32 research outputs found

    Concepts for risk-based surveillance in the field of veterinary medicine and veterinary public health: Review of current approaches

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    BACKGROUND: Emerging animal and zoonotic diseases and increasing international trade have resulted in an increased demand for veterinary surveillance systems. However, human and financial resources available to support government veterinary services are becoming more and more limited in many countries world-wide. Intuitively, issues that present higher risks merit higher priority for surveillance resources as investments will yield higher benefit-cost ratios. The rapid rate of acceptance of this core concept of risk-based surveillance has outpaced the development of its theoretical and practical bases. DISCUSSION: The principal objectives of risk-based veterinary surveillance are to identify surveillance needs to protect the health of livestock and consumers, to set priorities, and to allocate resources effectively and efficiently. An important goal is to achieve a higher benefit-cost ratio with existing or reduced resources. We propose to define risk-based surveillance systems as those that apply risk assessment methods in different steps of traditional surveillance design for early detection and management of diseases or hazards. In risk-based designs, public health, economic and trade consequences of diseases play an important role in selection of diseases or hazards. Furthermore, certain strata of the population of interest have a higher probability to be sampled for detection of diseases or hazards. Evaluation of risk-based surveillance systems shall prove that the efficacy of risk-based systems is equal or higher than traditional systems; however, the efficiency (benefit-cost ratio) shall be higher in risk-based surveillance systems. SUMMARY: Risk-based surveillance considerations are useful to support both strategic and operational decision making. This article highlights applications of risk-based surveillance systems in the veterinary field including food safety. Examples are provided for risk-based hazard selection, risk-based selection of sampling strata as well as sample size calculation based on risk considerations

    Ubiquitous healthy diatoms in the deep sea confirm deep carbon injection by the biological pump

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    The role of the ocean as a sink for CO2 is partially dependent on the downward transport of phytoplankton cells packaged within fast-sinking particles. However, whether such fast-sinking mechanisms deliver fresh organic carbon down to the deep bathypelagic sea and whether this mechanism is prevalent across the ocean requires confirmation. Here we report the ubiquitous presence of healthy photosynthetic cells, dominated by diatoms, down to 4,000 m in the deep dark ocean. Decay experiments with surface phytoplankton suggested that the large proportion (18%) of healthy photosynthetic cells observed, on average, in the dark ocean, requires transport times from a few days to a few weeks, corresponding to sinking rates (124–732 m d−1) comparable to those of fast-sinking aggregates and faecal pellets. These results confirm the expectation that fast-sinking mechanisms inject fresh organic carbon into the deep sea and that this is a prevalent process operating across the global oligotrophic ocean

    A recently quenched galaxy 700 million years after the Big Bang

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    Local and low-redshift (z  1010 M⊙) and relatively old. Here we report a (mini-)quenched galaxy at z = 7.3, when the Universe was only 700 Myr old. The JWST/NIRSpec spectrum is very blue (U–V = 0.16 ± 0.03 mag) but exhibits a Balmer break and no nebular emission lines. The galaxy experienced a short starburst followed by rapid quenching; its stellar mass (4–6 × 108 M⊙) falls in a range that is sensitive to various feedback mechanisms, which can result in perhaps only temporary quenching

    The Cosmos in Its Infancy: JADES Galaxy Candidates at z >8 in GOODS-S and GOODS-N

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    We present a catalog of 717 candidate galaxies at z > 8 selected from 125 square arcmin of NIRCam imaging as part of the JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey (JADES). We combine the full JADES imaging data set with data from the JWST Extragalactic Medium Survey and First Reionization Epoch Spectroscopic COmplete Survey (FRESCO) along with extremely deep existing observations from Hubble Space Telescope (HST)/Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) for a final filter set that includes 15 JWST/NIRCam filters and five HST/ACS filters. The high-redshift galaxy candidates were selected from their estimated photometric redshifts calculated using a template-fitting approach, followed by visual inspection from seven independent reviewers. We explore these candidates in detail, highlighting interesting resolved or extended sources, sources with very red long-wavelength slopes, and our highest-redshift candidates, which extend to zphot ∼ 18. Over 93% of the sources are newly identified from our deep JADES imaging, including 31 new galaxy candidates at zphot > 12. We also investigate potential contamination by stellar objects, and do not find strong evidence from spectral energy distribution fitting that these faint high-redshift galaxy candidates are low-mass stars. Using 42 sources in our sample with measured spectroscopic redshifts from NIRSpec and FRESCO, we find excellent agreement to our photometric redshift estimates, with no catastrophic outliers and an average difference of 〈Δz = zphot − zspec〉 = 0.26. These sources comprise one of the most robust samples for probing the early buildup of galaxies within the first few hundred million years of the Universe’s history

    JADES Imaging of GN-z11: Revealing the Morphology and Environment of a Luminous Galaxy 430 Myr after the Big Bang

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    We present JWST NIRCam nine-band near-infrared imaging of the luminous z = 10.6 galaxy GN-z11 from the JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey of the GOODS-N field. We find a spectral energy distribution (SED) entirely consistent with the expected form of a high-redshift galaxy: a clear blue continuum from 1.5 to 4 μm with a complete dropout in F115W. The core of GN-z11 is extremely compact in JWST imaging. We analyze the image with a two-component model, using a point source and a Sérsic profile that fits to a half-light radius of 200 pc and an index n = 0.9. We find a low-surface-brightness haze about 0.″4 to the northeast of the galaxy, which is most likely a foreground object but might be a more extended component of GN-z11. At a spectroscopic redshift of 10.60 (Bunker et al. 2023), the comparison of the NIRCam F410M and F444W images spans the Balmer jump. From population-synthesis modeling, here assuming no light from an active galactic nucleus, we reproduce the SED of GN-z11, finding a stellar mass of ∼109 M ⊙, a star formation rate of ∼20 M ⊙ yr−1, and a young stellar age of ∼20 Myr. Since massive galaxies at high redshift are likely to be highly clustered, we search for faint neighbors of GN-z11, finding nine galaxies out to ∼5 comoving Mpc transverse with photometric redshifts consistent with z = 10.6, and a tenth more tentative dropout only 3″ away. This is consistent with GN-z11 being hosted by a massive dark-matter halo (≈8 × 1010 M ⊙), though lower halo masses cannot be ruled out

    JADES Initial Data Release for the Hubble Ultra Deep Field: Revealing the Faint Infrared Sky with Deep JWST NIRCam Imaging

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    JWST has revolutionized the field of extragalactic astronomy with its sensitive and high-resolution infrared view of the distant Universe. Adding to the new legacy of JWST observations, we present the first NIRCam imaging data release from the JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey (JADES), providing nine filters of infrared imaging of ∼25 arcmin2 covering the Hubble Ultra Deep Field and portions of Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey South. Utilizing 87 on-sky dual-filter hours of exposure time, these images reveal the deepest ever near-infrared view of this iconic field. We supply carefully constructed nine-band mosaics of the JADES bands, as well as matching reductions of five additional bands from the JWST Extragalactic Medium-band Survey. Combining with existing Hubble Space Telescope imaging, we provide 23-band space-based photometric catalogs and photometric redshifts for ≈47,500 sources. To promote broad engagement with JADES, we have created an interactive FitsMap website to provide an interface for professional researchers and the public to experience these JWST data sets. Combined with the first JADES NIRSpec data release, these public JADES imaging and spectroscopic data sets provide a new foundation for discoveries of the infrared Universe by the worldwide scientific community

    JADES NIRSpec Spectroscopy of GN-z11: Lyman- α emission and possible enhanced nitrogen abundance in a z = 10.60 luminous galaxy

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    We present JADES JWST/NIRSpec spectroscopy of GN-z11, the most luminous candidate z>10 Lyman break galaxy in the GOODS-North field with MUV =-21.5. We derive a redshift of z = 10.603 (lower than previous determinations) based on multiple emission lines in our low and medium resolution spectra over 0.7- 5.3 μm. We significantly detect the continuum and measure a blue rest-UV spectral slope of β =-2.4. Remarkably, we see spatially extended Lyman-α in emission (despite the highly neutral intergalactic medium expected at this early epoch), offset 555 km s-1 redwards of the systemic redshift. From our measurements of collisionally excited lines of both low and high ionisation (including [O II] λ3727, [Ne III] λ3869, and C III] λ1909), we infer a high ionisation parameter (log U ∼-2). We detect the rarely seen N IV] λ1486 and N III] λ1748 lines in both our low and medium resolution spectra, with other high ionisation lines seen in the low resolution spectrum, such as He II (blended with O III]) and C IV (with a possible P-Cygni profile). Based on the observed rest-UV line ratios, we cannot conclusively rule out photoionisation from an active galactic nucleus (AGN), although the high C III]/He II and N III]/He II ratios are compatible with a star formation explanation. If the observed emission lines are powered by star formation, then the strong N III] λ1748 observed may imply an unusually high N/O abundance. Balmer emission lines (Hγ, Hδ) are also detected, and if powered by star formation rather than an AGN, we infer a star formation rate of ∼20-30 M⊙ yr-1 (depending on the initial mass function) and low dust attenuation. Our NIRSpec spectroscopy confirms that GN-z11 is a remarkable galaxy with extreme properties seen 430 Myr after the Big Bang
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