BACKGROUND Environmental sampling based on boot swabs and/or liquid manure samples is an upcoming strategy for the identification of paratuberculosis (paraTB) positive herds, but only limited data are available regarding the diagnostic performance of molecular detection methods (qPCR) versus faecal culture (FC) for this purpose. In the present study, the test characteristics of two different qP...

This paper discusses the hardware foundations of the cryptosystem employed by the Xbox video game console from Microsoft. A secret boot block overlay is buried within a system ASIC. This secret boot block decrypts and verifies portions of an external FLASH-type ROM. The presence of the secret boot block is camouflaged by a decoy boot block in the external ROM. The code contained within the secr...

BACKGROUND Dynamic training schedules introduce novel challenges to medical specialty training programs that require manual dexterity. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of a 3-day, intensive pediatric echocardiography course ("boot camp") on trainee self-efficacy and on the acquisition and short-term retention of basic echocardiographic knowledge and skills for first-year pediatri...