The oligotrophic Sargasso Sea in the western part of the North Atlantic Ocean is influenced by a complex set of oceanographic features that might introduce nutrients and enhance productivity in ...certain areas. To increase our understanding of the variability in plankton communities and to determine the potential reasons why Atlantic eelsAnguillaspp. use this area for spawning, we investigated the distribution and productivity of the zooplankton community across the Subtropical Convergence Zone (STCZ) in the Sargasso Sea in March and April 2007. The vertical and horizontal distributions of protozoans and metazooplankton were investigated at 33 stations along 3 north to south transects ranging from 64 to 70° W to a depth of 400 m. Copepods dominated the metazooplankton, while heterotrophic athecate dinoflagellates dominated the protozoan biomass. Other important groups were appendicularians, gastropod larvae and ostracods. Most of the recorded metazoan groups responded numerically to the frontal features (i.e. the surfacing of the isotherms) with high abundance in the STCZ compared with areas north and south of this. Juvenile copepod growth and egg production peaked in the STCZ, with a weight-specific growth rate of juvenile copepods ranging from 0.09 to 0.21 d–1, and a much lower specific egg production in the order of 0.01% d–1. The Sargasso Sea is described as oligotrophic, but the availability of athecate dinoflagellates and ciliates in the STCZ potentially leads to an enhanced mesozooplankton secondary production, which may in turn be available to organisms at higher trophic levels such as larvae of Atlantic eels.
Psychological distress following cancer diagnosis may lead to mental health complications including depression and anxiety. Non‐Hodgkin lymphomas (NHLs) include indolent and aggressive subtypes for ...which treatment and prognosis differ widely. Incident use of psychotropic drugs (PDs—antidepressants, antipsychotics, and anxiolytics) and its correlation to lymphoma types can give insights into the psychological distress these patients endure. In this prospective matched cohort study, we used nationwide population‐based registries to investigate the cumulative risk of PD use in NHL patients compared to a sex‐ and age‐matched cohort from the Danish background population. In addition, contact patterns to psychiatric departments and incident intentional self‐harm or completed suicide were explored. In total, 8750 NHL patients and 43 750 matched comparators were included (median age 68; male:female ratio 1.6). Median follow‐up was 7.1 years. Two‐year cumulative risk of PD use was higher in NHL patients (16.4%) as compared to the matched comparators (5.1%, p < .01); patients with aggressive NHL subtypes had the highest incidence. Prescription rates were higher in the first years after diagnosis but approached the rate of the matched population 5 years into survivorship in aggressive NHLs, whereas patients with indolent subtypes continued to be at higher risk. NHL patients had a slightly higher two‐year risk of suicide/intentional self‐harm (0.3%) as compared to the matched comparators (0.2%, p = .01). These results demonstrate that mental health complications among NHL patients are frequent. Routine assessment for symptoms of depression and anxiety should be consider as part of standard follow‐up of NHL patients.
The energy produced by bifacial photovoltaic (PV) arrays can be augmented via albedo enhancements. However, the value of the additional energy must outweigh the costs for such modifications to be ...economically viable. In this work, the electrical performance and economic value of six 13 kWp crystalline-silicon (c-Si) PV arrays with distinct configurations are evaluated. The system designs include horizontal single axis trackers (HSAT) and 25° fixed-tilt structures, monofacial and bifacial PV panels, and low and high ground albedo. The value of the system designs is assessed using onsite electrical measurements and spot prices from the Nord Pool electricity market. We find that HSAT systems increase the annual value factor (VF) by 4% and decrease levelized cost of energy (LCOE) by 3.5 EUR/MWh relative to fixed-tilt systems. The use of bifacial panels can increase the VF by 1% and decrease LCOE by 4.0 EUR/MWh. However, a negligible VF increase and modest LCOE decrease was found in systems with bifacial panels and ground albedo enhancements. Although our results show that albedo enhancements result in lower LCOE than designs without, the uncertainty in upfront and ongoing costs of altering the ground in utility-scale PV parks makes the solution presently unadvisable.
Objective: To investigate whether bodyweight exercises can induce comparable levels of muscle activity as conventional machine exercises in chronic stroke patients.
Methods: Eighteen patients ...performed three repetitions of bilateral- and unilateral machine leg press and the bodyweight exercises chair rise and hip thrust. Surface electromyography (EMG) was recorded from 10 lower extremity muscles and normalized to maximal EMG (nEMG) of the non-paretic leg.
Results: For the paretic leg, the bodyweight exercises showed comparable levels of nEMG in 6 out of 10 muscles compared with the bilateral leg press. Vastus lateralis nEMG was higher during bilateral leg press compared with hip thrust (38% 95% CI 33-42 vs. 10% 95% CI 6-15, p < 0.0001) and chair rise (38% 95% CI 33-42 vs. 27% 95% CI 22-32, p < 0.0001). Vastus medialis nEMG was higher during bilateral leg press compared with hip thrust (34% 95%CI 27-40 vs. 8% 95% CI 2-15, p < 0.0001). Unilateral leg press showed higher nEMG compared with bilateral leg press in biceps femoris (28% 95% CI 23-34 vs. 19% 95% CI 13-24, p = 0.0009), gluteus maximus (32% 95% CI 23-41 vs. 25% 95% CI 16-34, p < 0.05), and vastus medialis (42% 95% CI 36-48 vs. 34% 95% CI 27-40, p = 0.0013).
Discussion: In patients with chronic stroke, bodyweight exercises activate the majority of the lower limb muscles to comparable levels as bilateral leg press performed in machine. In addition, unilateral leg press was superior to the bilateral leg press and both bodyweight exercises.
Intestinal disease in nursery pigs is the most common cause of antibiotic usage in pigs in Denmark. The decision to initiate batch medication of intestinal diseases in nursery pigs is typically made ...by the stock personnel based on clinical assessments of pigs and counting of diarrhoeic faecal pools on the pen floor. The target population of this study was batches of nursery pigs (10-66 days after weaning) where the stock personnel assessed the pigs to be without signs of intestinal disease and therefore did not needed treatment. The objective was to determine the within-herd prevalence of diarrhoea, and to determine the prevalence of Escherichia coli F4 and F18, Lawsonia intracellularis and Brachyspira pilosicoli by quantitative PCR in pigs with and without diarrhoea.
The overall apparent prevalence of diarrhoeic pigs across sixteen herds was 32.6 % (CI 95 % 27.9-37.3). The prevalence of diarrhoea increased (p ≤ 0.001) with age of the pigs (days after weaning) with an odds ratio of 1.04 (CI 95 % 1.02-1.05) per extra day. Diarrhoeic pools were observed in 51 % of the pens. L. intracellularis, B. pilosicoli, E. coli F4 and F18 were detected in 20, 17, 13 and 11 % of the 256 faecal samples analysed by quantitative PCR respectively. There was no association between detection of pathogens and diarrhoea status of the individual pigs and between detection of pathogens in a pen and diarrhoea floor pools. In 51 % of the samples from diarrhoeic pigs, pathogens were not detected. Only 5 % of the 3060 pigs examined had clinical signs of diseases other than diarrhoea.
One-third of non-medicated nursery pigs had diarrhoea when clinically examined even though they were assessed as healthy by stock personnel. Diarrhoeic status of the pigs and diarrhoeic pools in pen was a poor indicator of intestinal infections with E. coli F4 and F18, L. intracellularis and B. pilosicoli and subclinical infections were common. Therefore, clinical examination and counting of diarrhoea pools should be supported by microbiological testing as decision tools for initiation of batch treatments of intestinal infections in nursery pigs.
Chemotherapy or chemoradiotherapy is the recommended treatment for small cell lung cancer (SCLC), except in stage I disease where clinical guidelines state there may be a role for surgery based on ...favourable outcomes in case series. Evidence supporting adjuvant chemotherapy in resected SCLC is limited but this is widely offered.
Data on 359 873 patients who were diagnosed with a first primary lung cancer in England between 1998 and 2009 were grouped according to histology (SCLC or non-SCLC (NSCLC)) and whether they underwent a surgical resection. We explored their survival using Kaplan-Meier analysis and Cox regression, adjusting for age, sex, comorbidity and socioeconomic status.
The survival of 465 patients with resected SCLC was lower than patients with resected NSCLC (5-year survival 31% and 45%, respectively), but much higher than patients of either group who were not resected (3%). The difference between resected SCLC and NSCLC diminished with time after surgery. Survival was superior for the subgroup of 198 'elective' SCLC cases where the diagnosis was most likely known before resection than for the subgroup of 267 'incidental' cases where the SCLC diagnosis was likely to have been made after resection.
These data serve as a natural experiment testing the survival after surgical management of SCLC according to NSCLC principles. Patients with SCLC treated surgically for early stage disease may have survival outcomes that approach those of NSCLC, supporting the emerging clinical practice of offering surgical resection to selected patients with SCLC.
The course of disease among HIV-2, HIV-1, and HIV-1/2 dually infected patients is different. We investigated the macrophage activation marker soluble CD163 (sCD163) dynamics in 212 HIV-1, HIV-2, and ...HIV-1/2 dually infected patients. There were no differences in sCD163 levels at baseline or during follow-up without antiretroviral therapy (ART). At follow-up on ART, median sCD163 levels were decreased for HIV-1-infected patients (P < 0.001), but not among HIV-2 (P = 0.093) or HIV-1/2 dually infected patients (P = 0.145). The larger decrease in sCD163 levels among HIV-1-infected patients during ART may indicate an HIV type-dependent differential effect of ART on macrophage activation during HIV infection.
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