On-farm slaughter and emergency slaughter in Sweden

Although consumers are responsible for much food waste, recent studies have shown significant losses on farm-level. A recent report published by the Swedish Board of Agriculture presented that 3% and 8% of pigs and cattle are lost respectively, requesting further research regarding the potential in salvaging meat through on-farm slaughter (OFS) and on-farm emergency slaughter (OFES). Thus, the aim of this study was set to investigate the attitudes and interests of abattoirs and key industry actors to initiate or increase the use of OFS and OFES. A qualitative study was conducted by interviewing six abattoirs, one veterinary consultant, one meat industry trade group, the Swedish National Food Agency, and 11 game-handling establishments (GHE). The results showed overall concerns regarding economic and technical limitations of performing OFES and OFS, as well as limitations due to official veterinary controls. GHE was observed as having potential in a system of OFES or OFS, due to their current ability to receive carcasses of wild game. Future recommendations include investigating the potential of expanding the regulatory framework for official veterinary controls, to use OFS as a tool for non-acute injuries and to include GHE in a functioning system of OFS and OFES.Trots att konsumenter är ansvariga för en stor del av det totala matsvinnet, har nya studier visat betydande livsmedelsförluster sker redan på gårdsnivå. En ny rapport från Jordbruksverket presenterar att 3 % respektive 8 % av allt nötdjur och grisar förloras på gårdsnivå, och rekommenderar att utreda potentialen att minska köttförluster genom slakt på jordbruksanläggning och nödslakt. På grund av detta syftade denna studie att utreda attityder och intressen hos slakterier och andra nyckelaktörer att påbörja, eller utöka, användandet av slakt på jordbruksanläggning och nödslakt. En kvalitativ studie genomfördes, där intervjuer gjordes med sex slakterier, en veterinärkonsult, Livsmedelsverket samt 11 vilthanteringsanläggningar. Resultatet vidare en övergripande oro gällande ekonomiska och tekniska möjligheter för slakt på jordbruksanläggning och nödslakt, samt begränsningar kopplat till de officiella veterinärkontrollerna. Vilthanteringsanläggningar ansågs som potentiella mottagare av djurkroppar genom slakt på jordbruksanläggning och nödslakt, tack vare sin nuvarande förmåga att ta emot djurkroppar av vilt. Förslag till framtida studier inkluderar att utreda potentialen av att utöka regelverket för officiella veterinärkontroller, att använda slakt på jordbruksanläggning som ett verktyg för icke-akuta skador samt att använda vilthanteringsanläggningar i ett fungerande system för slakt på jordbruksanläggning och nödslakt

Interactive voice response - an automated follow-up technique for adolescents discharged from acute psychiatric inpatient care : a randomised controlled trial

Follow-up methods must be easy for young people to handle. We examine Interactive Voice Response (IVR) as a method for collecting self-reported data. Sixty inpatients were recruited from a child and adolescent psychiatric emergency unit in Malmö, Sweden and called every second (N = 30) or every fourth (N = 30) day from discharge until first visit in outpatient care. A pre-recorded voice asked them to evaluate their current mood using their mobile phones. Average response rate was 91%, and 71% had a 100% response rate. Gender, age and length of inpatient treatment did not affect response rate, nor did randomisation. Boys estimated their current mood on average as 3.52 units higher than girls, CI = (2.65, 4.48). Automated IVR is a feasible method of collecting follow-up data among adolescents discharged from a psychiatric emergency unit

Partitioning of discrete proton arcs into interlaced subplans can bring proton arc advances to existing proton facilities

Background: Proton arcs have shown potential to reduce the dose to organs at risks (OARs) by delivering the protons from many different directions. While most previous studies have been focused on dynamic arcs (delivery during rotation), an alternative approach is discrete arcs, where step-and-shoot delivery is used over a large number of beam directions. The major advantage of discrete arcs is that they can be delivered at existing proton facilities. However, this advantage comes at the expense of longer treatment times.Purpose: To exploit the dosimetric advantages of proton arcs, while achieving reasonable delivery times, we propose a partitioning approach where discrete arc plans are split into subplans to be delivered over different fractions in the treatment course.Methods: For three oropharyngeal cancer patients, four different arc plans have been created and compared to the corresponding clinical IMPT plan. The treatment plans are all planned to be delivered in 35 fractions, but with different delivery approaches over the fractions. The first arc plan (1×30) has 30 directions to be delivered every fraction, while the others are partitioned into subplans with 10 and 6 beam directions, each to be delivered every third (3×10), fifth fraction (5×6), or seventh fraction (7×10). All plans are assessed with respect to delivery time, target robustness over the treatment course, doses to OARs and NTCP for dysphagia and xerostomia.Results: The delivery time (including an additional delay of 30 s between the discrete directions to simulate manual interaction with the treatment control system) is reduced from on average 25.2 min for the 1×30 plan to 9.2 min for the 3×10 and 7×10 plans and 5.7 min for the 5×6 plans. The delivery time for the IMPT plan is 7.9 min. When accounting for the combination of delivery time, target robustness, OAR sparing, and NTCP reduction, the plans with 10 directions in each fraction are the preferred choice. Both the 3×10 and 7×10 plans show improved target robustness compared to the 1×30 plans, while keeping OAR doses and NTCP values at almost as low levels as for the 1×30 plans. For all patients the NTCP values for dysphagia are lower for the partitioned plans with 10 directions compared to the IMPT plans. NTCP reduction for xerostomia compared to IMPT is seen in two of the three patients. The best results are seen for the first patient, where the NTCP reductions for the 7×10 plan are 1.6 p.p. (grade 2 xerostomia) and 1.5 p.p. (grade 2 dysphagia). The corresponding NTCP reductions for the 1×30 plan are 2.7 p.p. (xerostomia, grade 2) and 2.0 p.p. (dysphagia, grade 2).Conclusions: Discrete proton arcs can be implemented at any proton facility with reasonable treatment times using a partitioning approach. The technique also makes the proton arc treatments more robust to changes in the patient anatomy.</p

Partitioning of discrete proton arcs into interlaced subplans can bring proton arc advances to existing proton facilities

Background: Proton arcs have shown potential to reduce the dose to organs at risks (OARs) by delivering the protons from many different directions. While most previous studies have been focused on dynamic arcs (delivery during rotation), an alternative approach is discrete arcs, where step-and-shoot delivery is used over a large number of beam directions. The major advantage of discrete arcs is that they can be delivered at existing proton facilities. However, this advantage comes at the expense of longer treatment times.Purpose: To exploit the dosimetric advantages of proton arcs, while achieving reasonable delivery times, we propose a partitioning approach where discrete arc plans are split into subplans to be delivered over different fractions in the treatment course.Methods: For three oropharyngeal cancer patients, four different arc plans have been created and compared to the corresponding clinical IMPT plan. The treatment plans are all planned to be delivered in 35 fractions, but with different delivery approaches over the fractions. The first arc plan (1×30) has 30 directions to be delivered every fraction, while the others are partitioned into subplans with 10 and 6 beam directions, each to be delivered every third (3×10), fifth fraction (5×6), or seventh fraction (7×10). All plans are assessed with respect to delivery time, target robustness over the treatment course, doses to OARs and NTCP for dysphagia and xerostomia.Results: The delivery time (including an additional delay of 30 s between the discrete directions to simulate manual interaction with the treatment control system) is reduced from on average 25.2 min for the 1×30 plan to 9.2 min for the 3×10 and 7×10 plans and 5.7 min for the 5×6 plans. The delivery time for the IMPT plan is 7.9 min. When accounting for the combination of delivery time, target robustness, OAR sparing, and NTCP reduction, the plans with 10 directions in each fraction are the preferred choice. Both the 3×10 and 7×10 plans show improved target robustness compared to the 1×30 plans, while keeping OAR doses and NTCP values at almost as low levels as for the 1×30 plans. For all patients the NTCP values for dysphagia are lower for the partitioned plans with 10 directions compared to the IMPT plans. NTCP reduction for xerostomia compared to IMPT is seen in two of the three patients. The best results are seen for the first patient, where the NTCP reductions for the 7×10 plan are 1.6 p.p. (grade 2 xerostomia) and 1.5 p.p. (grade 2 dysphagia). The corresponding NTCP reductions for the 1×30 plan are 2.7 p.p. (xerostomia, grade 2) and 2.0 p.p. (dysphagia, grade 2).Conclusions: Discrete proton arcs can be implemented at any proton facility with reasonable treatment times using a partitioning approach. The technique also makes the proton arc treatments more robust to changes in the patient anatomy.</p

Violation of Bell inequality by photon scattering on a two-level emitter

Entanglement, the non-local correlations present in multipartite quantum systems, is a curious feature of quantum mechanics and the fuel of quantum technology. It is therefore a major priority to develop energy-conserving and simple methods for generating high-fidelity entangled states. In the case of light, entanglement can be realized by interactions with matter, although the required nonlinear interaction is typically weak, thereby limiting its applicability. Here, we show how a single two-level emitter deterministically coupled to light in a nanophotonic waveguide is used to realize genuine photonic quantum entanglement for excitation at the single photon level. By virtue of the efficient optical coupling, two-photon interactions are strongly mediated by the emitter realizing a giant nonlinearity that leads to entanglement. We experimentally generate and verify energy-time entanglement by violating a Bell inequality (Clauder-Horne-Shimony-Holt Bell parameter of $S=2.67(16)>2$) in an interferometric measurement of the two-photon scattering response. As an attractive feature of this approach, the two-level emitter acts as a passive scatterer initially prepared in the ground state, i.e., no advanced spin control is required. This experiment is a fundamental advancement that may pave a new route for ultra-low energy-consuming synthesis of photonic entangled states for quantum simulators or metrology.Comment: the manuscript of 6 pages with 3 figures and a Supplementary Material file of 12 pages with 7 figure