61871 research outputs found
Sort by
Sensitive and quantitative determination of short-chain fatty acids in human serum using liquid chromatography mass spectrometry
Get PDFShort-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) are increasingly being monitored to elucidate the link between gut health and disease. These metabolites are routinely measured in faeces, but their determination in serum is more challenging due to their low concentrations. A method for the determination of eight SCFAs in serum is described here. High-resolution mass spectrometry and gas chromatography were used to identify the presence of isomeric interferences, which were then overcome through a combination of chromatographic separation and judicious choice of MS fragment ion. The SCFAs were derivatised to form 3-nitrophenylhydrazones before being separated on a reversed-phase column and then detected using liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-QQQ-MS). The LODs and LOQs of SCFAs using this method were in the range 1 to 7 ng mL−1 and 3 to 19 ng mL−1, respectively. The recovery of the SCFAs in serum ranged from 94 to 114% over the three concentration ranges tested
Analysis of strategic variables for sustainable infrastructure and transportation in rural area of Serang Regency, Banten Province
Get PDFInfrastructure and transportation are important sector in the realization of Sustainable Development Goals in rural area. The understanding of strategic variables of infrastructure and transportation is very crucial. Therefore, this paper aim to present how we used structural analysis method to identify the sustainability variables of infrastructure and transportation in rural area. Kendayakan village in Serang Regency, a rural area, is studied due to its location as a hinterland to the coastal area of Banten province. The methodology of study is using the Impact Matrix Cross-Reference Multiplication Applied to a Classification (MICMAC) software for analysing the strategic variables. The three pillars of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) elements of environmental, economic and social, represented by environmental quality index, income per capita and population density variables, respectively, were included in the analysis. Variables of infrastructure/transportation sustainability analysed were as follows: roads, bridges, water supply, water conservation, drainage and sanitation system, flood management, and housing/building/public facilities. The result shows that bridge infrastructure is classified as key factor which has the highest influence and independent. However, further research should be performed with more variables within the SDGs dimensions of economic, social and environmental
Can anxiety and race interact to influence face-recognition accuracy? A systematic literature review
Get PDFWrongful convictions continue to occur through eyewitness misidentification. Recognising what factors, or interaction between factors, affect face-recognition is therefore imperative. Extensive research indicates that face-recognition accuracy is impacted by anxiety and by race. Limited research, however, has examined how these factors interact to potentially exacerbate face-recognition deficits. Brigham (2008) suggests that anxiety exacerbates other-race face-recognition deficits. Conversely, Attentional Control Theory predicts that anxiety exacerbates deficits for all faces. This systematic review examined existing studies investigating the possible interaction between anxiety and face-race to compare these theories. Recent studies included in this review found that both anxiety and race influence face-recognition accuracy but found no interaction. Potential moderators existing in reviewed studies, however, might have influenced their results. Separately, in some studies reviewed, anxiety induced during retrieval impacted recognition, contrasting with the conclusions of previous reviews. Recommendations for future research are given to address moderators potentially impacting results observed previously
Cost–benefit analysis of a mass vaccination strategy to control brucellosis in sheep and goats in northern Iraq
Get PDFBrucellosis is a major economic and production-limiting disease for livestock owners and the community in Iraq. A cost–benefit analysis was conducted to evaluate the impact of an expanded annual mass vaccination programme of sheep and goats that involves all female and male sheep and goats over the age of 3 months with Rev. 1 vaccine. The proposed expanded vaccination programme was compared to the current annual vaccination program, which involved only vaccinating female sheep and goats between the ages of 3 and 6 months of age with Rev. 1. The cost-benefit analysis model was developed utilizing data collected in Dohuk Governorate, northern Iraq. The seroprevalence in small ruminants (using Rose Bengal test and ELISA in series) was predicted to decrease from 9.22% to 0.73% after 20 years of implementing the proposed annual mass vaccination program. The net present value of the mass vaccination program was estimated to be US per adult female animal. The results of this economic analysis highlight the benefit of implementing an annual mass vaccination program of small ruminants with Rev. 1 vaccine to reduce the prevalence of brucellosis in northern Iraq
Multi-modal co-learning for liver lesion segmentation on PET-CT images
No full textLiver lesion segmentation is an essential process to assist doctors in hepatocellular carcinoma diagnosis and treatment planning. Multi-modal positron emission tomography and computed tomography (PET-CT) scans are widely utilized due to their complementary feature information for this purpose. However, current methods ignore the interaction of information across the two modalities during feature extraction, omit the co-learning of the feature maps of different resolutions, and do not ensure that shallow and deep features complement each others sufficiently. In this paper, our proposed model can achieve feature interaction across multi-modal channels by sharing the down-sampling blocks between two encoding branches to eliminate misleading features. Furthermore, we combine feature maps of different resolutions to derive spatially varying fusion maps and enhance the lesions information. In addition, we introduce a similarity loss function for consistency constraint in case that predictions of separated refactoring branches for the same regions vary a lot. We evaluate our model for liver tumor segmentation using a PET-CT scans dataset, compare our method with the baseline techniques for multi-modal (multi-branches, multi-channels and cascaded networks) and then demonstrate that our method has a significantly higher accuracy (p<0.05) than the baseline models
Keeping an ear out: Size relationship of the tympanic bullae and pinnae in bandicoots and bilbies (Marsupialia: Peramelemorphia)
Get PDFBandicoots and bilbies (Order Peramelemorphia) occupy a broad range of habitats across Australia and New Guinea, from open, arid deserts to dense forests. This once diverse group has been particularly vulnerable to habitat loss and introduced eutherian predators, and numerous species extinctions and range retractions have occurred. Understanding reasons for this loss requires greater understanding of their biology. Morphology of the pinnae and tympanic bullae varies markedly among species. As hearing is important for both predator avoidance and prey location, the variability in ear morphology could reflect specialization and adaptation to specific environments, and therefore be of conservation relevance. We measured 798 museum specimens representing 29 species of Peramelemorphia. Controlling for phylogenetic relatedness and head length, pinna surface area was weakly negatively correlated with average precipitation (rainfall being our surrogate measure of vegetation productivity/complexity), and there were no environmental correlates with effective diameter (pinna width). Controlling for phylogenetic relatedness and skull length, tympanic bulla volume was negatively correlated with precipitation. Species that inhabited drier habitats, which would be open and allow sound to carry further with less obstruction, had relatively larger pinnae and tympanic bullae. In contrast, species from higher rainfall habitats, where sounds would be attenuated and diffused by dense vegetation, had the smallest pinnae and bullae, suggesting that low-frequency hearing is not as important in these habitats. Associations with temperature did not reach statistical significance. These findings highlight linkages between hearing traits and habitat that can inform conservation and management strategies for threatened species
Optimizing the utility of secondary outcomes in randomized controlled trials
Get PDFRandomized controlled trials (RCTs) are the cornerstone of evidence based medicine and are often considered the most important piece of evidence to guide clinical practice. To make sure RCTs are fit for their purpose, the design of such trials must be both statistically robust and clinically relevant. The sample size and statistical power of a study are mathematically related; it is widely accepted that the sample size should be sufficiently large to ensure a power of 80% or greater to avoid initiating a study that is destined to fail in rejecting the null hypothesis. In general, the predicted incidence of the primary outcome (in the control group) and the effect size (conferred by the test intervention) are the two most important elements that determine the mathematical relationship between sample size and the power of the study.
Secondary outcomes are common in RCTs. There are many reasons why researchers want to include a secondary outcome, including the interest to answer as many clinical questions as possible by doing only one trial—that is, as ‘niceties’. It is now a standard practice for researchers to predefine all secondary outcomes a priori in the trial’s protocol and also in the trial registry to avoid the temptation to conduct multiple post hoc analyses in an attempt to find a significant P value. What has not been thoroughly considered and widely adopted is how we can maximize the utility of secondary outcomes in RCTs
Smart metering technology and community participation: investigating household water usage and perceived value of hybrid water systems
Get PDFHybrid water systems (HWSs) are emerging as an alternative decentralised and cost-effective approach for urban water management. Although continuous monitoring is recognised as an essential step to inform the planning and design of water services, a knowledge gap has been identified in the integration of water use monitoring, HWSs and community participation. This research compares water practices of households with and without HWSs, integrating both quantitative and qualitative data. Water use data were collected at selected households via smart meters at 30 minutes intervals. R computing software was used for data analytics and dashboard visualisation. Qualitative data on water practices was collected through one-to-one interviews, on-line surveys and community workshops. On a per capita basis, sites with HWSs have a 20% lower total water demand and 41% lower mains water demand than sites without HWSs. Depending on the level of sophistication of the installed HWS, the reduction of mains water use across the participants ranged from 20% to as high as 80%. Almost all sites with HWSs were able to meet the state government targets (40–60 kL/person/y) on annual per capita mains water usage. The seasonality of rainwater supply versus the weather-independent supply of greywater was observed in the data. The qualitative data collected during community engagement highlighted the importance of establishing a personal connection between the individual and the water resource and of involving the resident in the different stages of harvesting, using and disposing of water. This is expected to contribute to a higher perceived value of the water resources by improving awareness, making knowledge more accessible, improving the transparency between the community needs and the water utility decisions. To this end, the role of digital technologies in the water sector plays a role in assisting with the paradigm shift from centralised water networks to an integrated and community-empowered, centralised-hybrid water system
Evaluation of helicopter net-gunning to capture wild fallow deer (Dama dama)
Get PDFContext: Safe and effective capture methods are crucial for improving our understanding and management of many wildlife species. The adaptation of established capture methods to novel situations requires critical evaluation because differences in environmental conditions and species’ susceptibility to trauma and capture myopathy can produce unexpected outcomes. Helicopter net-gunning has been a valuable tool for capturing wild deer in New Zealand and the Americas, but there are no practical records of its use in Australia and only one report of it being used to capture three fallow deer (Dama dama) elsewhere.
Aims: The present study aimed to evaluate the feasibility of a helicopter-based net-gun capture technique for wild fallow deer by quantifying the efficacy of the technique and the frequency of injuries and deaths.
Methods: We captured fallow deer over two 3-day operations at a 135 km2 site in eastern Australia. We collected data on operational efficiency and variables expected to affect animal health and welfare, such as injuries and the duration of stressful procedures. We used GPS tracking collars with an accelerometer and a mortality-sensing function to monitor post-release survival and activity of fallow deer.
Key results: In total, 127 deer were targeted for capture, with nets fired at 64 deer (50%) and 27 deer captured (21%). Mortality within 30 days of capture was zero. Mean chase time was 2 min 46 s and mean total time from start of chase until release was 11 min 19 s. No animals were severely injured or euthanased, but hyperthermia was observed in 33% of captured animals.
Conclusions: Helicopter net-gunning was an effective and safe method for capturing wild fallow deer when compared with alternative methods.
Implications: We recommend that researchers consider using helicopter net-gunning to capture fallow deer in Australia and elsewhere, and other deer species in Australi
High-throughput sequencing-based identification of miRNAs and their target mRNAs in wheat variety Qing Mai 6 under salt stress condition
Get PDFSoil salinization is one of the major abiotic stresses that adversely affect the yield and quality of crops such as wheat, a leading cereal crop worldwide. Excavating the salt-tolerant genes and exploring the salt tolerance mechanism can help breeding salt-tolerant wheat varieties. Thus, it is essential to identify salt-tolerant wheat germplasm resources. In this study, we carried out a salt stress experiment using Qing Mai 6 (QM6), a salt-tolerant wheat variety, and sequenced the miRNAs and mRNAs. The differentially expressed miRNAs and mRNAs in salt stress conditions were compared with the control. As results, a total of eight salt-tolerance-related miRNAs and their corresponding 11 target mRNAs were identified. Further analysis revealed that QM6 enhances salt tolerance through increasing the expression level of genes related to stress resistance, antioxidation, nutrient absorption, and lipid metabolism balance, and the expression of these genes was regulated by the identified miRNAs. The resulting data provides a theoretical basis for future research studies on miRNAs and novel genes related to salt tolerance in wheat in order to develop genetically improved salt-tolerant wheat varieties