Bovine respiratory disease (BRD) is the leading natural cause of death in US beef and dairy cattle, causing the annual loss of more than 1 million animals and financial losses in excess of $700 million. The multiple etiologies of BRD and its complex web of risk factors necessitate a herd-specific intervention plan for its prevention and control on dairies. Hence, a risk assessment is an important tool that producers and veterinarians can utilize for a comprehensive assessment of the management and host factors that predispose calves to BRD. The current study identifies the steps taken to develop the first BRD risk assessment tool and its components, namely the BRD risk factor questionnaire, the BRD scoring system, and a herd-specific BRD control and prevention plan. The risk factor questionnaire was designed to inquire on aspects of calf-rearing including management practices that affect calf health generally, and BRD specifically. The risk scores associated with each risk factor investigated in the questionnaire were estimated based on data from two observational studies. Producers can also estimate the prevalence of BRD in their calf herds using a smart phone or tablet application that facilitates selection of a true random sample of calves for scoring using the California BRD scoring system. Based on the risk factors identified, producers and herd veterinarians can then decide the management changes needed to mitigate the calf herd's risk for BRD. A follow-up risk assessment after a duration of time sufficient for exposure of a new cohort of calves to the management changes introduced in response to the risk assessment is recommended to monitor the prevalence of BRD.

Winter births have been associated with a higher risk of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and other psychiatric disorders. In the present investigation, this putative association was examined in a sample of gerontopsychiatric patients. An analysis of the quarterly birth rates of 83 patients with AD, 78 elderly depressive patients with an early onset and 74 patients with a late onset of the depressive disorder, 48 patients with both AD and depression (co-morbid patients) and 107 healthy control subjects, revealed no particular seasonal distribution for any of the diagnostic groups. In AD and co-morbid patients, controlling for the ApoE genotype did not change this finding. Logistic regression analysis revealed the expected findings that increasing age and the presence of the ApoE4 allele were associated with a higher risk of dementia. Younger age and female gender were identified as risk factors for a depressive disorder. A winter birth (birth in the first three months of the year) was not associated with any of the diagnostic subgroups.

We concluded that in our sample a seasonal distribution of births was not found to increase the risk for AD or geriatric depression.

Noise reduction in the inlet of stationary gasturbines or aeroengines is usually achieved by passive absorbers (acoustic liners) the efficiency of which is limited due to the confined length. Higher sound level reductions can be obtained — in particular for the tonal components -by using additionally active noise control techniques (ANC): The rotorspeed-coherent tonal components of the primary sound field are superimposed with an anti-phase sound field which is produced by secondary acoustic sources.

Following the surface application of granulated urea to grassland, high ammonia (NH3) losses of up to 30% have been reported. The addition of a urease inhibitor (UI) to urea granules could be a way to abate these losses. Field experiments were conducted at two intensive grassland sites in 2007 and 2008 to evaluate the potential of the new UI N-(2-nitrophenyl) phosphoric triamide (2-NPT; concentrations of 0·75, 1·0 and 1·5 g N/kg) to reduce NH3 emissions resulting from the application of granulated urea. Ammonia losses were continuously measured on plots fertilized with urea, urea + 2-NPT, calcium ammonium nitrate and a control (0N). The measurements were made with a dynamic chamber system. All measurement periods were started after a period of precipitation with a following rainless period being forecasted. Results over measurement periods of 10 days following fertilization are presented. Ammonia losses following the application of granulated urea varied between 4·6 and 11·8 kg N/ha, corresponding to 4·2 up to 14·0% of the applied nitrogen. The addition of 2-NPT to urea granules at three concentrations significantly reduced NH3 losses by 69–100%. Comparable losses of NH3 were observed for urea containing the UI 2-NPT as well as calcium ammonium nitrate, and were not significantly different from the control treatment. No relationships between losses, meteorological factors and soil moisture were observed. The addition of the UI 2-NPT to urea granules applied on grassland effectively reduced NH3 losses.

We investigate the environmental dependence of the mass-metallicty (MZ) relation and its connection to galaxy stellar structures and morphologies. In our studies, we analyze galaxies in massive clusters at z ∼ 0.4 from the CLASH (HST) and CLASH-VLT surveys and measure their gas metallicities, star-formation rates, stellar structures and morphologies. We establish the MZ relation for 90 cluster and 40 field galaxies finding a shift of ∼ − 0.3 dex in comparison to the local trends seen in SDSS for the majority of galaxies with logM < 10.5. We do not find significant differences of the distribution of 4 distinct morphological types that we introduce by our classification scheme (smooth, disc-like, peculiar, compact). Some variations between cluster and field galaxies in the MZ relation are visible at the high mass end. However, obvious trends for cluster specific interactions (enhancements or quenching of SFRs) are missing. In particular, galaxies with peculiar stellar structures that hold signs for galaxy interactions, are distributed in a similar way as disc-like galaxies - in SFRs, masses and O/H abundances. We further show that our sample falls around an extrapolation of the star-forming main sequence (the SFR-M∗ relation) at this redshift, indicating that emission-line selected samples do not have preferentially high star-formation rates (SFRs). However, we find that half of the high mass cluster members (M∗ > 1010M⊙) lie below the main sequence which corresponds to the higher mass objects that reach solar abundances in the MZ diagram.

Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2013 in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA, August 4 – August 8, 2013.

Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2013 in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA, August 4 – August 8, 2013.

Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2012 in Phoenix, Arizona, USA, July 29 – August 2, 2012.

Background. Studies that examined community samples have reported several risk factors for the development of depressive episodes. The few studies that have been performed on primary care samples were mostly cross-sectional. Most samples had originated from highly developed industrial countries. This is the first study that prospectively investigates the risk factors of depressive episodes in an international primary care sample.

Methods. A stratified primary care sample of initially non-depressed subjects (N = 2445) from 15 centres from all over the world was examined for the presence or absence of a depressive episode (ICD-10) at the 12 month follow-up assessment. The initial measures addressed sociodemographic variables, psychological/psychiatric problems and social disability. Logistic regression analysis was carried out to determine their relationship with the development of new depressive episodes.

Results. At the 12-month follow-up, 4·4% of primary care patients met ICD-10 criteria for a depressive episode. Logistic regression analysis revealed that the recognition by the general practitioner as a psychiatric case, repeated suicidal thoughts, previous depressive episodes, the number of chronic organic diseases, poor general health, and a full or subthreshold ICD-10 disorder were related to the development of new depressive episodes.

Conclusions. Psychological/psychiatric problems were found to play the most important role in the prediction of depressive episodes while sociodemographic variables were of lower importance. Differences compared with other studies might be due to our prospective design and possibly also to our culturally different sample. Applied stratification procedures, which resulted in a sample at high risk of developing depression, might be a limitation of our study.

Los nacimientos en invierno se han asociado con un riesgo más elevado de enfermedad de Alzheimer (EA) y otros trastornos psiquiátricos. En la presente investigación, se examinó esta asociación putativa en una muestra de pacientes gerontopsiquiátricos. Un análisis de las tasas de nacimiento trimestrales de 83 pacientes con EA, 78 pacientes depresivos mayores con comienzo temprano del trastorno depresivo y 74 pacientes con comienzo tardío, 48 pacientes con EA y depresión a la vez (pacientes comórbidos) y 107 sujetos de control sanos no reveló una distribución estacional particular para ninguno de los grupos diagnósticos. En los pacientes con EA y comórbidos, controlar el genotipo de la ApoE no cambió este hallazgo. El análisis de regresión matemática reveló los hallazgos esperados de que la mayor edad y la presencia del alelo ApoE4 se asociaban con un riesgo más elevado de demencia. La menor edad y el género femenino se identificaron como factores de riesgo para trastorno depresivo. Haber nacido en invierno (en los tres primeros meses del aflo) no se asociaba con ninguno de los subgrupos diagnóstics. Concluimos que, en nuestra muestra, no se encontró que una distribución estacional de los nacimientos aumentara el riesgo para EA o depresión geriátrica.

The study compares responders and non-responders to post-operative patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) and evaluates factors that might differ between these two groups in order to identify non-responders during the early post-operative period. A prospective, randomized, double-blinded study design was used. Patients recovering from abdominal surgery were assigned to one of three treatment groups for a study period of 48 h. After titration of an individual loading dose, patients could self-administer 1 mL bolus doses(2 mg of morphine, 20 mg of tramadol or placebo) using a PCA device. Patients responding or not responding to the treatment were identified. In non-responders the escape medication was morphine.There were 96 responders and 65 non-responders. All responders showed similar pain scores, irrespective of the drug they received. Drug consumption of placebo responders was twice as high as that of opioid responders. Pain scores and analgesic consumption of non-responders were significantly higher compared with responders, although those patients received morphine. The loading dose correlated with subsequent analgesic consumption. Altogether, 89.2% of the non-responders were identified after the loading dose. Size of loading dose and pain scores during the first 30 min are useful for assessing the overall response to post-operative pain management. These factors may be valuable for predicting individual pain management.

A double-blind, randomized, placebo- and drug-controlled study in which the analgesic efficacy and safety of intravenous (i.v.) tramadol in patients with postoperative pain is reported. One hundred and eighty patients recovering from gynaecological or abdominal surgery were assigned to one of three treatment groups. After titration of an individual loading dose, patients could self-administer tramadol 20 mg, morphine 2 mg or placebo using a patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) device throughout a 48-h period. Criteria of efficacy were a decrease in pain intensity within the first 30 min of at least 20 on a visual analogue scale (VAS) (0 denotes no pain, 100 worst pain imaginable) and satisfactory analgesia in the patient's opinion during the study period. Patients treated with tramadol, morphine and placebo were assessed as responders at 66.7%, 75.0% and 18.3% (P < 0.0001). VAS after the initial bolus were 39.2 ± 22.1, 35.9 ± 21.6 and 50.0±24.2 (P = 0.002), the initial loading dose amounted to tramadol 144.9 ± 51.2 mg, morphine 12.3 ± .1 mg and placebo 17.2 ± 4.9 mL. No serious opioid-related adverse events occurred in the patients given tramadol while two patients given morphine developed an impaired respiratory rate and a decreased oxygen saturation to 80% or less. Tramadol proved to be efficacious for PCA treatment of post-operative pain following gynaecological and abdominal surgery.