Diagnostics of dairy and beef cattle diarrhea.

Calf diarrhea is a multifactorial disease related to a combination of host and pathogen factors. The most common pathogens found in diarrheic calves are cryptosporidium, rotavirus, coronavirus, Salmonella, attaching and effacing E coli and F5 (K99) Escherichia coli. Increased mortality and morbidity are often due to the presence of more than one pathogen. This article includes a discussion of key information to obtain a clinical history, the pathogens, pathology findings, and diagnostic methods

Nota Bene: News from the Yale Library, Summer/Fall 2018

The Summer/Fall 2018 Nota Bene newsletter includes articles on Yale University Library\u27s current and planned renovations; the library\u27s participation in internships programs sponsored by New Haven Promise and the HBCUs; a grant to preserve Street Corner Stories, a documentary film by Warrington Hudlin \u2774; the launch of the Archives at Yale collection discovery tool; a memorial for William S. Reese \u2777; the death of Dori Laub, co-founder of the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies; the planned renovation of Bass Library; the phasing out of the Yale Classification system in Sterling Memorial Library, and fall events and exhibits

Nota Bene: 2016-17 Annual Report Issue

Yale University Library annual report for fiscal year 2016-17 includes articles on digital preservation, renovation of Manuscripts and Archives, student-curated exhibits, Gates Globe collection, the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, and the Digital Humanities Lab. Also included are the library\u27s 2016-17 income and expenditures, and a list of major gifts and grants

A psychopharmological study of anxiety in mice and pigs.

An attempt was made to study the psychological state of anxiety through the development and evaluation of two behavioural tests; an exploratory conflict test in the mouse and a pharmacological conditioning procedure in the pig. The tests were used to investigate hormonal and environmental influences on the anxiety state of these animals. The conflict arising from a light/dark choice exploratory situation was examined in male mice for its sensitivity to the anxiolytic 1,4-benzodiazepine diazepam. Only one parameter of behaviour in this test (light/dark transitions) showed a dose related increase to diazepam in male mice. Further experiments revealed that a diazepam induced increase in this parameter of behaviour does not reflect a specific anti-anxiety drug action. Experiments which indicate that the light/dark choice test does not detect an anxiolytic action of diazepam are described. The parameter of light/dark transitions did not fluctuate in untreated female mice during the oestrous cycle. However, a diazepam induced change similar to that observed in males was found only at oestrus and dioestrus. Mice at pro-oestrus, metoestrus II and late dioestrus did not show this response to diazepam while mice at metoestrus I showed a diazepam induced decrease in the number of light/dark transitions. This effect of diazepam at metoestrus I was paralleled by changes in other test parameters indicative of an anxiogenic drug action or a photophobic effect. Measurements of whole brain concentrations of diazepam revealed that these behavioural fluctuations in response to diazepam during the oestrous cycle are not due to a change in drug metabolism or distribution. In the pharmacological conditioning experiments, pigs were trained to discriminate the anxiogenic drug pentylenetetrazole from an injection of the saline vehicle alone. A conditioning procedure was developed whereby the time course of the pentylenetetrazole cue could be measured. The behavioural and pharmacological specificity of this cue was investigated. This study revealed that the cue corresponds to an anxiety state. Application of this technique to a range of environmental stimuli which mimic conditions encountered in pig husbandry revealed its ability to detect the presence and time course of anxiety in these situations

Transnational Ikat: An Asian Textile on the Move

Ikat is a ‘textile on the move’ today: moving across borders from Southeast Asia to different parts of the world, moving from ritual use to American fashion wear and other marketplace forms, moving from Asian villages to international museum and art collecting circuits. Over 40 of these remarkable textiles, both in their deeply ceremonial forms and in their vibrantly commercialized versions, were displayed for exhibition in the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Art Gallery at the College of the Holy Cross. The exhibition focuses on ikats from eastern Indonesia, Sumatra, Sulawesi, and Malaysia’s Sarawak state. Curator Susan Rodgers (anthropology, Holy Cross) and three Holy Cross student docents (Hana Carey, Tricia Giglio, Martha Walters) did fieldwork in summer 2012 to explore the exhibition’s “transnational ikat” themes in Bali, Indonesia and Kuching, Sarawak; their research was supported by the Andrew W. Mellon program at Holy Cross. This catalog is reproduced from a website authored by the researchers to report their findings about this rapidly, exuberantly commercializing Asian cloth. It also provides introductory background information about ikat.https://crossworks.holycross.edu/art_catalogs/1001/thumbnail.jp

Impact of neonatal intensive care bed configuration on rates of late-onset bacterial sepsis and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus colonization

OBJECTIVES: Infections cause significant morbidity and mortality in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs). The association between nursery design and nosocomial infections has not been delineated. We hypothesized that rates of colonization by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), late-onset sepsis, and mortality are reduced in single-patient rooms. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study. SETTING: NICU in a tertiary referral center. METHODS: Our NICU is organized into single-patient and open-unit rooms. Clinical datasets including bed location and microbiology results were examined over a 29-month period. Differences in outcomes between bed configurations were determined by Chi-square and Cox regression. PATIENTS: All NICU patients. RESULTS: Among 1823 patients representing 55,166 patient-days, single-patient and open-unit models had similar incidences of MRSA colonization and MRSA colonization-free survival times. Average daily census was associated with MRSA colonization rates only in single-patient rooms (hazard ratio 1.31, p=0.039), while hand hygiene compliance on room entry and exit was associated with lower colonization rates independent of bed configuration (hazard ratios 0.834 and 0.719 per 1% higher compliance, respectively). Late-onset sepsis rates were similar in single-patient and open-unit models as were sepsis-free survival and the combined outcome of sepsis or death. After controlling for demographic, clinical and unit-based variables, multivariate Cox regression demonstrated that bed configuration had no effect on MRSA colonization, late-onset sepsis, or mortality. CONCLUSIONS: MRSA colonization rate was impacted by hand hygiene compliance, regardless of room configuration, while average daily census only affected infants in single-patient rooms. Single-patient rooms did not reduce the rates of MRSA colonization, late-onset sepsis or death

Gatekeepers, Process Consent and Real Names: Ethical aspects of writing vivid stories based on qualitative research in palliative care

Palliative care research is often described as difficult and challenging. This is largely due to ethical issues that arise in dealing with vulnerable patients and families, who are likely to be emotionally and physically burdened by their situation. Gatekeepers who control access to palliative care clients have a reputation for being reluctant to let them be further troubled by requests to take part in research activities. This means that getting a research proposal approved by an ethics committee, or convincing nurses to distribute invitations to participate, may require persuasive arguments as well as careful construction of an ethically defensible research protocol. My proposed palliative care research will be based on solicited reflective diaries and semi-structured interviews with home-based family carers, and forms part of study toward a PhD in the area of creative nonfiction writing. This paper discusses the ethical issues that were considered in preparing an application for the Human Research Ethics Committees of Hunter New England Health and the University of New England. The discussion of strategies for approaching gatekeepers, ensuring beneficence, and negotiating consent will offer insights for the conduct of any research involving a vulnerable population and a sensitive topic. A dual consent process and giving participants the choice of real names rather than pseudonyms in publications are interesting and distinctive features of my research project

Ranaviruses in North America: A Brief Review in Wild Herpetofauna

Ranaviruses are globally emerging pathogens of poikilothermic vertebrates. They affect over 40 species of amphibians in the USA and at least nine species in Canada. Additionally, ranaviruses have been found in at least eight species of reptiles in the USA and two species in Canada. Several of the species that are known to be affected are listed by state or federal agencies as they are of conservation concern (e.g., Cryptobranchus alleganiensis alleganiensis and Terrapene carolina carolina). In this brief review, we discuss the diversity and distribution, the species affected, the clinical signs of ranavirus disease (ranavirosis) that one would see in the field, morbidity and mortality events and their likely triggers, and conservation implications from the emergence of ranaviruses in populations of North American herpetofauna. We also would like to stress that ranaviruses are reportable infections in amphibians (according to the OIE, World Health Organization for Animals) and if an infection is suspected, the incident should be reported the proper authorities. Additionally, biosecurity measures should be taken to avoid the spread of ranaviruses between individuals and between field sites