Factors associated with Ontario dairy producers' management and care of down dairy cattle.

The objective of this study was to better understand current management practices for down cows in Ontario, Canada, and to identify factors associated with the adoption of acceptable practices. An online survey was distributed to all dairy producers in Ontario, Canada (n = 3,367) and was available from November 2020 to March 2021, inclusive. Dairy producers were identified through their provincial dairy organization and contacted via email, and the survey was also promoted via social media.

Compensation Effect Exhibited by Gold Bimetallic Nanoparticles during CO Oxidation.

While CO oxidation catalyzed by gold nanoparticles has been practiced academically for several decades, there are still important discoveries to be made. One area of current interest is to pair Au with another alloying metal and observe the catalytic consequences of the presence of the other metal. In this work, TiO-supported bimetallic Au nanoparticles are alloyed with Cu, Co, Ni, Pd, and Ru and used as catalysts for CO oxidation.

Quantifying risk using FMEA: An alternate approach to AAPM TG-100 for scoring failures and evaluating clinical workflow.

Purpose: Renovation of the brachytherapy program at a leading cancer center utilized methods of the AAPM TG-100 report to objectively evaluate current clinical brachytherapy workflows and develop techniques for minimizing the risk of failures, increasing efficiency, and consequently providing opportunities for improved treatment quality. The TG-100 report guides evaluation of clinical workflows with recommendations for identifying potential failure modes (FM) and scoring them from the perspective of their occurrence frequency O, failure severity S, and inability to detect them D. The current study assessed the impact of differing methods to determine the risk priority number (RPN) beyond simple multiplication.

Novel and programmatic improvements to the workflow associated with the AccuBoost breast brachytherapy procedure.

Purpose: While the noninvasive breast brachytherapy (NIBB) treatment procedure, known as AccuBoost, for breast cancer patients is well established, the treatment quality can be improved by the efficiency of the workflow delivery. A formalized approach evaluated the current workflow through failure modes and effects analysis and generated insight for developing new procedural workflow techniques to improve the clinical treatment process.

Methods And Materials: AccuBoost treatments were observed for several months while gathering details on the multidisciplinary workflow.

Membrane and synaptic defects leading to neurodegeneration in Adar mutant Drosophila are rescued by increased autophagy.

Background: In fly brains, the Drosophila Adar (adenosine deaminase acting on RNA) enzyme edits hundreds of transcripts to generate edited isoforms of encoded proteins. Nearly all editing events are absent or less efficient in larvae but increase at metamorphosis; the larger number and higher levels of editing suggest editing is most required when the brain is most complex. This idea is consistent with the fact that Adar mutations affect the adult brain most dramatically.

Global sea-surface iodide observations, 1967-2018.

The marine iodine cycle has significant impacts on air quality and atmospheric chemistry. Specifically, the reaction of iodide with ozone in the top few micrometres of the surface ocean is an important sink for tropospheric ozone (a pollutant gas) and the dominant source of reactive iodine to the atmosphere. Sea surface iodide parameterisations are now being implemented in air quality models, but these are currently a major source of uncertainty.

Codon usage influences fitness through RNA toxicity.

Many organisms are subject to selective pressure that gives rise to unequal usage of synonymous codons, known as codon bias. To experimentally dissect the mechanisms of selection on synonymous sites, we expressed several hundred synonymous variants of the GFP gene in , and used quantitative growth and viability assays to estimate bacterial fitness. Unexpectedly, we found many synonymous variants whose expression was toxic to Unlike previously studied effects of synonymous mutations, the effect that we discovered is independent of translation, but it depends on the production of toxic mRNA molecules.

Spring-summer net community production, new production, particle export and related water column biogeochemical processes in the marginal sea ice zone of the Western Antarctic Peninsula 2012-2014.

New production (New P, the rate of net primary production (NPP) supported by exogenously supplied limiting nutrients) and net community production (NCP, gross primary production not consumed by community respiration) are closely related but mechanistically distinct processes. They set the carbon balance in the upper ocean and define an upper limit for export from the system. The relationships, relative magnitudes and variability of New P (from NO uptake), O : argon-based NCP and sinking particle export (based on the U : Th disequilibrium) are increasingly well documented but still not clearly understood.

Categorisation of Colour Terms Using New Validation Tools: A Case Study and Implications.

This article elaborates on the results of a field experiment conducted among speakers of the Chakali language, spoken in northern Ghana. In the original study, the Color-aid Corporation Chart was used to perform the focal task in which consultants were asked to point at a single colour tile on the chart. However, data from the focal task could not be analysed since the Color-aid tiles had not yet been converted into numerical values set forth by the Commission internationale de l'éclairage (CIE).

Early and multiple PSA bounces can occur following high-dose prostate stereotactic body radiation therapy: Subset analysis of a phase 1/2 trial.

Purpose: We hypothesized that high-dose stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) would lead to faster time to nadir and lower nadir values compared with conventional radiation therapy experiences. We now report prostate-specific antigen (PSA) kinetics following high-dose SBRT in patients treated with radiation alone.

Methods And Materials: Ninety-one patients were enrolled on the phase 1/2 dose escalation study of SBRT for localized prostate cancer.

Preseason Aerobic Capacity Is an Independent Predictor of In-Season Injury in Collegiate Soccer Players.

Purpose: To determine whether preseason aerobic capacity is independently associated with in-season injury among collegiate soccer players.

Design: Prospective cohort study.

Setting: University athletic department.

Stereotactic body radiation therapy for low and intermediate risk prostate cancer-Results from a multi-institutional clinical trial.

Background: We report the outcome of a phase I/II clinical trial of stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) for low (LR) and select intermediate risk (IR) prostate cancer (PCa) patients.

Patients And Methods: Eligible patients included men with prostate adenocarcinoma with Gleason score 6 with PSA ≤ 20 or Gleason 7 with PSA ≤ 15 and clinical stage ≤ T2b. For the phase I portion of the study patients in cohorts of 15 received 45, 47.

The RNA-editing enzyme ADAR1 controls innate immune responses to RNA.

The ADAR RNA-editing enzymes deaminate adenosine bases to inosines in cellular RNAs. Aberrant interferon expression occurs in patients in whom ADAR1 mutations cause Aicardi-Goutières syndrome (AGS) or dystonia arising from striatal neurodegeneration. Adar1 mutant mouse embryos show aberrant interferon induction and die by embryonic day E12.

Investigation of Nonuniform Dose Voxel Geometry in Monte Carlo Calculations.

The purpose of this work is to investigate the efficacy of using multi-resolution nonuniform dose voxel geometry in Monte Carlo (MC) simulations. An in-house MC code based on the dose planning method MC code was developed in C++ to accommodate the nonuniform dose voxel geometry package since general purpose MC codes use their own coupled geometry packages. We devised the package in a manner that the entire calculation volume was first divided into a coarse mesh and then the coarse mesh was subdivided into nonuniform voxels with variable voxel sizes based on density difference.

Predictors of rectal tolerance observed in a dose-escalated phase 1-2 trial of stereotactic body radiation therapy for prostate cancer.

Purpose: To convey the occurrence of isolated cases of severe rectal toxicity at the highest dose level tested in 5-fraction stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) for localized prostate cancer; and to rationally test potential causal mechanisms to guide future studies and experiments to aid in mitigating or altogether avoiding such severe bowel injury.

Methods And Materials: Clinical and treatment planning data were analyzed from 91 patients enrolled from 2006 to 2011 on a dose-escalation (45, 47.5, and 50 Gy in 5 fractions) phase 1/2 clinical study of SBRT for localized prostate cancer.

Establishing a process of irradiating small animal brain using a CyberKnife and a microCT scanner.

Purpose: Establish and validate a process of accurately irradiating small animals using the CyberKnife G4 System (version 8.5) with treatment plans designed to irradiate a hemisphere of a mouse brain based on microCT scanner images.

Methods: These experiments consisted of four parts: (1) building a mouse phantom for intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) quality assurance (QA), (2) proving usability of a microCT for treatment planning, (3) fabricating a small animal positioning system for use with the CyberKnife's image guided radiotherapy (IGRT) system, and (4)in vivo verification of targeting accuracy.

Phase II Clinical Trial of Robotic Stereotactic Body Radiosurgery for Metastatic Gynecologic Malignancies.

Background: Recurrent gynecologic cancers are often difficult to manage without significant morbidity. We conducted a phase II study to assess the safety and the efficacy of ablative robotic stereotactic body radiosurgery (SBRT) in women with metastatic gynecologic cancers.

Methods: A total of 50 patients with recurrent gynecologic cancer who had single or multiple (≤4) metastases underwent robotic-armed Cyberknife SBRT (24Gy/3 daily doses).

Stereotactic radiosurgery for gynecologic cancer.

Stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) distinguishes itself by necessitating more rigid patient immobilization, accounting for respiratory motion, intricate treatment planning, on-board imaging, and reduced number of ablative radiation doses to cancer targets usually refractory to chemotherapy and conventional radiation. Steep SBRT radiation dose drop-off permits narrow 'pencil beam' treatment fields to be used for ablative radiation treatment condensed into 1 to 3 treatments. Treating physicians must appreciate that SBRT comes at a bigger danger of normal tissue injury and chance of geographic tumor miss.

Hematological toxicity after robotic stereotactic body radiosurgery for treatment of metastatic gynecologic malignancies.

Purpose: To evaluate hematological toxicity after robotic stereotactic body radiosurgery (SBRT) for treatment of women with metastatic abdominopelvic gynecologic malignancies.

Methods And Materials: A total of 61 women with stage IV gynecologic malignancies treated with abdominopelvic SBRT were analyzed after ablative radiation (2400 cGy/3 divided consecutive daily doses) delivered by a robotic-armed Cyberknife SBRT system. Abdominopelvic bone marrow was identified using computed tomography-guided contouring.

FDG-PET/CT Definition of Clinical Target Volume for Robotic Stereotactic Body Radiosurgery Treatment of Metastatic Gynecologic Malignancies.

The objective of the current article was to evaluate 2-[F]fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose F-FDG) as measured by positron emission tomography for delineation of abdominopelvic gross tumor volumes (GTV) for stereotactic body radiosurgery treatment (SBRT) of metastatic gynecologic cancers. A retrospective review of SBRT was conducted in 27 women with stage IV gynecologic cancers recurring in para-aortic lymph nodes. Robotic SBRT involved 2400 cGy in 3 consecutive 800 cGy daily fractions prescribed to a 3.

Stereotactic body radiation therapy for nonresectable tumors of the pancreas.

Background: Stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) has emerged as a potential treatment option for local tumor control of primary malignancies of the pancreas. We report on our experience with SBRT in patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma who were found not to be candidates for surgical resection.

Methods: The prospective database of the first 20 consecutive patients receiving SBRT for unresectable pancreatic adenocarcinomas and a neuroendocrine tumor under an IRB approved protocol was reviewed.

Pin1 and WWP2 regulate GluR2 Q/R site RNA editing by ADAR2 with opposing effects.

ADAR2 catalyses the deamination of adenosine to inosine at the GluR2 Q/R site in the pre-mRNA encoding the critical subunit of AMPA receptors. Among ADAR2 substrates this is the vital one as editing at this position is indispensable for normal brain function. However, the regulation of ADAR2 post-translationally remains to be elucidated.

Functional conservation in human and Drosophila of Metazoan ADAR2 involved in RNA editing: loss of ADAR1 in insects.

Flies with mutations in the single Drosophila Adar gene encoding an RNA editing enzyme involved in editing 4% of all transcripts have severe locomotion defects and develop age-dependent neurodegeneration. Vertebrates have two ADAR-editing enzymes that are catalytically active; ADAR1 and ADAR2. We show that human ADAR2 rescues Drosophila Adar mutant phenotypes.

Phase I dose-escalation study of stereotactic body radiation therapy for low- and intermediate-risk prostate cancer.

Purpose: To evaluate the tolerability of escalating doses of stereotactic body radiation therapy in the treatment of localized prostate cancer.

Patients And Methods: Eligible patients included those with Gleason score 2 to 6 with prostate-specific antigen (PSA) ≤ 20, Gleason score 7 with PSA ≤ 15, ≤ T2b, prostate size ≤ 60 cm(3), and American Urological Association (AUA) score ≤ 15. Pretreatment preparation required an enema and placement of a rectal balloon.

Stereotactic body radiosurgery for pelvic relapse of gynecologic malignancies.

Clinical management of pelvic relapses from gynecologic malignancies remains challenging. Bulky pelvic relapses often lead to symptomatic cancer-related complications and poor clinical outcomes. Options may be limited by prior surgical, chemotherapeutic, and radiation treatment.