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Bovine tuberculosis (TB) is a chronic disease in cattle that causes a serious food security challenge to the agricultural industry in terms of dairy and meat production. Spatio-temporal disease analysis in terms of time trends and geographic disparities of disease dynamics can provide useful insights into the overall efficiency of control efforts as well as the relative efficiency of different management measures towards eradication. In GB, Scotland has had a risk based surveillance testing policy under which high risk herds are tested frequently, and in September 2009 was officially declared as TB free. Wales have had an annual or more frequent testing policy for all cattle herds since January 2010, while in England several herds are still tested every 4 years except some high TB prevalence areas where annual testing is applied. Time series analysis using publicly available data for total tests on herds, total cattle slaughtered, new herd incidents, and herds not TB free, were analysed globally for GB and locally for the constituent regions of Wales, Scotland, West, North, and East England. After detecting trends over time, underlying regional differences were compared with the testing policies in the region. Total cattle slaughtered are decreasing in Wales, Scotland and West England, but increasing in the North and East English regions. New herd incidents, i.e., disease incidence, are decreasing in Wales, Scotland, West English region, but increasing in North and East English regions. Herds not TB free, i.e., disease prevalence, are increasing in West, North, and East English regions, while they are decreasing in Wales and Scotland. Total cattle slaughtered were positively correlated with total tests in the West, North, and East English regions, with high slopes of regression indicating that additional testing is likely to facilitate the eradication of the disease. There was no correlation between total cattle slaughtered and total tests on herds in Wales indicating that herds are tested frequent enough in order to detect all likely cases and so control TB. The main conclusion of the analysis conducted here is that more frequent testing is leading to lower TB infections in cattle both in terms of TB prevalence as well as TB incidence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the effect of testicular size on reproductive behavior of male wrens in Great Britain. Prediction of initiation of nest building by male age and testis size; Relationship of the size of testis to body condition; Increase of breeding attempts by males that initiate early breeding.

Silver and downy birch (Betula pendula Roth and B. pubescens Ehrhs) are pioneer species which play an important role in forest regeneration in disturbed areas. Knowledge of birch seed production and dispersal is key to making good predictions of the persistence and colonization of birch. Both processes can be affected by the density of trees in the neighbourhood. In this study, we studied the seed production and dispersal of birch trees in two plots in Wytham Woods, UK, in 2015, and investigated the potential effect of neighbourhood tree density. We applied inverse modelling to seed trap data, incorporating tree density around the source tree and on the seed path to estimate birch fecundity and the dispersal kernel of the seeds. We show that the pattern of dispersed seeds was best explained by a model that included an effect of tree density on seed dispersal. There was no strong evidence that conspecific or heterospecific tree density had an effect on birch fecundity in Wytham Woods. A birch with diameter at breast height (DBH) of 20 cm is estimated to have produced ~137,000 seeds in 2015. Mean dispersal distance in an open area is estimated to be 65 m but would be reduced to 38 m in a closed stand. Both the mean dispersal distance and the probability of long-distance dispersal of birch decreases in dense environments. Areas with higher tree density also would intercept more seeds. These results highlight the importance of considering tree density in the neighbourhood and in the overall landscape when predicting the colonization and recruitment of birch. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents an obituary for general practitioner Richard Nesbit Evans, who died from glioblastoma multiforme on December 22, 2015.

Reports on a congress of the International Medical Informatics Association which brought together many experts in health informatics as measures are being taken around the world to create a seamless way to share clinical data; The two important and interdependent challenges that need to be overcome before any patient in any country has a national electronic health record; The budget granted the National Programme for IT in the UK; How the UK plan differs from others such as that in Canada and Australia; Need for systems to allow for the transfer of information across borders; Role of clinicians in developing systems they can use easily.

Targeted therapy against actionable variants has revolutionised the treatment landscape for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Approximately half of NSCLC adenocarcinomas have an actionable variant, making molecular testing a critical component of the diagnostic process to personalise therapeutic options, optimise clinical outcomes and minimise toxicity. Recently, genomic testing in England has undergone major changes with the introduction of Genomic Laboratory Hubs, designed to consolidate and enhance existing laboratory provision and deliver genomic testing as outlined in the National Genomic Test Directory. Similar changes are ongoing in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. However, multiple challenges exist with current tissue acquisition procedures and the molecular testing pathway in the UK, including quantity and quality of available tissue, adequacy rates, test availability among genomic laboratories, turnaround times, multidisciplinary team communication, and limited guidance and standardisation. The COVID-19 pandemic has added an extra layer of complexity. Herein, we summarise best practice recommendations, based on expert opinion, to overcome existing challenges in the UK. The least invasive biopsy technique should be undertaken with the aim of acquiring the greatest quality and quantity of tissue. Use of sedation should be considered to improve patient experience. Rapid on-site evaluation may also be useful to help guide adequate sampling, and liquid biopsy may be beneficial in some instances. Sample processing should be appropriate to facilitate biomarker testing, in particular, next-generation sequencing for comprehensive genomic information. Steps to optimise tissue utilisation and turnaround times, such as planning of tissue usage, limiting immunohistochemistry, tumour enrichment, and reflex testing at diagnosis, should be implemented. Guidelines for tissue acquisition and sample processing may help to improve sample adequacy to perform downstream testing. Communication among genomic laboratories will help to standardise test availability across England and local auditing could identify further areas for optimisation, including ways to improve turnaround times and adequacy rates., (Copyright © 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Disease control strategies can have both intended and unintended effects on the dynamics of infectious diseases. Routine testing for the harmful pathogen Bovine Tuberculosis (bTB) was suspended briefly during the foot and mouth disease epidemic of 2001 in Great Britain. Here we utilize bTB incidence data and mathematical models to demonstrate how a lapse in management can alter epidemiological parameters, including the rate of new infections and duration of infection cycles. Testing interruption shifted the dynamics from annual to 4-year cycles, and created long-lasting shifts in the spatial synchrony of new infections among regions of Great Britain. After annual testing was introduced in some GB regions, new infections have become more de-synchronised, a result also confirmed by a stochastic model. These results demonstrate that abrupt events can synchronise disease dynamics and that changes in the epidemiological parameters can lead to chaotic patterns, which are hard to be quantified, predicted, and controlled.