Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Enteritis in Neonatal and Juvenile Ruminants.

Common causes of infectious enteritis in neonate and juvenile ruminants include viral, bacterial, and protozoal pathogens. The most common presenting sign in ruminants with infectious enteritis is diarrhea. Diagnosis of the cause of enteritis has important zoonotic and herd health implications. Severity of clinical signs with similar pathogens may differ between calves and small ruminants. Treatment of enteritis involves supportive care to correct fluid and electrolyte imbalances, provision of nutritional support for neonates, prevention and treatment of endotoxemia or sepsis, and pathogen-specific treatments when relevant and available

Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Enteritis in Adult Ruminants.

Infectious enteritis in adult ruminants is often a result of 1 or more viral, bacterial, or parasitic pathogens. Diagnosis of etiologic agents causing enteritis is important when considering herd implications and zoonotic potential of some etiologies. Differential diagnoses for enteritis in adult ruminants is not simple based on clinical signs alone. Diagnostic samples include feces, blood, and antemortem and postmortem tissues. Treatment of infectious enteritis is aimed at correcting dehydration and electrolyte imbalances secondary to diarrhea. In cases of some bacterial and parasitic pathogens, additional targeted treatment and control are recommended. Management of enteritis may be instituted while awaiting laboratory test results

Fragile X astrocytes induce developmental delays in dendrite maturation and synaptic protein expression

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Fragile X syndrome is the most common inherited form of mental impairment characterized by cognitive impairment, attention deficit and autistic behaviours. The mouse model of Fragile X is used to study the underlying neurobiology associated with behavioral deficiencies. The effect of Fragile X glial cells on the development of neurons has not been studied. We used a co-culture technique in combination with morphometrics on immunostained neurons to investigate the role of astrocytes in the development delays associated with hippocampal neuron development.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We found that hippocampal neurons grown on Fragile X astrocytes exhibited a significant difference from the neurons grown with normal astrocytes after 7 days in vitro for many parameters including increases in dendritic branching and in area of the cell body. However, after 21 days in culture, the neurons grown on Fragile X astrocytes exhibited morphological characteristics that did not differ significantly from the neurons grown on normal astrocytes. With antibodies to the pre-synaptic protein, synapsin, and to the excitatory post-synaptic protein, PSD-95, we quantified the number of developing excitatory synapses on the dendrites. In addition to the delays in dendritic patterning, the development of excitatory synapses was also delayed in the hippocampal neurons.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>These experiments are the first to establish a role for astrocytes in the delayed growth characteristics and abnormal morphological features in dendrites and synapses that characterize the Fragile X syndrome.</p

Evaluation of force-torque displays for use with space station telerobotic activities

Recent experiments which addressed Space Station remote manipulation tasks found that tactile force feedback (reflecting forces and torques encountered at the end-effector through the manipulator hand controller) does not improve performance significantly. Subjective response from astronaut and non-astronaut test subjects indicated that force information, provided visually, could be useful. No research exists which specifically investigates methods of presenting force-torque information visually. This experiment was designed to evaluate seven different visual force-torque displays which were found in an informal telephone survey. The displays were prototyped in the HyperCard programming environment. In a within-subjects experiment, 14 subjects nullified forces and torques presented statically, using response buttons located at the bottom of the screen. Dependent measures included questionnaire data, errors, and response time. Subjective data generally demonstrate that subjects rated variations of pseudo-perspective displays consistently better than bar graph and digital displays. Subjects commented that the bar graph and digital displays could be used, but were not compatible with using hand controllers. Quantitative data show similar trends to the subjective data, except that the bar graph and digital displays both provided good performance, perhaps do to the mapping of response buttons to display elements. Results indicate that for this set of displays, the pseudo-perspective displays generally represent a more intuitive format for presenting force-torque information

Rabi oscillations and magnetization of a mobile spin-1/2 impurity in a Fermi sea

We investigate the behavior of a mobile spin-1/2 impurity atom immersed in a Fermi gas, where the interacting spin-$\uparrow$ and non-interacting spin-$\downarrow$ states of the impurity are Rabi coupled via an external field. This scenario resembles the classic problem of a two-state system interacting with a dissipative environment, but with an added dimension provided by the impurity momentum degree of freedom. In this case, the impurity can become "dressed" by excitations of the Fermi sea to form a Fermi polaron quasiparticle. For the steady-state system, where the impurity has thermalized with the medium, we derive exact thermodynamic relations that connect the impurity magnetization with quasiparticle properties such as the number of fermions in the dressing cloud. We show how the thermodynamic properties evolve with increasing Rabi coupling and we present exact analytical results in the limits of weak and strong Rabi coupling. For the dynamics of the Rabi-driven Fermi polaron, we formulate a theoretical approach based on correlation functions that respects conservation laws and allows the efficient calculation of Rabi oscillations for a range of time scales and impurity momenta beyond what has been achieved previously. Our results are in good agreement with recent experiments on the Rabi oscillations of the attractive polaron, and they reveal how the Rabi oscillations are influenced by the interplay between the polaron and its dressing cloud.Comment: 18 pages, 10 figure

Inclusion of evidence-based healthy eating policies in Community Health Improvement Plans: Findings from a national probability survey of US local health departments

Introduction: Evidence-based healthy eating (HE) policies can increase opportunities to engage in a healthy diet. The adoption of evidence-based policies into practice is limited and no study reports the status of HE policies nationally. Community Health Improvement Plans (CHIPs) strategically address health priorities, steer evidence-based strategy selection and implementation, and require collaboration. Local health departments (LHDs) are often key stakeholders. We aimed to determine the proportion of LHDs with a CHIP having evidence-based HE policies. Methods:A national probability survey of US LHDs serving populations of Results: 44.1% (95%CI: 34.7-54.0%) of US LHDs with a CHIP reported at least one evidence-based HE policy. The proportion of specific HE policies ranged from 28.9% for school district nutrition/procurement/vending policies to 1.3% for sugar-sweetened beverage tax. Conclusions: Increased implementation of evidence-based HE policy approaches are needed within communities

Do U.S. adults living in food insecure households experience poorer cardiovascular health?

Background Twelve percent of U.S. adults live in food insecure households, putting them at risk for adverse health outcomes. Relationships between food insecurity and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors range from well-established to inconsistent and understudied. Food insecurity has been positively associated with poor glycemic control, tobacco use, and poor diet. The link with unhealthy body mass index (BMI) is only observed among women. Inconsistent evidence of relationships with hypertension and dyslipidemia has been found and literature examining physical activity is sparse. The relationships between food insecurity and overall cardiovascular health metrics have not been studied in a nationally representative sample of U.S. adults. Objective To quantify the extent to which food insecurity in U.S. adults is associated with poorer cardiovascular health, as measured by the Life Simple 7 metrics, and to assess gender differences in these associations. Methods This was a cross-sectional analysis of 1,446 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey participants (2011-2012) aged \u3e20 years. The United States Department of Agriculture Adult Food Security Module 10-item questionnaire assessed food insecurity status. Affirmative responses were summed and dichotomized as food secure (responses) or food insecure (\u3e3). An ideal cardiovascular health score was generated from the sum of American Heart Association’s (AHA) Life’s Simple 7 metrics components achieved. The metrics included three health factors (blood glucose, cholesterol, and blood pressure) and four health behaviors (non-smoking, physical activity, healthy BMI, and healthy diet) as measured by laboratory values, anthropometric measures, self-reported questionnaires, and dietary recalls. Multiple linear and logistic regressions determined the associations between food insecurity and overall ideal cardiovascular health, defined as meeting all of the AHA Life Simple 7 metrics, and individual cardiovascular health components, respectively. The interaction between food insecurity and gender and ideal cardiovascular health was tested. Results No U.S. adults met all ideal cardiovascular health components. The 15.8% of adults living in food insecure households achieved a lower ideal cardiovascular health score (adjusted β coefficient: -0.27; 95% Confidence Interval (CI): [-0.50 to -0.04]) than adults living in food secure households. Tests for gender interaction were non-significant. In analyses assessing individual cardiovascular health components, only smoking was significant; adults living in food insecure households were half as likely to be non-smokers or recent quitters relative to their food secure counterparts (adjusted Odds Ratio 0.51; 95% CI: [0.31-0.81]). Conclusion Adults living in food insecure households achieved a lower ideal cardiovascular health score, which was driven by its association with smoking status. In addition to primary and secondary prevention, primordial prevention and cardiovascular health promotion approaches are necessary to reduce CVD burden. Effective policies and health behavior interventions are prudent, specifically to improve diet quality among all U.S. adults and tobacco cessation within food insecure populations

No excess harms from sustained-release morphine: A randomised placebo-controlled trial in chronic breathlessness

© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2019. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ. Objectives: We aimed to identify and evaluate: (1) treatment-emergent adverse events (TEAE (worse or new since baseline)) and the subgroup of severe TEAEs in a placebo-controlled 7-day randomised trial of regular, low-dose, sustained-release oral morphine for chronic breathlessness and (2) clinical characteristics associated with TEAE. Methods: Safety analysis of trial data. Adults with chronic breathlessness (modified Medical Research Council breathlessness score ≥2) due to heart or lung disease, or cancer, not on regular opioids were eligible. Symptoms associated with opioids (TEAE of special interest) were systematically sought using Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE) grading. Other harms could be reported at any time. The relationship between characteristics and presence of ≥1 TEAE of special interest was explored using univariable logistic regression analyses. Results: 1449/5624 (26%) Adverse Events from 279 participants were TEAE of which 150/1449 (10%) were severe (CTCAE grades 3-5). 1086/5624 (75%) were events of special interest of which 41/1086 (4%) were severe. Compared with placebo, morphine was not associated with more TEAE or severe TEAE of special interest (TEAE: OR 0.53, 95% CI 0.21 to 1.38, p=0.20; severe TEAE: OR 0.96, 95% CI 0.27 to 3.41, p=0.95) nor with CTCAE severity grade (χ2=4.39, p=0.50). Among the 26/150 (17%) with severe TEAEs, study withdrawal was more common in the morphine arm (18/26 (69%) morphine arm; 8/26 (30%) placebo arm). None of the severe TEAEs was a respiratory harm. Conclusions: Severe morphine-associated toxicity was uncommon and not associated with study arm. Clinical consequences were minor and self-limiting. Trial registration number: ACTRN126000806268

Quasi-equilibrium polariton condensates in the non-linear regime and beyond

We investigate the many-body behavior of polaritons formed from electron-hole pairs strongly coupled to photons in a two-dimensional semiconductor microcavity. We use a microscopic mean-field BCS theory that describes polariton condensation in quasi-equilibrium across the full range of excitation densities. In the limit of vanishing density, we show that our theory recovers the exact single-particle properties of polaritons, while at low densities it captures non-linear polariton-polariton interactions within the Born approximation. For the case of highly screened contact interactions between charge carriers, we obtain analytic expressions for the equation of state of the many-body system. This allows us to show that there is a photon resonance at a chemical potential higher than the photon cavity energy, where the electron-hole pair correlations in the polariton condensate become universal and independent of the details of the carrier interactions. Comparing the effect of different ranged interactions between charge carriers, we find that the Rytova-Keldysh potential (relevant to transition metal dichalcogenides) offers the best prospect of reaching the BCS regime, where pairs strongly overlap and the minimum pairing gap occurs at finite momentum. Finally, going beyond thermal equilibrium, we argue that there are generically two polariton branches in the driven-dissipative system and we discuss the possibility of a density-driven exceptional point within our model.Comment: 13 pages, 6 figure