Reduction of Coxiella burnetii prevalence by vaccination of goats and sheep, the Netherlands

Recently, the number of human Q fever cases in the Netherlands increased dramatically. In response to this increase, dairy goats and dairy sheep were vaccinated against Coxiella burnetii. All pregnant dairy goats and dairy sheep in herds positive for Q fever were culled. We identified the effect of vaccination on bacterial shedding by small ruminants. On the day of culling, samples of uterine fluid, vaginal mucus, and milk were obtained from 957 pregnant animals in 13 herds. Prevalence and bacterial load were reduced in vaccinated animals compared with unvaccinated animals. These effects were most pronounced in animals during their first pregnancy. Results indicate that vaccination may reduce bacterial load in the environment and human exposure to C. burnetii

Overleving van Coxiella burnetii in geitenmest : eindrapportage

De afname van het aantal bacteriën in geitenmest is bestudeerd onder omstandigheden, zoals die zich in opgeslagen geitenmest voordoen. De afname van het aantal bacteriën bij verschillende temperaturen wordt weergegeven door middel van de decimale reductietijd (DRT of Dwaarde). De DRT is de tijd die nodig is om het aantal bacteriën met een factor 10 te laten afnemen bij een bepaalde temperatuur. In dit onderzoek is de DRT voor C. burnetii in geitenpotstalmest bij verschillende temperaturen bepaald

Automatic alignment of stacks of filament data

We present a fast and robust method for the alignment of image stacks containing filamentous structures. Such stacks are usually obtained by physical sectioning a specimen, followed by an optical sectioning of each slice. For reconstruction, the filaments have to be traced and the sub-volumes aligned. Our algorithm takes traced filaments as input and matches their endpoints to find the optimal transform. We show that our method is able to quickly and accurately align sub-volumes containing neuronal processes, acquired using brightfield microscopy. Our method also makes it possible to align traced microtubuli, obtained from electron tomography data, which are extremely difficult to align manually

Active Learning and Proofreading for Delineation of Curvilinear Structures

Many state-of-the-art delineation methods rely on supervised machine learning algorithms. As a result, they require manually annotated training data, which is tedious to obtain. Furthermore, even minor classification errors may significantly affect the topology of the final result. In this paper we propose a generic approach to addressing both of these problems by taking into account the influence of a potential misclassification on the resulting delineation. In an Active Learning context, we identify parts of linear structures that should be annotated first in order to train a classifier effectively. In a proofreading context, we similarly find regions of the resulting reconstruction that should be verified in priority to obtain a nearly-perfect result. In both cases, by focusing the attention of the human expert on potential classification mistakes which are the most critical parts of the delineation, we reduce the amount of required supervision. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach on microscopy images depicting blood vessels and neurons

The Large Observatory for x-ray timing

The Large Observatory For x-ray Timing (LOFT) was studied within ESA M3 Cosmic Vision framework and participated in the final down-selection for a launch slot in 2022-2024. Thanks to the unprecedented combination of effective area and spectral resolution of its main instrument, LOFT will study the behaviour of matter under extreme conditions, such as the strong gravitational field in the innermost regions of accretion flows close to black holes and neutron stars, and the supra-nuclear densities in the interior of neutron stars. The science payload is based on a Large Area Detector (LAD, 10 m2 effective area, 2-30 keV, 240 eV spectral resolution, 1° collimated field of view) and a WideField Monitor (WFM, 2-50 keV, 4 steradian field of view, 1 arcmin source location accuracy, 300 eV spectral resolution). The WFM is equipped with an on-board system for bright events (e.g. GRB) localization. The trigger time and position of these events are broadcast to the ground within 30 s from discovery. In this paper we present the status of the mission at the end of its Phase A study

The LOFT mission concept: a status update

The Large Observatory For x-ray Timing (LOFT) is a mission concept which was proposed to ESA as M3 and M4 candidate in the framework of the Cosmic Vision 2015-2025 program. Thanks to the unprecedented combination of effective area and spectral resolution of its main instrument and the uniquely large field of view of its wide field monitor, LOFT will be able to study the behaviour of matter in extreme conditions such as the strong gravitational field in the innermost regions close to black holes and neutron stars and the supra-nuclear densities in the interiors of neutron stars. The science payload is based on a Large Area Detector (LAD, >8m2 effective area, 2-30 keV, 240 eV spectral resolution, 1 degree collimated field of view) and a Wide Field Monitor (WFM, 2-50 keV, 4 steradian field of view, 1 arcmin source location accuracy, 300 eV spectral resolution). The WFM is equipped with an on-board system for bright events (e.g., GRB) localization. The trigger time and position of these events are broadcast to the ground within 30 s from discovery. In this paper we present the current technical and programmatic status of the mission

Whole-body tissue stabilization and selective extractions via tissue-hydrogel hybrids for high-resolution intact circuit mapping and phenotyping

To facilitate fine-scale phenotyping of whole specimens, we describe here a set of tissue fixation-embedding, detergent-clearing and staining protocols that can be used to transform excised organs and whole organisms into optically transparent samples within 1–2 weeks without compromising their cellular architecture or endogenous fluorescence. PACT (passive CLARITY technique) and PARS (perfusion-assisted agent release in situ) use tissue-hydrogel hybrids to stabilize tissue biomolecules during selective lipid extraction, resulting in enhanced clearing efficiency and sample integrity. Furthermore, the macromolecule permeability of PACT- and PARS-processed tissue hybrids supports the diffusion of immunolabels throughout intact tissue, whereas RIMS (refractive index matching solution) grants high-resolution imaging at depth by further reducing light scattering in cleared and uncleared samples alike. These methods are adaptable to difficult-to-image tissues, such as bone (PACT-deCAL), and to magnified single-cell visualization (ePACT). Together, these protocols and solutions enable phenotyping of subcellular components and tracing cellular connectivity in intact biological networks

ATHENA X-IFU Demonstration Model: First Joint Operation of the Main TES Array and its Cryogenic AntiCoincidence Detector (CryoAC)

The X-IFU is the cryogenic spectrometer onboard the future ATHENA X-ray observatory. It is based on a large array of TES microcalorimeters, which work in combination with a Cryogenic AntiCoincidence detector (CryoAC). This is necessary to reduce the particle background level thus enabling part of the mission science goals. Here we present the first joint test of X-IFU TES array and CryoAC Demonstration Models, performed in a FDM setup. We show that it is possible to operate properly both detectors, and we provide a preliminary demonstration of the anti-coincidence capability of the system achieved by the simultaneous detection of cosmic muons