Aims: To determine the prevalence and levels of zoonotic agents in livestock wastes.
Methods and Results: A proportionally weighted survey was undertaken and livestock waste samples analysed ...quantitatively for Escherichia coli O157, pathogenic Listeria, Salmonella, Campylobacter, Giardia and Cryptosporidium. A significant proportion of wastes contained at least one zoonotic agent. Relationships were found between dry matter content and the presence and levels of some zoonotic agents.
Conclusions: British livestock wastes contain measurable levels of the zoonotic agents that cause most cases of gastroenteritis in the UK.
Significance and Impact of the Study: Animal wastes are disposed of by spreading to agricultural land used for the production of crops and livestock grazing. As British wastes are contaminated with significant levels of zoonotic agents, the practice may represent a way for pathogens to travel further up the food chain.
Background/Aims
Traumatic dental injuries, including avulsion, are relatively common, with a reported prevalence of up to 4.5%. The Internet and video‐sharing websites are frequently used as a ...resource for patient accessible health information. YouTube™, the online video leader, is a popular choice with patients, who decide to seek advice when managing an avulsed tooth.
The aim of this study was to examine the quality of information offered by videos on YouTube™ for those individuals seeking information regarding the emergency management of an avulsed tooth. The quality of information was compared to the guidelines of the International Association of Dental Traumatology (IADT).
Methods
YouTube™ was searched systematically for videos on avulsion using the terms ‘knocked tooth out’ and ‘dental avulsion’. Strict inclusion and exclusion criteria were adhered to, and videos were assessed on several variables. The usefulness of the selected videos in providing adequate information about avulsed teeth was then evaluated using a 9‐point score based on the IADT guidelines. Descriptive statistics were consequently generated.
Results
A total of 120 videos were analysed, 13% (n = 16) of which met the inclusion‐exclusion criteria. Most had been uploaded by healthcare professionals (81%, n = 13) in the United States (63%, n = 10). Videos had generally low completeness scores (mean: 4.375 ± 1.9; range: 2‐7). Completeness was not affected significantly, either by viewers’ interactions or by the date of upload.
Conclusion
YouTube™ generally hosts videos with low usefulness with regard to the management of avulsed teeth. Therefore, dentists should be aware of this resource and warn parents/carers regarding the reliability of information and the misleading content which is available on YouTube™ videos.
Midbrain dopamine neurons are crucial for many behavioral and cognitive functions. As the major excitatory input, glutamatergic afferents are important for control of the activity and plasticity of ...dopamine neurons. However, the role of glutamatergic input as a whole onto dopamine neurons remains unclear. Here we developed a mouse line in which glutamatergic inputs onto dopamine neurons are specifically impaired, and utilized this genetic model to directly test the role of glutamatergic inputs in dopamine-related functions. We found that while motor coordination and reward learning were largely unchanged, these animals showed prominent deficits in effort-related behavioral tasks. These results provide genetic evidence that glutamatergic transmission onto dopaminergic neurons underlies incentive motivation, a willingness to exert high levels of effort to obtain reinforcers, and have important implications for understanding the normal function of the midbrain dopamine system.
The kinetics of the anodic dissolution of brass (CuZn42 and CuZn21Si3P) in synthetic tap water were investigated by atomic emission spectroelectrochemistry. Elemental Cu and Zn dissolution rates were ...measured in situ and in real time during galvanostatic dissolution. A complete mass/charge balance for the system yielded, as a function of applied current and a function of time, the quantity of Cu in the dezincification layer and the quantity of Cu and Zn in the oxide layer. In this way, a complete kinetic characterization of the fundamental chemical processes occurring during dezincification was realized for the first time. The oxide layer was composed primarily of Cu2O as indicated by grazing incidence XRD and Raman analysis. The soluble Cu oxidation product was determined to be Cu(II) by a mass/charge balance. Zn was oxidized to soluble Zn(II) leaving behind a trivial amount of solid Zn corrosion product on the surface. The kinetic analysis depicts a two-stage dissolution process of dezincification: a first stage of a rapid growth of the dezincified layer and a second stage where the growth of dezincified layer was much slower. The Cu2O layer grows continually during the exposure.
Aims
To determine the fate of Escherichia coli on vegetables that were processed through commercial wash treatments and stored under simulated retail conditions at 4°C or wholesale at fluctuating ...ambient temperatures (0–25°C, dependent on season).
Methods and Results
Bovine slurry that was naturally contaminated with E. coli O145 was applied without dilution or diluted 1:10 using borehole water to growing potatoes, leeks or carrots. Manure was applied 1 week prior to harvest to simulate a near‐harvest contamination event by manure deposition or an application of contaminated water to simulate a flooding event or irrigation from a contaminated water source. At harvest, crops were contaminated at up to 2 log cfu g−1. Washing transferred E. coli into the water of a flotation tank used for potato washing and did not completely remove all traces of contamination from the crop. Manure‐contaminated potatoes were observed to contain 0·72 cfu E. coli O145 g−1 after processing and retail storage. Manure‐contaminated leeks harboured 0·73–1·55 cfu E. coli O145 g−1 after washing and storage. There was no cross‐contamination when leeks were spray washed. Washing in an abrasive drum resulted in less than perfect decontamination for manure‐contaminated carrots. There were five post‐distribution isolations from carrots irrigated with contaminated water 24 h prior to harvest.
Conclusions
Standard commercial washing and distribution conditions may be insufficient to reliably control human pathogenic E. coli on fresh produce.
Significance and Impact
Previous speculation that the cause of a UK foodborne disease outbreak was soil from imperfectly cleaned vegetables is plausible.
This study provides evidence supporting the effectiveness of sterilised foreign exchange market intervention by central banks using an event study approach. An event study framework is better suited ...to the study of sporadic and intense periods of official intervention, juxtaposed with continuously changing exchange rates, than standard time-series studies. Focusing on daily Bundesbank and US official intervention operations, we identify separate intervention 'episodes' and analyse the subsequent effect on the exchange rate. Using the non-parametric sign test and matched-sample test, we find strong evidence that sterilised intervention systemically affects the exchange rate in the short run. This result is robust to changes in event window definitions over the short run and to controlling for central bank interest rate changes during events.
Caregivers have primary responsibility for teaching their children self-protective behaviors, including those behaviors recommended by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) to prevent the spread of ...COVID-19. Parents have an important role in scaffolding adherence to the CDC recommendations and in managing stress and regulate their emotions to adaptively cope during uncertain times like those facing communities nationwide. The present study is a qualitative, thematic analysis of parent-reported (
n
= 210; 64.8% female; average age = 39.33; 14.3% ethnic/racial minority) interactions with children (focal child age: 25.2% birth to 5 years old, 36.7% 6 to 11 years old, 37.6% 12 to 18 years old) about topics associated to COVID-19-related viral transmission suppression guidelines and stress/coping behaviors. Themes included discussions about personal and social hygiene, and parent reported sources of child stress, and child stress management efforts. Findings from our thematic analysis indicate parents are motivated to make scaffolding personal hygiene fun and engaging, signaling a positive, developmentally appropriate native approach to their role as sources of coping socialization. These findings also underscore the importance of providing information to parents in ways that can be translated to children in developmentally appropriate conversations about viral transmission suppression activities and stress management during disasters.
Highlights
This paper presents the results of a qualitative, thematic analysis of parent-reported (
n
= 210) interactions with children about topics related to COVID-19.
Themes included discussions about personal and social hygiene, parent reported sources of child stress, and child stress management efforts.
Findings indicate parents are motivated to make scaffolding personal hygiene fun and engaging, signaling a positive, developmentally appropriate approach to their role as sources of coping socialization.
To determine whether structural abnormalities of the lamina cribrosa explain the presence of optic disc hemorrhages, we determined the spatial concordance between disc hemorrhages and laminar ...disinsertions from the sclera.
Prospective noninterventional study.
From open-angle glaucoma patients followed up prospectively, we identified 52 eyes of 46 open-angle glaucoma patients with optic disc hemorrhage (ODH+ group) in at least 1 optic disc photograph during follow-up. We also identified 52 control eyes of 46 glaucoma patients in whom no disc hemorrhage was detected (ODH- group).
Enhanced depth imaging optical coherence tomography of the optic nerve head (24 radial scans) was performed. The scans were de-identified and a trained observer masked to all clinical information determined the presence of laminar disinsertions in each of the 48 positions with a confidence score of 1 (least certain) to 5 (most certain). Only disinsertions with a score of 3 or more were included in the analysis.
Frequency and spatial concordance between disc hemorrhages and laminar disinsertions.
The median age, visual field mean deviation, and follow-up period of the ODH+ and ODH- groups was 77.5 and 70.8 years, -5.20 and -4.70 dB, and 10.4 and 9.9 years, respectively. There were 84 hemorrhages recorded in the ODH+ group. There were laminar disinsertions in 50 eyes (96%) in the ODH+ group and in 27 eyes (52%) in the ODH- group, with 2 or more disinsertions in 30 eyes (58%) and 5 eyes (10%), respectively. Most hemorrhages and disinsertions were located in the inferotemporal and superotemporal sectors. However, in individual patients, only 33 of the ODHs (39%) were located within a laminar disinsertion.
Laminar disinsertions occurred twice as frequently in eyes with ODHs; however, in individual patients, the spatial concordance between ODHs and laminar disinsertions was poor.
Aims
To identify production and processing practices that might reduce Campylobacter numbers contaminating chicken broiler carcasses.
Methods and Results
The numbers of campylobacters were determined ...on carcass neck skins after processing or in broiler house litter samples. Supplementary information that described farm layouts, farming conditions for individual flocks, the slaughterhouse layouts and operating conditions inside plants was collected, matched with each Campylobacter test result. Statistical models predicting the numbers of campylobacters on neck skins and in litter were constructed. Carcass microbial contamination was more strongly influenced by on‐farm production practices compared with slaughterhouse activities. We observed correlations between the chilling, washing and defeathering stages of processing and the numbers of campylobacters on carcasses. There were factors on farm that also correlated with numbers of campylobacters in litter. These included bird gender, the exclusion of dogs from houses, beetle presence in the house litter and the materials used to construct the house frame.
Conclusions
Changes in farming practices have greater potential for reducing chicken carcass microbial contamination compared with processing interventions.
Significance and Impact of the Study
Routine commercial practices were identified that were correlated with lowered numbers of campylobacters. Consequently, these practices are likely to be both cost‐effective and suitable for adoption into established farms and commercial processing.
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