7 results
Public attitudes toward the use of technology to create new types of animals and animal products
- Erin B Ryan, Daniel M Weary
-
- Journal:
- Animal Welfare / Volume 32 / 2023
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 06 June 2023, e43
-
- Article
-
- You have access Access
- Open access
- HTML
- Export citation
-
Philosophers have used thought experiments to examine contentious examples of genetic modification. We hypothesised that these examples would prove useful in provoking responses from lay participants concerning technological interventions used to address welfare concerns. We asked 747 US and Canadian citizens to respond to two scenarios based on these thought experiments: genetically modifying chickens to produce blind progeny that are less likely to engage in feather-pecking (BC); and genetically modifying animals to create progeny that do not experience any subjective state (i.e. incapable of experiencing pain or fear; IA). For contrast, we assessed a third scenario that also resulted in the production of animal protein with no risk of suffering but did not involve genetically modifying animals: the development of cultured meat (CM). Participants indicated on a seven-point scale how acceptable they considered the technology (1 = very wrong to do; 7 = very right to do), and provided a text-based, open-ended explanation of their response. The creation of cultured meat was judged more acceptable than the creation of blind chickens and insentient animals. Qualitative responses indicated that some participants accepted the constraints imposed by the thought experiment, for example, by accepting perceived harms of the technology to achieve perceived benefits in reducing animal suffering. Others expressed discomfort with such trade-offs, advocating for other approaches to reducing harm. We conclude that people vary in their acceptance of interventions within existing systems, with some calling for transformational change.
Loss of adipose tissue mass during chemotherapy predicts reduced survival in patients with colorectal cancer treated with palliative intent
- Erin Stella Sullivan, Louise E. Daly, Éadaoin B Ní Bhuachalla, Samantha J. Cushen, Derek G. Power, Aoife M Ryan
-
- Journal:
- Proceedings of the Nutrition Society / Volume 79 / Issue OCE2 / 2020
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 10 June 2020, E149
-
- Article
-
- You have access Access
- Export citation
-
Obesity is an established risk factor for colorectal cancer (CRC), however little is known about changes in body composition during chemotherapy and its impact on survival. The aim of this study was to examine in patients with CRC: (1) The prevalence of abnormal body composition phenotypes, (2) The impact of baseline body composition on overall survival, (3) Changes in body composition throughout treatment and its impact on overall survival.
A prospective study of adult CRC patients undergoing chemotherapy between 2012–2016 was conducted. Longitudinal changes in body composition were examined using computed tomography (CT) images at two timepoints (interval 7 months, IQR: 5–9 months) using paired t-tests. Sarcopenia and low muscle attenuation (MA) were defined using published cut-offs. Cox proportional-hazards models were used to estimate mortality hazard ratios, adjusted for known prognostic covariates – stage, age, sex, performance status & systemic inflammation.
In total, 268 patients were recruited (66% male, mean age 63 years) and 51% were undergoing chemotherapy with a palliative intent. At baseline, 4% were underweight (BMI < 20 kg/m2), 38% had a normal BMI, and 58% were overweight/obese. Despite this, 38% had cancer cachexia, 34% were sarcopenic and 43% had low MA. Neither sarcopenia, sarcopenic obesity nor cachexia at baseline predicted survival. Over 100 days, 68% were muscle stable (± 1 kg), while 25% lost > 1 kg and 7% gained > 1 kg. Fat mass remained stable ± 1 kg in 49%, while 28% lost > 1 kg and 23% gained > 1 kg. When adjusted for known prognostic covariates, baseline BMI (20–25 kg/m2) in those having palliative chemotherapy was independently associated with reduced survival compared to those with BMI indicating overweight (BMI 25–30 kg/m2) [HR: 1.80 (95% CI: 1.04–3.14), p = 0.037]. In those undergoing chemotherapy with palliative intent, a loss of > 6.4% subcutaneous fat (Q1 SAT) over 100 days was predictive of poor survival versus those with small losses, remaining stable or gaining SAT (Q2-4), independent of changes in muscle mass [HR: 2.22 (95% CI: 1.07–4.62), p = 0.033].
Patients with CRC, particularly those treated with a palliative intent, experience significant losses in muscle and fat mass during chemotherapy. Loss of SAT mass during palliative chemotherapy is prognostic of poor survival, independent of changes in muscle mass. Baseline BMI in the overweight range confers a survival advantage. Nutritional strategies to prevent or attenuate weight loss during chemotherapy are advisable especially in the context of advanced CRC.
A phase 1, single-blind, placebo-controlled, 3-arm cross-over trial assessing the appetite enhancing effects of potentially ghrelinergic dairy-derived peptides
- Samantha J. Cushen, Erin Stella Sullivan, Tracey Kelly, Louise E. Daly, Éadaoin B Ní Bhuachalla, Ken Howick, Harriët Schellekens, John F. Cryan, Brendan T. Griffin, Darren Dahly, Aoife M Ryan
-
- Journal:
- Proceedings of the Nutrition Society / Volume 79 / Issue OCE2 / 2020
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 10 June 2020, E121
-
- Article
-
- You have access Access
- Export citation
-
Methods to stimulate appetite in the sick or elderly remains a challenge with few safe therapeutic options. Ghrelin is an orexigenic hormone, increasing appetite and subsequent food intake. It has received considerable attention as a therapeutic target to stimulate food intake in patients with anorexia. The identification of food-grade bioactives with proven orexigenic effects would mark significant progress in the treatment of disease-related malnutrition. This study therefore investigated the effects of two milk-derived ghrelinergic peptides on appetite and energy intake in healthy humans.
A single-blind, placebo-controlled, 3-arm (placebo, casein bioactive MF1145 and whey bioactive UL-2-141) cross-over trial was conducted in healthy male volunteers. Participants received 26 mg/kg of both the bioactives and placebo. The main outcome measures were energy & protein intake from a set breakfast and ad libitum lunch and subjective appetite sensations as assessed by visual analogue scale (VAS). Basal and postprandial levels of active ghrelin (AG) were measured. Dietary intakes were analysed using Nutritics software. Statistical analyses were performed in R.
Overall, 22 male participants (mean age 27 years) were included, average BMI was 24.6 kg/m2, (19.8 to 30.2 kg/m2). Mean energy and protein intakes at lunch when treated with placebo were 1343 kcal (95% CI: 1215–1471 kcal) and 74 g (95% CI: 66–81 g), respectively. Energy and protein intakes were not significantly different from placebo for either treatment (p = 0.918, p = 0.319 for UL-2-141 and p = 0.889, p = 0.959 for MF1145, respectively). Similarly, appetite, hunger and satiety responses on VAS were not significantly different from placebo for either treatment. AG peak post-lunch on placebo was 653 pg/ml (95% CI: 511–794 pg/ml). Treatment with UL-2-141 resulted in 139 pg/ml reduction in post-prandial AG compared to placebo and treatment with MF1145 resulted in 114 pg/ml reduction compared to placebo. This pattern was significant for both treatments (p = 0.021 and p = 0.045, respectively) however when controlling for fasting-AG, the pattern was no longer significant (p = 0.590 and p = 0.877 respectively). Pre-prandial AG peaks were not significantly different across treatments.
While these peptides have previously demonstrated ghrelinergic effects in rats, no effect on appetite or food intake in humans was identified by this study. This may be attributable to the small sample size or low dose. However, since healthy adults are often not in tune with their own physiological hunger, they may not respond strongly to simple physiological modulators and repeating the study in subjects with established anorexia may be prudent.
Safety of tracheal intubation in the presence of cardiac disease in paediatric ICUs
- Eleanor A. Gradidge, Adnan Bakar, David Tellez, Michael Ruppe, Sarah Tallent, Geoffrey Bird, Natasha Lavin, Anthony Lee, Vinay Nadkarni, Michelle Adu-Darko, Jesse Bain, Katherine Biagas, Aline Branca, Ryan K. Breuer, Calvin Brown III, Kris Bysani, Guillaume Emeriaud, Sandeep Gangadharan, John S. Giuliano, Jr, Joy D. Howell, Conrad Krawiec, Jan Hau Lee, Simon Li, Keith Meyer, Michael Miksa, Natalie Napolitano, Sholeen Nett, Gabrielle Nuthall, Alberto Orioles, Erin B. Owen, Margaret M. Parker, Simon Parsons, Lee A. Polikoff, Kyle Rehder, Osamu Saito, Ron C. Sanders, Jr, Asha Shenoi, Dennis W. Simon, Peter W. Skippen, Keiko Tarquinio, Anne Thompson, Iris Toedt-Pingel, Karen Walson, Akira Nishisaki, For National Emergency Airway Registry for Children (NEARKIDS) Investigators and Pediatric Acute Lung Injury and Sepsis Investigators (PALISI)
-
- Journal:
- Cardiology in the Young / Volume 28 / Issue 7 / July 2018
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 25 April 2018, pp. 928-937
-
- Article
- Export citation
-
Introduction
Children with CHD and acquired heart disease have unique, high-risk physiology. They may have a higher risk of adverse tracheal-intubation-associated events, as compared with children with non-cardiac disease.
Materials and methodsWe sought to evaluate the occurrence of adverse tracheal-intubation-associated events in children with cardiac disease compared to children with non-cardiac disease. A retrospective analysis of tracheal intubations from 38 international paediatric ICUs was performed using the National Emergency Airway Registry for Children (NEAR4KIDS) quality improvement registry. The primary outcome was the occurrence of any tracheal-intubation-associated event. Secondary outcomes included the occurrence of severe tracheal-intubation-associated events, multiple intubation attempts, and oxygen desaturation.
ResultsA total of 8851 intubations were reported between July, 2012 and March, 2016. Cardiac patients were younger, more likely to have haemodynamic instability, and less likely to have respiratory failure as an indication. The overall frequency of tracheal-intubation-associated events was not different (cardiac: 17% versus non-cardiac: 16%, p=0.13), nor was the rate of severe tracheal-intubation-associated events (cardiac: 7% versus non-cardiac: 6%, p=0.11). Tracheal-intubation-associated cardiac arrest occurred more often in cardiac patients (2.80 versus 1.28%; p<0.001), even after adjusting for patient and provider differences (adjusted odds ratio 1.79; p=0.03). Multiple intubation attempts occurred less often in cardiac patients (p=0.04), and oxygen desaturations occurred more often, even after excluding patients with cyanotic heart disease.
ConclusionsThe overall incidence of adverse tracheal-intubation-associated events in cardiac patients was not different from that in non-cardiac patients. However, the presence of a cardiac diagnosis was associated with a higher occurrence of both tracheal-intubation-associated cardiac arrest and oxygen desaturation.
A Generalizable, Data-Driven Approach to Predict Daily Risk of Clostridium difficile Infection at Two Large Academic Health Centers
- Jeeheh Oh, Maggie Makar, Christopher Fusco, Robert McCaffrey, Krishna Rao, Erin E. Ryan, Laraine Washer, Lauren R. West, Vincent B. Young, John Guttag, David C. Hooper, Erica S. Shenoy, Jenna Wiens
-
- Journal:
- Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology / Volume 39 / Issue 4 / April 2018
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 26 March 2018, pp. 425-433
- Print publication:
- April 2018
-
- Article
-
- You have access Access
- HTML
- Export citation
-
OBJECTIVE
An estimated 293,300 healthcare-associated cases of Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) occur annually in the United States. To date, research has focused on developing risk prediction models for CDI that work well across institutions. However, this one-size-fits-all approach ignores important hospital-specific factors. We focus on a generalizable method for building facility-specific models. We demonstrate the applicability of the approach using electronic health records (EHR) from the University of Michigan Hospitals (UM) and the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH).
METHODSWe utilized EHR data from 191,014 adult admissions to UM and 65,718 adult admissions to MGH. We extracted patient demographics, admission details, patient history, and daily hospitalization details, resulting in 4,836 features from patients at UM and 1,837 from patients at MGH. We used L2 regularized logistic regression to learn the models, and we measured the discriminative performance of the models on held-out data from each hospital.
RESULTSUsing the UM and MGH test data, the models achieved area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) values of 0.82 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.80–0.84) and 0.75 ( 95% CI, 0.73–0.78), respectively. Some predictive factors were shared between the 2 models, but many of the top predictive factors differed between facilities.
CONCLUSIONA data-driven approach to building models for estimating daily patient risk for CDI was used to build institution-specific models at 2 large hospitals with different patient populations and EHR systems. In contrast to traditional approaches that focus on developing models that apply across hospitals, our generalizable approach yields risk-stratification models tailored to an institution. These hospital-specific models allow for earlier and more accurate identification of high-risk patients and better targeting of infection prevention strategies.
Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2018;39:425–433
Contributors
-
- By Victoria M. Allen, Frederic Amant, Sarah Armstrong, Thomas F. Baskett, Michael A. Belfort, Meredith Birsner, Renee D. Boss, Leanne Bricker, Josaphat K. Byamugisha, Giorgio Capogna, Michael P. Casaer, Frank A. Chervenak, Vicki Clark, Filip Claus, Malachy O. Columb, Charles Cox, Jean T. Cox, Vegard Dahl, John Davison, Jan Deprest, Clifford S. Deutschman, Roland Devlieger, Karim Djekidel, Steven Dymarkowski, Roshan Fernando, Clare Fitzpatrick, Sreedhar Gaddipati, Thierry Girard, Emily Gordon, Ian A. Greer, David Grooms, Sina Haeri, Katy Harrison, Edward J. Hayes, Michelle Hladunewich, Andra H. James, Tracey Johnston, Bellal Joseph, Erin Keely, Ruth Landau, Stephen E. Lapinsky, Susanna I. Lee, Larry Leeman, Hennie Lombaard, Stephen Lu, Alison MacArthur, Laura A. Magee, Paul E. Marik, Laurence B. McCullough, Alexandre Mignon, Carlo Missant, Jack Moodley, Lisa E. Moore, Kate Morse, Warwick D. Ngan Kee, Catherine Nelson-Piercy, Clemens M. Ortner, Geraldine O’Sullivan, Luis D. Pacheco, Fathima Paruk, Melina Pectasides, Nigel Pereira, Patricia Peticca, Sharon T. Phelan, Felicity Plaat, Lauren A. Plante, Michael P. Plevyak, Dianne Plews, Wendy Pollock, Laura C. Price, Peter Rhee, Leiv Arne Rosseland, Kathryn M. Rowan, Helen Ryan, Helen Scholefield, Neil S. Seligman, Nadir Sharawi, Alex Sia, Bob Silver, Mieke Soens, Ulrich J. Spreng, Silvia Stirparo, Nova Szoka, Andrew Tang, Kha M. Tran, Els Troost, Lawrence C. Tsen, Derek Tuffnell, Kristel Van Calsteren, Marc Van de Velde, Marcel Vercauteren, Chris Verslype, Peter von Dadelszen, Carl Waldman, Michelle Walters, Linda Watkins, Paul Westhead, Cynthia A. Wong, Gerda G. Zeeman, Joost J. Zwart
- Edited by Marc van de Velde, Helen Scholefield, Lauren A. Plante
-
- Book:
- Maternal Critical Care
- Published online:
- 05 July 2013
- Print publication:
- 04 July 2013, pp ix-xiv
-
- Chapter
- Export citation
Contributors
-
- By R. J. Aitken, Gokhan Akkoyunlu, David F. Albertini, Christiani A. Amorim, R. A. Anderson, Baris Ata, Pedro N. Barri, Mohamed A. Bedaiwy, Rosita Bergström, Veronica Bianchi, Montserrat Boada, Paolo Boffetta, Andrea Borini, Karina Braga Ribeiro, Peter R. Brinsden, Ralph L. Brinster, Jason G. Bromer, A. L. Caplan, Chian Ri-Cheng, Ina N. Cholst, A. Ciobanu, Megan Clowse, Ana Cobo, Susannah C. Copland, John K. Critser, B. J. Curry, Giuseppe Del Priore, M. De Vos, Marie-Madeleine Dolmans, Javier Domingo, Jacques Donnez, David H. Edgar, Nanette R. Elster, Carol Fabian, Gregory M. Fahy, Tommaso Falcone, Debra Friedman, Jill P. Ginsberg, Debra A. Gook, Julie R. Gralow, Elizabeth Grill, Sebastien Gouy, Xu Han, Lisa M. Harlan-Williams, Outi Hovatta MD, Wayland Hsiao, Zhongwei Huang, E. Isachenko, V. Isachenko, Roy A. Jensen, I. I. Katkov, S. Samuel Kim, Jennifer Klemp, Larissa A. Korde, R. Kreienberg, Srinivasan Krishnamurthy, Juergen Liebermann, J. Ryan Martin, Elizabeth A. McGee, Marie McLaughlin, P. Mathevet, D. Meirow, Philippe Morice, Steven F. Mullen, Kutluk Oktay, Pasquale Patrizio, Antonio Pellicer, Pinki K. Prasad, Kenny A. Rodriguez-Wallberg, Erin Rohde, Allison B. Rosen, Zev Rosenwaks, María Sánchez, R. Sanchez, Glenn L. Schattman, Peter N. Schlegel, Einat Shalom-Paz, Lonnie D. Shea, Gunapala Shetty, Jill Simmons, Carrie A. Smith, J. Smitz, Miquel Solé, Jean Squifflet, Shane R. Stecklein, Jerome F. Strauss, David J. Tagler, Seang Lin Tan, Evelyn E. Telfer, Sreedhar Thirumala, Michael J. Tucker, Catherine Uzan, Anne Van Langendonckt, Anna Veiga, W. H. B. Wallace, Wenjia Wang, Brent Waters, Dagan Wells, Teresa K. Woodruff, Erik Woods, Christine Wyns
- Edited by Jacques Donnez, Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium, S. Samuel Kim, University of Kansas
-
- Book:
- Principles and Practice of Fertility Preservation
- Published online:
- 04 February 2011
- Print publication:
- 03 February 2011, pp x-xiv
-
- Chapter
- Export citation