Burnout among surgeons before and during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic: an international survey

Background: SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has had many significant impacts within the surgical realm, and surgeons have been obligated to reconsider almost every aspect of daily clinical practice. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study reported in compliance with the CHERRIES guidelines and conducted through an online platform from June 14th to July 15th, 2020. The primary outcome was the burden of burnout during the pandemic indicated by the validated Shirom-Melamed Burnout Measure. Results: Nine hundred fifty-four surgeons completed the survey. The median length of practice was 10 years; 78.2% included were male with a median age of 37 years old, 39.5% were consultants, 68.9% were general surgeons, and 55.7% were affiliated with an academic institution. Overall, there was a significant increase in the mean burnout score during the pandemic; longer years of practice and older age were significantly associated with less burnout. There were significant reductions in the median number of outpatient visits, operated cases, on-call hours, emergency visits, and research work, so, 48.2% of respondents felt that the training resources were insufficient. The majority (81.3%) of respondents reported that their hospitals were included in the management of COVID-19, 66.5% felt their roles had been minimized; 41% were asked to assist in non-surgical medical practices, and 37.6% of respondents were included in COVID-19 management. Conclusions: There was a significant burnout among trainees. Almost all aspects of clinical and research activities were affected with a significant reduction in the volume of research, outpatient clinic visits, surgical procedures, on-call hours, and emergency cases hindering the training. Trial registration: The study was registered on clicaltrials.gov "NCT04433286" on 16/06/2020

Characteristics of beef from intensively fed western Baggara cattle: carcass yield and composition

Sixteen heifers and an equal number of bull calves of western Baggara type were used to study the characteristics of carcass and wholesale cuts at Kuku Livestock Research Station, Khartoum North, Sudan. Each of the two sex groups was subdivided into 4 subgroups of 4 animals. All the animals were fed, ad libitum, a similar complete diet for 16 weeks from 4 November 2002 to 24 February 2003. Bulls carcass had significantly (P< 0.05) greater proportion of forequarter than that of the heifers, whereas heifers carcass had significantly (P< 0.05) greater proportion of hindquarter than that of the bulls. Heifer’s carcass had more primal cuts proportion than that of bulls, though the difference was not significant. Bulls carcass had significantly (P< 0.001) greater muscle proportion and significantly (P< 0.01) lower fat proportion in the forequarter than in that of heifers. Bone weight proportion of the heifers carcass forequarter was lower than that of the bulls, though the difference was not significant. Similarly hindquarter of the bulls carcass had higher proportion of muscle and bone, though the differences were not significant while the heifer carcasses hindquarter fat proportion was significantly (P<0.01) higher compared with that of bull carcasses. No significant differences were found in the yield of wholesale cuts weight as % of carcass weight other than the neck, chuck and blade and rump. The former two cuts were significantly (P<0.01) heavier in bull carcass, while the rump cut was significantly (P<0.05) heavier in heifer carcass. The proportion of muscle weight of the cuts as % of carcass weight was generally higher in all cuts except in the shin and rump cuts obtained from bulls as compared wit

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Fourteen samples of L. dorsi muscles were taken from western Baggara cattle, one sample from each of seven bulls and seven heifers randomly selected for slaughter at the end of an experimental feedlot feeding which lasted for 16 weeks at Kuku Research Station, Khartoum North, Sudan, to study sex effects on meat chemical composition and quality attributes. Moisture content of beef was higher in bulls meat than in heifers meat. Protein and ash content were significantly (P<0.001) higher in bulls meat, whereas fat content was significantly (P<0.001) higher in heifers meat than in bulls meat. Cooking loss of bulls meat was significantly (P<0.001) lower and water-holding capacity was also significantly (P<0.01) lower in the bulls meat than in heifers meat. Bull’s meat colour had low lightness (L) and high redness (a) and yellowness (b), as determined by Hunter Lab. Tristimulus colorimeter, as compared with heifers meat. Sensory panelist scores were higher for colour darknes

Mycobacterium caprae

Mycobacterium caprae, a member of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex, causes tuberculosis (TB) in man and animals. Some features distinguish M. caprae from its epidemiological twin, Mycobacterium bovis: M. caprae is evolutionarily older, accounts for a smaller burden of zoonotic TB and is not globally distributed, but primarily restricted to European countries. M. caprae occurs only in a low proportion of human TB cases and this proportion may even decrease, if progress toward eradication of animal TB in Europe continues. So why bother, if M. caprae is not an enigma for diagnostic TB tests and if resistance against first-line drugs is a rarity with M. caprae? This 'European' pathogen of zoonotic TB asks interesting questions regarding the definition of a species. The latter, seemingly only an academic question, particularly requires and challenges the collaboration between human and veterinary medicine