Linkages between animal and human health sentinel data

INTRODUCTION: In order to identify priorities for building integrated surveillance systems that effectively model and predict human risk of zoonotic diseases, there is a need for improved understanding of the practical options for linking surveillance data of animals and humans. We conducted an analysis of the literature and characterized the linkage between animal and human health data. We discuss the findings in relation to zoonotic surveillance and the linkage of human and animal data. METHODS: The Canary Database, an online bibliographic database of animal-sentinel studies was searched and articles were classified according to four linkage categories. RESULTS: 465 studies were identified and assigned to linkage categories involving: descriptive, analytic, molecular, or no human outcomes of human and animal health. Descriptive linkage was the most common, whereby both animal and human health outcomes were presented, but without quantitative linkage between the two. Rarely, analytic linkage was utilized in which animal data was used to quantitatively predict human risk. The other two categories included molecular linkage, and no human outcomes, which present health outcomes in animals but not humans. DISCUSSION: We found limited use of animal data to quantitatively predict human risk and listed the methods from the literature that performed analytic linkage. The lack of analytic linkage in the literature might not be solely related to technological barriers including access to electronic database, statistical software packages, and Geographical Information System (GIS). Rather, the problem might be from a lack of understanding by researchers of the importance of animal data as a 'sentinel' for human health. Researchers performing zoonotic surveillance should be aware of the value of animal-sentinel approaches for predicting human risk and consider analytic methods for linking animal and human data. Qualitative work needs to be done in order to examine researchers' decisions in linkage strategies between animal and human data

Playing a Double Game: Authorial Reading and the Ethics of Interpretation

Students in English education typically have to live in (at least) two worlds: departments of English in which they receive their disciplinary training, and departments or schools or programs of education in which they work to develop the pedagogical content knowledge they need to teach in that discipline. Often those worlds are far apart. In this article, Michael Smith and Peter Rabinowitz, describe their own collaborative efforts as fruitful, mainly because of their differences. Smith is a Professor of Literacy Education, while Rabinowitz is a Professor of Comparative Literature. They share that they have always been able to work through their differences because they share a theory of literacy reading despite their different disciplinary norms. They write here that their work developing this theory has been important to both of them for it has allowed them to benefit from (rather than dismiss) each other\u27s perspectives as their exploration of two important ethical issues in the reading and teaching of literature moves forward. The authors conclude by saying their differences mirror the larger disciplinary differences that students in English education often experience. They wish to encourage classroom discussions of literature that are informed both by the head and the heart, discussions that see seemingly polar positions complementing each other in meaningful ways

Occupational Practices and Hazards of Rural Livestock Keepers in Uganda: A Cross-Sectional Study

Objective: In Uganda, 70% of rural poor rely on livestock for subsistence, to meet social obligations, and to insure against disaster. Livestock farming in Africa is in a state of transition from traditional management systems toward intensified modern systems, calling into question the future of traditional systems. To inform this debate, we conducted a survey in Moyo District, Uganda, to describe occupational practices and hazards of agropastoralist livestock keepers.   Methods: Household surveys were administered to heads of household (N=49) from July to September 2016. Cross-sectional data were used to generate descriptive statistics for livestock-associated practices and exposures. Logistic regression was used to estimate odds ratios and Wald-type 95% confidence intervals for risk factors for injury, defined as any animal-related injury in the household in the past year. Risk factors studied were total number of male animals; number of male cattle, sheep/goats, and pigs; proportion male by herd size; herd size; and castration practices.   Results: Adult men perform most livestock-associated tasks, while women, girls, and boys prepare meat, milk cattle, care for poultry, and dispose of waste. While 31 (63%) of households use professional veterinary services and most (n=28, 57.2%) are familiar with zoonoses, 25 (53.2%) do not believe sick animals may look healthy. Over 85.0% (n=41) of respondents routinely wash their hands, while only 31 (64.6%) use soap. Twenty-eight (57.0%) reported using personal protective equipment, while none used gloves or face protection. Most respondents had contact with animal waste “often”, and had contact with urine and blood “sometimes”. Six (12%) reported a needlestick injury while treating an animal, and 22 (45%) reported at least 1 injury from an animal. No significant association was found between the risk factors studied and animal injury, after adjustment for confounders.   Conclusions: Occupational risks for female and young agropastoralists are distinct from those of men. Contact with potentially infectious material is common and current practices – handwashing without soap and low glove use – do little to prevent zoonotic transmission. While agropastoralists are familiar with zoonoses, subclinical infections may be missed. While no significant risk factors were identified for animal injury, both animal and needlestick injuries are common. As livestock agriculture intensifies, these hazards will become more pronounced; drivers of risk behavior and animal injury must be identified to inform interventions to improve the occupational health of rural livestock keepers in Uganda

The QUEST Data Processing Software Pipeline

A program that we call the QUEST Data Processing Software Pipeline has been written to process the large volumes of data produced by the QUEST camera on the Samuel Oschin Schmidt Telescope at the Palomar Observatory. The program carries out both aperture and PSF photometry, combines data from different repeated observations of the same portion of sky, and produces a Master Object Catalog. A rough calibration of the data is carried out. This program, as well as the calibration procedures and quality checks on the output are described.Comment: 17 pages, 1 table, 8 figure

Checklist for One Health Epidemiological Reporting of Evidence (COHERE).

One Health is defined as the intersection and integration of knowledge regarding humans, animals, and the environment, yet as the One Health scientific literature expands, there is considerable heterogeneity of approach and quality of reporting in One Health studies. In addition, many researchers who publish such studies do not include or integrate data from all three domains of human, animal, and environmental health. This points to a critical need to unify guidelines for One Health studies. This report details the Checklist for One Health Epidemiological Reporting of Evidence (COHERE) to guide the design and publication format of future One Health studies. COHERE was developed by a core writing team and international expert review group that represents multiple disciplines, including human medicine, veterinary medicine, public health, allied professionals, clinical laboratory science, epidemiology, the social sciences, ecohealth and environmental health. The twin aims of the COHERE standards are to 1) improve the quality of reporting of observational or interventional epidemiological studies that collect and integrate data from humans, animals and/or vectors, and their environments; and 2) promote the concept that One Health studies should integrate knowledge from these three domains. The 19 standards in the COHERE checklist address descriptions of human populations, animal populations, environmental assessment, spatial and temporal relationships of data from the three domains, integration of analyses and interpretation, and inclusion of expertise in the research team from disciplines related to human health, animal health, and environmental health

Before reading: narrative conventions and the politics of interpretation

(print) xxix, 249 p. ; 23 cmForeword: before reading in its own terms -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction: beyond readings/before reading. p.1 -- Starting points -- What is reading? p.15 -- Who is reading? p.20 -- The value(s) of authorial reading. p.29 -- The difficulties of authorial reading. p.36 -- Rules of reading. p.42 -- Trumpets, please!: rules of notice -- The hierarchy of detail. p.47 -- Basic gestures of noticeability. p.52 -- Privileged positions. p.58 -- Rules of rupture. p.65 -- The biggest black eyes I ever saw: rules of signification -- Signification defined. p.76 -- Rules of source. p.79 -- Good guys and bad guys: rules of snap moral judgment. p.84 -- Truth and the narrative audience: the rule of realism. p.93 -- Post hoc and propter hoc: rules of cause. p.104 -- The black cloud on the horizon: rules of configuration -- Configuration vs. coherence. p.110 -- Basic rules of configuration. p.113 -- Rules of undermining. p.119 -- Rules of balance: focus. p.125 -- Rules of balance: action. p.132 -- The austere simplicity of fiction: rules of coherence -- The nature of coherence. p.141 -- License to fill. p.148 -- Rules of surplus. p.154 -- Rules of naming, bundling, and thematizing. p.158 -- Through the glass key darkly: presupposition and misunderstanding -- Presuppositions and the ambiguity of interpretation. p.173 -- Getting to the bottom of things. p.178 -- Popular fiction as a genre. p.183 -- Scapegoating Carmen: reading misreadings. p.193 -- Some have greatness thrust upon them: the politics of canon formation. p.209 -- Selected bibliography. p.233 -- Index. p.24

Geogenomic segregation and temporal trends of human pathogenic Escherichia coli o157:H7, Washington, USA, 2005-2014

The often-noted and persistent increased incidence of Escherichia coli O157:H7 infections in rural areas is not well understood. We used a cohort of E. coli O157:H7 cases reported in Washington, USA, during 2005–2014, along with phylogenomic characterization of the infecting isolates, to identify geographic segregation of and temporal trends in specific phylogenetic lineages of E. coli O157:H7. Kernel estimation and generalized additive models demonstrated that pathogen lineages were spatially segregated during the period of analysis and identified a focus of segregation spanning multiple, predominantly rural, counties for each of the main clinical lineages, Ib, IIa, and IIb. These results suggest the existence of local reservoirs from which humans are infected. We also noted a secular increase in the proportion of lineage IIa and IIb isolates. Spatial segregation by phylogenetic lineage offers the potential to identify local reservoirs and intervene to prevent continued transmission