International nosocomial infection control consortium (INICC) report, data summary of 36 countries, for 2004-2009

The results of a surveillance study conducted by the International Nosocomial Infection Control Consortium (INICC) from January 2004 through December 2009 in 422 intensive care units (ICUs) of 36 countries in Latin America, Asia, Africa, and Europe are reported. During the 6-year study period, using Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN; formerly the National Nosocomial Infection Surveillance system [NNIS]) definitions for device-associated health care-associated infections, we gathered prospective data from 313,008 patients hospitalized in the consortium's ICUs for an aggregate of 2,194,897 ICU bed-days. Despite the fact that the use of devices in the developing countries' ICUs was remarkably similar to that reported in US ICUs in the CDC's NHSN, rates of device-associated nosocomial infection were significantly higher in the ICUs of the INICC hospitals; the pooled rate of central line-associated bloodstream infection in the INICC ICUs of 6.8 per 1,000 central line-days was more than 3-fold higher than the 2.0 per 1,000 central line-days reported in comparable US ICUs. The overall rate of ventilator-associated pneumonia also was far higher (15.8 vs 3.3 per 1,000 ventilator-days), as was the rate of catheter-associated urinary tract infection (6.3 vs. 3.3 per 1,000 catheter-days). Notably, the frequencies of resistance of Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates to imipenem (47.2% vs 23.0%), Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates to ceftazidime (76.3% vs 27.1%), Escherichia coli isolates to ceftazidime (66.7% vs 8.1%), Staphylococcus aureus isolates to methicillin (84.4% vs 56.8%), were also higher in the consortium's ICUs, and the crude unadjusted excess mortalities of device-related infections ranged from 7.3% (for catheter-associated urinary tract infection) to 15.2% (for ventilator-associated pneumonia). Copyright © 2012 by the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved

Open data from the third observing run of LIGO, Virgo, KAGRA, and GEO

The global network of gravitational-wave observatories now includes five detectors, namely LIGO Hanford, LIGO Livingston, Virgo, KAGRA, and GEO 600. These detectors collected data during their third observing run, O3, composed of three phases: O3a starting in 2019 April and lasting six months, O3b starting in 2019 November and lasting five months, and O3GK starting in 2020 April and lasting two weeks. In this paper we describe these data and various other science products that can be freely accessed through the Gravitational Wave Open Science Center at https://gwosc.org. The main data set, consisting of the gravitational-wave strain time series that contains the astrophysical signals, is released together with supporting data useful for their analysis and documentation, tutorials, as well as analysis software packages

Search for eccentric black hole coalescences during the third observing run of LIGO and Virgo

Despite the growing number of binary black hole coalescences confidently observed through gravitational waves so far, the astrophysical origin of these binaries remains uncertain. Orbital eccentricity is one of the clearest tracers of binary formation channels. Identifying binary eccentricity, however, remains challenging due to the limited availability of gravitational waveforms that include the effects of eccentricity. Here, we present observational results for a waveform-independent search sensitive to eccentric black hole coalescences, covering the third observing run (O3) of the LIGO and Virgo detectors. We identified no new high-significance candidates beyond those that have already been identified with searches focusing on quasi-circular binaries. We determine the sensitivity of our search to high-mass (total source-frame mass M > 70 M⊙) binaries covering eccentricities up to 0.3 at 15 Hz emitted gravitational-wave frequency, and use this to compare model predictions to search results. Assuming all detections are indeed quasi-circular, for our fiducial population model, we place a conservative upper limit for the merger rate density of high-mass binaries with eccentricities 0 < e ≤ 0.3 at 16.9 Gpc−3 yr−1 at the 90% confidence level

Effect of replacing oat fodder with fresh and chopped oak leaves on in vitro rumen fermentation, digestibility and metabolizable energy

Aim: A study was conducted to evaluate the effect of replacing oat fodder (OF) with fresh oak leaves (FOL) or chopped oak leaves (COL) on rumen fermentation and digestibility through in vitro gas production technique (IVGPT). Materials and Methods: Nine different diets were prepared by mixing OF with oak leaves (either FOL or COL) in different ratios (100:0, 75:25, 50:50, 25:75, and 0:100). The rations were evaluated through Hohenheim IVGPT with 200 mg substrate and 30 ml of buffered rumen liquor. All the syringes were incubated at 39°C for 24 h in buffered rumen liquor of cattle. After 24 h, the total gas production was recorded, and the contents were analyzed for in vitro methane production, protozoa no. and ammonia-N. Results: Chopping (p<0.01) reduced the tannin fractions as well as non-tannin phenol. Increase in levels of oak decreased total gas production, methane, organic matter (OM) digestibility, and metabolizable energy (ME) values. The polyphenol content of the substrate did not show any significant difference on the protozoal count. Conclusion: In vitro studies revealed that the addition of oak leaves reduced the methane production and ammonia nitrogen levels; however, it also decreased the OM digestibility and ME values linearly as the level of the oak leaves increased in the diet. Chopping was effective only at lower inclusion levels. Further studies, especially in vivo studies, are needed to explore the safe inclusion levels of oak leaves in the diet of ruminants

Genetic mapping of tolerance to iron deficiency chlorosis in peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.)

Iron deficiency chlorosis (IDC) under calcareous and alkaline soils is a significant abiotic stress affecting the growth and yield of peanut. In this study, the genomic regions governing IDC tolerance were mapped using a recombinant inbred line (RIL) population derived from TMV 2 (susceptible to IDC) and TMV 2-NLM (tolerant to IDC), which was phenotyped during the rainy seasons of 2019 and 2020 in the iron-deficient calcareous plots. The best linear unbiased prediction (BLUP) values for IDC tolerance traits like visual chlorotic rating (VCR), and SPAD chlorophyll meter reading (SCMR) were used for QTL analysis along with a genetic map carrying 700 GBS-derived SNP, AhTE and SSR markers. In total, 11 and 12 main-effect QTLs were identified for VCR and SCMR, respectively. Among them three QTLs were major with the phenotypic variance explained (PVE) of 10.3–34.4% for VCR, and two QTL were major for SCMR with PVE of 11.5–11.7%. A region (159.3–178.3 cM) on chromosome Ah13 carrying two QTLs (one each for VCR and SCMR) was consistent with the previous report. A SNP marker, Ah14_138037990 identified from single marker analysis for VCR was located in the intronic region of the gene Arahy.QA0C1, which is important for protein-binding. Overall, this study identified new QTLs and also validated QTL for IDC tolerance. These genomic resources could be useful for genomics-assisted breeding of peanut for IDC tolerance

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Not AvailableThe present study was conducted to evaluate the effect of tea (Camellia sinensis) seed saponins (TSS) on in vitro rumen fermentation with different forage to concentrate ratios in the in vitro gas production technique. Experimental treatments were a low forage diet (forage: concentrate = 30:70), a medium forage diet (forage: concentrate = 50:50) and a high forage diet (forage: concentrate = 70:30). TSS was added at levels of 0.0%, 0.3%, 0.4%, 0.5%, 0.6%, 0.7%, 0.8%, 0.9% and 1.0% of substrate. Protozoal count, ammonia-N production and methane production decreased linearly up to the dose level of 0.8% in all the substrates. The maximum reduction obtained was 54.6%, 57.2% and 60.6% for protozoal counts; 29%, 33% and 36% for methane production; and 36.6%, 36.6% and 33.8% for ammonia-N production at low, medium and high forage diets, respectively. Net 24 h gas production, short chain fatty acid production, metabolizable energy value increased and in vitro true dry matter and organic matter digestibility significantly decreased due to addition of saponins. Results suggest that TSS has the potential to reduce methane production and positively impact rumen fermentation across different forage to concentrate ratios.Not Availabl

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Not AvailableAn experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of feeding tea seed saponin in oat fodder based diet on intake, growth performance, nutrient utilization, microbial protein synthesis and hemato-biochemical attributes of Gaddi goats in a 90 days feeding experiment. Eighteen male goats (6 to 7 months old and 17.70±0.75 kg body weight) were divided into three groups of six in each, as T0 (control), T1 and T2 in a completely randomized design. The animals in T0 were fed a basal diet containing concentrate mixture and oat fodder, while the animals in T1 and T2 groups were fed with same ration supplemented with tea seed saponin (TSS) on alternate days at the dose level of 0.4% and 0.8% of DMI, respectively. All animals were fed for a growth rate of 60 g/d. Daily feed intake and weekly body weight changes of each animal were recorded. A metabolism trial of six days duration was conducted. Dry matter, organic matter, NDF, ADF and cellulose digestibilities were though comparable in between T0 and T1 , were significantly lower in T2 (P<0.05). Though digestible crude protein (g/kg diet) was comparable, TDN (g/kg diet) was significantly (P<0.05) lower in T2. A trend of lower urinary N excretion, higher N balance and microbial N supply were observed in TSS supplemented groups (T1 and T2 ) as compared to T0. Average daily gain was highest in T1 (75.56g) followed by T0 (61.78g) and was lowest in T2 (58.78g). The TSS supplementation did not change the levels of Hb, PCV, total protein, albumin, globulin, blood urea nitrogen, bilirubin and creatinine. However, saponin supplementation significantly (P<0.05) decreased triglyceride and increased HDL cholesterol levels. Thus, it may be concluded that TSS may be supplemented on alternate days at the level of 0.4% of DMI to improve growth rate, microbial protein synthesis and to favourably modify lipid profile in Gaddi goats.Not Availabl