Comparison of Finnish meat inspection records and average daily gain for cattle herds differing in Mycoplasma bovis test-status

Detecting Mycoplasma bovis on cattle farms represents a challenge in the absence of an outbreak or cases of M. bovis mastitis, yet identification of an infection is essential to control the spread of the disease successfully. The objectives of this study were: (1) to determine whether meat inspection records can aid identification of cattle farms supporting M. bovis infection, and (2) to compare the average daily weight gain estimated from carcass weight for cattle originating from farms differing in M. bovis test-status. Meat inspection records were collected from two abattoirs in 2015; 80 677 animals in total. All the dairy and mixed breed cows and bulls used for meat production were categorized according to known M. bovis infection status of the farms from which the cattle were derived; positive, contact or control farms. The associations between animals from different M. bovis categories and lung lesions of bulls and cows (pneumonia and pleuritis), identified during meat inspection, and estimated average daily gain (ADG) of bulls, were investigated. The odds ratios for lung lesions, especially pleuritis, were higher in M. bovis test-positive or contact farms compared with control farms. Additionally, odds ratios for pleuritis were higher among animals from M. bovis test-positive farms and animals from contact slaughtering farms originating from M. bovis-free rearing farms. Bulls originating from M. bovis test-positive farms had higher estimated average daily gain than cattle from control farms. Meat inspection records can be used alongside other methods to detect M. bovis-positive farms where M. bovis causes lung lesions. (C) 2019 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.Peer reviewe

On the Fourier transform of the characteristic functions of domains with C1C^1 -smooth boundary

We consider domains $D\subseteq\mathbb R^n$ with $C^1$ -smooth boundary and study the following question: when the Fourier transform $\hat{1_D}$ of the characteristic function $1_D$ belongs to $L^p(\mathbb R^n)$?Comment: added two references; added footnotes on pages 6 and 1

The Clinical Frailty Scale is a useful tool for predicting postoperative complications following elective colon cancer surgery at the age of 80 years and above: A prospective, multicentre observational study

Aim Identification of the risks of postoperative complications may be challenging in older patients with heterogeneous physical and cognitive status. The aim of this multicentre, observational study was to identify variables that affect the outcomes of colon cancer surgery and, especially, to find tools to quantify the risks related to surgery. Method Patients aged >= 80 years with electively operated Stage I-III colon cancer were recruited. The prospectively collected data included comorbidities, results of the onco-geriatric screening tool (G8), Clinical Frailty Scale (CFS), Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI) and Mini Nutritional Assessment-Short Form (MNA-SF), and operative and postoperative outcomes. Results A total of 161 patients (mean 84.5 years, range 80-97, 60% female) were included. History of cerebral stroke (64% vs. 37%, p = 0.02), albumin level 31-34 g/l compared with >= 35 g/l (57% vs. 32%, p = 0.007), CFS 3-4 and 5-9 compared with CFS 1-2 (49% and 47% vs. 16%, respectively) and American Society of Anesthesiologists score >3 (77% vs. 28%, P = 0.006) were related to a higher risk of complications. In multivariate logistic regression analysis CFS >= 3 (OR 6.06, 95% CI 1.88-19.5, p = 0.003) and albumin level 31-34 g/l (OR 3.88, 1.61-9.38, p = 0.003) were significantly associated with postoperative complications. Severe complications were more common in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (43% vs. 13%, p = 0.047), renal failure (25% vs. 12%, p = 0.021), albumin level 31-34 g/l (26% vs. 8%, p = 0.014) and CCI >6 (23% vs. 10%, p = 0.034). Conclusion Surgery on physically and cognitively fit aged colon cancer patients with CFS 1-2 can lead to excellent operative outcomes similar to those of younger patients. The CFS could be a useful screening tool for predicting postoperative complications.Peer reviewe

The First Detections of the Extragalactic Background Light at 3000, 5500, and 8000A (II): Measurement of Foreground Zodiacal Light

We present a measurement of the absolute surface brightness of the zodiacal light (3900-5100A) toward a fixed extragalactic target at high ecliptic latitude based on moderate resolution (~1.3A per pixel) spectrophotometry obtained with the du Pont 2.5m telescope at Las Campanas Observatory in Chile. This measurement and contemporaneous Hubble Space Telescope data from WFPC2 and FOS comprise a coordinated program to measure the mean flux of the diffuse extragalactic background light (EBL). The zodiacal light at optical wavelengths results from scattering by interplanetary dust, so that the zodiacal light flux toward any extragalactic target varies seasonally with the position of the Earth. This measurement of zodiacal light is therefore relevant to the specific observations (date and target field) under discussion. To obtain this result, we have developed a technique that uses the strength of the zodiacal Fraunhofer lines to identify the absolute flux of the zodiacal light in the multiple-component night sky spectrum. Statistical uncertainties in the result are 0.6% (1 sigma). However, the dominant source of uncertainty is systematic errors, which we estimate to be 1.1% (1 sigma). We discuss the contributions included in this estimate explicitly. The systematic errors in this result contribute 25% in quadrature to the final error in our coordinated EBL measurement, which is presented in the first paper of this series.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ, 22 pages using emulateapj.sty, version with higher resolution figures available at http://www.astro.lsa.umich.edu/~rab/publications.html or at http://nedwww.ipac.caltech.edu/level5/Sep01/Bernstein2/frames.htm

Implementation of on-site velocity boundary conditions for D3Q19 lattice Boltzmann

On-site boundary conditions are often desired for lattice Boltzmann simulations of fluid flow in complex geometries such as porous media or microfluidic devices. The possibility to specify the exact position of the boundary, independent of other simulation parameters, simplifies the analysis of the system. For practical applications it should allow to freely specify the direction of the flux, and it should be straight forward to implement in three dimensions. Furthermore, especially for parallelized solvers it is of great advantage if the boundary condition can be applied locally, involving only information available on the current lattice site. We meet this need by describing in detail how to transfer the approach suggested by Zou and He to a D3Q19 lattice. The boundary condition acts locally, is independent of the details of the relaxation process during collision and contains no artificial slip. In particular, the case of an on-site no-slip boundary condition is naturally included. We test the boundary condition in several setups and confirm that it is capable to accurately model the velocity field up to second order and does not contain any numerical slip.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figures, revised versio

New Measurements of the Motion of the Zodiacal Dust

Using the Wisconsin H-Alpha Mapper (WHAM), we have measured at high spectral resolution and high signal-to-noise the profile of the scattered solar Mg I 5184 absorption line in the zodiacal light. The observations were carried out toward 49 directions that sampled the ecliptic equator from solar elongations of 48\dg (evening sky) to 334\dg (morning sky) plus observations near +47\dg and +90\dg ecliptic latitude. The spectra show a clear prograde kinematic signature that is inconsistent with dust confined to the ecliptic plane and in circular orbits influenced only by the sun's gravity. In particular, the broadened widths of the profiles, together with large amplitude variations in the centroid velocity with elongation angle, indicate that a significant population of dust is on eccentric orbits. In addition, the wide, flat-bottomed line profile toward the ecliptic pole indicates a broad distribution of orbital inclinations extending up to about 30\dg - 40\dg with respect to the ecliptic plane. The absence of pronounced asymmetries in the shape of the profiles limits the retrograde population to less than 10% of the prograde population and also places constraints on the scattering phase function of the particles. These results do not show the radial outflow or evening--morning velocity amplitude asymmetry reported in some earlier investigations. The reduction of the spectra included the discovery and removal of extremely faint, unidentified terrestrial emission lines that contaminate and distort the underlying Mg I profile. This atmospheric emission is too weak to have been seen in earlier, lower signal-to-noise observations, but it probably affected the line centroid measurements of previous investigations.Comment: 24 pages, 8 figures, 1 table, to appear in ApJ v612; figures appear low-res only on scree

The Characteristics of Postoperative Mediastinitis During the Changing Phases of Cardiac Surgery

Background. Mediastinitis is a serious complication of open heart surgery associated with high mortality, considerable health care costs, and prolonged hospital stay. We examined characteristics and incidence of mediastinitis during 29 years when indications and patient material have been in a process of change. Methods. This was a retrospective population-based study comprising all mediastinitis patients more than 16 years of age after open heart surgery between 1990 and 2018 from a population of 1.7 million. Patient records of 50 mediastinitis patients from 2004 to 2014 were reviewed and compared with 120 patients from 1990 to 1999. Results. Annual mediastinitis rate varied 0% to 1.5% with a decreasing trend-from a level exceeding 1.2% to approximately 0.3%-over the study period. In 2004 to 2014 patients with mediastinitis were older, more often smokers, and more often had diabetes mellitus and renal insufficiency than in 1990 to 1999. No difference in length of hospital treatment, antibiotic prophylaxis or treatment, intensive care unit treatment, or mortality was observed between 1990 to 1999 and 2004 to 2014. Coronary artery bypass graft surgery became less common and valve replacement and hybrid operations more common among operations leading to mediastinitis. Staphylococcus aureus increased (from 25% to 56%, p = .005) whereas coagulase-negative staphylococci (46% to 23%, P < .001) and gramnegative bacteria (18% to 12%, P = .033) decreased as causative agents. Surgery for mediastinitis remained similar except introduction of vacuum-assisted closure treatment. Conclusions. The rate of mediastinitis decreased during these 29 years. No difference in 30-day mortality in mediastinitis was seen: 0.9% in 1990 to 1999 and 2% in 2004 to 2014. (C) 2021 by The Society of Thoracic SurgeonsPeer reviewe

Enhanced light extraction from InGaN/GaN quantum wells with silver gratings

We demonstrate that an extraction enhancement by a factor of 2.8 can be obtained for a GaN quantum well structure using metallic nanostructures, compared to a flat semiconductor. The InGaN/GaN quantum well is inserted into a dielectric waveguide, naturally formed in the structure, and a silver grating is deposited on the surface and covered with a polymer film. The polymer layer greatly improves the extraction compared to a single metallic grating. The comparison of the experiments with simulations gives strong indications on the key role of weakly guided modes in the polymer layer diffracted by the grating.Peer reviewe

AT 2017be - a new member of the class of Intermediate-Luminosity Red Transients

We report the results of our spectrophotometric monitoring campaign for AT~2017be in NGC~2537. Its lightcurve reveals a fast rise to an optical maximum, followed by a plateau lasting about 30 days, and finally a fast decline. Its absolute peak magnitude ($M_{r}$ $\simeq$ $-$12 $\rm{mag}$) is fainter than that of core-collapse supernovae, and is consistent with those of supernova impostors and other Intermediate-Luminosity Optical Transients. The quasi-bolometric lightcurve peaks at $\sim$ 2 $\times$ 10$^{40}$ erg s$^{-1}$, and the late-time photometry allows us to constrain an ejected $^{56}$Ni mass of $\sim$ 8 $\times$ 10$^{-4}$\msun. The spectra of AT~2017be show minor evolution over the observational period, a relatively blue continuum showing at early phases, which becomes redder with time. A prominent H$\alpha$ emission line always dominates over other Balmer lines. Weak Fe {\sc ii} features, Ca~{\sc ii} H$\&$K and the Ca {\sc ii} NIR triplet are also visible, while P-Cygni absorption troughs are found in a high resolution spectrum. In addition, the [Ca~{\sc ii}] $\lambda$7291,7324 doublet is visible in all spectra. This feature is typical of Intermediate-Luminosity Red Transients (ILRTs), similar to SN~2008S. The relatively shallow archival Spitzer data are not particularly constraining. On the other hand, a non-detection in deeper near-infrared HST images disfavours a massive Luminous Blue Variable eruption as the origin for AT~2017be. As has been suggested for other ILRTs, we propose that AT~2017be is a candidate for a weak electron-capture supernova explosion of a super-asymptotic giant branch star, still embedded in a thick dusty envelope.Comment: 21 pages, 15 figures, accepted by MNRA