scholarly journals The Italian strategy to fight illegal treatment with growth promoters: Results of the 2017-2019 histological monitoring plan

2022 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marzia Pezzolato ◽  
Elisa Baioni ◽  
Cristiana Maurella ◽  
Alessandro Benedetto ◽  
Elena Biasibetti ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Confidence Interval ◽  
Risk Category ◽  
Monitoring Tool ◽  
Growth Promoters ◽  
Sexual Hormones ◽  
Control Plan ◽  
Monitoring Plan

The Histological Control Plan has been introduced in Italy in 2008 as an indirect monitoring tool of illicit administration of sexual hormones and corticosteroids in bovine. Analysis of 2008-2016 results permitted to draw a new plan targeting risk category. This work presents the results of the histopathological monitoring plan that was carried out from 2017 to 2019. The overall prevalence of samples suspected of treatment with corticosteroid was 11.3% [95% confidence interval (CI) 6.6-17.8] in 2017; 10.2% (95% CI 6.6-16.9) in 2018 and 8.9% (95% CI 4.6-15.4) in 2019. The overall prevalence of samples suspected of treatment with sexual hormones was 2.3 % (95% CI 0.5-6.6) in 2017; 6.2% (95% CI 2.7-11.8) in 2018 and 12.4% (95% CI 7.4- 19.1) in 2019. Although not targeting and measuring specific molecules, this strategy allows to verify the trend of illicit treatments and identify farms to be submitted to further check.

Campylobacter spp., Yersinia enterocolitica, and Salmonella enterica and Their Simultaneous Occurrence in German Fattening Pig Herds and Their Environment

2013 ◽  
Vol 76 (10) ◽  
pp. 1704-1711 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. NATHUES ◽  
P. GRÜNING ◽  
A. FRUTH ◽  
J. VERSPOHL ◽  
T. BLAHA ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Confidence Interval ◽  
Yersinia Enterocolitica ◽  
Salmonella Enterica ◽  
Odds Ratio ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
The Other ◽  
Simultaneous Occurrence ◽  
Risk Category ◽  
Herd Level ◽  
Campylobacter Spp

Campylobacter spp., Salmonella enterica, and Yersinia enterocolitica are common causes of foodborne infections in humans with pork as a potential source. Monitoring programs at farm level are, to date, only implemented for S. enterica, while epidemiological knowledge of the other two pathogens is still lacking. This study aimed to assess the pathogen load (in the pigs' environment) in fattening pig herds, their simultaneous occurrence, and the occurrence of Campylobacter spp. and Y. enterocolitica in herds in different Salmonella risk categories. In 50 fattening pig herds in northern Germany, four pooled fecal samples and 10 swab samples from the pigs' direct environment (pen walls, nipple drinkers), indirect environment (hallways, drive boards), and flies and rodent droppings were collected from each herd and submitted for cultural examination. Campylobacter spp. were detected in 38.1% of fecal, 32.7% of direct environment, 5.3% of indirect environment, and 4.6% of flies/pests samples collected, and Y. enterocolitica in 17.1, 8.1, 1.2, and 3.1% and S. enterica in 11.2, 7.7, 4.1, and 1.5%, respectively. For Campylobacter spp., Y. enterocolitica, and S. enterica, 80, 48, and 32% of herds were positive, respectively; 22 herds were positive for both Campylobacter spp. and Y. enterocolitica, 12 for Campylobacter spp. and S. enterica, and 7 for Y. enterocolitica and S. enterica. There was no significant association between the pathogens at herd level. Campylobacter spp. and Y. enterocolitica were found more often in samples from the low Salmonella risk category (odds ratio, 0.51; confidence interval, 0.36 to 0.73, and 0.3, 0.17 to 0.57), and this was also the case for Y. enterocolitica at herd level (odds ratio, 0.08; confidence interval, 0.02 to 0.3). This study provides evidence that the pigs' environment should be accounted for when implementing control measures on farms against Campylobacter spp. and Y. enterocolitica. An extrapolation from the current Salmonella monitoring to the other two pathogens does not seem feasible.

scholarly journals Polygenic Risk Score for Coronary Heart Disease Modifies the Elevated Risk by Cigarette Smoking for Disease Incidence

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
George Hindy ◽  
Frans Wiberg ◽  
Peter Almgren ◽  
Olle Melander ◽  
Marju Orho-Melander
Keyword(s):  
Coronary Heart Disease ◽  
Heart Disease ◽  
Confidence Interval ◽  
Odds Ratio ◽  
Risk Category ◽  
Polygenic Risk Score ◽  
Nucleotide Polymorphisms ◽  
Single Nucleotide ◽  
Polygenic Risk ◽  
Never Smokers

Background: Coronary heart disease (CHD) is a multifactorial disease with both genetic and environmental components. Smoking is the most important modifiable risk factor for CHD. Our aim was to test whether the increased CHD incidence by smoking is modified by genetic predisposition to CHD. Methods and Results: Our study included 24 443 individuals from the MDCS (Malmö Diet and Cancer Study). A weighted polygenic risk score (PRS) was created by summing the number of risk alleles for 50 single-nucleotide polymorphisms associated with CHD. Individuals were classified as current, former, or never smokers. Interactions were primarily tested between smoking status and PRS and secondarily with individual single-nucleotide polymorphisms. Then, the predictive use of PRS for CHD incidence was tested among different smoking categories. During a median follow-up time of 19.4 years, 3217 incident CHD cases were recorded. The association between smoking and CHD was modified by the PRS ( P interaction =0.005). The magnitude of increased incidence of CHD by smoking was highest among individuals in the lowest tertile of PRS (odds ratio, 1.42; 95% confidence interval, 1.29–1.56 per smoking risk category) compared with the highest tertile (odds ratio, 1.20; 95% confidence interval, 1.11–1.30 per smoking risk category). This interaction was stronger among men ( P interaction =0.001) compared with women ( P interaction =0.44). The PRS provided a significantly better net reclassification and discrimination on top of traditional risk factors among never smokers compared with current smokers ( P <0.001). Conclusions: Genetic predisposition to CHD modifies the associated increased CHD risk by smoking. The PRS has a better predictive use among never smokers compared with smokers.

Development of apical pits in chloride cells of the gills of Pimephales promelas after chronic exposure to acid water

1983 ◽  
Vol 41 ◽  
pp. 462-463
Author(s):  
Richard L. Leino ◽  
Jon G. Anderson ◽  
J. Howard McCormick
Keyword(s):  
Confidence Interval ◽  
Chronic Exposure ◽  
Lake Superior ◽  
Pimephales Promelas ◽  
Chloride Cells ◽  
Fathead Minnows ◽  
Secondary Lamellae ◽  
Untreated Water ◽  
Water Ph ◽  
Flow Through

Groups of 12 fathead minnows were exposed for 129 days to Lake Superior water acidified (pH 5.0, 5.5, 6.0 or 6.5) with reagent grade H2SO4 by means of a multichannel toxicant system for flow-through bioassays. Untreated water (pH 7.5) had the following properties: hardness 45.3 ± 0.3 (95% confidence interval) mg/1 as CaCO3; alkalinity 42.6 ± 0.2 mg/1; Cl- 0.03 meq/1; Na+ 0.05 meq/1; K+ 0.01 meq/1; Ca2+ 0.68 meq/1; Mg2+ 0.26 meq/1; dissolved O2 5.8 ± 0.3 mg/1; free CO2 3.2 ± 0.4 mg/1; T= 24.3 ± 0.1°C. The 1st, 2nd and 3rd gills were subsequently processed for LM (methacrylate), TEM and SEM respectively.Three changes involving chloride cells were correlated with increasing acidity: 1) the appearance of apical pits (figs. 2,5 as compared to figs. 1, 3,4) in chloride cells (about 22% of the chloride cells had pits at pH 5.0); 2) increases in their numbers and 3) increases in the % of these cells in the epithelium of the secondary lamellae.

Efficacy of Vitamin D on Chronic Heart Failure Among Adults

2020 ◽  
Vol 90 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 49-58 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wang Chunbin ◽  
Wang Han ◽  
Cai Lin
Keyword(s):  
Heart Failure ◽  
Vitamin D ◽  
Chronic Heart Failure ◽  
Left Ventricular Ejection Fraction ◽  
Confidence Interval ◽  
Left Ventricular ◽  
Left Ventricular Ejection ◽  
Controlled Trials ◽  
Ventricular Ejection Fraction ◽  
Randomized Controlled

Abstract. Vitamin D deficiency commonly occurs in chronic heart failure. Whether additional vitamin D supplementation can be beneficial to adults with chronic heart failure remains unclear. We conducted a meta-analysis to derive a more precise estimation. PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane databases were searched on September 8, 2016. Seven randomized controlled trials that investigated the effects of vitamin D on cardiovascular outcomes in adults with chronic heart failure, and comprised 592 patients, were included in the analysis. Compared to placebo, vitamin D, at doses ranging from 2,000 IU/day to 50,000 IU/week, could not improve left ventricular ejection fraction (Weighted mean difference, WMD = 3.31, 95% confidence interval, CL = −0.93 to 7.55, P < 0.001, I2 = 92.1%); it also exerts no beneficial effects on the 6 minute walk distance (WMD = 18.84, 95% CL = −24.85 to 62.52, P = 0.276, I2 = 22.4%) and natriuretic peptide (Standardized mean difference, SMD = −0.39, 95% confidence interval CL = −0.48 to 0.69, P < 0.001, I2 = 92.4%). However, a dose-response analysis from two studies demonstrated an improved left ventricular ejection fraction with vitamin D at a dose of 4,000 IU/day (WMD = 6.58, 95% confidence interval CL = −4.04 to 9.13, P = 0.134, I2 = 55.4%). The results showed that high dose vitamin D treatment could potentially benefit adults with chronic heart failure, but more randomized controlled trials are required to confirm this result.

Confidence Interval Pictures Can Give Better Inference Than Significance Testing

2006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geoff Cumming ◽  
Melissa Coulson ◽  
Michelle Healey ◽  
Fiona Fidler
Keyword(s):  
Confidence Interval ◽  
Significance Testing

Using Connectionist Modules for Decision Support

1990 ◽  
Vol 29 (03) ◽  
pp. 167-181 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Hripcsak
Keyword(s):  
Decision Support ◽  
Standard Deviation ◽  
Confidence Interval ◽  
Posterior Probability ◽  
Back Propagation ◽  
Connectionist Model ◽  
Test Set ◽  
The Third ◽  
Independent Test ◽  
Better Than

AbstractA connectionist model for decision support was constructed out of several back-propagation modules. Manifestations serve as input to the model; they may be real-valued, and the confidence in their measurement may be specified. The model produces as its output the posterior probability of disease. The model was trained on 1,000 cases taken from a simulated underlying population with three conditionally independent manifestations. The first manifestation had a linear relationship between value and posterior probability of disease, the second had a stepped relationship, and the third was normally distributed. An independent test set of 30,000 cases showed that the model was better able to estimate the posterior probability of disease (the standard deviation of residuals was 0.046, with a 95% confidence interval of 0.046-0.047) than a model constructed using logistic regression (with a standard deviation of residuals of 0.062, with a 95% confidence interval of 0.062-0.063). The model fitted the normal and stepped manifestations better than the linear one. It accommodated intermediate levels of confidence well.

Does Low Protein Concentration of Tissue-type Plasminogen Activator Predict a Low Risk of Spontaneous Deep Vein Thrombosis?

1995 ◽  
Vol 74 (02) ◽  
pp. 718-721 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jørgen Gram ◽  
Johannes Sidelmann ◽  
Jørgen Jespersen
Keyword(s):  
Deep Vein Thrombosis ◽  
Confidence Interval ◽  
Plasminogen Activator ◽  
Fibrinolytic Activity ◽  
Protein Concentration ◽  
Tissue Type ◽  
Vein Thrombosis ◽  
Low Protein ◽  
Deep Vein ◽  
Pai 1

SummaryMany reports have demonstrated an abnormal fibrinolysis in a subset of patients with deep vein thrombosis. We have studied systemic global fibrinolytic activity and protein concentrations of tissue-type plasminogen activator (t-PA) and plasminogen activator inhibitor type 1 (PAI-1) in plasma of 25 young patients with a previous instance of spontaneous deep vein thrombosis documented by phlebography and in 50 healthy controls. The two populations were comparable with respect to a number of base-line variables (age, height, weight, etc.), while the patients had significantly lower fibrinolytic activity (p <0.02), and significantly higher protein concentrations of t-PA (p <0.0001) and PAI-1 (p <0.0006).We used probit scale plots to identify the consequence of different cut-off points to separate patients from controls. Reasonable separation could be obtained for t-PA with a cut-off point of 5.2 ng/ml and for PAI-1 18 ng/ml. The sensitivity and specificity for these cut-off points were for t-PA 73% (95% confidence interval 63%-84%) and for PAI-1 67% (confidence interval 55%-77%). The negative predictive value with a cut-off point t-PA concentration of 5.2 ng/ml was 85% (95% confidence interval 70%-94%). We observed a significantly negative association between concentration of t-PA and fibrinolytic activity (rs = -0.47; p <0.005) and also between PAI-1 and fibrinolytic activity (rs = -0.78; p <0.005).We conclude that a young healthy population is characterized by low protein concentration of t-PA (and PAI-1) compared with young patients with a previous instance of spontaneous vein thrombosis, and we tentatively state that a low protein concentration of t-PA predicts a low risk of spontaneous deep vein thrombosis.

Technical textiles for protection against Arc-flash fire: Savesplash®

2020 ◽  
pp. 67-78
Author(s):  
Nandan Kumar ◽  
Sainath Shrikant Pawaskar
Keyword(s):  
Attenuation Factor ◽  
Threshold Energy ◽  
Single Layer ◽  
Weather Conditions ◽  
Electric Arc ◽  
Risk Category ◽  
Technical Textiles ◽  
Flash Fire ◽  
Level 3 ◽  
Arc Flash

Flash fire caused by electric arc is different than that caused by flammable liquids/fumes or combustible dusts. A suitable protective clothing for protection against electric arc-flash must be designed as per Indian weather conditions. Currently available garments are manufactured using two or three layers of woven/nonwoven combinations to achieve higher Hazard Risk Category (HRC) rating (level 3 and above). However, they are heavy and not comfortable to the end users. Savesplash® is a single layer inherent flame-retardant knitted fabric. Its arc rating was determined using ASTM standards. It achieved arc thermal performance value (ATPV) of 41 cal/cm2, breakopen threshold energy (E_BT) of 42 cal/cm2 and heat attenuation factor (HAF) of 94% when tested as per ASTM F1959/F1959M-14 which translated into an arc rating of 41 cal/cm2. This is equivalent to HRC level 4 ratings as per National Fire Protection Association’s NFPA 70E standard (USA). Further, cut and sewn gloves (HM-100) developed using Savesplash® fabric reinforced with leather on palm area achieved ATPV of 63 cal/cm2 and HAF of 94.5% when tested as per ASTM F2675/F2675M-13.

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