Targeted anthelmintic treatment of parasitic gastroenteritis in first grazing season dairy calves using daily live weight gain as an indicator

Control of parasitic gastroenteritis in cattle is typically based on group treatments with anthelmintics, complemented by grazing management, where feasible. However, the almost inevitable evolution of resistance in parasitic nematodes to anthelmintics over time necessitates a reappraisal of their use in order to reduce selection pressure. One such approach is targeted selective treatment (TST), in which only individual animals that will most benefit are treated, rather than whole groups of at-risk cattle. This study was designed to assess the feasibility of implementing TST on three commercial farms, two of which were organic. A total of 104 first-grazing season (FGS), weaned dairy calves were enrolled in the study; each was weighed at monthly intervals from the start of the grazing season using scales or weigh-bands. At the same time dung and blood samples were collected in order to measure faecal egg counts (FEC) and plasma pepsinogen, respectively. A pre-determined threshhold weight gain of 0.75 kg/day was used to determine those animals that would be treated; the anthelmintic used was eprinomectin. No individual animal received more than one treatment during the grazing season and all treatments were given in July or August; five animals were not treated at all because their growth rates consistently exceeded the threshold. Mean daily live weight gain over the entire grazing season ranged between 0.69 and 0.82 kg/day on the three farms. Neither FEC nor pepsinogen values were significantly associated with live weight gain. Implementation of TST at farm level requires regular (monthly) handling of the animals and the use of weigh scales or tape, but can be integrated into farm management practices. This study has shown that acceptable growth rates can be achieved in FGS cattle with modest levels of treatment and correspondingly less exposure of their nematode populations to anthelmintics, which should mitigate selection pressure for resistance by increasing the size of the refugia in both hosts and pasture

Racial differences in user experiences and perceived value of electronic symptom monitoring in a cohort of black and white bladder and prostate cancer patients

Purpose: Electronic patient-reported outcomes (ePROs) are increasingly being used for symptom monitoring during routine cancer care, but have rarely been evaluated in diverse patient populations. We assessed ePRO user experiences and perceived value among Black and White cancer patients. Methods: We recruited 30 Black and 49 White bladder and prostate cancer patients from a single institution. Participants reported symptoms using either a web-based or automated telephone interface over 3 months and completed satisfaction surveys and qualitative interviews focused on user experiences and value. Using a narrative mixed methods approach, we evaluated overall and race-specific differences in ePRO user experiences and perceived value. Results: Most participants selected the web-based system, but Blacks were more likely to use the automated telephone-based system than Whites. In satisfaction surveys, Whites more commonly reported ease in understanding and reporting symptoms compared with Blacks. Blacks more often reported that the ePRO system was helpful in facilitating symptom-related discussions with clinicians. During interviews, Blacks described how the ePRO helped them recognize symptoms, while Whites found value in better understanding and tracking symptoms longitudinally. Blacks also expressed preferences for paper-based ePRO options due to perceived ease in better understanding of symptom items. Conclusion: Electronic patient-reported outcomes are perceived as valuable for variable reasons by Black and White cancer populations, with greater perceived value for communicating with clinicians reported among Blacks. To optimize equitable uptake of ePROs, oncology practices should offer several ePRO options (e.g., web-based, phone-based), as well as paper-based options, and consider the e-health literacy needs of patients during implementation

Electronic patient-reported outcomes monitoring during lung cancer chemotherapy: A nested cohort within the PRO-TECT pragmatic trial (AFT-39)

Objectives: Patients with lung cancer have high symptom burden and diminished quality of life. Electronic patient-reported outcome (PRO) platforms deliver repeated longitudinal surveys via web or telephone to patients and alert clinicians about concerning symptoms. This study aims to determine feasibility of electronic PRO monitoring in lung cancer patients receiving treatment in community settings. Methods: Adults receiving treatment for advanced or metastatic lung cancer at 26 community sites were invited to participate in a prospective trial of weekly electronic PRO symptom monitoring for 12 months (NCT03249090). Surveys assessing patients’ satisfaction with the electronic PRO system were administered at 3 months. Descriptive statistics were generated for demographics, survey completion rates, symptom occurrence, and provider PRO alert management approaches. Pairwise relationships between symptom items were evaluated using intra-individual repeated-measures correlation coefficients. Results: Lung cancer patients (n = 118) participating in electronic PROs were older (mean 64.4 vs 61.9 years, p = 0.03), had worse performance status (p = 0.002), more comorbidities (p = 0.02), and less technology experience than patients with other cancers. Of delivered weekly PRO surveys over 12 months, 91% were completed. Nearly all (97%) patients reported concerning (i.e., severe or worsening) symptoms during participation, with 33% of surveys including concerning symptoms. Pain was the most frequent and longest lasting symptom and was associated with reduced activity level. More than half of alerts to clinicians for concerning symptoms led to intervention. The majority (87%) would recommend using electronic PRO monitoring to other lung cancer patients. Conclusions: Remote longitudinal weekly monitoring of patients with lung cancer using validated electronic PRO surveys was feasible in a multicenter, community-based pragmatic study. A high symptom burden specific to lung cancer was detected and clinician outreach in response to alerts was frequent, suggesting electronic PROs may be a beneficial strategy for identifying actionable symptoms and allow opportunities to optimize well-being in this population

Spin chains with dynamical lattice supersymmetry

Spin chains with exact supersymmetry on finite one-dimensional lattices are considered. The supercharges are nilpotent operators on the lattice of dynamical nature: they change the number of sites. A local criterion for the nilpotency on periodic lattices is formulated. Any of its solutions leads to a supersymmetric spin chain. It is shown that a class of special solutions at arbitrary spin gives the lattice equivalents of the N=(2,2) superconformal minimal models. The case of spin one is investigated in detail: in particular, it is shown that the Fateev-Zamolodchikov chain and its off-critical extension admits a lattice supersymmetry for all its coupling constants. Its supersymmetry singlets are thoroughly analysed, and a relation between their components and the weighted enumeration of alternating sign matrices is conjectured.Comment: Revised version, 52 pages, 2 figure

Structural alterations in a type IV pilus subunit protein result in concurrent defects in multicellular behaviour and adherence to host tissue

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/72384/1/j.1365-2958.2001.02629.x.pd

Crystallographic structure reveals phosphorylated pilin from Neisseria : phosphoserine sites modify type IV pilus surface chemistry and fibre morphology

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/72468/1/j.1365-2958.1999.01184.x.pd

Energy Flow in the Hadronic Final State of Diffractive and Non-Diffractive Deep-Inelastic Scattering at HERA

An investigation of the hadronic final state in diffractive and non--diffractive deep--inelastic electron--proton scattering at HERA is presented, where diffractive data are selected experimentally by demanding a large gap in pseudo --rapidity around the proton remnant direction. The transverse energy flow in the hadronic final state is evaluated using a set of estimators which quantify topological properties. Using available Monte Carlo QCD calculations, it is demonstrated that the final state in diffractive DIS exhibits the features expected if the interaction is interpreted as the scattering of an electron off a current quark with associated effects of perturbative QCD. A model in which deep--inelastic diffraction is taken to be the exchange of a pomeron with partonic structure is found to reproduce the measurements well. Models for deep--inelastic $ep$ scattering, in which a sizeable diffractive contribution is present because of non--perturbative effects in the production of the hadronic final state, reproduce the general tendencies of the data but in all give a worse description.Comment: 22 pages, latex, 6 Figures appended as uuencoded fil

Forward pi^0 Production and Associated Transverse Energy Flow in Deep-Inelastic Scattering at HERA

Deep-inelastic positron-proton interactions at low values of Bjorken-x down to x \approx 4.10^-5 which give rise to high transverse momentum pi^0 mesons are studied with the H1 experiment at HERA. The inclusive cross section for pi^0 mesons produced at small angles with respect to the proton remnant (the forward region) is presented as a function of the transverse momentum and energy of the pi^0 and of the four-momentum transfer Q^2 and Bjorken-x. Measurements are also presented of the transverse energy flow in events containing a forward pi^0 meson. Hadronic final state calculations based on QCD models implementing different parton evolution schemes are confronted with the data.Comment: 27 pages, 8 figures and 3 table

Measurement of Leading Proton and Neutron Production in Deep Inelastic Scattering at HERA

Deep--inelastic scattering events with a leading baryon have been detected by the H1 experiment at HERA using a forward proton spectrometer and a forward neutron calorimeter. Semi--inclusive cross sections have been measured in the kinematic region 2 <= Q^2 <= 50 GeV^2, 6.10^-5 <= x <= 6.10^-3 and baryon p_T <= MeV, for events with a final state proton with energy 580 <= E' <= 740 GeV, or a neutron with energy E' >= 160 GeV. The measurements are used to test production models and factorization hypotheses. A Regge model of leading baryon production which consists of pion, pomeron and secondary reggeon exchanges gives an acceptable description of both semi-inclusive cross sections in the region 0.7 <= E'/E_p <= 0.9, where E_p is the proton beam energy. The leading neutron data are used to estimate for the first time the structure function of the pion at small Bjorken--x.Comment: 30 pages, 9 figures, 2 tables, submitted to Eur. Phys.

Observation of a new chi_b state in radiative transitions to Upsilon(1S) and Upsilon(2S) at ATLAS

The chi_b(nP) quarkonium states are produced in proton-proton collisions at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV and recorded by the ATLAS detector. Using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 4.4 fb^-1, these states are reconstructed through their radiative decays to Upsilon(1S,2S) with Upsilon->mu+mu-. In addition to the mass peaks corresponding to the decay modes chi_b(1P,2P)->Upsilon(1S)gamma, a new structure centered at a mass of 10.530+/-0.005 (stat.)+/-0.009 (syst.) GeV is also observed, in both the Upsilon(1S)gamma and Upsilon(2S)gamma decay modes. This is interpreted as the chi_b(3P) system.Comment: 5 pages plus author list (18 pages total), 2 figures, 1 table, corrected author list, matches final version in Physical Review Letter