Critique of Approaches for Evaluating Teaching and Proposal for a New Institutional Policy.

A review of current literature provides ample evidence that Student Evaluation of Teaching, as currently practiced, can be a biased and flawed evaluation of educator performance and student learning. Due to this, many institutions have developed their own internal multimodal approach for faculty evaluation and professional advancement review that removes the underlying bias associated with survey results. Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine created a taskforce to evaluate the current teaching assessment practices and provide an alternative method. Based on an extensive literature review, an institutional policy was created using a multimodal approach, combining student evaluations of teaching scores with peer review of teaching, review of teaching materials, mentorship, self-ratings, and self-reflection. The implementation plan for this policy is described to allow for a teaching evaluation process built on a philosophy of mentorship, guidance, and self-reflection; as well as the use of external professional exam metrics to review the institutional academic quality at large.

Health promotion and harm reduction attributes in One Health literature: A scoping review.

One Health faces enormous pressure and challenges as it attempts to mitigate dynamic, surprising and complex global events that threaten the health and sustainability of human and animal populations and the biosphere. One Health practitioners and researchers need every advantage to developing working solutions to the world's imminent complex issues. Heath promotion and harm reduction, interrelated approaches that have seen much success over decades of use in global public health, may be important models to consider. Both use an upstream socioecological determinant of health approach to reach beyond the health sector in all health efforts, and encourage active community participation and empowerment to attain and sustain human and ecological health. This scoping review of 411 documents, believed to be the first to relate health promotion and harm reduction to One Health, searched self-declared One Health research literature for evidence of health promotion and harm reduction policies, principles and methodologies. It sought to answer the questions: "What is the scope of practice of One Health in self-declared One Health publications?" and "Are attributes of health promotion and harm reduction found in self-declared One Health-reviewed research literature?" Over half of the papers revealed no health promotion or harm reduction attributes while 7% were well-endowed with these attributes. These 7% of papers focused on deep-seated, complex health issues with systemic knowledge gaps and decision-making issues revolving around specific population vulnerabilities, social inequities and competing stakeholders. Implementing 'on the ground change' was a common theme in the strongest health promotion/harm reduction papers we identified. Alternatively, papers lacking health promotion or harm reduction attributes focused on managing proximate risks, primarily for infectious diseases. The addition of health promotion and harm reduction to One Health practices may help the field rise to the growing expectations for its involvement in complex global issues like pandemics and climate change.

Assessment of Antimicrobial and Pesticide Residues in Food Products Sourced from Peasant Family Farming in Chile.

The presence of antimicrobial and pesticide residues in products sourced from peasant family farms selected from eight regions of Chile was determined. A total of 204 samples were analyzed from family farm products, including honey, lettuce, tomato, strawberry, raspberry, lamb meat, and cow's milk. Pesticide residues were found in 43 of 107 samples tested for them, but only 4 samples had concentrations that exceeded the maximum residue limits (MRLs) set by Chilean regulations. As for animal products, 2 of 15 cow's milk samples tested positive for permethrin residues; however, these concentrations did not exceed Chilean MRLs. No pesticide residues were detected in honey samples. As for antimicrobial drugs, 4 of 14 lamb meat samples and 11 of 79 cow's milk samples tested positive for different classes of antimicrobial residues, such as tetracyclines, macrolides, aminoglycosides, and ß-lactams. Among these, only three samples exceeded the MRLs for these matrices. Traces of tetracyclines and sulfonamides were detected in 7 of 29 honey samples. These findings show that these chemical contaminants are present in trace concentrations in foodstuffs produced by peasant family farms in Chile; however, most residues did not exceed the regulatory limits. This study is the first assessment of the presence of residues from antimicrobial drugs and pesticides in food products sourced from peasant family farms in Chile. Data about the current state of drug residues in this segment of food products provide a baseline for efforts to close possible gaps in current surveillance schemes.

Epidemiological description of the sea lice (Caligus rogercresseyi) situation in southern Chile in August 2007.

Salmon sea lice represent one of the most important threats to salmon farming throughout the world. Results of private monitoring efforts have shown an increase in the number of positive cages and cage-level abundance of sea lice in southern Chile since 2004. As a consequence, the Chilean Fisheries Service implemented an Official Surveillance Program in the main salmon production area of southern Chile to assess the situation of sea lice in fish farms. Results showed that the prevalence of sea lice in the fish farms was 53.4%, ranging from 3.5% in Puerto Aysén to 100% in the Seno de Reloncaví zone. The average sea lice abundance was 11.8 per fish (Geometrical mean (GM)=8.61, 95% CI (2.1-6.9)). The highest levels were found in Seno de Reloncaví (GM=24.99, 95% CI (15.9-39.2)), Hornopirén (GM=14.7, 95% CI (10.4-20.8)) and Chiloé norte (GM=9.75, 95% CI (1-1.9)), and the lowest loads were observed in Puerto Aysén (GM=1.35, 95%CI (1-1.9)) and Puerto Cisnes (GM=1.67, 95%CI (1.1-2.6)). Salmo salar and Oncorhynchus mykiss had the highest abundance levels (GM=6.93, 95% CI (5.7-8.5), and (GM=5.55, 95% CI (3.6-8.5), respectively). O. kisutch showed lower levels (GM=1.34, 95% CI (1-1.7)), apparently being more resistant to infestation. Sea lice in farmed salmon are widely distributed in different zones of southern Chile, and are becoming a serious threat to this industry. Prevalence and abundance levels were found to be generally high, decreasing in southern zones.

Village livestock population and sampling strategies in communal areas in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa.

There is an urgent need for a livestock census in communal areas of the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. This study focuses on the description of the cattle, sheep, and goat populations with emphasis on the livestock distributions and population characteristics in a pilot study in two wards in communal farm land. In one of the wards, sample homogeneity was found in the cattle and goat populations. In contrast, in the second ward sheep and goat populations were found heterogeneous, and only cattle showed homogeneity. As a consequence, the use of a simple random sampling strategy for the livestock population can be recommended in one ward whereas a more complex stratified random sampling strategy is recommended for the other. The organization and logistics costs must be taken into consideration when organizing a livestock census. Therefore, the observations of this study prepare the decision on sampling schemes for future census activities. The possibility of using a complete enumeration census should not be discarded especially in areas with heterogeneous livestock populations where the organization of a complex sampling strategy can prove to be time-consuming and complicated to be executed in the field.

Risk of introducing viral hemorrhagic septicemia virus (VHSV) to the Chilean South Pacific via sardine imports from Europe.

Chile imports from Spain 100s of metric tons of frozen sardine Sardina pilchardus fished in European oceans, which, with several other clupeids, are presumed susceptible to infection with viral hemorrhagic septicemia virus (VHSV). The frozen sardines are directly introduced into the sea as bait to catch southern hake Merluccius australis in the same areas where wild and pen-raised salmonids are present. A simulation model was therefore developed to evaluate the potential risk of infection of wild Chilean southern hake with VHSV from imported bait. The model indicated that VHSV-susceptible fish species present in Chilean waters, like southern hake, are not at immediate risk of infection. However, sensitivity analyses showed that infectious doses at lower concentrations of VHSV combined with higher VHSV-prevalence import scenarios could likely result in VHSV infections of a moderate number of indigenous southern hake (> or =54 fish yr(-1)).