Counter culture: causes, extent and solutions of systematic bias in the analysis of behavioural counts.

We often quantify the rate at which a behaviour occurs by counting the number of times it occurs within a specific, short observation period. Measuring behaviour in such a way is typically unavoidable but induces error. This error acts to systematically reduce effect sizes, including metrics of particular interest to behavioural and evolutionary ecologists such as , repeatability (intra-class correlation, ICC) and heritability.

A Comparison of Different Textured and Non-Textured Anti-Reflective Coatings for Planar Monolithic Silicon-Perovskite Tandem Solar Cells.

Multijunction solar cells offer a route to exceed the Shockley-Queisser limit for single-junction devices. In a few short years, silicon-perovskite tandems have significantly passed the efficiency of the best silicon single-junction cells. For scalable solution processing of silicon-perovskite tandem devices, with the avoidance of vacuum processing steps, a flat silicon sub-cell is normally required.

Making spatial-temporal marine ecosystem modelling better - A perspective.

Marine Ecosystem Models (MEMs) provide a deeper understanding of marine ecosystem dynamics. The United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development has highlighted the need to deploy these complex mechanistic spatial-temporal models to engage policy makers and society into dialogues towards sustainably managed oceans. From our shared perspective, MEMs remain underutilized because they still lack formal validation, calibration, and uncertainty quantifications that undermines their credibility and uptake in policy arenas.

The behavioural response of European seabass (Dicentrarchus labrax) to chlorinated seawater effluents.

Seawater chlorination is widely used for coastal, marine industries for the prevention of fouling. Using a choice chamber system, we investigated the influence of chlorinated seawater at typical concentrations occurring near chlorinated cooling water discharges, on the behaviour of juvenile seabass (Dicentrachus labrax). These studies showed that there was evidence of an effect of chlorination, with models predicting 22% fewer fish present in the chlorine dosed chamber compared to the undosed chamber in all control runs (mean number of fish in the dosed chamber in all control runs was 2.

Distribution of ETBE-degrading microorganisms and functional capability in groundwater, and implications for characterising aquifer ETBE biodegradation potential.

Microbes in aquifers are present suspended in groundwater or attached to the aquifer sediment. Groundwater is often sampled at gasoline ether oxygenate (GEO)-impacted sites to assess the potential biodegradation of organic constituents. However, the distribution of GEO-degrading microorganisms between the groundwater and aquifer sediment must be understood to interpret this potential.

The Skinner Burial of Ontario, Canada, and the Question of Paget's Disease in the Americas.

Purpose: To examine a possible case of Paget's disease of bone (PDB) in an Indigenous pre-contact male from Canada, individual D of the Skinner site in Ontario.

Methods: Radiographs, CT scan and histological analysis.

Results: The histological analysis revealed the mosaic pattern that characterizes PDB.

LeMaRns: A Length-based Multi-species analysis by numerical simulation in R.

Fish stocks interact through predation and competition for resources, yet stocks are typically managed independently on a stock-by-stock basis. The need to take account of multi-species interactions is widely acknowledged. However, examples of the application of multi-species models to support management decisions are limited as they are often seen as too complex and lacking transparency.

Referral of patients to diabetes prevention programmes from community campaigns and general practices: mixed-method evaluation using the RE-AIM framework and Normalisation Process Theory.

Background: Each year around 5-10% of people with non-diabetic hyperglycaemia will develop type 2 diabetes mellitus. Diabetes prevention is a national and global public health concern. Diabetes Prevention Programmes, which seek to identify at-risk individuals and support entry to health improvement initiatives, recognise that enhanced identification and referral of at-risk individuals is required within primary care and beyond, through community-focused prevention approaches.

A qualitative study of professional stakeholders' perceptions about the implementation of a stepped care pain platform for people experiencing chronic widespread pain.

Background: Chronic widespread pain (CWP) is a major public health problem. Many people experiencing CWP experience mental health problems such as anxiety or depression. Complete relief of skeletal and body pain symptoms is unlikely but with appropriate treatment the impact upon quality of life, functioning and mental health symptoms can be reduced.

Getting messier with TIDieR: embracing context and complexity in intervention reporting.

Background: The Template for Intervention Description and Replication (TIDieR) checklist and guide was developed by an international team of experts to promote full and accurate description of trial interventions. It is now widely used in health research. The aim of this paper is to describe the experience of using TIDieR outside of trials, in a range of applied health research contexts, and make recommendations on its usefulness in such settings.

Assessing the suitability of a manometric test system for determining the biodegradability of volatile hydrocarbons.

Manometric test systems, adapted from those used to measure biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), and the OxiTop test system in particular, are being increasingly used to determine the biodegradability of chemicals in accordance to OECD 301F guidelines. In this study, the suitability of the OxiTop test system for determining the biodegradability of volatile hydrophobic substances has been explored. Experiments in biotic and abiotic systems were conducted with readily biodegradable complex aliphatic hydrocarbons covering a range of volatilities.

Making the most of survey data: Incorporating age uncertainty when fitting growth parameters.

Individual growth is an important parameter and is linked to a number of other biological processes. It is commonly modeled using the von Bertalanffy growth function (VBGF), which is regularly fitted to age data where the ages of the animals are not known exactly but are binned into yearly age groups, such as fish survey data. Current methods of fitting the VBGF to these data treat all the binned ages as the actual ages.

Involving healthcare professionals and family carers in setting research priorities for end-of-life care.

It is important to ensure regional variances are considered when setting future end-of-life research priorities, given the differing demographics and service provision. This project sought to identify end-of-life research priorities within Greater Manchester (United Kingdom). Following an initial scoping exercise, six topics within the 10 national priorities outlined by The Palliative and end-of-life care Priority Setting Partnership were selected for exploration.

The role of boundary spanners in delivering collaborative care: a process evaluation.

Background: On average, people with schizophrenia and psychosis die 13-30 years sooner than the general population (World Psychiatry 10 (1):52-77, 2011). Mental and physical health care is often provided by different organisations, different practitioners and in different settings which makes collaborative care difficult. Research is needed to understand and map the impact of new collaborative ways of working at the primary/secondary care interface (PloS One 7 (5); e36468).

Transcriptomes of Plant Gametophytes Have a Higher Proportion of Rapidly Evolving and Young Genes than Sporophytes.

Reproductive traits in plants tend to evolve rapidly due to various causes that include plant-pollinator coevolution and pollen competition, but the genomic basis of reproductive trait evolution is still largely unknown. To characterize evolutionary patterns of genome wide gene expression in reproductive tissues in the gametophyte and to compare them to developmental stages of the sporophyte, we analyzed evolutionary conservation and genetic diversity of protein-coding genes using microarray-based transcriptome data from three plant species, Arabidopsis thaliana, rice (Oryza sativa), and soybean (Glycine max). In all three species a significant shift in gene expression occurs during gametogenesis in which genes of younger evolutionary age and higher genetic diversity contribute significantly more to the transcriptome than in other stages.

Facilitating large-scale implementation of evidence based health care: insider accounts from a co-operative inquiry.

Background: Facilitators are known to be influential in the implementation of evidence-based health care (EBHC). However, little evidence exists on what it is that they do to support the implementation process. This research reports on how knowledge transfer associates (KTAs) working as part of the UK National Institute for Health Research 'Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care' for Greater Manchester (GM CLAHRC) facilitated the implementation of EBHC across several commissioning and provider health care agencies.

Contact precautions for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus colonization: costly and unnecessary?

Background: Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is frequently encountered in health care facilities. Many hospitals have established screening programs to identify individuals harboring the organism. Patients identified as carrying MRSA are frequently placed in Contact Precautions at time of admission.

The interrelationship of isolation precautions and adverse events in an acute care facility.

It has been well documented that patients placed in isolation precautions are at an increased risk of experiencing adverse events. Medically relevant incident reports are one way to determine whether an adverse event has occurred. We compared these reports in isolated and nonisolated patients.

A field trial evaluating the Quantiferon Gold tuberculosis tube test in an endemic population.

The Quantiferon Gold tuberculosis tube test is a sensitive and specific way to diagnosis latent and active tuberculosis. The test is easy to administer and potentially can be used under field conditions and in a remote analytical laboratory. We screened an endemic population under field conditions and transferred our specimens via express mail to a distant site for analysis.

Polymerase chain reaction screening for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and contact isolation.

Background: Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections are thought to now be endemic in some populations. The early identification of individuals admitted to the hospital who are harboring this organism is important for the timely implementation of appropriate control strategies. Our objective was to measure the prevalence of MRSA carriage in high-risk patients entering our hospital and to determine which of these patients screened for MRSA should be placed in contact precautions on admission.

Biodegradation potential of MTBE in a fractured chalk aquifer under aerobic conditions in long-term uncontaminated and contaminated aquifer microcosms.

The potential for aerobic biodegradation of MTBE in a fractured chalk aquifer is assessed in microcosm experiments over 450 days, under in situ conditions for a groundwater temperature of 10 degrees C, MTBE concentration between 0.1 and 1.0 mg/L and dissolved O2 concentration between 2 and 10 mg/L.

Nested case-control study of autoimmune disease in an asbestos-exposed population.

Objective: To explore the potential association between asbestos exposure and risk of autoimmune disease, we conducted a case-control study among a cohort of 7,307 current and former residents of Libby, Montana, a community with historical occupational and environmental exposure to asbestos-contaminated vermiculite.

Methods: Cases were defined as those who reported having one of three systemic autoimmune diseases (SAIDs): systemic lupus erythematosus, scleroderma, or rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Controls were randomly selected at a 3:1 ratio from among the remaining 6,813 screening participants using frequency-matched age and sex groupings.

Hydrochemical and isotopic effects associated with petroleum fuel biodegradation pathways in a chalk aquifer.

Hydrochemical data, compound specific carbon isotope analysis and isotopic enrichment trends in dissolved hydrocarbons and residual electron acceptors have been used to deduce BTEX and MTBE degradation pathways in a fractured chalk aquifer. BTEX compounds are mineralised sequentially within specific redox environments, with changes in electron acceptor utilisation being defined by the exhaustion of specific BTEX components. A zone of oxygen and nitrate exhaustion extends approximately 100 m downstream from the plume source, with residual sulphate, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene.

Determination of interstitial water chemistry and porosity in consolidated aquifer materials by diffusion equilibrium-exchange.

Diffusion equilibrium exchange (DEE) is presented as a novel, practical alternative to centrifugation for the recovery and chemical analysis of interstitial water in contaminated core samples from consolidated rocks and aquifers. The methodology is suitable for sampling organic and inorganic compounds, including redox sensitive species such as SO4(2-), NO3-, NO2-, Mn(II), Fe(II), and sulfide (HS-). DEE also permits analyte extraction from kilogram quantities of core, which avoids extended centrifugation or sample amalgamation and provides analyte masses appropriate for stable isotope analysis.

Increasing employee awareness of the signs and symptoms of heart attack and the need to use 911 in a State Health Department.

Introduction: Early recognition of the signs and symptoms of a heart attack can lead to reduced morbidity and mortality.

Methods: A workplace intervention was conducted among 523 Montana state health department employees in 2003 to increase awareness of the signs and symptoms of heart attack and the need to use 911. All employees received an Act in Time to Heart Attack Signs brochure and wallet card with their paychecks.