Estimation of Resilience Parameters Following LPS Injection Based on Activity Measured With Computer Vision

Resilience could be referred to as the animal’s ability to successfully adapt to a challenge. This is typically displayed by a quick return to initial metabolic or activity levels and behaviors. Pigs have distinct diurnal activity patterns. Deviations from these patterns could potentially be utilized to quantify resilience. However, human observations of activity are labor intensive and not feasible in practice on a large scale. In this study, we show the use of a computer vision tracking algorithm to quantify resilience based on activity individual patterns following a lipopolysaccharide (LPS) challenge, which induced a sickness response. We followed 121 individual pigs housed in barren or enriched housing systems, as previous work suggests an impact of housing on resilience, for eight days. The enriched housing consisted of delayed weaning in a group farrowing system and extra space compared with the barren pens and environmental enrichment. Enriched housed pigs were more active pre-injection of LPS, especially during peak activity times, than barren housed pigs (49.4 ± 9.9 vs. 39.1 ± 5.0 meter/hour). Four pigs per pen received an LPS injection and two pigs a saline injection. LPS injected animals were more likely to show a dip in activity than controls (86% vs 17%). Duration and Area Under the Curve (AUC) of the dip were not affected by housing. However, pigs with the same AUC could have a long and shallow dip or a steep and short dip. Therefore the AUC:duration ratio was calculated, and enriched housed pigs had a higher AUC:duration ratio compared to barren housed pigs (9244.1 ± 5429.8 vs 5919.6 ± 4566.1). Enriched housed pigs might therefore have a different strategy to cope with an LPS sickness challenge. However, more research on this strategy and the use of activity to quantify resilience and its relationship to physiological parameters is therefore needed

The complete digital workflow in fixed prosthodontics: a systematic review

Background The continuous development in dental processing ensures new opportunities in the field of fixed prosthodontics in a complete virtual environment without any physical model situations. The aim was to compare fully digitalized workflows to conventional and/or mixed analog-digital workflows for the treatment with tooth-borne or implant-supported fixed reconstructions. Methods A PICO strategy was executed using an electronic (MEDLINE, EMBASE, Google Scholar) plus manual search up to 2016–09-16 focusing on RCTs investigating complete digital workflows in fixed prosthodontics with regard to economics or esthetics or patient-centered outcomes with or without follow-up or survival/success rate analysis as well as complication assessment of at least 1 year under function. The search strategy was assembled from MeSH-Terms and unspecific free-text words: {((“Dental Prosthesis” [MeSH]) OR (“Crowns” [MeSH]) OR (“Dental Prosthesis, Implant-Supported” [MeSH])) OR ((crown) OR (fixed dental prosthesis) OR (fixed reconstruction) OR (dental bridge) OR (implant crown) OR (implant prosthesis) OR (implant restoration) OR (implant reconstruction))} AND {(“Computer-Aided Design” [MeSH]) OR ((digital workflow) OR (digital technology) OR (computerized dentistry) OR (intraoral scan) OR (digital impression) OR (scanbody) OR (virtual design) OR (digital design) OR (cad/cam) OR (rapid prototyping) OR (monolithic) OR (full-contour))} AND {(“Dental Technology” [MeSH) OR ((conventional workflow) OR (lost-wax-technique) OR (porcelain-fused-to-metal) OR (PFM) OR (implant impression) OR (hand-layering) OR (veneering) OR (framework))} AND {((“Study, Feasibility” [MeSH]) OR (“Survival” [MeSH]) OR (“Success” [MeSH]) OR (“Economics” [MeSH]) OR (“Costs, Cost Analysis” [MeSH]) OR (“Esthetics, Dental” [MeSH]) OR (“Patient Satisfaction” [MeSH])) OR ((feasibility) OR (efficiency) OR (patient-centered outcome))}. Assessment of risk of bias in selected studies was done at a ‘trial level’ including random sequence generation, allocation concealment, blinding, completeness of outcome data, selective reporting, and other bias using the Cochrane Collaboration tool. A judgment of risk of bias was assigned if one or more key domains had a high or unclear risk of bias. An official registration of the systematic review was not performed. Results The systematic search identified 67 titles, 32 abstracts thereof were screened, and subsequently, three full-texts included for data extraction. Analysed RCTs were heterogeneous without follow-up. One study demonstrated that fully digitally produced dental crowns revealed the feasibility of the process itself; however, the marginal precision was lower for lithium disilicate (LS2) restorations (113.8 μm) compared to conventional metal-ceramic (92.4 μm) and zirconium dioxide (ZrO2) crowns (68.5 μm) (p < 0.05). Another study showed that leucite-reinforced glass ceramic crowns were esthetically favoured by the patients (8/2 crowns) and clinicians (7/3 crowns) (p < 0.05). The third study investigated implant crowns. The complete digital workflow was more than twofold faster (75.3 min) in comparison to the mixed analog-digital workflow (156.6 min) (p < 0.05). No RCTs could be found investigating multi-unit fixed dental prostheses (FDP). Conclusions The number of RCTs testing complete digital workflows in fixed prosthodontics is low. Scientifically proven recommendations for clinical routine cannot be given at this time. Research with high-quality trials seems to be slower than the industrial progress of available digital applications. Future research with well-designed RCTs including follow-up observation is compellingly necessary in the field of complete digital processing

4 Decades of Belgian Marine Monitoring: uplifting historical data to today’s needs - Final Report

Context : Long-term quality checked and integrated datasets for the Belgian Part of the North Sea (BPNS) are essential to detect changes in this complex ecosystem and support policy related decisions.Objectives: - Compile and safeguard quality checked, intercalibrated and integrated datasets and make them publicly accessible for further research and policy purposes.- Improve or develop methods and protocols to assess and interpret environmental change in the BPNS and compare trends with neighbouring areas.- Provide support and advice for policy related decisions and legal measures, like MSFD and OSPAR.Conclusions: A scheme with data management tools has been worked out for efficient data flow throughout the project. The scheme, including the mandatory metadata fields and standardization, can be used as a guideline for future projects. Inventories of datasources, projects and data-originators were compiled and the final datasets are available via the central dataportal. Even after compiling and quality checking the long-term datasets, the scientists had to consider some limitations, like changing methodologies and low data resolution, and incorporate these into their trend analyses procedures. Some remarkable environmental changes over time were observed. Model results of the contaminants showed decreasing trends for heavy metals and PCBs. Zn concentrations, however, were found increasing in marine sediments while As concentrations were found increasing in groyne mussels. Nearby the port of Zeebrugge and the mouth of the Scheldt, PCB concentrations were found slightly increasing again over the last decade. The study on eutrophication showed that nutrient (N, P) riverine concentrations and loads have decreased continuously from the end of the 1980‟s to now. However, this did not result in a comparable decrease of marine nutrient concentrations. No clear long-term trend effect was observed on in situ chlorophyll a concentrations following the nutrient decrease. However, a clear change in chlorophyll a phenology followed the increase in sea surface temperature in the period. Furthermore, biomass, seasonality and structure of diatom and dinoflagellate communities were compared between the 1970s and 2000s for the Belgian Part of the North Sea (BPNS), derived from the newly established Belgian Phytoplankton Database. Distinct changes were observed: changes in diatom and dinoflagellate biomass and shift of fulcrum; changes in community structure, with a trend towards seasonal homogenization in the diatom community; increased occurrence of harmful diatom (Pseudo-nitzschia) and dinoflagellate (e.g. Prorocentrum) genera. The observed changes correlate well with overall increases in temperature and changes in nutrient loads and ratios.And finally, for acidification, pH data reveal an increasing trend from the mid-70‟s to the mid-80‟s and a decrease of pH from the mid-80‟s onwards that seems consistent with changes in primary production patterns. The comparison of CH4 concentrations obtained in 1990 and 2016, showed a decreasing trend consistent with alleviation of eutrophication in the area.Based on the outcome of this successful project, the partners defined various recommendations regarding future monitoring strategies for policy makers

Dirac electrons in graphene-based quantum wires and quantum dots

In this paper we analyse the electronic properties of Dirac electrons in finite-size ribbons and in circular and hexagonal quantum dots made of graphene.Comment: Contribution for J. Phys.: Cond. Mat. special issue on graphene physic

The significance of the amorphous potential energy landscape for dictating glassy dynamics and driving solid-state crystallisation.

The fundamental origins surrounding the dynamics of disordered solids near their characteristic glass transitions continue to be fiercely debated, even though a vast number of materials can form amorphous solids, including small-molecule organic, inorganic, covalent, metallic, and even large biological systems. The glass-transition temperature, Tg, can be readily detected by a diverse set of techniques, but given that these measurement modalities probe vastly different processes, there has been significant debate regarding the question of why Tg can be detected across all of them. Here we show clear experimental and computational evidence in support of a theory that proposes that the shape and structure of the potential-energy surface (PES) is the fundamental factor underlying the glass-transition processes, regardless of the frequency that experimental methods probe. Whilst this has been proposed previously, we demonstrate, using ab initio molecular-dynamics (AIMD) simulations, that it is of critical importance to carefully consider the complete PES - both the intra-molecular and inter-molecular features - in order to fully understand the entire range of atomic-dynamical processes in disordered solids. Finally, we show that it is possible to utilise this dependence to directly manipulate and harness amorphous dynamics in order to control the behaviour of such solids by using high-powered terahertz pulses to induce crystallisation and preferential crystal-polymorph growth in glasses. Combined, these findings provide compelling evidence that the PES landscape, and the corresponding energy barriers, are the ultimate controlling feature behind the atomic and molecular dynamics of disordered solids, regardless of the frequency at which they occur

Twenty years of satellite and in situ observations of surface chlorophyll-a from the northern Bay of Biscay to the eastern English Channel. Is the water quality improving?

Thevariabilityofthephytoplanktonbiomassderivedfromdailychlorophyll-a(Chl-a)satelliteimageswasinvestigated over the period 1998–2017 in the surface waters of the English Channel and the northern Bay of Biscay. Merged satellite (SeaWiFS-MODIS/Aqua-MERIS-VIIRS) Chl-a wascalculated using the OC5 Ifremeralgorithm which is optimized for moderately-turbid waters. The seasonal cycle in satellite-derived Chl-a was comparedwithinsitumeasurementsmadeatsevencoastalstationslocatedinthesouthernsideoftheEnglish ChannelandinthenorthernBayofBiscay.TheresultsfirstlyshowedthatthesatelliteChl-aproduct,derived from a suite of space-borne marine reflectance data, is in agreement with the coastal observations. For compliancewiththedirectivesoftheEuropeanUniononwaterquality,time-seriesof6-yearmovingaverageofChlawereassessedovertheregion.Acleardeclinewasobservedinthemeanand90thpercentileofChl-aatstations locatedinthemixedwatersoftheEnglishChannel.Thetime-seriesatthestationslocatedintheBayofBiscay showedyearlyfluctuationswhichcorrelatedwellwithriverdischarge,butnooverallChl-atrendwasobserved. IntheEnglishChannel,theshapeoftheseasonalcycleinChl-achangedovertime.Narrowerpeakswereobservedinspringattheendofthestudiedperiod,indicatinganearlierlimitationbynutrients.Monthlyaverages of satellite Chl-a, over theperiods 1998–2003and2012–2017,exhibitedspatial andtemporalpatternsin the evolutionofthephytoplanktonbiomasssimilartotheseobservedatthesevencoastalstations.Boththeinsitu andsatelliteChl-atimes-seriesshowedadecreaseinChl-aintheEnglishChannelinMay,JuneandJuly.This trendinphytoplanktonbiomassiscorrelatedwithlowerriverdischargesattheendoftheperiodandaconstant reduction in the riverine input of phosphorus through improvements in the water quality of the surrounding rivercatchments

Capture the growth kinetics of CVD growth of two-dimensional MoS 2

Understanding the microscopic mechanism is fundamental for function-oriented controlled chemical vapor deposition growth of two-dimensional (2D) materials. In this work, we reveal the growth kinetics of 2D MoS2 by capturing the nucleation seeds, evolving morphology, edge structure, and edge terminations at the atomic scale during chemical vapor deposition growth using the transmission electron microscopy and scanning transmission electron microscopy. The direct growth of few-layer and mono-layer MoS2 onto graphene-based transmission electron microscopy grids helped us to perform the subsequent transmission electron microscopy characterization without any solution-based transfer. Two seeding centers are observed: (i) Mo-oxysulfide (MoO x S2−y ) nanoparticles either in multi-shelled fullerene-like structures or as compact nanocrystals for the growth of fewer-layer MoS2; (ii) Mo-S atomic clusters. In the early stage growth, irregular polygons with two primary edge terminations, S-Mo Klein edges and Mo zigzag edges, appear approximately in equal numbers. The morphology evolves into a near-triangle shape in which Mo zigzag edges predominate. Results from density-functional theory calculations are consistent with the inferred growth kinetics, and thus support the growth mechanism we proposed. In general, the growth mechanisms found here should also be applicable in other 2D materials, such as MoSe2, WS2 and WSe2