Advanced Telecommunications and Signal Processing Program

Contains an introduction and reports on seven research projects.Advanced Telecommunications Research ProgramAT&T FellowshipGEM FellowshipU.S. Federal Bureau of InvestigationLucent Technologies FellowshipCharles S. Draper LaboratoryU.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research NDSEG Graduate Fellowshi

Ivermectin 1% efficacy by different routes and doses against resistant nematodes in cattle

La resitencia antielmintica (RA) a ivermectina (IVM) y otras lactonas macrocíclicas(LM) es un fenómeno mundialmente conocido . En ovinos, la administración de LMpor vía oral o intra-ruminal y en alta dosis ha logrado mejorar la eficacia frente aparásitos gastrointestinales (PGI), sin embargo no abundan aún experienciassimilares bovinos. El objetivo del presente ensayo fue evaluar la eficacia de IVM aalta dosis y por diferentes vías en terneros portadores de PGI resistentes a IVM enun engorde a corral comercial. De un total de 125 se seleccionaron 44 ternerosmachos, clínicamente sanos, los cuales fueron asignados a 4 grupos (n=11animales/grupo) que recibieron IVM a dosis estándar (0,2 mg/kg) y alta (1 mg/kg) ypor vía subcutánea e intra-ruminal. Previo al día del tratamiento (día ? 6) setomaron muestras de materia fecal para recuento de huevos de PGI por gramo ycoprocultivo; además se registró el peso individual de cada animal. El día deltratamiento fue considerado el día 0. En los días +14 y +27 se tomaron muestrasde materia fecal mientras que en el día +27 se registró nuevamente el peso. Lareducción en el recuento de huevos en materia fecal en el día +14 y +27 no mostró diferencias entre los grupos, dejando en evidencia la falta de eficacia de la droga aún en dosis quíntuple. No se observó diferencias en la ganancia diaria de peso entre los grupos. En el presente ensayo el uso de IVM en los diferentes grupos aalta dosis y por diferentes vías no obtuvo mejoras en los porcentajes de reducciónde huevos en materia fecal en bovinos portadores de PGI resistentes.Anthelmintic resistance to ivermectin and macrocyclic lactones (ML) is a worldwide spread problem. A high dose schedule of ML was effective against resistant nematodes in sheep, given oral and intra-ruminal. However, no enough data are available from cattle on this issue. Thus, the goal of this work was the efficacy assessment of IVM given at different doses and routes. To achieve this goal, 44 male feedlot calves, infected with IVM resistant nematodes, were assigned to four groups (n=11 calves per group). They received standard (0.2 mg/kg), or high doses (1 mg/kg) of IVM by subcutaneous or intra-ruminal routes. Before treatment (day -6), feces were sampled for eggs per gram counts (EPG) and copocultures; weight was also measured on this date. The treatments were administered on day 0. Later, on days +14 and +27, feces were re-sampled, and calves were weighed again just in the last date. Fecal egg count reductions showed no statistical differences between groups. This evidenced the lack of efficacy for IVM, even at a fivefold dose. Weight was neither different between groups. In conclusion, higher doses of IVM given by subcutaneous or intra-ruminal routes were insufficient to kill IVM-resistant nematodes in calves.Fil: Galvan, Walter Ruben. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias; ArgentinaFil: Fazzio, Luis Emilio. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias; ArgentinaFil: Streitenberger, Nicolás. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias; ArgentinaFil: Galarza, E.. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias; ArgentinaFil: Lizarraga, R.. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias; ArgentinaFil: Sánchez, Ricardo. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias; ArgentinaFil: Sanabria, Rodrigo Eduardo Fabrizio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas. Universidad Nacional de San Martín. Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas; Argentin

Mobile teleradiology system suitable for m-health services supporting content and semantic based image retrieval on a grid infrastructure

Teleradiology systems tackle the problem of transferring radiological images between medical image workstations for facilitating different medical activities, e.g., diagnosis, treatment and follow up a patient, medical training, or consulting second opinion. Nowadays, m-Health (aka mobile health) is becoming popular because of high quality of mobile displays, although remains a work in progress. In this paper a mobile teleradiology system is reported, which main contribution is the development of a platform: (1) supported by a Grid infrastructure, (2) using biomedical ontologies for adding semantic annotations on medical images, and (3) supporting semantic and content-based image retrieval. Images are located physically in different repositories like; hospitals and diagnostic imaging centers. All these features make the system ubiquitous, portable, and suitable for m-Health services.Orlando Florid

Tracking data highlight the importance of human-induced mortality for large migratory birds at a flyway scale

Human-induced direct mortality affects huge numbers of birds each year, threatening hundreds of species worldwide. Tracking technologies can be an important tool to investigate temporal and spatial patterns of bird mortality as well as their drivers. We compiled 1704 mortality records from tracking studies across the African-Eurasian flyway for 45 species, including raptors, storks, and cranes, covering the period from 2003 to 2021. Our results show a higher frequency of human-induced causes of mortality than natural causes across taxonomic groups, geographical areas, and age classes. Moreover, we found that the frequency of human-induced mortality remained stable over the study period. From the human-induced mortality events with a known cause (n = 637), three main causes were identified: electrocution (40.5 %), illegal killing (21.7 %), and poisoning (16.3 %). Additionally, combined energy infrastructure-related mortality (i.e., electrocution, power line collision, and wind-farm collision) represented 49 % of all human-induced mortality events. Using a random forest model, the main predictors of human-induced mortality were found to be taxonomic group, geographic location (latitude and longitude), and human footprint index value at the location of mortality. Despite conservation efforts, human drivers of bird mortality in the African-Eurasian flyway do not appear to have declined over the last 15 years for the studied group of species. Results suggest that stronger conservation actions to address these threats across the flyway can reduce their impacts on species. In particular, projected future development of energy infrastructure is a representative example where application of planning, operation, and mitigation measures can enhance bird conservation.publishedVersio

Delayed colorectal cancer care during covid-19 pandemic (decor-19). Global perspective from an international survey

Background The widespread nature of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been unprecedented. We sought to analyze its global impact with a survey on colorectal cancer (CRC) care during the pandemic. Methods The impact of COVID-19 on preoperative assessment, elective surgery, and postoperative management of CRC patients was explored by a 35-item survey, which was distributed worldwide to members of surgical societies with an interest in CRC care. Respondents were divided into two comparator groups: 1) ‘delay’ group: CRC care affected by the pandemic; 2) ‘no delay’ group: unaltered CRC practice. Results A total of 1,051 respondents from 84 countries completed the survey. No substantial differences in demographics were found between the ‘delay’ (745, 70.9%) and ‘no delay’ (306, 29.1%) groups. Suspension of multidisciplinary team meetings, staff members quarantined or relocated to COVID-19 units, units fully dedicated to COVID-19 care, personal protective equipment not readily available were factors significantly associated to delays in endoscopy, radiology, surgery, histopathology and prolonged chemoradiation therapy-to-surgery intervals. In the ‘delay’ group, 48.9% of respondents reported a change in the initial surgical plan and 26.3% reported a shift from elective to urgent operations. Recovery of CRC care was associated with the status of the outbreak. Practicing in COVID-free units, no change in operative slots and staff members not relocated to COVID-19 units were statistically associated with unaltered CRC care in the ‘no delay’ group, while the geographical distribution was not. Conclusions Global changes in diagnostic and therapeutic CRC practices were evident. Changes were associated with differences in health-care delivery systems, hospital’s preparedness, resources availability, and local COVID-19 prevalence rather than geographical factors. Strategic planning is required to optimize CRC care