Puettavaan teknologiaan liittyvät tiedontarpeet:Reddit -verkkoyhteisön jäsenten tiedontarpeita Oura-älysormuksen unenseurannasta

Tiivistelmä. Erilaiset unenseurantaan tarkoitetut puettavat älylaitteet ovat yleistyneet nopeasti väestön keskuudessa. Tutkimuksen tarkoituksena oli lisätä tietoutta siitä, millaisia tiedontarpeita Oura-älysormuksen käyttäjillä liittyy unenseurantaan. Tutkimuksen aineisto on koottu Reddit-keskustelufoorumilta ja tutkimusmenetelmänä käytettiin sisällönanalyysiä. Oura-älysormuksen unenseurantaan liittyvä tiedonhaku voitiin jaotella kolmeen pääluokkaan. Nämä olivat tiedon tarkkuus ja luotettavuus, tiedon tulkinta ja tiedon käytettävyys. Näistä useimmin esiintyi tiedon tarkkuutta ja luotettavuutta koskevia tiedontarpeita. Näitä tiedontarpeita yhdisti yksittäisen yön ja yksittäisen unenlaadun parametria koskevat aiheet kokonaisuuden sijasta. Tiedon käytettävyydestä nousi esille tarve konkreettisille neuvoille ja ohjeille unenlaadun parantamiseksi. Yksittäisistä univaiheista eniten kiinnostusta oli REM-unen lisäämiselle. Tiedon visualisointiin liittyviä tiedontarpeita ei aineistosta noussut esille

On-farm deaths of dairy cows are associated with features of freestall barns

ABSTRACT On-farm death (OFD) of a dairy cow is always a financial loss for a farmer, and potentially a welfare issue that has to be addressed within the dairy industry. The aim of this study was to explore the associations between OFD of dairy cows, housing, and herd management in freestall barns. To achieve the goal, we followed 10,837 cows calving in 2011 in 82 herds. Data were gathered with observations and a structured interview during farm visits and from a national dairy herd improvement database. The hazard of OFD was modeled with a shared frailty survival model, with SAS 9.3 PHREG procedure (SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC). The study population was 58% Ayrshire and 42% Holstein cows. The median herd size and mean milk yield in the study herds were 116 cows and 9,151 kg of milk per cow per year. The overall probability of OFD was 6.0%; 1.8% of the cows died unassisted and 4.2% were euthanized. Variation in OFD percentage between individual herds was large, from 0 to 16%, accounting for 0 to 58% of all removals in the herds. Keeping close-up dry cows in an own group was associated with higher hazard of OFD [hazard ratio (HR) = 1.37] compared with keeping them in the same pen with far-off dry cows. Higher hazard on OFD was observed when barns had only one kind of calving pens; single (HR = 2.09) or group pens (HR = 1.72), compared with having both of those types. The hazard of OFD was lower if the whole herd was housed in barns or pens that had only 1 type of feed barrier at the feed bunk, namely post-and-rail (HR = 0.51) or a type with barriers between the cow's heads (HR = 0.49), compared with having 2 types. Lower OFD hazard was observed with wider than 340 cm of walking alley next to the feeding table (HR = 0.75), and with housing a whole herd in pens with only 1 type of walking alley surface, specifically slatted (HR = 0.53) or solid (HR = 0.48), compared with having both types. The hazard of OFD was higher with stalls wider than 120 cm (HR = 1.38) compared with narrower stalls. The hazard of OFD was also associated with breed, parity, and calving season. This study identified many factors that contribute to the incidence of OFD of dairy cows. The solutions for reducing on-farm mortality include housing, management, and breeding choices that are most probably herd specific.Peer reviewe

Magnetic resonance imaging-guided transurethral ultrasound ablation for benign prostatic hyperplasia: 12-month clinical outcomes of a phase I study

Objectives To investigate the safety and feasibility of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-guided transurethral ultrasound ablation (TULSA) for the treatment of benign prostatic obstruction (BPO). Patients and methods An investigator-initiated, prospective, registered (NCT03350529), phase I study enrolled men with lower urinary tract symptoms due to benign prostatic hyperplasia in need of surgical intervention. Patients were followed for 12 months after TULSA. Uroflowmetry, prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level, and a comprehensive set of functional questionnaires including the Expanded Prostate cancer Index Composite-26, International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS) and five-item version of the International Index of Erectile Function were obtained at baseline and every 3 months afterwards. MRI was obtained at baseline, and at 3 and 12 months after TULSA. Medication use before and after TULSA were recorded. Adverse events (AEs) were reported using the Clavien-Dindo classification. Results A total of 10 men underwent TULSA with no severe AEs encountered. The baseline median (interquartile range [IQR]) age and prostate volume were 68 (63-72) years and 53 (45-66) mL, respectively. At baseline, six patients were moderately symptomatic and four patients severely symptomatic. Nine patients at baseline were on BPO medication. The median (IQR) improvement in the IPSS was 82%, from 17.5 (15.3-23.0) at baseline to 4.0 (2.3-6.3) at 12 months. Similarly, the median maximum urinary flow rate improved by 101%, from a median (IQR) of 12.4 (8.8-17.6) mL/s at baseline to 21.8 (17.6-26.5) mL/s at 12 months. Improvements were already seen at 3 months. The median prostate volume and PSA reduction at 12 months were 33% and 48%, respectively. There were no changes in continence, sexual, erectile or bowel functions. At 12 months, five out of six men with normal ejaculatory function before TULSA reported normal antegrade ejaculations. All patients taking BPO medication before TULSA discontinued medication after TULSA. Conclusion TULSA appears to be a safe and effective treatment for BPO, with promising 12-month follow-up outcomes. Further studies with larger cohorts are needed to confirm the observed results

Duration of female parental care and their survival in the little auk Alle alle - are these two traits linked?

Desertion of offspring before its independence by one of the parents is observed in a number of avian species with bi-parental care but reasons for this strategy are not fully understood. This behaviour is particularly intriguing in species where bi-parental care is crucial to raise the brood successfully. Here, we focus on the little auk, Alle alle, a small seabird with intensive bi-parental care, where the female deserts the brood at the end of the chick rearing period. The little auk example is interesting as most hypotheses to explain desertion of the brood by females (e.g. “re-mating hypothesis”, “body condition hypothesis”) have been rejected for this species. Here, we analysed a possible relationship between the duration of female parental care over the chick and her chances to survive to the next breeding season. We performed the study in two breeding colonies on Spitsbergen with different foraging conditions – more favourable in Hornsund and less favourable in Magdalenefjorden. We predicted that in Hornsund females would stay for shorter periods of time with the brood and would have higher survival rates in comparison with birds from Magdalenefjorden. We found that indeed in less favourable conditions of Magdalenefjorden, females stay longer with the brood than in the more favourable conditions of Hornsund. Moreover, female survival was negatively affected by the length of stay in the brood. Nevertheless, duration of female parental care over the chick was not related to their parental efforts, earlier in the chick rearing period, and survival of males and females was similar. Thus, although females brood desertion and winter survival are linked, the relationship is not straightforward

Acute phase proteins in milk in naturally acquired bovine mastitis caused by different pathogens

The concentrations of haptoglobin (Hp) and serum amyloid A (SAA) and the activity of N-acetyl-beta-D-glucosaminidase (NAGase) in milk from 234 cows with spontaneous mastitis caused by different pathogens were measured to assess whether they corresponded with the clinical signs of mastitis and whether there were any differences between pathogens. Ninety-eight of the cows had clinical mastitis and 136 had subclinical mastitis. There were statistically significant positive correlations between the concentrations of SAA and Hp and the activity of NAGase. Significant differences in the concentrations of acute phase proteins and NAGase activity were found in milk from cows with mastitis caused by different pathogens. The highest concentrations of Hp and NAGase were found in cases of mastitis caused by Escherichia coli and Arcanobacterium pyogenes, and the lowest concentrations were from cases of mastitis caused by coagulase-negative staphylococci. Very low SAA concentrations were found in milk from the cases caused by A pyogenes, in contrast to cases caused by other major mastitis pathogens. The median concentration of SAA was over 10 times higher in cases of mastitis caused by E coli than in mastitis caused by other pathogens. There were significant differences in the mean Hp concentration and NAGase activity between clinical and subclinical mastitis. In approximately one-third of the samples, the Hp concentration was below the detection limit, potentially compromising the use of Hp as a mastitis marke

LinBox: A Generic Library for Exact Linear Algebra

LinBox is a high-performance generic software library for black box linear algebra over symbolic (exact) entry domains. The generic software methodology enables the user to instantiate the procedures in the library with a multitude of coefficient domains and black box matrices without sacrificing performance. At the top level, LinBox provides algorithms for many standard problems in linear algebra, such as equation solving and matrix normal forms, and includes toolboxes for Lanczos-Krylov approaches and for algebraic preconditioning.LinBox est une bibliothèque logicielle générique efficace pour l'algèbre linéaire, à travers des matrices boites noire définies sur des domaines d'entrées symboliques ( exactes). le principe de la généricité logicielle permet d'(instancier les procédures sur une multitude de domaines de coefficients et de matrices boite noire, sans sacrifier les performances. Au plus haut niveau, LinBox fournit des algorithmes pour plusieurs problèmes standards de l’algèbre linéaire, tels que la résolution d’équation et les formes normales de matrices. LinBox inclut aussi des boites à outils pour une approche Lanczos-Krylov et pour du préconditionnement algébriqu