Developing Food Consumer Attitudes towards Ionizing Radiation and Genetic Modification.

Background/objectives: This study investigates consumer perceptions and acceptance of ionizing radiation (IoR) as a perishable food stabilisation technology. Consumers' preferences influence the success of emerging food technologies. Therefore, a comprehensive understanding of consumers' behavioural responses and their development over time is essential.

Impact of a combination of pimobendan, furosemide, and enalapril on heart rate variability in naturally occurring, symptomatic, myxomatous mitral valve degeneration dogs.

Background: Pimobendan, diuretics, and an angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor (ACEi) are widely used for the management of chronic valvular heart disease in dogs; however, the effects of that combination on heart rate variability (HRV) are unknown. The purpose of this study was to assess the HRV of symptomatic myxomatous mitral valve degeneration (MMVD) dogs in response to therapy with a combination of pimobendan, diuretics, and ACEi.

Results: MMVD stage C (n = 17) dogs were enrolled and a 1-hour Holter recording together with echocardiography, blood pressure measurement, and blood chemistry profiles were obtained before and 1, 3, and 6 months after oral treatment with pimobendan (0.

Bioenhancing effects of piperine and curcumin on triterpenoid pharmacokinetics and neurodegenerative metabolomes from Centella asiatica extract in beagle dogs.

Centell-S is a water-soluble extract of Centella asiatica containing more than 80% w/w triterpenoid glycosides. Madecassoside and asiaticoside are two major components of the extract and can be converted into active metabolites, triterpenic acids in large mammal species. In this study, the pharmacokinetic profiles and metabolomic changes generated by the bioactive triterpenoids of Centell-S alone, and in combination with the bioenhancers piperine and curcumin, were investigated in beagle dogs.

The Relative Merits of Observational and Experimental Research: Four Key Principles for Optimising Observational Research Designs.

The main barrier to the publication of observational research is a perceived inferiority to randomised designs with regard to the reliability of their conclusions. This commentary addresses this issue and makes a set of recommendations. It analyses the issue of research reliability in detail and fully describes the three sources of research unreliability (certainty, risk and uncertainty).

Food neophobia, food choice and the details of cultured meat acceptance.

This study focuses on the details of consumer response to lab grown 'cultured meat (CM)', compared to meat derived from insects, plants and animals. A sample of 254 New Zealanders were interviewed. A word association exercise revealed that consumer reaction to CM was dominated by affective, rather than cognitive factors.

Toward a universalistic behavioural model of perceived managerial and leadership effectiveness for the health services sector.

Much management and leadership development provision for healthcare professionals has been the subject of considerable criticism, and there have been numerous calls for training programmes explicitly focused on the specific managerial (manager/leader) behaviours healthcare managers, physician leaders and nurse managers need to exhibit to be perceived effective. The aim of our multiple cross-case/cross-nation comparative study has been to: i) identify similarities and differences between the findings of published qualitative critical incident studies of effective and ineffective managerial behaviour observed within British, Egyptian, Mexican and Romanian public hospitals, respectively, and ii) if possible, deduce from the identified commonalities a healthcare-related behavioural model of perceived managerial and leadership effectiveness. Adopting a philosophical stance informed by pragmatism, epistemological instrumentalism and abduction, we used realist qualitative analytic methods to code and classify into a maximum number of discrete behavioural categories empirical source data obtained from five previous studies.

Dynamic detection and reversal of myocardial ischemia using an artificially intelligent bioelectronic medicine.

Myocardial ischemia is spontaneous, frequently asymptomatic, and contributes to fatal cardiovascular consequences. Importantly, myocardial sensory networks cannot reliably detect and correct myocardial ischemia on their own. Here, we demonstrate an artificially intelligent and responsive bioelectronic medicine, where an artificial neural network (ANN) supplements myocardial sensory networks, enabling reliable detection and correction of myocardial ischemia.

Direct Interstitial Decongestion in an Animal Model of Acute-on-Chronic Ischemic Heart Failure.

Removal of excess fluid in acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF) targets the intravascular space, whereas most fluid resides in the interstitial space. The authors evaluated an approach to interstitial decongestion using a device to enhance lymph flow. The device was deployed in sheep with induced heart failure (HF) and acute volume overload to create a low-pressure zone at the thoracic duct outlet.

Acute Effects of Pimobendan on Cardiac Function in Dogs With Tachycardia Induced Dilated Cardiomyopathy: A Randomized, Placebo-Controlled, Crossover Study.

Pimobendan provides a significant survival benefit in dogs with cardiac disease, including degenerative mitral valve disease and dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). Its positive inotropic effect is well-known, however, it has complex effects and the mechanisms behind the survival benefit are not fully characterized. Secondary hemodynamic effects may decrease mitral regurgitation (MR) in DCM, and the benefits of pimobendan may extend to improved cardiac relaxation and improved atrial function.

Evinacumab in Patients with Refractory Hypercholesterolemia.

Background: Patients with refractory hypercholesterolemia, who have high low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels despite treatment with lipid-lowering therapies at maximum tolerated doses, have an increased risk of atherosclerosis. In such patients, the efficacy and safety of subcutaneous and intravenous evinacumab, a fully human monoclonal antibody against angiopoietin-like 3, are not known.

Methods: In this double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase 2 trial, we enrolled patients with or without heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia who had refractory hypercholesterolemia, with a screening LDL cholesterol level of 70 mg per deciliter or higher with atherosclerosis or of 100 mg per deciliter or higher without atherosclerosis.

An Experimental Comparison of the Impact of 'Warning' and 'Health Star Rating' FoP Labels on Adolescents' Choice of Breakfast Cereals in New Zealand.

This research investigated the performance of the red, octagonal Vienna Convention traffic 'STOP' sign as a front of pack (FoP) warning nutritional label. While the Vienna Convention traffic light system is an established FoP label, the potential of the 'STOP' sign in the role has not been investigated. The performance of the 'STOP' label was compared with that of a single star (low nutritional value) Australasian Health Star Rating (HSR) label using a fractionally replicated Latin square design.

Myocardial Contractility: Historical and Contemporary Considerations.

The term myocardial contractility is thought to have originated more than 125 years ago and has remained and enigma ever since. Although the term is frequently used in textbooks, editorials and contemporary manuscripts its definition remains illusive often being conflated with cardiac performance or inotropy. The absence of a universally accepted definition has led to confusion, disagreement and misconceptions among physiologists, cardiologists and safety pharmacologists regarding its definition particularly in light of new discoveries regarding the load dependent kinetics of cardiac contraction and their translation to cardiac force-velocity and ventricular pressure-volume measurements.

The Impact of the Australasian 'Health Star Rating', Front-of-Pack Nutritional Label, on Consumer Choice: A Longitudinal Study.

Front-of-pack (FoP) nutrition labels are a widely deployed tool in public good marketing. This article reports on a field experimental test of the impact of one of these systems, the Australasian Health Star Rating system (HSR), on consumer choice in the breakfast cereals category in New Zealand. This study forms part of a time-series replication stream of research on this topic.

Comparison of one- and three-lead ECG to measure cardiac intervals and differentiate drug-induced multi-channel block.

Introduction: FDA has established initiatives to characterize clinical and non-clinical biomarkers to enable more precise prediction of proarrhythmia risk based upon knowledge of drug effect on multiple cardiac ion channels (Colatsky et al., 2016). The FDA has recently demonstrated superiority of early ventricular repolarization interval (JTp) in differentiating pure hERG block from multi-channel block in human subjects.

CXL-1020, a Novel Nitroxyl (HNO) Prodrug, Is More Effective than Milrinone in Models of Diastolic Dysfunction-A Cardiovascular Therapeutic: An Efficacy and Safety Study in the Rat.

The nitroxyl (HNO) prodrug, CXL-1020, induces vasorelaxation and improves cardiac function in canine models and patients with systolic heart failure (HF). HNO's unique mechanism of action may be applicable to a broader subset of cardiac patients. This study investigated the load-independent safety and efficacy of CXL-1020 in two rodent (rat) models of diastolic heart failure and explored potential drug interactions with common HF background therapies.

An increasing electromechanical window is a predictive marker of ventricular fibrillation in anesthetized rabbit with ischemic heart.

The QTc interval is widely used in Safety Pharmacological studies to predict arrhythmia risk, and the electromechanical window (EMW) and short-term variability of QT intervals (STV) have been studied as new biomarkers for drug-induced Torsades de Pointes (TdP). However, the use of EMW and STV to predict ventricular fibrillation (VF) has not been elucidated. This study aimed to evaluate EMW and STV to predict VF in anesthetized rabbit model of VF.

Characteristics of electromechanical window in anesthetized rabbit models of short QT and long QT syndromes.

The current regulatory guidelines recommend the use of QT interval to assess the risk of arrhythmogenic potential of new chemical entities. Recently, the electromechanical window (EMW), the difference in duration between electrical and mechanical systole, has been proposed as markers for drug-induced torsades de pointes (TdP); however, data of EMW in short QT model are not available. This study aimed to characterize the EMW as a marker for drug-induced ventricular arrhythmias in anesthetized rabbit model of long QT syndrome type 2 (LQT2) and short QT syndrome (SQTS) infused with reference compounds known to lengthen or shorten QT intervals.

Dronedarone attenuates the duration of atrial fibrillation in a dog model of sustained atrial fibrillation.

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a supraventricular arrhythmia that leads to a decrease in cardiac output and impairs cardiac function and quality of life. Dronedarone has an atrial-selective property and has been used for management of AF in humans, but limited information is available in dogs. This study was designed to evaluate efficacy of dronedarone in attenuating the duration of AF in dog model of sustained AF.

"The Gaze Heuristic:" Biography of an Adaptively Rational Decision Process.

This article is a case study that describes the natural and human history of the gaze heuristic. The gaze heuristic is an interception heuristic that utilizes a single input (deviation from a constant angle of approach) repeatedly as a task is performed. Its architecture, advantages, and limitations are described in detail.

Recalibration of nonclinical safety pharmacology assessment to anticipate evolving regulatory expectations.

Safety pharmacology (SP) has evolved in terms of architecture and content since the inception of the SP Society (SPS). SP was initially focused on the issue of drug-induced QT prolongation, but has now become a broad spectrum discipline with expanding expectations for evaluation of drug adverse effect liability in all organ systems, not merely the narrow consideration of torsades de pointes (TdP) liability testing. An important part of the evolution of SP has been the elaboration of architecture for interrogation of non-clinical models in terms of model development, model validation and model implementation.

Does the Australasian "Health Star Rating" Front of Pack Nutritional Label System Work?

This article describes an experiment to measure the impact of the Australasian "Health Star Rating" front of pack nutritional label system on consumer choice behaviour. This system presents a one-half to five star rating of nutritional quality via the front facings of food product packages. While this system has been recently rolled out across Australasia, no test of its impact on food choice has been conducted.

Functional or constructive attitudes: Which type drives consumers' evaluation of meat products?

Consumer attitudes towards meat can be divided up into two types: Functional attitudes which are stable and exist over long periods of time, and constructive attitudes which are ephemeral and usually constructed at the point of sale. This research investigated the temporal and situational stability of meat consumers' attitudes by using the same established functional, multidimensional attitude instrument to generate attitude profiles for the four meat types: chicken/beef/lamb/poultry both as an abstracted construct and as a cue on a range of meat and meat-based products. The results showed that strong attitude profile was generated by the meat types as abstracted constructs, but that this profile broke down completely when the food products carrying the same meat types were evaluated.

Short-term effects of oral dronedarone administration on cardiac function, blood pressure and electrocardiogram in conscious telemetry dogs.

Dronedarone is a multichannel blocking antiarrhythmic drug that has been used for management of atrial fibrillation in humans, but the data in veterinary medicine are inadequate. The objective of this study was to determine the short-term effects of oral dronedarone on cardiac inotropy and lusitropy, blood pressure and electrocardiogram (ECG) in healthy dogs. A total of 6 beagle dogs were instrumented with telemetry units and sono-micrometry crystals to obtain left ventricular pressure-volume relationship, mean blood pressure (MBP) and ECG.

Acute effects of intravenous dronedarone on electrocardiograms, hemodynamics and cardiac functions in anesthetized dogs.

Dronedarone is a class III antiarrhythmic that has been used for management of atrial fibrillation in humans, but limited information was found in dogs. The objective of this study was to determine the acute effects of escalating concentrations of dronedarone on electrocardiograms (ECG), hemodynamics and cardiac mechanics in healthy dogs. A total of 7 beagle dogs were anesthetized with isoflurane and instrumented to obtain lead II ECG, pressures at ascending aorta, right atrium, pulmonary artery and left ventricle, and left ventricular pressure-volume relationship.