Antimicrobial resistance profile of five major food-borne pathogens isolated from beef, pork and poultry

This study was performed to evaluate the resistance rate against antimicrobials of food isolates of the five major food-borne pathogens to compare these and to possibly distinguish a pattern. A total of 922 samples of the major meat species (pork, beef and poultry) were analysed for thermophilic Campylobacter, Salmonella, Yersinia enterocolitica, pathogenic Escherichia coli and Listeria monocytogenes. Isolates were subjected to antimicrobial resistance testing by the disc diffusion method. Roughly the same overall rate of resistance was identified for thermophilic Campylobacter, Salmonella and pathogenic E. coli. Resistance to quinolones and tetracycline was determined most frequently. In contrast, food isolates of Y. enterocolitica and L. monocytogenes were rarely tested resistant. The significance of our findings is that resistance rates in enteric bacteria seem to be much higher than in pathogens found in a variety of environments, closely associated to the host environment.     

Controlling and monitoring interfacial reactions in composites of azidosilane modified glass filled polyethylene

Model composites of spherical glass particles dispersed in a matrix of high density polyethylene were prepared with controlled variations in the interfacial structure. Dynamic-mechanical measurements of the composites in the melt state were recorded. The physical properties are found to relate to the morphology, bonding, reactivity, and other characteristics of the interfacial region which can be controlled by the applied chemistry. The interfacial reactions can be monitored in-sity by dynamic-mechanical analysis and differential scanning calorimetry.     

Inter-rater reliability of a video-analysis method measuring low-back load in a field situation

Valid and reliable low-back load assessment tools that can be used in field situations are needed for epidemiologic studies and for ergonomic practice. The aim of this study was to assess the inter-rater reliability of a low-back load video-analysis method in a field setting.     

A Linear Image Reconstruction Framework Based on Sobolev Type Inner Products

Exploration of information content of features that are present in images has led to the development of several reconstruction algorithms. These algorithms aim for a reconstruction from the features that is visually close to the image from which the features are extracted. Degrees of freedom that are not fixed by the constraints are disambiguated with the help of a so-called prior (i.e. a user defined model). We propose a linear reconstruction framework that generalizes a previously proposed scheme. The algorithm greatly reduces the complexity of the reconstruction process compared to non-linear methods. As an example we propose a specific prior and apply it to the reconstruction from singular points. The reconstruction is visually more attractive and has a smaller 핃₂-error than the reconstructions obtained by previously proposed linear methods. Bart Jansen, Frans Kanters and Remco Duits are joint main authors of this article.     

Log-linear modelling of spatial interaction

The research reported in this paper is part of a larger research effort to develop a methodology for estimating spatial interaction (migration) flows. The first section of the paper summarises the equivalences between the log-linear model and conventional spatial interaction models. It is shown under what conditions the values of the balancing factors of the gravity model coincide with the parameter values of the loglinear model. The second section focuses on theanalysis of (known) spatial interaction flows. The effects associated with the region of origin, region of destination and spatial separation are identified and quantified. A ‘distance effect’ is derived from the flow matrix. A measure of accessibility is developed and compared with accessibility measures derived from different forms of distance functions. The third section deals with theestimation of spatial interaction flows. It is shown how the quality of the estimates (and hence the model performance) can be improved by efficiently adding information. This is particularly relevant in the estimation of disaggregated spatial interaction flows.     

Need for recovery from work: evaluating short-term effects of working hours,patterns and schedules

In this paper working hours, patterns and work schedules of employees were evaluated in terms of need for recovery from work. Self-administered questionnaire data from employees of the Maastricht Cohort Study on Fatigue at Work (n = 12,095) were used. Poisson regression analyses and multivariate logistic regression analyses revealed that higher working hours a day and working hours a week generally went together with more need for recovery from work. Overtime work was particularly associated with higher need for recovery from work in both genders. Both male and female three-shift or irregular shift workers had higher odds of elevated need for recovery compared to day workers. When additionally controlling for work-related factors, need for recovery levels among shift workers substantially lowered. This study clearly showed that working hours and schedules are associated with need for recovery from work, with different associations for men and women. Especially the associations between work schedules and need for recovery from work were very interrelated with other work-related factors. Future studies could further investigate the possibility that shift work might function as a proxy of other work-related factors that explain the different levels in need for recovery from work, or that job demands are perceived higher among shift workers and may therefore lead to more need for recovery from work.