Infectious bronchitis virus infections of chickens in Belgium : an epidemiological survey

Between April 2012 and July 2015, cloacal and/or tracheal swab samples were collected from four hundred and twenty-four Belgian chicken broiler, breeder and layer flocks. All flocks were kept for production purposes and presented clinical signs suggestive of an infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) infection. The samples were analyzed by real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) to detect the presence of ribonucleic acid (RNA) of IBV. When positive, approximately four hundred base pairs (bp) encoding for the hypervariable region of the IBV S1 protein were sequenced. Sequencing results, cycle threshold (Ct) values and vaccination history were used as criteria to try and distinguish vaccine strains from field strains. Of all samples examined, 22.4% was negative. In 16.4% of the samples that did contain RNA from IBV, the genotype could not be determined. In most cases, this was due to the recovery of RNA quantities below the lower limit of detection of the sequencing PCR. The remaining positive submissions predominantly revealed RNA from IBV strains that belonged to the 4/91-793B (46.8%), D388-QX (25.2%), D274-D207 (5.8%) and Massachusetts (4.0%) genotypes. Estimations indicated that approximately 58%, 11%, 37% and 46% of these detections, respectively, were vaccine strains. Infections with types CK/CH/Guandong/Xindadi/0903, Ukr/27/2011, NGA/295/2006 and Q1 were observed sporadically. The results indicate that IBV infections are highly prevalent in Belgian chickens and that at least eight different IBV types were circulating during the monitored period. This underlines the necessity of providing flocks with a strong and broad protective immunity against IBV

Tablet computers in assessing performance in a high stakes exam : opinion matters

The authors would like to thank Dr Craig brown, University of Aberdeen for assistance with data analysis.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Weed Control with Single and Split Herbicide Applications in Corn

The objective of the study was to compare season-long weed control from single and sequential herbicide applications in corn. Kochia control was 90% or more late in the season, and did not differ among herbicides. All herbicides except Lumax EZ provided 90% or more Russian thistle control by the season’s end. Palmer amaranth control was lowest when Bicep II Magnum was applied preemergence (PRE) and followed by Lexar EZ postemergence (POST), and when Acuron was applied PRE and again POST. Compared to the untreated control, corn receiving herbicide treatments yielded more than three times as much grain, but yields did not differ among herbicides

Crisis management during anaesthesia: vascular access problems

© 2005 BMJ Publishing Group Ltd.Background: In confronting an evolving crisis, the anaesthetist should consider the vascular catheter as a potential cause, abandoning assumptions that the device has been satisfactorily placed and is functioning correctly. Objectives: To examine the role of a previously described core algorithm "COVER ABCD–A SWIFT CHECK", supplemented by a specific sub-algorithm for vascular access problems, in the management of crises occurring in association with anaesthesia. Methods: The potential performance of a structured approach was evaluated for each of the relevant incidents among the first 4000 reported to the Australian Incident Monitoring Study (AIMS). Results: There were 128 incidents involving problems related to vascular access. The structured approach begins distally, checking the infusion device or fluid (12 incidents), moving proximally by way of the fluid giving line (10), the line deadspace (8), then the catheter/skin interface (65), and on to the peripheral vascular tree (3) and central venous space (23), and finally, the interface of the vascular access system and the attending staff (7). The approach was able to accommodate all the vascular access problems among the first 4000 incidents reported to AIMS. Conclusion: The approach has potential as an easily remembered and applied clinical tool to lead to early resolution of vascular access problems occurring during anaesthesia

Britain, Bulgaria and benefits:the political rhetoric of European (dis)integration

This chapter considers the political controversy in Britain over the lifting of restrictions of freedom of movement on European Union (EU) citizens from Bulgaria and Romania in January 2014. The response of the then Conservative-Liberal Democrat Coalition Government centred on altering the rules on the payment of welfare benefits to potential new EU immigrants such that they would not be entitled to claim these benefits for 3 months after entry to the United Kingdom. This policy led to a split in the coalition, with the Liberal Democrat leadership claiming that it was a panicked move by the majority Conservative coalition partner, and moreover that it was a blatant attempt to appeal the electorate in an effort to be seen to be doing something to stop the welfare benefit system from being abused by ‘foreigners’. The backdrop to this political fracas centred on the economic contribution of East European immigrants to Britain and the claim and counterclaim over the issues jobs, welfare benefits and services such as English language support in schools. These contentious issues are examined in terms of an analysis of online comments to posted in reaction to a political interview with Vince Cable, the Liberal Democrat business secretary, who claimed that the Conservatives were attempting to placate public disquiet over immigration as a response to the rising popularity of the United Kingdom Independence Party

An archival case study : revisiting the life and political economy of Lauchlin Currie

This paper forms part of a wider project to show the significance of archival material on distinguished economists, in this case Lauchlin Currie (1902-93), who studied and taught at Harvard before entering government service at the US Treasury and Federal Reserve Board as the intellectual leader of Roosevelt's New Deal, 1934-39, as FDR's White House economic adviser in peace and war, 1939-45, and as a post-war development economist. It discusses the uses made of the written and oral material available when the author was writing his intellectual biography of Currie (Duke University Press 1990) while Currie was still alive, and the significance of the material that has come to light after Currie's death

Symbiont Interactions in a Tripartite Mutualism: Exploring the Presence and Impact of Antagonism between Two Fungus-Growing Ant Mutualists

Mutualistic associations are shaped by the interplay of cooperation and conflict among the partners involved, and it is becoming increasingly clear that within many mutualisms multiple partners simultaneously engage in beneficial interactions. Consequently, a more complete understanding of the dynamics within multipartite mutualism communities is essential for understanding the origin, specificity, and stability of mutualisms. Fungus-growing ants cultivate fungi for food and maintain antibiotic-producing Pseudonocardia actinobacteria on their cuticle that help defend the cultivar fungus from specialized parasites. Within both ant-fungus and ant-bacterium mutualisms, mixing of genetically distinct strains can lead to antagonistic interactions (i.e., competitive conflict), which may prevent the ants from rearing multiple strains of either of the mutualistic symbionts within individual colonies. The success of different ant-cultivar-bacterium combinations could ultimately be governed by antagonistic interactions between the two mutualists, either as inhibition of the cultivar by Pseudonocardia or vice versa. Here we explore cultivar-Pseudonocardia antagonism by evaluating in vitro interactions between strains of the two mutualists, and find frequent antagonistic interactions both from cultivars towards Pseudonocardia and vice versa. To test whether such in vitro antagonistic interactions affect ant colonies in vivo, we performed sub-colony experiments using species of Acromyrmex leaf-cutting ants. We created novel ant-fungus-bacterium pairings in which there was antagonism from one, both, or neither of the ants' microbial mutualists, and evaluated the effect of directional antagonism on cultivar biomass and Pseudonocardia abundance on the cuticle of workers within sub-colonies. Despite the presence of frequent in vitro growth suppression between cultivars and Pseudonocardia, antagonism from Pseudonocardia towards the cultivar did not reduce sub-colony fungus garden biomass, nor did cultivar antagonism towards Pseudonocardia reduce bacteria abundance on the cuticle of sub-colony workers. Our findings suggest that inter-mutualist antagonism does not limit what combinations of cultivar and Pseudonocardia strains Acromyrmex fungus-growing ants can maintain within nests

Recent developments in scholarly publishing to improve research practices in the life sciences

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Portland Press via the DOI in this record.We outline recent developments in scholarly publishing that we think will improve the working environment and career prospects for life scientists. Most prominently, we discuss two key developments. (1) Life scientists are now embracing a preprint culture leading to rapid dissemination of research findings. (2) We outline steps to overcome the reproducibility crisis. We also briefly describe other innovations in scholarly publishing, along with changes to open access mandates from funding agencies.John Templeton Foundatio

In Defence of Modest Doxasticism About Delusions

Here I reply to the main points raised by the commentators on the arguments put forward in my Delusions and Other Irrational Beliefs (OUP, 2009). My response is aimed at defending a modest doxastic account of clinical delusions, and is articulated in three sections. First, I consider the view that delusions are in-between perceptual and doxastic states, defended by Jacob Hohwy and Vivek Rajan, and the view that delusions are failed attempts at believing or not-quite-beliefs, proposed by Eric Schwitzgebel and Maura Tumulty. Then, I address the relationship between the doxastic account of delusions and the role, nature, and prospects of folk psychology, which is discussed by Dominic Murphy, Keith Frankish, and Maura Tumulty in their contributions. In the final remarks, I turn to the continuity thesis and suggest that, although there are important differences between clinical delusions and non-pathological beliefs, these differences cannot be characterised satisfactorily in epistemic terms. \u

The pursuit of isotopic and molecular fire tracers in the polar atmosphere and cryosphere

We present an overview of recent multidisciplinary, multi-institutional efforts to identify and date major sources of combustion aerosol in the current and paleoatmospheres. The work was stimulated, in part, by an atmospheric particle \u27sample of opportunity\u27 collected at Summit, Greenland in August 1994, that bore the 14C imprint of biomass burning. During the summer field seasons of 1995 and 1996, we collected air filter, surface snow and snowpit samples to investigate chemical and isotopic evidence of combustion particles that had been transported from distant fires. Among the chemical tracers employed for source identification are organic acids, potassium and ammonium ions, and elemental and organic components of carbonaceous particles. Ion chromatography, performed by members of the Climate Change Research Center (University of New Hampshire), has been especially valuable in indicating periods at Summit that were likely to have been affected by the long range transport of biomass burning aerosol. Univariate and multivariate patterns of the ion concentrations in the snow and ice pinpointed surface and snowpit samples for the direct analysis of particulate (soot) carbon and carbon isotopes. The research at NIST is focusing on graphitic and polycyclic aromatic carbon, which serve as almost certain indicators of fire, and measurements of carbon isotopes, especially 14C, to distinguish fossil and biomass combustion sources. Complementing the chemical and isotopic record, are direct \u27visual\u27 (satellite imagery) records and less direct backtrajectory records, to indicate geographic source regions and transport paths. In this paper we illustrate the unique way in which the synthesis of the chemical, isotopic, satellite and trajectory data enhances our ability to develop the recent history of the formation and transport of soot deposited in the polar snow and ice