Diagnostic accuracy of post-mortem MRI for thoracic abnormalities in fetuses and children

OBJECTIVES: To compare the diagnostic accuracy of post-mortem magnetic resonance imaging (PMMR) specifically for non-cardiac thoracic pathology in fetuses and children, compared with conventional autopsy. METHODS: Institutional ethics approval and parental consent was obtained. A total of 400 unselected fetuses and children underwent PMMR before conventional autopsy, reported blinded to the other dataset. RESULTS: Of 400 non-cardiac thoracic abnormalities, 113 (28 %) were found at autopsy. Overall sensitivity and specificity (95 % confidence interval) of PMMR for any thoracic pathology was poor at 39.6 % (31.0, 48.9) and 85.5 % (80.7, 89.2) respectively, with positive predictive value (PPV) 53.7 % (42.9, 64.0) and negative predictive value (NPV) 77.0 % (71.8, 81.4). Overall agreement was 71.8 % (67.1, 76.2). PMMR was most sensitive at detecting anatomical abnormalities, including pleural effusions and lung or thoracic hypoplasia, but particularly poor at detecting infection. CONCLUSIONS: PMMR currently has relatively poor diagnostic detection rates for the commonest intra-thoracic pathologies identified at autopsy in fetuses and children, including respiratory tract infection and diffuse alveolar haemorrhage. The reasonable NPV suggests that normal thoracic appearances at PMMR exclude the majority of important thoracic lesions at autopsy, and so could be useful in the context of minimally invasive autopsy for detecting non-cardiac thoracic abnormalities. KEY POINTS: • PMMR has relatively poor diagnostic detection rates for common intrathoracic pathology • The moderate NPV suggests that normal PMMR appearances exclude most important abnormalities • Lung sampling at autopsy remains the "gold standard" for pulmonary pathology

Crop Updates 2002 - Oilseeds

This session covers twenty seven papers from different authors: 1. Forward and acknowledgements, Dave Eksteen, ACTING MANAGER OILSEEDS PRODUCTIVITY AND INDUSTRY DEVELOPMENT Department of Agriculture PLENARY SESSION 2. GMO canola - Track record in Canada, K. Neil Harker and George W. Clayton,Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Lacombe Research Centre, Lacombe, Alberta, R. Keith Downey, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Saskatoon Research Centre, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan 3. GMO canola – Prospects in Western Australia farming systems, Keith Alcock, Crop Improvement Institute, Department of Agriculture 4. Diamondback moth (DBM) in canola, Kevin Walden, Department of Agriculture CANOLA AGRONOMY 5. Getting the best out of canola in the low rainfall central wheatbelt, Bevan Addison and Peter Carlton, Elders Ltd 6. Canola variety performance in Western Australia, Kevin Morthorpe, Stephen Addenbrooke and Alex Ford, Pioneer Hi-Bred Australia P/L 7. Relative performance of new canola varieties in Department of Agriculture variety trials in 2000 and 2001, S. Hasan Zaheer, GSARI, Department of Agriculture, G. Walton, Crop Improvement Institute, Department of Agriculture 8. Which canola cultivar should I sow? Imma Farré, CSIRO Plant Industry, Floreat, Bill Bowden,Western Australia Department of Agriculture 9. The effect of seed generation and seed source on yield and quality of canola, Paul Carmody, Department of Agriculture 10. The accumulation of oil in Brassica species, J.A. Fortescue and D.W. Turner, Plant Biology, Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, The University of Western Australia, B. Tan, PO Box 1249, South Perth 11. Potential and performance of alternative oilseeds in WA, Margaret C. Campbell, Centre for Legumes in Mediterranean Agriculture 12. Comparison of oilseed crops in WA, Ian Pritchard and Paul Carmody, Department of Agriculture, Centre for Cropping Systems, Margaret Campbell, Centre for Legumes in Mediterranean Agriculture 13. Identifying constraints to canola production, Dave Eksteen, Canola Development Officer, Department of Agriculture 14. Boron – should we be worried about it? Richard W. BellA, K. FrostA, Mike WongB, and Ross BrennanC , ASchool of Environmental Science, Murdoch University, BCSIRO Land and Water, CDepartment of Agriculture PEST AND DISEASE 15. Yield losses caused when Beet Western Yellows Virus infects canola, Roger Jones and Jenny Hawkes, Department of Agriculture, and Centre for Legumes in Mediterranean Agriculture 16. Influence of climate on aphid outbreaks and virus epidemics in canola, Debbie Thackray, Jenny Hawkes and Roger Jones, Centre for Legumes in Mediterranean Agriculture and Department of Agriculture 17. The annual shower of blackleg ascospores in canola: Can we predict and avoid it? Moin U. Salam, Ravjit K. Khangura, Art J. Diggle and Martin J. Barbetti, Department of Agriculture 18. Environmental influences on production and release of ascospores of blackleg and their implications in blackleg management in canola, Ravjit K. Khangura, Martin J. Barbetti , Moin U. Salam and Art J. Diggle, Department of Agriculture 19. WA blackleg resistance ratings on canola varieties form 2002, Ravjit Khangura, Martin J. Barbetti and Graham Walton, Department of Agriculture 20. Bronzed field beetle management in canola, Phil Michael, Department of Agriculture 21. DBM control in canola: Aerial versus boom application, Paul Carmody, Department of Agriculture 22. Effect of single or multiple spray trearments on the control of Diamondback moth (Plutella xylostella) and yield of canola at Wongan Hills, Françoise Berlandier, Paul Carmody and Christiaan Valentine, Department of Agriculture ESTABLISHMENT 23. GrainGuardÔ - A biosecurity plan for the canola industry, Greg Shea, Department of Agriculture 24. Large canola seed is best, particularly for deep sowing, Glen Riethmuller, Rafiul Alam, Greg Hamilton and Jo Hawksley, Department of Agriculture 25. Canola establishment with seed size, tines and discs, with and without stubble, Glen Riethmuller, Rafiul Alam, Greg Hamilton and Jo Hawksley, Department of Agriculture WEEDS 26. Role of Roundup ReadyÒ canola in the farming system, Art Diggle1, Patrick Smith2, Paul Neve3, Felicity Flugge4, Amir Abadi5, Stephen Powles3 1Department of Agriculture, 2CSIRO, Sustainable Ecosystems, 3Western Australian Herbicide Resistance Initiative, University of Western Australia, 4Centre for Legumes in Mediterranean Agriculture, University of Western Australia, 5Touchstone Consulting, Mt Hawthorn FEED 27. Getting value from canola meals in the animal feed industries: Aquaculture, Brett Glencross and John Curnow, Department of Fisheries - Government of Western Australia and Wayne Hawkins, Department of Agricultur

A Fragment of the LG3 Peptide of Endorepellin Is Present in the Urine of Physically Active Mining Workers: A Potential Marker of Physical Activity

Biomarker analysis has been implemented in sports research in an attempt to monitor the effects of exertion and fatigue in athletes. This study proposed that while such biomarkers may be useful for monitoring injury risk in workers, proteomic approaches might also be utilised to identify novel exertion or injury markers. We found that urinary urea and cortisol levels were significantly elevated in mining workers following a 12 hour overnight shift. These levels failed to return to baseline over 24 h in the more active maintenance crew compared to truck drivers (operators) suggesting a lack of recovery between shifts. Use of a SELDI-TOF MS approach to detect novel exertion or injury markers revealed a spectral feature which was associated with workers in both work categories who were engaged in higher levels of physical activity. This feature was identified as the LG3 peptide, a C-terminal fragment of the anti-angiogenic/anti-tumourigenic protein endorepellin. This finding suggests that urinary LG3 peptide may be a biomarker of physical activity. It is also possible that the activity mediated release of LG3/endorepellin into the circulation may represent a biological mechanism for the known inverse association between physical activity and cancer risk/survival

Sharing the Burden: Empirical Evidence on Corporate Tax Incidence

This study assesses the burden of capital income tax passed onto labor through wage bargaining over economic rents, using estimations based on a unique pseudo-panel data set from Germany for the period 1998 to 2006. Tax return data cover the universe of corporations subject to corporate income tax, and labor market variables reflect the full record of employees covered by Social Security. We find that wage bargaining after a reduction in tax rates does not increase the wage bill if employment effects neglected by previous empirical studies are taken into account. Any increase in the total wage bill by higher wage rates set is equally compensated for by lower levels of employment. If adjustments in employment due to the increased user cost of capital are taken into account, a cut in corporate income taxes by 1 euro increases the wage bill by 0.47 euro. The identification of these effects comes from variation in the firm-specific average corporate tax rate across firms and over time resulting from two substantial tax reforms. The endogeneity of the firmspecific tax rate is controlled for by an instrumental variable approach. The instrument for the observed average tax rate is the counterfactual tax rate that a corporation would have faced in a particular period, had there been no endogenous change of its tax base, constructed using a detailed microsimulation model

Volatile Organic Compounds Emitted by Fungal Associates of Conifer Bark Beetles and their Potential in Bark Beetle Control

Conifer bark beetles attack and kill mature spruce and pine trees, especially during hot and dry conditions. These beetles are closely associated with ophiostomatoid fungi of the Ascomycetes, including the genera Ophiostoma, Grosmannia, and Endoconidiophora, which enhance beetle success by improving nutrition and modifying their substrate, but also have negative impacts on beetles by attracting predators and parasites. A survey of the literature and our own data revealed that ophiostomatoid fungi emit a variety of volatile organic compounds under laboratory conditions including fusel alcohols, terpenoids, aromatic compounds, and aliphatic alcohols. Many of these compounds already have been shown to elicit behavioral responses from bark beetles, functioning as attractants or repellents, often as synergists to compounds currently used in bark beetle control. Thus, these compounds could serve as valuable new agents for bark beetle management. However, bark beetle associations with fungi are very complex. Beetle behavior varies with the species of fungus, the stage of the beetle life cycle, the host tree quality, and probably with changes in the emission rate of fungal volatiles. Additional research on bark beetles and their symbiotic associates is necessary before the basic significance of ophiostomatoid fungal volatiles can be understood and their applied potential realized

Genomes of Potato Mop-Top Virus (<i>Virgaviridae</i>: <i>Pomovirus</i>) Isolates from New Zealand and Their Impact on Diagnostic Methods

Following the detection of potato mop-top virus (PMTV) in New Zealand in 2018, three near-complete PMTV genomes (AS22, AS99, AS144) were assembled from soil samples taken from potato fields in Canterbury. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that these genomes form a distinct lineage, with limited genetic diversity, within the PMTV species. This analysis supports the hypothesis that these genomes share a common origin, possibly resulting from a single (or limited) incursion of PMTV into New Zealand. A single nucleotide polymorphism was identified in the region where a key diagnostic primer binds. The mismatch of the diagnostic primer has implications for the effectiveness of the Mumford diagnostic protocol currently recommended for use in New Zealand; we recommend that the alternative Pandey assay, for which no primer mismatch was detected, be validated and optimized for use on the viral genomes present in New Zealand. </jats:p

Draft Genome Sequence of a “ <i>Candidatus</i> Liberibacter europaeus” Strain Assembled from Broom Psyllids (Arytainilla spartiophila) from New Zealand

ABSTRACT Here, we report the draft genome sequence of “ Candidatus Liberibacter europaeus” ASNZ1, assembled from broom psyllids ( Arytainilla spartiophila ) from New Zealand. The assembly comprises 15 contigs, with a total length of 1.33 Mb and a G+C content of 33.5%. </jats:p