Effects of dietary Original XPC on selected blood variables in layer pullets challenged with Mycoplasma gallisepticum,.

Effects of dietary Original XPC (XPC) on 17 selected blood variables in commercial layer pullets challenged with the virulent, low-passage R strain of Mycoplasma gallisepticum (RlowMG) were investigated. Hy-Line W-36 pullets sourced from M. gallisepticum-clean layer breeders were fed a basal diet with XPC (1.25 kg/metric ton) or without from hatch until 12 wk of age (woa). At 8 and 10 woa, half of the birds in each dietary treatment were challenged with RlowMG. Blood samples were taken immediately before the initial RlowMG challenge at 8 woa and again at 12 woa (4 wk after challenge). At 8 woa, blood pH was lower and glucose concentration was higher in the preassigned challenge treatment groups. At 12 woa, the concentration of oxygen dissolved in the blood was significantly lower in the RlowMG-challenged group than the unchallenged group of birds regardless of dietary treatment. The RlowMG challenge significantly increased blood carbon dioxide partial pressure, calcium, sodium, anion gap, osmolality, glucose, and corticosterone levels but significantly decreased blood oxygen partial pressure, oxyhemoglobin concentration, concentration of oxygen dissolved in the blood, chloride, and pH levels. Because blood pH and glucose concentration at 8 woa were examined before challenge, their baseline values were biased with respect to challenge treatment before treatment was applied. However, the lack of a significant main effect due to diet at 8 woa for blood pH and glucose concentration, along with the other 15 blood variables, indicate that the baseline data with respect to dietary treatment were unbiased, allowing for real dietary effects to be accurately assessed. In conclusion, layer pullets challenged with RlowMG undergo a stress response associated with changes in various physiological blood variables, and a decrease in pH and increase in carbon dioxide partial pressure, in association with a lack of change in bicarbonate, indicates that the stress response caused by the RlowMG challenge was associated with respiratory acidosis. Nevertheless, feeding XPC did not influence the effects of challenge treatment on these postchallenge physiological blood values.

The long-term cancer survivor: a challenge for nurse practitioners.

For approximately 8 million Americans alive today, the words "cancer" and "survival" are no longer mutually exclusive. As advances are made in the early detection and treatment of cancer, the numbers of survivors who are recovering from their illnesses or living longer with cancer as a chronic disease are increasing. With this extended survival comes a new set of responsibilities and standards for follow-up care that include the following: (1) the recognition of chronic or potential problems, (2) the need for life-long surveillance, and (3) continued access to quality health care. Long-term follow-up care for cancer survivors can be a specialty unto itself. The development of clinics or programs that specialize in caring for this expanding population have a history within pediatric oncology. The challenge in the current health care market is to dedicate energy and resources to do the same within the adult oncology community. Nurse practitioners are ideal candidates to create holistic programs that focus on the special needs, both biomedical and psychosocial, of long-term cancer survivors.