Optimising the management of childhood acute diarrhoeal disease using a rapid test-and- treat strategy and/or Lactobacillus reuteri DSM 17938: a multicentre, randomised, controlled, factorial trial in Botswana.

INTRODUCTION: The study aim was to determine if rapid enteric diagnostics followed by the provision of targeted antibiotic therapy ('test-and-treat') and/or Lactobacillus reuteri DSM 17938 would improve outcomes in children hospitalised in Botswana with acute gastroenteritis. METHODS: This was a multicentre, randomised, factorial, controlled, trial. Children aged 2-60 months admitted for acute non-bloody diarrhoea to four hospitals in southern Botswana were eligible. Participants were assigned to treatment groups by web-based block randomisation. Test-and-treat results were not blinded, but participants and research staff were blinded to L. reuteri/placebo assignment; this was dosed as 1×108 cfu/mL by mouth daily and continued for 60 days. The primary outcome was 60-day age-standardised height (HAZ) adjusted for baseline HAZ. All analyses were by intention to treat. The trial was registered at Clinicaltrials.gov. RESULTS: Recruitment began on 12 June 2016 and continued until 24 October 2018. There were 66 participants randomised to the test-and-treat plus L. reuteri group, 68 randomised to the test-and-treat plus placebo group, 69 to the standard care plus L. reuteri group and 69 to the standard care plus placebo group. There was no demonstrable impact of the test-and-treat intervention (mean increase of 0.01 SD, 95% CI -0.14 to 0.16 SD) or the L. reuteri intervention (mean decrease of 0.07 SD, 95% CI -0.22 to 0.08 SD) on adjusted HAZ at 60 days. CONCLUSIONS: In children hospitalised for acute gastroenteritis in Botswana, neither a test-and-treat algorithm targeting enteropathogens, nor a 60-day course of L. reuteri DSM 17938, were found to markedly impact linear growth or other important outcomes. We cannot exclude the possibility that test-and-treat will improve the care of children with significant enteropathogens (such as Shigella) in their stool. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT02803827.

Individual Differences in Working Memory and the N2pc.

The lateralized ERP N2pc component has been shown to be an effective marker of attentional object selection when elicited in a visual search task, specifically reflecting the selection of a target item among distractors. Moreover, when targets are known in advance, the visual search process is guided by representations of target features held in working memory at the time of search, thus guiding attention to objects with target-matching features. Previous studies have shown that manipulating working memory availability via concurrent tasks or within task manipulations influences visual search performance and the N2pc. Other studies have indicated that visual (non-spatial) vs. spatial working memory manipulations have differential contributions to visual search. To investigate this the current study assesses participants' visual and spatial working memory ability independent of the visual search task to determine whether such individual differences in working memory affect task performance and the N2pc. Participants (n = 205) completed a visual search task to elicit the N2pc and separate visual working memory (VWM) and spatial working memory (SPWM) assessments. Greater SPWM, but not VWM, ability is correlated with and predicts higher visual search accuracy and greater N2pc amplitudes. Neither VWM nor SPWM was related to N2pc latency. These results provide additional support to prior behavioral and neural visual search findings that spatial WM availability, whether as an ability of the participant's processing system or based on task demands, plays an important role in efficient visual search.

Hyperspectral image analysis techniques for the detection and classification of the early onset of plant disease and stress.

This review explores how imaging techniques are being developed with a focus on deployment for crop monitoring methods. Imaging applications are discussed in relation to both field and glasshouse-based plants, and techniques are sectioned into 'healthy and diseased plant classification' with an emphasis on classification accuracy, early detection of stress, and disease severity. A central focus of the review is the use of hyperspectral imaging and how this is being utilised to find additional information about plant health, and the ability to predict onset of disease. A summary of techniques used to detect biotic and abiotic stress in plants is presented, including the level of accuracy associated with each method.

Relationships between circulating leucocytes and Leucocytozoon simondi in mallard, Anas platyrhynchos, ducklings.

Leucocytozoon simondi is an apicomplexan blood parasite of waterfowl that frequently causes significant mortality, and thus is expected to provoke a significant immune response in hosts. Using blood smears collected in consecutive weeks from 30 wild-stock mallard, Anas platyrhynchos, ducklings, we tested with repeated measures analyses for associations between leucocyte profiles and L. simondi infection intensities. With each of the five weeks of leucocyte profiles as response variables, we found evidence of fewer circulating heterophils and more circulating lymphocytes in the third week of infection associated with more intense L. simondi infections from the second week, but no significant relationships between leucocytes and the other four weeks of L. simondi infection. With each of the five weeks of L. simondi infection intensities as response variables, we found no associations with leucocyte profiles. Collectively, our results did not reveal tight links between leucocyte profiles and parasitism by L. simondi. Our data suggest that L. simondi was relatively benign to our wild ducks.

Efficacy of a topically applied spot-on formulation of a novel insecticide, metaflumizone, applied to cats against a flea strain (KS1) with documented reduced susceptibility to various insecticides.

A spot-on metaflumizone formulation was evaluated in adult domestic short hair cats to determine its adultidical efficacy against a flea strain that has reduced susceptibility to a number of insecticides. Eight cats served as non-treated controls, eight cats were treated with a metaflumizone formulation at 0.2 ml/kg (40 mg metaflumizone/kg) and eight cats were treated with fipronil 10% w/v-(s)-methoprene 12%w/v at 0.075 ml/kg (7.5-7.7 mg fipronil/kg:9.0-9.2 mg (s)-methoprene/kg). On days -1, 7, 14, 21, 28, 35, and 42 each cat was infested with approximately 100 unfed KS1 cat fleas, Ctenocephalides felis. At approximately 48 h after treatment or infestation, each cat was combed to remove and count live fleas. Treatment with metaflumizone provided > or = 99.3% efficacy for 3 weeks post-treatment and then 97.4, 91.4 and 86.2% efficacy at 4, 5 and 6 weeks post-treatment, respectively. Fipronil-(s)-methoprene provided 99.6% efficacy at 1 week post-treatment and then 97.6, 96.4, 71.3, 22.0 and 13.1% efficacy at weeks 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, respectively. The reductions in flea numbers were significantly greater for the metaflumizone treatment than for fipronil-(s)-methoprene from 3 to 6 weeks after treatment.

Efficacy of a topically applied formulation of metaflumizone on cats against the adult cat flea, flea egg production and hatch, and adult flea emergence.

A spot-on metaflumizone formulation was evaluated to determine its adulticidal efficacy, effect upon egg production, and ovicidal activity when applied to flea infested cats. Eight male and eight female adult domestic shorthair cats were randomly assigned to either serve as non-treated controls or were treated topically with a minimum of 40mg/kg metaflumizone in single spot-on Day 0. On Days -2, 7, 14, 21, 28, 35, 42, 49, and 56, each cat was infested with approximately 100 unfed cat fleas, Ctenocephalides felis felis. On Days 1, 2, and 3, and at 48 and 72h after each post-treatment reinfestation, flea eggs were collected and counted. At approximately 72h after treatment or infestation, each cat was combed to remove and count live fleas. Egg viability was determined by examining hatched eggs after 5 days and adult emergence was determined 28 days after egg collection. Metaflumizone provided >/=99.6% efficacy against adult fleas from Days 3 to 45 following a single application. Following treatment, egg production fell by 51.6% within 24h and 99.2% within 48h. Following subsequent weekly infestations egg production from treated cats was negligible out to Day 38, with >/=99.5% reduction relative to non-treated cats. Where there were eggs to evaluate, metaflumizone treatment did not have any apparent effect on the hatching of eggs or on the development and emergence of adult fleas from the eggs produced by fleas from treated animals.