Effect of nursing-calf implant timing on growth performance and carcass characteristics.

The objective of this study was to compare pre- and postweaning growth performance, carcass characteristics, and meat quality attributes of calves that did not receive an implant or were implanted early or late in the nursing period. Crossbred steer calves ( = 135) were stratified by birth date and birth weight and randomly assigned to the following implant treatments: control (CON; no preweaning implant), 58 d (EARLY; 36 mg zeranol, administered at an average of 58 ± 13 d of age), and 121 d (LATE; 36 mg zeranol, administered at an average 121 ± 13 d of age). After weaning, steers were blocked by initial feed yard BW to 15 pens (5 pens/treatment and 9 steers/pen). All steers were implanted on d 21 after arrival at the feed yard and again on d 108 of finishing. Steer BW and ultrasound assessment of rib eye area (uREA), rib fat thickness (uRFT), and percent intramuscular fat (uIMF) were collected when implants were administered, at weaning, and on harvest day. Carcass measurements included HCW, rib eye area (REA), 12th-rib fat thickness (FT), and marbling score. Objective color (L*, a*, and b*) was recorded, and a 3.8-cm strip loin section was removed from both sides of each carcass and portioned into 2.54-cm steaks that were aged for 3 or 14 d for analysis of cook loss and Warner-Bratzler shear force (WBSF). The remaining portion of each sample was used for analysis of moisture and crude fat. Steer BW, ADG, and G:F did not differ among treatments ( > 0.05). Steers implanted in the EARLY treatment had a greater ( < 0.05) cumulative DMI than CON but were not different from steers implanted in the LATE treatment. Ultrasound REA and uRFT (averaged across all collection days) did not differ ( > 0.05); however, steers on the CON treatment had a greater ( ≤ 0.05) percent uIMF than EARLY implanted steers, whereas steers receiving the LATE implant were intermediate and not different from the other treatments. Hot carcass weight, REA, FT, USDA yield grade, marbling score, and objective color did not differ ( > 0.05) among treatments. The proportion of steers in each USDA yield and quality grade was similar ( > 0.05) among treatments, and no differences were detected for total carcass value or price per 45.4 kg (hundredweight; > 0.05). Treatment did not influence ( > 0.05) percent cook loss, crude fat, moisture, or WBSF. In conclusion, administering a nursing implant, regardless of timing, did not influence live performance, carcass characteristics, or meat quality of steers fed in this study.

The challenge. Protecting consumers. Alleviating public burdens.

The Private Long Term Care Insurance Conference is the only conference of its kind, bringing together individuals from the public and private sectors, the for-profit and not-for-profit worlds, and from a myriad of consumer and provider organizations, to discuss and debate long-term care and the role of insurance. No other national meeting provides an opportunity for these groups to come together to discuss ways the private market and government can work together to meet consumer need and reduce public Medicaid expenditures.

Access and choice--the legislative future of health care in America.

Thanks to the growing influence of managed care, both health care consumers and state and federal policymakers are raising concerns about today's health care plans. A key concern is whether or not the plans provide adequate access and choice for consumers.

Breaking the cycle of dependency: dual diagnosis and AFDC families.

This paper proposes that a comprehensive, long-term program with a case-management focus will produce better outcomes and be more cost-effective than the current approach to managing the illnesses of women on Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (or TANF, formerly known as AFDC) who are afflicted with both drug dependency and mental illness, i.e. a dual diagnosis. It is proposed that this comprehensive approach would diminish the generational cycle of substance abuse, dysfunction (including violence), and dependence on public support, which is too often the pattern in single-parent homes where the mother has been dually diagnosed. For our purposes, dual diagnosis is defined as any mental health diagnosis using the DSM-IV criteria coexisting with a diagnosis of substance abuse, whether licit or illicit. Current drug policy, particularly as it applies to those with a dual diagnosis, has an emphasis on criminal justice system solutions. It is extremely expensive (incarceration alone is variously estimated as costing $25,000 to $45,000 per year per person), and does little to treat, prevent, or consequently, reduce the problem. The model design discussed in this article provides for comprehensive treatment and support services to women with a dual diagnosis receiving TANF. Its goal is to help break the family cycle of system dependency. The article hypothesizes that if a well-designed program evaluation is implemented, it will demonstrate savings in reduced health care, criminal justice, and social service costs.

Psychophysical measurement on pain perception after administration of a topical anesthetic.

Topical anesthetics are routinely used to reduce the discomfort that patients perceive during dental injections. The purpose of this investigation was to correlate the expectancy of pain and the effect of pretreatment instructions with the severity of pain perceived upon topical anesthetic use and dental injection. The treatment, topical placebo versus topical anesthetic, was administered in a double-blind manner. Following testing for expectations, the administration of instructions, and placement of the topical, the injection was given. The patients were then asked to rate their injection experience on a posttreatment questionnaire. The results of this investigation reinforce the importance of psychological variables in the mediation of pain perceived during dental procedures.

Comparison of pain associated with mechanical and chemomechanical removal of caries.

Previous studies have indicated that a chemomechanical caries removal system (CRS) has been effective in minimizing the use of conventional mechanical instruments and that it may reduce the need for local anesthesia. In the present study, a comparison of the pain experienced both during treatment with a chemomechanical technique and during conventional caries removal (control) was made for each of 47 patients who initially were not given a local anesthetic. One of two dentists was randomly selected to examine and treat patients with a matched pair of carious teeth, and each pair of teeth was treated in a randomized order with the CRS or control procedure. Responses to the McGill Pain Questionnaire (MPQ) revealed a significantly higher level of pain (p < 0.025) associated with the conventional treatment compared with the chemomechanical procedure. A significantly greater number of patients (p < 0.05) requested local anesthetic for the tooth subjected to the control procedure than for the tooth subjected to the CRS procedure. However, 72.3% of the patients did not request local anesthesia for either treatment, although pain was experienced by these patients in 46.8% of the control teeth and 27.7% of the teeth which received the CRS treatment. Of the 20 pain descriptor categories listed on the MPQ, the sensory categories accounted for the greatest mean number of pain descriptors selected for both the CRS (4.4) and control procedures (8.0), compared with the mean number of descriptors selected from the affective pain categories for the CRS (0.8) and control procedures (1.0). The results suggest that sensory pain factors are more important than affective pain factors in controlling the overall discomfort of patients and the need for local anesthetic during caries removal and subsequent restorative procedures.

Teaching dental students mirror vision skills.

A study was undertaken to determine the most advantageous format for teaching dental students the perceptual motor skills needed in mirror vision. It was found that performance varied, with each student reaching a personal limit of performance in regard to time and errors. Groups that performed the exercise in different formats (massed, distributed, progressive, and simple) all improved in relation to the control group, but not in relation to each other. There was significant correlation between the time taken to complete the exercise and errors incurred on both pre- and post-tests.