Animal health and welfare as a public good: what do the public think?

This paper presents a novel perspective on an evolving policy area. The UK's withdrawal from the EU has led to the creation of a new Agriculture Act and proposals for significant changes to the way farming subsidies are structured in England. Underpinned by a 'public money for public goods' approach, where public goods are those outputs from the farm system which are not rewarded by markets, yet which provide benefits to many members of society.

Making a mark on the farm: the marks and traces of farm animals and infectious diseases in northern England.

Farmed animals are expected to move through farmed spaces in certain ways to maximise their productivity. These spaces are also designed to limit the movement of disease-causing organisms. However, both types of lifeforms do not always move in expected ways.

Potential anatomical triggers for plan adaptation of cervical cancer external beam radiotherapy.

This study aimed to identify potential anatomical variation triggers using magnetic resonance imaging for plan adaption of cervical cancer patients to ensure dose requirements were met over an external beam radiotherapy course. Magnetic resonance images (MRIs) acquired before and during treatment were rigidly registered to a pre-treatment computerised tomography (CT) image for 11 retrospective cervix cancer datasets. Target volumes (TVs) and organs at risk (OARs) were delineated on both MRIs and propagated onto the CT.

Cardiac Substructure Dose and Survival in Stereotactic Radiotherapy for Lung Cancer: Results of the Multi-Centre SSBROC Trial.

Background And Purpose: Stereotactic ablative body radiotherapy (SABR) is increasingly used for early-stage lung cancer, however the impact of dose to the heart and cardiac substructures remains largely unknown. The study investigated doses received by cardiac substructures in SABR patients and impact on survival.

Materials And Methods: SSBROC is an Australian multi-centre phase II prospective study of SABR for stage I non-small cell lung cancer.

Radiotherapy protocol compliance in routine clinical practice for patients with stages I-III non-small-cell lung cancer.

Introduction: Despite the availability of radiotherapy treatment protocols for lung cancer, considerable treatment variation occurs in clinical practice. This study assessed compliance with a radiotherapy protocol for the treatment of patients with stages I-III non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in routine clinical practice and to identify factors that were associated with compliance.

Methods: The Cancer Institute New South Wales eviQ treatment protocol for external beam radiotherapy of stages I-III NSCLC was taken as the reference to measure compliance.

Empowering a person-centered long-term care workforce.

Currently there is a crisis in the long-term care workforce, as many workers experience poor pay, a lack of training, burnout, low quality working conditions, and physical strain, which is leading to a workforce shortage. To address this, the Alzheimer's Association Dementia Care Provider Roundtable (AADCPR) convened a panel of direct care workers to discuss and provide direction on their view of the current state of the workforce. From this panel, five touchpoints for hiring and retaining direct care workers were highlighted: high quality jobs; recruitment and reputation management; onboarding; retention; and training and career advancement.

Uncertainty estimation using a 3D probabilistic U-Net for segmentation with small radiotherapy clinical trial datasets.

Background And Objectives: Bio-medical image segmentation models typically attempt to predict one segmentation that resembles a ground-truth structure as closely as possible. However, as medical images are not perfect representations of anatomy, obtaining this ground truth is not possible. A surrogate commonly used is to have multiple expert observers define the same structure for a dataset.

Interspecies encounters with endemic health conditions: co-producing BVD and lameness with cows and sheep in the north of England.

This paper focuses on the relationships between people and farmed nonhuman animals, and between these animals and the farmed environments they encounter, in the enactment of interspecies endemic disease situations. It examines how the nonhuman embodied capacities, agency and subjectivities of cows and sheep on farms in the north of England make a difference to how the endemic conditions of lameness and bovine viral diarrhoea (BVD) are encountered and responded to by farmers and advisers. The paper draws on empirical research with farmers and their advisers, and explores three key, inter-related, themes: first, the importance of intersubjective relationships between people and animals on farms; second, the nonhuman components of the 'disease situations' associated with endemic diseases, including animals' embodied characteristics and behaviours and the relationships between bodies and environments on different farms; and finally the ways in which animal agency and resistance makes a difference to on-farm interventions aiming to prevent or treat lameness and BVD.

Automatic segmentation of tumour and organs at risk in 3D MRI for cervical cancer radiation therapy with anatomical variations.

Cervical cancer is a common cancer in women globally, with treatment usually involving radiation therapy (RT). Accurate segmentation for the tumour site and organ-at-risks (OARs) could assist in the reduction of treatment side effects and improve treatment planning efficiency. Cervical cancer Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) segmentation is challenging due to a limited amount of training data available and large inter- and intra- patient shape variation for OARs.

Dosimetric Impact of Delineation and Motion Uncertainties on the Heart and Substructures in Lung Cancer Radiotherapy.

Aims: Delineation variations and organ motion produce difficult-to-quantify uncertainties in planned radiation doses to targets and organs at risk. Similar to manual contouring, most automatic segmentation tools generate single delineations per structure; however, this does not indicate the range of clinically acceptable delineations. This study develops a method to generate a range of automatic cardiac structure segmentations, incorporating motion and delineation uncertainty, and evaluates the dosimetric impact in lung cancer.

Federated Learning Survival Model and Potential Radiotherapy Decision Support Impact Assessment for Non-small Cell Lung Cancer Using Real-World Data.

Aims: The objective of this study was to develop a two-year overall survival model for inoperable stage I-III non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients using routine radiation oncology data over a federated (distributed) learning network and evaluate the potential of decision support for curative versus palliative radiotherapy.

Methods: A federated infrastructure of data extraction, de-identification, standardisation, image analysis, and modelling was installed for seven clinics to obtain clinical and imaging features and survival information for patients treated in 2011-2019. A logistic regression model was trained for the 2011-2016 curative patient cohort and validated for the 2017-2019 cohort.

Evaluating the relationship between contouring variability and modelled treatment outcome for prostate bed radiotherapy.

Contouring similarity metrics are often used in studies of inter-observer variation and automatic segmentation but do not provide an assessment of clinical impact. This study focused on post-prostatectomy radiotherapy and aimed to (1) identify if there is a relationship between variations in commonly used contouring similarity metrics and resulting dosimetry and (2) identify the variation in clinical target volume (CTV) contouring that significantly impacts dosimetry.The study retrospectively analysed CT scans of 10 patients from the TROG 08.

Using Flipped Classroom Modules to Facilitate Higher Order Learning in Undergraduate Organic Chemistry.

In an ongoing effort to incorporate active learning and promote higher order learning outcomes in undergraduate organic chemistry, a hybrid ("flipped") classroom structure has been used to facilitate a series of collaborative activities in the first two courses of the lower division organic chemistry sequence. An observational study of seven classes over a five-year period reveals there is a strong correlation between performance on the in-class activities and performance on the final exam across all classes; however, a significant number of students in these courses continue to struggle on both the in-class activities and final exam. The Activity Engagement Survey (AcES) was administered in the most recent course offering included in this study, and these preliminary data suggest that students who achieved lower scores on the in-class activities had lower levels of emotional and behavioral/cognitive engagement and were less likely to work in collaborative groups.

Exploring farmer and advisor lameness management behaviors using the COM-B model of behavior change.

Introduction: This paper applies the COM-B framework to farmer and farm advisor understandings and responses to lameness in sheep, beef, and dairy systems. It reflects on how farmers' and advisors' capability, opportunity, and motivation (COM-B) influence lameness management practices in these farming systems, and considers the interaction between these three factors, and stakeholders' behavior.

Methods: Interviews with 29 farmers and 21 farm advisors in the north of England were conducted.

Changes in serial multiparametric MRI and FDG-PET/CT functional imaging during radiation therapy can predict treatment response in patients with head and neck cancer.

Objectives: To test if tumour changes measured using combination of diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) MRI and FDG-PET/CT performed serially during radiotherapy (RT) in mucosal head and neck carcinoma can predict treatment response.

Methods: Fifty-five patients from two prospective imaging biomarker studies were analysed. FDG-PET/CT was performed at baseline, during RT (week 3), and post RT (3 months).

Clinical validation of MR imaging time reduction for substitute/synthetic CT generation for prostate MRI-only treatment planning.

Radiotherapy treatment planning based only on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has become clinically achievable. Though computed tomography (CT) is the gold standard for radiotherapy imaging, directly providing the electron density values needed for planning calculations, MRI has superior soft tissue visualisation to guide treatment planning decisions and optimisation. MRI-only planning removes the need for the CT scan, but requires generation of a substitute/synthetic/pseudo CT (sCT) for electron density information.

Prognostic and predictive values of baseline and mid-treatment FDG-PET in oropharyngeal carcinoma treated with primary definitive (chemo)radiation and impact of HPV status: Review of current literature and emerging roles.

Background And Purpose: This study provides a review of the literature assessing whether semiquantitative PET parameters acquired at baseline and/or during definitive (chemo)radiotherapy ("prePET" and "iPET") can predict survival outcomes in patients with oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPC), and the impact of human papilloma virus (HPV) status.

Material And Methods: A literature search was carried out using PubMed and Embase between 2001 to 2021 in accordance with PRISMA.

Results: The analysis included 22 FDG-PET/CT studies [1-22], 19 pre-PET and 3 both pre-PET and iPET, The analysis involved 2646 patients, of which 1483 are HPV-positive (17 studies: 10 mixed and 7 HPV-positive only), 589 are HPV-negative, and 574 have unknown HPV status.

Automated detection, delineation and quantification of whole-body bone metastasis using FDG-PET/CT images.

Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients with the metastatic spread of disease to the bone have high morbidity and mortality. Stereotactic ablative body radiotherapy increases the progression free survival and overall survival of these patients with oligometastases. FDG-PET/CT, a functional imaging technique combining positron emission tomography (PET) with 18 F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) and computer tomography (CT) provides improved staging and identification of treatment response.

Validation of a Fully Automated Hybrid Deep Learning Cardiac Substructure Segmentation Tool for Contouring and Dose Evaluation in Lung Cancer Radiotherapy.

Background And Purpose: Accurate and consistent delineation of cardiac substructures is challenging. The aim of this work was to validate a novel segmentation tool for automatic delineation of cardiac structures and subsequent dose evaluation, with potential application in clinical settings and large-scale radiation-related cardiotoxicity studies.

Materials And Methods: A recently developed hybrid method for automatic segmentation of 18 cardiac structures, combining deep learning, multi-atlas mapping and geometric segmentation of small challenging substructures, was independently validated on 30 lung cancer cases.

Outcome prediction models incorporating clinical variables for Head and Neck Squamous cell Carcinoma: A systematic review of methodological conduct and risk of bias.

Multiple outcome prediction models have been developed for Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma (HNSCC). This systematic review aimed to identify HNSCC outcome prediction model studies, assess their methodological quality and identify those with potential utility for clinical practice. Inclusion criteria were mucosal HNSCC prognostic prediction model studies (development or validation) incorporating clinically available variables accessible at time of treatment decision making and predicting tumour-related outcomes.

Compound heterozygous variants within two conserved sialyltransferase motifs of cause GM3 synthase deficiency.

GM3 synthase deficiency (GM3SD) is caused by biallelic variants in . The ganglioside GM3, enriched in neuronal tissues, is a component of lipid rafts and regulates numerous signaling pathways. Affected individuals with GM3SD exhibit global developmental delay, progressive microcephaly, and dyskinetic movements.

ACPSEM position paper: dosimetry for magnetic resonance imaging linear accelerators.

Consistency and clear guidelines on dosimetry are essential for accurate and precise dosimetry, to ensure the best patient outcomes and to allow direct dose comparison across different centres. Magnetic Resonance Imaging Linac (MRI-linac) systems have recently been introduced to Australasian clinics. This report provides recommendations on reference dosimetry measurements for MRI-linacs on behalf of the Australiasian College of Physical Scientists and Engineers in Medicine (ACPSEM) MRI-linac working group.

Magnetic resonance biomarker assessment software (MR-BIAS): an automated open-source tool for the ISMRM/NIST system phantom.

To provide an open-source software for repeatable and efficient quantification ofandrelaxation times with the ISMRM/NIST system phantom. Quantitative magnetic resonance imaging (qMRI) biomarkers have the potential to improve disease detection, staging and monitoring of treatment response. Reference objects, such as the system phantom, play a major role in translating qMRI methods into the clinic.

Open-source, fully-automated hybrid cardiac substructure segmentation: development and optimisation.

Radiotherapy for thoracic and breast tumours is associated with a range of cardiotoxicities. Emerging evidence suggests cardiac substructure doses may be more predictive of specific outcomes, however, quantitative data necessary to develop clinical planning constraints is lacking. Retrospective analysis of patient data is required, which relies on accurate segmentation of cardiac substructures.