As part of further investigations into three linked haemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) cases in Wales and England, 21 rats from a breeding colony in Cherwell, and three rats from a household in Cheltenham were screened for hantavirus. Hantavirus RNA was detected in either the lungs and/or kidney of 17/21 (81%) of the Cherwell rats tested, higher than previously detected by blood testing alone (7/21, 33%), and in the kidneys of all three Cheltenham rats. The partial L gene sequences obtained from 10 of the Cherwell rats and the three Cheltenham rats were identical to each other and the previously reported UK Cherwell strain. Seoul hantavirus (SEOV) RNA was detected in the heart, kidney, lung, salivary gland and spleen (but not in the liver) of an individual rat from the Cherwell colony suspected of being the source of SEOV. Serum from 20/20 of the Cherwell rats and two associated HFRS cases had high levels of SEOV-specific antibodies (by virus neutralisation). The high prevalence of SEOV in both sites and the moderately severe disease in the pet rat owners suggest that SEOV in pet rats poses a greater public health risk than previously considered.

Latest Sandbian to early Katian sequences across Laurentia's epicontinental sea exhibit a transition from lithologies characterized as ‘warm-water’ carbonates to those characterized as ‘cool-water'carbonates. This shift occurs across the regionally recognized M4/M5 sequence stratigraphic boundary and has been attributed to climatic cooling and glaciation, basin reorganization and upwelling of open ocean water, and/or increased water turbidity and terrigenous input associated with the Taconic tectophase. Documentation of oxygen isotopic trends across the M4/M5 and through bracketing strata provides a potential means of distinguishing among these alternative scenarios; however, oxygen isotopic records generated to date have failed to settle the debate. This lack of resolution is because δ18O records are open to multiple interpretations and potentially confounding factors related to local environmental conditions have not been tested by examining the critical interval in multiple areas and different depositional settings. To begin to address this shortcoming, we present new species-specific and mixed assemblage conodont δ18O values in samples spanning the M4/M5 boundary from the Upper Mississippi Valley, Alabama, and Virginia. The new results are combined with previous studies, providing a record of δ18O variability across SE Laurentia. The combined dataset allows us to test for regional trends at a resolution not previously available. Our results document a ~1.5‰ decrease in values across Laurentia instead of increasing δ18O values across the M4/M5 as predicted in various ‘cool-water’ scenarios. In short, these results do not support a shift to ‘cool-water’ conditions as an explanation for changes in early Katian carbonates across the M4/M5.

Carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (CRAB) with diverse multilocus sequence typing emerged among our nursing home residents (6.5%) with a high background rate of MRSA (32.2%). Rectal swabs yielded a higher rate of CRAB detection than axillary or nasal swabs. Bed-bound status, use of adult diapers, and nasogastric tube were risk factors for CRAB colonization.

Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2016;37:983–986

Binocular rivalry (BR) is an intriguing phenomenon that occurs when two different images are presented, one to each eye, resulting in alternation or rivalry between the percepts. The phenomenon has been studied for nearly 200 years, with renewed and intensive investigation over recent decades. The rate of perceptual switching has long been known to vary widely between individuals but to be relatively stable within individuals. A recent twin study demonstrated that individual variation in BR rate is under substantial genetic control, a finding that also represented the first report, using a large study, of genetic contribution for any post-retinal visual processing phenomenon. The twin study had been prompted by earlier work showing BR rate was slow in the heritable psychiatric condition, bipolar disorder (BD). Together, these studies suggested that slow BR may represent an endophenotype for BD, and heralded the advent of modern clinical and genetic studies of rivalry. This new focus has coincided with rapid advances in 3D display technology, but despite such progress, specific development of technology for rivalry research has been lacking. This review therefore compares different display methods for BR research across several factors, including viewing parameters, image quality, equipment cost, compatibility with other investigative methods, subject group, and sample size, with a focus on requirements specific to large-scale clinical and genetic studies. It is intended to be a resource for investigators new to BR research, such as clinicians and geneticists, and to stimulate the development of 3D display technology for advancing interdisciplinary studies of rivalry.

The Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) will give us an unprecedented opportunity to investigate the transient sky at radio wavelengths. In this paper we present VAST, an ASKAP survey for Variables and Slow Transients. VAST will exploit the wide-field survey capabilities of ASKAP to enable the discovery and investigation of variable and transient phenomena from the local to the cosmological, including flare stars, intermittent pulsars, X-ray binaries, magnetars, extreme scattering events, interstellar scintillation, radio supernovae, and orphan afterglows of gamma-ray bursts. In addition, it will allow us to probe unexplored regions of parameter space where new classes of transient sources may be detected. In this paper we review the known radio transient and variable populations and the current results from blind radio surveys. We outline a comprehensive program based on a multi-tiered survey strategy to characterise the radio transient sky through detection and monitoring of transient and variable sources on the ASKAP imaging timescales of 5 s and greater. We also present an analysis of the expected source populations that we will be able to detect with VAST.

Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network (LCOGT) is currently building a new kind of general-purpose astronomical facility: a fully robotic network of telescopes of 2m, 1m and 0.4m apertures and homogeneous instrumentation. A pan-network approach to scheduling (rather than per individual telescope) offers redundancy in the event of poor weather or technical failure, as well as the ability to observe a target around the clock. Here we describe the network design and instrumentation under development, together with the main science programmes already being lead by LCOGT staff.

Background: This study investigated whether brief exposure to information has any effect on stigmatizing attitudes towards older people with dementia, and how people responded to this medical diagnosis.

Methods: 494 adults were randomly assigned to three groups differentiated by experimental conditions. Group A (control) responded to questions on stigma directly. Group B (symptom) read two vignettes that described the symptoms of two fictitious individuals with dementia, before answering questions on stigma. Group C (label) read the same vignettes which ended with a statement that the person was recently diagnosed with dementia by a physician. Data were analyzed with ANOVA, together with other pre-existing between-subjects factors.

Results: Brief exposure to information about dementia led to a statistically significant reduction in stigma (Groups B, C < A), regardless of whether the diagnostic label of “dementia” was included or not. Moreover, lower stigma was reported by persons who knew a relative or friend with dementia, who were younger and more educated, and who thought dementia was treatable.

Conclusions: As stigmatizing attitudes toward dementia are still a hindrance to early help-seeking in Asian communities, the findings suggest that community education may play a useful role in alleviating this barrier to early detection and intervention.

A chemical explosive mode analysis (CEMA) was developed as a new diagnostic to identify flame and ignition structure in complex flows. CEMA was then used to analyse the near-field structure of the stabilization region of a turbulent lifted hydrogen–air slot jet flame in a heated air coflow computed with three-dimensional direct numerical simulation. The simulation was performed with a detailed hydrogen–air mechanism and mixture-averaged transport properties at a jet Reynolds number of 11000 with over 900 million grid points. Explosive chemical modes and their characteristic time scales, as well as the species involved, were identified from the Jacobian matrix of the chemical source terms for species and temperature. An explosion index was defined for explosive modes, indicating the contribution of species and temperature in the explosion process. Radical and thermal runaway can consequently be distinguished. CEMA of the lifted flame shows the existence of two premixed flame fronts, which are difficult to detect with conventional methods. The upstream fork preceding the two flame fronts thereby identifies the stabilization point. A Damköhler number was defined based on the time scale of the chemical explosive mode and the local instantaneous scalar dissipation rate to highlight the role of auto-ignition in affecting the stabilization points in the lifted jet flame.

The genetic control of resistance to the fungus, Cercosporella herpotrichoides, causing the eyespot disease of wheat was studied using the Chinese Spring (Cappelle-Desprez) chromosome substitution lines and F2 monosomic families of hybrids between Cappelle-Desprez and Mara. Chromosome 7A of Cappelle-Desprez was found to increase resistance to eyespot in both types of test. Chromosomes 2B and 5D of Cappelle-Desprez gave increased resistance compared to their homologues in Mara on an F2 background. When substituted into Chinese Spring neither of these chromosomes appeared to increase resistance. Chromosome 1A of Cappelle-Desprez in a Chinese Spring background increased the level of infection. Dominance was towards resistance and the presence of between-chromosome interaction could be deduced.

Poor fertility is a major problem on dairy farms. On-farm studies indicate than pregnancy rates to first service have declined from approximately 55% between 1975 and 1982 to 39% between 1995 and 1998 (Royal et al., 2000), illustrating a decline of approximately 1% per year during this period. The cause is multifactorial and influenced by many factors including genetics, management and nutrition. Previous studies have reported improved fertility through nutritional modification in early lactation (Gong et al., 2002). The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of nutritional strategy in early lactation on reproductive performance.

Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2008 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA, August 3 – August 7, 2008