Association of C-reactive protein with bacterial and respiratory syncytial virus-associated pneumonia among children aged <5 years in the PERCH study

Background. Lack of a gold standard for identifying bacterial and viral etiologies of pneumonia has limited evaluation of C-reactive protein (CRP) for identifying bacterial pneumonia. We evaluated the sensitivity and specificity of CRP for identifying bacterial vs respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) pneumonia in the Pneumonia Etiology Research for Child Health (PERCH) multicenter case-control study. Methods. We measured serum CRP levels in cases with World Health Organization-defined severe or very severe pneumonia and a subset of community controls. We evaluated the sensitivity and specificity of elevated CRP for "confirmed" bacterial pneumonia (positive blood culture or positive lung aspirate or pleural fluid culture or polymerase chain reaction [PCR]) compared to "RSV pneumonia" (nasopharyngeal/oropharyngeal or induced sputum PCR-positive without confirmed/suspected bacterial pneumonia). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were constructed to assess the performance of elevated CRP in distinguishing these cases. Results. Among 601 human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-negative tested controls, 3% had CRP ≥40 mg/L. Among 119 HIVnegative cases with confirmed bacterial pneumonia, 77% had CRP ≥40 mg/L compared with 17% of 556 RSV pneumonia cases. The ROC analysis produced an area under the curve of 0.87, indicating very good discrimination; a cut-point of 37.1 mg/L best discriminated confirmed bacterial pneumonia (sensitivity 77%) from RSV pneumonia (specificity 82%). CRP ≥100 mg/L substantially improved specificity over CRP ≥40 mg/L, though at a loss to sensitivity. Conclusions. Elevated CRP was positively associated with confirmed bacterial pneumonia and negatively associated with RSV pneumonia in PERCH. CRP may be useful for distinguishing bacterial from RSV-associated pneumonia, although its role in discriminating against other respiratory viral-associated pneumonia needs further study

Highly-parallelized simulation of a pixelated LArTPC on a GPU

The rapid development of general-purpose computing on graphics processing units (GPGPU) is allowing the implementation of highly-parallelized Monte Carlo simulation chains for particle physics experiments. This technique is particularly suitable for the simulation of a pixelated charge readout for time projection chambers, given the large number of channels that this technology employs. Here we present the first implementation of a full microphysical simulator of a liquid argon time projection chamber (LArTPC) equipped with light readout and pixelated charge readout, developed for the DUNE Near Detector. The software is implemented with an end-to-end set of GPU-optimized algorithms. The algorithms have been written in Python and translated into CUDA kernels using Numba, a just-in-time compiler for a subset of Python and NumPy instructions. The GPU implementation achieves a speed up of four orders of magnitude compared with the equivalent CPU version. The simulation of the current induced on 10^3 pixels takes around 1 ms on the GPU, compared with approximately 10 s on the CPU. The results of the simulation are compared against data from a pixel-readout LArTPC prototype

Nutritional intervention during gestation alters growth, body composition and gene expression patterns in skeletal muscle of pig offspring

peer-reviewedVariations in maternal nutrition during gestation can influence foetal growth, foetal development and permanently ‘programme’ offspring for postnatal life. The objective of this study was to analyse the effect of increased maternal nutrition during different gestation time windows on offspring growth, carcass quality, meat quality and gene expression in skeletal muscle. A total of 64 sows were assigned to the following feeding treatments: a standard control diet at a feed allocation of 2.3 kg/day throughout gestation, increased feed allowance of 4.6 kg/day from 25 to 50 days of gestation (dg), from 50 to 80 dg and from 25 to 80 dg. At weaning, Light, Medium and Heavy pigs of the same gender, within litter, were selected based on birth weight, individually penned and monitored until slaughter at 130 days post weaning. Carcass and meat quality traits of the semimembranosus (SM) muscle were recorded post mortem. A cross section of the semitendinosus (ST) muscle encompassing the deep and superficial regions were harvested from pigs (n518 per treatment) for RNA extraction and quantification of gene expression by real-time PCR. The results showed that doubling the feed intake from 25 to 50 dg reduced offspring growth, carcass weight, intramuscular fat content and increased drip loss of the SM muscle. Interestingly, protein phosphatase 3 catalytic subunit – a-isoform, which codes for the transcription factor calcineurin, was upregulated in the ST muscle of offspring whose mothers received increased feed allowance from 25 to 50 dg. This may provide an explanation for the previous observed increases in Type IIa muscle fibres of these offspring. Increasing the maternal feed intake from 50 to 80 dg negatively impacted pig growth and carcass weight, but produced leaner male pigs. Extending the increased maternal feed intake from 25 to 80 dg had no effect on offspring over the standard control gestation diet. Although intra-litter variation in pig weight is a problem for pig producers, increased maternal feeding offered no improvement throughout life to the lighter birth weight littermates in our study. Indeed, increased maternal nutrition at the three-gestation time windows selected provided no major benefits to the offspring.Teagasc, under the National Development Plan; Teagasc Walsh Fellowship; Short Term Scientific Mission (STSM) fund, COST925

Behavioural responses of captive-born greater rheas Rhea americana Linnaeus (Rheiformes, Rheidae) submitted to antipredator training

Human activities have been diminishing greater rhea Rhea americana (Linnaeus, 1758) populations throughout their natural distribution. The reintroductions of captive-born greater rheas have been tried but without success; since the individuals reintroduced were killed by predators. Captive-born animals that have been isolated from predators for many generations can lose their predator recognition abilities. To enhance the survival rates of the reintroduced animals, researchers are now using antipredator training techniques. We studied the response of 15 zoo-borne greater rheas to antipredator training. The animals were divided into three groups: two test groups and one control group. We ran 15 antipredator tests and four control testes with each group. Antipredator tests consisted of pairing a taxidermized predator model or a real predator (domestic dog) with a simulation of a capture procedure. Control tests consisted of presenting the predator model (jaguar) to the birds, after training but not associating it with an aversive event and recording behavioural responses. All tests were video-recorded and analysed a posteriori. Results showed that the trained rheas responded appropriately to the predators, becoming more vigilant and that there was considerable individual differences in response to antipredator training. The results demonstrated that antipredator training is effective and therefore an invaluable tool for reintroduction projects involving greater rheas. Furthermore, the methods employed in this research project should be applicable to other species of flightless birds.<br>As atividades humanas têm diminuído as populações de emas Rhea americana (Linnaeus, 1758) por toda sua área de distribuição. Reintroduções de emas nascidas em cativeiro têm sido tentadas, mas sem sucesso, uma vez que os indivíduos reintroduzidos são mortos por predadores. Animais nascidos em cativeiro que foram isolados de seus predadores por várias gerações podem se tornar incapacitados do seu reconhecimento. Para aumentar as taxas de sobrevivência dos animais reintroduzidos, pesquisadores têm utilizado técnicas de treinamento anti-predação. O objetivo deste trabalho foi a aplicação de treinamento anti-predação em emas nascidas em cativeiro e avaliação de suas respostas comportamentais. Foram treinadas 15 emas adultas. Os animais foram divididos em três grupos: dois grupos-teste e um grupo controle. Foram realizados 15 testes anti-predação e quatro testes-controle com cada grupo. O teste anti-predação consistia em parear um modelo taxidermizado de predador (onça-pintada) ou um predador real (cachorro doméstico) com uma simulação de captura. Os testes-controle consistiram na apresentação do modelo do predador (onça empalhada) às aves, depois do treinamento, mas sem a associação com o estímulo aversivo. As respostas comportamentais foram filmadas e os comportamentos anotados posteriormente. Os resultados mostraram que as emas responderam apropriadamente aos predadores, se tornando mais vigilantes, e que existem diferenças individuais evidentes em resposta ao treinamento anti-predação. Os resultados demonstraram que o treinamento anti-predação pode ser uma ferramenta valiosa para futuros projetos de reintrodução envolvendo emas. Além disso, os métodos empregados nesta pesquisa podem ser aplicados a outras espécies de aves não-voadoras

The effect of a structured problem solving strategy on performance in physics in disadvantaged South African schools

A quasi-experimental study was undertaken to extend first-world research on physics problem solving into disadvantaged South African classrooms. Sixteen urban high schools, involving 189 learners, participated in the study, investigating the effect of a structured problem solving strategy on performance and conceptual understanding. This article focuses on the enhancement of problem solving performance in classroom tests and the midyear examination. The treatment group outperformed the control group by 8% in the midyear examination. Using ANOVA, this increased average score was statistically significant at the .001 level, indicating enhanced problem solving skills. Furthermore, it was demonstrated that the strategy was not transferred successfully to topics studied prior to implementation of the problem solving strategy. A theory is presented to explain the results in terms of the co-development of conceptual understanding and problem solving skill