My pigs are ok,why change? – animal welfare accounts of pig farmers

Intensive pig production systems are a source of stress, which is linked to reduced animal welfare and increased antimicrobial use. As the gatekeepers of the welfare of the animals under their care, farmers are seen as the stakeholder responsible for improving animal welfare. The aim of this study was to explore the knowledge and attitudes of pig farmers towards pig welfare and the impact of such attitudes on farmers' selection of management strategies on the farm. We conducted in-depth semi-structured interviews with 44 pig farmers in one of the main pig producing regions of Brazil. Interviews covered knowledge and attitudes towards pig sentience and behaviour and welfare-related issues commonly observed in intensive pig farms (belly-nosing, fights, tail-biting, diarrhoea and castration without pain control) and farmers' conception and attitudes towards pig welfare. We identified many management and animal-based indicators of poor welfare, such as the use of painful and stressful management practices and use of environments that limit the expression of natural behaviours. However, most farmers were satisfied with animal welfare standards at their farms. Farmers' perceptions are aligned with their understanding of animal welfare. Although they identified all the dimensions that impact the welfare of a pig on a farm (affect, biological functioning and naturalness), their social reality, industry demands and available advice pushed them to perceive their range of action limited to biological and environmental aspects of the animals that do not necessarily benefit affective state. This precluded farmers from making associations between good health and the animal's ability to express a full behavioural repertoire, as well as from viewing abnormal behaviours as problems. The negative consequences for the welfare of the animals were commonly alleviated by routines that relied on constant use of medication, including high dependence on antibiotics. Expressions of estrangement from the production chain were common voices among the participants. This suggests that farmers may not be sufficiently informed or engaged in responding to consumers' expectations and commitments made by companies, which can pose a severe economic risk for farmers. The findings of this study indicate that economic, technical and social factors restrict farmers' autonomy and their ability to perform their role as stewards of animal welfare. (Re)connecting different human, animal and environmental interests may be a step to changing this scenario.     

Is My Network Module Preserved and Reproducible?

In many applications, one is interested in determining which of the properties of a network module change across conditions. For example, to validate the existence of a module, it is desirable to show that it is reproducible (or preserved) in an independent test network. Here we study several types of network preservation statistics that do not require a module assignment in the test network. We distinguish network preservation statistics by the type of the underlying network. Some preservation statistics are defined for a general network (defined by an adjacency matrix) while others are only defined for a correlation network (constructed on the basis of pairwise correlations between numeric variables). Our applications show that the correlation structure facilitates the definition of particularly powerful module preservation statistics. We illustrate that evaluating module preservation is in general different from evaluating cluster preservation. We find that it is advantageous to aggregate multiple preservation statistics into summary preservation statistics. We illustrate the use of these methods in six gene co-expression network applications including 1) preservation of cholesterol biosynthesis pathway in mouse tissues, 2) comparison of human and chimpanzee brain networks, 3) preservation of selected KEGG pathways between human and chimpanzee brain networks, 4) sex differences in human cortical networks, 5) sex differences in mouse liver networks. While we find no evidence for sex specific modules in human cortical networks, we find that several human cortical modules are less preserved in chimpanzees. In particular, apoptosis genes are differentially co-expressed between humans and chimpanzees. Our simulation studies and applications show that module preservation statistics are useful for studying differences between the modular structure of networks. Data, R software and accompanying tutorials can be downloaded from the following webpage: http://www.genetics.ucla.edu/labs/horvath/CoexpressionNetwork/ModulePreservation.     

Mirror mirror on the ward,who’s the most narcissistic of them all? Pathologic personality traits in health care

Background:

Stereotypes in medicine have become exaggerated for the purpose of workplace amusement. Our objective was to assess the levels of “dark triad” personality traits expressed by individuals working in different health care specialties in comparison with the general population.

Methods:

We conducted a prospective, cross-sectional study within multiple departments of a UK secondary care teaching hospital. A total of 248 health care professionals participated, and 159 members of the general population were recruited as a comparison group. We measured 3 personality traits — narcissism, Machiavellianism and psychopathy — through the validated self-reported personality questionnaires Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI), MACH-IV and the Levenson Self-Report Psychopathy Scale (LSRP), respectively.

Results:

Health care professionals scored significantly lower on narcissism, Machiavellianism and psychopathy (mean scores 12.0, 53.0 and 44.7, respectively) than the general population (p < 0.001). Nursing professionals exhibited a significantly higher level of secondary psychopathy than medical professionals (p = 0.04, mean LSRP score 20.3). Within the cohort of medical professionals, surgeons expressed significantly higher levels of narcissism (p = 0.03, mean NPI score 15.0).

Interpretation:

Health care professionals expressed low levels of dark triad personality traits. The suggestion that health care professionals are avaricious and untrustworthy may be refuted, even for surgeons.I was quietly admiring my astonishing good looks in the mirror of the operating theatre changing room when one of my anesthesiologist colleagues brazenly interrupted me: “Typical surgeon — you love yourselves so much we’ll need to have the mirrors removed in here if we are to get any work done!” I was somewhat bemused by the 2 obvious inaccuracies in this comment: first, that all surgeons love themselves and, second, that theatre workflow is ever dependent on the work ethos of the surgical team! I immediately went on the counteroffensive by replying, “Don’t worry, sudoku writers are on strike this week so we should be finished before lunch!”These lighthearted, tongue-in-cheek exchanges between medical professionals occur around the world every day and are based on popular stereotypes that have become exaggerated for the purpose of workplace amusement. One might imagine neanderthalic orthopedic surgeons instinctively reaching for a bigger hammer as the singular solution to any problem, grumpy radiologists growling at anyone who dares disturb their dark sanctuary and dour internists glacially grinding their way through a ward round, which necessitates a packed lunch, comfortable walking shoes and a hospital map.Many stereotypes have filtered into the public domain, where emphasis on negative traits can be misleading for the general public. The callous notion that doctors are self-centred, avaricious and untrustworthy is currently being bandied around the media.^1,2 There is a real danger of these negative stereotypes eroding the high level of regard in which the profession is held. Perhaps the most undesirable personality characteristics are those that form the “dark triad”: a trio of Machiavellianism, narcissism and psychopathy.³Those expressing Machiavellian traits are deceptive, self-interested and succeed through the exploitation of others.^4–6 Narcissism is defined as a “normal” personality trait at low levels and is characterized by the expression of pride, egotism and vanity.^7,8 Psychopathy manifests as antisocial behaviour expressing callousness, remorselessness and selfishness, with little empathy and a high level of impulsivity.^9,10 It has been proposed that 2 variants of psychopathy exist: primary and secondary. Primary psychopathy is believed to be a genetic predisposition to certain behavioural patterns, which include cool, calm, meticulous forward planning and emotional dissociation. Secondary psychopathy, however, is an adaptation to environmental factors and involves impulsivity and emotional instability, which can place others at risk.¹¹It is hypothesized that some of these dark personality traits are present within the health care profession and, more specifically, within certain disciplines. It is not implausible for one to conceive that the self-assured surgeon could display evidence of vanity or that the irrational nurse might exhibit psychopathic tendencies. However, scientific evidence is lacking to support or quantify the existence of such personality traits in the health care profession.The aim of this study was to assess levels of dark triad personality traits among individuals working in health care in comparison with the general population.     

My View on the“Quan Fang Bei Zu”

“Quan Fang Bei Zu” is a compiled work mainly for folklores, poems and other literary works concerning some common plants with some botanical information in it. It is certainly not a pure botanical work, covering no more than 240 species of plants, and thus has little use as a reference book in indexing names even in a primitive sense. Therefore “Quan Fang Bei Zu” could not be considered as a botanical dictionary. Xu Wen-xuan and his co-workers’ argument that “Quan Fang Bei Zu” was the most perfect ancient botanical codes and records till then is not convincing. Actually “Tu Jing Ben Cao” is of higher value than the book under discussion from botanical point of view.     

See How I Eat My Greens—Autophagy in Plant Cells

Eukaryotic cells have two conserved pathways for degrading polypeptides. One is the highly selective ubiquitin–proteasome system, and the other is autophagy, a bulk degradation pathway to a lytic compartment. Autophagy in plant cells has important roles in development and responses to abiotic and biotic stresses. Furthermore, plant autophagy has been implicated in vacuole biogenesis and Golgi-independent targeting of cytoplasmic materials to vacuoles. Here I present four questions that are frequently asked by plant scientists interested in autophagy. The first question relating to tools for plant autophagy research is relatively easy to answer, while the others are open questions about regulation of autophagy, autophagic cargoes, and potential differences of plant autophagic routes from corresponding metazoan pathways. This review will discuss recent progress that may provide the answers for the latter questions.     

Impact of Weight Loss and Regain on Quality of Life: Mirror Image or Differential Effect?

Objective: To compare the impact of weight regain and weight loss on health‐related quality of life. Research Methods and Procedures: Subjects were 122 (106 women, 16 men) overweight and obese participants in a weight reduction program (phentermine‐fenfluramine and dietary counseling) who had initially lost at least 5% of their total body weight and then regained at least 5% of their weight during the follow‐up period. Follow‐up periods ranged from 10 to 41 months (mean, 28 months). Participants completed the Impact of Weight on Quality of Life‐Lite, an obesity‐specific health‐related quality of life (HRQOL) measure, at 3‐month intervals. Results: Mean BMI at baseline was 40.9 ± 6.6 kg/m² (range, 29.2 to 63.7 kg/m²). Average weight loss from entry was 18.8 ± 6.7% (range, 6.0% to 43.7%), and average regain was 10.1 ±4.4% of baseline weight (range, 5.0% to 30.6%). The effects of weight regain on HRQOL mirrored the effects of weight loss—rates of HRQOL change were similar in magnitude but different in direction for comparable weight loss and regain. Those with more severe initial impairments in HRQOL experienced greater improvements in HRQOL during weight loss as well as greater deterioration during weight regain than those with less severe impairments. Discussion: Weight loss and regain produced mirror image changes in HRQOL. The initial severity of HRQOL impairment had a greater impact on the magnitude of HRQOL change than the direction of weight change. Findings underscore the importance of maintaining weight loss for the purposes of retaining obesity‐specific HRQOL benefits.     

Smoking or My Job? US Media Coverage of Nonsmoker-Only Hiring Policies

Objectives

Media advocacy plays a critical role in tobacco control, shaping the content of news in ways that generate public support for tobacco control. We examined US media coverage of nonsmoker-only hiring policies, which have little US public support, exploring the extent to which tobacco control advocates and experts have engaged the media on this controversial issue.

Methods

We searched online media databases (Lexis Nexis, Access World News, and Proquest) for articles published from 1995–2013, coding retrieved items through a collaborative, iterative process. We analyzed the volume, type, provenance, prominence, content and slant of coverage.

Results

We found 1,159 media items on nonsmoker-only hiring policies, most published in local newspapers in regions where such policies were enacted. The most common reason given for implementing such policies was to reduce healthcare costs. Most news items offered reasons both to support and oppose such policies; thus, the slant of the majority of news items was neutral or mixed. Tobacco control advocates or experts were infrequently cited or quoted in news items, and rarely authored opinion pieces. Those who expressed opinions were more likely to support than oppose nonsmoker-only hiring policies, for economic and health reasons. Ethical concerns about the policies were seldom raised.

Conclusions

As presented in the media, nonsmoker-only hiring policies were primarily framed in terms of business cost savings and had little connection to health initiatives. Tobacco control advocates were rarely quoted and their positions were not consistent. Given their intrusiveness and the lack of strong evidence that such business policies actually do improve worker health, tobacco control advocates may feel that the status quo is preferable to engaging on a policy that the majority of Americans dislike.     

Playing Charades in the fMRI: Are Mirror and/or Mentalizing Areas Involved in Gestural Communication?

Communication is an important aspect of human life, allowing us to powerfully coordinate our behaviour with that of others. Boiled down to its mere essentials, communication entails transferring a mental content from one brain to another. Spoken language obviously plays an important role in communication between human individuals. Manual gestures however often aid the semantic interpretation of the spoken message, and gestures may have played a central role in the earlier evolution of communication. Here we used the social game of charades to investigate the neural basis of gestural communication by having participants produce and interpret meaningful gestures while their brain activity was measured using functional magnetic resonance imaging. While participants decoded observed gestures, the putative mirror neuron system (pMNS: premotor, parietal and posterior mid-temporal cortex), associated with motor simulation, and the temporo-parietal junction (TPJ), associated with mentalizing and agency attribution, were significantly recruited. Of these areas only the pMNS was recruited during the production of gestures. This suggests that gestural communication relies on a combination of simulation and, during decoding, mentalizing/agency attribution brain areas. Comparing the decoding of gestures with a condition in which participants viewed the same gestures with an instruction not to interpret the gestures showed that although parts of the pMNS responded more strongly during active decoding, most of the pMNS and the TPJ did not show such significant task effects. This suggests that the mere observation of gestures recruits most of the system involved in voluntary interpretation.     

A Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study of Pathophysiological Changes Responsible for Mirror Movements in Parkinson’s Disease

Mirror movements correspond to involuntary movements observed in the limb contralateral to the one performing voluntary movement. They can be observed in Parkinson’s disease (PD) but their pathophysiology remains unclear. The present study aims at identifying their neural correlates in PD using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Ten control subjects and 14-off drug patients with asymmetrical right-sided PD were included (8 with left-sided mirror movements during right-hand movements, and 6 without mirror movements). Between-group comparisons of BOLD signal were performed during right-hand movements and at rest (p<0.005 uncorrected). The comparison between PD patients with and without mirror movements showed that mirror movements were associated with an overactivation of the insula, precuneus/posterior cingulate cortex bilaterally and of the left inferior frontal cortex and with a deactivation of the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, medial prefrontal cortex, and pre-supplementary motor area and occipital cortex. These data suggest that mirror movements in Parkinson’s disease are promoted by: 1- a deactivation of the non-mirroring inhibitory network (dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, pre-supplementary motor area); 2- an overactivation of prokinetic areas (notably the insula). The concomitant overactivation of a proactive inhibitory network (including the posterior cingulate cortex and precuneus) could reflect a compensatory inhibition of mirror movements.