Dog breed selection and factors that shape them : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Zoology at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand

The aim of this research was to describe human perceptions of dog breeds, New Zealand national dog demographics, and the relationship between aesthetic appeal and physical conformation of dog breeds. Methods included a literature review, a review of New Zealand dog registration data, and a survey of 131 university students from first and third year veterinary science and first year marketing on the relative appeal of unmodified and modified dog images. By reviewing literature on human preferences towards dog characteristics breeds were selected that would be most likely to generate the ideal positive and ideal negative first impressions. Characteristics were examined by compiling the strongest positive and negative preferences, opinions, and reports. The results indicated that the ideal breed for a positive impression would be a Labrador Retriever of pale or yellow colour. The ideal breed for the negative impression was Rottweiler. The German Shepherd Dog was also notable for creating a negative impression. This study used datasets from the New Zealand National Dog Database (NZDD) (2013-2014) and New Zealand Kennel Club (NZKC) (2005-2014) to describe the New Zealand dog population. Results highlight a large difference between the two datasets in regards to rankings and reporting. The NZDD and NZKC top 10 ranked purebreds differed in that the NZDD top 10 contained more working breeds that are utilized in livestock farming (e.g. Huntaway). According to the NZDD data, most dogs in New Zealand are purebred (over 65%). The Labrador Retriever was the most commonly registered breed in both datasets. The kennel club data can be used for pedigree dog information but, unlike the NZDD, not national demographic information. The study also investigated, using a survey with associated image ranking, whether academic programme or year of university study influenced the scoring of different dogs based on their physical appeal. The breeds presented in image sets (original and altered) were Belgian Shepherd (Malinois), Border Collie, Dachshund, French Bulldog, German Shepherd (Alsatian), and Jack Russell Terrier. Neither academic programme nor year of university study influenced scoring of five of the six image sets (all but the French Bulldog). Results from the French Bulldog image set indicated fourth year veterinary science students found the images with less exaggeration more appealing than either first year group. Also female participants preferred less exaggeration compared to male participants. For all six breeds the less exaggerated variants within the set of images were considered more appealing by all participants. These findings indicate that there was a preference among the students surveyed for dogs with physical characteristics that were less exaggerated and potentially less detrimental to the health and welfare of the animal

Coming Too Late? The EU’s Mixed Approaches to Transforming the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

As is well known, the amount of aid given by international donors both to Israel and to the occupied Palestinian Territories (oPt) is unparalleled in the world, but the fact that people can turn violent against their own CSOs trying to promote reconciliation speaks abundantly about the resentment that external aid can generate. Studying the nexus EU-civil society-Palestinian-Israeli conflict cannot therefore be done without a general overview of the particular setting in which aid for conflict transformation takes place. This report is articulated in four parts. The paper first briefly discusses the nature of the conflict and recent trends in its development, affecting, inter alia, the domestic context in which civil society operates. It then looks at the EU’s involvement in the conflict and presents the tools that the EU uses in its support for civil society. Moving on, it analyses the impact and effectiveness of Israeli and Palestinian civil societies (with a view on CSO typologies and activities) and suggests why the effectiveness of civil society has remained limited. Finally the paper deals with the EU’s impact and the role of EU-funded programmes supporting civil society involvement in conflict transformation, testing the different hypotheses outlined in the guiding report issued for this work package.

1989, the 'others' of Europe and some implications for a political Europe

An enlarged EU might be structurally integrated, but the ways in which pre-1989 EU members used to imagine their counterparts during the Cold War period have profoundly influenced the ways in which 'east' Europe has been and still is thought nowadays (hence the remaining ideational divergences within a political Europe). The paper argues that European construction and pos-1989 enlargement of the EU towards East imply a form of subtle and untold domination of the Western part of the continent subtlety and at times unconsciously by institutions of the EU or by academic discourses on Central and Eastern Europe. Such domination, as an unintended consequence, is best explored on the ideational level and through the central role that 1989 has taken in this process. Discussing slope-metaphors and allochronisms in the field of a European common memory, this paper shows how artificial distances are created between Eastern and Western Europe. By combining allochronism and heteronomy, we have coined the new term of 'heterochrony' to express the situation in which a given group does not have the capacity of choosing its own laws and the cognitive means to think of itself and where such situation is due to reasons of different time location (in that case in a backward situation) than other autonomous groups. Such heterochrony might lead to a halt of transnational cooperation in Europe and have negative impacts on the self-perception of Europe

Class, violence and citizenship in the Arab uprisings: assessing deeper forms of transition

The article connects the literature on transitology with a comparative analyses of the Arab uprisings (also known as the “Arab Spring”). These uprisings should not only be assessed against the backdrop of institutional changes (elections, the writing of new constitutions, the emergence of party systems, etc.). Rather, we need to consider the revolts as a set of historical events sharing a common aspiration towards a renewed and reactivated sense of citizenship from below, that is, from spontaneous forms of civil society, in conjunction with innervated trade union movements, and the emergence of new coalitions pushing for a more participatory politics. The article concentrates on two features of citizenship: the role of the middle class in fighting for larger political enfranchisement and the attempts by the sovereign people to reappropriate the legitimate means of violence

Mechanistic aspects of thiamine biosynthesis in escherichia coli

The biosynthesis of the vitamin thiamine is laden with interesting chemistry. In anaerobic bacteria (such as Escherichia coli) a reactive intermediate, dehydroglycine, required for the biosynthesis of the thiazole moiety is derived from cleavage of the C??C? bond of tyrosine in a reaction catalysed by the radical S-adenosyl-L-methionine (SAM) enzyme, tyrosine lyase (ThiH). The aromatic by-product of this reaction in vivo was unequivocally characterised as p-cresol, a result which supported previous in vitro observations. Development of a reproducible activity assay for ThiH activity initiated detailed studies on the kinetics. ThiH, isolated either in a complex with thiazole synthase (ThiG), or as a monomer displayed pre-steady state burst phase kinetics. The SAM cleavage products (5‘-deoxyadenosine (DOA) and methionine) were identified as inhibitors of ThiH activity and this inhibition could be alleviated by addition of 5‘-methylthioadenosine / S-adenosylhomocysteine nucleosidase (MTAN), which catalysed rapid hydrolysis of DOA to adenine and 5‘-deoxyribose. The addition of MTAN increased the activity of the ThiGH complex but drastically increased the amount of observed uncoupled cleavage of SAM. The in vitro products of tyrosine cleavage (glyoxylate and ammonium ions) were also identified as inhibitors of the ThiH mediated tyrosine cleavage reaction. However, reductive cleavage of SAM continued in an uncoupled manner. Experiments with tyrosine analogues showed that 4-hydroxyphenylpropionic acid compounds could support uncoupled SAM cleavage, but the C??C? bond cleavage reaction was dependent on a correctly orientated ?-amino functional group. A mechanistic model was constructed, based on the available experimental data, which explained the observed product inhibition, uncoupled turnover and complex formation between ThiH and ThiG. The model proposes that ThiH controls the tyrosine cleavage reaction in order to co-ordinate the generation of the intermediate, iv dehydroglycine, with its utilisation in the thiazole forming cylisation reaction, catalysed by Thi

The False Question of the Middle Class

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Patients' inability to perform a preoperative cardiopulmonary exercise test or demonstrate an anaerobic threshold is associated with inferior outcomes after major colorectal surgery.

BACKGROUND: Surgical patients with poor functional capacity, determined by oxygen consumption at anaerobic threshold (AT) during cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET), experience longer hospital stays and worse short- and medium-term survival. However, previous studies excluded patients who were unable to perform a CPET or who failed to demonstrate an AT. We hypothesized that such patients are at risk of inferior outcomes after elective surgery. METHODS: All patients undergoing major colorectal surgery attempted CPET to assist in the planning of care. Patients were stratified by their test results into Fit (AT ≥ 11.0 ml O2 kg(-1) min(-1)), Unfit (AT < 11.0 ml O2 kg(-1) min(-1)), or Unable to CPET groups (failed to pedal or demonstrate an AT). For each group, we determined hospital stay and mortality. RESULTS: Between March 2009 and April 2010, 269 consecutive patients were screened, and proceeded to bowel resection. Median hospital stay was 8 days (IQR 5.1-13.4) and there were 44 deaths (16%) at 2 yr; 26 (9.7%) patients were categorized as Unable to CPET, 69 (25.7%) Unfit and 174 (64.7%) Fit. There were statistically significant differences between the three groups in hospital stay [median (IQR) 14.0 (10.5-23.8) vs 9.9 (5.5-15) vs 7.1 (4.9-10.8) days, P < 0.01] and mortality at 2 yr [11/26 (42%) vs 14/69 (20%) vs 19/174 (11%), respectively (P < 0.01)] although the differences between Unable and Unfit were not statistically different. CONCLUSIONS: Patients' inability to perform CPET is associated with inferior outcomes after major colorectal surgery. Future studies evaluating CPET in risk assessment for major surgery should report outcomes for this subgroup

Is there a role for prophylactic mesh in abdominal wall closure after emergency laparotomy? A systematic review and meta-analysis

Background Incisional hernias are a common complication of emergency laparotomy and are associated with significant morbidity. Recent studies have found a reduction in incisional hernias when mesh is placed prophylactically during abdominal closure in elective laparotomies. This systematic review will assess the safety and efficacy of prophylactic mesh placement in emergency laparotomy. Methods A systematic review was performed according to the PROSPERO registered protocol (CRD42018109283). Papers were dual screened for eligibility, and included when a comparison was made between closure with prophylactic mesh and closure with a standard technique, reported using a comparative design (i.e. case–control, cohort or randomised trial), where the primary outcome was incisional hernia. Bias was assessed using the Cochrane risk of bias in non-randomised studies tool. A meta-analysis of incisional hernia rate was performed to estimate risk ratio using a random effects model (Mantel–Haenszel approach). Results 332 studies were screened for eligibility, 29 full texts were reviewed and 2 non-randomised studies were included. Both studies were biased due to confounding factors, as closure technique was based on patient risk factors for incisional hernia. Both studies found significantly fewer incisional hernias in the mesh groups [3.2% vs 28.6% (p < 0.001) and 5.9% vs 33.3% (p = 0.0001)]. A meta-analysis of incisional hernia risk favoured prophylactic mesh closure [risk ratio 0.15 (95% CI 0.6–0.35, p < 0.001)]. Neither study found an association between mesh and infection or enterocutaneous fistula. Conclusion This review found that there are limited data to assess the effect or safety profile of prophylactic mesh in the emergency laparotomy setting. The current data cannot reliably assess the use of mesh due to confounding factors, and a randomised controlled trial is required to address this important clinical question

The assessment of interpretation of test results in laboratory medicine

Sve je veća potreba za laboratorijskim stručnjacima koji mogu pružiti savjete o tumačenju rezultata, što obično čine dodavanjem kratkih napomena na nalazu. Iznenađujuće je koliko je malo podataka temeljenih na dokazima dostupno za tumačenje rezultata laboratorijskih pretraga. Kratke napomene koje prate laboratorijske nalaze su kompleksne te se obično sastoje od nekoliko sastavnica kojima se mogu predložiti moguće dijagnoze i dodatne pretrage. Svaka je takva napomena različita i procjena tumačenja nije jednostavna. U ovom ćemo članku govoriti o različitim mogućim pristupima: procjeni cijele napomene, samo nekih njenih sastavnica ili ključnih riječi, te sudjelovanju nezavisnog procjenitelja ili skupine stručnjaka. Niti jedan se pristup ne može smatrati zlatnim standardom, budući da procjena predstavlja nesavršenu znanost te je kao takva samo smjernica, a ne definicija jedinstvenih rješenja. Iako programi vanjske procjene kvalitete (engl. External Quality Assurance Schemes, EQAS) ispituju tumačenje rezultata te na taj način pružaju sudionicima programa informaciju o tome kakve su njihove napomene u usporedbi s drugima, primarna je svrha tih programa ipak obrazovna i, što je još bitnije, ti nam programi pomažu u prikupljanju spoznanja o tome kako poboljšati i razviti tumačenje.There is a growing need for laboratory professionals to o\u27er advice on the interpretation of results, typically by adding a brief interpretative comment to a report. Surprisingly little evidence-base data exists to support interpretation of laboratory test results, and interpretative comments accompanying laboratory reports are complex, usually consisting of several components which may suggest possible diagnoses and additional investigations. Every comment is different, and assessment of interpretation is difficult. We report different approaches that can be used: assessing whole comments or comment components or key phrases; and using independent assessors or a pooled panel of experts. No approach can be considered to be a \u27gold standard\u27 since assessment is an imperfect science and is a guide to, not a definition of unequivocal solutions. Although External Quality Assurance Schemes examining interpretation provide information to individual participants on how their comments compare with others, their primary purpose is educational, and even more importantly, these Schemes enable us to gather knowledge on how to better establish and develop interpretation