AC magnetic field losses in BSCCO-2223 superconducting tapes

The AC magnetic losses at power frequencies (60 Hz) were investigated for mono- and multifilament Ag-sheathed (Bi, Pb){sub 2}Sr{sub 2}Ca{sub 2}Cu{sub 3}O{sub y} (BSCCO-2223) tapes with similar transport critical current (I{sub c}) values at 77 K. The multifilament sample exhibited higher losses than the monofilament under the same conditions. Loss peaks are discussed in terms of intergranular, intragranular and eddy current losses. Because of BSCCO`s anisotropy, field orientation has a large effect on the magnitude of these peaks, even at relatively small angles. Losses for fields applied parallel to the c-axis of the textured BSCCO grains are larger by more than one order of magnitude than those applied perpendicular

Pain management in the neonatal piglet during routine management procedures. Part 2:Grading the quality of evidence and the strength of recommendations

Piglets reared in swine production in the USA undergo painful procedures that include castration, tail docking, teeth clipping, and identification with ear notching or tagging. These procedures are usually performed without pain mitigation. The objective of this project was to develop recommendations for pain mitigation in 1- to 28-day-old piglets undergoing these procedures. The National Pork Board funded project to develop recommendations for pain mitigation in piglets. Recommendation development followed a defined multi-step process that included an evidence summary and estimates of the efficacies of interventions. The results of a systematic review of the interventions were reported in a companion paper. This manuscript describes the recommendation development process and the final recommendations. Recommendations were developed for three interventions (CO2/O2 general anesthesia, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), and lidocaine) for use during castration. The ability to make strong recommendations was limited by low-quality evidence and strong certainty about variation in stakeholder values and preferences. The panel strongly recommended against the use of a CO2/O2 general anesthesia mixture, weakly recommended for the use of NSAIDs and weakly recommended against the use of lidocaine for pain mitigation during castration of 1- to 28-day-old piglets

Pore-Scale Behavior of Darcy Flow in Static and Dynamic Porous Media

Lattice-Boltzmann numerical simulations are conducted to explore the pore-scale flow behavior inside modeled porous media over the Darcy regime. We use static (fixed) and dynamic (rotating) particles to form the porous media. The pore flow behavior (tortuosity) is found to be constant in the static medium within the Darcy range. However, the study reveals distinctively different flow structures in the dynamic case depending on the macroscopic Darcy flow rate and the level of internal energy imposed to the system (via the angular velocity of particles). With small Darcy flow rates, tortuous flow develops with vortices occupying a large portion of the pore space but contributing little to the net flow. The formation of the vortices is linked to spatial fluctuations of local pore fluid pressure. As the Darcy flow rate (and, hence, the global fluid pressure gradient across the medium) increases, the effect of local pressure fluctuations diminishes, and the flow becomes more channelized. Despite the large variations of the pore-scale flow characteristics in the dynamic porous media, the macroscopic flow satisfies Darcy's law with an invariant permeability. The applicability of Darcy's law is proven for an internally disturbed flow through porous media. The results raise questions concerning the generality of the models describing the Darcy flow as being channelized with constant (structure-dependent) tortuosity and how the internal sources of energy imposed to the porous media flow are considered

How “Humane” Is Your Endpoint?—Refining the Science-Driven Approach for Termination of Animal Studies of Chronic Infection

Public concern on issues such as animal welfare or the scientific validity and clinical value of animal research is growing, resulting in increasing regulatory demands for animal research. Abiding to the most stringent animal welfare standards, while having scientific objectives as the main priority, is often challenging. To do so, endpoints of studies involving severe, progressive diseases need to be established considering how early in the disease process the scientific objectives can be achieved. We present here experimental studies of tuberculosis (TB) in mice as a case study for an analysis of present practice and a discussion of how more refined science-based endpoints can be developed. A considerable proportion of studies in this field involve lethal stages, and the establishment of earlier, reliable indicators of disease severity will have a significant impact on animal welfare. While there is an increasing interest from scientists and industry in moving research in this direction, this is still far from being reflected in actual practice. We argue that a major limiting factor is the absence of data on biomarkers that can be used as indicators of disease severity. We discuss the possibility of complementing the widely used weight loss with other relevant biomarkers and the need for validation of these parameters as endpoints. Promotion of ethical guidelines needs to be coupled with systematic research in order to develop humane endpoints beyond the present euthanasia of moribund animals. Such research, as we propose here for chronic infection, can show the way for the development and promotion of welfare policies in other fields of research. Research on chronic infection relies heavily on the use of animals, as only the integral animal body can model the full aspect of an infection. That animals are generally made to develop a disease in infection studies exacerbates the tension between human benefit and animal well-being, which characterizes all biomedical research with animals. Scientists typically justify animal research with reference to potential human benefits, but if accepting the assumption that human benefits can offset animal suffering, it still needs to be argued that the same benefits could not be achieved with less negative effects on animal welfare. Reducing the animal welfare problems associated with research (“refinement” [1]) is therefore crucial in order to render animal-based research less of an ethical problem and to assure public trust in research. Studies that are designed to measure time of death or survival percentages present a particularly challenging situation in which at least some of the animals are made to die from the disease. These studies are frequent in experimental research on severe infections. The scientific community, industry, and regulatory authorities have responded to the ethical concerns over studies in which animals die from severe disease by developing new policies and guidelines for the implementation of humane endpoints as a key refinement measure (e.g., [2]–[4]). The most widely used definition considers a humane endpoint to be the earliest indicator in an animal experiment of severe pain, severe distress, suffering, or impending death [5], underlining that ideally such indicators should be identified before the onset of the most severe effects. Euthanizing animals, rather than awaiting their “spontaneous” death, is important to avoid unnecessary suffering in studies in which data on survival is thought to be required for scientific or legal reasons. However, several questions remain open regarding how humane endpoints are to be applied to address real animal welfare problems. We used TB experiments in mice as a case study to highlight the potential to establish biomarkers of disease progress that can replace survival time as a measure of disease severity.Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (SFRH/BD/38337/2007)

Visual Laterality of Calf–Mother Interactions in Wild Whales

Behavioral laterality is known for a variety of vertebrate and invertebrate animals. Laterality in social interactions has been described for a wide range of species including humans. Although evidence and theoretical predictions indicate that in social species the degree of population level laterality is greater than in solitary ones, the origin of these unilateral biases is not fully understood. It is especially poorly studied in the wild animals. Little is known about the role, which laterality in social interactions plays in natural populations. A number of brain characteristics make cetaceans most suitable for investigation of lateralization in social contacts.) in the greatest breeding aggregation in the White Sea. Here we show that young calves (in 29 individually identified and in over a hundred of individually not recognized mother-calf pairs) swim and rest significantly longer on a mother's right side. Further observations along with the data from other cetaceans indicate that found laterality is a result of the calves' preference to observe their mothers with the left eye, i.e., to analyze the information on a socially significant object in the right brain hemisphere.Data from our and previous work on cetacean laterality suggest that basic brain lateralizations are expressed in the same way in cetaceans and other vertebrates. While the information on social partners and novel objects is analyzed in the right brain hemisphere, the control of feeding behavior is performed by the left brain hemisphere. Continuous unilateral visual contacts of calves to mothers with the left eye may influence social development of the young by activation of the contralateral (right) brain hemisphere, indicating a possible mechanism on how behavioral lateralization may influence species life and welfare. This hypothesis is supported by evidence from other vertebrates

Anti-tumour necrosis factor discontinuation in inflammatory bowel disease patients in remission: study protocol of a prospective, multicentre, randomized clinical trial

Background: Patients with inflammatory bowel disease who achieve remission with anti-tumour necrosis factor (anti-TNF) drugs may have treatment withdrawn due to safety concerns and cost considerations, but there is a lack of prospective, controlled data investigating this strategy. The primary study aim is to compare the rates of clinical remission at 1?year in patients who discontinue anti-TNF treatment versus those who continue treatment. Methods: This is an ongoing, prospective, double-blind, multicentre, randomized, placebo-controlled study in patients with Crohn?s disease or ulcerative colitis who have achieved clinical remission for ?6?months with an anti-TNF treatment and an immunosuppressant. Patients are being randomized 1:1 to discontinue anti-TNF therapy or continue therapy. Randomization stratifies patients by the type of inflammatory bowel disease and drug (infliximab versus adalimumab) at study inclusion. The primary endpoint of the study is sustained clinical remission at 1?year. Other endpoints include endoscopic and radiological activity, patient-reported outcomes (quality of life, work productivity), safety and predictive factors for relapse. The required sample size is 194 patients. In addition to the main analysis (discontinuation versus continuation), subanalyses will include stratification by type of inflammatory bowel disease, phenotype and previous treatment. Biological samples will be obtained to identify factors predictive of relapse after treatment withdrawal. Results: Enrolment began in 2016, and the study is expected to end in 2020. Conclusions: This study will contribute prospective, controlled data on outcomes and predictors of relapse in patients with inflammatory bowel disease after withdrawal of anti-TNF agents following achievement of clinical remission. Clinical trial reference number: EudraCT 2015-001410-1

Opportunities and challenges in the use of coal fly ash for soil improvements – a review

Coal fly ash (CFA), a by-product of coal combustion has been regarded as a problematic solid waste, mainly due to its potentially toxic trace elements, PTEs (e.g. Cd, Cr, Ni, Pb) and organic compounds (e.g. PCBs, PAHs) content. However, CFA is a useful source of essential plant nutrients (e.g. Ca, Mg, K, P, S, B, Fe, Cu and Zn). Uncontrolled land disposal of CFA is likely to cause undesirable changes in soil conditions, including contamination with PTEs, PAHs and PCBs. Prudent CFA land application offers considerable opportunities, particularly for nutrient supplementation, pH correction and ameliorating soil physical conditions (soil compaction, water retention and drainage). Since CFA contains little or no N and organic carbon, and CFA-borne P is not readily plant available, a mixture of CFA and manure or sewage sludge (SS) is better suited than CFA alone. Additionally, land application of such a mixture can mitigate the mobility of SS-borne PTEs, which is known to increase following cessation of SS application. Research analysis further shows that application of alkaline CFA with or without other amendments can help remediate at least marginally metal contaminated soils by immobilisation of mobile metal forms. CFA land application with SS or other source of organic carbon, N and P can help effectively reclaim/restore mining-affected lands. Given the variability in the nature and composition of CFA (pH, macro- and micro-nutrients) and that of soil (pH, texture and fertility), the choice of CFA (acidic or alkaline and its application rate) needs to consider the properties and problems of the soil. CFA can also be used as a low cost sorbent for the removal of organic and inorganic contaminants from wastewater streams; the disposal of spent CFA however can pose further challenges. Problems in CFA use as a soil amendment occur when it results in undesirable change in soil pH, imbalance in nutrient supply, boron toxicity in plants, excess supply of sulphate and PTEs. These problems, however, are usually associated with excess or inappropriate CFA applications. The levels of PAHs and PCBs in CFA are generally low; their effects on soil biota, uptake by plants and soil persistence, however, need to be assessed. In spite of this, co-application of CFA with manure or SS to land enhances its effectiveness in soil improvements

Measuring motivation for appetitive behaviour: food-restricted broiler breeder chickens cross a water barrier to forage in an area of wood shavings without food

Broiler breeders (parents of meat chickens) are selected for fast growth and become obese if fed ad libitum. To avoid this and maintain good health and reproductive ability, they are feed restricted to about 1/3 of what they would eat ad libitum. As a result, they experience chronic hunger and exhibit abnormal behaviour patterns that may indicate stress and frustration. One approach to measuring hunger is to observe how much birds will work, such as pecking a key, for access to more or different types of food. However, the sight, smell, and feedback from consumption of the feed reward changes the context and may artificially raise feeding motivation. To avoid this, we tested broiler breeders in an apparatus in which they could work for access to a wooden platform covered in wood shavings by crossing a water runway which increased in length and depth in 8 successive tests. In the wood shavings area, they could perform exploratory and foraging behaviour (the appetitive phase of feeding) but were never rewarded with feed. Sixty birds were divided into three feed quantity treatments: commercial restriction (R), and twice (2R) or three times (3R) this amount. Overall, birds fed R worked harder to reach the wood shavings area (reached it in a larger number of tests) than 2R and 3R birds (P2R>3R). This indicates that restricted-fed birds were hungry and willing to work for the opportunity to forage even though food was never provided, suggesting that their motivation to perform the appetitive component of feeding behaviour (foraging/food searching) was sufficient to sustain their response. Thus food restriction in broiler breeders is a welfare concern. However these methods could be used to test alternative feeding regimes to attempt to find ways of alleviating hunger while still maintaining healthy growth and reproduction in these birds