points on the Subjective Units of Distress Scale. Conclusions: Community crisis respite centers such as The Living Room represent an important alternative to EDs by remedying many criticisms of traditional EDs made by individuals in crisis. Outcomes from The Living Room’s first year of operation suggest that community crisis respite centers are cost-effective, effective in helping many individuals alleviate crises, and have the potential to decrease the use of EDs for mental health crisis

Sperm survival in the female reproductive tract in the fly Scathophaga stercoraria (L.)

While sperm competition risk favours males transferring many sperm to secure fertilizations, females of a variety of species actively reduce sperm numbers reaching their reproductive tract, e.g. by extrusion or killing. Potential benefits of spermicide to females include nutritional gains, influence over sperm storage and paternity, and the elimination of sperm bearing somatic mutations that would lower zygote fitness.We investigated changes in sperm viability after in vivo and in vitro exposure to the female tract in the polyandrous fly, Scathophaga stercoraria. Sperm viability was significantly lower in the females' spermathecae immediately after mating than in the experimental males' testes. Males also varied significantly in the proportion of live sperm found in storage in vivo. However, the exact mechanism of sperm degradation remains to be clarified. In vitro exposure to extracts of the female reproductive tract, including female accessory glands, failed to significantly lower sperm viability compared to controls. These results are consistent either with postcopulatory sperm mortality in vivo depending entirely on the male (with individual differences in sperm viability, motility or longevity) or with postcopulatory sperm mortality being subtly affected by female effects which were not detected by the in vitro experimental conditions. Importantly, we found no evidence in support of the hypothesis that female accessory glands contribute to sexual conflict via spermicide. Therefore, female muscular control remains to date the only ascertained mechanism of female influence on sperm storage in this species

Wash Your Hands... And Brush Your Teeth!

COVID-19 has become a novel pandemic increasing rapidly all over the world. Periodontal disease and COVID-19 share many of the same risk factors such as age, gender, and systemic diseases like diabetes and hypertension. Although not many studies exist on periodontal disease (PD) and COVID-19 due to it being a new and emerging topic, many studies suggest key links between the two. Maintaining superior oral health is especially important during the COVID-19 pandemic to prevent PD. Further research is needed to have concrete evidence between PD and COVID-19 due to COVID-19 being a new and emerging illness, while PD is more frequently studied and understood.https://dune.une.edu/dh_studpost/1009/thumbnail.jp