Initial progress of the magnetic diagnostics of the MAST-U tokamak.

MAST Upgrade has just begun its third physics campaign in April of 2023. The set of magnetic probes used to diagnose the magnetic field and currents on MAST Upgrade are described, and their calibration procedures are outlined including calculation of uncertainties. The median uncertainty in the calibration factors of the flux loops and pickup coils are calculated as 1.7% and 6.3%. The arrays of installed instability diagnostics are described, and the detection and diagnosis of a specimen MHD mode are demonstrated. Plans for the improvement of the magnetics arrays are outlined.

Statistical precursors of a strong earthquake on April 6, 2009 on the Apennine Peninsula.

The article discusses the possibility of formulating a conclusion about the transition in early April 2009 to an exceptional state of the geophysical system in an area with a radius of about several hundred kilometers from Rome. This fact preceded the tragic earthquake on April 6, 2009, which led to large casualties in the Italian city of L'Aquila. This conclusion was obtained based on an analysis of the statistics of the critical frequency of the ionosphere. In the course of calculations, in particular, phenomena with a high degree of determinism that preceded the specified seismic event were detected. The fact of their existence with a high probability indicates the occurrence of an exclusive state of the regional geophysical system in the period of about several days before this event. It was depicted that the identified phenomena precede a significant number of seismic events. Based on the analysis of variations in the statistics of the critical frequency of the ionosphere in the Apennine region in 2007-2011, including those preceding the earthquake near the city of L'Aquila on April 6, 2009, an algorithm was formulated to detect a significant probability of transition to an exclusive state of the corresponding local segment of the geophysical system. The approach proposed in the article can be used to compile a short-term that is, calculated for the coming days, forecast of the existence of a significant probability of the occurrence of seismic events of large magnitude in various regions of the world.

Filament identification in wide-angle high speed imaging of the mega amp spherical tokamak.

A new tomographic inversion technique is presented for the identification of plasma filaments in wide-angle visible camera data. The technique works on the assumption that background subtracted images of filaments can be represented as a superposition of uniformly emitting magnetic equilibrium field lines. A large collection of equilibrium magnetic field lines is traced and projected onto the camera field of view and combined to form a geometry matrix describing the coordinate transformation from magnetic field aligned coordinates to image pixel coordinates. Inverting this matrix enables the reprojection of the emission in the camera images onto a field aligned basis, from which filaments are readily identifiable. The inversion is a poorly conditioned problem which is overcome using a least-squares approach with Laplacian regularization. Blobs are identified using the "watershed" algorithm and 2D Gaussians are fitted to get the positions, widths, and amplitudes of the filaments. A synthetic camera diagnostic generating images containing experimentally representative filaments is utilized to rigorously benchmark the accuracy and reliability of the technique. 74% of synthetic filaments above the detection amplitude threshold are successfully detected, with 98.8% of detected filaments being true positives. The accuracy with which filament properties and their probability density functions are recovered is discussed, along with sources of error and methods to minimize them.

A pilot study of Australian pet owners who engage in social media and their use, experience and views of online pet health information.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to gain a better understanding of Australian pet owners' use of the internet for pet health; how trustworthy they rate various pet health information sources and the use of online information in subsequent veterinary consultations. METHOD: An anonymous questionnaire was developed, consisting of 30 questions, and distributed between March 2018 and May 2018 using convenience sampling through social media venues including Facebook and Twitter. All respondents were over the age of 18, lived in Australia and owned a pet animal. RESULTS: A total of 228 responses were received. The most common sources of pet health information were veterinarians (88.2%) and internet websites (81.1%). Most respondents reported using the internet 'many times per day' at either home or work. The majority of respondents used the internet to seek pet health information either 'not weekly but at least once a month' or 'less than once a month'. Nearly half of the respondents stated that they only 'sometimes' discuss their online findings with their veterinarian. Approximately one half of respondents agreed with the statement that online pet health information had affected their decision about whether to take their pet to the veterinarian. CONCLUSION: This study assesses how pet owners use the internet for pet health information and the role veterinarians can play in helping to facilitate these searches with tools such as information prescriptions. Further large-scale research is needed to help further understand this increasingly important aspect of pet health.

Pilot study of Australian veterinarians and their perceptions and experiences related to online pet health information.

OBJECTIVE: Investigate Australian veterinarians' perceptions of clients' use of the internet to find pet health information. METHODS: An anonymous online survey was distributed using social media, e-newsletters and veterinary magazines. RESULTS: A total of 85 complete responses were obtained from Australian veterinarians. Most (80%) reported believing that > 80% of their clients have access to the internet at home or work, but 68% thought that the majority of their clients do not understand what they read online. Attitudes regarding the impact of online pet health information on the veterinarian-client relationship were mixed (56% reported negative impact and 33% a positive impact), as well as for clients' use of the internet for information on companion animal health (47% reported negative impact and 38% a positive impact). When asked how often they suggest specific websites to their clients ('information prescriptions'), the majority of veterinarians reported that this is done infrequently. CONCLUSION: This pilot study highlighted the perception of Australian veterinarians of their clients' use of the internet to find pet health information. It also highlighted the need for a large-scale, detailed survey of Australian veterinarians and their views in relation to pet owners and their use of online information. This should include evaluation of information prescriptions and their potential benefits for clients and patients.

Absence of cardiotoxicity with prolonged treatment and large accumulating doses of pegylated liposomal doxorubicin.

BACKGROUND: Pegylated liposomal doxorubicin (PLD) is used as a second-line therapy for gynecologic cancers, with a better short-term toxicity profile compared to doxorubicin or other anthracyclines. METHODS: We screened 14 patients with recurrent gynecologic cancers, who underwent prolonged treatment with large cumulative doses of PLD for overt or subtle signs of cardiotoxicity (CTX) using standard and advanced echocardiography techniques [3D volumetric method for left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) and left ventricular/right ventricular global longitudinal strain]. Half the patients had previous echocardiographic studies available for comparison. RESULTS: The average PLD treatment duration was 23.6 ± 10.8 months (range 13-57), accumulating dose of 1387 ± 483 mg (range 780-2538 mg). The study group had a normal LVEF both by 2D-echo (60 ± 5%, range 50-67) and 3D echo (58 ± 5%, range 46-63). Two patients (14%) were found to have minimally reduced ejection fraction by 2D and 3D echo (50%/46% and 51%/49%, respectively) that did not meet the current definition of CTX. For the seven patients who had consecutive echocardiography studies, the average LVEF remained stable between studies (59 ± 7, 60 ± 9 and 58 ± 10.5% for the latest study, previous, p < 0.79, and most remote study p < 0.9); No change was found in average left ventricular/right ventricular global longitudinal strain as well: -20.8 ± 4.6% at the latest study and -19.3 ± 2.6% for the previous (p < 0.51). CONCLUSION: No prevalent or incident cases of cardiotoxicity were found despite prolonged treatment with large cumulative doses of PLD, adding to previous reports on shorter treatment duration.

Perceptions of veterinary admissions committee members of undergraduate credits earned from community colleges or online compared to traditional 4-year institutions.

Veterinary admission committees are asked to create and implement a fair, reliable, and valid system to select the candidates most likely to succeed in veterinary school from a large pool of applicants. Although numerous studies have explored grade point average (GPA) as a predictive value of later academic success, there has been little attention paid to how and where an applicant acquires his/her undergraduate coursework. Quality of academic program is an important component of applicant files, and it is suggested that the source of a candidate's coursework might influence admissions committee decisions, perhaps even outside of the committee's immediate awareness. Options for undergraduate education include taking classes at a traditional four-year institution, a community college, or online. This study provides an overview of the current state of online courses and community colleges in the US as a foundation to explore the views of veterinary admissions committee members pertaining to coursework completed at traditional residential 4-year schools or at community colleges and whether they are delivered on campus or online (at either type of institution). Survey participants reported a pattern of preference for traditional four-year residential coursework compared to online or community college courses. These results are interesting given the exponential growth of students taking online courses and data showing community colleges are providing a successful gateway to obtaining a four-year degree. This also points to the need for admission committees to discuss potential biases since the information about type of school and/or course may not be consistently available for all applicants. Finally, at a time when admitting a diverse class of students is a goal of many programs, it is of special concern that there are potential biases against courses taken online or from community colleges - venues that tend to draw a more diverse population than traditional 4-year universities.

Information prescriptions: A tool for veterinary practices.

The Internet has become a major source of health information and has the potential to offer many benefits for both human and animal health. In order for impact to be positive, however, it is critical that users be able to access reliable, trustworthy information. Although more pet owners are using the Internet to research animal health information than ever before, there remains limited research surrounding their online activities or the ability to influence owners' online search behaviors. The current study was designed to assess the online behaviors and perceptions of pet owners after receiving either general or topic-specific information prescriptions as part of their veterinary appointment. Results indicate that nearly 60% of clients accessed the suggested websites and nearly all of these clients reported positive feelings about this addition to their veterinary services. These results suggest that offering information prescriptions to clients can facilitate better online searches by clients and positively impact both animal health and client satisfaction.

Wound 'dechronification' with negatively-charged polystyrene microspheres: a double-blind RCT.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the efficacy and safety of negatively-charged polystyrene microspheres (NCM)with controls (saline soaks) in the treatment of hard-to-heal wounds of various aetiologies. METHOD: Patients with one or more hard-to-heal wounds, defined as refractory to healing for at least 4 weeks, or those with exposed bone, tendon or ligament, were eligible for inclusion and were randomised to either NCM (PolyHeal; MediWound Ltd.) or controls, both applied twice daily for 4 weeks. Patients were monitored bi-weekly for an additional 8 weeks, while treated by standard wound care, at the investigators' discretion, and were re-evaluated 2 years after inclusion. The primary endpoint was defined as coverage of> 75% of the wound area by light-red granulation tissue after 4 weeks of treatment. RESULTS: Fifty-eight patients completed the study, 32 in the NCM group and 26 in the control group. The two most common wound types were those with primary etiologies of venous insufficiency and postoperative/post trauma. In the NCM group 47% of patients achieved > 75% light red granulation tissue after 4 weeks compared with 15% of patients in the control group (p=O.O I). The mean wound surface area in the NCM group was reduced by 39.0% after 4 weeks compared with 14.9% in the control group (p=0.02).The achievement of> 75% light red granulation tissue and reduction of mean wound surface area was also observed in the two main sub-groups (venous insufficiency and postoperative/post trauma), although it was not statistically significant, possibly due to the small sample size in each sub-group. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrates that compared to control treatment, NCM treatment of hard to-heal and chronic wounds improves formation of healthy granulation tissue and reduces wound size thus in fact 'kick-starting' the healing process and 'dechronifying' chronic wounds.

Intensity-modulated and image-guided radiation therapy for treatment of genitourinary carcinomas in dogs.

BACKGROUND: External beam radiation therapy can be used to treat pelvic tumors in dogs, but its utility is limited by lack of efficacy data and associated late complications. HYPOTHESIS/OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was to assess local tumor control, overall survival, and toxicosis after intensity-modulated and image-guided radiation therapy (IM/IGRT) for treatment of genitourinary carcinomas (CGUC) in dogs. ANIMALS: 21 client-owned dogs. METHODS: A retrospective study was performed. Medical records of dogs for which there was intent to treat with a course of definitive-intent IM/IGRT for CGUC between 2008 and 2011 were reviewed. Descriptive and actuarial statistics comprised the data analysis. RESULTS: Primary tumors were located in the prostate (10), urinary bladder (9), or urethra (2). The total radiation dose ranged from 54-58 Gy, delivered in 20 daily fractions. Grade 1 and 2 acute gastrointestinal toxicoses developed in 33 and 5% of dogs, respectively. Grade 1 and 2 acute genitourinary and grade 1 acute integumentary toxicoses were documented in 5, 5, and 20% of dogs, respectively. Four dogs experienced late grade 3 gastrointestinal or genitourinary toxicosis. The subjective response rate was 60%. The median event-free survival was 317 days; the overall median survival time was 654 days. Neither local tumor control nor overall survival was statistically dependent upon location of the primary tumor. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL IMPORTANCE: IM/IGRT is generally well-tolerated and provides an effective option for locoregional control of CGUC. As compared with previous reports in the veterinary literature, inclusion of IM/IGRT in multimodal treatment protocols for CGUC can result in superior survival times; controlled prospective evaluation is warranted.

Gaining acceptance into veterinary school: a review of medical and veterinary admissions policies.

Veterinary and medical school admissions policies and committees form the gateway for individuals to become doctors. Thus the process of admissions becomes pivotal in directing the future of these professions. This article is a review of the literature pertaining to veterinary and medical admissions.

Subjective criteria as the sole method of selecting veterinary candidates at a US veterinary medical school.

For the past four years, Colorado State University College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences' veterinary Admissions Committee has used a completely subjective process to select veterinary students. The basic premise of the subjective admissions process is to evaluate applicants holistically, with equal emphasis on cognitive and non-cognitive attributes. The system allows the Committee the flexibility to weigh factors deemed by the school and profession to be important without the necessity of creating complex mathematical models to fit the confines of a point system. The subjective system, endorsed by the school's faculty and legal counsel, is summarized in this article.

Reliability generalization: exploring reliability variations on MMPI/MMPI-2 validity scale scores.

The study utilized the measurement meta-analytic method called "reliability generalization" to examine (a) the typical reliability, (b) the variability of score reliability, and (c) the factors predicting variability of score reliability on the three MMPI validity scales. Across studies the reliability coefficients on the three validity scales ranged from .16 to .93, with the F scale having the most variability, as might be expected. Regression analyses suggested that the age of participant best predicted the variation of reliability coefficients.

Warfarin skin necrosis: local and systemic factors.

Warfarin induced skin necrosis occurs in 0.01-0.1% of warfarin treated patients. The usual presentation is that of painful lesions developing in obese women after the initiation of warfarin treatment. The lesions usually evolve into full thickness skin necrosis within a few days. Although the exact mechanism is not totally clear, low levels of Protein C or S, either functional or inherited, are associated with many of the cases. We report the case of a 17-year-old patient treated with warfarin because of iliofemoral deep vein thrombosis post abortion. The patient developed several huge haemorrhagic blisters on the affected leg. The condition rapidly developed into full thickness skin and fat necrosis. The necrotic lesions were excised and eventually covered with skin graft. The combination of the patient tendency towards hyper-coagulation and the local factors is discussed.

Everyday planning difficulties following traumatic brain injury: a role for autobiographical memory.

The present study examines the role of autobiographical memory in describing how to perform both open-ended and closed everyday activities in 12 patients suffering traumatic brain injury and 12 aged-matched controls. The frequency (high versus low) of performing the activities was also manipulated. Patients seemed less well able to benefit from using specific autobiographical memories; they reported using significantly fewer specific autobiographical memories for describing how to perform low-frequency activities and significantly more such memories for high-frequency activities compared with controls. The quality of their descriptions was also significantly poorer for the open-ended activities. Finally, significant correlations were found between the quality of the descriptions and the retrieval of specific autobiographical memories for the controls only. The importance of the retrieval of specific autobiographical memories for everyday problem-solving is discussed.

pH-metric determination of the acid value of vegetable oils without titration.

The acid value (AV) of vegetable oils is determined without titration by using a new reagent consisting of triethanolamine in a solution of water and isopropyl alcohol. When the oil sample is mixed with the reagent in the pH-metric cell, free fatty acids from the sample are extracted into the reagent (3-4 min). The initial pH, called conditional pH'1, is measured, a standard acid (HCl) is added, and the final pH, pH'2, is measured. AV is calculated from the difference between pH'1 and pH'2. The method is applicable for quality control of vegetable oils during their production, trade, and use.

Soup kitchens, women and social policy: studies from Peru.

PIP: This article describes the operations of soup kitchens in Peru for low-income women and their families; it is based on interviews with leaders and members of 12 soup kitchens in Lima, 21 women who took part in a workshop, and interviews with leaders of the Federation of Organizations of Self-Managed Soup Kitchens of Lima and Callao. Soup kitchens may be self-managed or started by women's groups and later recognized and funded by government programs. Government programs usually include a range of support services, such as daycare. More recent changes in both types of programs include provision of income generation or social service activity to help families increase income and cut household expenses. Kitchens operate with a governing board and a decision-making assembly. Soup kitchens are located in rented, borrowed, or owned properties. Self-managed kitchens can have 35-100 members. Active members cook and receive a set amount in return. Kitchens prepare about 100-560 meals/day and charge less than 1 new sol. The law requires the state to cover 65% of food costs. Kitchens begin operations at 5:30 AM. Soup kitchens operate connected activities depending upon member's age, their children's ages, family size, and commitment. There are many benefits and sacrifices. Members gain confidence, self-assurance, knowledge, and self-esteem due to capacity building, skills acquired, and social recognition. Women's participation affects gender relations in their family, sometimes including domestic tension and conflict. Soup kitchens are valued for the improvement they foster in living standards of members and their families.^ieng