The double disparity facing rural local health departments: A short report

Rural residents in the U.S. face significant health challenges, including higher rates of risky health behaviors and worse health outcomes than many other groups. Rural communities are also typically served by local health departments (LHDs) that have fewer human and financial resources than their suburban and urban peers. As a result of history and need, rural LHDs are more likely than urban LHDs to provide direct health services, which may result in limited resources for population-based activities. This review examines the double disparity facing rural LHDs and their constituents: pervasively poorer health behaviors and outcomes and a historical lack of investment by local, state, and federal public health entities

Clinical findings and survival in cats naturally infected with feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV)

Background: The clinical course and outcome of natural feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) infection are variable and incompletely understood. Assigning clinical relevance to FIV infection in individual cats represents a considerable clinical challenge. Objective: To compare signalment, hematologic and biochemical data, major clinical problem and survival between client-owned, FIV-infected and uninfected domestic cats. Animals: Client-owned, domestic cats tested for FIV (n=520). Methods: Retrospective, case control study. Logistic regression analyses were conducted to identify risk factors for FIV infection and to compare hematologic and biochemical data between cases and controls, after adjusting for potential confounders. Survival times were compared using Kaplan-Meier curves. Results: The prevalence of FIV infection was 14.6%. Mixed breed, male sex and older age were risk factors for FIV infection. Hematologic abnormalities, biochemical abnormalities, or both were common in both FIV-infected and uninfected cats. Lymphoid malignancies were slightly more common in FIVinfected than uninfected cats. Survival of FIV-infected cats was not significantly different from that of uninfected cats. Conclusions and clinical importance: Multiple hematologic and biochemical abnormalities are common in old, sick cats regardless of their FIV status. Their presence should not be assumed to indicate clinical progression of FIV infection. A negative effect of FIV on survival was not apparent in this study. Keywords: Clinicopathological findings; Feline immunodeficiency virus; surviva

Clinical findings and survival in cats naturally infected with feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV)

Background: The clinical course and outcome of natural feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) infection are variable and incompletely understood. Assigning clinical relevance to FIV infection in individual cats represents a considerable clinical challenge. Objective: To compare signalment, hematologic and biochemical data, major clinical problem and survival between client-owned, FIV-infected and uninfected domestic cats. Animals: Client-owned, domestic cats tested for FIV (n=520). Methods: Retrospective, case control study. Logistic regression analyses were conducted to identify risk factors for FIV infection and to compare hematologic and biochemical data between cases and controls, after adjusting for potential confounders. Survival times were compared using Kaplan-Meier curves. Results: The prevalence of FIV infection was 14.6%. Mixed breed, male sex and older age were risk factors for FIV infection. Hematologic abnormalities, biochemical abnormalities, or both were common in both FIV-infected and uninfected cats. Lymphoid malignancies were slightly more common in FIVinfected than uninfected cats. Survival of FIV-infected cats was not significantly different from that of uninfected cats. Conclusions and clinical importance: Multiple hematologic and biochemical abnormalities are common in old, sick cats regardless of their FIV status. Their presence should not be assumed to indicate clinical progression of FIV infection. A negative effect of FIV on survival was not apparent in this study. Keywords: Clinicopathological findings; Feline immunodeficiency virus; surviva

The Double Disparity Facing Rural Local Health Departments

Residents of rural jurisdictions face significant health challenges, including some of the highest rates of risky health behaviors and worst health outcomes of any group in the country. Rural communities are served by smaller local health departments (LHDs) that are more understaffed and underfunded than their suburban and urban peers. As a result of history and current need, rural LHDs are more likely than their urban peers to be providers of direct health services, leading to relatively lower levels of population-focused activities. This review examines the double disparity faced by rural LHDs and their constituents: pervasively poorer health behaviors and outcomes and a historical lack of investment by local, state, and federal public health entities

Planning the Future of U.S. Particle Physics (Snowmass 2013): Chapter 4: Cosmic Frontier

These reports present the results of the 2013 Community Summer Study of the APS Division of Particles and Fields ("Snowmass 2013") on the future program of particle physics in the U.S. Chapter 4, on the Cosmic Frontier, discusses the program of research relevant to cosmology and the early universe. This area includes the study of dark matter and the search for its particle nature, the study of dark energy and inflation, and cosmic probes of fundamental symmetries.Comment: 61 page

The ROTSE-III Robotic Telescope System

The observation of a prompt optical flash from GRB990123 convincingly demonstrated the value of autonomous robotic telescope systems. Pursuing a program of rapid follow-up observations of gamma-ray bursts, the Robotic Optical Transient Search Experiment (ROTSE) has developed a next-generation instrument, ROTSE-III, that will continue the search for fast optical transients. The entire system was designed as an economical robotic facility to be installed at remote sites throughout the world. There are seven major system components: optics, optical tube assembly, CCD camera, telescope mount, enclosure, environmental sensing & protection and data acquisition. Each is described in turn in the hope that the techniques developed here will be useful in similar contexts elsewhere.Comment: 19 pages, including 4 figures. To be published in PASP in January, 2003. PASP Number IP02-11

Identification of Novel Astroviruses in the Gastrointestinal Tract of Domestic Cats

Astroviruses, isolated from numerous avian and mammalian species including humans, are commonly associated with enteritis and encephalitis. Two astroviruses have previously been identified in cats, and while definitive evidence is lacking, an association with enteritis is suggested. Using metagenomic next-generation sequencing of viral nucleic acids from faecal samples, we identified two novel feline astroviruses termed Feline astrovirus 3 and 4. These viruses were isolated from healthy shelter-housed kittens (Feline astrovirus 3; 6448 bp) and from a kitten with diarrhoea that was co-infected with Feline parvovirus (Feline astrovirus 4, 6549 bp). Both novel astroviruses shared a genome arrangement of three open reading frames (ORFs) comparable to that of other astroviruses. Phylogenetic analysis of the concatenated ORFs, ORF1a, ORF1b and capsid protein revealed that both viruses were phylogenetically distinct from other feline astroviruses, although their precise evolutionary history could not be accurately determined due to a lack of resolution at key nodes. Large-scale molecular surveillance studies of healthy and diseased cats are needed to determine the pathogenicity of feline astroviruses as single virus infections or in co-infections with other enteric viruses

Computed tomographic features of feline sino-nasal and sino-orbital aspergillosis

Feline upper respiratory tract aspergillosis (URTA) occurs as two distinct anatomic forms, sinonasal aspergillosis (SNA) and sino-orbital aspergillosis (SOA). An emerging pathogen, Aspergillus felis is frequently involved. The pathogenesis of URTA, in particular, the relationship between the infecting isolate and outcome, is poorly understood. Computed tomography was used to investigate the route of fungal infection and extension in 16 cases (SNA n=7, SOA n=9) where the infecting isolate had been identified by molecular testing. All cases had nasal cavity involvement except one cat with SNA that had unilateral frontal sinus changes. A strong association between the infecting species and anatomic form was identified. A. fumigatus infections remained within the sino-nasal cavity. Cryptic species infections were associated with orbital and paranasal soft-tissue involvement and with orbital lysis. These species were further associated with a mass in the nasal cavity, paranasal sinuses or nasopharynx. Orbital masses showed heterogeneous contrast enhancement, with central coalescing hypoattenuating foci and peripheral rim enhancement. Severe, cavitated turbinate lysis, typical of canine SNA, was present only in cats with SNA. These findings support that the nasal cavity is the portal of entry for fungal spores in feline URTA and that the route of extension to involve the orbit is via direct naso-orbital communication from bone lysis. Additionally, a pathogenic role for A. wyomingensis and a sinolith in a cat with A. udagawae infection are reported for the first time. Keywords: Aspergillus felis; Aspergillosis; Cats; Sino-nasal; Sino-orbita

Computed tomographic features of feline sino-nasal and sino-orbital aspergillosis

Feline upper respiratory tract aspergillosis (URTA) occurs as two distinct anatomic forms, sinonasal aspergillosis (SNA) and sino-orbital aspergillosis (SOA). An emerging pathogen, Aspergillus felis is frequently involved. The pathogenesis of URTA, in particular, the relationship between the infecting isolate and outcome, is poorly understood. Computed tomography was used to investigate the route of fungal infection and extension in 16 cases (SNA n=7, SOA n=9) where the infecting isolate had been identified by molecular testing. All cases had nasal cavity involvement except one cat with SNA that had unilateral frontal sinus changes. A strong association between the infecting species and anatomic form was identified. A. fumigatus infections remained within the sino-nasal cavity. Cryptic species infections were associated with orbital and paranasal soft-tissue involvement and with orbital lysis. These species were further associated with a mass in the nasal cavity, paranasal sinuses or nasopharynx. Orbital masses showed heterogeneous contrast enhancement, with central coalescing hypoattenuating foci and peripheral rim enhancement. Severe, cavitated turbinate lysis, typical of canine SNA, was present only in cats with SNA. These findings support that the nasal cavity is the portal of entry for fungal spores in feline URTA and that the route of extension to involve the orbit is via direct naso-orbital communication from bone lysis. Additionally, a pathogenic role for A. wyomingensis and a sinolith in a cat with A. udagawae infection are reported for the first time. Keywords: Aspergillus felis; Aspergillosis; Cats; Sino-nasal; Sino-orbita