My Diabetes My Way:An Evolving National Data Driven Diabetes Self Management Platform

MyDiabetesMyWay (MDMW) is an award-wining national electronic personal health record and self-management platform for diabetes patients in Scotland. This platform links multiple national institutional and patient-recorded data sources to provide a unique resource for patient care and self-management. This review considers the current evidence for online interventions in diabetes and discusses these in the context of current and ongoing developments for MDMW. Evaluation of MDMW through patient reported outcomes demonstrates a positive impact on self-management. User feedback has highlighted barriers to uptake and has guided platform evolution from an education resource website to an electronic personal health record now encompassing remote monitoring, communication tools and personalized education links. Challenges in delivering digital interventions for long-term conditions include integration of data between institutional and personal recorded sources to perform big data analytics and facilitating technology use in those with disabilities, low digital literacy, low socioeconomic status and in minority groups. The potential for technology supported health improvement is great, but awareness and adoption by health workers and patients remains a significant barrier

Weierstrass meets Enriques

We study in detail the degeneration of K3 to T^4/Z_2. We obtain an explicit embedding of the lattice of collapsed cycles of T^4/Z_2 into the lattice of integral cycles of K3 in two different ways. Our first method exploits the duality to the heterotic string on T^3. This allows us to describe the degeneration in terms of Wilson lines. Our second method is based on the blow-up of T^4/Z_2. From this blow-up, we directly construct the full lattice of integral cycles of K3. Finally, we use our results to describe the action of the Enriques involution on elliptic K3 surfaces, finding that a Weierstrass model description is consistent with the Enriques involution only in the F-theory limit.Comment: 35 pages, 9 figure

Peracetic acid to replace zinc oxide, modulating microbiota to control pig post-weaning diarrhoea

ApplicationIn-water peracetic acid (PAA, CH3CO3H), derived by the hydrolysis of sodium percarbonate (SP) and tetraacetylenediamine (TAED) could replace zinc oxide (ZnO), controlling pig post-weaning diarrhoea via microbiota modulations.IntroductionZnO has been widely used to alleviate weaning-diarrhoea symptoms (Ou et al., 2007), however it has recently faced a ban due to environmental pollution. SP/TAED-derived in-water PAA is a broad-spectrum antimicrobial-alternative with proven efficacy in poultry (Galgano et al., 2021). In this study, we tested the PAA potential towards post-weaning diarrhoea compared to ZnO.Materials and methodsFour treatments, control, in-feed ZnO (3100 ppm), 50 ppm and 150 ppm of PAA, were administered to 6 pens/treatment (14-day trial) with 2 pigs per pen and 6 rooms (4 pens/room). In-water PAA treatments were prepared daily, mixing different ratios of SP and TAED. We measured faecal scores/performance, and microbial composition via 16S rRNA sequencing (515Fb-816Rb) of DNA from stomach, ileum and caecum. Linear mixed model was carried out in R with lme4 for performance and MaAsLin2 for taxonomical data, including fixed (treatment) and random effects (rooms/pens/pigs), β-diversity was analysed via PERMANOVA.ResultsLower faecal score, linked to improved diarrhoea was found in the ZnO group at day-7 (1.26 ± 0.2) compared to control (1.52 ± 0.1, P < 0.05), whilst day-14 diarrhoea improved in 150 ppm (1.57 ± 0.44, P = 0.05), ZnO and 50 ppm (1.36 ± 0.26 1.57 ± 0.31, P < 0.05) compared to control (1.8 ± 0.37).Bray-Curtis dissimilarity analysis showed different caecal microbial composition in the control group, compared to 50 ppm, 150 ppm and ZnO (P < 0.05, Q < 0.05). The same analysis showed that 50 ppm and 150 ppm had similar caecal composition, which was however different from ZnO (P < 0.05, Q < 0.05). Stomach Campylobacter was reduced in 150 ppm, ZnO (P < 0.05, Q < 0.05), and 50 ppm (P < 0.05, Q = 0.161) compared to control. ∼20 caecal genera were differentially abundant, e.g., Ruminococcus, Oribacterium reduced were in ZnO compared to control (P < 0.05, Q < 0.05).ConclusionsWe found that both PAA and ZnO improved the faecal scores. PAA and ZnO reduced stomach Campylobacter, linked to post-weaning diarrhoea (Adhikari et al., 2019). Ruminococcus and Oribacterium, linked with better performance (Uryu et al., 2020) were only reduced in ZnO

Impact of precursor-derived peracetic acid on post-weaning diarrhea , intestinal microbiota and predicted microbial functional genes in weaned pigs

Post-weaning diarrhea affects piglets in the nursery phase of production, leading to a substantial impact both at the farm and financial levels. The multifactorial etiology of this disease includes housing conditions, pig genetics, microbial composition, and metagenomic assets. Among the common therapeutic approaches, the widely used zinc oxide underwent a European Union ban in 2022 due to its negative environmental impact and correlation to increased antimicrobial resistance. During this study, we have tested two levels of inclusion of the potential antimicrobial alternative peracetic acid, delivered in water via the hydrolysis of the precursors sodium percarbonate and tetraacetylethylenediamine, in comparison to zinc oxide and an untreated control during a 2-week animal study. We assessed the microbial composition and predicted the metagenome, together with performance and physiological parameters, in order to describe the microbial functional role in etiopathology. Both zinc oxide and peracetic acid resulted in amelioration of the diarrheal status by the end of the trial period, with noticeable zinc oxide effects visible from the first week. This was accompanied by improved performance when compared to the first-week figures and a decreased stomach pH in both peracetic acid levels. A significant reduction in both stomach and caecal Proteobacteria was recorded in the zinc oxide group, and a significant reduction of Campylobacter in the stomach was reported for both zinc oxide and one of the peracetic acid concentrations. Among other functional differences, we found that the predicted ortholog for the zonula occludens toxin, a virulence factor present in pathogens like Escherichia coli and Campylobacter jejuni, was less abundant in the stomach of treated pigs compared to the control group. In water, peracetic acid delivered via precursor hydrolysis has the potential to be a valid intervention, an alternative to antimicrobial, to assist the weaning of piglets. Our findings support the view that post-weaning diarrhea is a complex multifactorial disease with an important metagenomic component characterized by the differential abundance of specific predicted orthologs and microbial genera in the stomach and caecum of pigs

Distinct iron isotopic signatures and supply from marine sediment dissolution

Oceanic iron inputs must be traced and quantified to learn how they affect primary productivity and climate. Chemical reduction of iron in continental margin sediments provides a substantial dissolved flux to the oceans, which is isotopically lighter than the crust, and so may be distinguished in seawater from other sources, such as wind-blown dust. However, heavy iron isotopes measured in seawater have recently led to the proposition of another source of dissolved iron from ‘non-reductive’ dissolution of continental margins. Here we present the first pore water iron isotope data from a passive-tectonic and semi-arid ocean margin (South Africa), which reveals a smaller and isotopically heavier flux of dissolved iron to seawater than active-tectonic and dysoxic continental margins. These data provide in situ evidence of non-reductive iron dissolution from a continental margin, and further show that geological and hydro-climatic factors may affect the amount and isotopic composition of iron entering the ocean

The antimicrobial alternative precursor-derived peracetic acid and zinc oxide lead to a sex dependent microbial modulation in weaning piglets

Several authors described the sexual dimorphism of the gut microbiota in pigs and other animals in relation to sex-specific modulation following interventions such as diet or prebiotic and probiotic. These differences can also influence the host phenotype through the bi-directional pathways of the microbiota-gut-brain axis and could ultimately impact animal’s welfare and wellbeing. Post weaning diarrhoea is a multifactorial disease that occurs in piglets and is characterized by the sudden diet change from the saw milk to solid feedstuff, with moderate to heavy diarrhoea, accompanied by decreased performance, usually body weight gain. In our previous work, we described that the broad-spectrum antimicrobial-alternative peracetic acid Page 2 of 28ameliorated the diarrhetic symptoms in piglets similarly to what observed for zinc oxide. Here, we present a further analysis of this data set, assessing the interactions between interventions and the sex. A 14-day animal study was carried out, during which 28-day old, weaned piglets were allocated to 24-floor pens with 4 treatments, 6 pens and 12 piglets per treatment, 6 males and 6 females. The four treatments were a negative control, supra-nutritional in-feed zinc oxide and either 50 or 150 mg/kg of in-water peracetic acid. Performance and post-weaning diarrhoea were assessed throughout the study, whereas at day 14, gastrointestinal content samples were collected from all the pigs to allow downstream total bacterial quantification and 16S rRNA sequencing analysis. We found that the body weight gain was greater in females compared to males given zinc oxide or peracetic acid. Moreover, apart from sex-specific differences in the microbial composition, we observed that both peracetic acid and zinc oxide led to different microbial modulation in males and females. Indeed, in the stomach, Sarcina, Actinobacillus and unclassified Neisseriaceae were depleted only in males given the high peracetic acid concentration whilst the same treatment led to the reduction of Moraxella in females. Escherichia-Shigella was reduced after zinc oxide administration but only in females. Finally, although Lactobacillus was less abundant in males in the caecum, both zinc oxide and peracetic acid led to its increase, but only in males

Impact of precursor-derived peracetic acid on post-weaning diarrhea , intestinal microbiota and predicted microbial functional genes in weaned pigs

Post-weaning diarrhea affects piglets in the nursery phase of production, leading to a substantial impact both at the farm and financial levels. The multifactorial etiology of this disease includes housing conditions, pig genetics, microbial composition, and metagenomic assets. Among the common therapeutic approaches, the widely used zinc oxide underwent a European Union ban in 2022 due to its negative environmental impact and correlation to increased antimicrobial resistance. During this study, we have tested two levels of inclusion of the potential antimicrobial alternative peracetic acid, delivered in water via the hydrolysis of the precursors sodium percarbonate and tetraacetylethylenediamine, in comparison to zinc oxide and an untreated control during a 2-week animal study. We assessed the microbial composition and predicted the metagenome, together with performance and physiological parameters, in order to describe the microbial functional role in etiopathology. Both zinc oxide and peracetic acid resulted in amelioration of the diarrheal status by the end of the trial period, with noticeable zinc oxide effects visible from the first week. This was accompanied by improved performance when compared to the first-week figures and a decreased stomach pH in both peracetic acid levels. A significant reduction in both stomach and caecal Proteobacteria was recorded in the zinc oxide group, and a significant reduction of Campylobacter in the stomach was reported for both zinc oxide and one of the peracetic acid concentrations. Among other functional differences, we found that the predicted ortholog for the zonula occludens toxin, a virulence factor present in pathogens like Escherichia coli and Campylobacter jejuni, was less abundant in the stomach of treated pigs compared to the control group. In water, peracetic acid delivered via precursor hydrolysis has the potential to be a valid intervention, an alternative to antimicrobial, to assist the weaning of piglets. Our findings support the view that post-weaning diarrhea is a complex multifactorial disease with an important metagenomic component characterized by the differential abundance of specific predicted orthologs and microbial genera in the stomach and caecum of pigs

Astrobiological Complexity with Probabilistic Cellular Automata

Search for extraterrestrial life and intelligence constitutes one of the major endeavors in science, but has yet been quantitatively modeled only rarely and in a cursory and superficial fashion. We argue that probabilistic cellular automata (PCA) represent the best quantitative framework for modeling astrobiological history of the Milky Way and its Galactic Habitable Zone. The relevant astrobiological parameters are to be modeled as the elements of the input probability matrix for the PCA kernel. With the underlying simplicity of the cellular automata constructs, this approach enables a quick analysis of large and ambiguous input parameters' space. We perform a simple clustering analysis of typical astrobiological histories and discuss the relevant boundary conditions of practical importance for planning and guiding actual empirical astrobiological and SETI projects. In addition to showing how the present framework is adaptable to more complex situations and updated observational databases from current and near-future space missions, we demonstrate how numerical results could offer a cautious rationale for continuation of practical SETI searches.Comment: 37 pages, 11 figures, 2 tables; added journal reference belo