Is measurement uncertainty from sampling related to analyte concentration?

The contribution of sampling to the combined uncertainty of measurement is assessed using a combination of literature review and experimental determination of sampling variability in a range of foodstuffs in order to determine whether there is a consistent relationship between analyte level and proportion of variation attributable to sampling. Experimental determinations used the duplicate method, an economical method of assessing the relative contributions of sampling and analytical variability to the overall variance of results. The experimental work covered sampling of retail foodstuffs. 101 estimates of between-target, between-sampling, and within-sample variance were obtained. It is shown for the first time that sampling variance across the food sector appears to follow a Horwitz-like relationship sufficient to provide estimated between-sample standard deviation to within approximately an order of magnitude. The results from different methods of data processing for sampling uncertainty experiments are also compared. It is shown that for the data sets obtained experimentally in this study, log- transformation is of minor importance while the use of robust statistical methods can have greater but less predictable effects on estimated sampling variance

Aplikasi Herbisida 2,4-d Dan Penoxsulam Pada Pertumbuhan Dan Hasil Tanaman Padi Sawah (Oryza Sativa L.)

Salah satu teknik budidaya untuk meningkatkan produksi tanaman padi sawah yaitu dengan mengurangi persaingan antara tanaman dengan gulma. Pengendalian dengan kimiawi merupakan salah satu cara mengurangi pertumbuhan gulma di pertanaman padi. Cara kimiawi merupakan cara yang praktis, efektif dan efisien untuk mengendalikan gulma. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mempelajari pengaruh dari aplikasi herbisida 2,4-D dan penoxsulam dalam meningkatkan pertumbuhan dan hasil padi sawah serta menentukan dosis aplikasi herbisida 2,4-D dan penoxsulam baik secara tunggal maupun campuran dalam mengendalikan gulma pada tanaman padi sawah. Penelitian telah dilaksanakan pada bulan Maret-Juli 2014 di Desa Campurasri, Ngawi. Penelitian menggunakan Rancangan Acak Kelompok sederhana, dengan menempatkan 11 perlakuan yaitu H1 : kontrol herbisida 2,4-D; H2 : 2,4-D 11,25 kg ha-1; H3 : 2,4-D 22,5 kg ha-1; H4 : 2,4-D 33,75 kg ha-1; H5 : kontrol herbisida penoxsulam; H6 : penoxsulam 200 ml ha-1; H7 : penoxsulam 400 ml ha-1; H8 : penoxsulam 600 ml ha-1; H9 : 2,4-D 11,25 kg ha-1 dan penoxsulam 200 ml ha-1; H10 : 2,4-D 22,5 kg ha-1 dan penoxsulam 400 ml ha-1; H11 : 2,4-D 33,75 kg ha-1 dan penoxsulam 600 ml ha-1. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa perlakuan herbisida 2,4-D 11,25 kg ha-1 dan penoxsulam 200 ml menghasilkan bobot kering total tanaman dengan peningkatan sebesar 34,62 % dibandingkan dengan kontrol. Pada produksi tanaman padi peningkatan terjadi sebesar 29,77 % pada perlakuan herbisida 2,4-D 33,75 kg ha-1 dan penoxsulam 600 ml dibandingkan dengan kontrol

Non-Invasive Tests of Liver Fibrosis Help in Predicting the Development of Hepatocellular Carcinoma among Patients with NAFLD

Carcinoma hepatocelular; Elastografía transitoriaCarcinoma hepatocel·lular; Elastografia transitòriaHepatocellular carcinoma; Transient elastographyBackground: The potential role of non-invasive tests (NITs) for liver fibrosis for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) prediction remains poorly known. Methods: Retrospective analysis of a NAFLD cohort from a single university hospital in Barcelona, Spain. Incidence rates and cumulative incidence for the overall cohort, as well as cirrhotic and non-cirrhotic patients were calculated. Logistic regression analyses were carried out to investigate risk factors of HCC. Results: From the entire cohort of 1040 patients, 996 patients (95.8%) were analyzed, in whom 35 cases of HCC were detected, of which 26 (72.4%) HCC incident cases were newly diagnosed during a median follow-up of 2.5 (1.9–3.6) years. Two-hundred and thirty-one (23.2%) were cirrhotic at baseline. With the exception of 2 (7.7%) cases of HCC, the rest were diagnosed in cirrhotic patients. Overall HCC cumulative incidence was 9.49 (95% CI 6.4–13.9) per 1000 person-years. The incidence rate for cirrhotic patients was 41.2 (95% CI 27.6–61.6) per 1000 person-years and 0.93 (95% CI 0.23–3.7) per 1000 person-years for patients without cirrhosis. Overall mortality was significantly higher amongst patients with HCC (4.4% vs. 30.8%, p < 0.001). In patients with available liver biopsy (n = 249, 25%), advanced fibrosis (F3–F4) was significantly associated with higher HCC incidence, but not steatosis, lobular inflammation, nor ballooning. In the overall cohort, FIB-4 ≥1.3 (HR 8.46, 95% CI 1.06–67.4, p = 0.044) and older age (HR 1.06, 95% CI 1.01–1.11, p = 0.025) were associated with increasing risk of HCC over time, whereas in cirrhotic patients predictors of HCC included decreasing values of albumin (HR 0.34, 95% CI 0.13–0.87, p = 0.024), platelets (HR 0.98, 95% CI 0.98–0.99, p = 0.001), and increasing values of liver stiffness (HR 1.03, 95% CI 1.00–1.06, p = 0.016). Conclusions: In a Spanish cohort of NAFLD patients, HCC was rare in non-cirrhotic patients. NITs might play a relevant role at predicting HCC.The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and approved by the Vall d’Hebron University Hospital Campus Institutional Review Board (study protocol code PR(AG)626/2021)

A pilot study to evaluate the application of a generic protein standard panel for quality control of biomarker detection technologies

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Protein biomarker studies are currently hampered by a lack of measurement standards to demonstrate quality, reliability and comparability across multiple assay platforms. This is especially pertinent for immunoassays where multiple formats for detecting target analytes are commonly used.</p> <p>Findings</p> <p>In this pilot study a generic panel of six non-human protein standards (50 - 10^7 pg/mL) of varying abundance was prepared as a quality control (QC) material. Simulated "normal" and "diseased" panels of proteins were prepared in pooled human plasma and incorporated into immunoassays using the Meso Scale Discovery^®(MSD^®) platform to illustrate reliable detection of the component proteins. The protein panel was also evaluated as a spike-in material for a model immunoassay involving detection of ovarian cancer biomarkers within individual human plasma samples. Our selected platform could discriminate between two panels of the proteins exhibiting small differences in abundance. Across distinct experiments, all component proteins exhibited reproducible signal outputs in pooled human plasma. When individual donor samples were used, half the proteins produced signals independent of matrix effects. These proteins may serve as a generic indicator of platform reliability.</p> <p>Each of the remaining proteins exhibit differential signals across the distinct samples, indicative of sample matrix effects, with the three proteins following the same trend. This subset of proteins may be useful for characterising the degree of matrix effects associated with the sample which may impact on the reliability of quantifying target diagnostic biomarkers.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>We have demonstrated the potential utility of this panel of standards to act as a generic QC tool for evaluating the reproducibility of the platform for protein biomarker detection independent of serum matrix effects.</p

Evaluation of the performance of slaughterhouse surveillance for bovine tuberculosis detection in Castilla y Leon, Spain

Post-mortem inspection (PMI) of routinely slaughtered cattle in abattoirs is an extremely valuable tool for detecting bovine tuberculosis (bTB) infected herds that can supplement active surveillance activities. However, its true performance is difficult to assess due to the multiple factors that may affect it. Here, we determined relative efficiencies in the detection of bTB-compatible lesions and probabilities of subsequent laboratory confirmation of abattoirs located in Castilla y Leon, one of the regions with the largest cattle population in Spain, between 2010 and 2017. The slaughtered animal population was split based on the results of the ante-mortem tests (reactors or non-reactors), and two generalized linear multivariable mixed models were fitted to each subpopulation to calculate the risk of lesion detection and laboratory confirmation per abattoir while accounting for the effect of potential confounding variables. Throughout the 8-year period, ~30,000 reactors and >2.8 million non-reactor animals in the ante-mortem tests were culled in the abattoirs under study. Bovine TB compatible lesions were detected in 4,710 (16%) reactors and 828 (0.03%) non-reactor animals, of which >95% were confirmed as infected through bacteriology. The probability of disclosure of bTB-like lesions was associated with the animal subpopulation, type of source unit, the herd size, the year of slaughter, the breed and age of the animal, and/or the season of slaughter. The probabilities of detection of bTB-like lesions varied largely depending on the abattoir in both subpopulations, ranging from 603 to 3,070 per 10,000 animals for the reactors and 0.2–16.1 per 10,000 animals for the nonreactor animals. Results obtained here will help to quantify the performance of PMI in abattoirs in Castilla y Leon and the between-abattoir variability, and to identify animals at increased risk of having bTB-like lesions detected during PMI based on animal- and farm-related factors

Evaluation of the Performance of the IDvet IFN-Gamma Test for Diagnosis of Bovine Tuberculosis in Spain

In Spain, the national bovine tuberculosis (bTB) eradication program is based on yearly skin testing of every ≥6 weeks old animal using the single or comparative tuberculin test and parallel use of the interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) assay as an ancillary diagnostic test in infected herds. There are several versions of the latter. Recently, a new commercial IDvet IFN-γ assay has been authorized for use in the program, but there is limited scientific evidence about its performance in different epidemiological settings. Therefore, two studies to evaluate the performance of the IDvet assay were conducted. In study 1, a concordance analysis between the new IDvet and the Bovigam IFN-γ assay in use in Spain for over 10 years was conducted. In study 2, results from the IDvet assay when applied in tandem with a single intradermal tuberculin (SIT) test were used to evaluate the concordance between both tests and to estimate their sensitivity (Se) and specificity (Sp) using a Bayesian latent-class model. Field data from cattle herds located in Madrid and Castilla y Leon (Spain) were collected. For study 1, herd selection was based on a high expected prevalence of reactors to the IFN-γ assay, while herds were selected at random to estimate Se and Sp of the new IDvet assay in study 2. Agreement between the results obtained with both kits for IFN-γ assay was poor (Kappa = 0.20), and a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis indicated a low Se of the new IDvet relative to the Bovigam in a heavily bTB infected population. The Bayesian latent-class analysis estimated the Se of the IDvet assay to be 36.7% [95% probability posterior interval (PPI) 14.7–78.8%] with estimated Sp close to 100% when the cut-off recommended by the manufacturer (35) was applied. At the alternative cut-off values of 16 and 4, the estimated Se of the IDvet assay increased to 49.0% (PPI: 24.8–94.1%) and 56.0% (PPI: 30.8–96.3%), respectively, while maintaining a high specificity. The results suggest that the new IDvet assay may have lower sensitivity than the Bovigam for diagnosis of bTB in cattle herds in Spain, and that adjusting its cut-off might be considered

Mitochondria function associated genes contribute to Parkinson's Disease risk and later age at onset

Mitochondrial dysfunction has been implicated in the etiology of monogenic Parkinson’s disease (PD). Yet the role that mitochondrial processes play in the most common form of the disease; sporadic PD, is yet to be fully established. Here, we comprehensively assessed the role of mitochondrial function-associated genes in sporadic PD by leveraging improvements in the scale and analysis of PD GWAS data with recent advances in our understanding of the genetics of mitochondrial disease. We calculated a mitochondrial-specific polygenic risk score (PRS) and showed that cumulative small effect variants within both our primary and secondary gene lists are significantly associated with increased PD risk. We further reported that the PRS of the secondary mitochondrial gene list was significantly associated with later age at onset. Finally, to identify possible functional genomic associations we implemented Mendelian randomization, which showed that 14 of these mitochondrial functionassociated genes showed functional consequence associated with PD risk. Further analysis suggested that the 14 identified genes are not only involved in mitophagy, but implicate new mitochondrial processes. Our data suggests that therapeutics targeting mitochondrial bioenergetics and proteostasis pathways distinct from mitophagy could be beneficial to treating the early stage of PD

Moving beyond neurons: the role of cell type-specific gene regulation in Parkinson's disease heritability

Parkinson’s disease (PD), with its characteristic loss of nigrostriatal dopaminergic neurons and deposition of α-synuclein in neurons, is often considered a neuronal disorder. However, in recent years substantial evidence has emerged to implicate glial cell types, such as astrocytes and microglia. In this study, we used stratified LD score regression and expression-weighted cell-type enrichment together with several brain-related and cell-type-specific genomic annotations to connect human genomic PD findings to specific brain cell types. We found that PD heritability attributable to common variation does not enrich in global and regional brain annotations or brain-related cell-type-specific annotations. Likewise, we found no enrichment of PD susceptibility genes in brain-related cell types. In contrast, we demonstrated a significant enrichment of PD heritability in a curated lysosomal gene set highly expressed in astrocytic, microglial, and oligodendrocyte subtypes, and in LoF-intolerant genes, which were found highly expressed in almost all tested cellular subtypes. Our results suggest that PD risk loci do not lie in specific cell types or individual brain regions, but rather in global cellular processes detectable across several cell types

Estudio neuroquimico de la interaccion de la glandula pineal con el metabolismo serotoninergico cerebral

Available from Centro de Informacion y Documentacion Cientifica CINDOC. Joaquin Costa, 22. 28002 Madrid. SPAIN / CINDOC - Centro de Informaciòn y Documentaciòn CientìficaSIGLEESSpai

Varietal distribution in strawberry crop in Huelva. Season 2016-2017

En&nbsp; este&nbsp; Informe&nbsp; T&eacute;cnico&nbsp; se&nbsp; presenta&nbsp; la&nbsp; composici&oacute;n&nbsp; varietal&nbsp; expresada&nbsp; en porcentajes de plantas por variedad, de la actual campa&ntilde;a 2016/2017 y tambi&eacute;n la participaci&oacute;n de cada programa de mejora. Este trabajo&nbsp; est&aacute;&nbsp; basado&nbsp; en&nbsp; la&nbsp; informaci&oacute;n&nbsp; facilitada&nbsp; por&nbsp; las&nbsp; empresas obtentoras&nbsp; o&nbsp; por&nbsp; las&nbsp; empresas&nbsp;&nbsp;licenciatarias&nbsp; de&nbsp; los&nbsp;&nbsp;principales programas&nbsp; de mejora gen&eacute;tica en fresa.</p