OBJECTIVE To determine current outcomes of percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) and coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). DESIGN The Scottish coronary revascularisation register ...provided prospectively collected data on case mix and in-hospital complications for all revascularisation procedures between April 1997 and March 1999 (4775 PTCA; 5115 CABG). Linkage to routine hospital discharge and death data provided follow up information on survival and repeat revascularisation. RESULTS Stents were used in 51% of PTCA procedures. CABG patients were older, had more severe coronary disease, and had greater comorbidity. PTCA was more likely to be undertaken as an urgent or emergency procedure. Perioperative death and urgent surgery followed 0.3% and 0.6% of PTCA procedures, respectively. Case fatality rates were higher following CABG, with 6.7% dead within two years compared with 3.4% following PTCA. PTCA was more often followed by readmission for ischaemic heart disease, repeat angiography, or revascularisation: 22.8% of patients had repeat revascularisation within two years, compared with 1.8% following CABG. CONCLUSIONS The severity of coronary heart disease was greater than in previously published registry studies and randomised trials. Despite this, overall survival figures were comparable and repeat revascularisation rates lower, particularly following PTCA. Perioperative death and urgent surgery following PTCA were also lower. These favourable outcomes may be attributable, in part, to increased use of bail out and elective stenting.
The disposal of apoptotic bodies by professional phagocytes is crucial to effective inflammation resolution. Our ability to improve the disposal of apoptotic bodies by professional phagocytes is ...impaired by a limited understanding of the molecular mechanisms that regulate the engulfment and digestion of the efferocytic cargo. Macrophages are professional phagocytes necessary for liver inflammation, fibrosis, and resolution, switching their phenotype from proinflammatory to restorative. Using sterile liver injury models, we show that the STAT3-IL-10-IL-6 axis is a positive regulator of macrophage efferocytosis, survival, and phenotypic conversion, directly linking debris engulfment to tissue repair.
Culture temperatures for broiler chicken cells are largely based on those optimized for mammalian species, although normal broiler body temperature is typically more than 3°C higher. The objective ...was to evaluate the effects of simulating broiler peripheral muscle temperature, 41°C, compared with standard temperature, 38°C, on the
in vitro
proliferation and differentiation of primary muscle-specific stem cells (satellite cells; SC) from the
pectoralis major
(PM) of broiler chickens. Primary SC cultures were isolated from the PM of 18-day-old Ross 708 × Yield Plus male broilers. SC were plated in triplicate, 1.8-cm
2
, gelatin-coated wells at 40,000 cells per well. Parallel plates were cultured at either 38°C or 41°C in separate incubators. At 48, 72, and 96 h post-plating, the culture wells were fixed and immunofluorescence-stained to determine the expression of the myogenic regulatory factors Pax7 and MyoD as well as evaluated for apoptosis using a TUNEL assay. After 168 h in culture, plates were immunofluorescence-stained to visualize myosin heavy chain and Pax7 expression and determine myotube characteristics and SC fusion. Population doubling times were not impacted by temperature (
p
≥ 0.1148), but culturing broiler SC at 41°C for 96 h promoted a more rapid progression through myogenesis, while 38°C maintained primitive populations (
p
≤ 0.0029). The proportion of apoptotic cells increased in primary SC cultured at 41°C (
p
≤ 0.0273). Culturing at 41°C appeared to negatively impact fusion percentage (
p
< 0.0001) and tended to result in the formation of thinner myotubes (
p
= 0.061) without impacting the density of differentiated cells (
p
= 0.7551). These results indicate that culture temperature alters primary broiler PM SC myogenic kinetics and has important implications for future
in vitro
work as well as improving our understanding of how thermal manipulation can alter myogenesis patterns during broiler embryonic and post-hatch muscle growth.
We present reverberation mapping results from the first year of combined spectroscopic and photometric observations of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Reverberation Mapping Project. We successfully ...recover reverberation time delays between the g+i band emission and the broad Hβ emission line for a total of 44 quasars, and for the broad H emission line in 18 quasars. Time delays are computed using the JAVELIN and CREAM software and the traditional interpolated cross-correlation function (ICCF): using well-defined criteria, we report measurements of 32 Hβ and 13 H lags with JAVELIN, 42 Hβ and 17 H lags with CREAM, and 16 Hβ and eight H lags with the ICCF. Lag values are generally consistent among the three methods, though we typically measure smaller uncertainties with JAVELIN and CREAM than with the ICCF, given the more physically motivated light curve interpolation and more robust statistical modeling of the former two methods. The median redshift of our Hβ-detected sample of quasars is 0.53, significantly higher than that of the previous reverberation mapping sample. We find that in most objects, the time delay of the H emission is consistent with or slightly longer than that of Hβ. We measure black hole masses using our measured time delays and line widths for these quasars. These black hole mass measurements are mostly consistent with expectations based on the local - relationship, and are also consistent with single-epoch black hole mass measurements. This work increases the current sample size of reverberation-mapped active galaxies by about two-thirds and represents the first large sample of reverberation mapping observations beyond the local universe (z < 0.3).
We propose a solution to the problem of accretion disc sizes in active galactic nuclei being larger when measured by reverberation mapping than predicted by theory. Considering blackbody reprocessing ...on a disc with thickness profile \(H(r)\), our solution invokes a steep rim or rippled structures irradiated by the central lamp-post. We model the continuum lags and the faint and bright disc spectral energy distribution (SED) in the best-studied case NGC 5548 (black hole mass \(M = 7\times10^{7} M_\odot\), disc inclination \(i=45^\circ\)). With the lamp-post off, the observed disc SED requires a low accretion rate (\(\dot{M} \sim 0.0014 M_\odot\)/yr) and high prograde black hole spin (\(a \sim 0.93\)). Reprocessing on the thin disc gives time lags increasing with wavelength but 3 times smaller than observed. Introducing a steep \(H(r)\) rim, or multiple crests, near \(r = 5\) light days, reprocessing on their steep centre-facing slopes increases temperatures from \(\sim1500\) K to \(\sim6000\) K and this increases optical lags to match the lag data. Most of the disc surface maintains the cooler \(T\propto r^{-3/4}\) temperature profile that matches the SED. The bright lamp-post may be powered by magnetic links tapping the black hole spin. The steep rim occurs near the sublimation radius for dust in the disc, as in the "failed disc wind model" for broad-line clouds. Lens-Thirring torques aligning the disc and black hole spin may also raise a warp and associated waves. In both scenarios, the small density scale height implied by the inferred value of \(H(r)\) suggests possible marginal gravitational instability in the disc.
Abstract
Training students in animal science can be difficult to achieve in a comprehensive manner. It is a multidisciplinary field where many different areas are necessary to successfully prepare ...students at multiple levels for the multiple employment opportunities they can choose from as they near graduation and enter the workforce. The approach we have taken with our teaching program is one where students are trained in both experiential animal husbandry techniques as well as areas of fundamental sciences such as cellular and molecular biology. A farm to fork systems approach is being taken to demonstrate the varied areas of study available and aid students in finding their niche. Students first spend time acquiring practical and hands-on experience in animal husbandry, animal food manufacturing, and meat processing and food science research. Most of the projects that students participate in while acquiring animal husbandry skills involve several collections of various types of samples over the animal rearing period for cell isolation and in vitro culture, proteomics, cell-labeling technologies, cryohistology, immunofluorescence staining, and digital microscopy. Our research program focuses primarily on the influence of management and nutrition on the development of the local intestinal immune system, development and growth of the intestine and skeletal muscle and how those interact to impact the overall growth and health of livestock. Exposing students to some of the different types of analyses conducted in research involving fundamental science allows them to gain skills required to determine the mechanisms behind the more applied research results they obtain. Integrating applied and fundamental science in a research setting helps prepare students for several different avenues of employment upon completion of the program. The overall success of this training program has been demonstrated over the last 5 years based on student and employer feedback.
Abstract
Training in animal sciences can be difficult to cover in a comprehensive manner. So many different areas are necessary to prepare students for the multiple employment opportunities afforded ...them upon graduation. This is an approach where students are trained in both experiential animal husbandry techniques as well as some areas of fundamental sciences. A farm to fork approach is being taken to demonstrate the varied areas of the industry and assist students in finding their preferred discipline. Initially, students are taught the basics of nutrition and animal food manufacturing to expose them to this aspect of the allied industry. Practical interactive methodology for raising both poultry and swine are developed through the daily welfare checks conducted by students twice daily at our research facilities. Through these activities students are taught to properly observe and conduct practices of feeding, welfare needs of animals, and health observations. Husbandry techniques are taught and demonstrated and then students are allowed to develop their competency through both participatory and observational methodologies during animal management observations with experienced students and advisor input including questions and answers. Exposure of animal performance objectives and management are delivered to better prepare students for the live animal aspect of the production industry. Additionally, students are involved in actual protein conversion and production of food for human nutritional needs. Students may not fully comprehend opportunities and applications of the protein conversion side of industry. Practical experiential learning is achieved through first-hand experience in the aspects of the protein production industry. Using food science technologies and interactive examples, students also learn about production of pet foods derived from low value co-products from both mammalian and poultry protein conversion. Exposure to both initial meat production and further processing unlocks opportunities for students and their employment success indicates the success of this approach.
The objective of this experiment was to access primary satellite cell (SC) proliferation and differentiation when cultured in different combinations of basal media and sera due to little consistency ...being published on the optimal culture media for primary broiler chicken satellite cells. Cells were cultured in one of three different basal media: McCoy's 5A, high glucose Dulbecco's Modified Eagle's medium (DMEM), and low glucose DMEM. Media were supplemented with 15% chicken serum (CS) or a combination of 5% horse serum (HS) + 10% CS during proliferation while 3% HS or 3% CS were added to the media during differentiation. Cultures were immunofluorescence stained for myogenic regulatory factors (MRF) at 48, 72, and 96 h post-plating for proliferation (Pax7, MyoD, and Myf-5) and 96 h post-proliferation during differentiation (Pax7 and MyoD), including MF20 to assess fusion. Cells cultured in Dulbecco's Modified Eagle's medium tended to have higher proportions of myogenic cells expressing MRF during proliferation and promoted fusion into myotubes compared with McCoy's 5A during differentiation. Culturing primary SC in low glucose media, glucose concentrations similar to circulating glucose concentrations in broilers, HSCS during proliferation and CS during differentiation, appears to be optimal for promoting broiler chicken satellite cell proliferation and differentiation.
Mangalica pigs are gaining popularity within the U.S. as a niche breed, given their reputation for superior-quality pork. However, slow growth rates, a poor lean yield, and excessive adiposity limit ...the widespread adoption of Mangalica. To determine if feeding the metabolic modifier, ractopamine hydrochloride (RAC), would improve growth performance without impairing pork quality in the Mangalica, pigs were fed either 0 or 20 mg per kg RAC for 21 days. At 24 h postharvest, pork quality and carcass composition measurements were recorded; then, primal cuts were fabricated and assessed. RAC increased ADG (
< 0.04) and gain efficiency (
< 0.03) by 24% and 21%, respectively. RAC increased Loin Eye Area (
< 0.0001) by 21% but did not impact the 10th rib fat depth (
> 0.90) or marbling score (
> 0.77). RAC failed to alter any primal cut weights. Feeding RAC lowered b* values (
< 0.04) and tended to lower L* values (
< 0.08) while not affecting a* values (
> 0.30), suggesting RAC darkened loin color. Finally, RAC decreased cook yield percentage (
< 0.02) by 11% without impacting Warner-Bratzler Shear Force (
> 0.31). These data support the hypothesis that feeding RAC to Mangalica improves growth performance without impairing pork quality in this breed.
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