Productivity of Cut-to-Length Harvesting by Operators’ Age and Experience

In the study, the relationship between operators’ age, experience and mechanized cut-to-length (CTL) harvesting productivity was examined. The data were five-year follow-up data from 28 operators and 38 CTL harvesters collected from southern Finland. Productivities were converted to relative productivities and average productivity models were created. Case specific productivities were compared to modelled values, and productivity ratio models including separate lower and upper quartile models were produced. The relative productivity of operators at the age of 45 years in clear cuttings was 17.8% higher and in thinnings 14.9% higher than that of operators at the age of 25 years. The relative lower quartile productivity increased from operators aged 25 to operators aged 45 years by 38.6% in clear cuttings and 29.4% in thinnings. The relative productivity of operators having experience of 20 years was 23.6% higher in clear cuttings and 16.2% higher in thinnings than that of operators having experience of 3 years. Operators’ experience of 20 years produced 43.1% better lower quartile relative productivity in clear cuttings and 29.1% in thinnings compared to 3 years’ experience. The relative upper quartile productivity was 5.7% higher in clear cuttings for operators aged 45 years than for operators aged 25 years, but otherwise, there was no statistical correlation between upper quartile productivity and age or experience. As a conclusion, CTL harvester operators’ average productivity increases slowly after the initial learning phase up to 15 years of experience. The peak productivity was uncorrelated to age or experience, but the experience raised the bottom productivity values

Incidence of urinary tract infections in infants with antenatally diagnosed hydronephrosis-A retrospective single center study

Objective: To evaluate the incidence of urinary tract infections (UTIs) in infants with antenatal hydronephrosis (AHN). Materials and Methods: A cohort of AHN patients admitted to our institution between 2003 and 2013 were identified. Altogether 192 patients with nonrefluxing hydronephrosis (HN, n = 135), nonrefluxing hydroureteronephrosis (HUN, n = 21), or vesicoureteral reflux (VUR, n = 36) were identified. Patients with complex anomalies or neonatal decompression of the urinary tract were excluded. Information about UTIs diagnosed among the AHN patients was collected and compared with data from 58 controls. Results: During the median follow-up time of 2.6 (0.3-11.2) years, 24 (13%) patients (15 (10%) males and 9 (19%) females) and 2 (3%) controls experienced at least one UTI (p = 0.033). Eighteen (69%) UTIs were febrile. The males had the first UTI at significantly younger age than the females (0.3, 0.0-1.7 years vs. 1.0, 0.4-4.8 years, p = 0.010). UTI was detected in 15 (63%) patients with grade 4-5 VUR, in 8 (6%) patients with HN, and in one (5%) patient with HUN (p-values 0.999 against the controls). None of the patients with grade = 3 VUR had UTI. Fifty-eight percent of the patients with UTI were on antimicrobial prophylaxis. In five (12%) cases UTI appeared within one week after voiding cystourethrography (VCUG). Conclusions: Infants with AHN and grade 4-5 VUR had the highest risk of UTI. UTIs tented to be more common in females than in males; however, males experienced UTI at younger age than females. VCUG caused UTI in 2.3% in our material. (C) 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.Peer reviewe

Prenatal complicated duplex collecting system and ureterocele-Important risk factors for urinary tract infection

Purpose: To evaluate the risk of urinary tract infections (UTIs) in infants with prenatally detected complicated duplex collecting system (CDS) or ureterocele. Materials and methods: All patients with prenatally detected CDS (n= 34) or single system ureterocele (n= 7) who were admitted to our institution between 2003 and 2013 were enrolled in this retrospective analysis. Duplex collecting systems with ureterocele (n = 13), vesicoureteral reflux (VUR) (n = 20) or nonrefluxing megaureter without ureterocele (n = 7) were determined as complicated. Twenty-six (63%) patients were females. The prevalence of UTI was compared to 66 controls. Results: The median follow-up time was 5.5 (1.7-12.2) years. Eighteen (44%) patients and 3 (5%) controls had at least one UTI (p <0.001) at themedian age of 0.8 and 0.4 years, respectively (p= 0.481). Fifty-seven percent of the UTIs were breakthrough infections and 82% of those were non-Escherichia coli infections. UTIs occurred prior to any surgical intervention in 4/13 (31%) patients with ureterocele, in 2/14 (14%) patientswith VUR, in 4/7 (57%) patients with both ureterocele and VUR, and in 3/7 (43%) patientswith nonrefluxingmegaureterwithout VUR or ureterocele (p-values 0.012, 0.209, 0.001 and 0.010, respectively, compared to controls). Postoperative UTIswere observed in 29% of the girls and in none of the 11 boys (p = 0.072). The incidence of UTI after perforation of ureterocele was only 14%. Conclusions: Children with prenatally detected ureterocele or duplex collecting system associated with nonrefluxing megaureter are at high risk of UTI despite prophylactic antibiotics. In case of prenatally detected ureterocele we suggest to consider early endoscopic perforation. Level of evidence: III. (c) 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.Peer reviewe

Association of Renal Glomerular and Tubular Function With Renal Outcome in Patients With Posterior Urethral Valves

OBJECTIVE To analyze renal glomerular and tubular function and their association in patients operated for posterior urethral valves and to prognosticate the risk for end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) METHODS Sixty-three previously treated patients were evaluated for renal function during 1987-1991. The patients' age at evaluation was 11 years (range 2-24). Glomerular function was assessed by measuring glomerular filtration rate (GFR) and urine albumin excretion. Tubular function was determined by measuring urine concentration capacity and excretion of electrolytes (Na, K, Cl, Ca, P, Mg) and 0-2-microglobulin. Additionally, the prevalence of hypertension and serum parathyroid hormone and aldosterone values were registered. Tubular function was compared with GFR and the risk of developing ESKD before November 2018. RESULTS Twenty of the study patients (32%) had decreased GFR. In addition, 19% had proteinuria and 56% were hypertensive. Those without proteinuria or hypertension had better GFR values (P < .01 for both). There was a significant correlation between GFR and all the tubular function (P < .05) variables (except excretion of chloride) measured. Compared to the patients with favorable renal outcome, the patients (n = 10) who later developed ESKD had significantly (P < .01) lower GFR and reduced urinary excretion of all measured electrolytes except calcium. Consistently, urine 0-2 microglobulin and serum parathyroid hormone and aldosterone values were significantly higher in the patients who developed ESKD (P CONCLUSION Both glomerular and tubular function decline was common and several parameters were likely to predict ESKD in posterior urethral valves patients. UROLOGY (C) 2020 Elsevier Inc.Peer reviewe

A computationally efficient method for approximating reliabilities in large-scale single-step genomic prediction

Background In this study, computationally efficient methods to approximate the reliabilities of genomic estimated breeding values (GEBV) in a single-step genomic prediction model including a residual polygenic (RPG) effect are described. In order to calculate the reliabilities of the genotyped animals, a single nucleotide polymorphism best linear unbiased prediction (SNPBLUP) or a genomic BLUP (GBLUP), was used, where two alternatives to account for the RPG effect were tested. In the direct approach, the genomic model included the RPG effect, while in the blended method, it did not but an index was used to weight the genomic and pedigree-based BLUP (PBLUP) reliabilities. In order to calculate the single-step GBLUP reliabilities for the breeding values for the non-genotyped animals, a simplified weighted-PBLUP model that included a general mean and additive genetic effects with weights accounting for the non-genomic and genomic information was used. We compared five schemes for the weights. Two datasets, i.e., a small (Data 1) one and a large (Data 2) one were used. Results For the genotyped animals in Data 1, correlations between approximate reliabilities using the blended method and exact reliabilities ranged from 0.993 to 0.996 across three lactations. The slopes observed by regressing the reliabilities of GEBV from the exact method on those from the blended method were 1.0 for all three lactations. For Data 2, the correlations and slopes ranged, respectively, from 0.980 to 0.986 and from 0.91 to 0.96, and for the non-genotyped animals in Data 1, they ranged, respectively, from 0.987 to 0.994 and from 0.987 to 1, which indicate that the approximations were in line with the exact results. The best approach achieved correlations of 0.992 to 0.994 across lactations. Conclusions Our results demonstrate that the approximated reliabilities calculated using our proposed approach are in good agreement with the exact reliabilities. The blended method for the genotyped animals is computationally more feasible than the direct method when RPG effects are included, particularly for large-scale datasets. The approach can serve as an effective strategy to estimate the reliabilities of GEBV in large-scale single-step genomic predictions

Lasten ympäristö ja terveys : Kansallinen CEHAP-selvitys

Painetun version ISBN 978-951-740-698-7Kansallinen lasten ympäristö ja terveys -toimintaohjelma, joka pohjautuu eurooppalaiseen toimintaohjelmaan (Children's Environment and Health Action Plan for Europe, CEHAPE

2019 ESC/EAS guidelines for the management of dyslipidaemias : Lipid modification to reduce cardiovascular risk

Correction: Volume: 292 Pages: 160-162 DOI: 10.1016/j.atherosclerosis.2019.11.020 Published: JAN 2020Peer reviewe