THE INFLUENCE OF SALMONELLA IN PIGS PRE-HARVEST ON SALMONELLA HUMAN HEALTH COSTS AND RISK FROM PORK

Salmonellosis in people is a costly disease, much of it occurring because of food associated exposure. We develop a farm-to-fork model which estimates the pork associated Salmonella risk and human health costs. This analysis focuses on the components of the pork production chain up to the point of producing a chilled pork carcass. Sensitivity and scenario analysis show that changes that occur in Salmonella status during processing are substantially more important for human health risk and have a higher benefit/cost ratio for application of strategies that control Salmonella compared with on-farm strategies.Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

Problems in using social work records in assessing change

Thesis (M.S.)--Boston Universit

Text readability and intuitive simplification: A comparison of readability formulas

Texts are routinely simplified for language learners with authors relying on a variety of approaches and materials to assist them in making the texts more comprehensible. Readability measures are one such tool that authors can use when evaluating text comprehensibility. This study compares the Coh-Metrix Second Language (L2) Reading Index, a readability formula based on psycholinguistic and cognitive models of reading, to traditional readability formulas on a large corpus of texts intuitively simplified for language learners. The goal of this study is to determine which formula best classifies text level (advanced, intermediate, beginner) with the prediction that text classification relates to the formulas’ capacity to measure text comprehensibility. The results demonstrate that the Coh-Metrix L2 Reading Index performs significantly better than traditional readability formulas, suggesting that the variables used in this index are more closely aligned to the intuitive text processing employed by authors when simplifying texts

Mandibular cervical headgear vs rapid maxillary expander and facemask for orthopedic treatment of Class III malocclusion.

Abstract Objective: To compare the effectiveness of the rapid maxillary expander and facemask (RME/ FM) and mandibular cervical headgear (MCH) protocols when followed by fixed appliances and evaluated at a postpubertal observation in patients with dentoskeletal Class III malocclusion. Materials and Methods: The sample treated with the RME/FM followed by fixed appliances included 32 patients (12 boys and 20 girls). The sample treated with the MCH followed by fixed appliances included 26 patients (eight boys and 18 girls). Cephalometric analysis was performed at T1 (before treatment) and T2 (after the first phase of orthopedic therapy and the second phase of fixed appliances). T1-T2 changes were evaluated by means of t-tests. Results: Midfacial length, mandibular length, and the sagittal position of the chin all showed significantly smaller increases in the MCH group than in the RME/FM group. The amount of increase in the overjet was also significantly smaller in the MCH group, whereas the amount of molar correction was greater. The upper incisors were significantly less proclined and the lower incisors were significantly less retroclined in the MCH group when compared with the RME/FM group. Conclusions: RME/FM therapy appears to be indicated in Class III patients with a component of maxillary retrusion, whereas MCH therapy is preferable in patients with mandibular prognathism

Chandra X-ray Observations of the Hydra A Cluster: An Interaction Between the Radio Source and the X-Ray-Emitting Gas

We present Chandra X-ray Observations of the Hydra A cluster of galaxies, and we report the discovery of structure in the central 80 kpc of the cluster's X-ray-emitting gas. The most remarkable structures are depressions in the X-ray surface brightness, $\sim 25-35$ kpc diameter, that are coincident with Hydra A's radio lobes. The depressions are nearly devoid of X-ray-emitting gas, and there is no evidence for shock-heated gas surrounding the radio lobes. We suggest the gas within the surface brightness depressions was displaced as the radio lobes expanded subsonically, leaving cavities in the hot atmosphere. The gas temperature declines from 4 keV at 70 kpc to 3 keV in the inner 20 kpc of the brightest cluster galaxy (BCG), and the cooling time of the gas is $\sim 600$ Myr in the inner 10 kpc. These properties are consistent with the presence of a \sim 34 \msunyr cooling flow within a 70 kpc radius. Bright X-ray emission is present in the BCG surrounding a recently-accreted disk of nebular emission and young stars. The star formation rate is commensurate with the cooling rate of the hot gas within the volume of the disk, although the sink for the material cooling at larger radii remains elusive.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures; submitted to ApJ Letter

Birth delivery method affects expression of immune genes in lung and jejunum tissue of neonatal beef calves

peer-reviewedBackground Caesarean section is a routine veterinary obstetrical procedure employed to alleviate dystocia in cattle. However, CS, particularly before the onset of labour, is known to negatively affect neonatal respiration and metabolic adaptation in humans, though there is little published information for cattle. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of elective caesarean section (ECS) or normal trans-vaginal (TV) delivery, on lung and jejunal gene expression profiles of neonatal calves. Results Paternal half-sib Angus calves (gestation length 278 + 1.8 d) were delivered either transvaginally (TV; n = 8) or by elective caesarean section (ECS; n = 9) and immediately euthanized. Lung and jejunum epithelial tissue was isolated and snap frozen. Total RNA was extracted using Trizol reagent and reverse transcribed to generate cDNA. For lung tissue, primers were designed to target genes involved in immunity, surfactant production, cellular detoxification, membrane transport and mucin production. Primers for jejunum tissue were chosen to target mucin production, immunoglobulin uptake, cortisol reaction and membrane trafficking. Quantitative real-time PCR reactions were performed and data were statistically analysed using mixed models ANOVA. In lung tissue the expression of five genes were affected (p < 0.05) by delivery method. Four of these genes were present at lower (LAP, CYP1A1, SCN11α and SCN11β) and one (MUC5AC) at higher abundance in ECS compared with TV calves. In jejunal tissue, expression of TNFα, Il-1β and 1 l-6 was higher in ECS compared with TV calves. Conclusions This novel study shows that ECS delivery affects the expression of key genes involved in the efficiency of the pulmonary liquid to air transition at birth, and may lead to an increased inflammatory response in jejunal tissue, which could compromise colostral immunoglobulin absorption. These findings are important to our understanding of the viability and management of neonatal calves born through ECS

Chemical enrichment in the cluster of galaxies Hydra A

We analyzed global properties, radial profiles and 2D maps of the metal abundances and temperature in the cool core cluster of galaxies Hydra A using a deep XMM-Newton exposure. The best fit among the available spectral models is provided by a Gaussian distribution of the emission measure (gdem). We can accurately determine abundances for 7 elements in the cluster core with EPIC and 3 elements with RGS. The gdem model gives lower Fe abundances than a single temperature model. The abundance profiles for Fe, Si, S, but also O are centrally peaked. Combining the Hydra A results with 5 other clusters for which detailed chemical abundance studies are available, we find a significant decrease of O with radius, while the increase in the O/Fe ratio with radius is small within 0.1 r_200. We compare the observed abundance ratios with the mixing of various supernova type Ia and core-collapse yield models in different relative amounts. Producing the estimated O, Si and S peaks in Hydra A requires either an amount of metals ejected by stellar winds 3-8 times higher than predicted by available models or a remaining peak in the enrichment by core-collapse supernovae from the protocluster phase. The temperature map shows cooler gas extending in arm-like structures towards the north and south. These structures appear to be richer in metals than the ambient medium and spatially correlated with the large-scale radio lobes. We estimate the mass of cool gas, which was probably uplifted by buoyant bubbles of relativistic plasma produced by the AGN, to 1.6-6.1x10^9 M_sun, and the energy associated with this uplift to 3.3-12.5x10^58 ergs. The best estimate of the mass of Fe uplifted together with the cool gas is 1.7x10^7 M_sun, 15% of the total mass of Fe in the central 0.5arcmin region.Comment: A&A, in press. Corrected right panel of Fig. 11, no other changes compared to previous versio

The effects of altering milking frequency and/or diet in early lactation on the energy balance, production and reproduction of dairy cows.

End of Project ReportIt has been suggested that negative energy balance (NEB) in the immediate post-partum period is potentially an important factor in the association between increasing milk output and declining reproductive performance. The objective of this project was to design an experimental model that could be used to impose different degrees of NEB immediately after calving and to examine the effect of this model on dry matter intake (DMI), milk production, energy balance (EB), metabolic and reproductive hormonal profiles, the onset and pattern of post-partum ovarian cyclicity and reproductive physiology around AI. Two experiments were carried out to evaluate the effects of milking frequency and diet on DMI, production, energy balance and blood metabolites and hormones in the first 4 weeks after calving and subsequent reproduction. Reducing milking frequency from either thrice or twice daily to once daily reduced DMI but also reduced milk production. This resulted in a better EB in once daily milked cows in both experiments, the reduction being significant in the first. Milk production during the 4-week treatment period was reduced by 23 and 20 percent by reducing milking frequency from thrice to once daily in experiments 1 and 2, respectively. There was a reduction of approximately 10 percent in the cumulative yield up to week 20 of lactation in experiment 1 and of approximately 9 percent in total lactation yield in experiment 2. Reducing milking frequency resulted in increased plasma glucose, insulin and IGF-1 concentrations and reduced non-esterified fatty acid (NEFA) and beta hydroxybutyrate (BHB) concentrations. Conception rates to first service or overall pregnancy rates were not different between milking frequency treatments but once daily milking resulted in a shorter interval to first ovulation than thrice daily milking, due to a higher proportion of cows on this treatment ovulating the first post-partum dominant follicle. Increasing the energy density 2 of the diet increased DMI and milk production with no consequent effect on energy balance. Logistic regression on the combined data from the two experiments showed that lower energy intake, greater NEB and lower milk protein content and were significantly associated with poorer conception to first service. Lower plasma IGF-1 concentrations in experiment 2 were also associated with a lower conception rate to first service. A third experiment which investigated protein concentration in the concentrate combined with concentrate feeding level post calving (for two groups of cows in different body condition score at calving) showed no effect of post calving diet on BCS change. Overall the results suggest that reducing milking frequency to once per day during the first 4 weeks of lactation reduces NEB and appears to be a suitable strategy for altering energy balance at this time. However, the short-term reduction in milking frequency immediately post partum reduces total lactation yields. Blood metabolite and hormonal concentrations indicate better energy balance for cows milked once daily. Increasing dietary energy density or reducing the protein content of the diet does not appear to be effective in changing energy balance in early lactation. Decreased NEB in the first 4 weeks post-partum is associated with an improved conception rate to first service