Invasive common reed, Phragmites australis ssp. australis ((Cav.) Trin. ex Steud.) has established and dominated Ontario wetlands for decades. The detrimental effects of P. australis invasions on wetland habitats have demanded intervention through aggressive suppression efforts. However, constraints in available control methods to suppress P. australis have led to persistent invasions. To improve P. australis management in wetlands, we investigated remotely-piloted aircraft systems (RPASs) as a precision tool for herbicide application. We applied an imazapyr-based herbicide (240 g active ingredient L-1) with a spray-equipped RPAS at selected test sites, marking the first-ever application of its kind in Canada. We evaluated 1) the efficacy of RPAS-based herbicide application to P. australis and 2) examined the plant community changes one year after the initial herbicide application. We found a > 99% reduction in live P. australis stems, along with reductions in species richness (33%), Shannon-Weiner diversity (73%), Simpson’s reciprocal diversity (50%), and Pielou’s evenness (73%) in the year following herbicide application. Plant community changes varied by field site; one wetland underwent a secondary invasion by European Frog-bit (Hydrocharis morsus-ranae (L.)) while the other was dominated by the native Spotted Jewelweed (Impatiens capensis (Meerb.)), highlighting the complexities of plant community succession following herbicide application in biodiverse wetlands.

Owl cafes, where customers view and interact with owls, have become popular in Japan. There are multiple aspects of the environment which may be stressful to nocturnal owls, including lighting, tethering and frequent interactions with humans but, to date, welfare has not been investigated. This preliminary study examines the effects of owl cafes and customers on the physiological stress (faecal corticosterone levels [FCL]) and behaviour of the owls. Seven eagle owls (Bubo bubo) and two African scops owls (Ptilopsis leucotis), in two cafes, were studied over an eight-day period. Cafe A (n = 5) was closed for one day per week, whilst cafe B (n = 4) was open every day. In cafe A there was higher FCL in owls during open days than closed days suggesting that the conditions on open days increase stress in owls. Eight of nine owls showed evidence of some aversion or avoidance of humans, whilst no affiliative behaviours were observed. The number of visitor interactions was not associated with the level of physiological stress; and when comparing owls, there was a tendency for individual owls with a higher percentage of aversive responses to customers to also have higher FCL. Close human interactions of a negative nature, that result in aversion, may be a significant stressor, but further research is required.

The use of Spratt’s dog cakes is well documented in the diaries and reminiscences of many early Antarctic expedition members. Commercially produced dog food was promoted by the likes of Spratt’s as an advanced form of animal nutrition and would have been of interest to expedition planners who were already concerned with the nutritional requirements of expedition members. An approximately 100-year-old dog cake recovered from Antarctica was compared by chemical analysis and spectroscopic methods with a series of model dog cakes and a commercial dog biscuit to determine the composition and calorific content. The presence of bone fragments within the dog cake was confirmed, whereas starch in the bulk matrix of the sample was consistent with being a mixture of wheat and oat flour, while only minimal fat or oil was present. Calorific content, while insufficient compared to a modern feed for high-performance dogs, would nonetheless have been a valuable addition to the use of dried or frozen whole meat such as seal, fish, or pemmican and contributed additional energy compared to meat alone.

Invasive species negatively impact vegetation communities. Invasive European common reed [Phragmites australis (Cav.) Trin. ex Steud. ssp. australis] is rapidly spreading throughout North American wetlands. As such, the suppression of P. australis populations is a goal of many managers, as its removal should provide an opportunity to restore native vegetation communities. In Ontario, managers applied a glyphosate-based herbicide to more than 400 ha of P. australis in ecologically significant coastal marshes, representing the first time this tool was used over standing water to suppress an invasive species in Canada. Using a before–after–control–impact monitoring design, we evaluated the efficacy of glyphosate-based herbicide at removing P. australis along a water-depth gradient and assessed the recovery of the vegetation community for 2 yr after treatment in relation to reference conditions. We found that herbicide suppressed more than 99% of P. australis 1 yr after treatment and worked effectively along the entire water-depth gradient (10 to 48 cm). However, the post-treatment vegetation community remains distinctive from reference marsh 2 yr after treatment. In many plots where P. australis was removed, nonnative European frog-bit (Hydrocharis morsus-ranae L.) is now dominant, likely aided by high lake-water levels.

Heat transport in granular and porous media occurs through conduction in the solid and radiation through the voids. By exploiting the separation of length scales between the small typical particles or voids and the large size of whole region, the method of multiple scales can be applied. For a purely diffusive system, this yields a problem on the macroscale with an effective conductivity, deduced by solving a ‘cell problem’ on the microscale. Here, we apply the method when radiation and conduction are both present; however, care must be taken to correctly handle the integral nature of the radiative boundary condition. Again, an effective conductivity is found by solving a ‘cell problem’ which, because of the non-linearity of radiative transfer, to be solved for each temperature value. We also incorporate modifications to the basic theory of multiple scales in order to deal with the non-local nature of the radiative boundary condition. We derive the multiple scales formulation of the problem and report on numerical comparisons between the homogenised problem and direct solution of the problem. We also compare the effective conductivity to that derived using Maxwell models and effective medium theory.

Consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) during pregnancy has been associated with childhood obesity. Research in which rodent dams have been given high-fat/high-sugar diets has consistently found metabolic alterations in their offspring. However, what remains unclear is the potential impact on the developing fetus of giving sugar in isolation at concentrations similar to SSBs to the mothers. Therefore, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis (Protocol No: 127115 on Prospero) to identify potential relationships between maternal sucrose consumption and metabolic outcomes in offspring of rodent (rat or mouse) models. We analysed studies that provided rodent mothers dams with access to sucrose solutions (8–20% w/v) prior to conception, during pregnancy and/or lactation and that reported offspring outcomes of body weight (BW), body composition and glycaemic control. Following a systematic search of four databases (PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science and Scopus) performed on 15 January 2019, maternal and offspring data from 15 papers were identified for inclusion. Only rat studies were identified. Meta-analyses were performed on standardised mean differences for maternal and offspring BW and fasting glucose levels, with subgroup analyses of strain, sucrose concentration, exposure period and sex of offspring. A bias towards the inclusion of only data from male offspring was identified and this limited interpretation of potential sexually dimorphic outcomes. Maternal sucrose exposure was associated with an increased risk of obesity and poor glucose disposal in adult and aged offspring.

As the primary risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD), hypertension is the leading cause of preventable, premature mortality globally. Hypertension, or elevated blood pressure (BP), has a number of well-established risk factors, including genetics. A common C677T polymorphism in the gene encoding the folate metabolising enzyme methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) affects 10–12% of UK and Irish populations and has been linked with 24–87% increased risk of hypertension globally. Evidence from randomised controlled trials (RCTs) conducted at this Centre has shown BP to be highly responsive (by 5–13 mmHg) to supplementation with riboflavin (MTHFR co-factor), an effect confined to homozygous individuals (TT genotype). To date, our trials have focused on peripheral BP; however, additional measures of vascular health such as central pressure are reported to be more closely correlated with CVD risk. Investigation of central BP, augmentation index (AIx) and pulse pressure amplification (PPA) may thus offer further insight into the role of this gene-nutrient interaction in blood pressure. The present study aims to investigate BP, and measures of vascular health in healthy adults stratified by MTHFR 677 genotype. Apparently healthy adults aged 18–60 years were recruited from workplaces across Northern Ireland and screened for MTHFR genotype via buccal swab. Clinic BP, anthropometry and blood sample were measured in TT individuals (n 209) and age and sex-matched CC (n 98) and CT (n 102) controls. AIx and central BP were assessed using SphygmoCor® (AtCor Medical, Australia). Preliminary results demonstrate higher BP in individuals with the MTHFR 677TT genotype compared to non-TT controls (systolic BP 134.7 ± 13.8 mmHg vs 129.7 ± 12.4 mmHg, P < 0.001; diastolic BP 81.6 ± 9.5 mmHg vs 79.7 mmHg ± 8.9 mmHg, P = 0.023, respectively). The MTHFR 677TT genotype group had significantly higher central systolic BP (119.4 ± 11.8 vs 116.7 ± 10.9 mmHg, P = 0.018), central pulse pressure (P = 0.006) and central mean pressure (P = 0.011) compared to the non-TT group. No significant differences for central diastolic BP, pulse pressure amplification, pulse pressure ratio and augmentation index were observed. This study confirms the phenotype of elevated BP in individuals with the C677T polymorphism in the gene encoding MTHFR. For the first time, this study reports that individuals with the MTHFR 677TT genotype have higher central systolic BP, central mean pressure and pulse pressure. Further investigations through RCTs investigating the effect of the MTHFR cofactor, riboflavin, on central blood pressure in these genetically at-risk adults are warranted.

It is important to pay attention to weight management before and between pregnancies, as women have an increased risk of weight gain during the reproductive years. Having a baby is a life-changing event for women and the challenge of weight management amidst this period of major physiological, psychological and social change should not be underestimated. However, the postpartum period offers an opportune time for lifestyle interventions, as women may have heightened awareness of their own and their wider families’ health. Systematic reviews indicate that interventions including both diet and physical activity along with individualised support and self-monitoring are more likely to be successful in promoting postpartum weight loss. However, high levels of attrition and poor engagement have been an issue in previous trials in this area. Since postpartum women are difficult to reach and retain, future research must consider how to make weight-management interventions an attractive and attainable proposition for women who are juggling multiple, competing demands on their time. Ideally, intervention approaches need to be flexible and allow sustained contact with women, to facilitate a focus on maintenance of weight loss, as well as opportunities for re-engagement after life events that may disrupt weight-management progress. Using technology to deliver or support interventions holds promise but trials are needed to generate a range of appealing, effective and scalable options for postpartum women. What works at other life stages may not necessarily work here owing to specific barriers to weight management encountered in the postpartum period.

Seismic-reflection profiling has previously shown that, at least at one location. Ice Stream Β in West Antarctica rests on a layer of till a few meters thick (Blankenship and others 1986). Analyses of both compressional- and shear-wave seismic reflections from the ice–till boundary confirm the results of those earlier studies, which showed that the till is water-saturated and has a high porosity and low differential pressure. We conclude that this till is basically homogeneous, at least on a scale of tens of kilometers, though some evidence that its properties vary laterally can be discerned in these data. We propose that the till is widespread beneath Ice Stream Β and probably also beneath the other West Antarctic ice streams.

Our seismic profiling shows that the till is essentially continuous beneath Ice Stream Β over at least 12 km parallel to ice flow and 8 km transverse to flow. Beneath these profiles the till averages about 6.5 m thick and is present everywhere except possibly on isolated bedrock ridges parallel to ice flow. The till thickness on these bedrock ridges falls to less than 2 m, the limit of our seismic resolution, but there is evidence that the ridges do not impede ice flow substantially. The bedrock beneath the till is fluted parallel to flow, with flutes that are 10–13 m deep by 200–1000 m wide; we believe these flutes are formed by erosion beneath a deforming till. We also observe an angular unconformity at the base of the till, which is consistent with the idea that erosion is occurring there. The sedimentary record in the Ross Embayment looks very similar to that beneath Ice Stream B, i.e. a few meters of till resting unconformably (the Ross Sea unconformity) on lithified sedimentary rock, and we postulate that the Ross Sea unconformity was generated by erosion beneath a grounded ice sheet by a deforming till.