Remote Sensing Application to Land Use Classification in a Rapidly Changing Agricultural/Urban Area: City of Virginia Beach, Virginia

Remote sensing data on computer-compatible tapes of LANDSAT 1 multispectral scanner imager were analyzed to generate a land use map of the City of Virginia Beach. All four bands were used in both the supervised and unsupervised approaches with the LAYSYS software system. Color IR imagery of a U-2 flight of the same area was also digitized and two sample areas were analyzed via the unsupervised approach. The relationships between the mapped land use and the soils of the area were investigated. A land use land cover map at a scale of 1:24,000 was obtained from the supervised analysis of LANDSAT 1 data. It was concluded that machine analysis of remote sensing data to produce land use maps was feasible; that the LAYSYS software system was usable for this purpose; and that the machine analysis was capable of extracting detailed information from the relatively small scale LANDSAT data in a much shorter time without compromising accuracy

An innovative safe anesthesia and analgesia package for emergency pediatric procedures and surgeries when no anesthetist is available

Background: Adequate pain control through sedation and anesthesia for emergency procedures is a crucial aspect of pediatric emergency care. Resources for administering such anesthesia are extremely limited in many low-income settings. Methods: Non-anesthetist providers in Western Kenya were trained in the use of a ketamine-based sedation and anesthesia package for non-anesthetists, Every Second Matters for Mothers and Babies-Ketamine™ (ESM-Ketamine). Data on use and safety of this package for emergent and urgent pediatric procedures was collected. Providers were surveyed as to what they would have done for similar procedures if the ESM-Ketamine package were unavailable. Results: Ninety procedures were completed for 77 pediatric patients utilizing the ESM-Ketamine package. Of these, 29 (32.2 %) cases were orthopedic reductions, 19 (21.1 %) were incision and drainage, and 19 (21.1 %) were debridement and irrigation of burns. Remaining cases included cesarean section, repair of perineal tear, foreign body removal, arthrocentesis, laceration repair, exploratory laparotomy, excision of mass, paracentesis, and circumcision. There were no serious adverse events in any of the cases, 17 % experienced minor adverse events including hypersalivation, hallucinations, or brief, self-resolving, oxygen desaturations. Providers were surveyed for 80 of the 90 cases as to what they would have done in the absence of the ESM-Ketamine package: in 26 cases (32.5 %), they reported they would proceed with the procedure without any anesthesia or analgesia; in 15 (18.75 %), they reported they would significantly delay the procedure while waiting for an anesthetist; in 13 (16.25 %), they reported they would attempt referral to another facility; and in 26 (32.5 %), they reported they would try using an alternate form of analgesia, primarily acetaminophen, ibuprofen, diclofenac, and/or diazepam. All surveyed providers reported they would use the ESM-Ketamine package again in similar cases. Conclusions: The ESM-Ketamine package, through the use of a simplified protocol and checklist, allows for safe analgesia and anesthesia in children by non-anesthetists in a resource-limited setting for selected emergent and urgent procedures. This package addresses a significant gap in the availability of anesthesia services in low-income settings that would otherwise result in significant delays to procedures or proceeding with painful procedures with inadequate analgesia

Diversity and Strain Specificity of Plant Cell Wall Degrading Enzymes Revealed by the Draft Genome of Ruminococcus flavefaciens FD-1

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Rumen microbes from African ruminants can degrade Acacia angustissima diamino acids

This work examined the ability of microorganisms from African ungulates to degrade 4-N-acetyl-2,4-diaminobutyric acid (ADAB) found in A. angustissima leaves, as well as purified ADAB and diaminobutyric acid (DABA). These microorganisms were taken from the rumens of bush duiker, eland, impala, Grant's gazelle, hartebeest, Thompson's gazelle, Ethiopian goat, Kenyan goat, an Ethiopian sheep adapted to Acacia angustissima ingestion and from the hindgut of zebra. Dried A. angustissima leaves, 3 g/L ADAB or 3 g/L DABA were incubated with medium containing rumen or hindgut fluid. Degradation was measured using ammonia and volatile fatty acid production and substrate disappearance as indices. Individual microbial species were isolated from samples showing substrate degradation. Incubation of A. angustissima leaf with rumen fluids from the bush duiker and from a sheep slowly adapted to A. angustissima produced more gas (32.27 mL/100 g DM ± 1.15; 31.25 mL/100 g DM ± 2.17) than with fluid from other animals. Early substrate degradation was observed with samples incubated with bush duiker rumen fluid. The most total volatile fatty acids were produced by samples incubated with rumen fluid from Grant's gazelle, followed by impala and bush duiker (79.67 ± 4.35 µmol/mL, 78.21 ± 11.3 and 68.80 ± 4.49 µmol/mL, respectively). Samples incubated with rumen fluids from the impala, Thomson's gazelle and Grant's gazelle produced the most ammonia (39.44 ± 2.81 mmol/L, 39.05 ± 1.83 and 37.67 ± 2.13 mmol/L). Rumen fluid taken from an impala degraded more ADAB than the other sources, leaving only 4.17 µM residual ADAB. Rumen fluid from the hartebeest was completely ineffective and left all of the ADAB substrate undegraded. The adapted sheep rumen fluid degraded 0.980, the Grant's gazelle rumen fluid 0.922 and the impala rumen fluid only 0.101 of the ADAB. Eight ADAB-tolerant bacterial strains were isolated. Individually, these isolates were not able to substantially degrade ADAB. However, a mixture of all eight ADAB-tolerant bacterial isolates degraded 0.827 of the ADAB. Most DABA-tolerant bacterial strains were not able to degrade DABA. Only isolates from an adapted sheep, from a Kenyan goat and a Thomson's gazelle degraded DABA to a significant extent (0.283, 0.202 and 0.169, respectively). Mixing DABA-tolerant strains did not improve DABA degradation