Duration of antibody response following vaccination against feline immunodeficiency virus

Objectives: Recently, two point-of-care (PoC) feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) antibody test kits (Witness and Anigen Rapid) were reported as being able to differentiate FIV-vaccinated from FIV-infected cats at a single time point, irrespective of the gap between testing and last vaccination (0–7 years). The aim of the current study was to investigate systematically anti-FIV antibody production over time in response to the recommended primary FIV vaccination series. Methods: First, residual plasma from the original study was tested using a laboratory-based ELISA to determine whether negative results with PoC testing were due to reduced as opposed to absent antibodies to gp40. Second, a prospective study was performed using immunologically naive client-owned kittens and cats given a primary FIV vaccination series using a commercially available inactivated whole cell/inactivated whole virus vaccine (Fel-O-Vax FIV, three subcutaneous injections at 4 week intervals) and tested systematically (up to 11 times) over 6 months, using four commercially available PoC FIV antibody kits (SNAP FIV/FeLV Combo [detects antibodies to p15/p24], Witness FeLV/FIV [gp40], Anigen Rapid FIV/FeLV [p24/gp40] and VetScan FeLV/FIV Rapid [p24]). Results: The laboratory-based ELISA showed cats from the original study vaccinated within the previous 0–15 months had detectable levels of antibodies to gp40, despite testing negative with two kits that use gp40 as a capture antigen (Witness and Anigen Rapid kits). The prospective study showed that antibody testing with SNAP Combo and VetScan Rapid was positive in all cats 2 weeks after the second primary FIV vaccination, and remained positive for the duration of the study (12/12 and 10/12 cats positive, respectively). Antibody testing with Witness and Anigen Rapid was also positive in a high proportion of cats 2 weeks after the second primary FIV vaccination (8/12 and 7/12, respectively), but antibody levels declined below the level of detection in most cats (10/12) by 1 month after the third (final) primary FIV vaccination. All cats tested negative using Witness and Anigen Rapid 6 months after the third primary FIV vaccination. Conclusions and relevance: This study has shown that a primary course of FIV vaccination does not interfere with FIV antibody testing in cats using Witness and Anigen Rapid, provided primary vaccination has not occurred within the previous 6 months. Consequently, Witness and Anigen Rapid antibody test kits can be used reliably to determine FIV infection status at the time of annual booster FIV vaccination to help detect ‘vaccine breakthroughs’ and in cats that have not received a primary course of FIV vaccination within the preceding 6 months. The duration of antibody response following annual booster FIV vaccination and the resulting effect on antibody testing using PoC kits needs to be determined by further research. The mechanism(s) for the variation in FIV antibody test kit performance remains unclear

Mitä sosiaalisen median kommentit kertovat lyhytvideosta:sentimenttianalyysi tiedeaiheisten TikTok -videoiden kommenttikentän analyysimenetelmänä

Tiivistelmä. Internet ja sosiaalinen media ovat nykyisin erityisesti nuorille pääasiallinen informaatiokanava. Erityisesti lyhytvideoiden merkitys viestinnän välineenä on kasvanut samaan aikaan, kun kilpailu mediatilasta eri toimijoiden välillä on entistä kiivaampaa. Tiedeviestintä on monissa uusissa sosiaalisen median kanavissa jäänyt viihdyttävämpien sisällöntuottajien jalkoihin. Tämä on osaltaan lisännyt muun muassa erilaisten pseudotieteiden ja disinformaation leviämistä. Lyhytvideoilla tehtävää tiedeviestintää tulee kehittää. Sisältöjen kehittäminen ja arviointi vaativat nykyistä tehokkaampia tapoja analysoida videoiden toimivuutta. Tämän tutkimuksen tarkoitus on tutkia sentimenttianalyysin toimivuutta videoiden arviointimenetelmänä. Aineistona käytetään kommentteja, jotka on kerätty kymmenestä TikTokissa julkaistuista tiedevideoista. Tutkimuksessa käytetyn sentimenttianalyysin tuloksia peilataan teoriataustaan tunneviestinnästä ja eri tunteiden vaikutuksesta videoiden sitoutumisprosenttiin. Lisäksi arvioidaan eri aktiivisuustason tunteiden vaikutuksia videon keräämiin reaktioihin ja verrataan sentimenttianalyysin tuloksia sisällönanalyysiin yhden videon osalta. Tutkimuksen tuloksien mukaan tiedevideoiden toimivuutta voidaan arvioida sentimenttianalyysin avulla. Sentimenttianalyysin tuloksia voidaan käyttää hyväksi sisällön kehittämisessä ja videoviestinnän suunnittelussa. Menetelmän käyttö vaatii riittävät ennakkotiedot, jotta sen käyttö on järkevää. Mikäli kommenteista pyritään löytämään uusia ideoita, aineisto on pieni, tai jos kommenttien sisältö on yllättävää, voi perinteinen sisällönanalyysi olla parempi analyysimenetelmä. Tutkimuksen tulokset ovat samansuuntaisia aiheesta aiemman tehdyn tutkimuksenkanssa. Tiedeaiheisten videoiden sisällön tunneviestintään tulisi kiinnittää huomiotaentistä enemmän. Lyhytvideoiden avulla tehtävä tiedeviestintä on varsin uusi ilmiö,minkä vuoksi jatkotutkimukselle on paljon tarvetta. Eritysesti tulisi tutkia suurempia aineistoja ja pyrkiä luomaan malleja lyhytvideoiden toimivuuden arviointiinWhat social media comments tell you about a short video sentiment analysis as a method for analyzing the comment field of science-themed TikTok videos. Abstract. Internet and social media are currently the main sources of information for young people. Especially the importance of short videos as a means of communication has increased at the same time as competition for media space among different actors has become more intense. In many new social media channels, science communication has been overshadowed by more entertaining content creators. This has increased, among other things, the spread of various pseudosciences and disinformation. Science communication through short videos needs to be developed. Developing and evaluating content requires more effective ways of analyzing the effectiveness of videos. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of sentiment analysis as a method for evaluating videos. The data used consists of comments collected from ten science videos published on TikTok. The results of sentiment analysis in this study are compared with the theoretical background of emotional communication and the effects of different emotions on the engagement rate of the videos. In addition, the effects of emotions of different activity levels on the reactions are evaluated and the results of sentiment analysis are compared with content analysis for one video. According to the results of the study, the effectiveness of science videos can be evaluated using sentiment analysis. The results of sentiment analysis can be used in developing content and video communication planning. The use of the method requires sufficient background knowledge to make it sensible. If new ideas are sought from comments, the dataset is small, or if the content of the comments is surprising, a traditional content analysis may be a better method. The results of the study are consistent with previous research on the subject. Emotional communication in science videos should be given more attention. Science communication using short videos is a fairly new phenomenon, which is why there is a great need for further research. Especially, larger datasets should be studied and efforts should be made to create models for evaluating the effectiveness of short videos

Searching for Lyme borreliosis in Australia: Results of a canine sentinel study

Background: Lyme borreliosis is a common tick-borne disease of the northern hemisphere that is caused by bacterial spirochaetes of the Borrelia burgdorferi (sensu lato) (Bbsl) complex. To date, there has been no convincing evidence for locally-acquired Lyme borreliosis on the Australian continent and there is currently a national debate concerning the nature and distributions of zoonotic tick-transmitted infectious disease in Australia. In studies conducted in Europe and the United States, dogs have been used as sentinels for tick-associated illness in people since they readily contact ticks that may harbour zoonotic pathogens. Applying this principle, we used a combination of serological assays to test dogs living in tick 'hot spots' and exposed to the Australian paralysis tick, Ixodes holocyclus, for evidence of exposure to B. burgdorferi (s.l.) antigens and other vector-borne pathogens. Results: Altogether, 555 dogs from four demographic groups were recruited into this study. One dog had evidence of exposure to Anaplasma spp. but no other dog was positive in screening tests. A total of 122 dogs (22.0%) had a kinetic ELISA (KELA) unit value > 100, and one dog with a high titre (399.9 KELA units) had been vaccinated against B. burgdorferi (sensu stricto) before travelling to Australia. Older dogs and those with a history of tick paralysis were significantly more likely to have a KELA unit value > 100. Line immunoassay analysis revealed moderate-to-weak (equivocal) bands in 27 (4.9%) dogs. Conclusions: Except for a single dog presumed to have been exposed to Anaplasma platys, infection with Anaplasma spp. B. burgdorferi (s.l.), Ehrlichia spp., and Dirofilaria immitis, was not detected in the cohort of Australian dogs evaluated in this study. These results provide further evidence that Lyme borreliosis does not exist in Australia but that cross-reacting antibodies (false positive results) are common and may be caused by the transmission of other tick-associated organisms

What does it mean for half of an empty cavity to be full?

21 págs.; 8 figs.; 2 app.; PACS numbers: 03.67.Bg, 03.70.+k, 11.10.-z© 2015 American Physical Society. It is well known that the vacuum state of a quantum field is spatially entangled. This is true in both free and confined spaces, for example, in an optical cavity. The obvious consequence of this, however, is surprising and intuitively challenging: namely, that in a mathematical sense, half of an empty cavity is not empty. Formally this is clear, but what does this physically mean in terms of, say, measurements that can actually be made? In this paper we utilize a local quantization procedure along with the tools of Gaussian quantum mechanics to characterize the particle content in the reduced state of a subregion within a cavity and expose the spatial profile of its entanglement with the opposite region. We then go on to discuss a thought experiment in which a mirror is very quickly introduced between the regions. In so doing we expose a simple and physically concrete answer to the above question: the real excitations created by slamming down the mirror are mathematically equivalent to those previously attributed to the reduced states of the subregions. Performing such an experiment in the laboratory may be an excellent method of verifying vacuum entanglement, and we conclude by discussing different possibilities of achieving this aim.This work is supported by Spanish MICINN Projects FIS2011-29287 and CAM research consortium QUITEMAD+ S2013/ICE-2801. E. B. acknowledges support by the Michael Smith Foreign Study Supplements Program, M. del R. was supported by a CSIC JAEPREDOC grant and H. Westman was supported by the JAE-DOC 2011 CSIC & ESF program. A. D. was supported by the National Science Center, Sonata BIS Grant No. 2012/07/E/ST2/01402.Peer Reviewe

Generalizing Optical Geometry

We show that by employing the standard projected curvature as a measure of spatial curvature, we can make a certain generalization of optical geometry (Abramowicz and Lasota 1997, Class. Quantum Grav. 14 (1997) A23). This generalization applies to any spacetime that admits a hypersurface orthogonal shearfree congruence of worldlines. This is a somewhat larger class of spacetimes than the conformally static spacetimes assumed in standard optical geometry. In the generalized optical geometry, which in the generic case is time dependent, photons move with unit speed along spatial geodesics and the sideways force experienced by a particle following a spatially straight line is independent of the velocity. Also gyroscopes moving along spatial geodesics do not precess (relative to the forward direction). Gyroscopes that follow a curved spatial trajectory precess according to a very simple law of three-rotation. We also present an inertial force formalism in coordinate representation for this generalization. Furthermore, we show that by employing a new sense of spatial curvature (Jonsson, Class. Quantum Grav. 23 (2006) 1) closely connected to Fermat's principle, we can make a more extensive generalization of optical geometry that applies to arbitrary spacetimes. In general this optical geometry will be time dependent, but still geodesic photons move with unit speed and follow lines that are spatially straight in the new sense. Also, the sideways experienced (comoving) force on a test particle following a line that is straight in the new sense will be independent of the velocity.Comment: 19 pages, 1 figure. A more general analysis is presented than in the former version. See also the companion papers arXiv:0708.2493, arXiv:0708.2533 and arXiv:0708.253

Physical interpretation of the Wigner rotations and its implications for relativistic quantum information

We present a new treatment for the spin of a massive relativistic particle in the context of quantum information based on a physical interpretation of the Wigner rotations, obtaining different results in relation to the previous works. We are lead to the conclusions that it is not possible to define a reduced density matrix for the particle spin and that the Pauli-Lubanski (or similar) spin operators are not suitable to describe measurements where spin couples to an electromagnetic field in the measuring apparatus. These conclusions contradict the assumptions made by most of the previous papers on the subject. We also propose an experimental test of our formulation.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figures. Several changes were made on the text. One extra example was include

Point-of-care tissue oxygenation assessment with SnapshotNIR for alloplastic and autologous breast reconstruction

UNLABELLED: In breast reconstruction, mastectomy and free flaps are susceptible to vascular compromise and tissue necrosis. The SnapshotNIR device (Kent Imaging, Calgary, AB, Canada) utilizes near-infrared spectroscopy to measure tissue oxygen saturation (StO METHODS: Patients receiving immediate alloplastic reconstruction after mastectomy or autologous reconstruction were enrolled. Preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative images were taken of the flaps. StO RESULTS: Thirty-two breasts underwent alloplastic reconstruction; 38 breasts underwent autologous reconstruction. No enrollees developed skin necrosis. StO CONCLUSIONS: The SnapshotNIR device detected normal spatial and temporal differences in tissue oxygenation over the operative course of alloplastic and autologous breast reconstruction. A multi-institutional, prospective clinical trial is needed to determine the sensitivity and specificity of this device for detecting skin flap necrosis

Feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) infection in domestic pet cats in Australia and New Zealand: Guidelines for diagnosis, prevention and management

Despite the passage of over 30 years since its discovery, the importance of feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) on the health and longevity of infected domestic cats is hotly debated amongst feline experts. Notwithstanding the absence of good quality information, Australian and New Zealand (NZ) veterinarians should aim to minimise the exposure of cats to FIV. The most reliable way to achieve this goal is to recommend that all pet cats are kept exclusively indoors, or with secure outdoor access (e.g., cat enclosures, secure gardens), with FIV testing of any in-contact cats. All animal holding facilities should aim to individually house adult cats to limit the spread of FIV infection in groups of animals that are stressed and do not have established social hierarchies. Point-of-care (PoC) FIV antibody tests are available in Australia and NZ that can distinguish FIV-infected and uninfected FIV-vaccinated cats (Witness™ and Anigen Rapid™). Although testing of whole blood, serum or plasma remains the gold standard for FIV diagnosis, PoC testing using saliva may offer a welfare-friendly alternative in the future. PCR testing to detect FIV infection is not recommended as a screening procedure since a negative PCR result does not rule out FIV infection and is only recommended in specific scenarios. Australia and NZ are two of three countries where a dual subtype FIV vaccine (Fel-O-Vax® FIV) is available and offers a further avenue for disease prevention. Since FIV vaccination only has a reported field effectiveness of 56% in Australia, and possibly lower in NZ, FIV-vaccinated cats should undergo annual FIV testing prior to annual FIV re-vaccination using a suitable PoC kit to check infection has not occurred in the preceding year. With FIV-infected cats, clinicians should strive to be even more thorough than usual at detecting early signs of disease. The most effective way to enhance the quality of life and life expectancy of FIV-infected cats is to optimise basic husbandry and to treat any concurrent conditions early in the disease course. Currently, no available drugs are registered for the treatment of FIV infection. Critically, the euthanasia of healthy FIV-infected cats, and sick FIV-infected cats without appropriate clinical investigations, should not occur