Habitat utilization by juvenile hawksbill turtles (Eretmochelys imbricata, Linnaeus, 1766) around a shallow water coral reef

Contemporary studies of sea turtle diving behaviour are generally based upon sophisticated techniques such as the attachment of time depth recorders. However, if the risks of misinterpretation are to be minimized, it is essential that electronic data are analysed in the light of first-hand observations. To this aim, we set out to make observations of juvenile hawksbill turtles (Eretmochelys imbricata, Linnaeus, 1766) foraging and resting in a shallow water coral reef habitat around the granitic Seychelles (4°'S, 55°'E). Data were collected from six study sites characterized by a shallow reef plateau (<5 m) and a flat sandy area at the base of the reef face (<10 m). Observation data were categorized into the following behaviours: (1) stationary foraging; (2) active foraging; (3) resting; and (4) assisted resting. Central to this investigation was the development of a technique for accurately estimating the size of sea turtles in situ based upon previously tested techniques for reef fishes. This revealed that through calibration, the curved carapace length (CCL) of marine turtles can be consistently estimated to within 10 cm of their actual size. Although rudimentary, this has advantages for assessing the residency or absence of specific life history stages from particular environments. Indeed, our data supported previous claims that following the reproductive season, adult hawksbills in the region may move away from the nesting beaches to alternative foraging grounds whilst immature turtles (following the pelagic juvenile stage) may opt to reside in areas close to their natal beaches. With regards to habitat utilization, juvenile hawksbills displayed an alternating pattern of short, shallow foraging dives followed by deeper, longer resting dives. These findings are consistent with previous electronic studies of free-range diving in this species and suggest that the maximization of resting duration may be an important factor driving this behaviour.

The impact of patient sex on paramedic pain management in the prehospital setting

Objective: The aim of this study was to establish the impact of patient sex on the provision of analgesia by paramedics for patients reporting pain in the prehospital setting.
Methods: This retrospective cohort study of paramedic patient care records included all adult patients with a Glasgow Coma Score higher than 12 transported to hospital by ambulance in a major metropolitan area over a 7-day period in 2005. Data collected included demographics, patient report of pain and its type and severity, provision of analgesia by paramedics, and type of analgesia provided. The outcomes of interest were sex differences in the provision of analgesia. Data analysis was by descriptive statistics, χ2 test, and logistic regression.
Results: Of the 3357 patients transported in the study period, 1766 (53%) reported pain; this forms the study sample. Fifty-two percent were female, median age was 61 years, and median initial pain score (on a 0-10 verbal numeric rating scale) was 6. Forty-five percent of patients reporting pain did not receive analgesia (791/1766) (95% confidence interval [CI], 43%-47%), with no significant difference between sexes (P = .93). There were, however, significant sex differences in the type of analgesia administered, with males more likely to receive morphine (17%; 95% CI, 15%-20%) than females (13%; 95% CI, 11%-15%) (P = .01). The difference remains significant when controlled for type of pain, age, and pain severity (odds ratio, 0.61, 95% CI, 0.44-0.84).
Conclusion: Sex is not associated with the rate of paramedic-initiated analgesia, but is associated with differences in the type of analgesia administered.

A study of performing techniques and interpretations of G.F. Handel's operatic and oratorio arias for contralto voice

A comprehension of the interpretations and performing techniques of Handel's works is sought in order to perform a program of his vocal works. Genres, 17th and 18th century performance practice, modern interpretation of the repertoire and the author's personal realisations are examined.

Adrenaline and glycogenolysis in skeletal muscle during exercise : a study in adrenalectomised humans

1. The role of adrenaline in regulating muscle glycogenolysis and hormonesensitive lipase (HSL) activity during exercise was examined in six adrenalinedeficient bilaterally adrenalectomised, adrenocorticohormonalsubstituted humans (Adr) and in six healthy control individuals (Con).

2. Subjects cycled for 45 min at •70% maximal pulmonary Oμ uptake (ýO2,max) followed by 15 min at •86% ýO2,max either without (−Adr and Con) or with (+Adr) adrenaline infusion that elevated plasma adrenaline levels (45 min, 4·49 ± 0·69 nmol l¢; 60 min, 12·41 ± 1·80 nmol l¢). Muscle samples were obtained at 0, 45 and 60 min of exercise.

3. In −Adr and Con, muscle glycogen was similar at rest (−Adr, 409 ± 19 mmol (kg dry wt)¢; Con, 453 ± 24 mmol (kg dry wt)¢) and following exercise (−Adr, 237 ± 52 mmol (kg dry wt)¢; Con, 227 ± 50 mmol (kg dry wt)¢). Muscle lactate, glucose6phosphate and glucose were similar in −Adr and Con, whereas glycogen phosphorylase (aÏa + b ² 100 %) and HSL (% phosphorylated) activities increased during exercise in Con only. Adrenaline infusion increased activities of phosphorylase and HSL as well as blood lactate concentrations compared with those in −Adr, but did not enhance glycogen breakdown (+Adr, glycogen following exercise: 274 ± 55 mmol (kg dry wt)¢) in contracting muscle.

4. The present findings demonstrate that during exercise muscle glycogenolysis can occur in the absence of adrenaline, and that adrenaline does not enhance muscle glycogenolysis in exercising adrenalectomised subjects. Although adrenaline increases the glycogen phosphorylase activity it is not essential for glycogen breakdown in contracting muscle. Finally, a novel finding is that the activity of HSL in human muscle is increased in exercising man and this is due, at least partly, to stimulation by adrenaline.

Effect of adrenaline on glucose kinetics during exercise in adrenalectomised humans

1. The role of adrenaline in regulating hepatic glucose production and muscle glucose uptake during exercise was examined in six adrenaline deficient, bilaterally adrenalectomised humans. Six sex and age matched healthy individuals served as controls (CON).

2. Adrenalectomised subjects cycled for 45 min at 68 ± 1% maximum pulmonary Oμ uptake (VOμ,max), followed by 15 min at 84 ± 2% VOμ,max without (−ADR) or with (+ADR) adrenaline infusion, which elevated plasma adrenaline levels (45 min, 4·49 ± 0·69 nmol l¢; 60 min, 12·41 ± 1·80 nmol l¢; means ± s.e.m.). Glucose kinetics were measured using [3_ÅH]glucose.

3. Euglycaemia was maintained during exercise in CON and −ADR, whilst in +ADR plasma glucose was elevated. The exercise induced increase in hepatic glucose production was similar in +ADR and −ADR; however, adrenaline infusion augmented the rise in hepatic glucose production early in exercise. Glucose uptake increased during exercise in +ADR and −ADR, but was lower and metabolic clearance rate was reduced in +ADR.

4. During exercise noradrenaline and glucagon concentrations increased, and insulin and cortisol concentrations decreased, but plasma levels were similar between trials. Adrenaline infusion suppressed growth hormone and elevated plasma free fatty acids, glycerol and lactate. Alanine and â_hydroxybutyrate levels were similar between trials.

5. The results demonstrate that glucose homeostasis was maintained during exercise in adrenalectomised subjects. Adrenaline does not appear to play a major role in matching hepatic glucose production to the increase in glucose clearance. In contrast, adrenaline infusion results in a mismatch by simultaneously enhancing hepatic glucose production and inhibiting glucose clearance.

The role of attention in the academic attainment of children with autism spectrum disorder

Academic attainment in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is under-studied, with associated factors largely undetermined. Parent-reported attention symptoms, attentional-switching and sustained-attention tasks were examined to determine relationships with mathematics and reading attainment in 124 children aged 7–12 years; sixty-four with high-functioning ASD, half girls, and sixty age- and gender-matched typical children (TYP). With full-scale IQ controlled there were no differences in mathematics, reading, attentional switching or sustained attention. In regression analysis, attentional switching was related to mathematics achievement in ASD but not TYP children. Findings highlight attentional switching difficulties are linked with poorer mathematics outcomes in ASD.

Inspirited landscapes: the anthology project

 

A noisy-smoothing relevance feedback method for content-based medical image retrieval

In this paper, we address a new problem of noisy images which present in the procedure of relevance feedback for medical image retrieval. We concentrate on the noisy images, caused by the users mislabeling some irrelevant images as relevant ones, and a noisy-smoothing relevance feedback (NS-RF) method is proposed. In NS-RF, a two-step strategy is proposed to handle the noisy images. In step 1, a noisy elimination algorithm is adopted to identify and eliminate the noisy images. In step 2, to further alleviate the influence of noisy images, a fuzzy membership function is employed to estimate the relevance probabilities of retained relevant images. After noisy handling, the fuzzy support vector machine, which can take into account different relevant images with different relevance probabilities, is adopted to re-rank the images. The experimental results on the IRMA medical image collection demonstrate that the proposed method can deal with the noisy images effectively.

"Cancer 2015": a prospective, population-based cancer cohort-phase 1: feasibility of genomics-guided precision medicine in the clinic

"Cancer 2015" is a longitudinal and prospective cohort. It is a phased study whose aim was to pilot recruiting 1000 patients during phase 1 to establish the feasibility of providing a population-based genomics cohort. Newly diagnosed adult patients with solid cancers, with residual tumour material for molecular genomics testing, were recruited into the cohort for the collection of a dataset containing clinical, molecular pathology, health resource use and outcomes data. 1685 patients have been recruited over almost 3 years from five hospitals. Thirty-two percent are aged between 61-70 years old, with a median age of 63 years. Diagnostic tumour samples were obtained for 90% of these patients for multiple parallel sequencing. Patients identified with somatic mutations of potentially "actionable" variants represented almost 10% of those tumours sequenced, while 42% of the cohort had no mutations identified. These genomic data were annotated with information such as cancer site, stage, morphology, treatment and patient outcomes and health resource use and cost. This cohort has delivered its main objective of establishing an upscalable genomics cohort within a clinical setting and in phase 2 aims to develop a protocol for how genomics testing can be used in real-time clinical decision-making, providing evidence on the value of precision medicine to clinical practice.