Publications by authors named "S Gillings"

The transmission of pathogens across the interface between wildlife and livestock presents a challenge to the development of effective surveillance and control measures. Wild birds, especially waterbirds such as the Anseriformes and Charadriiformes are considered to be the natural hosts of Avian Influenza (AI), and are presumed to pose one of the most likely vectors for incursion of AI into European poultry flocks. We have developed a generic quantitative risk map, derived from the classical epidemiological risk equation, to describe the relative, spatial risk of disease incursion into poultry flocks via wild birds.

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A key aim of ecology is to understand the drivers of ecological patterns, so that we can accurately predict the effects of global environmental change. However, in many cases, predictors are measured at a finer resolution than the ecological response. We therefore require data aggregation methods that avoid loss of information on fine-grain heterogeneity.

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Article Synopsis
  • High-yield agricultural production and conservation of nonfarm ecosystems (land sparing) can better support most bird species compared to wildlife-friendly farming (land sharing), although regional history may influence outcomes.
  • In a study across two lowland regions in England, land sparing allowed more bird species to reach maximum regional population sizes compared to land sharing.
  • A mixed strategy that combines high-yield farming, natural habitats, and low-yield farming often outperformed land sharing or land sparing alone, suggesting the importance of targeted conservation approaches.
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Background: In humans geographical differences in the incidence and presentation of various cancers have been reported. However, much of this information has not been collected in veterinary oncology.

Aim: The purpose of this study was to determine if a geographic difference in progression free survival exists for dogs with lymphoma treated within the US.

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The vision of a precision medicine-guided approach to novel cancer drug development is challenged by high intratumor heterogeneity and interpatient diversity. This complexity is rarely modeled accurately during preclinical drug development, hampering predictions of clinical drug efficacy. To address this issue, we developed Comparative In Vivo Oncology (CIVO) arrayed microinjection technology to test tumor responsiveness to simultaneous microdoses of multiple drugs directly in a patient's tumor.

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