The characterisation and epidemiology of avian pathogenic Escherchia coli in UK broiler chickens

Poultry health and welfare are important for maintaining sustainable and safe food production. In the UK alone, in excess of 900 million broiler chickens are farmed annually with demand continuously increasing. Avian pathogenic Escherichia coli (APEC) is the causative agent of the extraintestinal syndromic poultry disease colibacillosis, which has a major impact on poultry health and is a considerable economic burden to the global poultry industry. The need for disease control is of paramount importance. Little is known about the epidemiology, population dynamics and infection biology of APEC in UK broiler chickens. This knowledge would contribute to the implementation of control measures. This investigation comprised: one longitudinal field study in commercial flocks aimed at simultaneously identifying potential APEC (pAPEC) in the intestinal tract of healthy birds and extraintestinal E. coli in diseased birds, one study determining the contribution of E. coli to early flock mortalities and a series of in vitro experiments and genetic analyses characterising both extraintestinal and avian faecal E. coli isolated from UK broiler chickens. E. coli were subjected to virulotyping, phylogenetic typing, macro-restriction pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) and multilocus sequence typing (MLST). The extraintestinal E. coli isolates from diseased birds represent a diverse genetic population. Furthermore, as broiler chickens age, the prevalence of pAPEC in the gastrointestinal tract decreases. The intestinal tract of day-old chicks contains considerable levels of pAPEC (24.05% of the faecal population sampled), while ~70% of early mortalities relate to extraintestinal E. coli infections, possibly originating from the gut. In vitro, pAPEC did not appear to invade intestinal epithelial cells, suggesting the respiratory route is likely to be favourable for dissemination, although pAPEC are cytotoxic and may disrupt epithelial integrity prior to dissemination. There were no significant differences in the intracellular persistence of APEC and faecal E. coli in cultured avian macrophages and survival in serum; challenges encountered by E. coli during dissemination. Overall, this investigation highlights the diverse spectrum of E. coli associated with extraintestinal disease in commercial broiler production and the need to determine the contribution of host susceptibility to disease manifestation

The Effect of Different Food Sources on Slime Mold Growth and Memory

Physarum polycephalum is a species of slime mold that spends most of its life cycle as a plasmodium, a unicellular multinucleated amoeboid. This species of slime mold is well known for its spatial memory. Oats, quinoa, and barley have a lot of protein and nutrients; therefore, they were used to feed the slime mold. Other studies tested the memory or growth of slime mold. This experiment compared both slime mold growth and memory using oats, quinoa, and barley. It was hypothesized that barley would make the slime mold grow the quickest and largest due to its high protein concentration. Into 3 Petri dishes a culture of slime mold, and each food source was placed. The slime mold was then placed in a shoebox, with graph paper taped to the bottom, to make sure there was minimal lighting. After sections were cut out and placed into the remaining petri dishes with the same food sources it grew in and then placed into a Lego maze with the food sources to track the time of its memory. Barley and oats tied for overall growth after 48-hours, but barley-fed plasmodium grew much faster. It was hypothesized that the maze portion of the experiment, barley fed slime mold, would also complete the maze faster. The hypothesis was not supported. Oat grown slime mold completed the maze the fastest. The slime mold was placed into different mazes and allowed to grow for 48 hours. After 48 hours the hypothesis was concluded to be unsupported

Do Stress Levels Affect Response Reactions to Background music?

Music is different sounds put together to create harmonies. Stress is a reaction to an interference that disturbs the functioning of an organism. Although many previous experiments tested the effect of music on stress levels and reactions, the correlations among three factors (perception, processing, and reaction) has not been investigated. The objective of this experiment is to test the effect of stress levels on correlations of three factors within physical response reaction with and without background music. It is hypothesized that participants with high-stress levels would have the fastest response reaction regardless of the type of music they listen to. Each participant was randomly put in one group, each group having different testing sequences. The participants then took a stress test, listened to cheerful, suspenseful, and no music for thirty seconds each, and took a “push the button activity” to test their reaction speed. Participants were divided into different groups according to their stress levels and reaction time under different music conditions was compared. Listening to music worsened participants' reactions, however it had the least influence on low stress participants. The data showed that there is no significant difference in reaction times possibly due to the small sample size. It rejects the hypothesis that high stress levels will have a faster response reaction time regardless of the music they listen to. Participants with high stress levels have a faster reaction time and so do low stress levels. Future work includes specific age requirements and extended time period for data collection

Sweet's syndrome in a patient with Crohn's disease: a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Sweet's syndrome, also known as acute febrile neutrophilic dermatosis, has been associated with malignancy, autoimmune disease and collagen vascular disease. The association of Crohn's disease and Sweet's syndrome is rare. We report a case of Sweet's syndrome in a patient with Crohn's disease.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>A 63-year-old man with a history of Crohn's disease presented with one-week duration of abdominal pain, diarrhea and hematochezia. He also noticed eruption of painful skin rashes all over his body at the same time. Colonoscopy and esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) showed inflammation involving different parts of the gastrointestinal tract consistent with Crohn's disease. Punch biopsy of the skin lesion was consistent with Sweet's syndrome, which has a rare association with Crohn's disease.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Crohn's disease should be excluded in patients presenting with Sweet's syndrome and diarrhea. Alternatively, Sweet's syndrome should be considered as a diagnosis when a patient with Crohn's disease develops skin lesions.</p

Prognostic factors in patients admitted to an urban teaching hospital with COVID-19 infection

Background: Severe COVID-19 infection results in a systemic inflammatory response (SIRS). This SIRS response shares similarities to the changes observed during the peri-operative period that are recognised to be associated with the development of multiple organ failure. Methods: Electronic patient records for patients who were admitted to an urban teaching hospital during the initial 7-week period of the COVID-19 pandemic in Glasgow, U.K. (17th March 2020—1st May 2020) were examined for routine clinical, laboratory and clinical outcome data. Age, sex, BMI and documented evidence of COVID-19 infection at time of discharge or death certification were considered minimal criteria for inclusion. Results: Of the 224 patients who fulfilled the criteria for inclusion, 52 (23%) had died at 30-days following admission. COVID-19 related respiratory failure (75%) and multiorgan failure (12%) were the commonest causes of death recorded. Age ≥ 70 years (p &lt; 0.001), past medical history of cognitive impairment (p ≤ 0.001), previous delirium (p &lt; 0.001), clinical frailty score &gt; 3 (p &lt; 0.001), hypertension (p &lt; 0.05), heart failure (p &lt; 0.01), national early warning score (NEWS) &gt; 4 (p &lt; 0.01), positive CXR (p &lt; 0.01), and subsequent positive COVID-19 swab (p ≤ 0.001) were associated with 30-day mortality. CRP &gt; 80 mg/L (p &lt; 0.05), albumin &lt; 35 g/L (p &lt; 0.05), peri-operative Glasgow Prognostic Score (poGPS) (p &lt; 0.05), lymphocytes &lt; 1.5 109/l (p &lt; 0.05), neutrophil lymphocyte ratio (p ≤ 0.001), haematocrit (&lt; 0.40 L/L (male)/ &lt; 0.37 L/L (female)) (p ≤ 0.01), urea &gt; 7.5 mmol/L (p &lt; 0.001), creatinine &gt; 130 mmol/L (p &lt; 0.05) and elevated urea: albumin ratio (&lt; 0.001) were also associated with 30-day mortality. On multivariate analysis, age ≥ 70 years (O.R. 3.9, 95% C.I. 1.4–8.2, p &lt; 0.001), past medical history of heart failure (O.R. 3.3, 95% C.I. 1.2–19.3, p &lt; 0.05), NEWS &gt; 4 (O.R. 2.4, 95% C.I. 1.1–4.4, p &lt; 0.05), positive initial CXR (O.R. 0.4, 95% C.I. 0.2–0.9, p &lt; 0.05) and poGPS (O.R. 2.3, 95% C.I. 1.1–4.4, p &lt; 0.05) remained independently associated with 30-day mortality. Among those patients who tested PCR COVID-19 positive (n = 122), age ≥ 70 years (O.R. 4.7, 95% C.I. 2.0—11.3, p &lt; 0.001), past medical history of heart failure (O.R. 4.4, 95% C.I. 1.2–20.5, p &lt; 0.05) and poGPS (O.R. 2.4, 95% C.I. 1.1–5.1, p &lt; 0.05) remained independently associated with 30-days mortality. Conclusion: Age ≥ 70 years and severe systemic inflammation as measured by the peri-operative Glasgow Prognostic Score are independently associated with 30-day mortality among patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 infection

Avian Pathogenic Escherichia coli (APEC) Infection Alters Bone Marrow Transcriptome in Chickens

Avian pathogenic Escherichia coli (APEC) is a major cause of disease impacting animal health. The bone marrow is the reservoir of immature immune cells; however, it has not been examined to date for gene expression related to developmental changes (cell differentiation, maturation, programming) after APEC infection. Here, we study gene expression in the bone marrow between infected and non-infected animals, and between infected animals with mild (resistant) versus severe (susceptible) pathology, at two times post-infection. We sequenced 24 bone marrow RNA libraries generated from the six different treatment groups with four replicates each, and obtained an average of 22 million single-end, 100-bp reads per library. Genes were detected as differentially expressed (DE) between APEC treatments (mild pathology, severe pathology, and mock-challenged) at a given time point, or DE between 1 and 5 days post-infection (dpi) within the same treatment group. Results demonstrate that many immune cells, genes and related pathways are key contributors to the different responses to APEC infection between susceptible and resistant birds and between susceptible and non-challenged birds, at both times post-infection. In susceptible birds, lymphocyte differentiation, proliferation, and maturation were greatly impaired, while the innate and adaptive immune responses, including dendritic cells, monocytes and killer cell activity, TLR- and NOD-like receptor signaling, as well as T helper cells and many cytokine activities, were markedly enhanced. The resistant birds’ immune system, however, was similar to that of non-challenged birds. The DE genes in the immune cells and identified signaling models are representative of activation and resolution of infection in susceptible birds at both post-infection days. These novel results characterizing transcriptomic response to APEC infection reveal that there is combinatorial activity of multiple genes controlling myeloid cells, and B and T cell lymphopoiesis, as well as immune responses occurring in the bone marrow in these early stages of response to infection

Extraintestinal Manifestations of Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Extraintestinal manifestations (EIM) in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) are frequent and may occur before or after IBD diagnosis. EIM may impact the quality of life for patients with IBD significantly requiring specific treatment depending on the affected organ(s). They most frequently affect joints, skin, or eyes, but can also less frequently involve other organs such as liver, lungs, or pancreas. Certain EIM, such as peripheral arthritis, oral aphthous ulcers, episcleritis, or erythema nodosum, are frequently associated with active intestinal inflammation and usually improve by treatment of the intestinal activity. Other EIM, such as uveitis or ankylosing spondylitis, usually occur independent of intestinal inflammatory activity. For other not so rare EIM, such as pyoderma gangrenosum and primary sclerosing cholangitis, the association with the activity of the underlying IBD is unclear. Successful therapy of EIM is essential for improving quality of life of patients with IBD. Besides other options, tumor necrosis factor antibody therapy is an important therapy for EIM in patients with IBD