Animal as the Solution II: Phenotyping for Low Milk Urea Nitrogen A1PF Dairy Cows.

The societal pressure on intensive pastoral dairying demands the search for strategies to reduce the amount of N flowing through and excreted by dairy cows. One of the strategies that is being currently explored focuses on the animal as a solution, as there are differences in N metabolism between cows even within the same herd. This work was conducted to explore such an approach in A1PF herds in New Zealand and the possibility of identifying A1PF cows that are divergent for milk urea nitrogen (MUN) concentration through phenotyping as a potential viable strategy to reduce N leaching and emissions from temperate dairy systems.

Performance evaluation of a machine learning-based methodology using dynamical features to detect nonwear intervals in actigraphy data in a free-living setting.

Goal And Aims: One challenge using wearable sensors is nonwear time. Without a nonwear (e.g.

Enhancement on selenium volatilization for phytoremediation: role of plant and soil microbe interaction.

This study aimed at quantifying the potential effects of plant and soil microbial interaction on selenium (Se) volatilization, with the specific objectives of identifying soil bacteria associated with rabbitfoot grass () and demonstrating the enhancement of Se volatilization in the soil-Indian mustard () system through inoculation of the soil with the identified best Se-volatilizing bacterial strain. Soil bacteria were isolated from topsoil and rhizosphere soils of rabbitfoot grass, and the bacterial colonies were characterized via PCR-DGGE and DGGE band analysis prior to their identification using 16S rDNA sequencing technique. produced over 500-fold more volatile Se in a culture medium treated with 15 µg Se/mL (equal mixture of SeO , SeO and selenomethionine) than any of the other eight identified bacterial strains.

Selective learning for sensing using shift-invariant spectrally stable undersampled networks.

The amount of data collected for sensing tasks in scientific computing is based on the Shannon-Nyquist sampling theorem proposed in the 1940s. Sensor data generation will surpass 73 trillion GB by 2025 as we increase the high-fidelity digitization of the physical world. Skyrocketing data infrastructure costs and time to maintain and compute on all this data are increasingly common.

A Real-Time Approach for Assessing Rodent Engagement in a Nose-Poking Go/No-Go Behavioral Task Using ArUco Markers.

Behavioral neuroscience requires precise and unbiased methods for animal behavior assessment to elucidate complex brain-behavior interactions. Traditional manual scoring methods are often labor-intensive and can be prone to error, necessitating advances in automated techniques. Recent innovations in computer vision have led to both marker- and markerless-based tracking systems.

Studies on uranium concentration in groundwater samples and its associated health hazards to the residents of surrounding regions of Manchanabele reservoir, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India.

Uranium occurs naturally in groundwater and surface water. Being a radioactive element, high uranium concentration can cause impact on human health. The health effects associated with consumption of uranium through water includes increased cancer risk and kidney toxicity.

Postmortem clots (PMC) of the heart; is it merely an artifact or a predictor of cause of death?

Background: Post Mortem Clots (PMC) are considered as artifacts observed during forensic autopsies; hence, their medico legal importance has not been evaluated at length in the past. This study was designed with the intent of finding the association of age, gender, cause of death (COD) and postmortem interval (PI) with PMC formation.

Methods: Secondary data of all postmortems performed by the 1st author from June,2015 to June,2018 at Teaching Hospital Anuradhapura were extracted.

Progress in Nanostructured Mechano-Bactericidal Polymeric Surfaces for Biomedical Applications.

Bacterial infections and antibiotic resistance remain significant contributors to morbidity and mortality worldwide. Despite recent advances in biomedical research, a substantial number of medical devices and implants continue to be plagued by bacterial colonisation, resulting in severe consequences, including fatalities. The development of nanostructured surfaces with mechano-bactericidal properties has emerged as a promising solution to this problem.

Outcome of transurethral resection of bladder tumour under spinal anaesthesia combined with obturator nerve block in Sri Lanka.

Purpose: Transurethral resection of bladder tumour (TURBT) is done under general anaesthesia (GA) with muscle relaxation to prevent obturator jerk and bladder perforation. TURBT under spinal anaesthesia (SA) with obturator nerve block (ONB) may prevent the obturator jerk while eliminating the disadvantages of GA.

Objectives: To assess the outcome of TURBT under SA and ONB.

A Nutritional Investigation of Major Feed Types and Feed Rations Used in Medium-Scale Dairy Production Systems in Sri Lanka.

In this paper, the nutritional quality, digestibility, and chemical composition of major feed types as well as the use of those feeds in rations by medium-scale dairy farmers in the Kurunegala district of Sri Lanka were studied. Nine dairy farms were visited fortnightly over a five-month period to identify the feeds that were commonly used. All farms operated under a stall-feeding system in which a manually mixed ration (MMR) was fed 2-3 times daily.

The Influence of Rotational Length, along with Pre- and Post-Grazing Measures on Nutritional Composition of Pasture during Winter and Spring on New Zealand Dairy Farms.

The quality of ryegrass−clover pasture was investigated between August (winter: start of calving) and November (spring: end of breeding) on pasture-based dairy farms (>85% of total feed from pasture) that had short (n = 2, Farms A and B; winter ~30 days, spring ~20−25 days) or long (n = 2, Farms C and D; winter ~35 days, spring ~25−30 days) grazing rotations to determine whether quality was affected by grazing rotation length (RT). Weekly assessments of pasture growth and herbage quality were made using a standardised electronic rising plate meter, and near-infrared spectroscopy, respectively. Data were subjected to repeated measure mixed model analysis, in which herbage quality was the outcome variable.

Online Improvement of Condition-Baesd Maintenance Policy via Monte Carlo Tree Search.

Unlabelled: Often in manufacturing systems, scenarios arise where the demand for maintenance exceeds the capacity of maintenance resources. This results in the problem of allocating the limited resources among machines competing for them. This maintenance scheduling problem can be formulated as a Markov decision process (MDP) with the goal of finding the optimal dynamic maintenance action given the current system state.

Two lives at stake: Obstetric anaphylactic shock resulting in acute respiratory distress syndrome - A case report.

Maternal anaphylaxis is rare albeit life-threatening critical incident dreaded by many due to negative effects on not only the mother but the foetus as well. Antibiotics and anaesthetic agents still contribute to majority of the episodes. Consequences of anaphylaxis such as placental insufficiency and subsequent foetal neurocognitive deficits are devastating outcomes.

Selectively Targeting Tumor Hypoxia With the Hypoxia-Activated Prodrug CP-506.

Hypoxia-activated prodrugs (HAP) are a promising class of antineoplastic agents that can selectively eliminate hypoxic tumor cells. This study evaluates the hypoxia-selectivity and antitumor activity of CP-506, a DNA alkylating HAP with favorable pharmacologic properties. Stoichiometry of reduction, one-electron affinity, and back-oxidation rate of CP-506 were characterized by fast-reaction radiolytic methods with observed parameters fulfilling requirements for oxygen-sensitive bioactivation.

Six-Sigma Quality Management of Additive Manufacturing.

Quality is a key determinant in deploying new processes, products, or services and influences the adoption of emerging manufacturing technologies. The advent of additive manufacturing (AM) as a manufacturing process has the potential to revolutionize a host of enterprise-related functions from production to the supply chain. The unprecedented level of design flexibility and expanded functionality offered by AM, coupled with greatly reduced lead times, can potentially pave the way for mass customization.

Repurposing Poly(3-hexylthiophene) as a Conductivity-Reducing Additive for Polyethylene-Based High-Voltage Insulation.

Poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) is found to be a highly effective conductivity-reducing additive for low-density polyethylene (LDPE), which introduces a new application area to the field of conjugated polymers. Additives that reduce the direct-current (DC) electrical conductivity of an insulation material at high electric fields have gained a lot of research interest because they may facilitate the design of more efficient high-voltage direct-current power cables. An ultralow concentration of regio-regular P3HT of 0.

Improving the solubility of anti-proliferative thieno[2,3-b]quinoline-2-carboxamides.

Thieno[2,3-b]pyridines are a class of compounds known for their potent anti-proliferative activities against a range of human cancer cell lines. In this research, a number of strategies to generate analogues that have improved aqueous solubility whilst retaining the potent anti-proliferative actions, compared to previously-explored compounds in this class, were made. Herein we report the synthesis of 80 novel compounds, comprising two series, all based on the thieno[2,3-b]pyridine core structure.

Gaining Insights Into Patient Satisfaction Through Interpretable Machine Learning.

Patient satisfaction is a key performance indicator of patient-centered care and hospital reimbursement. To discover the major factors that affect patient experiences is considered as an effective way to formulate corrective actions. A patient during his/her healthcare journey interacts with multiple health professionals across different service units.

Clinicopathological characteristics and oncological outcomes of patients with renal cell carcinoma.

Although certain characteristics of renal cell carcinoma (RCC) seen in Sri lanka are different to the developed world and incidence is rising, no data on oncological outcome and patient survival are avaialble. A hospital-based cohort study was done in a tertiary referral centre over a period of eight years (2012-2019). A total of 285 newly diagnosed RCC had a mean follow-up period of 28.

In vivo AFB detoxification by Lactobacillus fermentum LC5/a with chlorophyll and immunopotentiating activity in albino mice.

The potential Aflatoxin B (AFB) binding Lactobacillus fermentum (LC5/a) was used for in vivo AFB binding and detoxification in presence of chlorophyll (CL) in male Swiss albino mice. Mice were randomly divided into seven groups. The control groups (CL, AFB and LC5/a) received chlorophyll (250 μg/kg b.

Managing Illicit Online Pharmacies: Web Analytics and Predictive Models Study.

Background: Online pharmacies have grown significantly in recent years, from US $29.35 billion in 2014 to an expected US $128 billion in 2023 worldwide. Although legitimate online pharmacies (LOPs) provide a channel of convenience and potentially lower costs for patients, illicit online pharmacies (IOPs) open the doors to unfettered access to prescription drugs, controlled substances (eg, opioids), and potentially counterfeits, posing a dramatic risk to the drug supply chain and the health of the patient.