A seafood risk tool for assessing and mitigating chemical and pathogen hazards in the aquaculture supply chain.

Intricate links between aquatic animals and their environment expose them to chemical and pathogenic hazards, which can disrupt seafood supply. Here we outline a risk schema for assessing potential impacts of chemical and microbial hazards on discrete subsectors of aquaculture-and control measures that may protect supply. As national governments develop strategies to achieve volumetric expansion in seafood production from aquaculture to meet increasing demand, we propose an urgent need for simultaneous focus on controlling those hazards that limit its production, harvesting, processing, trade and safe consumption. Policies aligning national and international water quality control measures for minimizing interaction with, and impact of, hazards on seafood supply will be critical as consumers increasingly rely on the aquaculture sector to supply safe, nutritious and healthy diets.

The Structured Assessment of Violence Risk in Adults with Intellectual Disability: A Systematic Review.

BACKGROUND: While structured professional judgement approaches to assessing and managing the risk of violence have been extensively examined in mental health/forensic settings, the application of the findings to people with an intellectual disability is less extensively researched and reviewed. This review aimed to assess whether risk assessment tools have adequate predictive validity for violence in adults with an intellectual disability. METHODS: Standard systematic review methodology was used to identify and synthesize appropriate studies. RESULTS: A total of 14 studies were identified as meeting the inclusion criteria. These studies assessed the predictive validity of 18 different risk assessment tools, mainly in forensic settings. All studies concluded that the tools assessed were successful in predicting violence. Studies were generally of a high quality. CONCLUSIONS: There is good quality evidence that risk assessment tools are valid for people with intellectual disability who offend but further research is required to validate tools for use with people with intellectual disability who offend.

The critical stage of pinealectomy surgery after which scoliosis is produced in young chickens.

STUDY DESIGN: Stages of the surgical procedure for pinealectomy in chickens were identified. Groups of chickens were selected for each stage. Scoliosis development was identified from radiographs. OBJECTIVES: To determine the critical stage of surgery for pinealectomy after which scoliosis develops in young chickens. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA: Pinealectomy in young chickens consistently produces scoliosis in young chickens that has many characteristics similar to those seen in patients with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis. The mechanism behind this phenomenon remains unknown. METHODS: Five distinct stages in the pinealectomy surgery were identified. Groups of chickens were selected to undergo surgery to represent these five stages. Scoliosis was determined from weekly radiographs. RESULTS: Cutting the pineal stalk was identified as the critical stage in the surgery after which scoliosis developed. The incidence of scoliosis did not increase after more extensive surgery in which the pineal bulb was removed from the skull. This stage was also correlated with a significant reduction of serum melatonin levels. CONCLUSIONS: Cutting the pineal stalk was identified as the critical stage of pinealectomy surgery after which scoliosis may develop. This stage was also correlated with the significant reduction of average serum melatonin levels. These results allow the focus of attention into the mechanism behind this phenomenon to center on the consequences of cutting the pineal stalk rather than total removal of the pineal gland.

A transpedicularly implanted anterior spinal support.

This article describes a device that has been developed to augment posterior spinal fracture fixation by providing support for the anterior column of the spine. The device is contracted for insertion through the limited opening provided by the transpedicular approach to the vertebral body. Once in situ it is configured to support physiological loads. In this way the structural limitations of posterior instrumentation and the surgical difficulties of anterior spinal fixation instrumentation are overcome. A preliminary investigation of the new device together with in vitro studies of a prototype are described in this report. In vitro tests to determine the expansion characteristics and structural performance of the device were performed together with tests to determine the efficacy of the support to reduce loading on the posterior fixation device. It is shown that the device has the necessary expansion characteristics and can support physiological loads without failure. Tests using porcine vertebral columns with a simulated vertebral fracture showed a significant reduction in load carried by the posterior fixation plates (44 +/- 16%) when the anterior support was included in the construct. In addition, the difference in loading between the left and right plates was significantly reduced (81 +/- 12%).

Acetabular changes in an experimental model of developmental dysplasia of the hip (DDH).

We wished to correlate the morphological acetabular changes in developmental dysplasia of the hip (DDH) with changes at the tissue level. A secondary aim was to develop a way of measuring the dysplastic acetabulum. We studied the changes in rabbit acetabula after maintaining knee extension, measuring the major diameter from the acetabular notch to the farthest opposite point on the acetabular margin. The minor diameter was at right angles to this. The dysplastic acetabula showed elongation along the major diameter compared to control hips. Microscopic sections were made along major and minor diameters. The posterosuperior lip of the dysplastic acetabulum showed an early eversion of the acetabular cartilage. Growth of the articular cartilage in this new direction accounted for the acetabular elongation. As well as providing insight into the manner of acetabular shape change, the findings suggest the nature of remodeling required before normal acetabular growth can resume during treatment.

Magnetic resonance imaging study of acetabular morphology in developmental dysplasia of the hip.

Acetabular morphology in developmental dysplasia of the hip (DDH) can be delineated by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) more accurately than by previously available imaging methods. We describe the acetabular morphology observed in 10 girls and one boy aged < 3 years with untreated DDH. The bony pathology was iliac bone widening with lateral drift of the superior and posterior portions of the acetabular floor (extrusio acetabulae), loss of sphericity, and diminished aperture of the acetabulum. The cartilage changes were a distortion and overgrowth of the acetabular cartilage, including labrum, and a convex appearance of the posterior portion of the acetabular cartilage.

Vibratory response in adolescents who have idiopathic scoliosis.

The PVD Bio-Thesiometer was tested as a tool for measuring vibratory thresholds and for detecting possible differences in these thresholds between adolescents who have idiopathic scoliosis and those who do not. It was found to be limited by low reliability and large errors in measurement, with the metatarsophalangeal joint being the only reliable site for measurement. The vibratory thresholds at this site were significantly higher in the fourteen subjects who had scoliosis than in the twenty-two control subjects. No significant asymmetry in vibratory thresholds was found between the concave and convex or the right and left sides in either the scoliotic or the control group. Because there was no significant difference between the readings from the concave and convex sides, it is unlikely that a lesion of the posterior column is responsible for idiopathic scoliosis. If there is a difference, then the PVD Bio-Thesiometer is not sufficiently reliable to detect it.

The histochemical composition of human vertebral muscle.

This paper describes the ranges of variation of characteristics present in human vertebral muscle. The samples used are from subjects who had a relatively brief history of spinal dysfunction. The samples have been taken in a precise manner and from a specific vertebral level with both sides of the vertebral column being studied including both superficial and deep muscles. These values for typical muscle for the ages investigated now can be used in studies involving abnormal vertebral muscle.

Paraspinal muscle imbalance in adolescent idiopathic scoliosis.

Twelve muscle biopsy samples were taken at operation for spinal instrumentation from each of seven patients suffering from idiopathic scoliosis (one male and six female patients; mean age 14.3 years). The samples were collected from two specific sites (superficial and deep) on both sides on the vertebral column at the level of the apex of the primary curve and two vertebral levels above and below the apex. The results of this study support and extend the findings of other workers. Not only was a significantly larger percentage of Type I fibers found in multifidus muscle at the apex on the curve on the convex side as other workers have found but also in the superficial muscles above and below the apex of the curve on the convex side. These results present a complex picture of muscle fiber characteristics associated with idiopathic scoliosis.

Analysis of vertebral muscle obtained during surgery for correction of a lumbar disc disorder.

Biopsies of erector spinae (sacrospinalis) and multifidus muscles were taken, in a precise manner, adjacent to lumbar vertebra 5, from 18 patients aged 28-73, suffering from acute lumbar disc disorders. The respective muscle fiber characteristics were assessed histologically and histochemically using ATPase and NADH staining procedures. A 'strength factor' component was developed for each muscle by combining measurements of fiber area and fiber type, to introduce a functional indication of force. No obvious signs of muscle pathology were evident histologically or histochemically. While a large difference in muscle characteristics may exist on opposite sides of the vertebral column in individual subjects, these differences do not appear to be related to the side of the disc protrusion. It is therefore suggested that muscle obtained from patients suffering from disc protrusion can be used as representative of normal muscle.

A comparison of vertebral muscle fiber characteristics between human and monkey tissue.

A comparison has been made of the vertebral muscle fiber characteristics between human and rhesus monkey. The main purpose of the experiment was to assess the value of the monkey as an animal model for the study of idiopathic scoliosis involving vertebral muscle influence. Vertebral muscle samples were collected from both clearly defined superficial and deep sites on both sides of the column in the midlumbar region. The material was subjected to routine histological and histochemical techniques. The results show considerable similarities between the deep muscle samples of the two species, but the superficial muscles are significantly different on most of the measurements made.