How teaching academies promote interdisciplinary communities of practice : The Helsinki Case

Universities invest in teaching academies to reward outstanding teachers. Few studies have been published about the impact of teaching academies on teaching communities. The aim of this study was to see who excellent academic teachers spoke to when they discussed teaching and learning, and what kind of community a Teachers' Academy established in 2013 offered to its Fellows. We analysed the answers to two open-ended questions from two surveys. The first survey (2013) was addressed to first-round applicants to the Academy in 2013 (N = 46, 32%) and the second (2018) to its Fellows (N = 56, 65%). In both surveys, most teachers had meaningful discussions with their close colleagues. In the second survey, the conversations with pedagogical experts merged with the discussions at the Academy. The 2018 survey also examined how well the Academy's key objectives of providing teachers with an interdisciplinary community and peer support had been achieved in five years. The Academy had become an important community for teachers, in which teachers shared mutual appreciation for teaching and collaborated across disciplinary boundaries and campuses. A challenge for a teaching academy is to support its fellows in implementing the principles of scholarship of teaching and learning, that is, carrying out scholarly educational projects and sharing the results locally, nationally and internationally.Peer reviewe

Pathogen-specific production losses in bovine mastitis

Reduction in long-term milk yields represents a notable share of the economic losses caused by bovine mastitis. Efficient, economic, and safe measures to prevent these losses require knowledge of the causal agent of the disease. The aim of this study was to investigate pathogen-specific impacts of mastitis on milk production of dairy cows. The materials consisted of milk and health recording data and microbiological diagnoses of mastitic quarter milk samples of 20,234 Finnish dairy cows during 2010, 2011, and 2012. The 6 most common udder pathogens were included in the study: Staphylococcus aureus, non-aureus staphylococci (NAS), Escherichia coli, Corynebacterium bovis, Streptococcus uberis, and Streptococcus dysgalactiae. We used a 2-level multilevel model to estimate curves for lactations with and without mastitis. The data on lactation periods to be compared were collected from the same cow. To enable comparison among lactations representing diverse parities, the estimated lactation curves were adjusted to describe the cow's third lactation. Mastitis caused by each pathogen resulted in milk production loss. The extent of the reduction depended on the pathogen, the timing of mastitis during lactation, and the type of mastitis (clinical vs. subclinical). The 2 most commonly detected pathogens were NAS and Staph. aureus. Escherichia coli clinical mastitis diagnosed before peak lactation caused the largest loss, 10.6% of the 305-d milk yield (3.5 kg/d). The corresponding loss for Staph. aurrus mastitis was 7.1% (2.3 kg/d). In Staph. aureus mastitis diagnosed between 54 and 120 d in milk, the loss was 4.3% (1.4 kg/d). The loss was almost equal in both clinical and subclinical mastitis caused by Staph. aurrus. Mastitis caused by Strep. uberis and Strep. dysgalactiae resulted in losses ranging from 3.7% (1.2 kg/d) to 6.6% (2.1 kg/d) depending on type and timing of mastitis. Clinical mastitis caused by the minor pathogens C. bovis and NAS also had a negative effect on milk production: 7.4% (2.4 kg/d) in C. bovis and 5.7% (1.8 kg/d) in NAS when both were diagnosed before peak lactation. In conclusion, minor pathogens should not be underestimated as a cause of milk yield reduction. On single dairy farms, control of E. coli mastitis would bring about a significant increase in milk production. Reducing Staph. aureus mastitis is the greatest challenge for the Finnish dairy sector.Peer reviewe

Treatment of mastitis during lactation

Treatment of mastitis should be based on bacteriological diagnosis and take national and international guidelines on prudent use of antimicrobials into account. In acute mastitis, where bacteriological diagnosis is not available, treatment should be initiated based on herd data and personal experience. Rapid bacteriological diagnosis would facilitate the proper selection of the antimicrobial. Treating subclinical mastitis with antimicrobials during lactation is seldom economical, because of high treatment costs and generally poor efficacy. All mastitis treatment should be evidence-based, i.e., the efficacy of each product and treatment length should be demonstrated by scientific studies. Use of on-farm written protocols for mastitis treatment promotes a judicious use of antimicrobials and reduces the use of antimicrobials

Occurrence and characterization of methicillin-resistant staphylococci from bovine mastitis milk samples in Finland

Background: Methicillin-resistant staphylococci (MRS) are increasingly being isolated in bovine mastitis. The aim of our study was to evaluate the occurrence of MRS in Finnish mastitis milk samples and characterize the MRS isolates using molecular methods. Results: Methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) was a rare finding in bovine mastitis in Finland. Only two out of 135 (1.5%) S. aureus isolates were positive for mec genes. One of these carried mecA and was of spa type t172, SCCmec type IV and ST375, and the other harboured mecC, being spa type t3256, and ST130. MRSA ST375 is common among human MRSA isolates in Finland, but this is the first report in the country of bovine mecC MRSA. In coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS) originating from bovine mastitis, methicillin resistance was more common. In the two CoNS collections studied, 5.2% (17/324) and 1.8% (2/110) of the isolates were mecA positive. Eighteen of these were methicillin-resistant S. epidermidis (MRSE), which were divided into 6 separate PFGE clusters. One pulsotype was detected in different parts of the country, indicating clonal spread. Most MRSE (13/18) were of SCCmec type IV, one was of type V and four were non-typeable. Comparison with a human staphylococcal database indicated that bovine MRSE strains were not closely related to human MRSE isolates. Conclusions: The occurrence of MRS, especially MRSA, in bovine mastitis in Finland was low. Most methicillinresistant bovine CoNS are MRSE, and we found evidence of a bovine MRSE strain that may spread clonally. This is the first report of a Finnish bovine isolate of MRSAmecC ST130. The study provides a baseline for further MRS monitoring

Local host response following an intramammary challenge with Staphylococcus fleurettii and different strains of Staphylococcus chromogenes in dairy heifers

Coagulase-negative staphylococci (CNS) are a common cause of subclinical mastitis in dairy cattle. The CNS inhabit various ecological habitats, ranging between the environment and the host. In order to obtain a better insight into the host response, an experimental infection was carried out in eight healthy heifers in mid-lactation with three different CNS strains: a Staphylococcus fleurettii strain originating from sawdust bedding, an intramammary Staphylococcus chromogenes strain originating from a persistent intramammary infection (S. chromogenes IM) and a S. chromogenes strain isolated from a heifer's teat apex (S. chromogenes TA). Each heifer was inoculated in the mammary gland with 1.0 x 10(6) colony forming units of each bacterial strain (one strain per udder quarter), whereas the remaining quarter was infused with phosphate-buffered saline. Overall, the CNS evoked a mild local host response. The somatic cell count increased in all S. fleurettii-inoculated quarters, although the strain was eliminated within 12 h. The two S. chromogenes strains were shed in larger numbers for a longer period. Bacterial and somatic cell counts, as well as neutrophil responses, were higher after inoculation with S. chromogenes IM than with S. chromogenes TA. In conclusion, these results suggest that S. chromogenes might be better adapted to the mammary gland than S. fleurettii. Furthermore, not all S. chromogenes strains induce the same local host response

Bacteriological etiology and treatment of mastitis in Finnish dairy herds

Background: The Finnish dairy herd recording system maintains production and health records of cows and herds. Veterinarians and farmers register veterinary treatments in the system. Milk samples for microbiological analysis are routinely taken from mastitic cows. The laboratory of the largest dairy company in Finland, Valio Ltd., analyzes most samples using real-time PCR. This study addressed pathogen-specific microbiological data and treatment and culling records, in combination with cow and herd characteristics, from the Finnish dairy herd recording system during 2010-2012. Results: The data derived from 240,067 quarter milk samples from 93,529 dairy cows with mastitis; 238,235 cows from the same herds served as the control group. No target pathogen DNA was detected in 12% of the samples. In 49% of the positive samples, only one target species and in 19%, two species with one dominant species were present. The most common species in the samples with a single species only were coagulase-negative staphylococci (CNS) (43%), followed by Staphylococcus aureus (21%), Streptococcus uberis (9%), Streptococcus dysgalactiae (8%), Corynebacterium bovis (7%), and Escherichia coli (5%). On average, 36% of the study cows and 6% of the control cows had recorded mastitis treatments during lactation. The corresponding proportions were 16 and 6% at drying-off. For more than 75% of the treatments during lactation, diagnosis was acute clinical mastitis. In the milk samples from cows with a recorded mastitis treatment during lactation, CNS and S. aureus were most common, followed by streptococci. Altogether, 48% of the cows were culled during the study. Mastitis was reported as the most common reason to cull; 49% of study cows and 18% of control cows were culled because of mastitis. Culling was most likely if S. aureus was detected in the milk sample submitted during the culling year. Conclusions: The PCR test has proven to be an applicable method also for large-scale use in bacterial diagnostics. In the present study, microbiological diagnosis was unequivocal in the great majority of samples where a single species or two species with one dominating were detected. Coagulase-negative staphylococci and S. aureus were the most common species. S. aureus was also the most common pathogen among the culled cows, which emphasizes the importance of preventive measures.Peer reviewe

Acute phase response in two consecutive experimentally induced E. coli intramammary infections in dairy cows

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Acute phase proteins haptoglobin (Hp), serum amyloid A (SAA) and lipopolysaccharide binding protein (LBP) have suggested to be suitable inflammatory markers for bovine mastitis. The aim of the study was to investigate acute phase markers along with clinical parameters in two consecutive intramammary challenges with <it>Escherichia coli </it>and to evaluate the possible carry-over effect when same animals are used in an experimental model.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Mastitis was induced with a dose of 1500 cfu of <it>E. coli </it>in one quarter of six cows and inoculation repeated in another quarter after an interval of 14 days. Concentrations of acute phase proteins haptoglobin (Hp), serum amyloid A (SAA) and lipopolysaccharide binding protein (LBP) were determined in serum and milk.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In both challenges all cows became infected and developed clinical mastitis within 12 hours of inoculation. Clinical disease and acute phase response was generally milder in the second challenge. Concentrations of SAA in milk started to increase 12 hours after inoculation and peaked at 60 hours after the first challenge and at 44 hours after the second challenge. Concentrations of SAA in serum increased more slowly and peaked at the same times as in milk; concentrations in serum were about one third of those in milk. Hp started to increase in milk similarly and peaked at 36–44 hours. In serum, the concentration of Hp peaked at 60–68 hours and was twice as high as in milk. LBP concentrations in milk and serum started to increase after 12 hours and peaked at 36 hours, being higher in milk. The concentrations of acute phase proteins in serum and milk in the <it>E. coli </it>infection model were much higher than those recorded in experiments using Gram-positive pathogens, indicating the severe inflammation induced by <it>E. coli</it>.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Acute phase proteins would be useful parameters as mastitis indicators and to assess the severity of mastitis. If repeated experimental intramammary induction of the same animals with <it>E. coli </it>is used in cross-over studies, the interval between challenges should be longer than 2 weeks, due to the carry-over effect from the first infection.</p

Accurate derivation of stem curve and volume using backpack mobile laser scanning

Forest inventories rely on field plots, the measurement of which is costly and time consuming by manual means. Thus, there is a need to automate plot-level field data collection. Mobile laser scanning has yet to be demonstrated for deriving stem curve and volume from standing trees with sufficient accuracy for supporting forest inventory needs. We tested a new approach based on pulse-based backpack mobile laser scanner (Riegl VUX-1HA) combined with in-house developed SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping), and a novel post-processing algorithm chain that allows one to extract stem curves from scan-line arcs corresponding to individual standing trees. The post-processing step included, among others, an algorithm for scan-line arc extraction, a stem inclination angle correction and an arc matching algorithm correcting for the drifts that are still present in the stem points after applying the SLAM algorithm. By using the stem curves defined by the detected arcs and tree heights provided by the pulse-based scanner, stem volume estimates for standing trees in easy (n = 40) and medium (n = 37) difficult boreal forest were calculated. In the easy and medium plots, 100% of pine and birch stems were correctly detected. The total RMSE of the extracted stem curves was 1.2 cm (5.1%) and 1.7 cm (6.7%) for the easy and medium plots, respectively. The RMSE were 1.8 m (8.7%) and 1.1 m (4.9%) for the estimated tree heights, and 9.7% and 10.9% for the stem volumes for the easy and medium plots, correspondingly. Thus, our processing chain provided stem volume estimates with a better accuracy than previous methods based on mobile laser scanning data. Importantly, the accuracy of stem volume estimation was comparable to that provided by terrestrial laser scanning approaches in similar forest conditions. To further demonstrate the performance of the proposed method, we compared our results against stem volumes calculated using the standard Finnish allometric volume model, and found that our method provided more accurate volume estimates for the two test sites. The findings are important steps towards future individual-tree-based airborne laser scanning inventories which currently lack cost-efficient and accurate field reference data collection techniques. The tree geometry defined by the stem curve is also an important input parameter for deriving quality-related information from trees. Forest management decision making will benefit from improvements to the efficiency and quality of individual tree reference information.</p

Guidelines On Diabetes, Pre-Diabetes, And Cardiovascular Diseases: Executive Summary.The Task Force on Diabetes and Cardiovascular Diseases of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) and of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD).

Guidelines and Expert Consensus documents aim to present management and recommendations based on all of the relevant evidence on a particular subject in order to help physicians to select the best possible management strategies for the individual patient, suffering from a specific condition, taking into account not only the impact on outcome, but also the risk benefit ratio of a particular diagnostic or therapeutic procedure. The ESC recommendations for guidelines production can be found on the ESC website†. In brief, the ESC appoints experts in the field to carry out a comprehensive and critical evaluation of the use of diagnostic and therapeutic procedures and to assess the risk–benefit ratio of the therapies recommended for management and/or prevention of a given condition. The strength of evidence for or against particular procedures or treatments is weighed according to predefined scales for grading recommendations and levels of evidence, as outlined below. Once the document has been finalized and approved by all the experts involved in the Task Force, it is submitted to outside specialists for review. If necessary, the document is revised once more to be finally approved by the Committee for Practice Guidelines and selected members of the Board of the ESC. The ESC Committee for Practice Guidelines (CPG) supervises and coordinates the preparation of new Guidelines and Expert Consensus Documents produced by Task Forces, expert groups, or consensus panels. The chosen experts in these writing panels are asked to provide disclosure statements of all relationships they may have, which might be perceived as real or potential conflicts of interest. These disclosure forms are kept on file at the European Heart House, headquarters of the ESC. The Committee is also responsible for the endorsement of these Guidelines and Expert Consensus Documents or statements

Prevalence of contagious and environmental mastitis-causing bacteria in bulk tank milk and its relationships with milking practices of dairy cattle herds in São Miguel Island (Azores)

This study aimed to assess the degree of contamination of bulk tank milk (BTM) by Staphylococcus spp. and coliform bacteria and to identify major milking practices that help perpetuate them in dairy cattle herds in São Miguel Island. In July 2014, BTM was sampled and a survey concerning local milking practices was conducted on 100 herds. Semi quantitative multiplex polymerase chain reaction detected coagulase-negative staphylococci, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, and other coliform bacteria (Klebsiella oxytoca, Klebsiella pneumoniae, andSerratia marcescens) in 100, 75, 59, and 35 % of BTM, respectively. According to multivariable univariate models, on herds not using hot water for cleaning the milking machine and teat liners, there was at least 3.4 more odds (P<0.01) to have S. aureus or coliform bacteria contamination in BTM. The likelihoodoffinding S.aureus inBTMwas higher(P<0.001)on herds without high hygiene during milking, when milking mastitic cows at the end, on abrupt cessation of milking at dry-off, and official milk control implementation. The glove use also favored (odds ratio (OR) 5.8; P<0.01)thedetection ofcoliformbacteriainBTM.Poormilkingpracticesidentified in this study should be avoided in order to decrease S. aureus and coliform bacteria contamination of BTM. Other factors associated with milk quality in São Miguel Island also should be further investigated