Naturally occurring transmissible spongiform encephalopathies have been recognised in sheep, man, mink, captive deer and cattle. Recently a similar disease was reported in a domestic cat. This paper describes the clinical and pathological findings in five cats with similar signs, including further observations on the original case. All the cats had a progressive, neurological disease involving locomotor disturbances, abnormal behaviour and, in most cases, altered sensory responses. Histopathological examination of the central nervous system revealed changes pathognomonic of the scrapie-like encephalopathies, including widespread vacuolation of the grey matter neuropil, vacuolation of neuronal perikarya and an astrocytic reaction.
Photon scattering is one of the main effects contributing to the degradation of image quality and to quantitative inaccuracy in nuclear imaging. We have developed a scatter correction based on a simplified version of the analytic photon distribution (APD) method, and have implemented it in an iterative image reconstruction algorithm. The scatter distributions generated using this approach were compared to those obtained using the original APD method. Reconstructions were performed using computer simulations, phantom experiments, and patient data. Images corrected for scatter, attenuation, and collimator blurring were compared to images corrected only for attenuation and collimator blurring. In the simulation studies, results were compared to an ideal situation in which only the primary (unscattered) photon data were reconstructed. Results showed that in all cases, the scatter-corrected images demonstrated substantially improved image contrast relative to no scatter correction. For simulated data, scatter-corrected images had very similar contrast and noise properties to the primary-only reconstructions. Additional work is required to further reduce the computation times to clinically viable amounts.Index Terms-Compton scatter, image reconstruction, Klein-Nishina formula, scatter correction, single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT).
BackgroundHealth equity concerns the absence of avoidable and unfair differences in health. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) can provide evidence about the impact of an intervention on health equity for specific disadvantaged populations or in general populations; this is important for equity-focused decision-making. Previous work has identified a lack of adequate reporting guidelines for assessing health equity in RCTs. The objective of this study is to develop guidelines to improve the reporting of health equity considerations in RCTs, as an extension of the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT).Methods/designA six-phase study using integrated knowledge translation governed by a study executive and advisory board will assemble empirical evidence to inform the CONSORT-equity extension. To create the guideline, the following steps are proposed: (1) develop a conceptual framework for identifying “equity-relevant trials,” (2) assess empirical evidence regarding reporting of equity-relevant trials, (3) consult with global methods and content experts on how to improve reporting of health equity in RCTs, (4) collect broad feedback and prioritize items needed to improve reporting of health equity in RCTs, (5) establish consensus on the CONSORT-equity extension: the guideline for equity-relevant trials, and (6) broadly disseminate and implement the CONSORT-equity extension.DiscussionThis work will be relevant to a broad range of RCTs addressing questions of effectiveness for strategies to improve practice and policy in the areas of social determinants of health, clinical care, health systems, public health, and international development, where health and/or access to health care is a primary outcome. The outcomes include a reporting guideline (CONSORT-equity extension) for equity-relevant RCTs and a knowledge translation strategy to broadly encourage its uptake and use by journal editors, authors, and funding agencies.
Is it difficult being a woman scientist?" the biochemist Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin was asked at high table dinner in an Oxford college by the man sitting next to her. "Not since I won the Nobel Prize," she replied. 1 In 1964, the British press had reacted to her award with the headlines: "Oxford housewife wins Nobel" and "British woman wins Nobel Prize-£18 750 prize to mother of three." 2 While such overtly sexist treatment of female scientists by the media is now rare, progress towards gender equality in universities has been astonishingly slow. A UK parliamentary inquiry into women in scientific careers found that with only 17% of professors in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) in 2011-12 women were still under-represented at senior levels across all STEM disciplines. 3 Concerned with the sustainability of increasing the scientific workforce, the inquiry concluded that efforts to inspire more women into science were wasted if they were subsequently disadvantaged compared with men and recommended that universities should do more to support and retain women in scientific careers. 3
Two young male common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus) were injected intracerebrally and intraperitoneally with a crude brain homogenate prepared from a cow with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). Two other marmosets were similarly injected with brain homogenate from a sheep with natural scrapie. The two animals injected with scrapie material developed neurological signs 38 and 42 months after injection and the two animals injected with BSE material developed neurological signs after 46 and 47 months. Post mortem examination of the brains revealed spongiform encephalopathy especially in the basal nuclei and diencephalon of all the animals and, in addition, involvement of the cerebral cortex of the marmosets injected with scrapie material. The experiment extends the host range of experimental BSE to include a primate species.
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