Large Area Crop Inventory Experiment (LACIE). User requirements

There are no author-identified significant results in this report

Routes of salmonellae contamination in pig lairages and the development and evaluation of simple cleaning methods

The aim of this project was to identify, and validate, the best lairage-to-stunning practices to reduce cross-contamination, and to assess the general status of the lairage hygiene and lairage cleaning effectiveness in UK abattoirs

Sources of salmonella contamination in pig processing

The quantification of current state of the art on alternative/novel pig slaughtenng and processing procedures and pork decontamination was the initial aim of a project to reduce salmonella in pig processing for the UK Foods Standards Agency. To achieve these aims a survey of current commercial processing conditions was carried out, the published literature reviewed, and a review performed of technology from other sectors

Changes in carcass microbial distribution and water conditions during the scalding and dehairing of pig carcasses

Salmonella contaminatron is of major concern in the production of pork As part of a UK Food Standards Agency project looking at reducing salmonella contamrnation, a survey of current processing conditions in UK pig slaughterhouses and a review of published data identified pork scalding and dehairing systems as a likely major source of salmonella contamination during pork processing

Enhancement of tumorigenicity of human breast adenocarcinoma cells in nude mice by matrigel and fibroblasts.

The failure of MCF7 cells to induce the formation of tumours after sub-cutaneous inoculation into athymic nude mice can be obviated by the simultaneous injection of an extract of basement membrane proteins (matrigel). Tumour growth is promoted and the latency period is low (2 to 4 weeks). In the absence of matrigel, the simultaneous inoculation of fibroblasts and MCF7 cells also resulted in the development of tumours, but with a longer latency period (about 2 months). The tumorigenic synergy between matrigel and fibroblasts was evidenced by co-inoculating MCF7 cells MDA-MB 231 cells with fibroblasts and matrigel. This co-inoculation decreased the delay of appearance of the tumours and/or accelerated the tumour growth, depending upon the number of fibroblasts injected. Repeated injections of fibroblasts conditioned medium, at the site of inoculum of tumour cells also enhanced tumour growth, suggesting the involvement of soluble factors secreted by fibroblasts. Histologically, tumours induced by co-inoculation of tumour cells and fibroblasts contained more stromal structures including vimentin-positive cells, fibronectin and interstitial collagens. These data suggest that human tumours may be reconstituted and grown in athymic nude mice using basement membrane components and fibroblasts as inductors

Health Outcomes and Cost of Care Among Older Adults with Schizophrenia: A 10-Year Study Using Medical Records across the Continuum of Care

Objectives The population of older patients with schizophrenia is increasing. This study describes health outcomes, utilization, and costs over 10 years in a sample of older patients with schizophrenia compared to older patients without schizophrenia. Design, Setting, Participants An observational cohort study of 31,588 older adults (mean age 70.44 years) receiving care from an urban public health system, including a community mental health center, during 1999–2008. 1635 (5.2%) were diagnosed with schizophrenia and 757 (2.4%) had this diagnosis confirmed in the community mental health center. Patients’ electronic medical records were merged with Medicare claims, Medicaid claims, the Minimum Dataset, and the Outcome and Assessment Information Set. Information on medication use was not available. Measurements Rates of comorbid conditions, health care utilization, costs, and mortality. Results Patients with schizophrenia had significantly higher rates of congestive heart failure (45.05% v. 38.84%), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (52.71% v. 41.41%), and hypothyroidism (36.72% v. 26.73%) than the patients without schizophrenia (p<0.001). They had significantly lower rates of cancer (30.78% v. 43.18%) and significantly higher rates of dementia (64.46% v. 32.13%). The patients with schizophrenia had significantly higher mortality risk (HR: 1.25, CI: 1.07–1.47) than the patients without schizophrenia. They also had significantly higher rates of health care utilization. The mean costs for Medicare and Medicaid were significantly higher for the patients with schizophrenia than for the patients without schizophrenia. Conclusions The management of older adult patients with schizophrenia is creating a serious burden for our health care system, requiring the development of integrated models of health care

Multimodal analysis of GRC ageing process using Nonlinear Impact Resonance acoustic Spectroscopy

Glass fibre Reinforced Cement (GRC) is a composite material composed of Portland cement mortar with low w/c (water/cement) ratio and high proportion of glass fibres. This material suffers from the ageing process by losing its strength with time because of its exposure to severe weather conditions. Ageing process damages the fibre surface and decreases the mechanical properties of the structural components made of this material. It reduces the elastic modulus and toughness of GRC. Fracture toughness is traditionally measured by four point bending tests. In a previous study by the authors it was observed that ageing related deterioration or damage of GRC could be monitored by Non Destructive Testing (NDT) techniques such as Non-linear Impact Resonance Acoustic Spectroscopy (NIRAS) and other ultrasonic techniques. The scope of this paper is to corroborate previous investigations and offer early damage detection capability by generating more experimental data points by optimizing location of the point of strike and thus generating more resonance vibration modes in NIRAS tests.The authors acknowledge the financial support of the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion MICINN, Spain, and FEDER funding (Ondacem Project: BIA 2010-19933).Genovés Gómez, V.; Riestra García-San Miguel, C.; Borrachero Rosado, MV.; Eiras Fernández, JN.; Kundu, T.; Paya Bernabeu, JJ. (2015). Multimodal analysis of GRC ageing process using Nonlinear Impact Resonance acoustic Spectroscopy. Composites Part B: Engineering. 76:105-111. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compositesb.2015.02.020S1051117