Twenty years of Hendra virus: laboratory submission trends and risk factors for infection in horses

Hendra virus (HeV) was first described in 1994 in an outbreak of acute and highly lethal disease in horses and humans in Australia. Equine cases continue to be diagnosed periodically, yet the predisposing factors for infection remain unclear. We undertook an analysis of equine submissions tested for HeV by the Queensland government veterinary reference laboratory over a 20-year period to identify and investigate any patterns. We found a marked increase in testing from July 2008, primarily reflecting a broadening of the HeV clinical case definition. Peaks in submissions for testing, and visitations to the Government HeV website, were associated with reported equine incidents. Significantly differing between-year HeV detection rates in north and south Queensland suggest a fundamental difference in risk exposure between the two regions. The statistical association between HeV detection and stockhorse type may suggest that husbandry is a more important risk determinant than breed per se. The detection of HeV in horses with neither neurological nor respiratory signs poses a risk management challenge for attending veterinarians and laboratory staff, reinforcing animal health authority recommendations that appropriate risk management strategies be employed for all sick horses, and by anyone handling sick horses or associated biological samples.

Socio-economic conditions and challenges of Kyoga lakes fisheries

Over the period 2008 to 2010, NaFIRRI carried out a number of socio-economic studies on the Kyoga lakes to provide an update of the socio-economic conditions of the fisheries and also to address specific areas of fisheries socio-economic issues and development concerns. The data collection was conducted using Key informant interviews, questionnaire sample surveys, Focus Group Discussions, secondary data searches and field observations. The objective of this fact sheet is, therefore, to provide key information from these studies for use at national, district, community levels as well as by other interested stakeholders.

Resistance to phosphine in Sitophilus oryzae in Australia: A national analysis of trends and frequencies over time and geographical spread

In Australia, along with many other parts of the world, fumigation with phosphine is a vital component in controlling stored grain insect pests. However, resistance is a factor that may limit the continued efficacy of this fumigant. While strong resistance to phosphine has been identified and characterised, very little information is available on the causes of its development and spread. Data obtained from a unique national resistance monitoring and management program were analysed, using Bayesian hurdle modelling, to determine which factors may be responsible. Fumigation in unsealed storages, combined with a high frequency of weak resistance, were found to be the main criteria that led to the development of strong resistance in Sitophilus oryzae. Independent development, rather than gene flow via migration, appears to be primarily responsible for the geographic incidence of strong resistance to phosphine in S. oryzae. This information can now be utilised to direct resources and education into those areas at high risk and to refine phosphine resistance management strategies.

Twenty years of Hendra virus: laboratory submission trends and risk factors for infection in horses

SUMMARY Hendra virus (HeV) was first described in 1994 in an outbreak of acute and highly lethal disease in horses and humans in Australia. Equine cases continue to be diagnosed periodically, yet the predisposing factors for infection remain unclear. We undertook an analysis of equine submissions tested for HeV by the Queensland government veterinary reference laboratory over a 20-year period to identify and investigate any patterns. We found a marked increase in testing from July 2008, primarily reflecting a broadening of the HeV clinical case definition. Peaks in submissions for testing, and visitations to the Government HeV website, were associated with reported equine incidents. Significantly differing between-year HeV detection rates in north and south Queensland suggest a fundamental difference in risk exposure between the two regions. The statistical association between HeV detection and stockhorse type may suggest that husbandry is a more important risk determinant than breed per se. The detection of HeV in horses with neither neurological nor respiratory signs poses a risk management challenge for attending veterinarians and laboratory staff, reinforcing animal health authority recommendations that appropriate risk management strategies be employed for all sick horses, and by anyone handling sick horses or associated biological samples.

ADVANCES AND CHALLENGES OF BREASTFEEDING IN BRAZIL: AN INTEGRATIVE REVIEW

Objective: To analyze the panorama of breastfeeding in Brazil through an integrative literature review highlighting its advances and challenges. Methods: We carried out an integrative literature review in the SciELO and PubMed databases and in booklets published on the websites of the Ministry of Health and the International Baby Food Action Network (IFBAN) using the following Portuguese and English descriptors: aleitamento materno (breastfeeding), autoeficácia (self-efficacy), promoção da saúde (health promotion) and desmame (weaning) in the period from 2002 to 2015. Results: We identified at first 43 articles, 33 booklets, 1 thesis and 3 dissertations, including in the study 17 articles, 3 dissertations and 19 booklets due to information saturation. It was verified that breastfeeding rates have reduced significantly over time with direct implications in infant mortality rates, being associated with early weaning and the lack of promotion of maternal self-efficacy in the prenatal and postpartum. To change this situation, Brazil imposed a number of public policies aimed at breastfeeding success, which advocated to raise rates. Conclusion: Despite the advances, the Brazilian panorama of breastfeeding shows that the country remains below the recommendations of international organizations, and overcoming the obstacles to successful breastfeeding constitutes a major challenge for the Brazilian public health.

A systematic review of trends and patterns of congenital heart disease in children in Nigeria from 1964-2015.

Background: Congenital heart diseases cause significant childhood morbidity and mortality. Several restricted studies have been conducted on the epidemiology in Nigeria. No truly nationwide data on patterns of congenital heart disease exists. Objectives: To determine the patterns of congenital heart disease in children in Nigeria and examine trends in the occurrence of individual defects across 5 decades. Method: We searched PubMed database, Google scholar, TRIP database, World Health Organisation libraries and reference lists of selected articles for studies on patterns of congenital heart disease among children in Nigeria between 1964 and 2015. Two researchers reviewed the papers independently and extracted the data. Seventeen studies were selected that included 2,953 children with congenital heart disease. Results: The commonest congenital heart diseases in Nigeria are ventricular septal defect (40.6%), patent ductus arteriosus (18.4%), atrial septal defect (11.3%) and tetralogy of Fallot (11.8%). There has been a 6% increase in the burden of VSD in every decade for the 5 decades studied and a decline in the occurrence of pulmonary stenosis. Studies conducted in Northern Nigeria demonstrated higher proportions of atrial septal defects than patent ductus arteriosus. Conclusions: Ventricular septal defects are the commonest congenital heart diseases in Nigeria with a rising burden.

Essays on Macroeconomic Trends and Cycles

This dissertation describes two studies on macroeconomic trends and cycles. The first chapter studies the impact of Information Technology (IT) on the U.S. labor market. Over the past 30 years, employment and income shares of routine-intensive occupations have declined significantly relative to nonroutine occupations, and the overall U.S. labor income share has declined relative to capital. Furthermore, the decline of routine employment has been largely concentrated during recessions and ensuing recoveries. I build a model of unbalanced growth to assess the role of computerization and IT in driving these labor market trends and cycles. I augment a neoclassical growth model with exogenous IT progress as a form of Routine-Biased Technological Change (RBTC). I show analytically that RBTC causes the overall labor income share to follow a U-shaped time path, as the monotonic decline of routine labor share is increasingly offset by the monotonic rise of nonroutine labor share and the elasticity of substitution between the overall labor and capital declines under IT progress. Quantitatively, the model explains nearly all the divergence between routine and nonroutine labor in the period 1986-2014, as well as the mild decline of the overall labor share between 1986 and the early 2000s. However, the model with IT progress alone cannot explain the accelerated decline of labor income share after the early 2000s, suggesting that other factors, such as globalization, may have played a larger role in this period. Lastly, when nonconvex labor adjustment costs are present, the model generates a stepwise decline in routine labor hours, qualitatively consistent with the data. The timing of these trend adjustments can be significantly affected by aggregate productivity shocks and concentrated in recessions. The second chapter studies the implications of loss aversion on the business cycle dynamics of aggregate consumption and labor hours. Loss aversion refers to the fact that people are distinctively more sensitive to losses than to gains. Loss averse agents are very risk averse around the reference point and exhibit asymmetric responses to positive and negative income shocks. In an otherwise standard Real Business Cycle (RBC) model, I study loss aversion in both consumption alone and consumption-and-leisure together. My results indicate that how loss aversion affects business cycle dynamics depends critically on the nature of the reference point. If, for example, the reference point is status quo, loss aversion dramatically lowers the effective inter-temporal rate of substitution and induces excessive consumption smoothing. In contrast, if the reference point is fixed at a constant level, loss aversion generates a flat region in the decision rules and asymmetric impulse responses to technology shocks. Under a reasonable parametrization, loss aversion has the potential to generate asymmetric business cycles with deeper and more prolonged recessions.

The Preferential Liberalization of Trade in Services: African Perspectives And Challenges

This chapter takes stock of the state of play of preferential trade negotiations in services in Africa. It explores the factors that lie behind the reluctance of African governments to bind service sector policy under international treaties. The chapter chronicles several ongoing initiatives aimed at deepening intra-regional trade and investment among the eight regional economic cooperation areas found on the continent. It also describes external liberalization efforts engaging Africa with the rest of the world in services trade, devoting particular attention to negotiations underway with the European Community (EC) with a view to concluding WTO-compatible Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs). The chapter draws attention to several novel features of the EC-CARIFORUM EPA in the services field and discusses its possible implications for Africa’s ongoing processes of integration in services markets at both the intra- and extra-regional levels. The chapter concludes with a broader discussion of a range of policy challenges confronting African governments in designing development-enhancing strategies of engagement in services trade negotiations.

'Ephemerality’ in game development: opportunitiees and challenges

Ephemeral Computation (Eph-C) is a newly created computation paradigm, the purpose of which is to take advantage of the ephemeral nature (limited lifetime) of computational resources. First we speak of this new paradigm in general terms, then more specifically in terms of videogame development. We present possible applications and benefits for the main research fields associated with videogame development. This is a preliminary work which aims to investigate the possibilities of applying ephemeral computation to the products of the videogame industry. Therefore, as a preliminary work, it attempts to serve as the inspiration for other researchers or videogame developers.

The Catuspatha pattern in Balinese palace: architectural conservation and challenges

Balinese architecture was established prior to European colonization and significantly enhances traditional Balinese values that are woven into the predominant Hindu religion. Palaces are integral to the architectural heritage of Bali and were dated back to the Majapahit Empire. Balinese palaceswere constructed for non-ritualistic activities in this historical cultural landscape. Palaces were often located on road corners called catuspatha1andthey possess sacred values embodied in the concept of pempatanagung.Although Bali Province is today governed as one governance unit, these palaces still reflect their own multiple regal associations which arestill respected by Balinese society. The representations and architecture of these palaces andthe communicative symbols of a heyday era of Bali are raising questions as to how they can be accommodated within the over-arching tourism development and globalization of culture that Bali is experiencing. Therefore, this paper reviews pre-colonial Balinese palaces, their architecture, the catuspatha concept, and considers the traditional values of these ancient monuments as to conservation of palaces and their associated cultural heritage. An extensive literature review, surveys and observational inventories were undertaken at several palaces to obtain results that raise new questions about how these complexes can withstand globalization challenges whilst respecting traditional Balinese culture and society.