Turkey wattle temperature response to distinct environmental factors

Rearing environmental conditions are important for turkey production, because this bird is particularly sensitive to heat stress. This study aimed at measuring the wattle temperature response of turkeys of three different ages (61, 96, and 131 days old) exposed to different combinations of dry bulb temperature, relative humidity, and wind speed ranges, as an indication of their physiological responses. The experiment was conducted with 42 male birds housed in a controlled environment chamber and exposed to different combinations of two air speed (WS) ranges (WS1 = 0.3-0.6 ms-1, considered low, and WS2 = 1.2-1.6 ms-1, considered high), dry bulb temperature (DBT) between 22 and 34 °C, and relative humidity (RH) between 40 to 90 %. The statistical analysis showed that WS, DBT, and RH significantly influenced wattle temperature of 61-d-old turkeys, while only WS and DBT influenced this response when turkeys were 96 days old. Furthermore, DBT was highly correlated with both low and high WS. In 131-day-old turkeys, WT response was virtually the same at both wind speed ranges when high DBT was applied. Turkey wattle temperature was influenced by wind speed, and was dependent on both environmental dry bulb temperature and relative humidity, as well as bird age.17443944

Public health implications of 1990 air toxics concentrations across the United States.

Occupational and toxicological studies have demonstrated adverse health effects from exposure to toxic air contaminants. Data on outdoor levels of toxic air contaminants have not been available for most communities in the United States, making it difficult to assess the potential for adverse human health effects from general population exposures. Emissions data from stationary and mobile sources are used in an atmospheric dispersion model to estimate outdoor concentrations of 148 toxic air contaminants for each of the 60,803 census tracts in the contiguous United States for 1990. Outdoor concentrations of air toxics were compared to previously defined benchmark concentrations for cancer and noncancer health effects. Benchmark concentrations are based on standard toxicological references and represent air toxic levels above which health risks may occur. The number of benchmark concentrations exceeded by modeled concentrations ranged from 8 to 32 per census tract, with a mean of 14. Estimated concentrations of benzene, formaldehyde, and 1,3-butadiene were greater than cancer benchmark concentrations in over 90% of the census tracts. Approximately 10% of all census tracts had estimated concentrations of one or more carcinogenic HAPs greater than a 1-in-10,000 risk level. Twenty-two pollutants with chronic toxicity benchmark concentrations had modeled concentrations in excess of these benchmarks, and approximately 200 census tracts had a modeled concentration 100 times the benchmark for at least one of these pollutants. This comprehensive assessment of air toxics concentrations across the United States indicates hazardous air pollutants may pose a potential public health problem

Cultivares de algodoeiro para o Cerrado.

bitstream/item/47829/1/Cultivares-Cerrado.pd

Electrospun amplified fiber optics

A lot of research is focused on all-optical signal processing, aiming to obtain effective alternatives to existing data transmission platforms. Amplification of light in fiber optics, such as in Erbium-doped fiber amplifiers, is especially important for an efficient signal transmission. However, the complex fabrication methods, involving high-temperature processes performed in highly pure environment, slow down the fabrication and make amplified components expensive with respect to an ideal, high-throughput and room temperature production. Here, we report on near infrared polymer fiber amplifiers, working over a band of about 20 nm. The fibers are cheap, spun with a process entirely carried out at room temperature, and show amplified spontaneous emission with good gain coefficients as well as low optical losses (a few cm^-1). The amplification process is favoured by the high fiber quality and low self-absorption. The found performance metrics promise to be suitable for short-distance operation, and the large variety of commercially-available doping dyes might allow for effective multi-wavelength operation by electrospun amplified fiber optics.Comment: 27 pages, 8 figure

Tuberculosis screening at a diabetes clinic in the Republic of the Marshall Islands

AbstractSettingTuberculosis (TB) and diabetes mellitus (DM) are prominent public health problems in the Republic of the Marshall Islands, a small island nation with high rates of tuberculosis and diabetes.ObjectiveEvaluate the rate of active and latent TB in a Pacific Island DM clinic.DesignIn one DM clinic on the island of Ebeye, 213 adult patients aged 27–86 years completed tuberculin skin testing and TB work-up between April 2010 and March 2012.ResultsScreening for TB led to the diagnosis of 77 patients with TB infection and 11 patients with TB disease. From these data, the prevalence of TB disease among DM patients in the clinic exceeded 5% (95% CI 2.2%–8.1%). All patients who completed TB screening were at high risk of TB disease, and those with DM aged ≤50 years had a higher risk of TB disease than those with DM over age 50 (RR 3.1, C.I. 1.0–9.7, p= 0.05).ConclusionThe experience at the Ebeye Diabetes Clinic demonstrates that screening DM patients for TB can identify significant rates of TB infection and TB disease, and should be considered for other settings with a high background TB incidence. Further assessment of TB risks should explore age, gender, and level of diabetes control

Five new real-time detections of Fast Radio Bursts with UTMOST

We detail a new fast radio burst (FRB) survey with the Molonglo Radio Telescope, in which six FRBs were detected between June 2017 and December 2018. By using a real-time FRB detection system, we captured raw voltages for five of the six events, which allowed for coherent dedispersion and very high time resolution (10.24 $\mu$s) studies of the bursts. Five of the FRBs show temporal broadening consistent with interstellar and/or intergalactic scattering, with scattering timescales ranging from 0.16 to 29.1 ms. One burst, FRB181017, shows remarkable temporal structure, with 3 peaks each separated by 1 ms. We searched for phase-coherence between the leading and trailing peaks and found none, ruling out lensing scenarios. Based on this survey, we calculate an all-sky rate at 843 MHz of $98^{+59}_{-39}$ events sky$^{-1}$ day$^{-1}$ to a fluence limit of 8 Jy-ms: a factor of 7 below the rates estimated from the Parkes and ASKAP telescopes at 1.4 GHz assuming the ASKAP-derived spectral index $\alpha=-1.6$ ($F_{\nu}\propto\nu^{\alpha}$). Our results suggest that FRB spectra may turn over below 1 GHz. Optical, radio and X-ray followup has been made for most of the reported bursts, with no associated transients found. No repeat bursts were found in the survey.Comment: 13 pages, 11 figures, submitted to MNRA

Development of a percutaneous coronary intervention patient level composite measure for a clinical quality registry

© 2020 The Author(s). Background: Composite measures combine data to provide a comprehensive view of patient outcomes. Despite composite measures being a valuable tool to assess post-intervention outcomes, the patient perspective is often missing. The purpose of this study was to develop a composite measure for an established cardiac outcome registry, by combining clinical outcomes following percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI) with a patient-reported outcome measure (PROM) developed specifically for this population (MC-PROM). Methods: Two studies were undertaken. Study 1: Patients who had undergone a PCI at one of the three participating registry hospital sites completed the 5-item MC-PROM. Clinical outcome data for the patients (e.g. death, myocardial infarction, repeat vascularisation, new bleeding event) were collected 30 days post-intervention as part of routine data collection for the cardiac registry. Exploratory factor analysis of clinical outcomes and MC-PROM data was conducted to determine the minimum number of constructs to be included in a composite measure. Study 2: Clinical experts participated in a Delphi technique, consisting of three rounds of online surveys, to determine the clinical outcomes to be included and the weighting of the clinical outcomes and MC-PROM score for the composite measure. Results: Study 1: Routine clinical outcomes and the MC-PROM data were collected from 266 patients 30 days post PCI. The MC-PROM score was not significantly correlated with any clinical outcomes. Study 2: There was a relatively consistent approach to the weighting of the clinical outcomes and MC-PROM items by the expert panel (n = 18) across the three surveys with the exception of the clinical outcome of 'deceased at 30 days'. The final composite measure included five clinical outcomes within 30 days weighted at 90% (new heart failure, new myocardial infarction, new stent thrombosis, major bleeding event, new stroke, unplanned cardiac rehospitalisation) and the MC-PROM score (comprising 10% of the total weighting). Conclusions: A single patient level composite score, which incorporates weighted clinical outcomes and a PROM was developed. This composite score provides a more comprehensive reported measure of individual patient wellbeing at 30 days post their PCI-procedure, and may assist clinicians to further assess and address patient level factors that potentially impact on clinical recovery