Atlas of Minnesota Resources and Settlement.

Minnesota State Planning Agency and the Center for Urban and Regional Affairs

Pathogenicity of an emergent, ovine abortifacient Campylobacter jejuni clone orally inoculated into pregnant guinea pigs

Objective—To compare pathogenicity of an emergent abortifacient Campylobacter jejuni (IA 3902) with that of reference strains after oral inoculation in pregnant guinea pigs. Animals—58 pregnant guinea pigs. Procedures—12 animals were challenged IP with C jejuni IA 3902 along with 5 sham-inoculated control animals to confirm abortifacient potential. Once pathogenicity was confirmed, challenge via oral inoculation was performed whereby 12 guinea pigs received IA 3902, 12 received C jejuni isolated from ovine feces (OF48), 12 received a fully sequenced human C jejuni isolate (NCTC 11168), and 5 were sham-inoculated control animals. After abortions, guinea pigs were euthanized; samples were collected for microbial culture, histologic examination, and immunohistochemical analysis. Results—C jejuni IA 3902 induced abortion in all 12 animals following IP inoculation and 6 of 10 animals challenged orally. All 3 isolates colonized the intestines after oral inoculation, but only IA 3902 induced abortion. Evidence of infection existed for both IA 3902 and NCTC 11168; however, C jejuni was only recovered from fetoplacental units of animals inoculated with IA 3902. Immunohistochemical analysis localized C jejuni IA 3902 infection to subplacental trophoblasts, perivascular tissues, and phagocytes in the placental transitional zone. Conclusions and Clinical Relevance—This study revealed that C jejuni IA 3902 was a unique, highly abortifacient strain with the ability to colonize the intestines, induce systemic infection, and cause abortion because of its affinity for the fetoplacental unit. Guinea pigs could be effectively used in the study of septic abortion after oral inoculation with this Campylobacter strain

Earth as a Transiting Exoplanet: A Validation of Transmission Spectroscopy and Atmospheric Retrieval Methodologies for Terrestrial Exoplanets

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) will enable the search for and characterization of terrestrial exoplanet atmospheres in the habitable zone via transmission spectroscopy. However, relatively little work has been done to use solar system data, where ground truth is known, to validate spectroscopic retrieval codes intended for exoplanet studies, particularly in the limit of high resolution and high signal-to-noise (S/N). In this work, we perform such a validation by analyzing a high S/N empirical transmission spectrum of Earth using a new terrestrial exoplanet atmospheric retrieval model with heritage in Solar System remote sensing and gaseous exoplanet retrievals. We fit the Earth's 2-14 um transmission spectrum in low resolution (R=250 at 5 um) and high resolution (R=100,000 at 5 um) under a variety of assumptions about the 1D vertical atmospheric structure. In the limit of noiseless transmission spectra, we find excellent agreement between model and data (deviations < 10%) that enable the robust detection of H2O, CO2, O3, CH4, N2, N2O, NO2, HNO3, CFC-11, and CFC-12 thereby providing compelling support for the detection of habitability, biosignature, and technosignature gases in the atmosphere of the planet using an exoplanet-analog transmission spectrum. Our retrievals at high spectral resolution show a marked sensitivity to the thermal structure of the atmosphere, trace gas abundances, density-dependent effects, such as collision-induced absorption and refraction, and even hint at 3D spatial effects. However, we used synthetic observations of TRAPPIST-1e to verify that the use of simple 1D vertically homogeneous atmospheric models will likely suffice for JWST observations of terrestrial exoplanets transiting M dwarfs.Comment: 37 pages, 14 figures, 9 tables. Accepted for publication in PS

Nurses\u27 Alumnae Association Bulletin - Volume 17 Number 1

Alumnae Notes Committee Reports Digest of Alumnae Association Meetings Greetings from Miss Childs Greetings from the Educational Director Greetings from the President Graduation Awards - 1951 Jefferson\u27s New Hospital Addition Marriages Necrology Neurosurgery Department New Arrivals New Drugs Notes on the Cause of Leukemia Nursing Staff Saul Among the Prophets Staff Activities, 1951-1952 Students\u27 Corner The Hospital Pharmacy The Student Nurse Association of Pennsylvania White Haven and Barton Memorial Division

Comparison of two commercial ovine Campylobacter vaccines and an experimental bacterin in guinea pigs inoculated with Campylobacter jejuni

Objective—To compare efficacy of 2 commercial ovine Campylobacter vaccines and an experimental bacterin in guinea pigs following IP inoculation with Campylobacter jejuni IA3902. Animals—51 female guinea pigs. Procedures—Pregnant and nonpregnant animals were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 treatment groups and administered a commercial Campylobacter vaccine labeled for prevention of campylobacteriosis in sheep via two 5-mL doses 14 days apart (vaccine A; n = 13), another labeled for prevention of campylobacteriosis via two 2-mL doses (vaccine B; 12), an experimental bacterin prepared from the challenge strain (12), or a sham vaccine (14). Ten days later, animals were challenged IP with C jejuni IA3902; 48 hours later, animals were euthanized, complete necropsy was performed, and blood and tissue samples were obtained for bacteriologic culture. Results—Administration of vaccine B or the experimental bacterin, but not vaccine A, significantly reduced 48-hour infection rates versus administration of the sham vaccine. A significantly reduced 48-hour infection rate was associated with administration of vaccine B independent of pregnancy status. Conclusions and Clinical Relevance—Administration of vaccine B significantly reduced infection in guinea pigs challenged with C jejuni IA3902, similar to a homologous bacterin. Results suggested that vaccine B or an autogenous product may be effective in controlling ovine campylobacteriosis caused by this emergent abortifacient strain. Bacteriologic culture of blood, liver, bile, and uterus in nonpregnant guinea pigs 48 hours after inoculation may be a useful screening tool for comparing efficacy of C jejuni vaccines

X-ray lenses fabricated by deep x-ray lithography

Refractive x-ray lenses have been fabricated using deep x-ray lithography. Lenses were produced directly in 1- to 6-mm-thick sheets of polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) with as many as 100 cylindrical lenses along the optical axis. The fabrication process consists of exposing the PMMA sheets to high-energy synchrotron radiation through a mask of 50-micron-thick gold on silicon and subsequent development in ketone. The lenses are suitable for use in synchrotron radiation from a bending magnet at the Advanced Photon Source in the energy range of 8-16 keV. Results of measurements of focus quality, flux density gain, and scatter are presented and discussed with regard to the quality of lens material and fabrication method. Means for improving the performance of the lenses is discussed

Reference Ranges of Left Ventricular Strain Measures by Two-Dimensional Speckle-Tracking Echocardiography in Children: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

BACKGROUND: Establishment of the range of reference values and associated variations of two-dimensional speckle-tracking echocardiography (2DSTE)-derived left ventricular (LV) strain is a prerequisite for its routine clinical adoption in pediatrics. The aims of this study were to perform a meta-analysis of normal ranges of LV global longitudinal strain (GLS), global circumferential strain (GCS), and global radial strain (GRS) measurements derived by 2DSTE in children and to identify confounding factors that may contribute to variance in reported measures. METHODS: A systematic review was launched in MEDLINE, Embase, Scopus, the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, and the Cochrane Library. Search hedges were created to cover the concepts of pediatrics, STE, and left-heart ventricle. Two investigators independently identified and included studies if they reported 2DSTE-derived LV GLS, GCS, or GRS. The weighted mean was estimated by using random effects models with 95% CIs, heterogeneity was assessed using the Cochran Q statistic and the inconsistency index (I(2)), and publication bias was evaluated using the Egger test. Effects of demographic (age), clinical, and vendor variables were assessed in a metaregression. RESULTS: The search identified 2,325 children from 43 data sets. The reported normal mean values of GLS among the studies varied from -16.7% to -23.6% (mean, -20.2%; 95% CI, -19.5% to -20.8%), GCS varied from -12.9% to -31.4% (mean, -22.3%; 95% CI, -19.9% to -24.6%), and GRS varied from 33.9% to 54.5% (mean, 45.2%; 95% CI, 38.3% to 51.7%). Twenty-six studies reported longitudinal strain only from the apical four-chamber view, with a mean of -20.4% (95% CI, -19.8% to -21.7%). Twenty-three studies reported circumferential strain (mean, -20.3%; 95% CI, -19.4% to -21.2%) and radial strain (mean, 46.7%; 95% CI, 42.3% to 51.1%) from the short-axis view at the midventricular level. A significant apex-to-base segmental longitudinal strain gradient (P 94% and P < .001 for each strain measure), which was not explained by age, gender, body surface area, blood pressure, heart rate, frame rate, frame rate/heart rate ratio, tissue-tracking methodology, location of reported strain value along the strain curve, ultrasound equipment, or software. The metaregression showed that these effects were not significant determinants of variations among normal ranges of strain values. There was no evidence of publication bias (P = .40). CONCLUSIONS: This study defines reference values of 2DSTE-derived LV strain in children on the basis of a meta-analysis. In healthy children, mean LV GLS was -20.2% (95% CI, -19.5% to -20.8%), mean GCS was -22.3% (95% CI, -19.9% to -24.6%), and mean GRS was 45.2% (95% CI, 38.3% to 51.7%). LV segmental longitudinal strain has a stable apex-to-base gradient that is preserved throughout maturation. Although variations among different reference ranges in this meta-analysis were not dependent on differences in demographic, clinical, or vendor parameters, age- and vendor-specific referenced ranges were established as well