Activity of pirlimycin against pathogens from cows with mastitis and recommendations for disk diffusion tests

Pirlimycin is an analog of clindamycin that will be recommended for therapy of bovine mastitis. It has good activity against staphylococci and streptococci, the major pathogens for bovine mastitis. Five hundred and thirty bacterial isolates recovered from cows with mastitis were studied to confirm the spectrum of activity and to develop recommendations for susceptibility testing. Pirlimycin is not active against isolates of Enterobacteriaceae, it varies in its activity against enterococci, and it is active against veterinary isolates of streptococci (MIC for 50% of strains tested, < or = 0.03 to 0.06 microgram/ml) and staphylococci (MIC for 50% of strains tested, 0.25 to 1.0 microgram/ml). On the basis of levels of drug attained in the milk with recommended dosing schedules, we chose MIC breakpoints of < or = 2 micrograms/ml for susceptibility and > or = 4 micrograms/ml for resistance. We also recommended a disk diffusion test using a disk containing 2 micrograms/ml and breakpoints of < or = 12 mm for resistance and > or = 13 mm for susceptibility.     

Semi-automated cervical smear pre-screening systems: an evaluation of the Cytoscan-110

This paper reports a test of a system for provision of machine assistance in cervical cytology screening. The hypothesis tested was that if the results of examination by a screener of a small number of high-ploidy cells on specially prepared monolayers, automatically selected and presented by the system, were combined with machine measurement of cell and cell population characteristics, it would be possible to distinguish conditions requiring further action on the part of a cytology service from those in which the patient could safely be signed out. The system appeared broadly capable of this discrimination, with a false-negative error not significantly different (for the numbers tested) on CIN1 and more severe cases to that obtaining for routine screening of the parallel PAP smears, and also to results obtained by a panel of three observers. The machine system appeared to do better than other systems in selecting borderline cases for review, but this may have been an artefact of the method of evaluation used: all results were compared with a 'reference diagnosis', which was computed using statistical techniques to integrate diagnostic information from all available sources. The false-negative error-rate of the system amounted to 5% of high-grade cases, 17% of CIN1's and 29% of borderlines, but were not substantially different from the FN rates for other reporting systems on the same material. The proportion of negative cases referred back for full cytological diagnosis was 34%. Despite this high false-positive rate, the system is potentially cost-effective in use.     

A tubular bioreactor for photosynthetic production of biomass from carbon dioxide: Design and performance

A theory of photobioreactor design is developed. A photobioreactor was constructed in the form of a loop made from 52 m of glass tubing of 1 cm bore; the loop covered about 0.5 m². The culture was illuminated with mercury halide lamps to reproduce sunlight. Computer control was used to maintain constant biomass concentration. The influence of radiation on the reactor temperature is quantitatively predicted. An air lift system was preferred to a liquid pump for culture recycle. The energy required for culture recycle in the loop with Reynolds number 2000 was 0.6 W m^?2. The CO₂ gas/liquid transfer rate achieved was sufficient to meet the maximum possible demand with solar irradiation. The O₂ gas/liquid transfer rate was sufficient to meet the maximum respiration demand at night. The maximum algal biomass concentration achieved exceeded 20 g dry weight litre^?1. A biomass concentration of 8 g dry weight litre^?1 was found to be convenient for normal operation. The maximum uptake of light in the available wavelength range (400–700 nm) was 38 W m^?2, this corresponds to utilisation of solar irradiation up to 89 W m^?2. Below the maximum light uptake rate the efficiency of storage of light energy in the biomass corresponded to 16.6% of solar energy.     

A Decade of Kasabov's Evolving Connectionist Systems: A Review

Evolving connectionist systems (ECoSs) are a family of constructive artificial neural network algorithms that were first proposed by Kasabov in 1998, where ldquoevolvingrdquo in this context means ldquochanging over time,rdquo rather than evolving through simulated evolution. A decade on the number of ECoS algorithms and the problems to which they have been applied have multiplied. This paper reviews the current state of the art in the field of ECoS networks via a substantial literature review. It reviews: (1) the motivations for ECoS; (2) the major ECoS algorithms in use; (3) previously existing constructive algorithms that are similar to ECoS; (4) empirical evaluations of ECoS networks over benchmark datasets; and (5) applications of ECoS to real-world problems. The paper ends with some suggestions of future directions of research into ECoS networks.     

Construction and Evaluation of a Low Cost Interface for the Determination of Elemental Speciation by Gas Chromatography Coupled to Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (GC‐ICP‐MS)

Abstract

The construction and evaluation of a low cost, easily demountable interface to couple capillary gas chromatography to inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry detection is described. Using this interface, the capillary column can be maintained at a high temperature through to the tip of the torch injector using a transfer line heated by a combination of hot argon and electrical resistance. The interface is suitable for analytes with boiling points up to 230°C, allowing for the analysis of low and high boiling analytes in a single injection. The system was evaluated by the determination of the butyltin species in a marine sediment CRM using conventional calibration with tripropyltin dichloride as the internal standard and the measurement of methylmercury in a tuna fish CRM via species‐specific isotope dilution analysis. Detailed information on the design and construction of the interface are included to facilitate its construction and use by other workers.     

Evaluation of cottonseed meals prepared by extraction with acetone-hexane-water mixtures

Eleven cottonseed meals have been prepared by batch extractions of a given lot of cottonseed with various acetone-hexane-water mixtures using several different extraction schedules. These meals, together with eight meals of commercial origin and a commercial soybean meal, have been subjected to chemical evaluation and assayed for protein quality using the growing chick as a test animal. In general the acetone-hexane-water meals were superior to the commercial cottonseed meals for promoting the growth of the chicks and, considering all the meals, a linear correlation was obtained between the logarithm of the weight gains and the available lysine contents of the meals. The free and total gossypol contents of the cottonseed meals appeared to have little or no influence on the growth rates. Presented at the 52nd Annual Meeting of the American Oil Chemists' Society, St. Louis, Missouri, May 1–3, 1961. One of the laboratories of the Southern Utilization Research and Development Division, Agricultural Research Service, U. S. Department of Agriculture.     

Displacement of five metals sorbed on kaolinite during treatment with modified Fenton's reagent

The displacement of sorbed metals during the treatment of soils and groundwater with modified Fenton's reagent was investigated using five common metal contaminants (cadmium, copper, lead, nickel, and zinc) and kaolinite as a model sorbent. Modified Fenton's conditions included three H(2)O(2) concentrations (0.9, 1.8, 2.7 M) and two catalysts: soluble iron (III) at pH 3 and iron (III)-NTA chelate at pH 6. Iron (III)-catalyzed Fenton's reactions released significant amounts of zinc, cadmium, and copper. Modified Fenton's reactions catalyzed by iron (III)-NTA released zinc, cadmium, copper, and lead, and resulted in greater amounts of metals release than the iron (III)-catalyzed reactions. Metals release may have been mediated by transient oxygen species, such as superoxide, generated by propagation reactions, which become dominant at the relatively high hydrogen peroxide concentrations used. Metals release from kaolinite was undetectable when sufficiently low hydrogen peroxide concentrations were maintained to minimize propagation reactions. These results indicate that using dilute concentrations of hydrogen peroxide for Fenton's ISCO may minimize potential metals mobility when treating contaminated soils and groundwater containing a mixture of organic and metal contaminants.     

Homelessness and social control: a typology

Abstract

The use of ‘social control’ interventions in housing and welfare policy often courts intense controversy, and never more so than when attempts are made to bring about change in the conduct of street homeless people. To date, academic scrutiny has focused on the so-called ‘regulation’ or ‘criminalisation’ of rough sleepers occupying public space, but a range of ‘softer’ control mechanisms are also now in evidence within homelessness support services. This paper explicates the relationship between the distinct forms of social control that have been used in this field – force, coercion, bargaining, influence and tolerance – and compares the perspectives of policy makers, frontline practitioners and homeless people regarding the appropriateness of their deployment in England. It emphasizes that the use of every one of these modes of social control, and indeed the absence of such controls, raises moral and practical dilemmas, the nuance of which is often unacknowledged in academic accounts.