Effect of doses and administration routes of 9R vaccine on protection of Japanese quails against experimental infection with Salmonella Gallinarum / Efeito das doses e vias de administração da vacina 9R na proteção de codornas japonesas contra infeccção experimental com Salmonella Gallinarum

Coturniculture has increased significantly in the last decades. There are several pathogens that can affect these birds. Among the diseases, fowl typhoid stands out as a disease with a potentially great impact to the poultry industry. The objective of this the study was to evaluate the effect of doses and administration routes of live 9R vaccine on protection of Japanese quails against experimental infection with Salmonella Gallinarum (SG). Two hundred and fifty birds were used, divided into five groups: G1, oral vaccination with one dose; G2, oral vaccination with 2 doses; G3, subcutaneous vaccination with one dose; G4, subcutaneous vaccination with two doses and G5 not vaccinated. All birds from all five groups were challenged with SG at an age of 45 days. SG was quantified in the periods of one, four, seven and twelve days after the challenge. The presence of clinical signs and macroscopic lesions of the disease were observed. The groups vaccinated by subcutaneous route had a higher egg production and lower mortality rate. Birds receiving a dose of the vaccine by subcutaneous route also showed lower amount of SG in the liver and spleen seven days after the challenge.(AU)

A coturnicultura tem aumentado significativamente nas últimas décadas. Existem vários patógenos que podem afetar essas aves. Entre as doenças, o tifo aviário se destaca como uma doença de grande impacto para a indústria avícola. O objetivo deste estudo foi avaliar o efeito de doses e vias de administração da vacina viva 9R na proteção de codornas japonesas contra infecção experimental por Salmonella Gallinarum (SG). Foram utilizadas duzentos e cinquenta aves, divididas em cinco grupos: G1, vacinação oral com uma dose; G2, vacinação oral com 2 doses; G3, vacinação subcutânea com uma dose; G4, vacinação subcutânea com duas doses e G5 não vacinado. Todas as aves dos cinco grupos foram desafiadas com SG aos 45 dias de idade. A SG foi quantificada nos períodos de um, quatro, sete e doze dias após o desafio. Foi observada a presença de sinais clínicos e lesões macroscópicas da doença. Os grupos vacinados por via subcutânea apresentaram maior produção de ovos e menor taxa de mortalidade. Aves recebendo uma dose da vacina por via subcutânea também apresentaram menor quantidade de SG no fígado e baço sete dias após o desafio.(AU)

Salmonella Enteritidis infection, corticosterone levels, performance and egg quality in laying hens submitted to different methods of molting.

In commercial layer poultry farming, molt induction is an important tool used by egg producers to prolong the production cycle of laying hens. Conventional molt induction programs involve total feed withdrawal, which raises questions about animal welfare and increased infection susceptibility. The high incidence of paratyphoid salmonellosis infections in commercial poultry farming is still an important health challenge because in addition to affecting the birds, such infections also cause public health problems. In this context, experiments were performed with laying hens at 79 wk of age to compare the conventional forced molting method (fasting) with an alternative method (free wheat bran supply) and determine their effect on the persistence of vaccine antibodies against Newcastle disease, the control and reduction of experimentally inoculated Salmonella Enteritidis, and the performance and egg quality of hens. A reduction (P < 0.05) of Salmonella Enteritidis in the crop and lower production of corticosterone were observed in the birds that received wheat bran compared with those subjected to total fasting. Moreover, a better performance (P < 0.05) with regard to egg production, egg mass, and feed conversion/kg and dozen eggs was observed in the hens that received the alternative treatment compared to the conventional forced molting method. Thus, the use of wheat bran for forced molting was found to be feasible and met the welfare needs of the hens.

A guide to successfully recruiting patients for cardiovascular clinical trials.

To maximize enrollment in clinical trials, an efficient mechanism for screening and recruitment is needed. A national referral center for the treatment of heart disease developed a mechanism to maximize patient enrollment in more than 20 clinical trials simultaneously with a cardiac catheterization laboratory. It consists of four primary components: preparation, screening and recruitment, evaluation and problem-solving, and communication. This paper describes these components and presents information that may be useful in the recruitment of patients for clinical trials. It also provides tools that can be adapted and used to screen patients for trial eligibility.

Development and implementation of drug use evaluation (DUE) criteria for risperidone in an outpatient psychiatric setting.

Risperidone is a recently approved atypical antipsychotic that offers the advantages over existing typical antipsychotics of improved efficacy against negative symptoms and a decreased incidence of extrapyramidal side effects. However, risperidone is much more expensive than other antipsychotics. A drug use evaluation (DUE) was undertaken to assess the prescribing practices of risperidone in a large public adult psychiatric outpatient clinic. After a through literature review, criteria describing the appropriate prescribing of risperidone were approved after consultation with the medical staff. Criteria were developed to delineate appropriate patient selection, laboratory and clinical monitoring parameters, documentation, and outcome measures. After a chart review was conducted to evaluate existing prescribing practices, the criteria and results were presented to the medical staff and the appropriateness of the criteria were discussed. After 1 month, a second chart review was conducted to evaluate changes in prescribing practices in response to these criteria. Risperidone was prescribed to 44 patients in the outpatient clinic. Sixteen of these patients were resistant to treatment with traditional antipsychotics, 19 had developed intolerable extrapyramidal side effects during treatment with traditional antipsychotics, 10 had developed tardive dyskinesia, and 11 were noncompliant with other treatment regimens (some patients fell into more than one category). In 35 patients able to be evaluated for side effects, the most common were termed "activating side effects" and included restlessness, anxiety, insomnia, and unspecified activation. These side effects occurred in 9 patients. Another 5 patients developed extrapyramidal side effects and 3 patients developed a tremor. The initial chart review showed deficiencies in several areas, including laboratory and clinical monitoring and documentation. After presentation of these results to the staff, a second review was conducted; the results demonstrated improvements in many of the areas that were originally deficient. In conclusion, it was shown that the criteria developed had an overall positive impact on the appropriate prescribing of risperidone.

The cost of antidepressant drug therapy failure: a study of antidepressant use patterns in a Medicaid population.

Paid claims data from the California Medicaid (Medi-Cal) program were used to examine the utilization of antidepressants and to estimate the costs of antidepressant treatment failure for patients with major depressive disorders (MDD). Data for 6713 new patient episodes of antidepressant therapy were available for the analysis; over 45% of these patients never achieved a minimum daily dose of antidepressants indicative of treatment for depression and were excluded from further analysis. That left a possible depression patient population of 3664 patients of which 2344 patients had a minimum of 1 full year of post-episode data for analysis. Only 81 patients (3.5%) displayed antidepressant use patterns consistent with the successful treatment of MDD; 296 patients (12.6%) displayed use patterns suggestive of antidepressant treatment failure. The remaining 1967 (84%) patients could not be clearly classified; they were either (1) patients being treated for problems other than MDD, (2) MDD patients who were being prescribed subtherapeutic doses by their physician due to side effects or other reasons, (3) MDD patients who were noncompliant for a variety of reasons, or (4) MDD patients who had prematurely terminated antidepressant therapy. Multivariate regression analysis was used to estimate the costs associated with MDD treatment failure. These analyses indicated that MDD treatment failure resulted in increased costs of approximately $1043 in the first post-episode year (p less than .10). These increased costs were primarily due to higher hospital costs ($921, p less than .05), while drug costs were reduced by $222 (p less than .001).