Interacting with Law Enforcement Audiences in Livestock Management

An Ohio voter initiative was passed to create the Ohio Livestock Care Standards Board. The board established livestock animal care regulations. Eight workshops were held for humane officers and others who deal with livestock animal care complaints. A total of 127 participants were trained on beef, dairy, swine, sheep/goat, equine and poultry husbandry; body condition scoring; farm animal behavior and handling; and biosecurity. The OPOTA has authority over training the County Humane Agents. OPOTA put together a team, including instructors from Animal Agriculture 101, to edit this section of their training on how to determine animal abuse related to livestock

The Speciation of Metals in Mammals Influences Their Toxicokinetics and Toxicodynamics and Therefore Human Health Risk Assessment

Chemical form (i.e., species) can influence metal toxicokinetics and toxicodynamics and should be considered to improve human health risk assessment. Factors that influence metal speciation (and examples) include: (1) carrier-mediated processes for specific metal species (arsenic, chromium, lead and manganese), (2) valence state (arsenic, chromium, manganese and mercury), (3) particle size (lead and manganese), (4) the nature of metal binding ligands (aluminum, arsenic, chromium, lead, and manganese), (5) whether the metal is an organic versus inorganic species (arsenic, lead, and mercury), and (6) biotransformation of metal species (aluminum, arsenic, chromium, lead, manganese and mercury). The influence of speciation on metal toxicokinetics and toxicodynamics in mammals, and therefore the adverse effects of metals, is reviewed to illustrate how the physicochemical characteristics of metals and their handling in the body (toxicokinetics) can influence toxicity (toxicodynamics). Generalizing from mercury, arsenic, lead, aluminum, chromium, and manganese, it is clear that metal speciation influences mammalian toxicity. Methods used in aquatic toxicology to predict the interaction among metal speciation, uptake, and toxicity are evaluated. A classification system is presented to show that the chemical nature of the metal can predict metal ion toxicokinetics and toxicodynamics. Essential metals, such as iron, are considered. These metals produce low oral toxicity under most exposure conditions but become toxic when biological processes that utilize or transport them are overwhelmed, or bypassed. Risk assessments for essential and nonessential metals should consider toxicokinetic and toxicodynamic factors in setting exposure standards. Because speciation can influence a metal\u27s fate and toxicity, different exposure standards should be established for different metal species. Many examples are provided which consider metal essentiality and toxicity and that illustrate how consideration of metal speciation can improve the risk assessment process. More examples are available at a website established as a repository for summaries of the literature on how the speciation of metals affects their toxicokinetics

Mid-ocean microseisms

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2005. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Geochemistry Geophysics Geosystems 6 (2005): Q04009, doi:10.1029/2004GC000768.The Hawaii-2 Observatory (H2O) is an excellent site for studying the source regions and propagation of microseisms since it is located far from shorelines and shallow water. During Leg 200 of the Ocean Drilling Program, the officers of the JOIDES Resolution took wind and wave measurements for comparison with double-frequency (DF) microseism data collected at nearby H2O. The DF microseism band can be divided into short period and long period bands, SPDF and LPDF, respectively. Comparison of the ship’s weather log with the seismic data in the SPDF band from about 0.20 to 0.45 Hz shows a strong correlation of seismic amplitude with wind speed and direction, implying that the energy reaching the ocean floor is generated locally by ocean gravity waves. Near-shore land seismic stations see similar SPDF spectra, also generated locally by wind seas. At H2O, SPDF microseism amplitudes lag sustained changes in wind speed and direction by several hours, with the lag increasing with wave period. This lag may be associated with the time necessary for the development of opposing seas for DF microseism generation. Correlation of swell height above H2O with the LPDF band from 0.085 to 0.20 Hz is often poor, implying that a significant portion of this energy originates at distant locations. Correlation of the H2O seismic data with NOAA buoy data, with hindcast wave height data from the North Pacific, and with seismic data from mainland and island stations, defines likely source areas of the LPDF signals. Most of the LPDF energy at H2O appears to be generated by high amplitude storm waves impacting long stretches of coastline nearly simultaneously, and the Hawaiian Islands appear to be a significant source of LPDF energy in the North Pacific when waves arrive from particular directions. The highest DF levels observed at mid-ocean site H2O occur in the SPDF band when two coincident nearby storm systems develop. Mid-ocean generated DF microseisms are not observed at interior continental sites, indicating high attenuation of these signals. At near-coastal seismic stations, both SPDF and LPDF microseism levels are generally dominated by local generation at nearby shorelines.This work was supported by the U.S. Science Support Program (User Reference: 418920-BA372; Task Order F001602) associated with the Ocean Drilling Program and is sponsored by the National Science Foundation and the Joint Oceanographic Institutions, Inc. Additional support was provided by the California Energy Commission and the California Department of Boating and Waterways as part of their program to improve boating facilities, access, safety, and education. Support for Ralph Stephen was also provided by the National Science Foundation under Grant #OCE-0424633

IGR J00234+6141 : a new INTEGRAL source identified as an Intermediate polar

Following an extensive survey of the galactic plane by the INTEGRAL satellite, new hard X-ray sources are discovered with a significant fraction of Cataclysmic Variables (CVs) among them. We report here the identification of one of these hard X-ray sources, IGR J00234+6141, as an accreting magnetic white dwarf of intermediate polar type. We analyse the high energy emission of the INTEGRAL source using all available data and provide complementary optical photometric and spectroscopic data obtained respectively in August and October 2006. Based on a refined INTEGRAL position, we confirm the proposed optical identification. We clearly detect the presence of a 564 s periodic optical modulation that we identify as the rotation of the white dwarf. The analysis of the optical spectrum also demonstrates that the emission lines show a modulation in radial velocity with an orbital period of Porb = (4.033 +/- 0.005) hr. The two periodicities indicate that IGR00234+6141 is a magnetic CV of the intermediate polar type. This is one of the faintest and hardest sources of this type detected by INTEGRAL. This confirms earlier conclusions that IPs contribute significantly to the population of galactic X-ray sources and represent a significant fraction of the high energy background.Comment: 6 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in A&

A national registry to assess the value of cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging after primary percutaneous coronary intervention pathway activation:a feasibility cohort study

Background Cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) is increasingly used in patients who activate the primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PPCI) pathway to assess heart function. It is uncertain whether having CMR influences patient management or the risk of major adverse cardiovascular events in these patients. Objective To determine whether or not it is feasible to set up a national registry, linking routinely collected data from hospital information systems (HISs), to investigate the role of CMR in patients who activate the PPCI pathway. Design A feasibility prospective cohort study. Setting Four 24/7 PPCI hospitals in England and Wales (two with and two without a dedicated CMR facility). Participants Patients who activated the PPCI pathway and underwent an emergency coronary angiogram. Interventions CMR either performed or not performed within 10 weeks of the index event. Main outcome measures A. Feasibility parameters – (1) patient consent implemented at all hospitals, (2) data extracted from more than one HIS and successfully linked for andgt; 90% of consented patients at all four hospitals, (3) HIS data successfully linked with Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) and Patient Episode Database Wales (PEDW) for andgt; 90% of consented patients at all four hospitals and (4) CMR requested and carried out for ≥ 10% of patients activating the PPCI pathway in CMR hospitals. B. Key drivers of cost-effectiveness for CMR (identified from simple cost-effectiveness models) in patients with (1) multivessel disease and (2) unobstructed coronary arteries. C. A change in clinical management arising from having CMR (defined using formal consensus and identified using HES follow-up data in the 12 months after the index event). Results A. (1) Consent was implemented (for all hospitals, consent rates were 59–74%) and 1670 participants were recruited. (2) Data submission was variable – clinical data available for ≥ 82% of patients across all hospitals, biochemistry and echocardiography (ECHO) data available for ≥ 98%, 34% and 87% of patients in three hospitals and medications data available for 97% of patients in one hospital. (3) HIS data were linked with hospital episode data for 99% of all consented patients. (4) At the two CMR hospitals, 14% and 20% of patients received CMR. B. In both (1) multivessel disease and (2) unobstructed coronary arteries, the difference in quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) between CMR and no CMR [‘current’ comparator, stress ECHO and standard ECHO, respectively] was very small [0.0012, 95% confidence interval (CI) –0.0076 to 0.0093 and 0.0005, 95% CI –0.0050 to 0.0077, respectively]. The diagnostic accuracy of the ischaemia tests was the key driver of cost-effectiveness in sensitivity analyses for both patient subgroups. C. There was consensus that CMR leads to clinically important changes in management in five patient subgroups. Some changes in management were successfully identified in hospital episode data (e.g. new diagnoses/procedures, frequency of outpatient episodes related to cardiac events), others were not (e.g. changes in medications, new diagnostic tests). Conclusions A national registry is not currently feasible. Patients were consented successfully but conventional consent could not be implemented nationally. Linking HIS and hospital episode data was feasible but HIS data were not uniformly available. It is feasible to identify some, but not all, changes in management in the five patient subgroups using hospital episode data. The delay in obtaining hospital episode data influenced the relevance of some of our study objectives. Future work To test the feasibility of conducting the study using national data sets (e.g. HES, British Cardiovascular Intervention Society audit database, Diagnostic Imaging Dataset, Clinical Practice Research Datalink). Funding The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Services and Delivery Research programme. This study was designed and delivered in collaboration with the Clinical Trials and Evaluation Unit, a UK Clinical Research Collaboration-registered clinical trials unit that, as part of the Bristol Trials Centre, is in receipt of NIHR clinical trials unit support funding. </jats:sec

Ocean Seismic Network Pilot Experiment

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2003. It is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Geochemistry Geophysics Geosystems 4 (2003): 1092, doi:10.1029/2002GC000485.The primary goal of the Ocean Seismic Network Pilot Experiment (OSNPE) was to learn how to make high quality broadband seismic measurements on the ocean bottom in preparation for a permanent ocean seismic network. The experiment also had implications for the development of a capability for temporary (e.g., 1 year duration) seismic experiments on the ocean floor. Equipment for installing, operating and monitoring borehole observatories in the deep sea was also tested including a lead-in package, a logging probe, a wire line packer and a control vehicle. The control vehicle was used in three modes during the experiment: for observation of seafloor features and equipment, for equipment launch and recovery, and for power supply and telemetry between ocean bottom units and the ship. The OSNPE which was completed in June 1998 acquired almost four months of continuous data and it demonstrated clearly that a combination of shallow buried and borehole broadband sensors could provide comparable quality data to broadband seismic installations on islands and continents. Burial in soft mud appears to be adequate at frequencies below the microseism peak. Although the borehole sensor was subject to installation noise at low frequencies (0.6 to 50 mHz), analysis of the OSNPE data provides new insights into our understanding of ocean bottom ambient noise. The OSNPE results clearly demonstrate the importance of sediment borne shear modes in ocean bottom ambient noise behavior. Ambient noise drops significantly at high frequencies for a sensor placed just at the sediment basalt interface. At frequencies above the microseism peak, there are two reasons that ocean bottom stations have been generally regarded as noisier than island or land stations: ocean bottom stations are closer to the noise source (the surface gravity waves) and most ocean bottom stations to date have been installed on low rigidity sediments where they are subject to the effects of shear wave resonances. When sensors are placed in boreholes in basement the performance of ocean bottom seismic stations approaches that of continental and island stations. A broadband borehole seismic station should be included in any real-time ocean bottom observatory.This work was sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF Grant Numbers: OCE-9522114, OCE-9523541 and OCE-9819439) with additional support from Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS), Joint Oceanographic Institutions, Inc. (JOI Contract No: 12-94), Scripps Institution of Oceanography, a Mellon Grant from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and the Earthquake Research Institute at the University of Tokyo (Visiting Professorship for RAS)