Rates of common communicable illnesses in non-anaemic 12-24 month old South Island, New Zealand children

Aims : To describe the incidence of parentally reported illness in otherwise healthy South Island toddlers; characterise the predictors of illness; and determine whether there was a relationship between teething and illness in this population.

Methods : A 20-week randomised controlled trial was conducted on 1-year-old children (n=225) from Otago and Southland between February 2004 and December 2005. Information on symptoms of morbidity, occurrence of teething, and childcare attendance were recorded daily throughout the intervention period. Morbidity symptoms were categorised into respiratory illness (RI), gastrointestinal illness (GII), ear infection, and total illness, and the number and duration of events were determined.

Results : The mean (SD) number of total illnesses was 3.4 (2.3) per 20 weeks, with an average duration of 4.5 days. Episodes of RI were most common (50% of total illness events), and tended to be the longest in duration (mean of 3.7 days). Having siblings aged less than 5 years (23% increase, 95%CI 6%–42%, p=0.007) and attending childcare (72% increase, 95%CI 38%–113%, p<0.001)), were positively associated with the number of total illness events but not duration. In addition, teething was positively associated with total events (OR 1.94, 95%CI 1.45–2.60, p<0.001), RI events (OR 2.03, 95%CI 1.41–2.93, p<0.001) and GII events (OR 1.90, 95%CI 1.36–2.67, p<0.001).

Conclusion : This study has shown that illness (particularly RI) is common in the second year of life. It has also confirmed that attending childcare and having siblings aged under 5 years increases the number of illness events. An association between teething and the occurrence of illness was also seen but the exact nature of this relationship requires verification.

Novel characterization of monocyte-derived cell populations in the meninges and choroid plexus and their rates of replenishment in bone marrow chimeric mice

The mouse dura mater, pia mater, and choroid plexus contain resident macrophages and dendritic cells (DCs). These cells participate in immune surveillance, phagocytosis of cellular debris, uptake of antigens from the surrounding cerebrospinal fluid and immune regulation in many pathologic processes. We used Cx3cr1 knock-in, CD11c-eYFP transgenic and bone marrow chimeric mice to characterize the phenotype, density and replenishment rate of monocyte-derived cells in the meninges and choroid plexus and to assess the role of the chemokine receptor CX3CR1 on their number and tissue distribution. Iba-1 major histocompatibility complex (MHC) Class II CD169 CD68 macrophages and CD11c putative DCs were identified in meningeal and choroid plexus whole mounts. Comparison of homozygous and heterozygous Cx3cr1 mice did not reveal CX3CR1-dependancy on density, distribution or phenotype of monocyte-derived cells. In turnover studies, wild type lethally irradiated mice were reconstituted with Cx3cr1/-positive bone marrow and were analyzed at 3 days, 1, 2, 4 and 8 weeks after transplantation. There was a rapid replenishment of CX3CR1-positive cells in the dura mater (at 4 weeks) and the choroid plexus was fully reconstituted by 8 weeks. These data provide the foundation for future studies on the role of resident macrophages and DCs in conditions such as meningitis, autoimmune inflammatory disease and in therapies involving irradiation and hematopoietic or stem cell transplantation.

Testing dynamic variance-sensitive foraging using individual differences in basal metabolic rates of zebra finches

Social foragers can alternate between searching for food (producer tactic), and searching for other individuals that have located food in order to join them (scrounger tactic). Both tactics yield equal rewards on average, but the rewards generated by producer are more variable. A dynamic variance-sensitive foraging model predicts that social foragers should increase their use of scrounger with increasing energy requirements and/or decreased food availability early in the foraging period. We tested whether natural variation in minimum energy requirements (basal metabolic rate or BMR) is associated with differences in the use of producer–scrounger foraging tactics in female zebra finches Taeniopygia guttata. As predicted by the dynamic variance-sensitive model, high BMR individuals had significantly greater use of the scrounger tactic compared with low BMR individuals. However, we observed no effect of food availability on tactic use, indicating that female zebra finches were not variance-sensitive foragers under our experimental conditions. This study is the first to report that variation in BMR within a species is associated with differences in foraging behaviour. BMR-related differences in scrounger tactic use are consistent with phenotype-dependent tactic use decisions. We suggest that BMR is correlated with another phenotypic trait which itself influences tactic use decisions.

Has the structural break slowed down growth rates of stock markets?

In this paper, we use the common structural break test suggested by Bai et al. (1998) to test for a common structural break in the stock prices of the US, the UK, and Japan. On the basis of the structural break, we divide each country's stock price series into sub-samples and investigate whether or not the structural break had slowed down the growth of stock markets. Our main findings are that when stock markets are modelled in a trivariate sense the common structural break turns out to be 1990:02, with the confidence interval including several episodes, such as the asset price bubble when housing prices and stock prices in Japan reached a peak in 1988/1989, the early 1990s recession in the UK, the business cycle peak of July 1990, the August 1990 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and the March 1991 business cycle trough. Annual average growth rates suggest that the structural break has slowed down the growth rate of the US, the UK and Japanese stock markets.

Use of respiration rates of scyphozoan jellyfish to estimate their effects on the food web

One of the main objectives of research on jellyfish is to determine their effects on the food web. They are voracious consumers that have similar diets to those of zooplanktivorous fish, as well as eating microplankton and ichthyoplankton. Respiration rates (RRs) can be used to estimate the amount of food needed to balance metabolism, and thereby estimate minimum ingestion. We compiled RRs for scyphozoan medusae in three suborders (Semeaostomeae, Rhizostomeae, and Coronatae) to determine if a single regression could relate RRs to mass for diverse scyphomedusan species. Temperature (7–30°C) was not a significant factor. RRs versus wet weight (WW) regressions differed significantly for semeaostome and rhizostome medusae; however, RRs versus carbon mass over five-orders of magnitude did not differ significantly among suborders. RRs were isometric against medusa carbon mass, with data for all species scaling to the power 0.94. The scyphomedusa respiration rate (SRR) regression enables estimation of RR for any scyphomedusa from its carbon mass. The error of the SRR regression was ±72%, which is small in comparison with the 1,000-fold variation in field sampling. This predictive equation (RR in ml O2 d−1 = 83.37 * g C0.940) can be used to estimate minimum ingestion by scyphomedusae without exhaustive collection of feeding data. In addition, effects of confinement on RRs during incubation of medusae were tested. Large medusae incubated in small container volumes (CV) relative to their size (ratios of CV:WW < 50) had RRs ~one-tenth those of medusae in relatively larger containers. Depleted oxygen during incubation did not depress RRs of the medusae; however, swimming may have been restricted and respiration reduced in consequence. We briefly review other problems with RR experiments and suggest protocols and limitations for estimating ingestion rates of jellyfish from metabolic rates.

High rates of alcohol consumption and related harm at schoolies week : a portal study

To investigate alcohol consumption, substance use and risky and harmful behaviour among young people attending 'schoolies' week in Victoria.

How the prevalence rates of male sexual dysfunction vary using different criteria

Objectives: This study examined the prevalence of male sexual dysfunction (MSD) and how different criteria alter prevalence rates. Methods: Five hundred seventy-three Australian men completed an online survey. Results: Of these men, 42.2% were sexually functional and 57.8% reported 1 or more sexual dysfunctions. No matter which criteria were used, the most prevalent MSD was erectile dysfunction, followed by premature ejaculation, hypoactive sexual desire disorder, and delayed ejaculation. Frequencies varied according to different definitions and measures used to diagnose MSD. More than half of the men with MSD experienced only 1 sexual dysfunction. Conclusions: These results demonstrate the high prevalence of MSD and the relatively low level of comorbidity of MSDs. © 2014 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.