Investigation of the association between foot-and-mouth disease clinical signs and abattoir serological data in large ruminants in northern Lao People's Democratic Republic.

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is a highly infectious and endemic disease in Lao PDR. However, surveillance is weak, and outbreaks are not routinely reported. To address this, serum samples were routinely collected from cattle and buffalo from provincial abattoirs between November 2021 and December 2022. A total of 2,663 serum samples were collected from large ruminants (n = 1,625 cattle; n = 1,038 buffalo) from 17 provinces. Samples were tested for specific antibodies directed against FMD non-structural protein (NSP) to determine the proportion of animals exposed to FMD virus. In addition to sampling from abattoirs, further independent data was collected to report clinical signs and outcomes from 94 districts in 12 northern provinces. These incident reports were recorded by district staff using a Google Form and summarised monthly in the National Animal Disease Reporting System. Information was collected on species, incident date, herd size, location and which clinical signs the animals presented. Overall, 46% of the tested animals returned a positive result using ID Screen® FMD NSP Competition ELISA. Results from serological testing were then compared with reported clinical signs from the same district. In districts reporting 'mouth problems' (regardless of other clinical signs) the median FMD seroprevalence was 49.7%, compared to 31.6% in districts not reporting mouth problems (p = 0.021). This finding suggests that reporting clinical cases of 'mouth problems' could be a potential predictor of FMD infection at a district level in cattle and buffalo in Lao PDR. Furthermore, in districts reporting 'fever', 'mouth problems', and 'nose/mouth secretions' together, the median FMD seroprevalence was 46.2%, compared to 24.4% in districts not reporting these signs (p = 0.033). In districts reporting 'mouth problems' and 'nose/mouth secretions' the median FMD seroprevalence was 49.4%, compared to 25.5% in districts not reporting these signs (p = 0.037). In districts reporting both 'fever' and 'mouth problems,' the median FMD seroprevalence was 46.4% compared to 25% in districts not reporting these signs (p = 0.017). Based on serological data generated by abattoir surveillance, this study identified clinical signs most predictive of FMD seroprevalence. These novel findings can be used to guide passive surveillance efforts in the future specifically in northern Laos and help support improved FMD surveillance more broadly in FMD endemic countries in Southeast Asia.

Lessons on Life and Death: A Qualitative Exploration of Home Carers' Experiences Following the Death of a Patient.

The death of a patient can be a significant event for professional caregivers. Yet, little attention is paid to the emotional toll this can exert on carers, nor the support they need to cope during this time. The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of home carers following the death of a patient. Qualitative data collected through individual semistructured interviews with six United Kingdom home carers were analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. A central aspect was the merging of carers' personal and professional losses. Three key themes were: (1) there are no boundaries to loss, (2) coping actions, and (3) a new understanding of life and death. These conversations gave carers a space to share their experiences of grief as well as lessons on their own life and mortality. Learning from these experiences will highlight the complexity of carers' loss and possible sources of support.

Effect of Varying Chain Length and Content of Poly(dimethylsiloxane) on Dynamic Dewetting Performance of NP-GLIDE Polyurethane Coatings.

Polyurethane coatings containing nanopools of a grafted lubricating liquid ingredient for dewetting enablement (NP-GLIDE) are prepared by curing a commercial polyol P0, a hexamethylene diisocyanate trimer, and P1- g-PDMS, which is a graft copolymer consisting of a polyol backbone P1 bearing poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) side chains. These materials are known as NP-GLIDE because most test liquids have no problem to cleanly glide off them and because segregated nanopools of the grafted lubricating ingredient (PDMS) for dewetting enablement are dispersed throughout the coating matrix. To optimize the dewetting performance of the NP-GLIDE coatings, the molecular weights of the PDMS side chains in the P1- g-PDMS samples were increased from 1.0 kDa (1k) to 5.0 kDa (5k) and 10.0 kDa (10k). A comparative study of the coatings containing three different P1- g-PDMS samples at a constant PDMS mass fraction of either 6.0 or 2.00% (m/m) showed that P1- g-PDMS5k-based coatings exhibited the best dewetting properties. These properties included the lowest sliding angles for test liquids that were incompatible with PDMS and the fastest and most effective contraction of marker ink traces and a paint. Coatings containing 0.50 and 1.00% (m/m) of PDMS5k were also prepared from P1- g-PDMS5k and compared with those containing 2.00 and 6.0% (m/m) of PDMS5k. The coatings were shown to retain their dewetting properties with the PDMS contents as low as 1.00% (m/m). Although the results of this study provided valuable insight into the design of future practical NP-GLIDE coatings, a model has also been proposed for the surface structure of the coatings to justify our observations.

Do individuals respond to cost-sharing subsidies in their selections of marketplace health insurance plans?

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) provides assistance to low-income consumers through both premium subsidies and cost-sharing reductions (CSRs). Low-income consumers' lack of health insurance literacy or information regarding CSRs may lead them to not take-up CSR benefits for which they are eligible. We use administrative data from 2014 to 2016 on roughly 22 million health insurance plan choices of low-income individuals enrolled in ACA Marketplace coverage to assess whether they behave in a manner consistent with being aware of the availability of CSRs. We take advantage of discontinuous changes in the schedule of CSR benefits to show that consumers are highly sensitive to the value of CSRs when selecting insurance plans and that a very low percentage select dominated plans. These findings suggest that CSR subsidies are salient to consumers and that the program is well designed to account for any lack of health insurance literacy among the low-income population it serves.

Silicone-Infused Antismudge Nanocoatings.

A polyurethane-based NP-GLIDE coating that bears on its surface and in its interior nano-pools of a grafted liquid ingredient for dewetting enablement is obtained from casting and curing a film comprising a triisocyanate, a polyol (P1), and a graft (g) copolymer of P1 and poly(dimethylsiloxane) (P1-g-PDMS). A silicone-infused NP-GLIDE (SINP-GLIDE) PU coating is obtained from cocasting the NP-GLIDE precursors with a free silicone oil (SO) or SO mixture (SOs). This paper reports the preparation of the novel SINP-GLIDE coatings and discusses the effect of changing the amount and type of the infused SO as well as the coating formation conditions on their optical clarity. Also reported are the contact and sliding angles of various test liquids on the NP-GLIDE and SINP-GLIDE coatings, and the data variation trends are rationalized using existing theories. Further, the stable water sliding performance of the SINP-GLIDE coatings under simulated raining and other conditions is demonstrated. The improved and stable water sliding performance of the SINP-GLIDE coatings facilitates their practical applications.

Two Poplar-Associated Bacterial Isolates Induce Additive Favorable Responses in a Constructed Plant-Microbiome System.

The biological function of the plant-microbiome system is the result of contributions from the host plant and microbiome members. The Populus root microbiome is a diverse community that has high abundance of ß- and γ-Proteobacteria, both classes which include multiple plant-growth promoting representatives. To understand the contribution of individual microbiome members in a community, we studied the function of a simplified community consisting of Pseudomonas and Burkholderia bacterial strains isolated from Populus hosts and inoculated on axenic Populus cutting in controlled laboratory conditions. Both strains increased lateral root formation and root hair production in Arabidopsis plate assays and are predicted to encode for different functions related to growth and plant growth promotion in Populus hosts. Inoculation individually, with either bacterial isolate, increased root growth relative to uninoculated controls, and while root area was increased in mixed inoculation, the interaction term was insignificant indicating additive effects of root phenotype. Complementary data including photosynthetic efficiency, whole-transcriptome gene expression and GC-MS metabolite expression data in individual and mixed inoculated treatments indicate that the effects of these bacterial strains are unique and additive. These results suggest that the function of a microbiome community may be predicted from the additive functions of the individual members.

Halide anions are formed from reactions between atomic metal anions and halogenated aromatic molecules.

Atomic metal anions (AMAs) Fe- , Cs- , Cu- and Ag- were generated in the gas phase by collisionally decomposing the corresponding metal-oxalate anion. Mass selected AMAs were allowed to react with halogenated and nitrated molecules (C6H5Cl, C6H4Cl2, C6H3Cl3, C6H5I, C6H5Br and C6H5NO2) in the collision hexapole of a triple-quadrupole mass spectrometer. Observed reactions include the predominant formation of X- (X = Cl, Br and I), as well as FeCl- , FeCl2- and FeCl3- when Fe- reacted with the mono, di and tri-chlorobenzenes; reactions between 1,4-dichlorobenzene and Cs- produced Cl- , CsCl- and CsCl2- ; reactions involving iodobenzene also produced, CsI- , CsI2- and AgI- . The results suggest that the reaction to form X- (X = Cl, Br, I and NO2) may be a promising route to improving the detection efficiency by mass spectrometry for such analytes. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.