Herd-level animal management factors associated with the occurrence of bovine neonatal pancytopenia in calves in a multicountry study

Since 2007, mortality associated with a previously unreported haemorrhagic disease has been observed in young calves in several European countries. The syndrome, which has been named ‘bovine neonatal pancytopenia’ (BNP), is characterised by thrombocytopenia, leukocytopenia and a panmyelophthisis. A herd-level case-control study was conducted in four BNP affected countries (Belgium, France, Germany and the Netherlands) to identify herd management risk factors for BNP occurrence. Data were collected using structured face-to-face and telephone interviews of farm managers and their local veterinarians. In total, 363 case farms and 887 control farms were included in a matched multivariable conditional logistic regression analysis. Case-control status was strongly associated with the odds of herd level use of the vaccine PregSure® BVD (PregSure, Pfizer Animal Health) (matched adjusted odds ratio (OR) 107.2; 95% CI: 41.0–280.1). This was also the case for the practices of feeding calves colostrum from the calf’s own dam (OR 2.0; 95% CI: 1.1–3.4) or feeding pooled colostrum (OR 4.1; 95% CI: 1.9–8.8). Given that the study had relatively high statistical power and represented a variety of cattle production and husbandry systems, it can be concluded with some confidence that no other herd level management factors are competent causes for a sufficient cause of BNP occurrence on herd level. It is suggested that genetic characteristics of the dams and BNP calves should be the focus of further investigations aimed at identifying the currently missing component causes that together with PregSure vaccination and colostrum feeding represent a sufficient cause for occurrence of BNP in calves

The first determination of Generalized Polarizabilities of the proton by a Virtual Compton Scattering experiment

Absolute differential cross sections for the reaction (e+p -> e+p+gamma) have been measured at a four-momentum transfer with virtuality Q^2=0.33 GeV^2 and polarization \epsilon = 0.62 in the range 33.6 to 111.5 MeV/c for the momentum of the outgoing photon in the photon-proton center of mass frame. The experiment has been performed with the high resolution spectrometers at the Mainz Microtron MAMI. From the photon angular distributions, two structure functions which are a linear combination of the generalized polarizabilities have been determined for the first time.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Dimensionality and dynamics in the behavior of C. elegans

A major challenge in analyzing animal behavior is to discover some underlying simplicity in complex motor actions. Here we show that the space of shapes adopted by the nematode C. elegans is surprisingly low dimensional, with just four dimensions accounting for 95% of the shape variance, and we partially reconstruct "equations of motion" for the dynamics in this space. These dynamics have multiple attractors, and we find that the worm visits these in a rapid and almost completely deterministic response to weak thermal stimuli. Stimulus-dependent correlations among the different modes suggest that one can generate more reliable behaviors by synchronizing stimuli to the state of the worm in shape space. We confirm this prediction, effectively "steering" the worm in real time.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures, minor correction

Size Dependence of Metal-Insulator Transition in Stoichiometric Fe3O4 Nanocrystals

Magnetite (Fe3O4) is one of the most actively studied materials with a famous metal-insulator transition (MIT), so-called the Verwey transition at around 123 K. Despite the recent progress in synthesis and characterization of Fe3O4 nanocrystals (NCs), it is still an open question how the Verwey transition changes on a nanometer scale. We herein report the systematic studies on size dependence of the Verwey transition of stoichiometric Fe3O4 NCs. We have successfully synthesized stoichiometric and uniform-sized Fe3O4 NCs with sizes ranging from 5 to 100 nm. These stoichiometric Fe3O4 NCs show the Verwey transition when they are characterized by conductance, magnetization, cryo-XRD, and heat capacity measurements. The Verwey transition is weakly size-dependent and becomes suppressed in NCs smaller than 20 nm before disappearing completely for less than 6 nm, which is a clear, yet highly interesting indication of a size effect of this well-known phenomena. Our current work will shed new light on this ages-old problem of Verwey transition.Comment: 18 pages, 4 figures, Nano Letters (accepted

The Search for Invariance: Repeated Positive Testing Serves the Goals of Causal Learning

Positive testing is characteristic of exploratory behavior, yet it seems to be at odds with the aim of information seeking. After all, repeated demonstrations of one’s current hypothesis often produce the same evidence and fail to distinguish it from potential alternatives. Research on the development of scientific reasoning and adult rule learning have both documented and attempted to explain this behavior. The current chapter reviews this prior work and introduces a novel theoretical account—the Search for Invariance (SI) hypothesis—which suggests that producing multiple positive examples serves the goals of causal learning. This hypothesis draws on the interventionist framework of causal reasoning, which suggests that causal learners are concerned with the invariance of candidate hypotheses. In a probabilistic and interdependent causal world, our primary goal is to determine whether, and in what contexts, our causal hypotheses provide accurate foundations for inference and intervention—not to disconfirm their alternatives. By recognizing the central role of invariance in causal learning, the phenomenon of positive testing may be reinterpreted as a rational information-seeking strategy

Bat accelerated regions identify a bat forelimb specific enhancer in the HoxD locus

Author Summary: The limb is a classic example of vertebrate homology and is represented by a large range of morphological structures such as fins, legs and wings. The evolution of these structures could be driven by alterations in gene regulatory elements that have critical roles during development. To identify elements that may contribute to bat wing development, we characterized sequences that are conserved between vertebrates, but changed significantly in the bat lineage. We then overlapped these sequences with predicted developing limb enhancers as determined by ChIP-seq, finding 166 bat accelerated sequences (BARs). Five BARs that were tested for enhancer activity in mice all drove expression in the limb. Testing the mouse orthologous sequence showed that three had differences in their limb enhancer activity as compared to the bat sequence. Of these, BAR116 was of particular interest as it is located near the HoxD locus, an essential gene complex required for proper spatiotemporal patterning of the developing limb. The bat BAR116 sequence drove robust forelimb expression but the mouse BAR116 sequence did not show enhancer activity. These experiments correspond to analyses of HoxD gene expressions in developing bat limbs, which had strong forelimb versus weak hindlimb expression for Hoxd10 - 11 . Combined, our studies highlight specific genomic regions that could be important in shaping the morphological differences that led to the development of the bat wing

Effects of phosphodiesterase 4 inhibition on bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis in mice

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Pulmonary fibrosis (PF) is a group of devastating and largely irreversible diseases. Phosphodiesterase (PDE) 4 is involved in the processes of remodeling and inflammation, which play key role in tissue fibrosis. The aim of the study was, therefore, to investigate the effect of PDE4 inhibition in experimental model of PF.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>PF was induced in C57BL/6N mice by instillation of bleomycin. Pharmacological inhibition of PDE4 was achieved by using cilomilast, a selective PDE4 inhibitor. Changes in either lung inflammation or remodeling were evaluated at different stages of experimental PF. Lung inflammation was assessed by bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) differential cell count and reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) for inflammatory cytokines. Changes in tissue remodeling were evaluated by pulmonary compliance measurement, quantified pathological examination, measurement of collagen deposition and RT-qPCR for late remodeling markers. Survival in all groups was analyzed as well.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>PDE4 inhibition significantly reduced the total number of alveolar inflammatory cells in BALF of mice with bleomycin-induced PF at early fibrosis stage (days 4 and 7). Number of macrophages and lymphocytes, but not neutrophils, was significantly reduced as well. Treatment decreased lung tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α mRNA level and increased mRNA level of interleukin (IL)-6 but did not influence IL-1β. At later stage (days 14 and 24) cilomilast improved lung function, which was shown by increase in lung compliance. It also lowered fibrosis degree, as was shown by quantified pathological examination of Hematoxilin-Eosin stained lung sections. Cilomilast had no significant effect on the expression of late remodeling markers such as transforming growth factor (TGF)-β1 and collagen type Ia1 (COL(I)α1). However, it tended to restore the level of lung collagen, assessed by SIRCOL assay and Masson's trichrome staining, and to improve the overall survival.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Selective PDE4 inhibition suppresses early inflammatory stage and attenuates the late stage of experimental pulmonary fibrosis.</p

Stationary Black Holes: Uniqueness and Beyond

The spectrum of known black-hole solutions to the stationary Einstein equations has been steadily increasing, sometimes in unexpected ways. In particular, it has turned out that not all black-hole-equilibrium configurations are characterized by their mass, angular momentum and global charges. Moreover, the high degree of symmetry displayed by vacuum and electro-vacuum black-hole spacetimes ceases to exist in self-gravitating non-linear field theories. This text aims to review some developments in the subject and to discuss them in light of the uniqueness theorem for the Einstein-Maxwell system.Comment: Major update of the original version by Markus Heusler from 1998. Piotr T. Chru\'sciel and Jo\~ao Lopes Costa succeeded to this review's authorship. Significantly restructured and updated all sections; changes are too numerous to be usefully described here. The number of references increased from 186 to 32

Impact of screening for breast cancer in high-risk women on health-related quality of life

The effectiveness of intensive surveillance in women at high risk for breast cancer due to a familial or genetic predisposition is uncertain and is currently being evaluated in a Dutch magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) screening (MRISC) study, in which annual imaging consists of mammography and MRI. Unfavourable side effects on health-related quality of life may arise from this screening process. We examined the short-term effects of screening for breast cancer in high-risk women on generic health-related quality of life and distress. A total of 519 participants in the MRISC study were asked to complete generic health-status questionnaires (SF-36, EQ-5D) as well as additional questionnaires for distress and items relating to breast cancer screening, at three different time points around screening. The study population showed significantly better generic health-related quality of life scores compared to age-/sex-adjusted reference scores from the general population. Neither generic health-related quality of life scores nor distress scores among the study sample (n = 334) showed significant changes over time. The impact of the screening process on generic health status did not differ between risk categories. Relatively more women reported mammography as quite to very painful (30.1%) compared to MRI. Anxiety was experienced by 37% of the women undergoing MRI. We conclude that screening for breast cancer in high-risk women does not have an unfavourable impact on short-term generic health-related quality of life and general distress. In this study, high-risk women who opted for regular breast cancer screening had a better health status than women from the general population