Development of Anthocyanins and Tannins in Pinot noir Grapes and their Relative Importance in Wine [2002]

The objectives of this research project are to understand tannin and anthocyanin changes during berry development in Pinot noir fruit and wines. Specifically, the objectives of this research project are: · Determine the effect of berry development on the composition of tannins in cv. Pinot noir berries · Determine the effect of berry development on the composition of anthocyanins in cv. Pinot noir berries · Isolate and purify sufficient quantities of tannin and anthocyanin for sensory and stability studies · Determine the sensory properties of wines manipulated with anthocyanins and tannins representing extremes in composition based on grape and wine data

Veterinary dairy herd fertility service provision in seasonal and non-seasonal dairy industries - a comparison

The decline in dairy herd fertility internationally has highlighted the limited impact of traditional veterinary approaches to bovine fertility management. Three questionnaire surveys were conducted at buiatrics conferences attended by veterinary practitioners on veterinary dairy herd fertility services (HFS) in countries with a seasonal (Ireland, 47 respondents) and non-seasonal breeding model (The Netherlands, 44 respondents and Portugal, 31 respondents). Of the 122 respondents, 73 (60%) provided a HFS and 49 (40%) did not. The majority (76%) of all practitioners who responded stated that bovine fertility had declined in their practice clients' herds with inadequate cow management, inadequate nutrition and increased milk yield as the most important putative causes. The type of clients who adopted a herd fertility service were deemed more educated than average (70% of respondents), and/or had fertility problems (58%) and/or large herds (53%). The main components of this service were routine postpartum examinations (95% of respondents), fertility records analysis (75%) and ultrasound pregnancy examinations (69%). The number of planned visits per annum varied between an average of four in Ireland, where breeding is seasonal, and 23 in Portugal, where breeding is year-round. The benefits to both the practitioner and their clients from running a HFS were cited as better fertility, financial rewards and job satisfaction. For practitioners who did not run a HFS the main reasons given were no client demand (55%) and lack of fertility records (33%). Better economic evidence to convince clients of the cost-benefit of such a service was seen as a major constraint to adoption of this service by 67% of practitioners

Uterine Torsion Dystocia Complicated by Perosomus Elumbis in an Angus Calf Associated with a Consanguineous Mating

A six-year-old multiparous Angus cow was presented for dystocia. Vaginal and rectal examinations revealed an approximately 360° counterclockwise uterine torsion. The torsion was corrected by rolling the cow counterclockwise (three episodes) with the aid of a plank coupled with manual detorsion via the vagina. The placement of obstetric chains followed by manual traction ultimately delivered a stillborn male calf with evidence of vertebral aplasia, arthrogryposis, and abdominal organ herniation. Patient history and subsequent parentage verification revealed that the calf was the result of a consanguineous (mother to son) mating. Tissue samples from the affected calf and blood samples from the dam, sire, and ten half siblings were collected for genetic testing and parentage verification. Necropsy, radiographic, and computed tomography examinations all supported a diagnosis of perosomus elumbis. Perosomus elumbis is a congenital abnormality of unknown origin(s), and this is the first report of a case associated with a consanguineous mating

Simultaneous interval regression for K-nearest neighbor

International audienceIn some regression problems, it may be more reasonable to predict intervals rather than precise values. We are interested in finding intervals which simultaneously for all input instances x ∈X contain a β proportion of the response values. We name this problem simultaneous interval regression. This is similar to simultaneous tolerance intervals for regression with a high confidence level γ ≈ 1 and several authors have already treated this problem for linear regression. Such intervals could be seen as a form of confidence envelop for the prediction variable given any value of predictor variables in their domain. Tolerance intervals and simultaneous tolerance intervals have not yet been treated for the K-nearest neighbor (KNN) regression method. The goal of this paper is to consider the simultaneous interval regression problem for KNN and this is done without the homoscedasticity assumption. In this scope, we propose a new interval regression method based on KNN which takes advantage of tolerance intervals in order to choose, for each instance, the value of the hyper-parameter K which will be a good trade-off between the precision and the uncertainty due to the limited sample size of the neighborhood around each instance. In the experiment part, our proposed interval construction method is compared with a more conventional interval approximation method on six benchmark regression data sets

When Will Adolescents Tell Someone About Dating Violence Victimization?

This study examined factors that influence help-seeking among a diverse sample of adolescents who experienced dating violence. A sample of 57 high school students in an urban community reported on the prevalence and characteristics of dating violence in their relationships. Someone observing a dating violence incident and a survivor’s attaching an emotional meaning to the event significantly influenced adolescents to talk to someone. When dating violence occurred in isolation, survivors were more likely to receive no support from others in the aftermath of the incident. Differences between boys’ and girls’ help-seeking and implications for dating violence intervention and prevention programming are discussed.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/90887/1/Black-Tolman-Callahan-Saunders- Weisz- 2008-When will adolescents tell someone about dating violence VAW.pd

PAX-D:study protocol for a randomised placebo-controlled trial evaluating the efficacy and mechanism of pramipexole as add-on treatment for people with treatment resistant depression

Introduction: Clinical depression is usually treated in primary care with psychological therapies and antidepressant medication. However, when patients do not respond to at least two or more antidepressants within a depressive episode, they are considered to have treatment resistant depression (TRD). Previous small randomised controlled trials suggested that pramipexole, a dopamine D2/3 receptor agonist, may be effective for treating patients with unipolar and bipolar depression as it is known to influence motivational drive and reward processing. PAX-D will compare the effects of pramipexole versus placebo when added to current antidepressant medication for people with TRD. Additionally, PAX-D will investigate the mechanistic effect of pramipexole on reward sensitivity using a probabilistic decision-making task. Methods and analysis: PAX-D will assess effectiveness in the short- term (during the first 12 weeks) and in the longer-term (48 weeks) in patients with TRD from the UK. The primary outcome will be change in self-reported depressive symptoms from baseline to Week 12 post-randomisation measured using the QIDS-SR. Performance on the decision-making task will be measured at Week 0, Week 2, and Week 12. Secondary outcomes include anhedonia, anxiety, and health economic measures including quality of life, capability, wellbeing, and costs. PAX-D will also assess the adverse effects of pramipexole including impulse control difficulties. Discussion: Pramipexole is a promising augmentation agent for treatment resistant depression and may be a useful addition to existing treatment regimes. PAX-D will assess its effectiveness and test for a potential mechanism of action in patients with treatment resistant depression

Study of Radiologic Technologists’ Perceptions of Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS) Competence and Educational Issues in Western Australia

Although the implementation of picture archiving and communication system (PACS) could increase productivity of radiology departments, this depends on factors such as the PACS competence of radiologic technologists (RTs). The purpose of this study was to investigate the RTs’ perceptions of PACS competence and educational issues in Western Australia (WA). A hardcopy questionnaire was distributed to WA RTs for obtaining their perceptions of PACS competence and educational issues. Descriptive (percentage of frequency, mean and standard deviation) and inferential statistics (t test and analysis of variance) were used to analyze the responses of the multiple choice and five-point scale questions from the returned questionnaires. The questionnaire response rate was 57.7 % (173 out of 300). The mean values of all PACS competence questions except questions 2e–g are in the range of 3.9–4.9, i.e., around competent to very competent. Participants indicated they received adequate PACS training (mean 3.8). Statistically significant variables influencing RTs’ perceptions of their PACS competence and educational issues including the age (p < 0.01), gender (p < 0.05), years of practice (p < 0.005–0.05), primary duty (p < 0.05), medical imaging qualification (p < 0.001), general computer skills (p < 0.001), and type of PACS education received (p < 0.001–0.05). The WA RTs indicated that they were competent in using the modality workstation, PACS and radiology information system, and received adequate training. However, future PACS education programs should be tailored to different RTs’ groups. For example, multiple training modules might be necessary to support the PACS competence development of older RTs and those with lower general computer literacy

The use of a bayesian hierarchy to develop and validate a co-morbidity score to predict mortality for linked primary and secondary care data from the NHS in England

Background: We have assessed whether the linkage between routine primary and secondary care records provided an opportunity to develop an improved population based co-morbidity score with the combined information on co-morbidities from both health care settings. Methods: We extracted all people older than 20 years at the start of 2005 within the linkage between the Hospital Episodes Statistics, Clinical Practice Research Datalink, and Office for National Statistics death register in England. A random 50% sample was used to identify relevant diagnostic codes using a Bayesian hierarchy to share information between similar Read and ICD 10 code groupings. Internal validation of the score was performed in the remaining 50% and discrimination was assessed using Harrell’s C statistic. Comparisons were made over time, age, and consultation rate with the Charlson and Elixhauser indexes. Results: 657,264 people were followed up from the 1st January 2005. 98 groupings of codes were derived from the Bayesian hierarchy, and 37 had an adjusted weighting of greater than zero in the Cox proportional hazards model. 11 of these groupings had a different weighting dependent on whether they were coded from hospital or primary care. The C statistic reduced from 0.88 (95% confidence interval 0.88–0.88) in the first year of follow up, to 0.85 (0.85–0.85) including all 5 years. When we stratified the linked score by consultation rate the association with mortality remained consistent, but there was a significant interaction with age, with improved discrimination and fit in those under 50 years old (C=0.85, 0.83–0.87) compared to the Charlson (C=0.79, 0.77–0.82) or Elixhauser index (C=0.81, 0.79–0.83). Conclusions: The use of linked population based primary and secondary care data developed a co-morbidity score that had improved discrimination, particularly in younger age groups, and had a greater effect when adjusting for co-morbidity than existing scores