Critical Evaluation of Bacteriophage to Prevent and Treat Colibacillosis in Poultry

There is a continuing need to find alternatives to antibiotics in animal and human medicine. Bacteriophages are viruses that infect and kill bacteria, with no known activity to plant and animal cells. We have conducted research to critically evaluate the efficacy of bacteriophage to both prevent and treat colibacillosis in poultry. Bacteriophages lytic to an Escherichia coli pathogenic to poultry were isolated from municipal waste water treatment plants and poultry processing plants. Two bacteriophage isolates were selected to use in studies designed to determine the efficacy of these bacteriophage to prevent and treat severe colibacillosis in poultry. Colibacillosis was induced by injecting 6 X 104 cfu of E. coli into the thoracic airsac when the birds were 1 week of age. Initial studies demonstrated that mortality was significantly reduced when the challenge culture was mixed with bacteriophage prior to challenging the birds. In subsequent studies, we have shown that an aerosol spray of bacteriophage given to the birds prior to this E. coli challenge can prevent the disease, and that an intramuscular injection of bacteriophage provides an effective treatment of this disease. We have demonstrated that bacteriophage can be used to both prevent and treat colibacillosis in poultry and may provide an effective alternative to antibiotic use in animal and human medicine

The Effects of Agonist-Antagonist Paired Set vs. Traditional Set Training on Forearm Strength

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Momentum Distributions in ttˉt\bar t

We apply the Green function formalism for $t-\bar t$ production and decay near threshold in a study of the effects due to the momentum dependent width for such a system. We point out that these effects are likely to be much smaller than expected from the reduction of the available phase space. The Lippmann--Schwinger equation for the QCD chromostatic potential is solved numerically for $S$ partial wave. We compare the results on the total cross section, top quark intrinsic momentum distributions and on the energy spectra of $W$ bosons from top quark decays with those obtained for the constant width.Comment: 12 pages (without figures) (11 (sub)figures available on request), Karlsruhe preprint TTP93-11, hep-ph/yymmnn

Effects of selection for decreased residual feed intake on composition and quality of fresh pork

The objectives of this study were to determine the extent to which selection for decreased residual feed intake (RFI) affects pork composition and quality. Pigs from the fifth generation of selection for decreased RFI (select) and a randomly selected line (control) were utilized. Two experiments were conducted. In Exp. 1, barrows (22.6 ± 3.9 kg) from select and control lines were paired based on age and BW. The test was conducted in 8 replicates of pairs for the test period of 6 wk. Calpastatin activity and myosin isoforms profile were determined on samples from the LM. Control barrows were heavier (59.1 vs. 55.0 kg; P \u3c 0.01) at the end of the test period. Calpastatin activity was greater (P \u3c 0.01) in LM of select barrows than control barrows. In Exp. 2, composition and quality of gilts (114 kg) from control and select lines were determined. The model included fixed effects of line, slaughter date, melanocortin-4 receptor (MC4R) genotype, barn group, line × slaughter date, genotype × line interactions, a covariate of off-test BW, and sire, pen, and litter fitted as random effects. The select line (n = 80) had 0.043 kg less (P \u3c 0.05) RFI per day than the control line (n = 89). Loin quality and composition were determined at 2 d postmortem. Desmin degradation was measured at 2 and 7 d postmortem. Purge, cook loss, sensory traits, and star probe texture were measured at 7 to 10 d postmortem on cooked chops. Residual correlations between RFI and composition and quality traits were calculated. Compared with the control line, carcasses from the select line tended to have less (P = 0.09) backfat, greater (P \u3c 0.05) loin depth, and greater (P \u3c 0.05) fat free lean. Loin chops from the select line had less (P\u3c 0.01) intramuscular lipid content than loin chops from control line. Significant residual correlations between RFI and both tenderness (r = 0.24, P \u3c 0.01) and star probe (r = −0.26, P \u3c 0.01) were identified. Selection for decreased RFI has the potential to improve carcass composition with few effects on pH and water-holding capacity. However, decreased RFI could negatively affect tenderness and texture because of decreased lipid content and decreased postmortem protein degradation

SAM Domain-Based Protein Oligomerization Observed by Live-Cell Fluorescence Fluctuation Spectroscopy

Sterile-alpha-motif (SAM) domains are common protein interaction motifs observed in organisms as diverse as yeast and human. They play a role in protein homo- and hetero-interactions in processes ranging from signal transduction to RNA binding. In addition, mutations in SAM domain and SAM-mediated oligomers have been linked to several diseases. To date, the observation of heterogeneous SAM-mediated oligomers in vivo has been elusive, which represents a common challenge in dissecting cellular biochemistry in live-cell systems. In this study, we report the oligomerization and binding stoichiometry of high-order, multi-component complexes of (SAM) domain proteins Ste11 and Ste50 in live yeast cells using fluorescence fluctuation methods. Fluorescence cross-correlation spectroscopy (FCCS) and 1-dimensional photon counting histogram (1dPCH) confirm the SAM-mediated interaction and oligomerization of Ste11 and Ste50. Two-dimensional PCH (2dPCH), with endogenously expressed proteins tagged with GFP or mCherry, uniquely indicates that Ste11 and Ste50 form a heterogeneous complex in the yeast cytosol comprised of a dimer of Ste11 and a monomer of Ste50. In addition, Ste50 also exists as a high order oligomer that does not interact with Ste11, and the size of this oligomer decreases in response to signals that activate the MAP kinase cascade. Surprisingly, a SAM domain mutant of Ste50 disrupted not only the Ste50 oligomers but also Ste11 dimerization. These results establish an in vivo model of Ste50 and Ste11 homo- and hetero-oligomerization and highlight the usefulness of 2dPCH for quantitative dissection of complex molecular interactions in genetic model organisms such as yeast

Lieb-Thirring Bound for Schr\"odinger Operators with Bernstein Functions of the Laplacian

A Lieb-Thirring bound for Schr\"odinger operators with Bernstein functions of the Laplacian is shown by functional integration techniques. Several specific cases are discussed in detail.Comment: We revised the first versio

Surveying the Current State of International Outreach in Radiology Training Programs

Purpose: Over the past decade, there has been an increased level of attention focused on improving radiology’s contributions to global health programs in resource-restricted areas of the world. This has led to the formation of new organizations and international imaging partnerships. As a result, there have been related publications and guidelines, which has increased awareness and interest amongst current and prospective radiology trainees. Methods and Materials: With this survey of residency program directors, we set out to: 1) examine current opinions of and experience with integrating international and outreach opportunities into their training curriculum; and 2) to analyze these data to inform strategies for growing opportunities within training programs nationwide. Results: The majority (51%) of programs participating in the survey have interest in participating in international projects and 64% feel they add value to resident education. Only about a quarter (27%) of programs, however, have had residents participate in radiology-related international projects over the last five years, and even fewer (18.8%) have established international elective opportunities. However, the majority of programs (58.3%) have some faculty who are involved in international radiology. Conclusion: The reported interest in international educational and service opportunities among residency training programs is much greater than current levels of participation. A much larger percentage of responding programs have faculty involved in international work than residents, despite the acknowledged benefits and interes