Growth Performance of Crossbred Steers on Unfertilised Mountain Pastures at Low Stocking Rates

As a consequence of increasing economic pressure on Swiss agriculture, marginal areas are threatened by abandonment, especially in the mountainous regions. Using these areas for extensive beef production might preserve an open landscape and favour biodiversity. A grazing experiment was conducted with steers on an unfertilised mountain pasture to study the effects of a reduction of stocking rate on the growth of the animals and on changes in the vegetation

Atomic transfers between implanted bioceramics and tissues in orthopaedics surgery

We study transfers of ions and debris from bioceramics implanted in bone sites. A contamination of surrounding tissues may play a major role in aseptic loosening of the implant. For these reasons, bioceramics require studies of biocompatibility and biofunctionality . So, in addition to in vitro studies of bioceramics, it is essential to implant them in vivo to know body reactions. We measured the concentration of mineral elements at different time intervals after implantation over a whole cross-section. We found a discontinuity of the mineral elements (Ca, P, Sr, Zn, Fe) at the interface between the implant and the receiver. The osseous attack is not global but, on the contrary, centripetal. Moreover, the fit of the concentration time course indicates that the kinetics of ossification is different for each atomic element and characterizes a distinct biological phenomeno

Contamination by metallic elements released from joint prostheses

When a metallic implant is in contact with human tissues, the organism reacts and a corrosion process starts. Consequently, we might observe liberation of metallic debris and wear. Our purpose is to measure the contamination and the migration of these metallic elements in the surrounding tissues of the implant. Two types of samples have been studied. First type is sample taken on post-mortem tissues around prostheses to study contamination gradients. Second type is sample taken on pathologic joints on periprosthetic capsular tissues in surgical conditions. These allow estimating contamination degree. The experiments were made on a Van de Graaff accelerator located at CERI (Centre d'Etude et de Recherche par Irradiation, Orl\'{e}ans, France). We measure elemental concentrations resulting from the contamination of the surface of each sample. Results are analysed in function of the pathology and the type of implants. According to the pathology and the location of the sampling, these measurements show a very heterogeneous contamination by metallic elements under particles and/or ionic species which can migrate through soft tissues by various mechanism

Persistent Correlation of Ghrelin Plasma Levels with Body Mass Index Both in Stable Weight Conditions and during Gastric-bypass-induced Weight Loss

Background: Studies done on serial changes in plasma ghrelin levels after gastric bypass (GBP) have yielded contrasting results since decreased, unchanged, or increased levels have been reported in the literature. This study investigates whether or not GBP has an inhibitory effect on fasting ghrelin levels independently of weight loss. Methods: Fasting ghrelin levels were measured in 115 stable body weight females, classified as normal body weight (NW; body mass index (BMI) 50kg/m2). Results: Each obese subgroup showed significantly lower ghrelin levels as compared to both NW (p < 0.0001) and OW subjects (p < 0.05 or 0.005); however, no significant differences were observed within the three obese subgroups. Forty-nine obese patients underwent a GBP. Plasma ghrelin, measured at 3, 6, and 12months after GBP, significantly increased from the sixth month on (p < 0.0001). When patients were classified, at each postoperative time point, according to their actual BMI, ghrelin was significantly (p = 0.0002) related to postoperative BMI and not significantly different from ghrelin measured in stable body weight conditions. Conclusions: Fasting ghrelin displays an inversely significant correlation with BMI in both stable body weight conditions and after GBP. No evidence was found that GBP had an effect on fasting ghrelin levels, independent of weight los

Fatal myocardial infarction after lung resection in a patient with prophylactic preoperative coronary stenting†

In this report we present the case of a 77-yr-old man who underwent resection of the upper lobe of the left lung for a carcinoma, six weeks after percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) with stenting of the left anterior descending (LAD) and circumflex coronary arteries. Antiplatelet therapy with clopidogrel was interrupted two weeks before surgery to allow for epidural catheter placement and to minimize haemorrhage. The surgical procedure was uneventful. In the immediate postoperative period, however, the patient suffered severe myocardial ischaemia. Emergency coronary angiography showed complete thrombotic occlusion of the LAD stent. In spite of successful recanalization, reinfarction occurred and the patient died in cardiogenic shock. Prophylactic preoperative coronary stenting may put the patient at risk of stent thrombosis if surgery cannot be postponed for three months. In such cases, other strategies such as perioperative β-blockade for preoperative cardiac management should be considered. Br J Anaesth 2004; 92: 743-

COASTAL MAPPING AND KITESURFING

Collecting data on aquatic biodiversity is very challenging because of the difficulty to access underwater ecosystems. Over the years, field surveys have become easier and cheaper with the development of low cost electronics. Commercial and recreational vessels, including sailboats, can now substantially complement expensive scientific surveys and arrays of observation buoys deployed across the world oceans (Pesant et al., 2015, Karsenti et al., 2011). Meanwhile, a large variety of marine animals such as birds, mammals, and fish have become data collection platforms for both biological and environmental parameters through the advent of archival tags. It becomes obvious that data collection in coastal and high seas will become more popular and that citizen will play a growing role in acquiring information on ocean dynamics (physical, chemical and biological parameters). However, currently, very few attempts have been made to use Human beings as observation platforms. In this paper we describe large datasets (more than 200,000 pictures) that have been recently collected along the coast of Mauritius by using popular and cheap platforms such as kite surf and Stand Up Paddle. We describe the characteristics of the data collected and showcase how they can be geolocated and used to complement remote sensing and mapping in order to drastically extend the current scope of “old school” fieldwork. We point out some of the main limitations encountered which need to be addressed to foster this citizen science approach such as data storage and transmission, deep learning to automate image recognition. The methods are all based on open source softwares

A framework for the standardisation of tropical tuna purse seine CPUE: application to the yellowfin tuna in the Indian Ocean

We revised the existing framework for tuna CPUE standardisation in light of the increasing literature that advocates the use of mixed effects models to account for the characteristics of logbook data. We apply the framework on yellowfin tuna (YFT) from the Indian Ocean, caught by the purse seine EU fleet (Spain and France) from 1984 to 2015. We used a comprehensive list of candidate covariates, including non- conventional covariates, and run exploratory models to assess the contribution of each covariate. Due to the large number of covariates, the lasso – least absolute shrinkage and selection operator- method was applied for data mining and model selection purposes. The results are two standardised YFT CPUE time series for the period 1984-2015, one for large fish caught in free-school related sets, and one for mainly juveniles caught in floating object related sets. Issues on the usefulness of highly aggregated data (low resolution: annual and fleet wide) is discussed along with the need for more detailed information on the use of dFADs, preferably at the level of a fishing trip.Preprin