A total of 8268 dogs were surveyed in 11 veterinary practices in the United Kingdom during a period of six months in 1983. The primary purpose of the survey was to assess the level of obesity on a five point scale with properly identified criteria. Information on the clinical condition of each dog was also recorded as well as proportions of food types fed, particulars of breed, sex, age, sexual status and the dog's name. Results showed that 21.4 per cent of dogs in the survey were judged to be obese and 2.9 per cent gross; 1.9 per cent were judged as thin, 13.5 per cent lean and 60.3 per cent were optimum. Labradors were found to be the most likely breed to become obese. Neutered females were about twice as likely to be obese as entire females. The same trend was evident with neutered males. Circulatory problems were associated with dogs over 10 years old and those which were gross, rather than obese. A similar trend was discernable with articular/locomotor problems. Skin and reproductive problems showed little relationship with age or obesity. Neoplasia was much more prevalent in dogs over 10 years old but had little relationship with either sexual status or obesity rating. There was a high rate of usage of prepared food for all categories. The amount of fresh food fed decreased rapidly as the proportion of canned food increased, but the obese and non-obese dogs showed very little difference in the type of food fed.

ImportanceWhether selective decontamination of the digestive tract (SDD) reduces mortality in critically ill patients remains uncertain.ObjectiveTo determine whether SDD reduces in-hospital mortality in critically ill adults.Design, Setting, and ParticipantsA cluster, crossover, randomized clinical trial that recruited 5982 mechanically ventilated adults from 19 intensive care units (ICUs) in Australia between April 2018 and May 2021 (final follow-up, August 2021). A contemporaneous ecological assessment recruited 8599 patients from participating ICUs between May 2017 and August 2021.InterventionsICUs were randomly assigned to adopt or not adopt a SDD strategy for 2 alternating 12-month periods, separated by a 3-month interperiod gap. Patients in the SDD group (n = 2791) received a 6-hourly application of an oral paste and administration of a gastric suspension containing colistin, tobramycin, and nystatin for the duration of mechanical ventilation, plus a 4-day course of an intravenous antibiotic with a suitable antimicrobial spectrum. Patients in the control group (n = 3191) received standard care.Main Outcomes and MeasuresThe primary outcome was in-hospital mortality within 90 days. There were 8 secondary outcomes, including the proportion of patients with new positive blood cultures, antibiotic-resistant organisms (AROs), and Clostridioides difficile infections. For the ecological assessment, a noninferiority margin of 2% was prespecified for 3 outcomes including new cultures of AROs.ResultsOf 5982 patients (mean age, 58.3 years; 36.8% women) enrolled from 19 ICUs, all patients completed the trial. There were 753/2791 (27.0%) and 928/3191 (29.1%) in-hospital deaths in the SDD and standard care groups, respectively (mean difference, −1.7% [95% CI, −4.8% to 1.3%]; odds ratio, 0.91 [95% CI, 0.82-1.02]; P = .12). Of 8 prespecified secondary outcomes, 6 showed no significant differences. In the SDD vs standard care groups, 23.1% vs 34.6% had new ARO cultures (absolute difference, −11.0%; 95% CI, −14.7% to −7.3%), 5.6% vs 8.1% had new positive blood cultures (absolute difference, −1.95%; 95% CI, −3.5% to −0.4%), and 0.5% vs 0.9% had new C difficile infections (absolute difference, −0.24%; 95% CI, −0.6% to 0.1%). In 8599 patients enrolled in the ecological assessment, use of SDD was not shown to be noninferior with regard to the change in the proportion of patients who developed new AROs (−3.3% vs −1.59%; mean difference, −1.71% [1-sided 97.5% CI, −∞ to 4.31%] and 0.88% vs 0.55%; mean difference, −0.32% [1-sided 97.5% CI, −∞ to 5.47%]) in the first and second periods, respectively.Conclusions and RelevanceAmong critically ill patients receiving mechanical ventilation, SDD, compared with standard care without SDD, did not significantly reduce in-hospital mortality. However, the confidence interval around the effect estimate includes a clinically important benefit.Trial RegistrationClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02389036

What is New Zealand, and where is New Zealand other than alone in the earth's watery hemisphere, immersed in the South Pacific, 2000 kilometres from anywhere including Australia? Like Australia, New Zealand was imagined long before it became a political entity. Co-constituted with the future Australia as part of Australasia, this settler community is an invention of two worlds, firstly Polynesia, followed 500 years later by the British world south of Asia, which grew from a beachhead at Sydney. What was the experience of modernity and modernism at the edge, by voyagers to this thinly populated archipelago, the last major landmass occupied by humans? We ask these questions in exchange with our trans-Tasman friends and neighbours at Thesis Eleven, with whom we share the region which our authors call 'Australasia', and which we call the 'Tasman world' (Mein Smith and Hempenstall, 2008). This issue is designed, however, to demonstrate the distinct perspectives on the 'antipodean condition' (Pocock, 2005: 6) which New Zealanders possess.To think in terms of traffic with neighbours across the Tasman Sea offers one way to overcome the limits that national narratives impose on how communities view their worlds, or see themselves in relation to others. Being antipodean serves as a reminder of how national identity and global outreach are interdependent. Yet, in foregrounding links and shared histories in the southern ocean, we cannot dismiss the identity stories that communities create for themselves. New Zealanders, however connected they are culturally to Australia by a long history of traffic, are differently positioned from Australians within world systems as well as within their separate, recent, national myths and storylines. Both New Zealand and Australia belong to a complex of histories south of Asia. But New Zealand's relationship to Asia assumes a different shape because of its geographical position. Both New Zealand and Australia share much culturally with the United States, yet New Zealand has a differently configured historical relationship with that country. New Zealand

Ron Palenski is a noted journalist as well as historian.  As someone who has written on the history of sport and who runs the New Zealand Hall of Fame, he has a keen interest in national identity, so much so that we wrote a PhD on the subject at the University of Otago. The Making of New Zealanders is based on this thesis, though readers would not have known without being told as Palenski's skill as a writer ensures that the style is vigorous, engaging and accessible.

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