Search

Bovine tuberculosis is a major economic problem for the cattle farmers of the UK, particularly the endemically infected are as of the south and west. Attempts at eradication have failed to effectively control the disease: of farms that suffer a breakdown and are then deemed clear of disease, more than half will suffer recurrence of the disease within 3 years, while a significant number of farms remain chronically infected. These herds provide a major reservoir of infection and robust, farm specific, disease control strategies are required to manage the disease from them, economically and sustainably. Novel technologies in surveillance, resilience and risk management are required to effectively control bovine tuberculosis in these endemically infected herds.

The UK Government has committed to a strategy of Bovine Tuberculosis eradication, with the stated aim of England becoming TB free by 2038. A review of the progress of the programme was conducted in 2018, (published in October 2018) which made specific and relatively radical changes to the current plan, including changes to governance, technical innovation and better farmer engagement in more effective biosecurity for their cattle herds. This personal opinion on the possible changes to the current programme outlines some radical improvements that could be made to the statutory controls, providing a practical and effective way of implementing the recommendations of the Strategy Review and re-engaging the industry in a robust and effective TB control and eradication strategy.

Plastic deformation of diamond has long been associated with the generation of color, specifically brown and pink. Extensive previous optical and spectroscopic characterization of natural pink Type I (nitrogen containing) diamonds has revealed two clear groupings, with distinct geographical origins. Group 1 pinks, which have low concentrations of nitrogen and are relatively highly aggregated (IaA ≤ B), have only been found in the Argyle lamproite pipe (Australia) and Santa Elena alluvial deposits (Venezuela). Group 2 pinks, which have much higher nitrogen concentrations and exhibit low levels of aggregation, have been found in deposits from southern Africa, Canada, and Russia. Pink color is intimately associated with deformation lamellae on the {111} crystal planes, and understanding their formation and structure has been a priority with respect to defining the source of this gemologically valuable color center. In group 2 pinks, these {111} lamellae have been characterized as deformation microtwins by both transmission electron microscopy and X‑ray diffraction. Subsequently the {111} lamellae in group 1 pinks have been assumed to also be deformation microtwins. In this paper we report electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) studies of three brown and six pink naturally deformed diamonds with varying nitrogen concentrations and aggregation states. The results show that there are no deformation microtwins in the group 1 pink or brown diamonds. The study also highlights the usefulness of orientation contrast imaging as a simple and rapid method for determining the presence of microtwins. Our results suggest that the color in the group 1 pink diamonds is not directly related to the presence of deformation twins. However, we propose that twins may have been present but subsequently removed by de-twinning, a process that utilizes the same Shockley partial dislocations involved in the original twinning event. Therefore, it may be the process of twinning (and de-twinning) that creates the defect responsible for pink color, as opposed to the actual structure of microtwins themselves. In addition, a large laboratory data set of pink diamond analyses reveals the occurrence of group 1 pink diamonds in the Namibian marine (secondary) deposits. This would appear to suggest an additional source of group 1 pink diamonds in southern Africa, but the antiquity of these diamonds means that a common source on the former Pangaea supercontinent cannot be ruled out.

The paper describes a LOS system architecture that allows for a data rate of 155 Mbit/s on both down- and up-links. To achieve this, arrays of vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs) are used that emit light of 850 nm and have an output power that is within eye-safety limits. Original theory is presented that permits calculation of the coverage area for a certain launch power and receiver sensitivity. Design equations are presented for the selection of the beam shaping/spreading lens placed in front of the laser arrays. Original results from an experimental testbed compare favorably with theoretical predictions. It is concluded that an 8×8 laser array will cover an area of 1 m by 1 m. The addition of a tracking system would permit multiuser operation with each individual user having access to the full bandwidth of the link.

High temperature particulate medium conduction grain drying is a very promising technique. However, lack of basic drying characteristic information has resulted in unsuccessful attempts to develop an efficient, economical, continuous flow dryer.In this study, the effects of initial grain moisture content, initial medium temperature, medium particle size, medium to grain mass ratio, and contact time on the drying of shelled corn immersed in hot sand are evaluated.Moisture losses ranged between 0.2 and 5.2 percentage points (wb).

We studied the incidence of biopsy-proven, acute rejection episodes occurring after 1 year posttransplant in cadaver renal allograft recipients. The 328 patients evaluated were given three immunosuppressive drug protocols. Group I (transplanted 9/80–6/84) (n=75) received azathioprine, prednisone (P), and antilymphoblast globulin; group II (transplanted 9/80–6/84) (n=83) received cyclosporine and P; group III (transplanted 7/84–12/86) (n=170) received ALG, AZA, CsA, and P (sequential therapy). The incidence of first acute rejection episodes occurring up to 1 year posttransplant was 55 in group I and 35 in groups II and III. The incidence of late (>1 year) acute rejection episodes was 6.5 in group I, 2.5 in group II, and 9.5 in group III (group II vs. III, P=0.02). In group III, 50 of the late rejections were first, 44 second, and 6 third. The primary etiologies of this increased incidence of late acute rejection may have included subtherapeutic CsA levels and lower P doses. Sequential immunosuppressive therapy has been shown to be advantageous in the first posttransplant year. However, unless adequate immu-

A quantitative high-pressure liquid chromatographic method, using a cationic exchange resin column and an aqueous phosphate buffer as the mobile phase, was employed for the determination of epinephrine in liquid pharmaceutical preparations. The method is stability determining and can differentiate epinephrine in the presence of oxidative and other degradation products.

A quantitative high-pressure liquid chromatographic method using an anion-exchange resin column and an aqueous perchlorate solution as the mobile phase is employed for the determination of thimerosal in pharmaceutical formulations. With a liquid formulation containing large amounts of edetate disodium, calcium chloride is used for complexation to eliminate the interference from edetate disodium.