BACKGROUND Current tools for the diagnosis of tuberculosis pleural effusions are sub-optimal. Data about the value of new diagnostic technologies are limited, particularly, in high burden settings. Preliminary case control studies have identified IFN-gamma-inducible-10 kDa protein (IP-10) as a promising diagnostic marker; however, its diagnostic utility in a day-to-day clinical setting is uncle...

Intact jicama (Pachyrhizus erosus) roots are chilling sensitive, but quality of fresh-cut pieces (1.8 × 4.5 cm cylinders) was best maintained at low storage temperatures (0 to 5 °C). Respiration rates of different piece sizes were similar, and averaged 2, 7 and 10 μL CO 2·g –1·h–1 at 0 °C, 5 °C and 10 °C, respectively. Storage in air at 5 °C to 10 °C resulted in surface browning and was associa...

We conducted two experiments to evaluate the effects of corn supplementation, source of corn, and corn particle size on performance and nutrient utilization of lactating dairy cows. In experiment 1, treatments were 1) direct-cut grass-legume forage without supplement, 2) direct-cut forage plus 10 kg DM of ground dry shelled corn-based concentrate, and 3) direct-cut forage plus 10 kg DM of coars...

in most of the sugar beet cultivated areas including kermanshah, iran, late season irrigation is cut- off earlier than usual which causes drought stress in the crop. since root yield still increses in sept. and oct. these areas, withholding irrigation in this period reduce root yield and quality of sugar beet. for this reason, an experimente was conducted during 2004- 2005 based on split plot d...

Recursive spectral bisection (RSB) is a heuristic technique for finding a minimum cut graph bisection. To use this method the second eigenvector of the Laplacian of the graph is computed and from it a bisection is obtained. The most common method is to use the median of the components of the second eigenvector to induce a bisection. We prove here that this median cut method is optimal in the se...

BACKGROUND An interferon-γ release assay, QuantiFERON-TB (QFT) test, has been introduced an alternative test for the diagnosis of latent Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection (LTBI). Here, we compared the performance of QFT with tuberculin skin test (TST) measured at two different cut-off points among primary health care work (HCW) in Brazil. METHODS A cross-sectional study was carried out amo...

BACKGROUND The newborn screening programme for congenital hypothyroidism (CH) has led to the prevention of severe developmental delay associated with this condition. In the UK, thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) screening cut-off points have changed over time, in some instances prompted by changing methodological platforms. The use of borderline cut-off points varies throughout the country. OB...

Analyses of joint moments are important in the study of human motion, and are crucial for our understanding of e.g. how and why ACL injuries occur. Such analyses may be affected by artifacts due to inconsistencies in the equations of motion when force and movement data are filtered with different cut-off frequencies. The purpose of this study was to quantify the effect of these artifacts, and c...

maximizing economic earnings is the most common goal in cut-off grade optimization of open-pit mining operations. when this is the case, the price of the product has a critical effect on optimum value of cut-off grade. this paper investigates the relationship between optimum cut-off grade and price to maximize total cash flow and net percent value (npv) of operation. in order to visualize this ...