A Canadian outbreak investigation was initiated in January 2022 after a cluster of cases of Shiga-toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) O157 was identified through whole genome sequencing (WGS). Exposure information was collected through case interviews. Traceback investigations were conducted, and samples from case homes, retail, and the manufacturer were tested for STEC O157. Fourteen cases were identified in two provinces in Western Canada, with isolates related by 0–5 whole genome multi-locus sequence typing allele differences. Symptom onset dates ranged from 11 December 2021 to 7 January 2022. The median age of cases was 29.5 (range 0–61); 64% were female. No hospitalisations or deaths were reported. Of 11 cases with information available on fermented vegetable exposures, 91% (10/11) reported consuming Kimchi Brand A during their exposure period. The traceback investigation identified Manufacturer A in Western Canada as the producer. One open and one closed sample of Kimchi Brand A tested positive for STEC O157, with isolates considered genetically related by WGS to the outbreak strain. Napa cabbage within the kimchi product was hypothesised as the most likely source of contamination. This paper summarises the investigation into this STEC O157 outbreak associated with kimchi, the first reported outside of East Asia.

Six pairs of steers were allowed to choose between two types of floors in a paired choice test. The four floors tested were a fully slatted floor, a fully slatted floor covered with rubber mats, a solid floor with sawdust bedding, and a solid floor with straw bedding. All combinations of floor types were tested and the choices were repeated eight times, using naïve animals. The animals were allowed 17 days to habituate, and on days 18-21 their behaviour was recorded by video for 72 hours. Straw was the most preferred floor type, followed by sawdust, then mats, and finally slats. During a second test period, rubber mats were compared with rubber strips, and no significant preferences were found.

Colleges and universities around the world engaged diverse strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic. Baylor University, a community of ˜22,700 individuals, was 1 of the institutions which resumed and sustained operations. The key strategy was establishment of multidisciplinary teams to develop mitigation strategies and priority areas for action. This population-based team approach along with implementation of a “Swiss Cheese” risk mitigation model allowed small clusters to be rapidly addressed through testing, surveillance, tracing, isolation, and quarantine. These efforts were supported by health protocols including face coverings, social distancing, and compliance monitoring. As a result, activities were sustained from August 1 to December 8, 2020. There were 62,970 COVID-19 tests conducted with 1435 people testing positive for a positivity rate of 2.28%. A total of 1670 COVID-19 cases were identified with 235 self-reports. The mean number of tests per week was 3500 with approximately 80 of these positive (11/d). More than 60 student tracers were trained with over 120 personnel available to contact trace, at a ratio of 1 per 400 university members. The successes and lessons learned provide a framework and pathway for similar institutions to mitigate the ongoing impacts of COVID-19 and sustain operations during a global pandemic.

Stars form in clusters, while planets form in gaseous disks around young stars. Cluster dissolution occurs on longer time scales than disk dispersal. Planet formation thus typically takes place while the host star is still inside the cluster. We explore how the presence of other stars affects the evolution of circumstellar disks. Our numerical approach requires multi-scale and multi-physics simulations where the relevant components and their interactions are resolved. The simulations start with the collapse of a turbulent cloud, from which stars with disks form, which are able to influence each other. We focus on the effect of extinction due to residual cloud gas on the early evolution of circumstellar disks. We find that this extinction protects circumstellar disks against external photoevaporation, but these disks then become vulnerable to dynamic truncation by passing stars. We conclude that circumstellar disk evolution is heavily affected by the early evolution of the cluster.

The kinetics of clay formation in buried paleosols developed from late Quaternary rhyolitic tephra layers near Rotorua, New Zealand, can be described in terms of a combination of parabolic and linear kinetics, reflecting the hydration of glass, and the formation of clay minerals, respectively. Such a model is consistent with the formation of clay minerals showing an Arrhenian temperature dependence and suggests, on the basis of calculated activation energies, that the process of formation of Al-rich allophane (imogolite) is diffusion controlled, whereas the rate of formation of Si-rich allophane is controlled by the chemical processes at the site of reaction.

Introduction: Despite evidence that triage liaison physicians (TLP) effectively reduce emergency department (ED) overcrowding, support for these interventions is patchy. The aim of this study was to evaluate the implementation of a TLP-like ED Disposition and Care Consultant (EDC) shift at an academic tertiary care ED. Methods: A 24-week pilot project was conducted 11/16-04/17. Physicians worked 8- hour day (07-15:00) and/or evening (15:00-23:00) EDC shifts and performed immediate triage and patient care when needed, assisted triage RNs, answered all incoming calls, and managed administrative matters. Due to their voluntary nature, not all shifts were filled. This study compared active (EDC) and control (C) shifts on the following ED metrics: length of stay (LOS), proportions of patients who left without being seen (LWBS), and safety (return visits to ED). Descriptive (median and interquartile range {IQR} and proportions) and simple (Wilcoxson-Mann-Whitney, chi-square, z-proportion) tests are presented for continuous and dichotomous outcomes, respectively. Multiple linear regression identified factors associated with LOS. Results: Of 112 possible EDC shifts, 58 (52%) were filled involving 4289 patients and compared to 276 C shifts involving 21,358 patients. ED volume, patient age (49; IQR: 31, 66), mode of arrival (~30% EMS), triage levels (~51% level 3), and complaints were similar between the groups. Overall, the EDC group reduced LWBS by 16% (8.7% vs. 10.4%; p=0.001), ED LOS for discharged patients by 30 minutes (5.5 vs. 6.0 hours; p<0.001), and ED LOS for admitted patients by 42 minutes (9.7 vs. 10.4 hours; p=0.02). The EDC increased the proportion discharged <4 hours by 28% (20.1 vs. 15.7%; p<0.001) and increased the proportion admitted <8 hours by 17% (8.2% vs. 9.6%, p=0.002). ED relapses <72 hours were similar (9.3% vs. 8.9%; p=0.4); however, admissions were higher in the EDC shifts (25.3% vs. 23.8%; p=0.04). In addition to EDC coverage status, LOS was influenced by triage level (1.7%, p<0.001), disposition (19.6%, p<0.001), and age (4.8%, p<0.001). Conclusion: Our results indicate that an EDC shift, while unpopular with many physicians, provides valuable services to an overcrowded ED and that the implementation of this type of shift could reduce LOS and LWBS statistics in a tertiary care institution. Additional evaluations to examine this and other front-end interventions in other ED centers are indicated.

To assess the impact of farm management on herd fertility, a survey of 105 beef farms in Northern Ireland was conducted to establish the relationship between management variables and fertility. Each herd's average calving interval (CI) and the proportion of cows with a CI > 450 days (extended calving interval, ECI) was calculated to establish herd fertility. The relationship between each response variable (CI and proportion ECI) and each explanatory variable (respondents’ answers to questionnaire) was examined using univariate linear regression analyses. All response variables found to be associated with the explanatory variables were modelled against each group in turn using a fully automated multivariate stepwise regression algorithm employing the method of forward selection with backward elimination. The optimum 365-day CI and a proportion of 0 cows per hundred calved ECI targets were not widely attained in the current study. The distribution of CI and proportion ECI in the current study suggests more realistic targets would be a 379-day CI and 5 cows per hundred calved with ECI in commercial beef breeding herds. Six management factors were found to be associated with herd fertility: herd vaccination, bull selection, fertility management, breeding female management, perception of extension service (rural education provided by the government) and record keeping. It was found that respondents who vaccinated cows had a reduction of 5 cows per hundred calved in the proportion of cows with ECI, and as the number of vaccines administered to a cow increased, the CI decreased. Regular vaccination of breeding bulls was associated with a 9-day reduction in CI. Bull selection strategy had several associations with herd fertility; most notable was that respondents who used visual selection rather than estimated breeding values (EBVs) to select bulls were found to have a 15-day longer CI and 7 cows per hundred calved higher proportion of cows with ECI. For each 0·01 increase in the proportion of cows served by artificial insemination, CI increased by 0·16 days. Respondents who rated their beef breeding herd fertility as ‘very good’ had lower ECI and CI than those who rated beef breeding herd fertility as poor or satisfactory. Condition scoring of cows at weaning lowered ECI by 5 cows per hundred calved. Those who perceived the extension service to be very useful had the lowest CI and lowest ECI. Respondents who did not keep a record of CI to assess herd fertility had an 11-day longer CI and 6 cows per hundred calved higher proportion ECI than those who did not. In conclusion, the survey found a number of important variables linked to improved fertility including selecting sires based on EBVs and using a robust vaccination programme.

The polar mesopause region (80-100 km) is the coldest region of the Earth's atmosphere and is expected to be sensitive to global change. Reported increases in observations of polar mesospheric clouds over the last 100 years have been postulated to be related to decreased temperatures (associated with tropospheric warming) and increased water vapour at mesospheric altitudes (a result of increased methane concentrations in the troposphere). The temperature of this region can be monitored by spectroscopic techniques utilising hydroxyl (OH) emissions which originate near 87 km. The Australian Antarctic Division, Atmospheric and Space Physics group has been analyzing OH (6-2) band spectra recorded with a Czerny—Turner scanning spectrometer at Davis Station, Antarctica (68.6° S, 78.0° E) to optimise temperature determinations for climate change studies. A number of difficulties were encountered, some of which have been overcome and all of which can be overcome. The mid-winter average temperature of the OH layer for May-July 1990 has been measured as 224 ±2 K. The equivalent value for 1996 is 215±2 K. Possible reasons for the difference are discussed.

In summer, 2011, we investigated suspected glyphosate-resistant (GR) kochia in three chem-fallow fields (designated F1, F2, F3, each farmed by a different grower) in southern Alberta. This study characterizes glyphosate resistance in those populations, based on data from dose–response experiments. In a greenhouse experiment, the three populations exhibited a resistance factor ranging from 4 to 6 based on shoot biomass response (GR50 ratios), or 5 to 7 based on survival response (LD50 ratios). Similar results were found in a field dose–response experiment at Lethbridge, AB, in spring 2012 using the F2 kochia population. In fall 2011, we surveyed 46 fields within a 20-km radius of the three chem-fallow fields for GR kochia. In the greenhouse, populations were screened with glyphosate at 900 g ae ha−1. Seven populations were confirmed as GR, the farthest site located about 13 km from the three originally confirmed populations. An additional GR population more than 100 km away was later confirmed. Populations were screened for acetolactate synthase (ALS)–inhibitor (thifensulfuron : tribenuron) and dicamba resistance in the greenhouse, with molecular characterization of ALS-inhibitor resistance in the F1, F2, and F3 populations. All GR populations were resistant to the ALS-inhibiting herbicide, but susceptible to dicamba. ALS-inhibitor resistance in kochia was conferred by Pro197, Asp376, or Trp574 amino acid substitutions. Based upon a simple empirical model with a parameter for selection pressure, calculated from weed relative abundance and glyphosate efficacy, and a parameter for seedbank longevity, kochia, wild oat, and green foxtail were the top three weeds, respectively, predicted at risk of selection for glyphosate resistance in the semiarid Grassland region of the Canadian prairies; wild oat, green foxtail, and cleavers species were predicted at greatest risk in the subhumid Parkland region. This study confirms the first occurrence of a GR weed in western Canada. Future research on GR kochia will include monitoring, biology and ecology, fitness, mechanism of resistance, and best management practices.

Sweetpotato breeding requires at least 5 years to obtain an advanced breeding clone for further testing with the goal of cultivar release. An accelerated breeding scheme (ABS) can be feasible if the genotype × year interaction is low. The objectives of the present study were to describe an ABS for sweetpotato and to investigate the efficiency of this breeding scheme for selecting high-yielding and well-adapted orange-fleshed sweetpotato (OFSP) cultivars with high β-carotene (BC) content. More than 198 500 seeds from two crossing blocks were germinated and rapidly multiplied for evaluation in observation trials at four breeding locations in Mozambique. Breeding clones with storage root yields above 10 t/ha were advanced to preliminary and advanced yield trials across four sites and for 3 years. As a result, 64 high-yielding OFSP breeding clones were selected and evaluated in four mega-environments following a randomized complete block design with three replicates at Angónia, Chókwè, Gurúè and Umbelúzi. Data from multi-environment trials were subjected to single site and combined analysis of variance as well as to stability analysis. The genotype × environment interaction was highly significant for storage root and vine yields, dry matter (DM) and BC content. Storage root yield and DM content for 15 OFSP breeding clones ranged from 14·9 to 27·1 t/ha and from 24·8 to 32·8%, respectively. BC content, iron and zinc ranged from 5·9 to 38·4, 1·6 to 2·1 and 1·1 to 1·5 mg/100 g dry weight, respectively. The OFSP breeding clones also met the culinary tastes required by local consumers in Mozambique. The proposed ABS seems to be an attractive scheme for genetic enhancement of sweetpotato.