Naturally Speaking

Globally around one billion people are infected by parasitic nematodes, and their impact on livestock can be devastating. For millennia, parasites and hosts have been locked in an evolutionary war, an arms race with ever changing goal posts. However, scientists are using modern technology to bring new weapons to the fore.

Here, Naturally Speaker James Burgon talks to Dr Collette Britton, a Reader in the Institute and Associate Academic at the School of Veterinary Medicine. Hear about her work on the front line of this fight as she helps to develop better vaccines against nematode infections and identify the molecular basis of drug resistance in these parasites. Also find out what motivated her to enlist in the first place.

(The BUG consortium mentioned in this podcast is a multi-institute project “Building Upon the Genome” of Haemonchus contortus, a major nematode parasite of livestock. Find out more in its very own blog post written by postdoctoral researcher Roz Laing)

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Intro and outro music sampled from: “The Curtain Rises” and “Early Riser” Kevin MacLeod [CC BY 3.0]

In this Episode, statistician and population geneticist Paul Johnson (@PaulCDJo) of the University of Glasgow tells Shaun Killen (@shaunkillen) about his unusual career route into academics, how he fell in love with stats, and what he wishes more biologists would understand about statistical analyses. Paul has rare gift for clearly explaining complex concepts so it’s well worth a listen!

Episode 27 – Adventures in Statistics

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And, here’s a link to Paul’s paper on power analysis that was mentioned in the episode:

Johnson, P. C., Barry, S. J., Ferguson, H. M., & Müller, P. (2015). Power analysis for generalized linear mixed models in ecology and evolution. Methods in Ecology and Evolution, 6(2), 133-142.

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Intro and outro music sampled from:

“The Curtain Rises” and “Early Riser” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

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Scientists tend to be nosy, curious, and can’t help themselves asking “why?” … At least those are the character traits Dr Jon Bielby thinks drew him inexorably towards the world of science. A Research Fellow at the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), Jon occupies the exciting area between conservationist, ecologist and epidemiologist. Starting his career looking at infectious diseases in amphibians, Jon’s thirst to find the answers to complicated questions led him to his current position, working on a highly contentious and politicised research project—the randomised badger cull.

The Institute was lucky enough to have him visit earlier this year, and we at Naturally Speaking jumped at the opportunity to have an in-depth conversation with him about his work. Join us as we discuss everything from big data to field biology, epidemiology to politics, and of course the pure joy and enticement of studying the natural world.

https://naturallyspeaking.blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/j-bielby.mp3

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Intro and outro music sampled from: “The Curtain Rises” and “Early Riser” Kevin MacLeod [CC BY 3.0]

It is difficult to find a scientific paper that does not include p-values in some capacity. Most often, p-values are used to statistically interpret whether the results of a given study are “significant” or if a real effect is being observed. However, a number of recent papers have begun to challenge this paradigm, suggesting that p-values are now used incorrectly and in ways that they were never originally intended. For example, Lewis Halsey (University of Roehampton) and colleagues not only demonstrate that p-values are an arbitrary criterion for forming conclusions, but more worryingly, that they are extremely unreliable.

In this episode of Naturally Speaking, Shaun Killen chats with Lewis Halsey about the controversy surrounding p-values in research, and is joined by statistician Paul Johnson and the stats-savvy James Grecian. They discuss the problems with p-values, the research culture that perpetuates their use, and potential alternatives for interpreting data. Listen to the podcast here!:

Episode 25 – The Problem With P Values

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Also, check out this excellent and amusing video by Geoff Cumming illustrating the Dance of the P-Values and how they are not reproducible. Make sure you watch until the part with the dancing icon guys for each p-value and experimental outcome:

Papers mentioned in the episode:

Halsey LG, Curran-Everett D, Vowler SL, Drummond GB (2015) The fickle P value generates irreproducible results. Nature Methods. 12: 179-185. doi. 10.1038/nmeth.3288

Head ML, Holman L, Lanfear R, Kahn AT, Jennions MD (2015) The Extent and Consequences of P-Hacking in Science. PLoS Biol 13(3): e1002106. doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.1002106

And, the editorial in Basic and Applied Social Psychology explaining that journal’s decision to ban the use of p-values

Intro and outro music sampled from:

“The Curtain Rises” and “Early Riser” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

In our College of Medical, Veterinary & Life Sciences we have a brilliant and diverse group of veterinary researchers who split their time between dealing with disease and duelling with data. Among them is Ian Ramsey, Professor of Small Animal Medicine at the School of Veterinary Medicine and Associate Academic of the Institute.

Primarily a vet, Ian’s research has made him one of the UK’s leading authorities on canine Cushing’s disease, a distressing condition caused by the overproduction of the hormone cortisol. With over 10,000 dogs in the UK affected by Cushing’s it is a critical issue for our four-legged friends. Tune in to this episode of Naturally Speaking Shorts, and hear all about Ian’s work as a vet and his fight against Cushing’s disease.

https://naturallyspeaking.blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/ian-ramsey.mp3

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UPDATE July 2015: We recently heard that Prof Ramsey has been recognised by the BSAVA with the Woodrow Award for outstanding contributions in the field of small animal veterinary medicine. Well done.

Intro and outro music sampled from: “The Curtain Rises” and “Early Riser” Kevin MacLeod [CC BY 3.0]

Human activities can dramatically alter the types, abundance, and distribution of resources—such as food—available to wildlife. A growing number of studies indicate that resources produced in human-dominated environments can alter the interactions between pathogens and their hosts, leading to either increased or decreased infection risk for wildlife and humans.

In a recent paper out in Ecology Letters,  Daniel Becker (lead author) and Sonia Altizer of the University of Georgia, and Daniel Streicker, a research fellow at the University of Glasgow showed that by making use of human-generated food resources, wildlife can have higher, lower, or no change in the risk of infection. Moreover, they found that these outcomes vary depending on the type of pathogen and food source.

Joining us to discuss the study’s findings on Naturally Speaking Shorts is Daniel Streicker (University of Glasgow).

Episode 23: Complex effects of food provisioning on wildlife disease

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Interested in learning more? Find the paper here:

Becker, D., Streicker, D.G., & Altizer (2015) Linking anthropogenic resources to wildlife-pathogen dynamics: a review and meta-analysis. Ecology Letters. doi: 10.1111/ele.12428