Women in academic psychiatry in the United Kingdom

Although there seems to be a shared impression that the proportion of women in academic psychiatry is substantially lower than in National Health Service (NHS) posts, we are not aware of any empirical data on this. In the USA, women physicians have been shown to be more likely to pursue an academic career than men (Nonnemaker, 2000), but the number who advance to Professor appears significantly lower than expected (Reiser et al, 1993; Nonnemaker, 2000). Women in academic psychiatry in Canada also appear less likely to advance to senior positions than their male colleagues (Penfold, 1987). A recent survey of 44 academic institutions in the UK, carried out by the National Centre for Social Research (Blake & La Valle, 2000), found that women occupied lower grade academic posts than their male counterparts and therefore were less eligible to apply for project research grants. Those that were eligible were as successful in gaining funding as their male colleagues.

Efficacy of 12 or 18 weeks of elbasvir plus grazoprevir with ribavirin in treatment-naïve, noncirrhotic HCV genotype 3-infected patients

Elbasvir (EBR; HCV NS5A inhibitor) and grazoprevir (GZR; HCV NS3/4A protease inhibitor) are approved as a fixed-dose combination to treat patients chronically infected with HCV genotypes 1 and 4. During the development programme and supported by in vitro potency, the efficacy of EBR+GZR was assessed in HCV GT3-infected patients. This study's aim was to determine the efficacy and tolerability of 12 or 18 weeks of EBR+GZR with ribavirin (RBV) in treatment-naïve, noncirrhotic HCV GT3-infected patients. Randomized patients received open-label EBR (50 mg once daily) + GZR (100 mg once daily) + RBV. The primary efficacy objective was to evaluate the sustained virologic response rates 12 weeks after the end of all study therapy (SVR12). SVR12 rates (95% confidence interval) were 45.0% (23.1, 68.5) and 57.1% (34.0, 78.2) after treatment with EBR+GZR+RBV for 12 weeks or 18 weeks, respectively. On-treatment virologic failure was observed in 41% (17 of 41) of patients. At virologic failure, resistance-associated substitutions (RASs) with a >five-fold shift in potency occurred in the NS3 region in six (35%) patients and in the NS5A region in 16 (94%) patients. The most common RAS at virologic failure was Y93H in NS5A which was identified in 13 of 17 (76%) patients. The efficacy of EBR+GZR+RBV was suboptimal in HCV GT3-infected patients due to a high rate of on-treatment virologic failure and treatment-emergent RASs which demonstrates an inadequate barrier to the development of GT3 resistance. However, rapid viral clearance demonstrated the antiviral activity of EBR+GZR+RBV in GT3-infected patients.clinicaltrials.gov: NCT01717326.

Who needs registered reports?

Registered Reports, an article format initiated to help promote transparency and reproducibility in the preclinical and social sciences, are spreading into the biological literature. The format is now offered by BMC Biology, in a spirit of experiment.

Dietary choice and grazing behaviour of sheep on spatially arranged pasture systems. 1. Herbage mass, nutritive characteristics and diet selection

Offering livestock dietary choice through access to different pasture species enables livestock to regulate their own feed intake, select for nutrients and minerals, balance rumen health and display natural grazing and foraging behaviours, which could in turn result in increased livestock productivity. An experiment was conducted at Hamilton, Victoria, Australia, to test the hypothesis that offering lambs dietary choice through spatially separated combinations of pasture species would improve lamb performance, relative to lambs with no dietary choice. The experiment tested seven treatments, replicated four times in a randomised complete block design with plot sizes of 1 ± 0.1 ha. The treatments were: 100% perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.) (PR), 100% plantain (Plantago lanceolata L.) (PL), 100% lucerne (Medicago sativa L.) (LU), 50 : 50 perennial ryegrass/plantain (PR + PL), 50 : 50 perennial ryegrass/lucerne (PR + LU), 50 : 50 plantain/lucerne (PL + LU) and 33 : 33 : 33 perennial ryegrass/plantain/lucerne (PR + PL + LU). In the multiple species swards, the pasture species were separated spatially (by area). Plots were grazed by weaned lambs between March and June 2011. Pre-grazing herbage mass during March and April were highest (P < 0.05) from the lucerne and lowest (P < 0.05) from the plantain, with lucerne producing 4.5–5.5 t DM/ha during this time, whereas the perennial ryegrass and plantain produced 3.5–3.9 t DM/ha and 2.3–3.0 t DM/ha, respectively. Herbage disappearance (calculated estimate of feed intake) was highest (P < 0.05) from the lucerne and lowest (P < 0.05) from the plantain during March and April. Leaf crude protein between the perennial ryegrass and plantain did not differ (P > 0.05) and were lower (P < 0.05) than the lucerne, but the perennial ryegrass and plantain had higher (P < 0.05) leaf on offer (kg DM/ha). Plantain leaf had higher (P < 0.05) Fe, Zn, Co, Ca and S than the perennial ryegrass leaf and higher (P < 0.05) Se, Cu, Mg, Na and Cl than the perennial ryegrass and lucerne leaf and a more negative (P < 0.05) dietary cation : anion difference. The agronomic data presented in this paper provides support for the hypothesis, with lambs showing dietary preferences between pasture species and morphological components, and forms to basis for why these preferences exist. The two subsequent papers show how offering lambs dietary choice affected the performance of male lambs to slaughter and female lambs to first joining.

Dietary choice and grazing behaviour of sheep on spatially arranged pasture systems. 2. Wether lamb growth and carcass weight at slaughter

Dry matter production and nutritive characteristics of the pasture feedbase during autumn are key drivers of profitability in Australia’s prime lamb systems. An experiment was conducted to test the hypothesis that offering lambs dietary choice through spatially separated combinations of perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.), plantain (Plantago lanceolata L.) and/or lucerne (Medicago sativa L.) improves the post-weaning liveweight gain, condition score (CS), pre- and post-slaughter carcass characteristics and reduces the internal parasite burdens of wether lambs finished to a slaughter weight over autumn, relative to lambs offered no dietary choice. The experiment tested seven treatments, replicated four times in a randomised complete block design with plot sizes of 1 ± 0.1 ha. The treatments were: 100% perennial ryegrass (PR), 100% plantain (PL), 100% lucerne (LU), 50 : 50 perennial ryegrass/plantain (PR + PL), 50 : 50 perennial ryegrass/lucerne (PR + LU), 50 : 50 plantain/lucerne (PL + LU) and 33 : 33 : 33 perennial ryegrass/plantain/lucerne (PR + PL + LU). Plots were grazed by weaned lambs between March and June 2011. The lambs had been born between 3 August and 7 September 2010 and were derived from either Coopworth composite dams joined to Coopworth maternal sires or from Merino dams (Toland or Centreplus bloodlines) joined to Border Leicester sires. Backgrounding the lambs on a pasture system that contained lucerne during the lactation to weaning period increased (P < 0.05) liveweight at slaughter by 8% and hot carcass weight by 10%, relative to lambs backgrounded on perennial ryegrass. Finishing lambs on the LU treatment between weaning and slaughter increased (P < 0.05) liveweight at slaughter by 11%, CS at slaughter by 0.3 units, hot carcass weight by 16%, carcass CFAT (measured over the loin) by 2.5 mm, carcass eye muscle depth by 1.1 mm and carcass GRFAT (total tissue depth at 11/12th rib, 11 cm from mid line) by 3.8 mm, relative to lambs finished on the PR treatment. Finishing lambs on LU + PR, LU + PL or LU + PR + PL did not (P > 0.05) improve any of the measured parameters, relative to finishing lambs on the LU treatment. The PL and PR treatments did not differ (P > 0.05) in liveweight at slaughter, CS at slaughter or carcass characteristics, but the PL treatment had lower (P < 0.05) liveweight gain than the PR treatment during the first 2 weeks of the experiment (39 g/day vs 330 g/day), which was later partially compensated for. Our hypothesis has not been supported given that the use of spatially arranged mixes resulted in no improvement in liveweight gain, CS, carcass characteristics or internal parasite burdens relative to the comparable single species sward.

Grazoprevir plus peginterferon and ribavirin in treatment-naive patients with hepatitis C virus genotype 1 infection: a randomized trial

Grazoprevir (MK-5172, Merck & Co., Inc.) is a selective inhibitor of the hepatitis C virus (HCV) NS3/4a protease. The aim of this study was to evaluate the safety and efficacy of grazoprevir at doses of 25-100 mg/day in combination with peginterferon and ribavirin (PEG-IFN/RBV). In this randomized, dose-ranging, multicentre trial, treatment-naive adults with chronic HCV genotype 1 infection received once-daily grazoprevir 25 mg, 50 mg or 100 mg plus PEG-IFN/RBV for 12 weeks. Patients with quantifiable HCV RNA (≥25 IU/mL) at week 4 received an additional 12 weeks of PEG-IFN/RBV. The primary endpoint was sustained virologic response (HCV RNA <25 IU/mL 12 weeks after completing therapy [SVR12]). Eighty-seven patients were randomly assigned and received ≥1 dose of therapy. Median time to undetectable HCV RNA was 16 days in the 100-mg arm and 22 days in the 25- and 50-mg arms. All patients except one had HCV RNA undetectable or unquantifiable at week 4 and received 12 weeks of therapy. SVR12 was achieved by 13 of 24 (54.2%), 21 of 25 (84.0%) and 23 of 26 (88.5%) patients in the 25-, 50- and 100-mg arms, respectively (per-protocol analysis). Three patients discontinued as a result of nonserious adverse events (AEs) and three patients experienced serious AEs. Transaminase elevations occurred in two patients (one each in the 25- and 100-mg arms).

CONCLUSION

These data support further study of the grazoprevir 100-mg dose. Phase 3 studies of grazoprevir 100 mg in combination with elbasvir are currently ongoing (NCT01710501; protocol P038).

Can we reduce the risk of dementia?

Public health and therapeutic measures to reduce cardiac and stroke risk may already be reducing risks of dementia in populations. In routine clinical care, dementia risk could be further reduced by optimized management of delirium, depressive disorders, traumatic brain injury and stroke. These are opportunities to minimize risk of progression to dementia during acute care and subsequent rehabilitation. Although interventions to protect against progress to dementia may be of small effect in each clinical situation, awareness of dementia risk and appropriate steps to reduce that risk should contribute to an overall reduction in the incidence of dementia.

Clinical beak and feather disease virus infection in wild juvenile eastern rosellas of New Zealand; biosecurity implications for wildlife care facilities

CASE HISTORY

Four juvenile eastern rosellas (Platycercus eximius) were admitted to two separate wildlife care facilities in the Auckland region by members of the public. They had missing or dystrophic wing and tail feathers that rendered them flightless, suggestive of beak and feather disease virus (BFDV) infection. Two were subject to euthanasia after failing to re-grow their feathers, with samples taken for histopathology and PCR analysis. Blood samples were obtained from the other two birds at the time of examination, however these individuals were lost to follow up.

PATHOLOGICAL AND MOLECULAR FINDINGS

Basophilic inclusion bodies were observed in histological sections of the feather bulb, typical of BFDV infection, from the two euthanised individuals. Blood from all four birds tested positive by PCR for BFDV, and analysis of the recovered full BFDV genomes identified them as belonging to the BFDV-A strain.

DIAGNOSIS

Beak and feather disease virus infection.

CLINICAL RELEVANCE

This report highlights the clinical impacts of BFDV in juvenile eastern rosellas that may result in their admission to wildlife care facilities, creating a biosecurity risk in institutions that may host other native parrots intended for release. The environmental stability of BFDV and resistance to disinfection requires strict quarantine procedures to prevent contamination and spread within a facility. It is recommended that high-risk species such as wild eastern rosella be excluded from facilities that may also house native parrots.

Plantain (Plantago lanceolata L.) and perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.) as pregnancy and lactation feed for ewes joined at 8 months of age

Ewe nutrition during pregnancy and lactation is a key determinant of ewe and lamb performance. A paddock-scale field experiment in western Victoria, Australia, tested the hypothesis that grazing maiden ewes on plantain (Plantago lanceolata L.) from mid-pregnancy until lamb weaning (July 2010–January 2011) would increase ewe liveweight and condition score during this period, reduce worm egg counts, and increase lamb liveweights at birth, marking and weaning, relative to tetraploid perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.), but that further increases would be achieved by offering a spatially arranged sward of plantain and perennial ryegrass. The experiment tested three treatments: plantain (PL), perennial ryegrass (PR), and a 50 : 50 (by area) spatially separated mixture of perennial ryegrass and plantain (PR + PL). Plots were ~1 ha in size arranged in a randomised complete block design with four replications. The ewes were Coopworth composites joined at 8 months of age. Feed-on-offer levels (kg DM/ha) did not differ (P > 0.05) between treatments, with 2.3–3.0 t DM/ha being available pre-grazing. Twin-bearing ewes had higher (P < 0.05) liveweights when offered PR + PL compared with PR or PL at late-pregnancy and higher (P < 0.05) liveweights than PR but not PL (P > 0.05) at lamb marking. At weaning, single-born lambs were heavier (P < 0.05) on PR than PR + PL, with the PL being intermediate. There were no other significant differences (P > 0.05). This experiment has found that feeding plantain to ewes during pregnancy and lactation, or offering ewes spatially separated mixes of plantain and perennial ryegrass, offers no clear liveweight or worm egg count improvement for ewes and lambs relative to a tetraploid perennial ryegrass under Western Victorian conditions.