HESEB The Helmholtz state of the art Soft X Ray Undulator beamline at SESAME

SESAME and a consortium of five Helmholtz Centers are designing and installing a state of the art soft X Ray undulator beamline at the SESAME light source in Amman, Jordan. Funding is provided by the Helmholtz Association over a four year project cycle that started in January 2019. This is an interim report covering the first 36 months of the project where the construction and installation has been almost completed and commissioning and characterization of the beamline is about to start. Additionally, seminars, workshops, and a training program are part of the project aimed at establishing a broad user communit

Um programa para o planejamento da recria de fêmeas oriundas de rebanhos leiteiros A computer program for planning dairy heifer raising

Alimentação e manejo inadequados das novilhas em recria constituem alguns dos entraves ao incremento da produtividade do rebanho leiteiro no Brasil. Nessa fase, o pecuarista deve decidir entre recriar os animais de reposição, adquiri-los ou terceirizar sua criação. Além disso, em se decidindo por recriar suas próprias novilhas, seria importante encontrar a melhor alternativa em termos econômicos. Visando auxiliar o pecuarista a resolver tal questão, apresenta-se um modelo matemático que permite estimar os custos decorrentes da recria de fêmeas de rebanhos leiteiros até atingir o peso recomendado à cobertura. Tal modelo foi inserido em um programa de computador de maneira a permitir a construção de diferentes cenários, considerando-se peso, raça e ganho de peso diário do lote de novilhas. Assim, após contrastar os cenários gerados com as opções de compra das novilhas ou terceirização da recria, o pecuarista aumenta as chances de tomar uma decisão mais lucrativa. Exemplos de utilização do modelo inserido em um programa de computador são apresentados e avaliados.<br>Inadequate feeding and management when raising heifers are two factors that constrain dairy cattle productivity in Brazil. In order to build their heads, Brazilian dairy farmers must choose between three options: to raise their own heifers to breeding age, to purchase mature heifers from outside sources, or to employ a custom heifer raiser. If the dairy farmer chooses to raise his own heifers, he needs to determine the most economically rational production strategy. To aid the farmer in this determination, a mathematical model was developed to create a budget for raising a group of heifers to their recommended breeding weight. This model was embedded in a computer program making it possible to build different growth scenarios, which can be adjusted by breed, desired daily weight gain, and average weight for a given group of heifers. After contrasting the results of these generated scenarios against the purchase cost of breeding-age heifers or the cost to employ a professional to raise the heifers, it is more likely that the dairy farmer will make the most profitable decision when it comes to increasing his herd’s size. Some examples this computer program’s use are presented and evaluated in this paper

The pattern of skin diseases in the Qassim region of Saudi Arabia: What the primary care physician should know

<b>Background and Objectives :</b>Epidemiological studies to determine the burden of skin diseases are important for proper health care planning. The purpose of this study was to find the pattern of skin diseases in our patients attending university-affiliated dermatologic clinics in the Qassim region. <b>Methods</b> : We conducted a prospective study of all Saudi patients attending the Qassim University Medical College-affiliated dermatology clinics of the Ministry of Health for a period of 12 months from 1 March 2008 to 28 February 2009. <b>Results</b> : The study included 3051 patients comprising 1786 (58.5&#x0025;) males and 1265 (41.5&#x0025;) females. Males outnumbered females (<i>P</i>&lt;.05) (male-to-female ratio, 1.4:1). The mean age (standard error of the mean) of the patients was 25.3 (0.27) years. About 71&#x0025; of the patients were between 5 and 34 years of age. The top five skin diseases were eczema/ dermatitis (19.5&#x0025;), viral infections (16.6&#x0025;), pilosebaceous disorders (14.4&#x0025;), pigmentary lesions (11.2&#x0025;) and hair disorders (7.6&#x0025;). The major disorder in males was viral skin infections (20.0&#x0025;), while eczema/dermatitis (20.7&#x0025;) constituted the most prevalent skin disease in females. Seasonal variations were recorded in cases of pigmentary lesions, papulosquamous disorders and protozoal infections. <b>Conclusion</b> : Infectious skin diseases, eczema/dermatitis, pilosebaceous disorders, pigmentary lesions and hair disorders ranked as the top five skin diseases. Appropriate training programs for diagnosing and managing common skin diseases should be initiated for primary health care physicians and other general practitioners so as to decrease referrals to dermatology clinics

Lessons learnt from implementation of a Lynch syndrome screening program for patients with gynaecological malignancy.

Despite a trend towards universal testing, best practice to screen patients presenting with gynaecological malignancy for Lynch syndrome (LS) is uncertain. We report our institutional experience of a co-ordinated gynaecological LS screening program. All patients with endometrial carcinoma or carcinosarcoma, or gynaecological endometrioid or clear cell carcinomas undergo reflex four panel immunohistochemistry (IHC) for MLH1, PMS2, MSH2 and MSH6 followed by cascade somatic hypermethylation analysis of the MLH1 promoter locus for dual MLH1/PMS2 negative tumours. On the basis of these results, genetic counselling and targeted germline mutation testing is then offered to patients considered at high risk of LS. From 1 August 2013 to 31 December 2015, 124 patients were screened (mean age 64.6 years). Thirty-six (29.0%) demonstrated abnormal MMR IHC: 26 (72.2%) showed dual loss of MLH1/PMS2, five (13.9%) dual loss of MSH2/MSH6, three (8.3%) isolated loss of MSH6, and two (5.6%) isolated loss of PMS2. Twenty-five of 26 (96.1%) patients with dual MLH1/PMS2 loss demonstrated MLH1 promoter methylation. Therefore, 11 (8.9%) patients screened were classified as high risk for LS, of whom nine (81.8%) accepted germline mutation testing. Three (2.4% of total screened) were confirmed to have LS, two with germline PMS2 and one with germline MSH2 mutation. Massive parallel sequencing of tumour tissue demonstrated somatic mutations which were concordant with the IHC results in the remainder. Interestingly, the one MLH1/PMS2 IHC negative but not hypermethylated tumour harboured only somatic MLH1 mutations, indicating that universal cascade methylation testing in MLH1/PMS2 IHC negative tumours is very low yield and could be reconsidered in a resource-poor setting. In conclusion, universal screening for LS in patients presenting with gynaecological malignancy using the algorithm described above identified LS in three of 124 (2.4%) of our population. Only three of nine (33.3%) patients considered at high risk for LS by combined IHC and hypermethylation analysis were proven to have LS. Only one of the LS patients was less than 50 years of age and none of these patients would have been identified had more restrictive Amsterdam or Bethesda criteria been applied