Patient Care During Ramadan: A Narrative Review.

Ramadan is the Islamic holy month when Muslims around the world fast from dawn to sunset. This 30-day pattern of intermittent diurnal fasting can have a significant physiologic impact on the body. Importantly, oral intake is forbidden during this time, and many patients do not wish to take medications. From a clinical perspective, this potentially impacts healthcare delivery and chronic disease states. Despite these important changes, awareness of individual patient practices remains limited among healthcare providers in North America, which may worsen health disparities in Muslim patients. A fundamental understanding of the cultural and physiological implications of fasting during Ramadan can improve cultural competence and patient outcomes. In this paper, we review the physiologic changes during fasting, medical exemptions to fasting, and special considerations for the care of Muslim patients with chronic conditions who may fast during Ramadan.

Evaluation of non-additive genetic effects on carcass and meat quality traits in Korean Hanwoo cattle using genomic models.

The traditional genetic evaluation methods generally consider additive genetic effects only and often ignore non-additive (dominance and epistasis) effects that may have contributed to genetic variation of complex traits of livestock species. The available dense single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) panels offer to investigate the potential benefits of including non-additive genetic effects in the genomic evaluation models. Data from 16 971 genotyped (Illumina Bovine 50 K SNP chip) Korean Hanwoo cattle were used to estimate genetic variance components and prediction accuracy of genomic breeding values (GEBVs) for four carcass and meat quality traits: carcass weight (CWT), eye muscle area (EMA), back fat thickness (BFT) and marbling score (MS). Five different genetic models were evaluated through including additive, dominance and epistatic interactions (additive by additive, A × A; additive by dominance, A × D and dominance by dominance, D × D) successively in the models. The estimates of additive genetic variances and narrow sense heritabilities (ha2) were found similar across the evaluated models and traits except when additive interaction (A × A) was included. The dominance variance estimates relative to phenotypic variance ranged from 1.7-3.4% for CWT and MS traits, whereas, they were close to zero for EMA and BFT traits. The magnitude of A × A epistatic heritability (haa2) ranged between 14.8 and 27.7% in all traits. However, heritability estimates for A × D and D × D epistatic interactions (had2 and hdd2) were quite low compared to haa2 and were contributed only 0.0-9.7% of the total phenotypic variation. In general, broad sense heritability (hG2) estimates were almost twice (ranging between 0.54 and 0.68) the ha2 for all of the investigated traits. The inclusion of dominance effects did not improve the prediction accuracy of GEBV but improved 2.0-3.0% when epistatic effects were included in the model. More importantly, rank correlation revealed that partitioning of variance components considering dominance and epistatic effects in the model would enable to re-rank of top animals with better prediction of GEBV. The present result suggests that dominance and epistatic effects could be included in the genomic evaluation model for better estimates of variance components and more accurate prediction of GEBV for carcass and meat quality traits in Korean Hanwoo cattle.

Advances of polyolefins from fiber to nanofiber: fabrication and recent applications.

Polyolefins are a widely accepted commodity polymer made from olefinic monomer consisting of carbon and hydrogen. This thermoplastic polymeric material is formed through reactive double bonds of olefins by the addition polymerization technique and it possesses a diverse range of unique features for a large variety of applications. Among the various types, polyethylene and polypropylene are the prominent classes of polyolefins that can be crafted and manipulated into diversified products for numerous applications. Research on polyolefins has boomed tremendously in recent times owing to the abundance of raw materials, low cost, lightweight, high chemical resistance, diverse functionalities, and outstanding physical characteristics. Polyolefins have also evidenced their potentiality as a fiber in micro to nanoscale and emerged as a fascinating material for widespread high-performance use. This review aims to provide an elucidation of the breakthroughs in polyolefins, namely as fibers, filaments, and yarns, and their applications in many domains such as medicine, body armor, and load-bearing industries. Moreover, the development of electrospun polyolefin nanofibers employing cutting-edge techniques and their prospective utilization in filtration, biomedical engineering, protective textiles, and lithium-ion batteries has been illustrated meticulously. Besides, this review delineates the challenges associated with the formation of polyolefin nanofiber using different techniques and critically analyzes overcoming the difficulties in forming functional nanofibers for the innovative field of applications.

RTK+OSNMA Positioning for Road Applications: An Experimental Performance Analysis in Finland.

We compare the performance of dual-band (GPS L1/L2 and Galileo E1/E5a) real-time kinematic (RTK) positioning in an open sky and urban scenarios in southern Finland using two different authentication schemes: one using only satellites authenticated by Galileo's open service navigation message authentication (OSNMA) service (which at the moment of our tests led to using only authenticated Galileo satellites) and the other with no authentication. The results show the actual trade-off between accuracy and availability vs. authenticity associated with using only OSNMA-authenticated satellites, while the authentication of only Galileo satellites is possible (e.g., a drop of RTK positioning availability from 96.67 to 86.01% in our open sky and from 73.55 to 18.65% in our urban scenarios, respectively), and an upper bound of the potential performance that could be reached in similar experimental conditions had the authentication of GPS satellites been supported (e.g., an overall 14 cm and 10.20 m 95% horizontal accuracy in our open sky and urban scenarios, with below 30, 20 and 10 cm during 97.39, 96.03 and 92.43% of the time in the open sky and 49.12, 45.96 and 39.63% in the urban scenarios, respectively).

An Experimental Performance Assessment of Galileo OSNMA.

We present Galileo Open Service Navigation Message Authentication (OSNMA) observed operational information and key performance indicators (KPIs) from the analysis of a ten-day-long dataset collected in static open-sky conditions in southern Finland and using our in-house-developed OSNMA implementation. In particular, we present a timeline with authentication-related events, such as authentication status and type, dropped navigation pages, and failed cyclic redundancy checks. We also report other KPIs, such as the number of simultaneously authenticated satellites over time, time to first authenticated fix, and percentage of authenticated fixes, and we evaluate the accuracy of the authenticated position solution. We also study how satellite visibility affects these figures. Finally, we analyze situations where it was not possible to reach an authenticated fix, and offer our findings on the observed patterns.

Study of Nutrient Foramina of Dry Adult Human Clavicle.

As a modified long bone, the clavicle is most important bone for transmission of body weight from upper limb to the axial skeleton, for attachment of muscles and is a significant source of bone grafting. This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among 150 (65 right and 85 left) fully ossified dry human clavicle in Mymensingh Medical College, Mymensingh, Bangladesh from January 2020 to December 2020. Sample was collected by the help of nonrandom purposive sampling technique from Anatomy department of Mymensingh Medical College and Community Based Medical College, Bangladesh, Mymensingh. In this study, nutrient foramen was present in 86.67% (130) cases. On the right side, 87.69% (57) cases and on the left side, 85.88% (73) cases were found present. Out of 130 clavicles where nutrient foramen were present, 52.31% (68) nutrient foramina were on inferior surface, 46.92% (61) on posterior surface and 0.77% (1) on superior surface. On the right side, 49.12% (28) cases were found on inferior surface and 49.12% (28) were on posterior surface and remaining 1.75% (1) was on superior surface. On the left side, 54.79% (40) cases were found on inferior surface and 45.21% were on posterior surface whereas none was found on superior surface. Among the present 130 cases, 1 nutrient foramen was found in total 80% (104) cases and 2 in 20% (26) cases. In right side, the numbers of cases were 75.44% (43) for 1 and 24.56% (14) for 2 nutrient foramina. In left side, the number of cases of 1 was 83.56% (61) and 16.44% (12) for 2 foramina. The nutrient foraminal direction was 98.46% (128) towards acromial end and 1.54% (2) to sternal end. In the right side, the direction was 100% (57) towards acromial end. In the left side, the direction was 97.26% (71) towards acromial end and 2.74% (2) to sternal end. In the current study, the mean ±SD nutrient foramina of 65 clavicles of right side were 71.04±13.91 and 67.13±16.30 in 85 left sided clavicles. The purpose for undertaking this study was to obtain baseline data on nutrient foramen to help to predict the success rate and different surgical interventions regarding fractures and grafting.

Increased yield performance of mutation induced Soybean genotypes at varied agro-ecological conditions / Aumento no desempenho de rendimento de genótipos de soja induzidos por mutação em condições agroecológicas variadas

Abstract In soybean breeding program, continuous selection pressure on traits response to yield created a genetic bottleneck for improvements of soybean through hybridization breeding technique. Therefore an initiative was taken to developed high yielding soybean variety applying mutation breeding techniques at Plant Breeding Division, Bangladesh Institute of Nuclear Agriculture (BINA), Bangladesh. Locally available popular cultivar BARI Soybean-5 was used as a parent material and subjected to five different doses of Gamma ray using Co60. In respect to seed yield and yield attributing characters, twelve true breed mutants were selected from M4 generation. High values of heritability and genetic advance with high genotypic coefficient of variance (GCV) for plant height, branch number and pod number were considered as favorable attributes for soybean improvement that ensure expected yield. The mutant SBM-18 obtained from 250Gy provided stable yield performance at diversified environments. It provided maximum seed yield of 3056 kg ha-1 with highest number of pods plant-1 (56). The National Seed Board of Bangladesh (NSB) eventually approved SBM-18 and registered it as a new soybean variety named 'Binasoybean-5' for large-scale planting because of its superior stability in various agro-ecological zones and consistent yield performance.

Resumo No programa de melhoramento da soja, a pressão pela seleção contínua para a resposta das características de rendimento criou um gargalo genético para melhorias da soja por meio da técnica de melhoramento por hibridação. Portanto, foi desenvolvida uma variedade de soja de alto rendimento, aplicando técnicas de reprodução por mutação, na Divisão de Melhoramento de Plantas, no Instituto de Agricultura Nuclear de Bangladesh (BINA), em Bangladesh. A cultivar popular BARI Soybean-5, disponível localmente, foi usada como material original e submetida a cinco doses diferentes de raios gama usando Co60. Em relação ao rendimento de sementes e às características de atribuição de rendimento, 12 mutantes genuínos foram selecionados a partir da geração M4. Altos valores de herdabilidade e avanço genético com alto coeficiente de variância genotípico (GCV) para altura da planta, número de ramos e número de vagens foram considerados atributos favoráveis ​​ao melhoramento da soja, garantindo, assim, a produtividade esperada. O mutante SBM-18, obtido a partir de 250Gy, proporcionou desempenho de rendimento estável em ambientes diversificados e produtividade máxima de sementes de 3.056 kg ha-1 com o maior número de vagens planta-1 (56). O Conselho Nacional de Sementes de Bangladesh (NSB) finalmente aprovou o SBM-18 e o registrou como uma nova variedade de soja, chamada 'Binasoybean-5', para plantio em larga escala por causa de sua estabilidade superior em várias zonas agroecológicas e desempenho de rendimento consistente.

Increased yield performance of mutation induced Soybean genotypes at varied agro-ecological conditions

Abstract In soybean breeding program, continuous selection pressure on traits response to yield created a genetic bottleneck for improvements of soybean through hybridization breeding technique. Therefore an initiative was taken to developed high yielding soybean variety applying mutation breeding techniques at Plant Breeding Division, Bangladesh Institute of Nuclear Agriculture (BINA), Bangladesh. Locally available popular cultivar BARI Soybean-5 was used as a parent material and subjected to five different doses of Gamma ray using Co60. In respect to seed yield and yield attributing characters, twelve true breed mutants were selected from M4 generation. High values of heritability and genetic advance with high genotypic coefficient of variance (GCV) for plant height, branch number and pod number were considered as favorable attributes for soybean improvement that ensure expected yield. The mutant SBM-18 obtained from 250Gy provided stable yield performance at diversified environments. It provided maximum seed yield of 3056 kg ha-1 with highest number of pods plant-1 (56). The National Seed Board of Bangladesh (NSB) eventually approved SBM-18 and registered it as a new soybean variety named Binasoybean-5 for large-scale planting because of its superior stability in various agro-ecological zones and consistent yield performance.

Resumo No programa de melhoramento da soja, a pressão pela seleção contínua para a resposta das características de rendimento criou um gargalo genético para melhorias da soja por meio da técnica de melhoramento por hibridação. Portanto, foi desenvolvida uma variedade de soja de alto rendimento, aplicando técnicas de reprodução por mutação, na Divisão de Melhoramento de Plantas, no Instituto de Agricultura Nuclear de Bangladesh (BINA), em Bangladesh. A cultivar popular BARI Soybean-5, disponível localmente, foi usada como material original e submetida a cinco doses diferentes de raios gama usando Co60. Em relação ao rendimento de sementes e às características de atribuição de rendimento, 12 mutantes genuínos foram selecionados a partir da geração M4. Altos valores de herdabilidade e avanço genético com alto coeficiente de variância genotípico (GCV) para altura da planta, número de ramos e número de vagens foram considerados atributos favoráveis ao melhoramento da soja, garantindo, assim, a produtividade esperada. O mutante SBM-18, obtido a partir de 250Gy, proporcionou desempenho de rendimento estável em ambientes diversificados e produtividade máxima de sementes de 3.056 kg ha-1 com o maior número de vagens planta-1 (56). O Conselho Nacional de Sementes de Bangladesh (NSB) finalmente aprovou o SBM-18 e o registrou como uma nova variedade de soja, chamada Binasoybean-5, para plantio em larga escala por causa de sua estabilidade superior em várias zonas agroecológicas e desempenho de rendimento consistente.

Short-term Treatment Outcome of Patients with Acute ST-elevation Myocardial Infarction in a Tertiary Care Hospital.

Outcome of acute ST-elevation myocardial infarction patients varies time to time. The present study was intended to find out the short-term treatment outcome of the patients admitted in hospital. This descriptive study was carried out in Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU), Dhaka, Bangladesh from 15 January 2014 to 14 July 2014. A total of 100 patients admitted with Acute ST-elevation Myocardial Infarction confirmed on the presence of the (a) Typical chest pain of acute ST-elevation Myocardial Infarction (b) Electrocardiogram (ECG) evidence of ST segment elevation in two or more contiguous leads (c) Raised cardiac marker (Troponin I) were included in the study. Patients were randomly enrolled according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria and observe for one week. Data were processed and analyzed by using computer bases software SPSS version 19.0. Descriptive statistical methods were applied for data analysis. P value was considered as statistically significant when it is less than 0.05. Short-term treatment outcome of acute ST-elevation myocardial infarction include mechanical, arrhythmic, ischemic and inflammatory sequelae, as well as left ventricular mural thrombus. In addition to these broad categories, heart failure, arrhythmia, death are other common complications of AMI. The initiation of the complications usually results in explicit sign and symptoms of the acute MI patients. Learning of the complications in the post infarction period and the clinical syndromes develop with each complication, will allow the health care worker to evaluate and manage the complication appropriately.

A Case Report of Porphyria Cutanea Tarda with Hepatitis-C Virus Co-infection.

Porphyria cutanea tarda is a rare disorder of heme metabolism due to deficiency of the enzyme uroporphyrinogen decarboxylase which is manifested as some typical dermatological features and hepatic dysfunction. The Hepatitis-C virus co-infection is common and it can be aggravated by other environmental factors. We report a case of porphyria cutanea tarda in a 37-year-old woman, who presented with recurrent skin blisters and has concomitant Hepatitis-C virus infection. She was taking oestrogen containing oral contraceptive pill for a long duration. The diagnosis of porphyria cutanea tarda was considered on the basis of clinical features and high level of urine porphyrin level. She was put on hydroxychloroquine and combination drugs for Hepatitis-C virus with significant improvement after 3 months of therapy.

Resistance to QoI and DMI Fungicides Does Not Reduce Virulence of C. beticola Isolates in North Central United States.

Cercospora leaf spot (CLS) is a destructive disease limiting sugar beet production and is managed using resistant cultivars, crop rotation, and timely applications of effective fungicides. Since 2016, its causal agent, Cercospora beticola, has been reported to be resistant to quinone outside inhibitors (QoIs) and to have reduced sensitive to demethylation inhibitors (DMIs) in sugar beet growing areas in North Dakota and Minnesota. Isolates of C. beticola resistant to QoIs, DMIs, and both QoIs and DMIs were collected from fields in Foxhome, Minnesota, in 2017. Fitness of these resistant isolates was compared with that of QoI- and DMI-sensitive isolates in laboratory and greenhouse studies. In the lab, mycelial growth, spore production, and spore germination were measured. The results showed that resistant isolates had significantly less mycelial growth and spore production than sensitive isolates, while no significant difference in spore germination was detected. In the greenhouse, six leaf-stage sugar beets were inoculated with a spore suspension made from each resistant group and incubated in separate humidity chambers. CLS disease severity was evaluated visually at 7, 14, and 21 days after inoculation (DAI), and the areas under disease progress curve (AUDPC) were calculated. Resistant isolates had significantly smaller AUDPC but still caused as high disease severity as the sensitive ones at 21 DAI. Although QoI- and/or DMI-resistant isolates had a relatively slower disease development, they still caused high disease severity and need to be factored in disease management practices.

Use of virtual meeting and survey technology to assess Covid-19-related mental well-being of healthcare workers.

Background and aims: Healthcare workers (HCWs) throughout the world have been exposed to economic and existential stress during the Covid-19 pandemic. The American Medical Association (AMA) has documented that increased healthcare burden correlates with increased stress, burnout, and psychological burden in HCWs. However, limits on personnel, time, and in person interactions make it challenging to assess mental health outcomes during a pandemic. This pilot study used virtual technology to efficiently assess these outcomes. Setting: Data were collected based on voluntary participation in the Coping with Covid-19 for Caregivers Survey created by AMA. The survey was sent out to approximately 300 participants who included local physicians, medical residents, medical students, and allied health professionals and students who attended a virtual Mental Health Summit. Methods: The AMA developed survey included questions about demographics, overall stress, fear of infection and transmission of the virus, perceived anxiety or depression due to Covid-19, work overload, childcare issues, and sense of meaning and purpose. The AMA allows for up to five additional questions to be added to their survey, therefore five questions regarding support service utilization, perseverance, and resilience during the Covid-19 pandemic, and two items to further understand students' areas of medical interest. The survey was administered using an online platform through the AMA. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results: There were 81 survey respondents. Based on the results of the survey, "high stress" was found in 52 (64%) participants. 66 (81%) were afraid (moderately or to a great extent) of exposure or transmission, 61 (75%) described high levels of anxiety or depression, and 67 (84%) noted work overload. Despite this increase in stress, most respondents (77%) said they were not likely to reduce their devoted hours to clinical care or research in the next 12 months, and 81% answered that they would not leave their practice or research within two years. Conclusion: Covid-19 has negatively affected the well-being of HCWs. This is a similar trend seen during other times of healthcare strain. Mental health support, work modulation, and various provisions should be explored as means to reduce Covid-19-related negative impacts. The use of an online summit and online data collection methods were appropriate for collecting data on the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on mental health. This pilot study supports the larger scale implementation of this technology for health informatics research.

A Comparative Study of Collagen Sheet versus 1% Silver Sulfadiazine Dressing in Superficial Partial Thickness Burns.

Burn injury causes a lot of suffering. The goal of burn management is to achieve rapid wound healing, pain relief, rehabilitation with minimum scars and optimal functional ability. Objective of this study was to compare the efficacy of collagen sheets and 1% silver sulfadiazine dressing (SSD) for superficial partial thickness burns. This prospective observational study was conducted among the patients of Department of Plastic surgery, Dhaka Medical College Hospital, and Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery, Dhaka, from 1st April 2020 to 31st March 2021. Total 60 patients with superficial partial thickness burns by purposive sampling 30 patients of them were treated with collagen sheet dressing (Group A) and 30 patients with 1.0% silver sulfadiazine dressing (Group B). First case was selected by tossing a coin. Then every alternate patient was provided the same kind of dressing material (either collagen sheet or 1.0% silver sulfadiazine). Data were collected by semi structured data collection sheets. Pearson's chi-square test and student's 't' test were used for data analysis (p value was significant at <0.05). It was observed that a total of 18(60.0%) patients belonged to age <10 years in Group A and 17(56.7%) patients in Group B. The mean age was 14.9±14.2 years in Group A and 11.6±10.2 years in Group B. Good quality of healing was significantly higher in the collagen group compared to the SSD group (<0.05). The mean complete healing time in the collagen group was 10.47±2.21 days and in the 1.0% SSD group were 13.07±2.33 days. The mean healing time was significantly lower in the collagen group compared to the 1.0% SSD group (p<0.001). There was no significant difference in infection rate between the two groups (p>0.05). Considering the overall outcome, Collagen sheet dressing decreases pain, reduces the need for analgesics, aids in early healing as compared to the patients treated with 1% silver sulfadiazine.

Non-starch polysaccharide degradation in the gastrointestinal tract of broiler chickens fed commercial-type diets supplemented with either a single dose of xylanase, a double dose of xylanase, or a cocktail of non-starch polysaccharide-degrading enzymes.

The aim of this study was to examine non-starch polysaccharide (NSP) degradation in the gastrointestinal tract of chickens fed a range of commercial-type diets supplemented with a commercial dose of xylanase, a double dose of xylanase or a cocktail of NSP - degrading enzymes. Cobb 500 broilers (n = 1,080) were fed 12 dietary treatments; 4 diets with differing primary grain sources (barley, corn, sorghum, and wheat) and three different enzyme treatments (commercial recommended dose of xylanase (16,000 BXU/kg), a double dose of xylanase (32,000 BXU/kg) or an NSP-degrading enzyme cocktail (xylanase, ß-glucanase, cellulase, pectinase, mannanase, galactanase, and arabinofuranosidase at recommended commercial levels). There were 108 pens, approximately 10 birds per pen, 9 replicates per dietary treatment. The diets were fed as 3 phases, starter (d 0-12), grower (d 12-23), and finisher (d 23-35). On bird age d 12, 23, and 35, performance (total pen body weight, feed intake, and feed conversion ratio corrected for mortality [cFCR]), litter and excreta dry matter content, and ileal and total tract soluble and insoluble NSP degradability and free oligosaccharide digestibility was determined. On d 35, the quantity of NSP in the gizzard, jejunum, ileum and excreta was determined. Results from this study showed that the double xylanase dose and NSP-ase cocktail had positive impacts on starter phase performance in birds fed the corn- and wheat-based diets. In the grower phase in birds fed the barley-based diet, these enzyme treatments improved cFCR and increased litter dry matter content. The NSP-ase cocktail had a negative impact on finisher phase cFCR in birds fed the sorghum-based diet. The double xylanase dose induced a positive impact on NSP degradability and free oligosaccharide digestibility. In conclusion, there appears to be advantages to feeding broilers a double xylanase dose, but lack of consistency when using an NSP-ase cocktail containing many enzymes.

Yield improvement of Gracilaria tenuistipitata by optimizing different aspects in coast of cox's bazar, Bangladesh.

This research was designed to find out the effect of different factors such as influence of lunar cycle, harvesting interval, rope type and seeding gap on the production of G. tenuistipitata in coast of Cox's Bazar. Duration of these experiments were sixty days and all the parameters were recorded fortnightly. Monitoring of water quality parameters indicated that salinity, temperature, transparency, pH and DO were suitable for seaweed cultivation. In determining lunar cycle effect, results envisaged that fresh yield was 14.43% increased when seeding and harvesting time was selected considering the moon cycle. Regarding the selection of harvesting interval, it was found that T3 (30 days interval) was the best to harvest the seaweed whereas T4 (40 days interval) showed decreasing trend in production. Our study also found that semi floating single line showed better yield performance compared to semi floating double line system. In case of influence on seeding gap, it has been found that 20 cm gap between two seed showed the highest yields followed by 10 cm, 30 cm and 40 cm, respectively. Overall, it can be concluded that yield of G. tenuistipitata in coast of Cox's Bazar could be improved considering those factors.

Increased yield performance of mutation induced Soybean genotypes at varied agro-ecological conditions.

In soybean breeding program, continuous selection pressure on traits response to yield created a genetic bottleneck for improvements of soybean through hybridization breeding technique. Therefore an initiative was taken to developed high yielding soybean variety applying mutation breeding techniques at Plant Breeding Division, Bangladesh Institute of Nuclear Agriculture (BINA), Bangladesh. Locally available popular cultivar BARI Soybean-5 was used as a parent material and subjected to five different doses of Gamma ray using Co60. In respect to seed yield and yield attributing characters, twelve true breed mutants were selected from M4 generation. High values of heritability and genetic advance with high genotypic coefficient of variance (GCV) for plant height, branch number and pod number were considered as favorable attributes for soybean improvement that ensure expected yield. The mutant SBM-18 obtained from 250Gy provided stable yield performance at diversified environments. It provided maximum seed yield of 3056 kg ha-1 with highest number of pods plant-1 (56). The National Seed Board of Bangladesh (NSB) eventually approved SBM-18 and registered it as a new soybean variety named 'Binasoybean-5' for large-scale planting because of its superior stability in various agro-ecological zones and consistent yield performance.

Dietary soluble non-starch polysaccharide level and composition influences grower and finisher phase performance, excreta moisture content and total tract nutrient digestibility in broilers.

1. The aim of this study was to examine the impact of dietary soluble non-starch polysaccharide (sNSP) level and composition on grower and finisher phase performance, total tract nutrient digestibility and excreta moisture content in broiler chickens.2. Cobb 500 broilers (n = 1080) were fed 12 dietary treatments; four diets with differing primary grain sources (barley, corn, sorghum and wheat) and three different sNSP levels (low, medium and high). Diets were formulated to have similar protein and energy levels but differing sNSP levels, induced by manipulating the quantity of the ingredients in the diet. The diets were fed in three phases, starter (d 0-12), grower (d 12-23) and finisher (d 23-31).3. For birds aged d 23 and 31, total pen body weight and feed intake were determined, and fresh excreta and litter samples were collected per pen. Dry matter (DM) content was measured in the excreta and litter samples. Total tract DM digestibility, apparent metabolisable energy corrected to nitrogen (AMEn), and soluble and insoluble NSP and free oligosaccharide degradability were evaluated.4. In birds fed the sorghum- and corn-based diets, feeding high sNSP resulted in a lower cFCR at d 0-23 compared to low sNSP (P = 0.004 and P = 0.044, respectively). In birds fed the corn-based diet, feeding low sNSP resulted in the lowest litter DM but highest DM digestibility at d 23 (P = 0.045 and P < 0.001) and d 31 (P = 0.022 and P = 0.008). For all diets, degradability of sNSP was higher and insoluble NSP was lower when feeding low compared to high sNSP (P < 0.001). In birds fed the barley- and sorghum-based diets, AMEn was lower when feeding the low compared to high sNSP level (P < 0.001 and P = 0.016, respectively).6. Results from this study showed that level of dietary sNSP impacts broiler productive performance and nutrient utilisation.

Managing Patients in the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Virtual Multidisciplinary Approach.

OBJECTIVE: To study the impact of a 60-day pilot of an innovative virtual-care model using general internal medicine physicians and nurses to respond rapidly to more than 1200 coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19)-positive nasopharyngeal polymerase chain reaction tests. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The current study was approved by the Mayo Clinic COVID-19 Research Committee and the Mayo Clinic Institutional Review Board. The data for all SARS-CoV-2-positive patients treated by our team were entered into a prospectively maintained internal research electronic data capture database. We searched this database retrospectively for the first 60 days of our program (March 23, 2020 to May 22, 2020). The data included basic deidentified demographics; symptoms at intake into the program; date of symptom onset; risk factors; location; and outcomes including hospitalization, admission to intensive care unit, and death. RESULTS: Patients were contacted, on average, 6.3 hours after their results became available. There was a total of 138 ED visits. Of these, 40% were admitted to the hospital, with 36% of those admitted requiring intensive care unit level of care. Of the 849 patients in this sample, there were only 2 deaths (0.23%) at 60 days. CONCLUSION: Our innovative multidisciplinary COVID team provided excellent clinical care for patients with COVID, with a very low mortality rate compared with the national average. Although data are not available on a national scale for time to contact patient, our team was able to contact patients within the established recommendation for contact within 48 hours of testing, which is optimal.