How evolutionary behavioural sciences can help us understand behaviour in a pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought science into the public eye and to the attention of governments more than ever before. Much of this attention is on work in epidemiology, virology and public health, with most behavioural advice in public health focusing squarely on 'proximate' determinants of behaviour. While epidemiological models are powerful tools to predict the spread of disease when human behaviour is stable, most do not incorporate behavioural change. The evolutionary basis of our preferences and the cultural evolutionary dynamics of our beliefs drive behavioural change, so understanding these evolutionary processes can help inform individual and government decision-making in the face of a pandemic. Lay summary: The COVID-19 pandemic has brought behavioural sciences into the public eye: Without vaccinations, stopping the spread of the virus must rely on behaviour change by limiting contact between people. On the face of it, "stop seeing people" sounds simple. In practice, this is hard. Here we outline how an evolutionary perspective on behaviour change can provide additional insights. Evolutionary theory postulates that our psychology and behaviour did not evolve to maximize our health or that of others. Instead, individuals are expected to act to maximise their inclusive fitness (i.e, spreading our genes) - which can lead to a conflict between behaviours that are in the best interests for the individual, and behaviours that stop the spread of the virus. By examining the ultimate explanations of behaviour related to pandemic-management (such as behavioural compliance and social distancing), we conclude that "good of the group" arguments and "one size fits all" policies are unlikely to encourage behaviour change over the long-term. Sustained behaviour change to keep pandemics at bay is much more likely to emerge from environmental change, so governments and policy makers may need to facilitate significant social change - such as improving life experiences for disadvantaged groups.

Evaluation of the effect of vincristine on platelet count in dogs with lymphoma.

OBJECTIVES: To determine the effect of vincristine administration on the platelet count, platelet morphology and incidence of thrombocytopenia in dogs diagnosed with lymphoma. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Medical records of 59 dogs with lymphoma receiving vincristine sulphate were reviewed retrospectively. RESULTS: Following vincristine administration the platelet count was higher and the number of thrombocytopenic patients was lower. No difference was found in the number of dogs with enlarged and elliptical platelets following vincristine treatment. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: Vincristine administration increases platelet counts in dogs with lymphoma. It is not contra-indicated to administer vincristine to dogs with lymphoma that are thrombocytopenic.

Antibacterial activity of chemotherapeutic drugs against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus pseudintermedius.

The ability of chemotherapeutic agents to affect the growth of common bacterial pathogens and the relationship between the effects of chemotherapeutics and antimicrobials is largely unknown. The purpose of this study was to describe the susceptibility of canine bacterial isolates to chemotherapeutic agents and to compare these results to their antimicrobial susceptibility. The effects of bleomycin, doxorubicin, cytarabine, cyclophosphamide, methotrexate, 5-fluorouracil and gemcitabine on the growth of 33 Staphylococcus pseudintermedius isolates and 32 Escherichia coli isolates from dogs was determined by agar dilution. In addition to MICs, the lowest drug concentration associated with a decreased colony size was recorded. Results were compared to the MICs of a panel of antimicrobial agents. Bleomycin consistently inhibited bacterial growth of S. pseudintermedius and E. coli. Doxorubicin inhibited S. pseudintermedius but not E. coli while the opposite was seen for gemcitabine. Reduction in colony size on exposure to 5-fluorouracil for both organisms, and methotrexate for S. pseudintermedius was seen. No observable effect of cyclophosphamide or cytarabine was observed. Associations between elevated MICs to chemotherapeutic drugs and antimicrobial resistance were not found. These results indicate that chemotherapeutic agents affect the growth of bacteria, but do not support a role in the selection of antimicrobial resistance. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: This study shows that chemotherapy drugs commonly used in veterinary oncology have an effect of the growth of canine isolates of Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus pseudintermedius. No associations between susceptibility to chemotherapeutic drugs and antibiotics were found, which does not support selection of antimicrobial resistance by chemotherapy drugs.

Enhancing selectivity of cation exchange with anion receptors.

We introduce a new supramolecular strategy where an anion receptor modifies the selectivity ligands for cations. This is demonstrated by combining the classic anion receptor calix[4]pyrrole (C4P) and a phenolic ligand, which leads to remarkable enhancement in selectivity for Cs+ over Na+. Crystal structures and molecular simulations confirmed the persistent formation of ion-pair C4P-Cs+-phenolate complexes, while the smaller Na+ ion cannot efficiently interact.

Generating DNA sequence data with limited resources for molecular biology: Lessons from a barcoding project in Indonesia.

The advent of the DNA sequencing age has led to a revolution in biology. The rapid and cost-effective generation of high-quality sequence data has transformed many fields, including those focused on discovering species and surveying biodiversity, monitoring movement of biological materials, forensic biology, and disease diagnostics. There is a need to build capacity to generate useful sequence data in countries with limited historical access to laboratory resources, so that researchers can benefit from the advantages offered by these data. Commonly used molecular techniques such as DNA extraction, PCR, and DNA sequencing are within the reach of small laboratories in many countries, with the main obstacles to successful implementation being lack of funding and limited practical experience. Here we describe a successful approach that we developed to obtain DNA sequence data during a small DNA barcoding project in Indonesia.

A pilot study of cancer patients' use of traditional healers in the Radiotherapy Department, University College Hospital, Ibadan, Nigeria.

OBJECTIVE: This descriptive cross-sectional study assessed cancer patients' use of traditional healers, the association between delay in coming to this clinic and patients' use of traditional healers, reasons cancer patients use western medicine after trying traditional treatment and the cost of obtaining traditional treatment. METHODS: Participants were made of 400 consecutive and consenting new patients in the Department of Radiotherapy, University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan. A validated interviewer-administered semi-structured questionnaire was used for data collection. Data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Focus group discussions were held with some of the clients as well as the traditional healers. RESULTS: It showed that 34.5% of the patients patronized traditional healers, while 65.5% used only hospitals. The most common reason given among patients who patronized traditional healers for doing so was their desire to be healed and to be rid of pains (45.9%), while the most common reason they opt for western medicine afterwards was lack of improvement in their health condition (70.1%). The cost of traditional treatment for cancer ranged between no cost to N5,000 (that is approximately $31.25 @ $1 = N160) to be treated. The cost of orthodox care would range from a minimum of N40,000 to several millions of naira. CONCLUSIONS: Patients patronize traditional healers to be rid of pains; hence physicians should endeavor to control cancer-related symptoms, especially pains as the patients await diagnosis. Also, the low cost of obtaining traditional treatment, regular assurance of cure and other assistances given to them, could be an enticing factor in its use. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Using multi-country household surveys to understand who provides reproductive and maternal health services in low- and middle-income countries: a critical appraisal of the Demographic and Health Surveys.

OBJECTIVE: The Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) are a vital data resource for cross-country comparative analyses. This study is part of a set of analyses assessing the types of providers being used for reproductive and maternal health care across 57 countries. Here, we examine some of the challenges encountered using DHS data for this purpose, present the provider classification we used, and provide recommendations to enable more detailed and accurate cross-country comparisons of healthcare provision. METHODS: We used the most recent DHS surveys between 2000 and 2012; 57 countries had data on family planning and delivery care providers and 47 countries had data on antenatal care. Every possible response option across the 57 countries was listed and categorised. We then developed a classification to group provider response options according to two key dimensions: clinical nature and profit motive. RESULTS: We classified the different types of maternal and reproductive healthcare providers, and the individuals providing care. Documented challenges encountered during this process were limitations inherent in household survey data based on respondents' self-report; conflation of response options in the questionnaire or at the data processing stage; category errors of the place vs. professional for delivery; inability to determine whether care received at home is from the public or private sector; a large number of negligible response options; inconsistencies in coding and analysis of data sets; and the use of inconsistent headings. CONCLUSIONS: To improve clarity, we recommend addressing issues such as conflation of response options, data on public vs. private provider, inconsistent coding and obtaining metadata. More systematic and standardised collection of data would aid international comparisons of progress towards improved financial protection, and allow us to better characterise the incentives and commercial nature of different providers.

Radiation therapy interruption in a poor resource setting: causes and management..

BACKGROUND: Treatment interruption is the failure to execute approved treatment plan of a patient. This adversely affects treatment outcomeif not properly managed. This retrospective study causes and management of radiation treatment interruptions during High Dose Rate Brachytherapy(HDRB) for carcinoma of the cervix in a teaching hospital in Nigeria. METHODS: Five hundred patients with cervical carcinoma, who received HDRB, post external beam radiotherapy, between August, 2008 and July, 2013 were assessed. They were grouped into (A): those who experienced treatment interruption and (B): those who did not. Each patient was scheduled to receive three fractions of HDRB over 3 weeks. Those in groups A were assessed for the exact treatment fraction missed, the cause and duration of treatment interruption and the actions taken to compensate for non-execution of treatment. RESULTS: A total of 90 patients fall into group A and most (41) of them experienced interruptions in the third fraction of their treatment. The most frequent (44%) causes of treatment interruptions observed among them were patient-related. Record of compensation for treatment interruption was not found in patients' treatment folders. This action may be due to lack of functional procedures for managing treatment interruptions and insufficient follow-up of patients, who never came back for consideration for compensation. CONCLUSION: This study showed that radiation oncology centres need to review their policies for managing treatment interruptions and documentation. Also, the mechanism for patients' follow-up should be strengthened to a reasonable extent to achieve better radiotherapy care.

Phylotastic! Making tree-of-life knowledge accessible, reusable and convenient.

BACKGROUND: Scientists rarely reuse expert knowledge of phylogeny, in spite of years of effort to assemble a great "Tree of Life" (ToL). A notable exception involves the use of Phylomatic, which provides tools to generate custom phylogenies from a large, pre-computed, expert phylogeny of plant taxa. This suggests great potential for a more generalized system that, starting with a query consisting of a list of any known species, would rectify non-standard names, identify expert phylogenies containing the implicated taxa, prune away unneeded parts, and supply branch lengths and annotations, resulting in a custom phylogeny suited to the user's needs. Such a system could become a sustainable community resource if implemented as a distributed system of loosely coupled parts that interact through clearly defined interfaces. RESULTS: With the aim of building such a "phylotastic" system, the NESCent Hackathons, Interoperability, Phylogenies (HIP) working group recruited 2 dozen scientist-programmers to a weeklong programming hackathon in June 2012. During the hackathon (and a three-month follow-up period), 5 teams produced designs, implementations, documentation, presentations, and tests including: (1) a generalized scheme for integrating components; (2) proof-of-concept pruners and controllers; (3) a meta-API for taxonomic name resolution services; (4) a system for storing, finding, and retrieving phylogenies using semantic web technologies for data exchange, storage, and querying; (5) an innovative new service, DateLife.org, which synthesizes pre-computed, time-calibrated phylogenies to assign ages to nodes; and (6) demonstration projects. These outcomes are accessible via a public code repository (GitHub.com), a website (http://www.phylotastic.org), and a server image. CONCLUSIONS: Approximately 9 person-months of effort (centered on a software development hackathon) resulted in the design and implementation of proof-of-concept software for 4 core phylotastic components, 3 controllers, and 3 end-user demonstration tools. While these products have substantial limitations, they suggest considerable potential for a distributed system that makes phylogenetic knowledge readily accessible in computable form. Widespread use of phylotastic systems will create an electronic marketplace for sharing phylogenetic knowledge that will spur innovation in other areas of the ToL enterprise, such as annotation of sources and methods and third-party methods of quality assessment.

Plant DNA barcodes, taxonomic management, and species discovery in tropical forests.

DNA barcodes have great potential for species identification and taxonomic discovery in tropical forests. This use of DNA barcodes requires a reference DNA library of known taxa with which to match DNA from unidentified specimens. At an even more basic level, it presupposes that the species in the regional species pool have Latin binomials. This is not the case in species-rich tropical forests in which many species are new to science or members of poorly circumscribed species complexes. This chapter describes a workflow geared toward taxonomic discovery, which includes the discovery of new species, distribution records, and hybrid forms, and to management of taxonomic entities in forest inventory plots. It outlines the roles of laboratory technicians, field workers and herbarium-based taxonomists, and concludes with a discussion of potential multilocus nuclear DNA approaches for identifying species in recently evolved clades.

Evolutionary tools for phytosanitary risk analysis: phylogenetic signal as a predictor of host range of plant pests and pathogens.

Assessing risk from a novel pest or pathogen requires knowing which local plant species are susceptible. Empirical data on the local host range of novel pests are usually lacking, but we know that some pests are more likely to attack closely related plant species than species separated by greater evolutionary distance. We use the Global Pest and Disease Database, an internal database maintained by the United States Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service - Plant Protection and Quarantine Division (USDA APHIS-PPQ), to evaluate the strength of the phylogenetic signal in host range for nine major groups of plant pests and pathogens. Eight of nine groups showed significant phylogenetic signal in host range. Additionally, pests and pathogens with more known hosts attacked a phylogenetically broader range of hosts. This suggests that easily obtained data - the number of known hosts and the phylogenetic distance between known hosts and other species of interest - can be used to predict which plant species are likely to be susceptible to a particular pest. This can facilitate rapid assessment of risk from novel pests and pathogens when empirical host range data are not yet available and guide efficient collection of empirical data for risk evaluation.

Pattern of oncologic emergencies seen in adult cancer patients attending the Radiotherapy and Oncology Centre, Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, Zaria - Nigeria.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the Pattern of Oncologic Emergencies seen in Adult cancer patients and the treatment modalities used. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Between January 2004 and December 2008, a total of 1824 (M:F = 1:1.8) new patients were seen. 196 (M:F = 1:1.4) consecutive patients with histologically confirmed malignancies presenting with or having oncologic emergencies were treated and have been reviewed. Patients' folders were reviewed retrospectively with a structured pro forma. Results were analysed using Epi Info soft ware Version 3.4.1; 2007 Edition. RESULTS: The median age was 49 years and mean age of 42 years (range, 15 - 82 years). M: F = 1:1.4. 162 patients had oncologic emergencies at presentation while 21 during treatments and 13 during follow up. At the time of diagnosis of oncologic emergency, 126 were not on any treatment, 42 patients on hormonal therapy and 28 patients were on diverse chemotherapy. All the patients presented late with 108 patients presenting with metastatic disease and 88 patients with locally advanced disease. Only 35 patients were treated within 1 week of onset of emergency. 59 patients had cervical cancer, 31 patients with breast cancer and 28 patients with prostate cancer. Tumour haemorrhage wass the commonest oncologic emergency seen in 107 patients followed by bone pain with imminent cord compression from bone metastases in 59 patients. Of 107 patients with tumour haemorrhage, 54 patients had cardiovascular collapse with 7 having acute renal failure. Similarly, of the 107 with tumour haemorrhage, 56 patients bled from cervical cancer, 12 patients from breast cancer and 8 patients from urinary bladder. 129 patients were treated with teletherapy, 31 patients had chemotherapy, 27 patients had emergency surgery and 5 patients had chemoradiation. Oncologic emergencies were corrected in 126 patients. CONCLUSION: Tumour haemorrhage is the commonest oncologic emergency in this environment and teletherapy is the commonest therapy used. More radiotherapy centres are needed for prompt treatment and their usefulness in managing emergencies should be made known. Oncologic emergencies are commonly seen in metastatic and locally advanced disease.

The pattern of chest radiographs findings in metastatic cancer patients seen in a tertiary hospital in northern Nigeria.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the pattern of chest radiographs findings in metastatic cancer patients at first presentation in a tertiary hospital in northern Nigeria with a view to contributing to existing literature and making recommendation for optimal patients care in Nigerian hospitals. PATIENTS AND METHODS: From January 2002 to December 2007, 712 new patients were seen and 688 patients' chest radiographs excluding children (below 16 yr) were reviewed of which 118 were considered abnormal due to pathology arising from primary cancer. Those Chest radiographs showing pathology not related to cancer were excluded. Results were analysed using EPI-Info, version 3.4.1. 2007. RESULTS: 118 (17%) patients' chest radiographs (CXR) were having evidence of metastases from primary cancer. The sex ratio is M: F = 1: 1.7 with a mean age of 48.1 years (Range 16 - 82 yrs). Breast cancer was the commonest cause of metastatic spread to the lungs seen in 44 (37.3%) patients followed by colorectal 10 (8.5%), soft tissue sarcoma 9 (7.6%), and bone sarcoma 8 (6.8%). Cervical cancer which was the commonest type of malignancies seen at presentation accounted only for 8 (6.7%) cases. Both lungs were involved in 62 (52.5%) patients, followed by right lung alone in 42 (35.6%) cases and left lung alone in 14 (11.9%) cases. The mid zone was the commonest site of lung metastases 102 (86.4%) followed by lower zone 42 (35.6%). Pleural effusion seen in 26 (22%) patients affected both lungs equally. Multiple lung metastases were the predominant pattern of metastases seen in 94 (80%) cases. Majority 82 (69.5%) of lungs metastases were of sizes less than 2cm. CONCLUSION: Multiple lung metastases were the commonest pattern of lung metastases. Both lungs and mid zone were mainly affected. Lung metastases were very common from breast, colorectal, bone sarcoma, prostate cancers but relatively rare from cervical, head and Neck cancers and lymphomas. Chest radiographs should be part of initial evaluation of all cancer patients.

Decreased NADPH oxidase expression and antioxidant activity in cachectic skeletal muscle.

BACKGROUND: Cancer cachexia is the progressive loss of skeletal muscle protein that contributes significantly to cancer morbidity and mortality. Evidence of antioxidant attenuation and the presence of oxidised proteins in patients with cancer cachexia indicate a role for oxidative stress. The level of oxidative stress in tissues is determined by an imbalance between reactive oxygen species production and antioxidant activity. This study aimed to investigate the superoxide generating NADPH oxidase (NOX) enzyme and antioxidant enzyme systems in murine adenocarcinoma tumour-bearing cachectic mice. METHODS: Superoxide levels, mRNA levels of NOX enzyme subunits and the antioxidant enzymes superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidise (GPx) and catalase was measured in the skeletal muscle of mice with cancer and cancer cachexia. Protein expression levels of NOX enzyme subunits and antioxidant enzyme activity was also measured in the same muscle samples. RESULTS: Superoxide levels increased 1.4-fold in the muscle of mice with cancer cachexia, and this was associated with a decrease in mRNA of NOX enzyme subunits, NOX2, p40(phox) and p67(phox) along with the antioxidant enzymes SOD1, SOD2 and GPx. Cancer cachexia was also associated with a 1.3-fold decrease in SOD1 and 2.0-fold decrease in GPx enzyme activity. CONCLUSION: Despite increased superoxide levels in cachectic skeletal muscle, NOX enzyme subunits, NOX2, p40(phox) and p67(phox), were downregulated along with the expression and activity of the antioxidant enzymes. Therefore, the increased superoxide levels in cachectic skeletal muscle may be attributed to the reduction in the activity of endogenous antioxidant enzymes.

Soils on exposed Sunda shelf shaped biogeographic patterns in the equatorial forests of Southeast Asia.

The marked biogeographic difference between western (Malay Peninsula and Sumatra) and eastern (Borneo) Sundaland is surprising given the long time that these areas have formed a single landmass. A dispersal barrier in the form of a dry savanna corridor during glacial maxima has been proposed to explain this disparity. However, the short duration of these dry savanna conditions make it an unlikely sole cause for the biogeographic pattern. An additional explanation might be related to the coarse sandy soils of central Sundaland. To test these two nonexclusive hypotheses, we performed a floristic cluster analysis based on 111 tree inventories from Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra, and Borneo. We then identified the indicator genera for clusters that crossed the central Sundaland biogeographic boundary and those that did not cross and tested whether drought and coarse-soil tolerance of the indicator genera differed between them. We found 11 terminal floristic clusters, 10 occurring in Borneo, 5 in Sumatra, and 3 in Peninsular Malaysia. Indicator taxa of clusters that occurred across Sundaland had significantly higher coarse-soil tolerance than did those from clusters that occurred east or west of central Sundaland. For drought tolerance, no such pattern was detected. These results strongly suggest that exposed sandy sea-bed soils acted as a dispersal barrier in central Sundaland. However, we could not confirm the presence of a savanna corridor. This finding makes it clear that proposed biogeographic explanations for plant and animal distributions within Sundaland, including possible migration routes for early humans, need to be reevaluated.

Picante: R tools for integrating phylogenies and ecology.

SUMMARY: Picante is a software package that provides a comprehensive set of tools for analyzing the phylogenetic and trait diversity of ecological communities. The package calculates phylogenetic diversity metrics, performs trait comparative analyses, manipulates phenotypic and phylogenetic data, and performs tests for phylogenetic signal in trait distributions, community structure and species interactions. AVAILABILITY: Picante is a package for the R statistical language and environment written in R and C, released under a GPL v2 open-source license, and freely available on the web (http://picante.r-forge.r-project.org) and from CRAN (http://cran.r-project.org).

Erratum to "Maternal, neonatal and child health interventions and services: moving from knowledge of what works to systems that deliver" [International Health 2 (2010) 87-98].

The Publisher regrets that an error occurred in the name of the 6th listed co-author for this paper. B. Matthias was listed in the original paper instead of M. Borchert; the correct listing can be seen above.

Risk factors for severe pre-eclampsia and eclampsia in Mulago Hospital, Kampala, Uganda.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the risk factors for severe pre-eclampsia and eclampsia in Mulago Hospital, Kampala, Uganda. DESIGN: A case control study. SETTING: Mulago Hospital labour ward SUBJECT: One hundread and fourty three women with severe pre-eclampsia/eclampsia and 500 women with normal delivery. RESULTS: The predictors of severe pre-eclampsia/eclampsia were: low socio - economic status (OR 7.6, 95%CI 3.9 - 26.9), chronic hypertension (OR 26.9, 95% CI 4.3-170.4), family history of hypertension (OR 1.9, 95% CI 1.2-2.9), nulliparity (OR 2.2, 95% CI 1.2-4.3) and delivery of male babies (OR 1.5, 95% CI 1.0 to 2.3). CONCLUSION: Severe pre- eclampsia is one of the main causes of maternal morbidity and mortality in Mulago hospital. The predictors of severe pre - eclampsia were chronic hypertension, family history of hypertension, low socio - economic status, nulliparity and delivering male babies. Health workers need to identify women at risk and offer them counseling and, those who develop pre - eclampsia be referred and managed in hospitals with expertise and facilities. Those who develop severe pre-eclampsia should be delivered immediately so as to reduce the morbidity and mortality associated with this condition.