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  • Valentin Montgomery posted an update 1 week, 5 days ago

    Reptile-associated human salmonellosis cases have increased recently in the United States. It is not uncommon to find healthy chelonians shedding Salmonella enterica. The rate and frequency of bacterial shedding are not fully understood, and most studies have focused on captive vs. free-living chelonians and often in relation to an outbreak. Their ecology and significance as sentinels are important to understanding Salmonella transmission. In 2012-2013, Salmonella prevalence was determined for free-living aquatic turtles in man-made ponds in Clarke and Oconee Counties, in northern Georgia (USA) and the correlation between species, basking ecology, demographics (age/sex), season, or landcover with prevalence was assessed. The genetic relatedness between turtle and archived, human isolates, as well as, other archived animal and water isolates reported from this study area was examined. Salmonella was isolated from 45 of 194 turtles (23.2%, range 14-100%) across six species. Prevalence was higher in juveniles (3gest that turtles accumulate Salmonella present in water bodies, and they may be effective sentinels of environmental contamination. Ultimately, the Salmonella prevalence rates in wild aquatic turtles, especially those strains shared with humans, highlight a significant public health concern.Extra-label drug use in food animal medicine is authorized by the US Animal Medicinal Drug Use Clarification Act (AMDUCA), and estimated withdrawal intervals are based on published scientific pharmacokinetic data. Occasionally there is a paucity of scientific data on which to base a withdrawal interval or a large number of animals being treated, driving the need to test for drug residues. Rapid assay commercial farm-side tests are essential for monitoring drug residues in animal products to protect human health. Active ingredients, sensitivity, matrices, and species that have been evaluated for commercial rapid assay tests are typically reported on manufacturers’ websites or in PDF documents that are available to consumers but may require a special access request. Additionally, this information is not always correlated with FDA-approved tolerances. Furthermore, parameter changes for these tests can be very challenging to regularly identify, especially those listed on websites or in documents that are not publibility practice and research data mining. Embedded information was extracted using an AI technology for text extraction and text mining to convert to structured formats. These data were then made available to veterinarians and producers via an online interface, allowing interactive searching and also presenting the commercial test assay parameters in reference to FDA-approved tolerances.Currently, experimental animals are widely used in biological and medical research. However, the scientific community has raised several bioethical concerns, such as the number of animals required to achieve reproducible and statistically relevant results. These concerns involve aspects related to pain, discomfort, and unwanted animal loss. Retrospectively, we compare two different approaches for anesthesia dosage a mobile app for dose calculation and a standard dose calculation. A total of 939 C57BL/6J and Swiss mice were analyzed. We collected data on intraoperative and anesthesia-related mortality as described in electronic or physical handwritten records. Our results showed that the mobile app approach significantly reduces anesthetic-related deaths upon using doses of ketamine and xylazine. The results suggest that anesthesia-related mortality can be minimized even more using information technology approaches, helping to solve an old but transversal challenge for researchers working with experimental mice. The mobile app is a free and open code which could be implemented worldwide as an essential requirement for all anesthetic procedures in mice using xylazine and ketamine combination. As an open code app, the Labinsane initiative could also represent the starting point to unify and validate other anesthetic procedures in different species and strains.The dairy sector in Rwanda plays a key role in improving nutrition and generating income mostly for rural households. Despite the Rwandan 1994 genocide that left around 80% of dairy cows decimated, the dairy sector has experienced significant growth in the past two decades through government, development organisations, and donor programs, and through the nascent vibrant public-private partnership. In this paper, we reviewed and documented the evolution of the dairy policies, programs, and regulations in Rwanda and how they have contributed to the development of the dairy sector. The policy change has impacted the provision and use of inputs and services that have shaped the sector’s milk production and productivity, milk quality, and demand. The results suggest that various policy- and program-level interventions have positively contributed to the growth of the dairy sector and improved the livelihoods of low-income households. This has been achieved through increased access to inputs and services, enhanced csequently, farmers’ uptake and use of inputs and services can be enhanced through a strengthened capacity of milk collection centres and health and animal feed policies that guide and control the quality of veterinary products and feeds sold in the markets.This study address historical legacy of South Africa that has dual economies resembling low and high income beef sectors. Low-income herds are farmed mainly under communal village or land reform farms. The study focused on providing assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) to the low-income sector including finding challenges to its implementation and adoption. The study was conducted in Limpopo, Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal provinces using mixed methods that looked at cows and sectors stakeholders. Data collected and evaluated on cows included breed type, frame size, body condition, age parity, and lactation status. Cows were exposed to ART through synchronisation, oestrus detection, fixed time artificial insemination and pregnancy diagnosis. Qualitative data was collected to study perception of key stakeholders on ART implementation and adoption. Chi-Square Test was computed to determine the association among cow factors. Qualitative data was collected, coded and managed into themes using Nvivo Version 11. factors that could affect the adoption and implementation of ART in the study areas. The high success rate and above average reproductive performance led to North West and KwaZulu-Natal provinces adopting ART as part of their low-income beef sector support.Background and Aims Studies have highlighted the role of the triglyceride to high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (TG/HDL-C) ratio on subsequent cardiovascular events. However, the association of the TG/HDL-C ratio with survival outcomes in diabetic patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) treated with statins remains unknown. This study aimed to assess the predictive value of the TG/HDL-C ratio for all-cause mortality and cardiovascular death in diabetic patients with CAD treated with statins. Methods The data of patients with type 2 diabetes and angiographically-confirmed CAD who were undergoing statin therapy and visited Tianjin Chest Hospital between January 2016 and September 2016 were retrospectively collected. The patients were categorized based on the baseline TG/HDL-C ratio tertile. Kaplan-Meier analysis and multivariate Cox proportional hazard regression were applied to assess the role of the TG/HDL-C ratio in predicting all-cause mortality and cardiovascular death. Results A total of 2,080 patients were included. During the 4-year follow-up, 209 patients died, 136 of whom from cardiovascular death. The Kaplan-Meier analyses showed that an increased TG/HDL-C ratio was associated with an increased risk of all-cause mortality (P 0.050). For all-cause mortality, the TG/HDL-C ratio significantly improved the C-statistic from 0.799 to 0.812 (P = 0.018), and the net reclassification index (NRI) and integrated discrimination index (IDI) were 0.252 (95% CI 0.112-0.392; P less then 0.001) and 0.012 (95% CI 0.003-0.022; P = 0.012), respectively. Similarly, for cardiovascular death, the TG/HDL-C ratio significantly improved the C-statistic from 0.771 to 0.804 (P less then 0.001), and the NRI and IDI were 0.508 (95% CI 0.335-0.680; P less then 0.001) and 0.033 (95% CI 0.015-0.050; P less then 0.001). Conclusion TG/HDL-C ratio might be useful for predicting all-cause mortality and cardiovascular death in diabetic patients with CAD treated with statins.MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNAs that participate in heart development and pathological processes mainly by silencing gene expression. Overwhelming evidence has suggested that miRNAs were involved in various cardiovascular pathological processes, including arrhythmias, ischemia-reperfusion injuries, dysregulation of angiogenesis, mitochondrial abnormalities, fibrosis, and maladaptive remodeling. Various miRNAs could regulate myocardial contractility, vascular proliferation, and mitochondrial function. Taurocholic acid Meanwhile, it was reported that miRNAs could manipulate nutrition metabolism, especially glucose and lipid metabolism, by regulating insulin signaling pathways, energy substrate transport/metabolism. Recently, increasing studies suggested that the abnormal glucose and lipid metabolism were closely associated with a broad spectrum of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). Therefore, maintaining glucose and lipid metabolism homeostasis in the heart might be beneficial to CVD patients. In this review, we summarized the present knowledge of the functions of miRNAs in regulating cardiac glucose and lipid metabolism, as well as highlighted the miRNA-based therapies targeting cardiac glucose and lipid metabolism.Vascular disorders frequently have differing clinical presentations among women and men. Sex differences exist in vascular access for hemodialysis; women have reduced rates of arteriovenous fistula (AVF) maturation as well as fistula utilization compared with men. Inflammation is increasingly implicated in both clinical studies and animal models as a potent mechanism driving AVF maturation, especially in vessel dilation and wall thickening, that allows venous remodeling to the fistula environment to support hemodialysis. Sex differences have long been recognized in arterial remodeling and diseases, with men having increased cardiovascular events compared with pre-menopausal women. Many of these arterial diseases are driven by inflammation that is similar to the inflammation during AVF maturation. Improved understanding of sex differences in inflammation during vascular remodeling may suggest sex-specific vascular therapies to improve AVF success.Background Current evidence regarding the application of direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) vs. vitamin K antagonists (VKAs) on the fracture risk is inconsistent. Therefore, we conducted a meta-analysis to evaluate the fracture risk of DOACs vs. VKAs in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). Methods The PubMed and Embase databases were systematically searched until June 2021 for all the studies that reported oral anticoagulants in AF patients. The random-effect model with an inverse variance method was selected to pool the risk ratios (RRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Results A total of 10 studies were included in this meta-analysis. Among AF patients receiving anticoagulants, DOAC users showed a reduced risk of any fracture compared to those with VKAs (RR = 0.80; 95% CI 0.70-0.91) regardless of gender [males (RR = 0.79; 95% CI 0.67-0.92) and females (RR = 0.71; 95% CI 0.57-0.89)]. Apixaban (RR = 0.75; 95% CI 0.60-0.92) and rivaroxaban (RR = 0.73; 95% CI 0.61-0.88), but not dabigatran and edoxaban, were associated with a decreased risk of any fracture compared with VKAs.