Use of heavy metals in swine feed and its association with the co-selection of metal tolerant and multi-drug resistant Salmonella

This study was conducted to characterize the role of chemical interventions, biocides and heavy metal micronutrients, in particular, in swine production systems on the emergence of heavy metal and biocide tolerant Salmonella and its association with antimicrobial resistance. A total of 353 Salmonella isolates with different antimicrobial resistance profiles identified from 36 barns exposed to three different classes of biocides were analyzed. The sources of isolates included feed (n=30), fecal (n=226), and environment (n=97) samples that were systematically selected

Association of Pathogen Load in Pigs with Retail Pork Contamination.

Salmonella and Campylobacter are estimated to cause 3.9 million illnesses annually in the United States, and most of these illnesses are food-related. Pigs can be sub-clinically infected with these pathogens and fecal contamination of meat during processing is a food safety risk. Quantitative measures of foodborne safety risk are rarely reported and are a critical data gap for development of quantitative risk assessments. The goal of this study was to determine the association between the concentration of Salmonella and Campylobacter in porcine feces and hide with concentrations in meat

Prevalence and Antimicrobial Resistance of Salmonella, E. coli, and Campylobacter in Pigs from Swine Producing States in the United States

The purpose of the study was to determine the prevalence and antimicrobial susceptibility of Salmonella, Campylobacter and generic E. coli (commensal bacteria which may harbor antimicrobial resistance genes) from swine feces collected over one year from the top three swine producing states (Iowa, North Carolina, and Minnesota), which represent 51% of the total pig crop in the U.S, plus Ohio. The prevalence of Salmonella (n=462/4426), Campylobacter (n=994/1184) and E. coli (n=833/845) at the sample level was 10.4%, 98.6% and 83.6%, respectively

Investigating what works to support family carers of people with dementia: a rapid realist review

Introduction - Advances in longevity and medicine mean that many more people in the UK survive life-threatening diseases but are instead susceptible to life-limiting diseases such as dementia. Within the next 10 years those affected by dementia in the UK is set to rise to over 1 million, making reliance on family care of people with dementia (PWD) essential. A central challenge is how to improve family carer support to offset the demands made by dementia care which can jeopardise carers’ own health. This review investigates ‘what works to support family carers of PWD’. Methods - Rapid realist review of a comprehensive range of databases. Results - Five key themes emerged: (1) extending social assets, (2) strengthening key psychological resources, (3) maintaining physical health status, (4) safeguarding quality of life and (5) ensuring timely availability of key external resources. It is hypothesized that these five factors combine and interact to provide critical biopsychosocial and service support that bolsters carer ‘resilience’ and supports the maintenance and sustenance of family care of PWD. Conclusions - ‘Resilience-building’ is central to ‘what works to support family carers of PWD’. The resulting model and Programme Theories respond to the burgeoning need for a coherent approach to carer support

Multidrug Resistant and toxigenic Clostridium difficile isolated from commercial swine and humans

This study was conducted to compare C. difficile population in commercial swine with those causing C. difficile associated diarrhea (CDAD) cases in humans. Fecal samples were collected from sows (eight per fam1) and piglets (30 per fam1) in eight farms in North Carolina (n=5) and Ohio (n=3) representing a total of 68 sows and 251 piglets. In addition, 33 C. difficile isolates were collected from CDAD cases in humans from the NC region. C. difficile isolates were tested for their susceptibility to a panel of six antimicrobials. PCR was used to detect genes coding for enterotoxin A (tcdA), cytotoxin B (tcdB) and the binary toxin (COT). We detected significantly higher piglet prevalence in Ohio (87.5%) than North Carolina (64%) (P \u3c 0.001)

Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in market age pigs on-farm, at slaughter and retail pork

This study was conducted to determine the occurrence and prevalence of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in finishing pigs on-farm, at lairage and assess the likelihood of carriage at slaughter and retail levels. A cross-sectional study targeting ten cohorts of commercial swine farms was conducted for carriage of MRSA

Hypervirulent Strains of Clostridium difjicile of Porcine and Human Origin and Risk to Pork Safety

Clostridium diflicile is a gram-posthve spore-forming anaerobic bacillus pathogenic to humans and animals. The role of pork in C. difficile dissemination has not been thoroughly investigated. Specific aims of this project are to investigate whether pigs carry hypervirulent strains of C. diflici/e and to compare phenotypic and genotypic attributes of strains of human and porcine origin. Fecal samples (n=251) were collected from swine farms in Ohio (n=3 farms) and North Carolina [NC] (n= 5 fanns) at farrowing, nursery, and finishing. Bacteriology was done using conventional approaches. Antimicrobial susceptibility was tested using Epsilometric test for ciprofloxacin, erythromycin, metronidazole, vancomycin, tetracycline, and ampicillin

Formation of polarity convergences underlying shoot outgrowths

The development of outgrowths from plant shoots depends on formation of epidermal sites of cell polarity convergence with high intracellular auxin at their centre. A parsimonious model for generation of convergence sites is that cell polarity for the auxin transporter PIN1 orients up auxin gradients, as this spontaneously generates convergent alignments. Here we test predictions of this and other models for the patterns of auxin biosynthesis and import. Live imaging of outgrowths from kanadi1 kanadi2 Arabidopsis mutant leaves shows that they arise by formation of PIN1 convergence sites within a proximodistal polarity field. PIN1 polarities are oriented away from regions of high auxin biosynthesis enzyme expression, and towards regions of high auxin importer expression. Both expression patterns are required for normal outgrowth emergence, and may form part of a common module underlying shoot outgrowths. These findings are more consistent with models that spontaneously generate tandem rather than convergent alignments

Prevalence of methicillin-resistant staphylococci (MRS+) in pigs and farm workers

This study aims to dctcnnine the prevalence of MRSA and other methicillin resistant staphylococci in swine and swine fann workers. We collected swab and fecal samples from 96 pigs of 6-9 weeks of age from four fam1s in Ohio. Swab samples were collected from both anterior nares and fecal samples directly from the rectum of corresponding pigs. Nasal and oropharyngeal samples were collected from consenting farm workers. Samples were processed following conventional cultural methods and we used methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus selective agar (MRSA Chromagar®)

Phenotyping and Genotyping of Campylobacter coli in Pigs from Farm to Fork

Campylobacter are estimated to cause 2.4 million illnesses annually in the United States, and most of these illnesses are food-related. Pigs can be sub-clinically infected with these pathogens, and fecal contamination of meat during processing is a food safety risk. The goal of this study is to determine the clonal relatedness of selected Campylobacter coli isolates from an individually-identified cohort of pigs collected from five smaple types on the farm to processing continuum