Tissue Expansion: Further Attempts to Improve Results in Breast Reconstruction

Tissue expansion, is a simple method of breast reconstruction. Method. A prospective study of 27 patients treated over a 43 month period is described. At the first stage the expander is inserted in the dual plane, and the medial pectoral nerve is divided. The tissue expander is over-expanded. Second stage: a de-epithelialized vertical triangle is used to aid anterior projection, an inframammary fold is created and a silicone gel prosthesis inserted. Z-plasties are added to the transverse scar. The contralateral breast can be treated or left alone. Complications were recorded and the results were assessed by 4 plastic surgeons using a visual analogue scale. Results. 19 patients had expanders inserted at mastectomy (2 bilateral) and 8 underwent delayed reconstruction, with a mean age of 47 years (range 30–65 years). A single prosthesis was inserted in 15 patients (mean size 320 mL) and two prosthesis were stacked in 12 patients (mean volume of 400 mL). The mean delay from full expansion to the second stage was 10 weeks (range 3 weeks–11 months). A contralateral augmentation was performed in 5 patients, pexy in 10, a reduction in 2 and in 8 patients no procedure was performed. One patient required explantation. The mean visual analogue assessment was 7. Conclusion. This technique should be considered enhance the cosmetic results in tissue expansion

Developing Herd Health Education for and Assessing Risky Practices of Cow-Calf Producers

Bovine respiratory disease (BRD) is an often unrecognized problem in cow-calf herds. We describe a program we used to help producers identify and avoid practices that could increase their herds\u27 risk for BRD. The greatest knowledge gains occurred for the topics of costs associated with BRD, BRD risks at the feedlot, and biosecurity measures. Through producer self-assessments, we found that the number of risky practices conducted by producers ranged from none to 22 per operation, averaging 10 per operation. Extension professionals should consider combining producer self-assessment with education on management as an effective strategy for informing producers of risks in their operations

The effect of the systemic inflammatory response on plasma vitamin 25 (OH) D concentrations adjusted for albumin

<b>Aim</b><p></p> To examine the relationship between plasma 25(OH)D, CRP and albumin concentrations in two patient cohorts.<p></p> <b>Methods</b><p></p> 5327 patients referred for nutritional assessment and 117 patients with critical illness were examined. Plasma 25 (OH) D concentrations were measured using standard methods. Intra and between assay imprecision was <10%.<p></p> <b>Result</b><p></p> In the large cohort, plasma 25 (OH) D was significantly associated with CRP (rs = −0.113, p<0.001) and albumin (rs = 0.192, p<0.001). 3711 patients had CRP concentrations ≤10 mg/L; with decreasing albumin concentrations ≥35, 25–34 and <25 g/l, median concentrations of 25 (OH) D were significantly lower from 35 to 28 to 14 nmol/l (p<0.001). This decrease was significant when albumin concentrations were reduced between 25–34 g/L (p<0.001) and when albumin <25 g/L (p<0.001). 1271 patients had CRP concentrations between 11–80 mg/L; with decreasing albumin concentrations ≥35, 25–34 and <25 g/l, median concentrations of 25 (OH) D were significantly lower from 31 to 24 to 19 nmol/l (p<0.001). This decrease was significant when albumin concentration were 25–34 g/L (p<0.001) and when albumin <25 g/L (p<0.001). 345 patients had CRP concentrations >80 mg/L; with decreasing albumin concentrations ≥35, 25–34 and <25 g/l, median concentrations of 25 (OH) D were not significantly altered varying from 19 to 23 to 23 nmol/l. Similar relationships were also obtained in the cohort of patients with critical illness.<p></p> <b>Conclusion</b><p></p> Plasma concentrations of 25(OH) D were independently associated with both CRP and albumin and consistent with the systemic inflammatory response as a major confounding factor in determining vitamin D status.<p></p&gt

Atmospheric conditions in the central Arctic Ocean through the melt seasons of 2012 and 2013: Impact on surface conditions and solar energy deposition into the ice-ocean system

Spectral Radiation Buoys and ice mass balance buoys were deployed on first-year ice near the North Pole in April 2012 and 2013, collecting in-band (350-800nm) solar radiation and ice and snow mass balance data over the complete summer melt seasons. With complementary European ERA-Interim reanalysis, National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) Climate forecast system version 2 (CFSv2) analysis and satellite passive microwave data, we examine the evolution of atmospheric and surface melt conditions in the two differing melt seasons. Prevailing atmospheric conditions contributed to a longer and more continuous melt season in summer 2012 than in 2013, which was corroborated by in situ observations. ERA-Interim reanalysis data showed that longwave radiation likely played a key role in delaying the snowmelt onset in 2013. The earlier melt onset in 2012 reduced the albedo, providing a positive ice-albedo feedback at a time when solar insolation was high. Due to earlier melt onset and later freeze-up in 2012, more solar heat was deposited into the ice-ocean system than in 2013. Summer 2013 was characterized by later melt onset, intermittent freezing events and an earlier fall freeze-up, resulting in considerably fewer effective days of surface melt and a higher average albedo. Calculations for idealized seasonal albedo evolution show that moving the melt onset just 1week earlier in mid-June increases the total absorbed solar radiation by nearly 14% for the summer season. Therefore, the earlier melt onset may have been one of the most important factors driving the more dramatic melt season in 2012 than 2013, though atmospheric circulation patterns, e.g., cyclone in early August 2012, likely contributed as well

The clustering of galaxies in the SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: measuring structure growth using passive galaxies

We explore the benefits of using a passively evolving population of galaxies to measure the evolution of the rate of structure growth between z=0.25 and z=0.65 by combining data from the SDSS-I/II and SDSS-III surveys. The large-scale linear bias of a population of dynamically passive galaxies, which we select from both surveys, is easily modeled. Knowing the bias evolution breaks degeneracies inherent to other methodologies, and decreases the uncertainty in measurements of the rate of structure growth and the normalization of the galaxy power-spectrum by up to a factor of two. If we translate our measurements into a constraint on sigma_8(z=0) assuming a concordance cosmological model and General Relativity (GR), we find that using a bias model improves our uncertainty by a factor of nearly 1.5. Our results are consistent with a flat Lambda Cold Dark Matter model and with GR.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS (clarifications added, results and conclusions unchanged

Faithful Squashed Entanglement

Squashed entanglement is a measure for the entanglement of bipartite quantum states. In this paper we present a lower bound for squashed entanglement in terms of a distance to the set of separable states. This implies that squashed entanglement is faithful, that is, strictly positive if and only if the state is entangled. We derive the bound on squashed entanglement from a bound on quantum conditional mutual information, which is used to define squashed entanglement and corresponds to the amount by which strong subadditivity of von Neumann entropy fails to be saturated. Our result therefore sheds light on the structure of states that almost satisfy strong subadditivity with equality. The proof is based on two recent results from quantum information theory: the operational interpretation of the quantum mutual information as the optimal rate for state redistribution and the interpretation of the regularised relative entropy of entanglement as an error exponent in hypothesis testing. The distance to the set of separable states is measured by the one-way LOCC norm, an operationally-motivated norm giving the optimal probability of distinguishing two bipartite quantum states, each shared by two parties, using any protocol formed by local quantum operations and one-directional classical communication between the parties. A similar result for the Frobenius or Euclidean norm follows immediately. The result has two applications in complexity theory. The first is a quasipolynomial-time algorithm solving the weak membership problem for the set of separable states in one-way LOCC or Euclidean norm. The second concerns quantum Merlin-Arthur games. Here we show that multiple provers are not more powerful than a single prover when the verifier is restricted to one-way LOCC operations thereby providing a new characterisation of the complexity class QMA.Comment: 24 pages, 1 figure, 1 table. Due to an error in the published version, claims have been weakened from the LOCC norm to the one-way LOCC nor

Inland Pacific Northwest pasture calendar

The Inland Pacific Northwest (PNW) region, historically referred to as the 'Inland Empire', extends from the Cascade Mountains in the west to former Glacial Lake Missoula in the Rockies in the east and from the Canadian border in the north past the Snake River Canyon in the south. The greatest agricultural enterprises are hay (from various forage species), irrigated and non-irrigated grassland pastures, rangelands, and livestock production. It is also home to numerous wildlife species and flyways for migrating birds. The Inland PNW Pasture Calendar is designed to be a comprehensive guide for improved grassland management in support of forage-livestock systems. Applying the principles described will lead to improved regional economic, ecological, and social sustainability. This publication describes the opportunities and challenges of sustainably raising harvested and grazed forages and developing forage-livestock systems in this incredibly diverse environment. Appendix Chapters provide key information on grass / legume / forb species, how pasture species grow and regrow, soil nutrient management and organic matter, grazing philosophies and systems, matching grazing needs for pasture production, and forage-related animal health issues. Learning these key principles and following best management practices described will lead to improved sustainability of forage-livestock systems

Thank You to Our 2020 Peer Reviewers

Thank you to the reviewers of AGU Advances. In 2020, we all faced the enormous and unexpected challenges of the Covid‐19 pandemic, with its host of new and competing demands on our time. Thus, we are especially grateful to the 154 people who provided reviews for AGU Advances and helped our fledgling journal complete its first year. Peer‐review is essential to the process of doing and publishing science, and our reviewers have helped define our new journal by indicating papers expected to have broad impact that advance a discipline, have broad impact across disciplines, or have policy relevance. All papers submitted to AGU Advances first go through an editorial consultation. We are committed to respecting reviewers’ time and only send papers for review that the consulting editors agree meet our criteria. Sometimes this means we send papers back to the authors with suggestions how to improve the fit to our journal. Another way we try to streamline the review process is by giving the authors the option to transfer reviews if after review we decide the paper is better suited to another AGU journal. As a relatively new journal, we still have few enough reviewers that we do not want to identify them by name. Nonetheless, you know who you are. Please accept our sincere thanks for generously sharing your expertise and working to improve AGU Advances

Confronting Racism to Advance Our Science

As individuals serving on the AGU Advances editorial board, we condemn racism, affirm that Black Lives Matter, and recognize that inequality is built into the systems that have allowed us to prosper. We aim to persistently foster discussion about racism, inequity, and the need to make our community more diverse and inclusive. This will help AGU Advances do a better job in publishing important science that inclusively reflects the ideas and contributions of all in our community