A Study of the Lawsonia intracellularis-induced porcine proliferative enteropathies.

The porcine proliferative enteropathies (PPE) are a group of diseases ranging from intestinal adenomatosis (PIA), a chronic condition causing reduced growth rates in post weaning pigs, to the often fatal proliferative haemorrhagic enteropathy (PHE), resulting in intestinal haemorrhage. PHE predominantly occurs in older and heavier pigs than the chronic disease PIA. This thesis examined whether the age when susceptible pigs are infected affects the clinical response to L.intracellularis infection. The characteristic pathologic lesion of PPE is the abnormal proliferation of crypt epithelial cells in the ileum and colon. Closely associated with this proliferation is the presence of an obligately intracellular bacterium, Lawsonia intracellularis. Characterisation of L.intracellularis was performed in in-vitro co-cultures of L.intracellularis extracted from PHE-affected mucosa. The efficacy of antimicrobials to inhibit the growth of L.intracellularis in-vitro was evaluated and compared with isolates cultured in the United Kingdom. The results were analysed with respect to medication strategies currently used to control PPE in piggeries. PPE occurs in virtually all piggery management systems, including newly developed systems that are aimed at improving the herd health, such as segregated early weaning and multiple site production. PPE is currently controlled in Australia with the routine addition of antimicrobials in pig feed, in particular olaquindox. Recommendations to reduce the use of feed-based antibiotics in Australia require the development of alternate strategies to control diseases such as PPE. Sequential outbreaks of PHE reported in minimal disease herds suggested that pigs could develop immunity to disease. An experimental model of L.intracellularis infection was developed in this thesis to demonstrate that immunity to re-infection with L.intracellularis could be developed. Infection was monitored by detection of faecal shedding of L.intracellularis and serum IgG antibodies against L.intracellularis. Two in-feed antimicrobial strategies were analysed in this thesis for their ability to induce the development of immunity to L.intracellularis, while avoiding clinical signs of disease. The first strategy evaluated the use of low levels of in-feed antimicrobials to allow subclinical infection and the development of immunity. The second strategy evaluated the use of high levels of in-feed antimicrobials to terminate infection two weeks after exposure to L.intracellularis. Gaining a greater understanding of how L.intracellularis infection is spread both within and between piggeries will enable the development of management strategies to control the spread of infection. This thesis examined the possibility that other species in contact with pigs and piggeries such as rats, mice and birds may transmit infection to pigs. The transmission of infection between pigs via the faecal/oral route was also examined, as was the survival and infectivity of L.intracellularis over time. Ultimately this thesis aimed to understand the pattern of L.intracellularis infection and the survival and transmission of L.intracellularis in order to develop effective control measures for PPE, especially in minimal disease herds

Enhancing the student experience through values based personal tutoring

A values based approach is relational and has positive working relationships and good communication as the heart of its focus. The personal tutor relationship is often thought to be one of the key areas which can foster a sense of belonging to a higher education institution which is a key part of the widening participation agenda (HEFCE 2012), whose aim is “to promote and provide the opportunity of successful participation in higher education to everyone who can benefit from it”. This poster details the subject area approach to values based personal tutoring along the student journey.N/

Assessing Career Planning Courses without using test scores: another neglected issue?

Twenty years ago, in an article entitled “Assigning Grades in Career Planning Courses: A Neglected issue”[1], Rex Filer posed several important questions in terms of the practicalities of how we design and grade career planning courses. The challenge, he suggested, is that while teaching pedagogy often relies on Bloom’s traditional taxonomy where information and understanding act as an ‘anchor’ while synthesis and evaluation are goals achieved later, career course activities are naturally geared to the top of the pyramid – regardless of when the class is taught. This, he argues, poses particular issues in terms of career course objectives and outcomes. Even a cursory examination of the literature on career course assessment may offer some insight as to why Filer’s individual instructor/student level concerns have been ‘neglected’: most of the mainstream work in this area is based on various types of exams or pre and post test scores. One of the most common tools, the Career Thoughts Inventory (CTI) based on Cognitive Information Processing Theory, helps researchers determine ‘dysfunctional thinking’ in career problems and identify issues for specific populations as well as general ‘progress’ made in the course. While such tools are invaluable and have provided many crucial insights in terms of the value and impact of career courses, the suggestion here is that, for smaller schools and programs, there is a largely unmet need to discuss grading systems used for career courses and the assessment of career education at any given institution. This paper will examine the course design and assessment process, including specific rubrics and tools, used by an interdisciplinary program at our small liberal arts school in a remote, rural California campus of Humboldt State University (HSU). The goal, with Filer, will be to address (another) neglected issue of how we go about creating career development interventions, design specific courses, and assess career education at the level of the individual student, instructor/course and program. [1] Filer, Rex (1986) “Assigning Grades in Career Planning Courses: A Neglected issue”. The Career Development Quarterly. December. Vol 35. pp. 141-147

Career Planning and Curriculum Integration: millennials on the ‘lost’ coast

Career preparation during college is increasingly an area of interest and concern not only for the parents, family and friends of prospective students, but administrators, politicians, and even the average taxpayer. As costs continue to rise, the ‘value’ of higher education is no longer based primarily on the goal of preparing a future generation to participate in, and to lead a democratic civil society, but on how competitive students will be in the global marketplace as a result. Humboldt State University is located approximately 300 miles north of San Francisco in a relatively isolated region known as the ‘lost coast’, famous for old growth redwoods and a dramatic coastline. Over the past five years, HSU has started to take seriously the challenge of connecting the ideals of a relatively small, liberal arts school to the changing goals and aspirations of an increasingly diverse student body in the context of an ever more connected world. This paper seeks to do two things. First, to briefly outline current questions in the field of career development with a view to better understanding how the stated goals of the millennial generation affect their ideas of ‘career’ and ‘success’. Second, to offer Humboldt State University as a case study by examining the way these issues have influenced the development of career education in the HSU’s College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (CAHSS), specifically the International Studies Program. The argument is that while the overarching goals of millennials are not so very unusual or different from their predecessors, career education needs to adapt to meet specific needs of our students. Further, that this is best done through a strategy that combines traditional ‘user activated’ services, with intentional ‘scaffolding’ designed by each college – ideally by each department or program. The objective is to offer other and/or similar institutions a framework that includes a range of approaches to embedding career education into the academic curriculum in a way that not only meets the range of needs of our students, but also connects the liberal arts education campus to the classroom of the world

UPI-Net: Semantic Contour Detection in Placental Ultrasound

Semantic contour detection is a challenging problem that is often met in medical imaging, of which placental image analysis is a particular example. In this paper, we investigate utero-placental interface (UPI) detection in 2D placental ultrasound images by formulating it as a semantic contour detection problem. As opposed to natural images, placental ultrasound images contain specific anatomical structures thus have unique geometry. We argue it would be beneficial for UPI detectors to incorporate global context modelling in order to reduce unwanted false positive UPI predictions. Our approach, namely UPI-Net, aims to capture long-range dependencies in placenta geometry through lightweight global context modelling and effective multi-scale feature aggregation. We perform a subject-level 10-fold nested cross-validation on a placental ultrasound database (4,871 images with labelled UPI from 49 scans). Experimental results demonstrate that, without introducing considerable computational overhead, UPI-Net yields the highest performance in terms of standard contour detection metrics, compared to other competitive benchmarks.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures, accepted at Visual Recognition for Medical Images (VRMI), ICCV 201

The Maine Wabanaki-State Child Welfare Truth and Reconciliation Commission: Perceptions and Understandings

As this chapter demonstrates, the MWTRC represents a unique and creative approach to healing in communities affected by historical trauma. This chapter presents the history and context of the MWTRC. Drawing on interviews with the key participants4 in the MWTRC creation process, we explain the structure, mandate and role of the MWTRC and the accompanying community support structures that have been created. Key themes emerging from the interviews with the participants in the process are then discussed. The chapter shows that, originating in a deep understanding of the complex individual, family and community trauma that Wabanaki people have endured, the MWTRC embodies a collective desire for truth, healing and change. It provides a space for the articulation of a silenced history, and a process within which traumatic experiences and the trauma of memory can be shared in solidarity. The uniqueness of the MWTRC—a grassroots, community-organized, Indigenous community-state collaboration— makes it an important process for scholars and practitioners to follow. Although it faces challenges and tensions and involves difficult dialogues on race, privilege and accountability, this MWTRC is a new kind of truth commission, linking reconciliation with decolonization, and truth with practical policy change, in the process creating an important model of community-based conflict transformation and trauma recovery that has potentially wider implications for other communities—Indigenous, and non-Indigenous—seeking to reconcile, and to heal, after a period of long-term trauma. To see why such healing is truly necessary, this chapter turns to a summary of the historical context of trauma that the MWTRC aims to address

A Non-Pharmaceutical Approach to Chronic Pain: An OT’s Perspective

The following project was created for advocacy and education of occupational therapy\u27s role in chronic pain management. This project focuses on occupational therapist\u27s ability to utilize non-pharmaceutical interventions to manage chronic pain symptoms. The capstone outlines fitness-based exercises, aquatic therapy, ergonomics, adaptive equipment, and adaptive strategies by supporting their efficacy in recent literature. Occupational therapists possess invaluable skills that can impact the chronic pain community for the better. They can aid in the reduction of pain while increasing overall quality of life and independence. Occupational therapists are a much needed resource in chronic pain management.https://soar.usa.edu/otdcapstonespring2020/1012/thumbnail.jp

Supporting location-based inquiry learning across school, field and home contexts

Here we explore how technology can be applied to support inquiry learning spanning a range of contexts. The development process of a location-based inquiry learning toolset is presented for a secondary school GCSE Geography project. The design framework used and the process of participatory development is discussed with regard to the co-development of the activities and tools involved in an inquiry project. The lessons learned relate to the formation of a motivational context for the inquiry; the role of personal data collection in the field; the use of bridging representations across field and classroom activities; and the development of flexible, re-usable tools to support and bridge sequences of activities

Dental Perspectives in Fibrous Dysplasia and McCune-Albright Syndrome

McCune-Albright syndrome (MAS) is a rare multisystem disorder characterized by the triad of polyostotic fibrous dysplasia (PFD), endocrine disorders and café-au-lait skin pigmentation. Ninety percent of MAS patients have FD lesions in the craniofacial area, resulting in significant orofacial deformity, dental disorders, bone pain and compromised oral health. Maxillo-mandibular FD is also associated with dental developmental disorders, malocclusion, and high caries index. There is limited data on the outcomes of dental treatments in maxillo-mandibular FD/MAS patients, because clinicians and researchers have limited access to patients, and there are concerns that dental surgery may activate quiescent jaw FD lesions to grow aggressively. This report highlights current perspectives on dental management issues associated with maxillo-mandibular FD within the context of MAS