Lungworms (Metastrongylus Spp.) Demonstrated in Domestic Pigs with Respiratory Disease - What was the True Relevance of that?

BackgroundAn outdoor pig herd was affected by severe respiratory disease in one out of three pastures. At necropsy, Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae and Pasteurella multocida were detected in the lungs, as well as the lung worm Metastrongylus apri. The life cycle of Metastrongylus spp. includes earth worms as an intermediate host, and since domesticated pigs mainly are reared indoors lungworms has not been diagnosed in domestic pigs in Sweden for decades, not even in pigs reared outdoors. Therefore, this disease outbreak was scrutinised from the view of validating the impact of Metastrongylus spp..ResultsAt the time of the disease outbreak, neither eggs of Metastrongylus spp. nor Ascaris suum were detected in faeces of pigs aged ten weeks. In contrast, five-months-old pigs at the pasture with respiratory disease shed large amounts of eggs from Ascaris suum, whereas Ascaris suum not was demonstrated in healthy pigs aged six months at another pasture. Low numbers of eggs from Metastrongylus spp. were seen in faecal samples from both these age categories.At slaughter, seven weeks later, ten normal weighted pigs in the preceding healthy batch were compared with ten normal weighted and five small pigs from the affected batch. Healing Mycoplasma-like pneumonic lesions were seen in all groups. Small pigs had more white spot liver lesions, and all small pigs shed eggs of Ascaris suum in faeces, compared to around 50% of the pigs in the normally sized groups. Metastrongylus spp. were demonstrated in 13 of the 25 pigs (52%), %), representing all groups included.ConclusionAs Metastrongylus spp. were demonstrated regardless of health status, and in another healthy outdoor herd, the impact of Metastrongylus spp. on the outbreak of respiratory disease was depreciated. Instead, Metastrongylus spp. was suggested to be common in outdoor production, although rarely diagnosed. The reason for this is because they will escape detection at routine inspection at slaughterhouses, and that they appeared to generally not induce clinical signs of respiratory disease. Instead, a possible association with a high burden of Ascaris suum was suggested to have preceded the severe outbreak with respiratory disease.

Naturalistic Topography Assessment in a Randomized Clinical Trial of Smoking Unfiltered Cigarettes: Challenges, Opportunities, and Recommendations

Smoking topography (ST) is a set of measures profiling the behavioral characteristics of smoking in various settings. The CReSS portable device can measure ST in the natural environment. No standard protocol exists for measuring ST longitudinally with the CReSS. This study examined the utilization of the CReSS to measure ST and highlights challenges and opportunities in a naturalistic setting. This study is part of a randomized cross-over clinical trial of smoking filtered or unfiltered cigarettes. Participants (n = 43) smoked in each study condition for two weeks using the CReSS device for five days in their naturalistic smoking setting. The devices were calibrated and cleaned during the washout period, and data were downloaded every visit. Five test puffs were administered to calibrate each device. Moderate compliance rates (74.1%) were found with device usage, and the issues encountered were overheating/clogging, incorrectly registered date/time-stamped data, and device repair/replacement. Routine inspection/cleaning and training in device usage were instrumental in mitigating device malfunctioning. The CReSS device proved to be a feasible tool to examine naturalistic smoking topography and the potential impact of changes in tobacco product design on smoking unfiltered cigarettes. This is the first study to examine ST variables longitudinally, measured at multiple time points, and using unfiltered cigarettes.

An Unusual Etiology of Submandibular Sialadenitis, Migration of an Ingested Fish Bone to the Submandibular Gland: A Case Report

Recurrent sialadenitis of submandibular gland can have multiple causes, one of the rare being foreign bodies. Motor vehicle accidents, assaults, bullet wounds and iatrogenic surgical fault are the most common causes of traumatic foreign bodies. Fish bone is one of the most common foreign bodies that gets lodged in the upper digestive tract, often located in the tonsil, base of tongue, epiglottis, pyriform fossa and esophagus, where it may be easily identified on routine inspection and removed. The forcible swallowing of food such as rice balls after ingesting fish bones by mistake may lead to the migration of the fish bone from the pharynx, throat or esophagus to the surrounding tissues. Migration most commonly occurs to the soft tissues of the neck, even to the thyroid gland, but migration to the submandibular gland has rarely been reported. Here, we present a case of submandibular sialadenitis due to unusual migration of ingested fish bone to submandibular gland. Foreign body ingestion may cause a series of complications and endanger a patient's life. Cases require high awareness and attentiveness on the part of the first physician to diagnose and manage the condition and appropriate health education should be imparted to the patient. Faridpur Med. Coll. J. 2021;16(1):55-57

What Shape Is Healthy? Body Composition, Body Shape, and Health

Fat is one of the privileged few organs that has earned sufficient historic recognition for its importance to our well-being to be subject to routine inspection at home, in the clinic, and even the gym. We also tend to be very aware of how and where our clothes feel tight, whether we can squeeze comfortably into that economy seat on a plane or through that turnstile at the train station. But what do these feelings say about our health? Are we more in jeopardy if our gut is spilling over our belt, our bum is threatening to shred the seam of our trousers, or the scales are groaning under our weight? To obtain answers to such burning questions—answers which have implications that reach far beyond wardrobe malfunctions and uncomfortable travel—we must first understand techniques used to measure body composition and regional fat mass. Historically the preserve of a handful of enthusiastic experts, the colossal global burden of obesity and associated diseases has made accurate measurement of body composition and fat distribution a key research tool in the scientific and clinical arenas. This chapter reviews the various measurement techniques before examining the data they’ve generated on the striking yet complex relationship between body composition and fat distribution with health outcomes.

Isolated tongue angioedema after alteplase infusion in acute ischemic stroke

Background: Angioedema, like anaphylaxis, has been reported as a rare adverse event of alteplase infusion in acute ischemic stroke. Objective: We report the case of a patient with acute ischemic stroke who after treatment of alteplase developed angioedema. Methods: We report the case of an 81-year-old woman who presented to our observation with acute ischemic stroke. The patient was on therapy with 100 mg acetylsalicylic acid and a triple combination antihypertensive drug (perindopril 10 mg + 2.5 mg indapamide + 5 mg amlodipine). The patient was treated with alteplase infusion. Results: Five minutes after the end of the alteplase infusion (0.9 mg/kg for 1 hour) the patient developed isolated angioedema of the lips and tongue. Conclusion: Although the incidence of alteplase-induced angiodema in these patients is rare, this case report suggests the need for routine inspection of the tongue in acute ischemic patient in treatment with alteplase infusion, especially in female patients in treatment with ACE inhibitors.

Material Corrosion of Tunnel Fire Protection Boards

This paper concerns the degradation of fire protection boards in the ceiling structure of the 4th tube of Elbtunnel in Hamburg, Germany. During the routine inspection an irregularity in the ceiling material was observed. Based on this inspection five cores were drilled out of the fire protection boards. These samples were examined and analyzed using visual, X-Ray Diffraction analysis (XRD), Differential Thermal Analysis (DTA) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) images. From the inspection and the analysis of data it was possible to conclude the cause of the material corrosion of the autoclaved calcium silicate fire protection boards.

Effect of Moxibustion on β-EP and Dyn Levels of Pain-Related Indicators in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis

Background. Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a systemic immunodeficiency disease characterized by persistent synovial inflammation, pannus formation, and bone and cartilage destruction, resulting in joint malformations and function decline. Objective. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of moxibustion on clinical symptoms and levels of pain-related indicators beta-endorphin (β-EP) and dynorphin (Dyn) in patients with RA and to explore the potential anti-inflammatory and analgesic mechanisms of moxibustion in RA treatment. Methods. A total of 64 patients with RA who met the inclusion criteria were randomly and equally classified into the control and treatment groups. The control group received conventional treatment (oral methotrexate, folate, or leflunomide prescribed for a long time). The treatment group was treated with moxibustion at ST36 (Zusanli), BL23 (Shenshu), and Ashi points with respect to the control group. Patients’ clinical symptoms and routine inspection indexes (rheumatoid factor [RF], erythrocyte sedimentation rate [ESR], and C-reactive protein [CRP]) were recorded before and after treatment. Serum levels of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-1β (IL-1β), β-EP, and Dyn were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The software SPSS24.0 was used for statistical analysis. Results. (1) Compared with the pretreatment result, both of the two groups’ clinical symptoms and routine inspection indexes (RF, ESR, and CRP) improved ( P < 0.05), and the improvement of clinical symptoms in the treatment group outperformed that in the control group ( P < 0.05). (2) TNF-α and IL-1β levels decreased significantly in the treatment group after treatment ( P < 0.01), while no significant difference was observed in the control group ( P > 0.05). (3) β-EP and Dyn levels in the treatment group were significantly increased after treatment ( P < 0.01, P < 0.01), but the control group showed no significant difference ( P > 0.05, P > 0.05). It is worth mentioning that the serum TNF-α, IL-1β, β-EP, and Dyn levels between the two groups were significantly different after 8 weeks of treatment ( P < 0.05). (4) Differences in the serum β-EP and Dyn levels in the patients of the treatment group were correlated with TNF-α and IL-1β levels after treatment, and the correlation was mainly negative (r < 0). Conclusion. Moxibustion can improve joint pain in patients with RA using conventional western medicine. One of the mechanisms may affect the serum β-EP and Dyn levels by downregulating the inflammatory factors to play an anti-inflammatory and analgesic role.

Analysis of Service Delivery Improvement of Manufactured Products with Lean Method Management

This study aimed to determine the waste that occurs in activities from receiving to delivering of finished products that can result in delays in the delivery of audio to Japan. The waste identified is limited to activities in the finished goods warehouse. The problem that occurs is the delay in product delivery, because the product is not ready to be delivered so that it causes delays. The lean approach is used to reduce waste in the overall work process activities in the finished goods warehouse. Waste identification was performed through the 7 waste approach. Process Activity Mapping is one of the tools of VALSAT, and is looking for critical waste to find the root cause of waste. Delay can be minimized by making improvements to the layout of the warehouse and routine inspection of goods transporters. Companies should use lean to reduce the waste that occurs so there is no delay in the delivery of audio products.

Railway Fastener Defects Detection under Various Illumination Conditions using Fuzzy C-Means Part Model

To ensure the safe operation of railways, computer vision and pattern recognition technology have been gradually applied to the routine inspection of railway track infrastructure. Rails are fixed to sleepers by railway fasteners, which are important components in railway track systems, and completely missing and partially worn railway fasteners may cause major accidents and train derailments. Because the acquisition of track images is carried out in the real world at any time of the day, the acquired track images have large illumination changes, and the fasteners in the images have slight deformations. To solve these problems, a fuzzy c-means part model (FCMPM) is proposed in this paper. The fastener part model is divided according to the fastener shape and solved by the fuzzy c-means clustering algorithm using the simplified and improved histogram of oriented gradients as the low-level feature. The part score is calculated based on the part’s deformation and then is seamlessly incorporated with cascade detection to determine whether the fastener has defects or not. The experimental results from the fastener defect detection show that the proposed FCMPM algorithm achieves good performance when analysing the collected fastener images and can meet the requirements of fastener defect detection for actual railway lines.