Zoonotic pathogens and antimicrobial resistance in ‘animal-friendly’ pig production systems in Switzerland

In a cross-sectional study, the impact of ‘animal-friendly’ housing systems on the prevalence of Salmonella species, Campylobacter species, and Yersinia enterocolitica in finishing pigs and pork was investigated. Furthermore, antimicrobial resistance patterns of isolated campylobacter strains were analysed. In faecal samples of two out of 88 fattening pig farms salmonellae were isolated. All 865 samples of pork were found to be negative. Campylobacter was isolated on 98.9 % of the farms but only from 0.2 % of the pork samples. Yersiniae were found in samples of 63.3 % of the farms and in 15.4 % of pork samples. For all three bacteria, there was no statistically significant difference in the prevalence between conventional and ‘animal-friendly’ housing systems. In ‘animal-friendly’ farms, antimicrobial resistance of campylobacter isolates to fluoroquinolones and streptomycin was significantly less frequent than in conventional farms. Furthermore, fewer isolates had resistance to three or more antimicrobials in ‘animal-friendly’ farms

Characterization method of dielectric properties of free falling drops in a microwave processing cavity and its application in microwave internal gelation

[EN] Microwave internal gelation (MIG) is a chemical process proposed for the production of nuclear particle fuel. The internal gelation reaction is triggered by a temperature increase of aqueous droplets falling by gravity by means of non-contact microwave heating. Due to the short residence time of a solution droplet in a microwave heating cavity, a detailed knowledge of the interaction between microwaves and chemical solution (shaped in small drops) is required. This paper describes a procedure that enables the measurement of the dielectric properties of aqueous droplets that freely fall through a microwave cavity. These measurements provide the information to determine the optimal values of the parameters (such as frequency and power) that dictate the heating of such a material under microwaves.This work is a part of the PINE (Platform for Innovative Nuclear FuEls) project which targets the development of an advanced production method for Sphere-Pac fuel and is financed by the Swiss Competence Center for Energy and Mobility. The work has been also financed by the European Commission through contract no 295664 regarding the FP7 PELGRIMM Project, as well as contract no 295825 regarding the FP7-ASGARD Project. MC-S would like to thank the ITACA research team (UPV Valencia, Spain) and the EMPA Thun (Switzerland) for their support in the measurements and Carl Beard (PSI, Switzerland) for the help provided in respect with CST simulations. The work of FLP-F was supported by the Conselleria d'Educacio of the Generalitat Valenciana for economic support (BEST/2012/010).Cabanes Sempere, M.; Catalá Civera, JM.; Penaranda-Foix, FL.; Cozzo, C.; Vaucher, S.; Pouchon, MA. (2013). Characterization method of dielectric properties of free falling drops in a microwave processing cavity and its application in microwave internal gelation. Measurement Science and Technology. 24(9). https://doi.org/10.1088/0957-0233/24/9/095009S24

Nuclear fission: The "onset of dissipation" from a microscopic point of view

Semi-analytical expressions are suggested for the temperature dependence of those combinations of transport coefficients which govern the fission process. This is based on experience with numerical calculations within the linear response approach and the locally harmonic approximation. A reduced version of the latter is seen to comply with Kramers' simplified picture of fission. It is argued that for variable inertia his formula has to be generalized, as already required by the need that for overdamped motion the inertia must not appear at all. This situation may already occur above T=2 MeV, where the rate is determined by the Smoluchowski equation. Consequently, comparison with experimental results do not give information on the effective damping rate, as often claimed, but on a special combination of local stiffnesses and the friction coefficient calculated at the barrier.Comment: 31 pages, LaTex, 9 postscript figures; final, more concise version, accepted for publication in PRC, with new arguments about the T-dependence of the inertia; e-mail: [email protected]

Low-lying quadrupole collective states of the light and medium Xenon isotopes

Collective low lying levels of light and medium Xenon isotopes are deduced from the Generalized Bohr Hamiltonian (GBH). The microscopic seven functions entering into the GBH are built from a deformed mean field of the Woods-Saxon type. Theoretical spectra are found to be close to the ones of the experimental data taking into account that the calculations are completely microscopic, that is to say, without any fitting of parameters.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, 1 tabl

Public-Health and Individual Approaches to Antiretroviral Therapy: Township South Africa and Switzerland Compared

Comparing HIV treatment in Switzerland, where drug selection is individualized, and South Africa, where a programmatic approach is used, Matthias Egger and colleagues find similar virologic outcomes over two years

The risk of cancer in HIV-infected people in southeast England: a cohort study

This study used data from the Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre's national HIV database and the Thames Cancer Registry to assess the risk of cancer in HIV-infected people in southeast England. Among 26 080 HIV-infected men with 158 660 person-years follow-up, 1851 cancers, and among 7110 HIV-infected women (31 098 person-years), 171 cancers were identified. The standardised incidence ratio (SIR) for all non-AIDS-defining cancers was significantly increased in HIV-infected men (2.8, 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.6–3.1) but was nonsignificant in HIV-infected women (1.1, 95% CI 0.8–1.6). Most of the cancers observed were in men (n=1559) and women (n=127) with AIDS, and among them, the SIR for all non-AIDS-defining cancers was significantly increased in men (8.2, 95% CI 7.2–9.2) and women (2.8, 95% CI 1.6–4.6). The SIR for all non-AIDS-defining cancers was only just significantly increased in men with HIV-infection but not AIDS (1.2, 95% CI 1.0–1.5) and was nonsignificant in such women (0.8, 95% CI 0.5–1.2)

CD4 cell count and the risk of AIDS or death in HIV-Infected adults on combination antiretroviral therapy with a suppressed viral load: a longitudinal cohort study from COHERE.

BACKGROUND: Most adults infected with HIV achieve viral suppression within a year of starting combination antiretroviral therapy (cART). It is important to understand the risk of AIDS events or death for patients with a suppressed viral load. METHODS AND FINDINGS: Using data from the Collaboration of Observational HIV Epidemiological Research Europe (2010 merger), we assessed the risk of a new AIDS-defining event or death in successfully treated patients. We accumulated episodes of viral suppression for each patient while on cART, each episode beginning with the second of two consecutive plasma viral load measurements 500 copies/µl, the first of two consecutive measurements between 50-500 copies/µl, cART interruption or administrative censoring. We used stratified multivariate Cox models to estimate the association between time updated CD4 cell count and a new AIDS event or death or death alone. 75,336 patients contributed 104,265 suppression episodes and were suppressed while on cART for a median 2.7 years. The mortality rate was 4.8 per 1,000 years of viral suppression. A higher CD4 cell count was always associated with a reduced risk of a new AIDS event or death; with a hazard ratio per 100 cells/µl (95% CI) of: 0.35 (0.30-0.40) for counts <200 cells/µl, 0.81 (0.71-0.92) for counts 200 to <350 cells/µl, 0.74 (0.66-0.83) for counts 350 to <500 cells/µl, and 0.96 (0.92-0.99) for counts ≥500 cells/µl. A higher CD4 cell count became even more beneficial over time for patients with CD4 cell counts <200 cells/µl. CONCLUSIONS: Despite the low mortality rate, the risk of a new AIDS event or death follows a CD4 cell count gradient in patients with viral suppression. A higher CD4 cell count was associated with the greatest benefit for patients with a CD4 cell count <200 cells/µl but still some slight benefit for those with a CD4 cell count ≥500 cells/µl