Pilot study on the prevalence of salmonella in slaughter pigs in Germany: IV. Field experiences using the Danish serological method for detection

In an interlaboratory study on the prevalence of Salmonellae in German slaughter pigs a comparison of the traditional bacteriological and the serological technique used in the Danish Salmonella control programme was included. In total, about 12000 animals were investigated using both techniques. Samples were collected from February through June 1996. Seven slaughterhouses distributed over the whole country participated on a voluntary basis. A total of 11,942 animals delivered in 752 lots at ten occasions to the participating slaughterhouses were investigated. The lots often comprised pigs from individual finishing farms. From each lot, a maximum of 50 animals were sampled. A faecal swab, a mesenteric lymph node and a meat sample were collected from each carcass. The results of the microbiological analysis of faeces and lymph nodes of each animal were described in separate presentations

In search of graduate attributes: A survey of six flagship programmes

The focus of this study is the emergence of distinctive graduate attributes in flagship programmes at Universities of Technology in South Africa. The theoretical framework chosen for this study, Legitimation Code Theory (Maton 2014), offers an explanation of the underlying knowledge principles that make different kinds of thinking, doing and being possible. This paper studies how favourable graduate attributes were achieved, identifies similarities across underpinning structures, and highlights the challenges faced by universities of technology in creating environments in which desired graduate attributes might be developed. The paper offers a means of understanding the potential for the emergence of graduate attributes across undergraduate programmes in vocational and professional higher education contexts

Histological evaluation on Brazilian green propolis effect in tissue repair of Wistar rats cutaneous wounds

This study aimed to evaluate the action of Brazilian green propolis (5%) topic use on cutaneous wound healing in rats, by inflammatory cell counting. Ten Wistar rats were separated in groups 24 h and 72 h, were trichotomized under anesthesia on cervical-dorsal region, and 2 wounds were provoked with a biopsy punch (5 mm diameter). Left wound underwent Brazilian green propolis topic treatment, and right wounds received nothing. Tissue samples were processed for light microscopy with hematoxilineosin., and leucocytes, macrophages and fibroblasts were counted using a histometric reticule in ocular lens. In both groups, within 24 and 72 h evolution, treated wounds demonstrated significant bigger means for leucocytes, macrophages and fibroblasts. Brazilian green propolis resulted in inflammatory cell quantity increase, suggesting its action on tissue repair process.Colegio de Farmacéuticos de la Provincia de Buenos Aire

Tracking the Feeding Patterns of Tsetse Flies (Glossina Genus) by Analysis of Bloodmeals Using Mitochondrial Cytochromes Genes

Tsetse flies are notoriously difficult to observe in nature, particularly when populations densities are low. It is therefore difficult to observe them on their hosts in nature; hence their vertebrate species can very often only be determined indirectly by analysis of their gut contents. This knowledge is a critical component of the information on which control tactics can be developed. The objective of this study was to determine the sources of tsetse bloodmeals, hence investigate their feeding preferences. We used mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase 1 (COI) and cytochrome b (cytb) gene sequences for identification of tsetse fly blood meals, in order to provide a foundation for rational decisions to guide control of trypanosomiasis, and their vectors. Glossina swynnertoni were sampled from Serengeti (Tanzania) and G. pallidipes from Kenya (Nguruman and Busia), and Uganda. Sequences were used to query public databases, and the percentage identities obtained used to identify hosts. An initial assay showed that the feeds were from single sources. Hosts identified from blood fed flies collected in Serengeti ecosystem, included buffaloes (25/40), giraffes (8/40), warthogs (3/40), elephants (3/40) and one spotted hyena. In Nguruman, where G. pallidipes flies were analyzed, the feeds were from elephants (6/13) and warthogs (5/13), while buffaloes and baboons accounted for one bloodmeal each. Only cattle blood was detected in flies caught in Busia and Uganda. Out of four flies tested in Mbita Point, Suba District in western Kenya, one had fed on cattle, the other three on the Nile monitor lizard. These results demonstrate that cattle will form an integral part of a control strategy for trypanosomiasis in Busia and Uganda, while different approaches are required for Serengeti and Nguruman ecosystems, where wildlife abound and are the major component of the tsetse fly food source

From sleep spindles of natural sleep to spike and wave discharges of typical absence seizures: is the hypothesis still valid?

The temporal coincidence of sleep spindles and spike-and-wave discharges (SWDs) in patients with idiopathic generalized epilepsies, together with the transformation of spindles into SWDs following intramuscular injection of the weak GABAA receptor (GABAAR) antagonist, penicillin, in an experimental model, brought about the view that SWDs may represent ‘perverted’ sleep spindles. Over the last 20 years, this hypothesis has received considerable support, in particular by in vitro studies of thalamic oscillations following pharmacological/genetic manipulations of GABAARs. However, from a critical appraisal of the evidence in absence epilepsy patients and well-established models of absence epilepsy it emerges that SWDs can occur as frequently during wakefulness as during sleep, with their preferential occurrence in either one of these behavioural states often being patient dependent. Moreover, whereas the EEG expression of both SWDs and sleep spindles requires the integrity of the entire cortico-thalamo-cortical network, SWDs initiates in cortex while sleep spindles in thalamus. Furthermore, the hypothesis of a reduction in GABAAR function across the entire cortico-thalamo-cortical network as the basis for the transformation of sleep spindles into SWDs is no longer tenable. In fact, while a decreased GABAAR function may be present in some cortical layers and in the reticular thalamic nucleus, both phasic and tonic GABAAR inhibitions of thalamo-cortical neurons are either unchanged or increased in this epileptic phenotype. In summary, these differences between SWDs and sleep spindles question the view that the EEG hallmark of absence seizures results from a transformation of this EEG oscillation of natural sleep

Quantifying Heterogeneity in Host-Vector Contact: Tsetse (Glossina swynnertoni and G. pallidipes) Host Choice in Serengeti National Park, Tanzania

Identifying hosts of blood-feeding insect vectors is crucial in understanding their role in disease transmission. Rhodesian human African trypanosomiasis (r-HAT or ‘sleeping sickness’) caused by Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense and transmitted by tsetse flies, is commonly associated with wilderness areas of east and southern Africa. Such areas hold a diverse range of species which form communities of hosts for disease maintenance. The relative importance of different wildlife hosts remains unclear. This study quantified tsetse feeding preferences in a wilderness area of great host species richness, Serengeti National Park, Tanzania, assessing tsetse feeding and host density contemporaneously. Glossina swynnertoni and G.pallidipes were collected from six study sites. Bloodmeal sources were identified through matching Cytochrome B sequences amplified from bloodmeals from fed flies to published sequences. Densities of large mammal species in each site were quantified, and feeding indices calculated to assess the relative selection or avoidance of each host species by tsetse. The host species most commonly identified in G. swynnertoni bloodmeals, warthog (94/220), buffalo (48/220) and giraffe (46/220), were found at relatively low densities (3-11/km2) and fed on up to 15 times more frequently than expected by their relative density. Wildebeest, zebra, impala and Thomson’s gazelle, found at the highest densities, were never identified in bloodmeals. Commonly identified hosts for G. pallidipes were buffalo (26/46), giraffe (9/46) and elephant (5/46). This study is the first to quantify tsetse host range by molecular analysis of tsetse diet with simultaneous assessment of host density in a wilderness area. Although G.swynnertoni and G.pallidipes can feed on a range of species, they are highly selective. Many host species are rarely fed on, despite being present in areas where tsetse are abundant. These feeding patterns, along with the ability of key host species to maintain and transmit T.b.rhodesiense, drive the epidemiology of r-HAT in wilderness areas

Pilot study on the prevalence of salmonella in slaughter pigs in Germany: IV. Field experiences using the Danish serological method for detection

In an interlaboratory study on the prevalence of Salmonellae in German slaughter pigs a comparison of the traditional bacteriological and the serological technique used in the Danish Salmonella control programme was included. In total, about 12000 animals were investigated using both techniques. Samples were collected from February through June 1996. Seven slaughterhouses distributed over the whole country participated on a voluntary basis. A total of 11,942 animals delivered in 752 lots at ten occasions to the participating slaughterhouses were investigated. The lots often comprised pigs from individual finishing farms. From each lot, a maximum of 50 animals were sampled. A faecal swab, a mesenteric lymph node and a meat sample were collected from each carcass. The results of the microbiological analysis of faeces and lymph nodes of each animal were described in separate presentations.</p