The association between farm-level antimicrobial usage and resistance of Staphylococcus spp., as the major genus isolated from aerosol samples, in Japanese piggeries

Bacteria are the dominant particulate matter in livestock houses and can threaten animal and public health. Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a crucial concern worldwide, and nationwide measures established based on the One Health approach are being implemented in many countries. This requires multidisciplinary perspectives and collaboration among the human, animal, and environmental sectors. However, information on the AMR risk in livestock house aerosol is limited, especially its association with antimicrobial usage (AMU). Therefore, this study was conducted to reveal the AMR profile of Staphylococcus, the major bacterial genus in the aerosol of the piggeries of Japanese farms, and the association between farm-level AMU and AMR. The investigation at 10 farrow-to-finish pig farms revealed that regardless of the sampling season and the piggery group, the resistance rate of isolated staphylococci for oxacillin, erythromycin, and lincomycin was more than 40% of the median and tended to be higher than that for other antimicrobials. The AMU adjusted by the defined daily dose (DDD-adjusted AMU) in the fattening piggery group was significantly higher than that in the sow piggery group (p < 0.05). Finally, for the fattening piggery group, the generalized linear mixed model revealed that the AMR rate for oxacillin, erythromycin, tetracycline, and chloramphenicol was positively associated with the corresponding class-based DDD-adjusted AMU of penicillins (odds ratio (OR) = 2.63, p = 0.03), macrolides (OR = 6.89, p = 0.0001), tetracyclines (OR = 2.48, p = 0.04), and amphenicols (OR = 3.22, p = 0.03), respectively. These significant positive associations observed in this study imply that the resistance rate for these antimicrobials may decrease by reducing the corresponding antimicrobials’ use. In addition, the resistance rates for erythromycin and chloramphenicol also displayed a positive association with the AMU of antimicrobial classes other than macrolides and amphenicols, respectively. The mechanism underlying these phenomena is unclear; therefore, further evaluation will be needed. As limited studies have reported staphylococci in piggery aerosol and its AMR with quantitative AMU, these results based on on-farm investigations are expected to aid in establishing countermeasures for AMR of aerosol bacteria in pig farms

Predicting sentinel lymph node metastasis in breast cancer with lymphoscintigraphy

金沢大学医薬保健研究域保健学系Objective: Lymphoscintigraphy is an effective method for detecting sentinel lymph nodes (SLNs). However, the rate and degree of SLN detection is not uniform. We quantified SLNs detected with lymphoscintigraphy, and investigated correlations with factors that may influence detection. We then attempted to predict SLN metastasis from lymph node counts, comparing the predictions to subsequent biopsy results. Methods: We assessed lymph node counts in 100 breast cancer patients in whom a single SLN was detected with a fixed lymphoscintigraphy procedure. We examined correlations between the counts and factors known to influence lymphoscintigraphic SLN detection (age, body mass index, tumor size, and presence or absence of metastasis), and determined reference values (lymph node counts of 10.0, 19.4 and 53.0) which were used to predict SLN metastasis in 100 subsequent patients. The predictions were then compared with the SLN biopsy findings. Results: SLN counts correlated strongly with the presence or absence of metastasis, with metastasis-positive lymph nodes showing significantly lower counts than negative nodes (p < 0.001). Prediction of SLN metastasis achieved a 100% positive predictive value at a reference value of 10.0, and a 100% negative predictive value at a reference value of 53.0. At a reference value of 19.4, the sensitivity, specificity, and diagnostic accuracy were 77.8, 73.2, and 74.0%, respectively. Conclusions: The SLN counts detected with lymphoscintigraphy were significantly lower in metastasis-positive lymph nodes than in metastasis-negative lymph nodes. This suggests that prediction of SLN metastasis in breast cancer is possible using lymphoscintigraphy. © 2010 The Japanese Society of Nuclear Medicine

The ASTRO-H X-ray Observatory

The joint JAXA/NASA ASTRO-H mission is the sixth in a series of highly successful X-ray missions initiated by the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS). ASTRO-H will investigate the physics of the high-energy universe via a suite of four instruments, covering a very wide energy range, from 0.3 keV to 600 keV. These instruments include a high-resolution, high-throughput spectrometer sensitive over 0.3-2 keV with high spectral resolution of Delta E < 7 eV, enabled by a micro-calorimeter array located in the focal plane of thin-foil X-ray optics; hard X-ray imaging spectrometers covering 5-80 keV, located in the focal plane of multilayer-coated, focusing hard X-ray mirrors; a wide-field imaging spectrometer sensitive over 0.4-12 keV, with an X-ray CCD camera in the focal plane of a soft X-ray telescope; and a non-focusing Compton-camera type soft gamma-ray detector, sensitive in the 40-600 keV band. The simultaneous broad bandpass, coupled with high spectral resolution, will enable the pursuit of a wide variety of important science themes.Comment: 22 pages, 17 figures, Proceedings of the SPIE Astronomical Instrumentation "Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2012: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray

The Quiescent Intracluster Medium in the Core of the Perseus Cluster

Clusters of galaxies are the most massive gravitationally-bound objects in the Universe and are still forming. They are thus important probes of cosmological parameters and a host of astrophysical processes. Knowledge of the dynamics of the pervasive hot gas, which dominates in mass over stars in a cluster, is a crucial missing ingredient. It can enable new insights into mechanical energy injection by the central supermassive black hole and the use of hydrostatic equilibrium for the determination of cluster masses. X-rays from the core of the Perseus cluster are emitted by the 50 million K diffuse hot plasma filling its gravitational potential well. The Active Galactic Nucleus of the central galaxy NGC1275 is pumping jetted energy into the surrounding intracluster medium, creating buoyant bubbles filled with relativistic plasma. These likely induce motions in the intracluster medium and heat the inner gas preventing runaway radiative cooling; a process known as Active Galactic Nucleus Feedback. Here we report on Hitomi X-ray observations of the Perseus cluster core, which reveal a remarkably quiescent atmosphere where the gas has a line-of-sight velocity dispersion of 164+/-10 km/s in a region 30-60 kpc from the central nucleus. A gradient in the line-of-sight velocity of 150+/-70 km/s is found across the 60 kpc image of the cluster core. Turbulent pressure support in the gas is 4% or less of the thermodynamic pressure, with large scale shear at most doubling that estimate. We infer that total cluster masses determined from hydrostatic equilibrium in the central regions need little correction for turbulent pressure.Comment: 31 pages, 11 Figs, published in Nature July

Hitomi (ASTRO-H) X-ray Astronomy Satellite

The Hitomi (ASTRO-H) mission is the sixth Japanese x-ray astronomy satellite developed by a large international collaboration, including Japan, USA, Canada, and Europe. The mission aimed to provide the highest energy resolution ever achieved at E  >  2  keV, using a microcalorimeter instrument, and to cover a wide energy range spanning four decades in energy from soft x-rays to gamma rays. After a successful launch on February 17, 2016, the spacecraft lost its function on March 26, 2016, but the commissioning phase for about a month provided valuable information on the onboard instruments and the spacecraft system, including astrophysical results obtained from first light observations. The paper describes the Hitomi (ASTRO-H) mission, its capabilities, the initial operation, and the instruments/spacecraft performances confirmed during the commissioning operations for about a month

Hitomi X-Ray Studies of Giant Radio Pulses from the Crab Pulsar

To search for giant X-ray pulses correlated with the giant radio pulses (GRPs) from the Crab pulsar, we performed a simultaneous observation of the Crab pulsar with the X-ray satellite Hitomi in the 2300 keV band and the Kashima NICT radio telescope in the 1.41.7 GHz band with a net exposure of about 2 ks on 2016 March 25, just before the loss of the Hitomi mission. The timing performance of the Hitomi instruments was confirmed to meet the timing requirement and about 1000 and 100 GRPs were simultaneously observed at the main pulse and inter-pulse phases, respectively, and we found no apparent correlation between the giant radio pulses and the X-ray emission in either the main pulse or inter-pulse phase. All variations are within the 2 fluctuations of the X-ray fluxes at the pulse peaks, and the 3 upper limits of variations of main pulse or inter-pulse GRPs are 22% or 80% of the peak flux in a 0.20 phase width, respectively, in the 2300 keV band. The values for main pulse or inter-pulse GRPs become 25% or 110%, respectively, when the phase width is restricted to the 0.03 phase. Among the upper limits from the Hitomi satellite, those in the 4.510 keV and 70300 keV bands are obtained for the first time, and those in other bands are consistent with previous reports. Numerically, the upper limits of the main pulse and inter-pulse GRPs in the 0.20 phase width are about (2.4 and 9.3) 10(exp 11) erg cm(exp 2), respectively. No significant variability in pulse profiles implies that the GRPs originated from a local place within the magnetosphere. Although the number of photon-emitting particles should temporarily increase to account for the brightening of the radio emission, the results do not statistically rule out variations correlated with the GRPs, because the possible X-ray enhancement may appear due to a >0.02% brightening of the pulse-peak flux under such conditions