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The relative positions of the centers of mass of the 21 proteins of the 30S ribosomal subunit from Escherchia coli have been determined by triangulation using neutron scattering data. The resulting map of the quaternary structure of the small ribosomal subunit is presented, and comparisons are made with structural data from other sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose was to compare immediate intramammary antimicrobial treatment of all cases of clinical mastitis with a selective treatment protocol based on 24-h culture results. The study was conducted at a 3,500-cow commercial farm in New York. Using a randomized design, mild to moderate clinical mastitis cases were assigned to either the blanket therapy or pathogen-based therapy group. Cows in the blanket therapy group received immediate on-label intramammary treatment with ceftiofur hydrochloride for 5 d. Upon receipt of 24 h culture results, cows in the pathogen-based group followed a protocol automatically assigned via Dairy Comp 305 (Valley Agricultural Software, Tulare, CA): Staphylococcus spp., Streptococcus spp., or Enterococcus spp. were administered on-label intramammary treatment with cephapirin sodium for 1 d. Others, including cows with no-growth or gram-negative results, received no treatment. A total of 725 cases of clinical mastitis were observed; 114 cows were not enrolled due to severity. An additional 122 cases did not meet inclusion criteria. Distribution of treatments for the 489 qualifying events was equal between groups (pathogen-based, n = 246; blanket, n = 243). The proportions of cases assigned to the blanket and pathogen-based groups that received intramammary therapy were 100 and 32%, respectively. No significant differences existed between blanket therapy and pathogen-based therapy in days to clinical cure; means were 4.8 and 4.5 d, respectively. The difference in post-event milk production between groups was not statistically significant (blanket therapy = 34.7 kg; pathogen-based = 35.4 kg). No differences were observed in test-day linear scores between groups; least squares means of linear scores was 4.3 for pathogen-based cows and 4.2 for blanket therapy cows. Odds of survival 30 d postenrollment was similar between groups (odds ratio of pathogen-based = 1.6; 95% confidence interval: 0.7-3.7) as was odds of survival to 60 d (odds ratio = 1.4; 95% confidence interval: 0.7-2.6). The one significant difference found for the effect of treatment was in hospital days; pathogen-based cows experienced, on average, 3 fewer days than blanket therapy cows. A majority (68.5%) of moderate and mild clinical cases would not have been treated if all cows on this trial were enrolled in a pathogen-based protocol. The use of a strategic treatment protocol based on 24-h postmastitis pathogen results has potential to efficiently reduce antimicrobial use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose was to evaluate 2 intramammary treatments for mild-to-moderate cases of clinical mastitis in a noninferiority comparison. Noninferiority trials are intended to show whether a given treatment, hetacillin potassium, has at least comparable efficacy as the reference treatment, ceftiofur hydrochloride. Treatments can be deemed inferior to the reference treatment by an amount less than the margin of noninferiority, or inconclusive if the confidence interval crosses the margin of noninferiority. Cows with clinical mastitis from 6 farms were considered for enrollment. Using a randomized design, cows with mild or moderate mastitis in 1 quarter were assigned to on-label treatment with either ceftiofur or hetacillin. A total of 596 cows met the criteria needed for continued enrollment. Treatment distribution resulted in 309 cows in the ceftiofur group and 287 cows in the hetacillin group. Mixed regression analysis was performed for the following outcomes: bacteriological cure, pathogen cure, clinical cure, postevent milk production and linear score, and survival to d 30 and 60. Cox proportional hazards analysis was used to describe treatment effect on survival and mastitis risks. Bacteriological cure, defined as absence of causative organism in samples retrieved at d 14 and 21 postmastitis, was similar between groups. No significant statistical differences were found in cure risk, and noninferiority of hetacillin relative to ceftiofur for bacteriological cure was conclusive (hetacillin = 67%, ceftiofur = 72%). Absence of a pathogen on both follow-up samples designated a cow as a pathogen cure. Pathogen cure was similar between treatment groups and noninferiority of hetacillin relative to ceftiofur was shown (hetacillin = 35%, ceftiofur = 32%). Clinical cure (hetacillin = 68%, ceftiofur = 64%), postevent milk production (hetacillin = 37.0 kg, ceftiofur = 38.2 kg), and linear scores (hetacillin = 3.4, ceftiofur = 3.1) were also not statistically different between treatment groups. Noninferiority of hetacillin relative to ceftiofur was shown for survival to d 30 and survival to d 60, whereas hetacillin was more likely to have a clinical cure than ceftiofur by d 4. No differences were seen between groups when Cox proportional hazards were performed, neither for exit from the herd in the 60 d following the event nor in the risk for a subsequent mastitis event. These findings can be used to develop farm-specific protocols for clinical mastitis treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is the official guideline endorsed by the specialty associations involved in the care of head and neck cancer patients in the UK. It provides recommendations on the assessments and interventions for this group of patients receiving palliative and supportive care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the effects of a nematic liquid crystalline polymer, Vectra A, on the structure and properties of its blends with a semicrystalline polymer, poly(ethylene terephthalate),PET. PET/Vectra blend composition ranged from 100/0 to 60/40. Real-time, in situ studies ofisothermal and non-isothermal melt crystallizations of these blends were conducted usingsimultaneous wide and small angle X-ray scattering (WAXS and SAXS), differentialscanning calorimetry (DSC), and quantitative polarizing optical microscopy. All techniquesconfirm that the addition of Vectra nematic liquid crystal delays the onset of crystallization,and affects the degree of crystallinity and structural parameters such as Bragg long period,lamellar thickness and linear stack crystallinity. SAXS results indicate that some of theVectra component penetrates into the interlamellar regions of the crystal stacks. Vectrainterrupts the entangled polymer network making it more difficult for lamellar crystals tonucleate. Slower nucleation and growth result in increased perfection of the PET crystalsgrown isothermally, but reduces the crystallization temperature of PET crystals grownnon-isothermally causing these crystals to be less perfect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thanks to advances in smart metering devices (SM), the electricity sector is undergoing a series of changes, among which it is worth highlighting the ability to control the response to all events that occur in the electricity grid with the intention of making it more smart. Predicting electricity consumption data is a key factor for the energy sector in order to create a completely intelligent electricity grid that optimizes consumption and forecasts future energy needs. However, it is currently not enough to give a prediction of energy consumption (EC), but it is also necessary to give the prediction as fast as possible so that the grid can operate in the shortest possible time. An approach for developing EC prediction systems is introduced here by the use of artificial neural networks (ANN). Differently from other research studies on the subject, a divide-and-conquer strategy is used so that the target system's execution switches from one to another specialized small models that forecast the EC of a building within the time range of one hour. By simultaneously processing a large amount of data and models, a consequence of implementing them in parallel with TensorFlow on GPUs, the training procedure proposed here increases the performance of the classic time series prediction methods, which are based on ANN. Leveraging the latest generation of ANN techniques and new GPU-based architectures, correct EC predictions can be obtained and, as the experimentation carried out in this work shows, such predictions can be obtained quickly. The obtained results in this study show a promising way for speeding up big data processing of building's monitoring data to achieve energy efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: To analyse and compare the impact of cardiovascular risk factors and disease on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in people with and without diabetes living in the community. Methods: We used data of 1,905 people with diabetes and 19,031 people without diabetes from the last Spanish National Health Survey (years 2011–2012). The HRQoL instrument used was the EuroQol 5D-5L, based on time trade-off scores. Matching methods were used to assess any differences in the HRQoL in people with and without diabetes with the same characteristics (age, gender, education level, and healthy lifestyle), according to cardiovascular risk factors and diseases. Disparities were also analysed for every dimension of HRQoL: mobility, daily activities, personal care, pain/discomfort, and anxiety/depression. Results: There were no significant differences in time trade-off scores between people with and without diabetes when cardiovascular risk factors or established cardiovascular disease were not present. However, when cardiovascular risk factors were present, the HRQoL score was significantly lower in people with diabetes than in those without. This difference was indeed greater when cardiovascular diseases were present. More precisely, people with diabetes and any of the cardiovascular risk factors, who have not yet developed any cardiovascular disease, report lower HRQoL, 0.046 TTO score points over 1 (7.93 over 100 in the VAS score) compared to those without diabetes, and 0.14 TTO score points of difference (14.61 over 100 in the VAS score) if cardiovascular diseases were present. In fact, when the three risk factors were present in people with diabetes, HRQoL was significantly lower (0.10 TTO score points over 1 and 10.86 points over 100 in VAS score), obesity being the most influential risk factor. Conclusions: The presence of established cardiovascular disease and/or cardiovascular risk factors, specially obesity, account for impaired quality of life in people with diabetes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effect of administering recombinant bovine somatotropin (rbST) to cows with hyperketonemia during the early postpartum period on health, metabolic parameters, milk production, and early reproductive performance was evaluated in a double-blinded clinical trial. Cows from 8 dairy herds in New York State were tested weekly between 3 and 16 d in milk for elevated serum β-hydroxybutyrate. Cows were enrolled in the study when blood β-hydroxybutyrate was ≥1.3 mmol/L for the first time. Enrolled cows were randomly assigned to a treatment (n = 273) or placebo control (n = 270) group. Treated cows were given 325 mg of rbST subcutaneously on the day of enrollment and again 14 d later. Control cows received the same regimen except the syringe contained only the carrier without somatotropin. After enrollment, blood samples were collected weekly for 4 wk and submitted to the laboratory to be analyzed for selected metabolites. Risk ratios for clinical diseases subsequent to treatment were calculated using Poisson regression. Continuous data were analyzed using linear mixed models. Time to first insemination was assessed with survival analysis. In the 42 d following the first administration of rbST, incidence risks of displaced abomasum, clinical ketosis, metritis, clinical mastitis, and lameness were not different between treatment groups. Cows treated with rbST had a slightly lower body condition score 28 d after enrollment compared with control cows. In the 4 wk following enrollment, serum nonesterified fatty acids and aspartate amino-transferase were slightly higher for treated than control cows, respectively. Serum glucose, calcium, haptoglobin, and β-hydroxybutyrate were similar between groups. Treatment had no effect on resolution of hyperketonemia in any of the 4 wk after enrollment. Milk production in either of the 2-wk periods after each treatment was not different between treated and control cows. Furthermore, milk production was not different between groups from enrollment to 98 d in milk (42.6 ± 0.6 and 42.1 ± 0.7 kg/d for treatment and control groups, respectively). Treatment had no effect on time to first insemination (83 and 74 d in milk for treatment and control groups, respectively; hazard ratio = 0.72) or first insemination pregnancy risk (27 and 29% for treatment and control groups, respectively; risk ratio = 0.92). Based on the current results, it is not recommended to use a low dose of rbST as therapy for cows with hyperketonemia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective was to identify herd-level indicators expressed as a proportion of sampled animals with increased nonesterified fatty acids (NEFA) or β -hydroxybutyric acid (BHBA), or decreased calcium in wk -1 and wk +1 relative to calving that were associated with herd-level incidence of retained placenta, metritis and displaced abomasum, milk production, and probability of pregnancy at the first artificial insemination (AI). Fifty-five Holstein freestall dairy herds in the United States and Canada were visited weekly. Blood was collected from 2,365 cows around parturition, and serum concentrations of NEFA, BHBA, and calcium were determined. Different cow-level metabolite thresholds associated with detrimental health or productivity in previous studies were used to classify animals into high- and low-risk metabolite concentration groups. For wk -1 and wk +1 relative to calving, a herd-level threshold was determined as the proportion of sampled animals in the high-risk metabolite concentration groups with the strongest association with increased incidence of disease, milk loss, or decreased pregnancy at the first AI. The odds of displaced abomasum after calving were higher in herds that had ≥ 25% of the animals with BHBA ≥ 1,400 μ mol/L in wk +1 [odds ratio (OR) = 2.1; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.0-4.2)] or ≥ 35% of the animals with calcium ≤ 2.1 mmol/L in wk +1 (OR = 2.4; CI = 1.3-4.3). Herd-level thresholds of ≥ 15% of the cows with BHBA ≥ 800 μ mol/L in wk -1 and ≥ 15% of the cows with calcium ≤ 2.1 mmol/L in wk +1 were associated with milk loss (±SE) of 4.4 ± 1.7 and 3.8 ± 1.4 kg/d per cow, respectively. When only multiparous cows were considered, herds with ≥ 30% of the multiparous cows with NEFA ≥ 0.5 mEq/L in wk -1 were associated with a 3.0 ± 1.5 kg/d per cow milk loss. The odds of pregnancy at first AI were lower in herds that had ≥ 5% of the cows with calcium ≤ 2.1 mmol/L in wk -1 (OR = 0.7; CI = 0.5-1.0), or ≥ 30% of the cows with NEFA ≥ 1.0 mEq/L (OR = 0.6; CI = 0.4-0.9) or ≥ 25% of the cows with calcium ≤ 2.1 mmol/L in wk +1 (OR = 0.7; CI = 0.5-0.9). When only multiparous cows were considered, the odds of pregnancy at first AI were lower in herds that had ≥ 50% of multiparous cows with NEFA ≥ 0.5 mEq/L in wk -1 (OR = 0.5; CI = 0.2-0.9). In conclusion, several herd-level thresholds for the proportion of cows with increased NEFA or BHBA, or decreased calcium in the week before and after calving were associated with higher risk of displaced abomasum, milk loss at the first Dairy Herd Improvement Association test, and decreased pregnancy at first AI. The association found between precalving BHBA and milk production is promising due to the availability of several cow-side tests for measuring BHBA. Some of the herd-level associations differed from the previously described cow-level associations, suggesting the potential of interpreting periparturient metabolic challenges at the herd level, where changes in diet and management are generally implemented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective was to examine the associations of peripartum concentrations of nonesterified fatty acids (NEFA), β-hydroxybutyrate (BHBA), and calcium with milk production in early lactation and pregnancy at the first artificial insemination (AI) across different management systems. Fifty-five Holstein freestall dairy herds located across the United States and Canada were visited weekly for blood sample collection from 2,365 cows. For each week of sampling (from wk .1 through wk 3 relative to calving) and for each metabolite, serum concentrations were dichotomized at various thresholds to identify the thresholds with the best negative associations with milk production and pregnancy at first AI. These thresholds were used to categorize the serum concentrations into higher and lower risk categories. Repeated-measures ANOVA and multivariable logistic regression were conducted for milk production and pregnancy at the first AI data, respectively, considering cow as the experimental unit and herd as a random effect. In the week before calving, serum NEFA .0.5 mEq/L, BHBA ≥600 µmol/L, and calcium ≤2.1 mmol/L were associated with 1.6 to 3.2 kg/d milk loss across the first 4 Dairy Herd Improvement Association (DHIA) milk tests. High levels of NEFA and BHBA in wk 1 and 2 after calving (≥0.7 and ≥1.0 mEq/L for NEFA, and ≥1,400 and ≥1,200 µmol/L for BHBA), and low levels of calcium (≤2.1 mmol/L) in wk 1, 2 and 3 after calving were associated with milk loss at the first DHIA milk test. Serum concentrations of NEFA and BHBA were not associated with pregnancy at first AI in any sampling week, whereas calcium <2.2 to 2.4 mmol/L from wk 1 through wk 3 postpartum were associated with reduced pregnancy at first AI. In conclusion, high serum concentrations of NEFA, BHBA, and low concentrations of calcium around parturition were associated with early lactation milk loss, and low calcium concentration around parturition was associated with impaired early lactation reproduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this observational field study was to validate the relationship of serum concentrations of nonesterified fatty acids (NEFA), β-hydroxybutyrate (BHBA), and calcium with disease in early lactation across different management systems. Fifty-five Holstein freestall dairy herds located across the United States and Canada were selected and visited weekly for blood sample collection from 2,365 cows. Only diseases that were consistently recorded across herds and blood samples collected before the disease occurred were considered. Metabolite concentrations in serum in wk-1 relative to calving were considered as predictors of retained placenta (RP) and metritis, and metabolite concentrations in serum in wk-1 and wk+1 relative to calving were considered as predictors of displaced abomasum (DA). For each disease, each metabolite, and week of sampling in the case of DA, a critical threshold was calculated based on the highest combined sensitivity and specificity and used to categorize the serum concentrations into high and low risk categories. Multivariable logistic regression models were built for each disease of interest and week of sampling, considering cow as the experimental unit and herd as a random effect. Cows with precalving serum NEFA concentrations =0.3 mEq/L were more likely to develop RP [odds ratio (OR) = 1.8; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.3 to 2.6] and metritis (OR = 1.8; 95% CI = 1.5 to 2.9) after calving than cows with lower NEFA concentrations. Precalving NEFA =0.5 mEq/L (OR = 2.4; 95% CI = 1.5 to 3.7), postcalving NEFA =1.0 mEq/L (OR = 2.7; 95% CI = 1.7 to 4.4), and postcalving calcium =2.2 mmol/L (OR = 3.1; 95% CI = 1.9 to 5.0) were associated with subsequent risk of DA. In conclusion, elevated serum NEFA concentrations within 1 wk before calving were associated with increased risk of RP, metritis, and DA after calving. Serum NEFA and calcium concentrations in the 2 wk around calving in combination were associated with the risk of DA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]