Association between herd management practices and antimicrobial resistance in Salmonella spp. from cull dairy cattle in Central California.

BackgroundIn this study cull dairy cows from six California dairy herds were sampled seasonally over the course of a year. The objectives were to determine the prevalence of antimicrobial resistant (AMR) Salmonella spp. shed in cull cow feces, and the factors associated with fecal shedding of AMR and multidrug resistant (MDR) Salmonella.MethodsSix dairy farms located in the San Joaquin Valley of California were identified and enrolled as a convenience sample. On each dairy, and once during each of the four seasons, 10 cull cows were randomly selected for fecal sampling on the day of their removal from the herd. In addition, study personnel completed a survey based on responses of the herd manager to questions related to the previous 4 month's herd management and the specific cattle sampled. Fecal samples were submitted to the California Animal Health and Food Safety laboratory for Salmonella isolation. Antimicrobial resistance was evaluated using broth microdilution method and a gram-negative assay plate following Clinical Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) guidelines and breakpoint references. All statistical models were survey adjusted for number of animals on sampling day.ResultsA total of 62 Salmonella were isolated from 60 of the 239 fecal samples collected. For 12% (95% confidence interval (CI) [3-20]) of fecal samples a multidrug resistant Salmonella was isolated. The survey-weighted results for the two most common drug classes for which isolates were resistant were tetracycline (39%; 95% CI [27-51]) and ampicillin (18%; 95% CI [9-27]). An important finding was the identification of cephalosporin as the third most common drug class for which isolates were resistant, with ceftriaxone (10%; 95% CI [2-17]) being the most common drug associated with resistance in that class. At the cow-level, reason for culling, prior treatment with antimicrobial drugs as the reason for culling was associated with higher odds of isolating an AMR Salmonella isolate. At the herd-level, percent of animals monthly culled on the farm as well as number of milking cows in the herd were associated with isolation of antimicrobial resistant Salmonella in cull cows.DiscussionSalmonella isolated from fecal samples from cull cows were resistant to important antimicrobials, such as ceftriaxone. The most common drug classes for which isolates were resistant were tetracyclines and beta-lactams, with ampicillin, ceftriaxone and ceftiofur being the three most common drugs within the latter. Cow and herd level factors were associated with isolating antimicrobial resistant Salmonella that should be further investigated for their potential role in promoting occurrence of AMR Salmonella. Our results also highlight the importance of monitoring dairy cattle sent to slaughter for shedding of Salmonella resistant to medically important antimicrobial drugs

Biopsy Sampling in Upper Gastrointestinal Endoscopy : A Survey from 10 Tertiary Referral Centres across Europe

Funding Information: A. Link reports grants from European Commission “Eu-ropäischer Fond für regionale Entwicklung” (EFRE), outside the submitted work. In Lithuania the work was partly supported by Lithuanian Research Council Grant no APP-2/2016. In Latvia, the methodological support was made available from the project lzp-2018/1-0135. This work was also supported by the NIHR Oxford Biomedical Research Centre (The views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the NIHR or the Department of Health and Social Care). In Barcelona, we thank the CERCA Programme/Generalitat de Catalunya for the support. Publisher Copyright: © 2020 The Author(s) Published by S. Karger AG, Basel.Background: Guidelines give robust recommendations on which biopsies should be taken when there is endoscopic suggestion of gastric inflammation. Adherence to these guidelines often seems arbitrary. This study aimed to give an overview on current practice in tertiary referral centres across Europe. Methods: Data were collected at 10 tertiary referral centres. Demographic data, the indication for each procedure, endoscopic findings, and the number and sampling site of biopsies were recorded. Findings were compared between centres, and factors influencing the decision to take biopsies were explored. Results: Biopsies were taken in 56.6% of 9,425 procedures, with significant variation between centres (p < 0.001). Gastric biopsies were taken in 43.8% of all procedures. Sampling location varied with the procedure indication (p < 0.001) without consistent pattern across the centres. Fewer biopsies were taken in centres which routinely applied the updated Sydney classification for gastritis assessment (46.0%), compared to centres where this was done only upon request (75.3%, p < 0.001). This was the same for centres stratifying patients according to the OLGA system (51.8 vs. 73.0%, p < 0.001). More biopsies were taken in centres following the MAPS guidelines on stomach surveillance (68.1 vs. 37.1%, p < 0.001). Biopsy sampling was more likely in younger patients in 8 centres (p < 0.05), but this was not true for the whole cohort (p = 0.537). The percentage of procedures with biopsies correlated directly with additional costs charged in case of biopsies (r = 0.709, p = 0.022). Conclusion: Adherence to guideline recommendations for biopsy sampling at gastroscopy was inconsistent across the participating centres. Our data suggest that centre-specific policies are applied instead.publishersversionPeer reviewe

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

Prevalence and risk factors for symptoms of common mental disorders in early and late pregnancy in Vietnamese women: A prospective population-based study.

C1 - Journal Articles Referee

The Effect of Vertically Yoked Prisms on Binocular Vision and Accommodation

SIGNIFICANCE Vertically yoked prisms have been used in treatment of binocular vision dysfunction despite minimal supporting evidence. In people with normal binocular vision, the impact on phorias has been assessed but not the impact on accommodation, accommodation vergence interactions, or the horopter. We found that vertically yoked prisms have minor effects during short-term wear in young adults. PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to determine effects of vertically yoked prisms on accommodative response and several binocular vision tasks. METHODS There were 45 participants aged 18 to 24 years. The 23 myopes wore distance-corrected soft contact lenses. In a random arrangement, each person wore spectacles containing planopower lenses with either 8 Δ base-up, 4 Δ base-up, zero, 4 Δ base-down, and 8 Δ base-down prisms. Before spectacle wear, baseline measurements of near heterophoria, accommodation response, negative and positive relative accommodations, fusional vergence, and Nonius-horopter spatial perception were taken. Measurements were repeated after a 40-minute wear, spectacles were removed, and tests were performed 20 minutes later. On a 22-participant subset, on a separate occasion, measurements of heterophoria, accommodation response, and relative accommodation were made immediately after spectacles were fitted. RESULTS Most changes relative to baseline were not significant. Where effects occurred, these were nearly all associated with prism presence rather than adaptation. There were significant effects on accommodation response, but these seem to be refraction effects produced by pantoscopic tilt-induced power changes rather than perceptual effects altering accommodation. There were statistically significant effects on negative relative accommodation (P <.01), with zero prism giving more negative relative accommodation than 8 Δ base-down prisms. Tendencies were noted for prisms to move horopter limits toward the observer. Effects were small and likely not of clinical relevance. CONCLUSIONS Vertically yoked prisms have minor effects on accommodation and binocular vision, at least during short-term wear in young adults with normal binocular vision.</p

The impact of green tea polyphenols on development and reproduction in Drosophila melanogaster.

Although, green tea has numerous health benefits, adverse effects with excessive consumption have been reported. Using Drosophila melanogaster, a decrease in male fertility with green tea was evidenced. Here, the extent of green tea toxicity on development and reproduction was investigated. Drosophila melanogaster embryos and larvae were exposed to various doses of green tea polyphenols (GTP). Larvae exposed to 10 mg/mL GTP were slower to develop, emerged smaller, and exhibited a dramatic decline in the number of emerged offspring. GTP protected flies against desiccation but sensitized them to starvation and heat stress. Female offspring exhibited a decline in reproductive output and decreased survival while males were unaffected. GTP had a negative impact on reproductive organs in both males and females (e.g., atrophic testes in males, absence of mature eggs in females). Collectively, the data show that high doses of GTP adversely affect development and reproduction of Drosophila melanogaster

Risk factors for human infection with avian influenza A H5N1, Vietnam, 2004

To evaluate risk factors for human infection with influenza A subtype H5N1, we performed a matched casecontrol study in Vietnam. We enrolled 28 case-patients who had laboratory-confirmed H5N1 infection during 2004 and 106 age-, sex-, and location-matched control-respondents. Data were analyzed by matched-pair analysis and multivariate conditional logistic regression. Factors that were independently associated with H5N1 infection were preparing sick or dead poultry for consumption ≤7 days before illness onset (matched odds ratio [OR] 8.99, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.98-81.99, p = 0.05), having sick or dead poultry in the household ≤7 days before illness onset (matched OR 4.94, 95% CI 1.21-20.20, p = 0.03), and lack of an indoor water source (matched OR 6.46, 95% CI 1.20-34.81, p = 0.03). Factors not significantly associated with infection were raising healthy poultry, preparing healthy poultry for consumption, and exposure to persons with an acute respiratory illness.Link_to_subscribed_fulltex