Safe Sleep Practices of Kansas Birthing Hospitals

Introduction. Sleep-related death is tied with congenital anomaliesas the leading cause of infant mortality in Kansas, and externalrisk factors are present in 83% of these deaths. Hospitals can impactcaregiver intentions to follow risk-reduction strategies. This projectassessed the current practices and policies of Kansas hospitals withregard to safe sleep. Methods. A cross-sectional survey of existing safe sleep practicesand policies in Kansas hospitals was performed. Hospitals were categorizedbased on reported delivery volume and data were comparedacross hospital sizes. Results. Thirty-one of 73 (42%) contacted hospitals responded. Individualsurvey respondents represented various hospital departmentsincluding newborn/well-baby (68%), neonatal intensive care unit(3%) and other non-nursery departments or administration (29%).Fifty-eight percent of respondents reported staff were trained oninfant safe sleep; 44% of these held trainings annually. High volumehospitals tended to have more annual training than low or mid volumebirth hospitals. Thirty-nine percent reported a safe sleep policy,though most of these (67%) reported never auditing compliance. Thetop barrier to safe sleep education, regardless of delivery volume, wasconflicting patient and family member beliefs. Conclusions. Hospital promotion of infant safe sleep is being conductedin Kansas to varying degrees. High and mid volume birthhospitals may need to work more on formal auditing of safe sleeppractices, while low volume hospitals may need more staff training.Low volume hospitals also may benefit from access to additional caregivereducation materials. Finally, it is important to note hospitalsshould not be solely responsible for safe sleep education.KS J Med 2018;11(1):1-4

Effect of Dietary Cation-Anion Difference on Feedlot Performance, Nitrogen Mass Balance and Manure pH in Open Feedlot Pens

Two experiments were conducted to evaluate the effect of dietary cation-anion difference (DCAD) at two levels (-16 and +20 mEq) on feedlot performance and nutrient mass balance in open feedlots. Decreasing DCAD did not negatively impact cattle performance or carcass characteristics. Feeding negative DCAD diets resulted in lower manure pH in both the winter and summer experiments. Final soil core pH was reduced only in the winter experiment. Percentage of N lost was not influenced by DCAD in either experiment. The decrease in manure pH is likely not enough to reduce the amount of N lost in open feedlot pens

Association of Myostatin on Performance and Carcass Traits in Crossbred Cattle

Calf-fed steers and yearling heifersgenotyped as homozygous active, heterozygous, or homozygous inactive for myostatin were used to evaluate performance and carcass traits from Piedmontese influenced cattle. Homozygous inactive steers had similar ADG, lower DMI and lower F:G when compared to steers influenced by active myostatin. Steers and heifers with inactive myostatin showed similar trends in carcass traits producing larger LM area, greater dressing percentages and leaner carcasses. Similar ADG, lower DMI, and improved F:G were observed for homozygous inactive compared to homozygous active steers. Cattle with inactive myostatin require more days on feed than homozygous active cattle to reach similar live BW and 12th rib fat endpoints

Association of Myostatin on Performance and Carcass Traits in Crossbred Cattle

Calf-fed steers and yearling heifersgenotyped as homozygous active, heterozygous, or homozygous inactive for myostatin were used to evaluate performance and carcass traits from Piedmontese influenced cattle. Homozygous inactive steers had similar ADG, lower DMI and lower F:G when compared to steers influenced by active myostatin. Steers and heifers with inactive myostatin showed similar trends in carcass traits producing larger LM area, greater dressing percentages and leaner carcasses. Similar ADG, lower DMI, and improved F:G were observed for homozygous inactive compared to homozygous active steers. Cattle with inactive myostatin require more days on feed than homozygous active cattle to reach similar live BW and 12th rib fat endpoints

Annual report for active IDOT wetland mitigation and hydrologic monitoring sites, September 1, 2014 through August 31, 2015

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Association of Inactive Myostatin in Piedmontese-Influenced Steers and Heifers on Performance and Carcass Traits at Different Endpoints

Performance and carcass traits were evaluated using Piedmontese-influenced calf-fed steers and yearling heifers genotyped for zero, one, or two copies (homozygous active, heterozygous, or homozygous inactive, respectively) of the inactive myostatin allele. Steers and heifers had similar responses across genotypes in performance and carcass traits evaluated at different endpoints. Inactive myostatin decreased DMI, final BW (live), and ADG (live). Increased dressing percentage resulted in increased carcass-adjusted ADG and improved feed conversion for cattle with inactive myostatin. Cattle with inactive myostatin are leaner with larger LM area when finished to equal carcass weight

Overcoming undesirable resilience in the global food system

The current configuration of our global food system is undermining many of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs), leading to calls for major food system reform and transformation. Concurrently, other science-policy and business initiatives call for a food system more resilient to economic and environmental shocks, for example by improving the economic resilience of current supply chains. Prioritisation of short-term security to a subset of vested interests, however, can undermine the resilience of longer-term beneficial outcomes for society. Here we advocate a more inclusive and farsighted approach focussing on the resilience of positive outcomes for the whole of society, i.e., capturing the aim to promote resilient delivery of multiple UN SDGs. A significant challenge is to prioritise suites of interventions that can effectively transform the global food system to deliver these goals. Here, we use a transdisciplinary lens to identify ‘lock-in’ mechanisms that span four key areas— knowledge-based, economic/regulatory, sociocultural and biophysical constraints –which will help avoid ineffective siloed solutions to food system reform. Furthermore, we show how emergent system dynamics need to be considered using a more holistic approach. We highlight the importance of well-coordinated actions on multiple leverage points during windows of opportunity for food system transformation

BioSentinel: Mission Summary and Lessons Learned From the First Deep Space Biology CubeSat Mission

Launched on Artemis I, BioSentinel carries a biology experiment into deep space for the first time in 50 years. A 6U CubeSat form factor was utilized for the spacecraft, which included technologies newly developed or adapted for operations beyond Earth orbit. The spacecraft carries onboard budding yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, as an analog to human cells to test the biological response to deep space radiation. This was the maiden deep-space voyage for many of the subsystems, and the first time to evaluate their performance in flight operation. Flying a CubeSat beyond LEO comes with unique challenges with respect to trajectory uncertainty and mission operations planning. The nominal plan was a lunar fly-by, followed by an insertion into heliocentric orbit. However, some possible scenarios included lunar eclipses that could have severely impacted the power budget during that phase of the mission, while others could have resulted in a “retrograde” hyperbola at swing-by resulting in the spacecraft traveling inward toward Earth or even towards a collision with the lunar surface. The commissioning phase of the mission was successful and completed a week ahead of schedule. It did not come without its exciting moments and challenges. First contact with the spacecraft uncovered that the vehicle was unexpectedly tumbling after deployment, a situation that needed to be corrected urgently. The mission operations team executed a contingency plan to stabilize the spacecraft, with just moments to spare before the battery ran out of power. The BioSensor payload onboard the spacecraft is a complex instrument that includes microfluidics, optical systems, sensor control electronics, as well as the living yeast cells. BioSentinel also includes a TimePix radiation sensor implemented by JSC’s RadWorks group. Total dose and Linear Energy Transfer (LET) spectrum data are compared to the rate of cell growth and metabolic activity measured in the S. cerevisiae cells. BioSentinel mature nanosatellite technologies included: deep space communications and navigation, autonomous attitude control and momentum management, and micro-propulsion systems, to provide an adaptable nanosatellite platform for deep space uses. This paper discusses the performance of the BioSentinel spacecraft through the mission phase, and includes lessons learned from challenges and anomalies. BioSentinel had many successes and will be a pathfinder for future deep space CubeSats and biology missions

Modeling and characterization of the SPIDER half-wave plate

Spider is a balloon-borne array of six telescopes that will observe the Cosmic Microwave Background. The 2624 antenna-coupled bolometers in the instrument will make a polarization map of the CMB with approximately one-half degree resolution at 145 GHz. Polarization modulation is achieved via a cryogenic sapphire half-wave plate (HWP) skyward of the primary optic. We have measured millimeter-wave transmission spectra of the sapphire at room and cryogenic temperatures. The spectra are consistent with our physical optics model, and the data gives excellent measurements of the indices of A-cut sapphire. We have also taken preliminary spectra of the integrated HWP, optical system, and detectors in the prototype Spider receiver. We calculate the variation in response of the HWP between observing the CMB and foreground spectra, and estimate that it should not limit the Spider constraints on inflation

Integrating evolution into ecological modelling: accommodating phenotypic changes in agent based models.

PMCID: PMC3733718This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.Evolutionary change is a characteristic of living organisms and forms one of the ways in which species adapt to changed conditions. However, most ecological models do not incorporate this ubiquitous phenomenon. We have developed a model that takes a 'phenotypic gambit' approach and focuses on changes in the frequency of phenotypes (which differ in timing of breeding and fecundity) within a population, using, as an example, seasonal breeding. Fitness per phenotype calculated as the individual's contribution to population growth on an annual basis coincide with the population dynamics per phenotype. Simplified model variants were explored to examine whether the complexity included in the model is justified. Outputs from the spatially implicit model underestimated the number of individuals across all phenotypes. When no phenotype transitions are included (i.e. offspring always inherit their parent's phenotype) numbers of all individuals are always underestimated. We conclude that by using a phenotypic gambit approach evolutionary dynamics can be incorporated into individual based models, and that all that is required is an understanding of the probability of offspring inheriting the parental phenotype