scholarly journals Three-year monitoring of paratuberculosis in dairy cattle by pooled faecal culture and individual prevalence estimation

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 99-111
Author(s):  
Alberto Prieto ◽  
José Manuel Díaz-Cao ◽  
Pablo Díaz ◽  
Ana Pérez-Creo ◽  
Gonzalo López-Lorenzo ◽  
...  

Abstract The objective of this study was to assess the implementation of a three-year Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis monitoring programme using pooled faecal culture in small and mediumsized dairy herds to classify them as infected or non-infected and apply proper hygiene and biosecurity measures. Over a three-year period, 35 dairy herds were analysed annually by faecal culture of ten pooled samples. In addition, proper hygiene and biosecurity protocols were implemented in the farms after the first testing round. Considering a herd as infected with at least one culture positive in any of the three years, the accumulated percentage of infected herds was 25.7%, 40% and 45.7%, for each year respectively. Assuming that all infected herds had been detected at the end of the study, the percentage of infected herds detected each year was 56.25% and 87.5% for the first and second year, respectively. Using frequentist and Bayesian approaches, the estimated individual prevalence revealed a downward trend from 3.30-3.65% in the first year to 1.66-1.86% in the third year. The results of this study indicate that pooled faecal culture allowed for proper classification of the herds and can be a useful tool for monitoring dairy herds against paratuberculosis. In addition, statistical analysis of pooled faecal culture results can be used to evaluate the evolution of individual prevalence in the population and therefore the function of the implemented control programmes.

2012 ◽  
Vol 75 (9) ◽  
pp. 1562-1571 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. E. LOMBARD ◽  
A. L. BEAM ◽  
E. M. NIFONG ◽  
C. P. FOSSLER ◽  
C. A. KOPRAL ◽  
...  

The objectives of this study were to estimate the prevalence of Salmonella for individual, pooled, and composite fecal samples and to compare culture results from each sample type for determining herd Salmonella infection status and identifying Salmonella serovar(s). During the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Animal Health Monitoring System Dairy 2007 study, data and samples were collected from dairy operations in 17 major dairy states. As part of the study, composite fecal samples (six per operation) were collected from cow areas, such as holding pens, alleyways, and lagoons, where manure accumulates. Fecal samples also were collected from individual cows (35 per operation), and fecal sample pools were created by combining samples from 5 cows (7 per operation). A total of 1,541 composite fecal samples were collected from 260 operations in 17 states, and 406 (26.3%) of these samples were culture positive for Salmonella. Among the 116 operations for which all three sample types were obtained, 41.4% (48 operations) were Salmonella culture positive based on individual samples, 39.7% (46 operations) were positive based on pooled samples, and 49.1% (57 operations) were positive based on composite fecal samples. Relative to individual samples, the sensitivity of composite fecal samples for determining herd infection status was 85.4% and the sensitivity of pooled fecal samples was 91.7%. On 33.6% of operations (39 of 116), Salmonella was cultured from all three fecal sample types (individual, pooled, and composite), and 20 (51.3%) of these operations had exactly the same serovar in all three sample types. Use of composite fecal samples is less costly and time-consuming than use of individual or pooled samples and provides similar results for detecting the presence and identifying serovars of Salmonella in dairy herds. Therefore, composite sampling may be an appropriate alternative to culture of individual samples when assessing Salmonella status in dairy herds.


2004 ◽  
Vol 19 (04) ◽  
pp. 297-306 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shigeru Sokejima ◽  
Yoshimi Nakatani ◽  
Kazuomi Kario ◽  
Kazunori Kayaba ◽  
Masumi Minowa ◽  
...  

AbstractIntroduction:No epidemiological data exist concerning the influence of an earthquake on the risk of stroke. Whether the incidence of cerebrovascular stroke increased after the 1995 Hanshin-Awaji earthquake (EQ) in Japan and whether seismic intensity affected stroke risk dose-dependently was examined.Methods:A retrospective cohort study was conducted among residents, who were living in two towns on the island of Awaji and were participants of the National Health Insurance (NHI) program. The two towns were divided into 11 districts and their respective damage and socioeconomic states were investigated. Reviewing the NHI documents issued before and after the EQ, people who had strokes (9th International Classification of Diseases, codes 430–431 or 433–434.9) were identified. Risk of stroke in relation to the seismic intensities, was assessed with the Cox proportional hazard model.Results:Among subjects aged 40 to 99 years, 45 of 8,758 (0.514%) had a stroke the year before the EQ, 72 of 8,893 (0.810%) had a stroke in the first year following the EQ, and 49 of 8,710 (0.566%) had a stroke in the second year following the EQ. In districts where the earthquake's intensity was ≤9.5 on the modified Mercalli intensity (MMI), compared with the year prior to the EQ, the relative risk (RR) of stroke was 2.4 (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.1, 5.0) in the first year following the EQ, after adjusting for age, gender, and income. In that year, compared with MMI of <8.5–9.0, RRs for 9.0–9.5 and ≥9.5 were 1.6 (CI 0.9, 2.1) and 2.0 (CI 1.1, 3.7), respectively (pfor trend 0.02). No trend for the RR was observed in the year before the EQ or in the second year following the EQ.Conclusion Stroke increased in the first year following the EQ. The increase was associated with seismic intensity in a dose-response manner. Results suggest a potential threshold for RR of >2.0 in areas near 9.5 on the MMI scale.


2001 ◽  
Vol 31 (7) ◽  
pp. 1175-1183 ◽  
Author(s):  
H E. James Hammond ◽  
David W Langor ◽  
John R Spence

The early colonization of newly created coarse woody material (CWM) by beetles was studied in aspen mixedwood forests at two locations in north-central Alberta. Healthy trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.) trees, in old (>100 years) and mature (40–80 years) stands, were cut to provide three types of CWM: stumps, bolts on the ground (logs), and bolts suspended above the ground to simulate snags. Over 2 years, 1049 Coleoptera, representing 49 taxa, were collected. Faunal structure differed little between the two locations. Species diversity was higher in old than in mature stands, and higher in stumps and logs than in suspended bolts; however, these "snags" tended to have higher abundance when compared with stumps and logs. Overall beetle abundance and the catch of wood-boring beetles was significantly higher in the first year post-treatment, mainly because of the ambrosia beetle (Trypodendron retusum (LeConte)) and one of its predators, Rhizophagus remotus LeConte; however, beetle diversity was higher in the second year, suggesting that early wood-boring species may "precondition" the wood for a number of succeeding species. The high turnover rate of taxa and spatial or temporal variation in faunal structure suggests that effort focused on habitat classification of CWM will facilitate management to conserve saproxylic faunal diversity.


Author(s):  
Jacob S. Hanker ◽  
Dale N. Holdren ◽  
Kenneth L. Cohen ◽  
Beverly L. Giammara

Keratitis and conjunctivitis (infections of the cornea or conjunctiva) are ocular infections caused by various bacteria, fungi, viruses or parasites; bacteria, however, are usually prominent. Systemic conditions such as alcoholism, diabetes, debilitating disease, AIDS and immunosuppressive therapy can lead to increased susceptibility but trauma and contact lens use are very important factors. Gram-negative bacteria are most frequently cultured in these situations and Pseudomonas aeruginosa is most usually isolated from culture-positive ulcers of patients using contact lenses. Smears for staining can be obtained with a special swab or spatula and Gram staining frequently guides choice of a therapeutic rinse prior to the report of the culture results upon which specific antibiotic therapy is based. In some cases staining of the direct smear may be diagnostic in situations where the culture will not grow. In these cases different types of stains occasionally assist in guiding therapy.


2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 74-89
Author(s):  
Hugh Crago

In a seminal 1973 paper, Robert Clark described the very different “cultures” of the first and second year students in a four year clinical psychology PhD programme. The author applies Clark’s template to his own experiences as trainee or trainer in five different counsellor education programmes, one in the US and four in Australia. Each of the programmes, to varying degrees, demonstrates key features of the pattern identified by Clark, where the first year is “therapeutic” and other-oriented, the second is “professional” and self-focused. The author concludes that all the surveyed programmes exhibited some level of “second year crisis”, in which a significant number of students felt abandoned, dissatisfied, or rebellious. The author extends and refines Clark’s developmental analogy (first year = childhood; second year = adolescence) to reflect recent neurological research, in particular, the shift from a right hemisphere-dominant first year of life, prioritising affiliative needs, to a left hemisphere-dominant second year, prioritising autonomy and control. This shift is paralleled later by a more gradual move from a protective, supportive childhood to necessary, but sometimes conflictual, individuation in adolescence. The first two years of a counsellor training programme broadly echo this process, a process exacerbated by the second year internship/placement, in which students must “leave home” and adjust to unfamiliar, potentially less nurturing, authority figures. Finally, the author suggests introducing more rigorous “academic holding” into the first year, and greater attention to “therapeutic holding” of dissident students in the second, hopefully decreasing student dropout, and achieving a better balanced training experience.


Author(s):  
Umar Iqbal ◽  
Deena Salem ◽  
David Strong

The objective of this paper is to document the experience of developing and implementing a second-year course in an engineering professional spine that was developed in a first-tier research university and relies on project-based core courses. The main objective of this spine is to develop the students’ cognitive and employability skills that will allow them to stand out from the crowd of other engineering graduates.The spine was developed and delivered for the first time in the academic year 2010-2011 for first-year general engineering students. In the year 2011-2012, those students joined different programs, and accordingly the second-year course was tailored to align with the different programs’ learning outcomes. This paper discusses the development and implementation of the course in the Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) department.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer McDonald ◽  
Rebecca Merkley ◽  
Jacqueline Mickle ◽  
Lisa Collimore ◽  
Daniel Ansari

Research in cognitive development has highlighted that early numeracy skills are associated with later math achievement, suggesting that these skills should be targeted in early math education. Here we tested whether tools used by researchers to assess mathematical thinking could be useful in the classroom. This paper describes a collaborative project between cognitive scientists and school board researchers/educators implementing numeracy screeners with kindergarten students over the course of three school years. The Give-A-Number task (Wynn, 1990) was used with first-year kindergarten students and the Numeracy Screener [BLINDED] with second-year kindergarten students. Results indicated that educators (N = 59) found the tools feasible to implement and helpful for exploring their students’ thinking and targeting instruction. The Educators’ feedback also helped inform improvements to the implementation of the tools and future directions for both the schools and the researchers. This work emphasizes the importance of transdisciplinary collaboration to address the research-practice gap.


2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
ARVIND KUMAR ◽  
POOJA KHULBE

Influence of abiotic factors and hosts on population dynamics of green lacewing, Chrysoper lacarnea (Stephens) was studied in sunflower, Helianthus annus (Linn.).The maximum number of C. carnea population was found during mid March –mid April in the first year and mid April – mid May in the second year in sunflower crop. The maximum number of host population viz. egg and larva of Helicoverpa armigera and Myzuspe rsicae population were found during mid March –mid April in both the year and correlation studies revealed the positive and significant correlation between larval population of H. armigera, M. persicae and predator C. carnea. While there was no significant relationship found between eggs of H. armigera and C. carnea. The C. carnea population on H. annus during both the year was positively correlated with maximum temperature and found significant,while negatively correlated with relative humidity.However, no significant correlation of C. carnea was found with minimum temperature in both the year.


1955 ◽  
Vol 47 (5) ◽  
pp. 224-228 ◽  
Author(s):  
James H. Torrie ◽  
Earle W. Hanson
Keyword(s):  

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