Reducing pig mortality through supervision during the perinatal period

A study was undertaken on a commercial swine farm to investigate methods of reducing perinatal mortality. During a 12-wk period, 251 sows and gilts were assigned randomly to one of four treatment groups in a 2 x 2 factorial design: 1) supervised/induced, 2) supervised/non-induced, 3) unsupervised/induced, and 4) unsupervised/non-induced. Supervised groups of sows and their litter were observed constantly for a minimum of 3 h before and until 3 d after farrowing. The onset of farrowing was induced with 250 micrograms of cloprostenol administered into the vulvo-vestibular mucosa. There was an increase (P = .012) in the number of pigs weaned from supervised (10.17 pigs/litter) relative to unsupervised group (9.44 pigs/litter). This increase was due to a reduction (P = .001) in both the number of stillborn pigs and the mortality of live-born pigs (P = .026). The latter resulted from fewer pigs that died (P = .003). Induction did not influence the mortality of pigs in the perinatal period in unsupervised groups. Induced sows farrowed an average of .43 d earlier than non-induced sows (P = .029). The mean interval from prostaglandin treatment to farrowing was 23.87 h (SD = 10.96). The results of this study suggest that a controlled farrowing system, coupled with good supervision, can improve pig survival. Financial analyses, based on improvements in pig survival resulting from additional labor in the farrowing house, suggested that this method of reducing preweaning mortality is a viable option for improving the profitability of commercial pig farms.     

A comparison of three different isotopic methods for measuring body components of sheep.

A comparison has been made of the three isotopes, deuterium, tritium and ⁴²K for the measurement of body composition of wether sheep by the dilution technique. Eighteen sheep of a small breed were divided into three groups of six and given either a high, maintenance or low plane of nutrition. After an interval of 6-9 weeks the sheep were injected with the three isotopes, slaughtered within 24 h and composition determined directly by chemical analyses. The live weight at the time of slaughter ranged from 21.6 to 34.8 kg and the fat content from 9.9 to 19.7% of live weight. Tritiated water under-estimated total body water by 4.6 ± 3.1 g per 100 g. The overall mean for deuterium oxide agreed closely with that for total body water but the actual results were a little more variable than those for tritiated water. Mean exchangeability of potassium for all wethers was 89.4% and a very close relationship was found between exchangeable potassium and total body potassium. For the prediction of empty body nitrogen, the inclusion of either tritiated water space, deuterium oxide space or exchangeable potasium along with live weight in a multiple regression improved the precision over the use of live weight alone. Similarly multiple regressions including either deuterium or tritium space with live weight predicted body fat content with significantly greater precision than live weight alone and tritiated water was significantly better than deuterium oxide for this purpose. Either tritiated water space or exchangeable potassium with live weight significantly improved the prediction of fat-free empty body weight over the use of live weight alone, and tritiated water was significantly better than ⁴²K for this predictive purpose.     

Clinical features and treatment outcome of childhood T-lineage acute lymphoblastic leukemia according to the apparent maturational stage of T-lineage leukemic blasts: a Children's Cancer Group study

PURPOSE: Leukemic cells from T-lineage acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) patients are thought to originate from T-lymphocyte precursors corresponding to discrete stages of T-cell ontogeny. Here we sought to determine the influence of leukemic cell apparent maturational stage on treatment outcomes in pediatric T-lineage ALL. PATIENTS AND METHODS: From 1983 through 1993, 407 pediatric T-lineage ALL patients were enrolled onto two sequential series of risk-adjusted treatment protocols of the Children's Cancer Group. In the current analysis, T-lineage ALL patients were immunophenotypically classified as follows: CD7+ CD2- CD5- pro-thymocyte leukemia (pro-TL), CD7+ (CD2 or CD5)+ CD3- immature TL, and CD7+ CD2+ CD5+ CD3+ mature TL. RESULTS: Similar induction outcomes of 91.4%, 97.1%, and 98.3% were obtained by the pro-, immature, and mature TL groups, respectively. Four-year event-free survival (EFS) was lower for pro-TL patients (57.1%; SD = 8.4%,) compared with immature and mature TL patients (68.5%; SD = 3.5%; and 77.1%; SD = 4.0%, respectively) with an overall significance of .05 (log-rank test) or .04 (log-rank trend test). Relative hazards rates (RHR) were 2.11 and 1.22 for pro-TL and immature TL versus mature TL, respectively. Highly significant differences were found for overall survival (P = .005, log-rank test; P = .009, log-rank trend test). Multivariate analysis confirmed that the prognostic influence of ontogeny grouping was independent of that of other prognostic factors. CONCLUSION: Leukemic cells of the pro-TL maturation stage identify a small subgroup of T-lineage ALL patients who have a significantly worse EFS outcome than patients whose cells are of a more mature stage of development.     

An evaluation of different bi-spectral spaces for discriminating burned shrub-savannah

We report on the numerical separation of burned and unburned vegetation classes using different bi-spectral spaces, based on the analysis of spectroradiometric data collected in situ and convolved to five spectral bands at red to mid-infrared (MIR) wavelengths. A combination of two MIR bands was found to have strong spectral separation of burned and unburned samples. Using these bands, a spectral index was formulated which is highly sensitive to spectral changes due to burning and relatively insensitive to intrinsic variability. Results have implications for the remote sensing of burned shrub-savannah using bands available on high- and low-spatial resolution sensors, in particular, Landsat TM and MODIS.     

REVISION OF THE BIOLOGICAL MONITORING WORKING PARTY (BMWP) SCORE SYSTEM: DERIVATION OF PRESENT‐ONLY AND ABUNDANCE‐RELATED SCORES FROM FIELD DATA

The Biological Monitoring Working Party (BMWP) score system was introduced in 1980 to provide an index of river water quality for England and Wales based on aquatic macroinvertebrates. The score allocated to each taxon was set by a group of expert river biologists on the basis of their collective experience of the taxon's sensitivity to organic pollution. This paper describes an objective reappraisal of these subjectively derived scores by the statistical analysis of a large and comprehensive database of field data. Two different methods of using biological and environmental data were evaluated as a basis for revising BMWP scores, both of which accounted for variations in site type. One method, Modified New Walley–Hawkes (MNWH), used a modified average score per taxon (MASPT) as its ranking metric and required analyses performed on separated data sets divided into three site types. The other method used the environmental quality index based on MASPT (EQI_MASPT) to provide its ranking metric. Both of these methods involved the use of modified BMWP values for Oligochaeta and Chironomidae for reasons that are explained. Following evaluation, the MNWH method was chosen to derive present‐only and abundance‐related scores for the BMWP taxa, 19 additional taxa mostly from the order Diptera, and 16 extra taxa resulting from the splitting of eight BMWP composite taxa. The MNWH scores were generally in keeping with those derived in an earlier study, except for a few rare taxa that were represented by few samples in that study. The UK Regulatory Authorities intend adopting a new index based on the MNWH scores, and this is given in two appendices. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Treatment of patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia with bulky extramedullary disease and T-cell phenotype or other poor prognostic features: randomized controlled trial from the Children's Cancer Group

BACKGROUND: Children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia with multiple poor prognostic factors and who have a lymphomatous mass at diagnosis, whether of T- or non-T-immunophenotype, are at increased risk of short term remission and extramedullary recurrence, and are in need of better therapies. METHODS: Six hundred and ninety-four eligible patients ranging in age from 1-20 years were entered on the study. Sixty-five percent of the patients had T-cell immunophenotype. Of these, 678 were randomized to one of four regimens: Regimen A: Berlin-Frankfurt-Munster (BFM) 76/79; Regimen B: LSA2-L2 with cranial irradiation; Regimen C: LSA2-L2 without cranial irradiation; and Regimen D: the New York (NY) regimen. RESULTS: Complete remission was induced in 97% of patients. The overall event free survival (EFS) +/- the standard deviation was 60 +/- 4% 6 years after diagnosis, in contrast to 36 +/- 6% in a comparable historic group. The EFS of the 371 T-cell patients was 62 +/- 7%. EFS was best on the NY (67 +/- 7%) and the BFM (67 +/- 6%) arms. These were significantly better than the EFS on the 2 LSA-L2 regimens, with an EFS of 53 +/- 8% (Regimen B) and 42 +/- 11% (Regimen C) (P = 0.03 and 0.0003 for NY vs. Regimen B and NY vs. Regimen C; P = 0.01 and 0.0001 for BFM vs. Regimen B and BFM vs. Regimen C). Regimen C had a 3-fold greater central nervous system (CNS) recurrence rate than the identical chemotherapy Regimen B (16 +/- 5% vs. 6 +/- 4%; P = 0.02), although the difference in overall EFS did not reach the required level for significance. Testicular recurrence varied from 2-8% in comparison with 20% in the historic group. EFS was not influenced by age, gender, CNS disease at diagnosis, morphology, or immunophenotype. In addition to treatment regimen and early response rate, initial leukocyte count, hemoglobin level, liver, spleen, and lymph node enlargement, and the presence of a mediastinal mass had univariate prognostic influence on EFS. In multivariate analysis, only the kinetics of response, leukocyte count (unfavorably, P < 0.0001), and mediastinal mass status (favorably, P = 0.01) were prognostic. CONCLUSIONS: The adverse prognostic implications of lymphomatous ALL can be minimized by the NY and BFM regimens. Cranial irradiation resulted in better CNS disease control when added to the LSA2-L2 regimen, but did not improve the overall disease free survival. With improved systemic chemotherapy, there was no excess of lymph node, testicular, or other local recurrence without prophylactic irradiation to sites of initial bulk disease or to the testes.     

Influence of mating frequency on sow reproductive performance

Gilts and sows were bred one, two, or three times during a single estrous period in a commercial herd for evaluating the effect of mating frequency on reproductive performance. Estrus detection started at approximately 0630 daily by applying back pressure to females with the presence of a mature boar. Natural mating was used. Gilts detected in estrus were mated in the morning of d 1 (AM), the morning of d 1 and 2 (AM-AM), and the morning and afternoon of d 1 and morning of d 2 (AM-PM-AM) for mating frequencies 1, 2, and 3, respectively. Sows were bred in the AM, AM-AM, AM-PM-AM (1), and morning of d 1 and morning and afternoon of d 2 [AM-AM-PM (2)] for mating frequency 1, 2, 3 (1), and 3 (2), respectively. Breeding events in the morning and afternoon started at approximately 0730 and 1530. Females were randomly assigned to a mating frequency. Boars were randomly assigned to each breeding event. In total, 256 gilts and 766 sows were involved in the study. Gilts with a single mating (76.5%, P = .06) and triple matings (80.4%, P < .05) had higher farrowing rates than those with double matings (65.3%). No differences (P > .1) in the farrowing rates of sows were observed between mating frequencies 1, 2, 3 (1), and 3 (2). Double-mated gilts had more (P < .03) total born (9.7 vs 8.6) and pigs born alive (9.3 vs 8.2) than did single-mated gilts. There were no differences (P > .3) in total born and pigs born alive in sows between mating frequencies. We concluded that triple-mating gilts and sows did not improve farrowing rate and litter size compared with single and double matings. There were no differences in farrowing rate and litter size between double- and single-mated sows. Gilts with double matings had a larger litter size than those with a single mating.     

Digital sinusoidal PWMs for a micro-controller based single-phase inverter,Part 1: Principles of digital sinusoidal PWM generation

Nowadays, Digital Sinusoidal Pulse Width Modulation (DSPWM) is playing a major role in the generation of pure sinusoidal waveforms using micro-controller based inverters (Kawabata, Miyashita and Yamamoto 1991 Kawabata, T., Miyashita, T. and Yamamoto, Y. 1991. “Digital Control of Three-Phase PWM Inverter With LC Filter,”. IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics, 6: 62–72.  [Google Scholar]; Herrmann, Langer and Broeck 1993 Herrmann, U., Langer, H. G. and Broeck, H. V.D. 1993. “Low Cost DC to AC Converter for Photovoltaic Power Conversion in Residential Applications,”. 24th Annual IEEE Power Electronics Specialists Conference. 1993, Seattle, WA, USA.  [Google Scholar]; Ying-Yu 1995 Ying-Yu, T. “DSP-Based Fully Digital Control of a PWM DC-AC Converter for AC Voltage Regulation,”. 26th Annual IEEE Power Electronics Specialists Conference. Atlanta, GA.  [Google Scholar]; PICREF-1 1997 PICREF-1. 1997. Uninterruptible Power Supply Reference Design Vol. 2004. Microchip Technology [Google Scholar]; Shih-Liang, Meng-Yueh, Jin-Yi, Li-Chia and Ying-Y 1999 Shih-Liang, J., Meng-Yueh, C., Jin-Yi, J., Li-Chia, Y. and Ying-Yu, T. 1999. “Design and Implementation of an FPGA-Based Control IC for AC-Voltage Regulation,”. IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics, 14: 522–532.  [Google Scholar]; The Electrical Engineering Handbook 2000 The Electrical Engineering Handbook. 2000. , 2nd ed., New York: CRC Press LLC.  [Google Scholar]; Koutroulis, Chatzakis, Kalaitzakis and Voulgaris 2001 Koutroulis, E., Chatzakis, J., Kalaitzakis, K. and Voulgaris, N. C. 2001. “A Bidirectional, Sinusoidal, High-Frequency Inverter Design,”. IEE Proceedings-Electric Power Applications, 148: 315–321.  [Google Scholar]; Skvarenina 2002 Skvarenina, T. L. 2002. “The Power Electronics Handbook,”. In Industrial Electronics Series, Edited by: Irwin, J. D. New York: CRC.  [Google Scholar]; Pop, Chindris and Dulf 2004 Pop, O., Chindris, G. and Dulf, A. 2004. “Using DSP Technology for True Sine PWM Generators for Power Inverters,”. 27th International Spring Seminar on Electronics Technology: Meeting the Challenges of Electronics Technology Progress, 1: 141–146.  [Google Scholar]; Zhongyi, Mingzhu and Yan 2005 Zhongyi, H., Mingzhu, L. and Yan, X. “Core Techniques of Digital Control for UPS,”. IEEE International Conference on Industrial Technology.  [Google Scholar]). The types of DSPWM that can be generated depend on the micro-controller hardware resources and are therefore limited, but provide performance benefits not possible with an analogue controller. For instance, digital controllers offer a programmable solution and therefore more flexibility, as advanced algorithms and additional features can be added to the system in software instead of hardware (Monti, Santi, Dougal, and Riva 2003 Monti, A., Santi, E., Dougal, R. A. and Riva, M. M. 2003. “Rapid Prototyping of Digital Controls for Power Electronics,”. IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics, 18: 915–923.  [Google Scholar]; Brush 2005 Brush, L. “Trends in Digital Power Management: Power Converter and System Demand Characteristics,”. Twentieth Annual IEEE Applied Power Electronics Conference and Exposition. Austin, TX [Google Scholar]). Digital controllers are also less sensitive to environmental conditions and show precise behaviour compared with their analogue counterparts (Skvarenina 2002 Skvarenina, T. L. 2002. “The Power Electronics Handbook,”. In Industrial Electronics Series, Edited by: Irwin, J. D. New York: CRC.  [Google Scholar]). This two-part article looks at the benefits and limitations of three major DSPWMs for a single-phase full-bridge inverter and investigates their performance. In Part 1, the theory of the three major DSPWMs are presented, including mathematical models and simulation results. It looks at the PWM patterns required to generate these DSPWMs and the benefits and limitations of each. To evaluate the proposed mathematical models and simulation results, a 2kVA single-phase full-bridge inverter was developed and the DSPWMs implemented. In Part 2, experimental results from the implementation of the DSPWMs on the prototype 2kVA inverter are presented, which confirms the validity of the proposed analysis in Part 1. Moreover, the performance, including efficiency and losses (switching, conduction, and transformer) of the different DSPWMs implemented on the 2kVA inverter under different loads were examined and recommendations presented.     

Charge trapping phenomena of tetraethylorthosilicate thin film containing Si nanocrystals synthesized by solid-state reaction

In this work, we report on the fabrication of tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS) thin dielectric film containing silicon nanocrystals (Si nc), synthesized by solid-state reaction, in a capacitor structure. A metal-insulator-semi-conductor (MIS) capacitor, with 28?nm thick Si nc in a TEOS thin film, has been fabricated. For this MIS, both electron and hole trapping in the Si nc are possible, depending on the polarity of the bias voltage. A V(FB) shift greater than 1?V can be experienced by a bias voltage of 16?V applied to the metal electrode for 1?s. Though there is no top control oxide, the discharge time for 10% of charges can be up to 4480?s when it is biased at 16?V for 1?s. It is further demonstrated that charging and discharging mechanisms are due to the Si nc rather than the TEOS oxide defects. This form of Si nc in a TEOS thin film capacitor provides the possibility of memory applications at low cost.     

The Measurement of Fetal Movement Using a Strain-Gauge Transducer

Strain-gauge transducers are a simple and safe means of measuring fetal movement. The transducers do, however, respond to all abdominal movement and thus the measuring instrument must discriminate between maternal and fetal movements. The discrimination may be achieved by choosing an appropriate size for the transducer and also by using an adaptive filter. The success of the adaptive filter is illustrated on real data.