Influenza H5N1 and H1N1 viruses remain infectious in unpasteurized milk on milking machinery surfaces.

Spillover of highly pathogenic avian H5N1 into the cattle population poses a risk to humans through the close contact with farm workers. High viral loads of influenza viruses in the unpasteurized milk of infected lactating cows has the potential to contaminate equipment within milking parlors and create fomites for transmission to dairy workers. Cattle H5N1 and human 2009 H1N1 pandemic influenza viruses were found to remain infectious on surfaces commonly found in milking equipment materials for a few hours. The data presented here provide a compelling case for the risk of contaminated surfaces generated during milking to facilitate transmission of H5N1 from cattle-to-cattle and to dairy farm workers.

Social-pair judgment bias testing in slow-growing broiler chickens raised in low- or high-complexity environments.

Impacts of environmental complexity on affective states in slow-growing broiler chickens (Gallus gallus domesticus) are unknown. Chickens' performance in judgment bias tests (JBT) can be limited as they are tested individually, causing fear and anxiety. The objectives were to apply a social-pair JBT to assess the effect of environmental complexity on slow-growing broiler chickens` affective states, and assess the impact of fearfulness, anxiety, and chronic stress on JBT performance. Six-hundred Hubbard Redbro broilers were housed in six low-complexity (similar to commercial) or six high-complexity (permanent and temporary enrichments) pens. Twelve chicken pairs were trained (1 pair/pen, n = 24 chickens) using a multimodal approach (visual and spatial cues), with reward and neutral cues of opposing color and location. Three ambiguous cues were tested: near-positive, middle, and near-neutral cues. Approach and pecking behavior were recorded. Eighty-three percent of chickens (20/24) were successfully trained in 13 days. Fearfulness, anxiety, and chronic stress did not impact chickens' performance. Chickens successfully discriminated between cues. Low-complexity chickens approached the middle cue faster than high-complexity chickens, indicating that they were in a more positive affective state. The environmental complexity provided in this study did not improve affective states in slow-growing broiler chickens compared to a control. A social-pair JBT resulted in excellent learning and testing outcomes in slow-growing broilers.

Pollen Loads of Flower Visitors to Açaí Palm (Euterpe oleracea) and Implications for Management of Pollination Services.

Understanding the functional roles of different pollinator species is crucial to the development of sustainable farming practices in pollinator-dependent crops. However, this can be challenging for crop plants in tropical regions with hyper-diverse pollinator communities. Here, we assess pollen loads of different insect visitors to inflorescences of açaí palm (Euterpe oleracea), the most important native crop in the Amazon estuary region. Flower-visiting insects were collected from pistillate (female) inflorescences at eight sites, including four managed floodplain forests and four plantations. Pollinator Importance Value Index (PIVI) and Relative Importance (RI) scores were calculated for common visitor taxa (≥ 10 individuals) using sum visit frequencies and median pollen loads. Pollen load analyses revealed that over seventy insect taxa, including bees, flies, beetles, wasps and ants, were effective vectors of E. oleracea pollen. Native bees, including both solitary and eusocial taxa, were the most efficient pollen vectors, with median pollen loads at least eight times higher than those of the next best insect group (flies). Insect pollen loads were at their highest between 0800 and 1300 hours, and four insect taxa had RI scores > 0.05, including two meliponine bees belonging to the Trigona genus (Trigona branneri Cockerell and Trigona pallens Fabricius) and two halictid bee genera (Augochloropsis and Dialictus). Our results suggest that native bees play an important role in açaí pollination and should be the primary focus of pollinator management in açaí production systems.

Exposure to inhaled particulate matter activates early markers of oxidative stress, inflammation and unfolded protein response in rat striatum.

To study central nervous system airborne PM related subchronic toxicity, SD male rats were exposed for eight weeks to either coarse (32 µg/m³), fine (178 µg/m³) or ultrafine (107 µg/m³) concentrated PM or filtered air. Different brain regions (olfactory bulb, frontal cortex, striatum and hippocampus), were harvested from the rats following exposure to airborne PM. Subsequently, prooxidant (HO-1 and SOD-2), and inflammatory markers (IL-1ß and TNFα), apoptotic (caspase 3), and unfolded protein response (UPR) markers (XBP-1S and BiP), were also measured using real-time PCR. Activation of nuclear transcription factors Nrf-2 and NF-κB, associated with antioxidant and inflammation processes, respectively, were also analyzed by GSMA. Ultrafine PM increased HO-1 and SOD-2 mRNA levels in the striatum and hippocampus, in the presence of Nrf-2 activation. Also, ultrafine PM activated NF-κB and increased IL-1ß and TNFα in the striatum. Activation of UPR was observed after exposure to coarse PM through the increment of XBP-1S and BiP in the striatum, accompanied by an increase in antioxidant response markers HO-1 and SOD-2. Our results indicate that exposure to different size fractions of PM may induce physiological changes (in a neuroanatomical manner) in the central nervous system (CNS), specifically within the striatum, where inflammation, oxidative stress and UPR signals were effectively activated.

A comparison of labour and delivery outcomes in mothers induced with cytotec or pitocin

OBJECTIVE: To compare the labour and delivery outcomes among mothers induced with cytotec (misoprostol) and those induced with pitocin (oxytocin) in a retrospective study. METHODS: A stratified random sample of 40 patient records of 20 mothers induced with cytotec (Group 1) and 20 with pitocin (Group 2), was selected from the records of all of the mothers (n = 148) who had induction of labour at Victoria Jubilee Hospital, Kingston, Jamaica, in March 2000. The groups were matched for age, parity and gestation. Mothers with hypertension, diabetes mellitus, sickle cell disease and multiple pregnancies were excluded. A pretested 27-item checklist, based on the standard labour and delivery records, included a list of possible antepartum, intrapartum and immediate postpartum complications and length of hospital stay. SPSS version 7.5 was used for data analysis. RESULTS: There were no significant differences in total time of labour, blood pressure, blood loss, pre- and post-induction foetal heart rates, apgar scores and length of hospital stay. Two mothers in the cytotec group had uterine hyperstimulation and were delivered by Caesarean section. Four babies in the cytotec group and three in the pitocin group were admitted for special care. CONCLUSION: Althoygh the outcome variables for mothers induced with cytotec and those induced with pitocin were similar, the two cases of uterine hyperstimulation in the cytotec group suggest caution in the use of cytotec for the induction of labour. (Au)

Comparison of two methods of determining asphyxial potential of infant bedding.

OBJECTIVE: To establish, with the use of live sedated piglets on a range of bedding surfaces, the possibility of asphyxia when an infant is breathing face down into infant bedding surfaces, and to compare the results with those obtained with a mechanical model. METHODS: Piglets underwent tracheotomy and were attached to a silicon rubber model head of a 3-month-old infant. This was placed face down on bedding surfaces, and respiratory and blood gas data were collected for a 60-minute period. RESULTS: All bedding surfaces but one showed some rebreathing. This was to lower levels than with the mechanical model, but the ranking of the surfaces by level of rebreathing was similar. Two piglets died within the 1-hour experimental time. CONCLUSION: It is confirmed that the data from a mechanical model of rebreathing on different bedding surfaces are matched by those derived from a piglet model that responds normally to asphyxia.

Handedness incidence in a population of black university students.

A modified version of the Edinburgh Handedness Inventory was used to assess degrees of left-, mixed-, and right-handedness in USA and Caribbean black university students. The distributional pattern of handedness in men and women was significantly different, largely due to a higher incidence of left- and mixed-handed men. Sinistral incidence in men of this population was significantly higher than that reported in some other studies on Anglo-Saxon populations.

Oral contraception and cerebral thrombosis in a Jamaican.

PIP: A case report of a 20-year old nulliparous woman who developed a stroke after taking the oral contraceptive (OC) pill Niroday (norethindrone 1 mg and mestranol .05mg) for 2 years is presented. The patient was admitted to the University Hospital in Jamaica after falling and losing power in the right arm and leg. She was a nonsmoker in good general health and had never previously been hospitalized. She was conscious with mild dysphasia when examined and complained of severe generalized headaches. There was grade 1 power in the right arm and leg, and an upper motor neurone right facial palsy. The left plantar response was down-going and the right equivocal. Fundoscopy was normal. Most clinical findings were normal, but a left Carotid angiogram showed complete occlusion of the middle cerebral artery at its origin and later films showed a good collateral circulation from the anterior cerebral vessels in particular. The patient was treated with a low dose aspirin and the OCs were discontinued. Physiotherapy was instituted and continued on an outpatient basis on her discharge 3 weeks after admission with grade 3 power in the right leg and grade 2 in the right arm. After careful exclusion of other known causes of stroke, the evidence, supported by data from the literature, points to the contraceptive pill as the causative factor in the development of the thrombotic stroke. The widespread use of OCs in the Caribbean should alert clinicians to the possibility of future cases, and women at risk should use other forms of contraception.^ieng

Oral contraception and cerebral thrombosis in a Jamaican

A case report of a 20-year-old woman who developed a stroke while on oral contraceptive therapy is presented. The report is intended to focus attention on an important, although infrequently considered, risk associated with the use of the birth control pill (AU)

Autoerythrocyte sensitization.

We have seen six examples of autoerythrocyte sensitization in children that allow a definition of the disorder in the pediatric age group. The typical skin lesion is a painful, erythematous bruise that starts after minor trauma or surgery and often involves an area away from the injury site. The skin manifestations can be debilitating, and reappear unpredictably for an indefinite period. Somatic symptoms can be associated with the bruising. Usually the children have a disturbed psychological background. Characteristically, multiple detailed investigations are performed before the diagnosis is made. An intradermal injection of autologous red cells may or may not give a "positive" ecchymotic reaction. Pediatric patients seem to respond well to psychotherapy, which is usually the only effective form of treatment.