Reduced Cochlear MRI Signal and Hearing Outcomes in Conservatively Managed Vestibular Schwannoma Patients.

Objective: This study aimed to determine if hypointense cochlear magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) constructive interference in steady-state (CISS) signal correlates with hearing outcomes in conservatively managed vestibular schwannoma (VS) patients.

Study Design: Retrospective review of 657 cases from 1992 to 2020.

Setting: Tertiary academic referral center.

Managing Beef Bulls During the Off-Season.

As approximately 94% of beef cow-calf operations use only natural service for breeding their cows and heifers, replacement bulls are a significant, necessary cost of producing beef calves. The value realized from beef bulls includes number and quality of calves sired, weight of calves sold, production value of daughters retained, and the bull's salvage value. Considering the importance of maintaining and recouping the cost of this significant investment, there is little information in peer reviewed literature about maintaining bulls in the off-season to prepare the bull for optimum performance in subsequent breeding seasons.

Sexually Transmitted Diseases of Bulls.

Reproduction is essential for successful cow-calf and dairy production and the most important economic trait for cow-calf producers. For efficient reproduction to occur in beef herds, cows or heifers must conceive early during the breeding season, maintain the pregnancy, calve unassisted or with very little assistance, rebred in a timely manner and wean a calf every year. In the case of dairy cattle, cows or heifers are expected to become pregnant, maintain the pregnancy, and calve every 12 to 15 months to produce milk.

Community Outbreak of Pseudomonas aeruginosa Infections Associated with Contaminated Piercing Aftercare Solution, Australia, 2021.

In April 2021, the South Eastern Sydney Local Health District Public Health Unit (Sydney, New South Wales, Australia) was notified of 3 patients with Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections secondary to skin piercings performed at the same salon. Active case finding through laboratories, clinician alerts, and monitoring hospital visits for piercing-related infections identified additional cases across New South Wales, and consumers were alerted. We identified 13 confirmed and 40 probable case-patients and linked clinical isolates by genomic sequencing.

Physical traits, performance data, and reproductive tract maturity score can be used to predict fertility and likelihood of early conception in beef replacement heifers consigned to a heifer development program in the southeastern United States.

Objective: To identify growth and reproductive measurements that can be used to select heifers with the potential to be more reproductively efficient.

Sample: A total of 2,843 heifers consigned to the Georgia Heifer Evaluation and Reproductive Development program between 2012 and 2021 with a mean (min, max) age of heifers at delivery of 347 days (275, 404).

Procedures: Reproductive tract maturity score (RTMS), weight at delivery as a percentage of target breeding weight, hip height 3 to 4 weeks after delivery, and average daily gain during the first 3 to 4 weeks after delivery were evaluated as potential predictors of the variables of interest.

Identification of BAHD acyltransferases associated with acylinositol biosynthesis in (naranjilla).

Plants make a variety of specialized metabolites that can mediate interactions with animals, microbes, and competitor plants. Understanding how plants synthesize these compounds enables studies of their biological roles by manipulating their synthesis in vivo as well as producing them in vitro. Acylsugars are a group of protective metabolites that accumulate in the trichomes of many Solanaceae family plants.

Patterns of infection following transrectal ultrasound-guided biopsy of the prostate in a regional New South Wales Centre.

Objective: To determine the rates, severity and patterns of resistance in patients presenting with post-transrectal ultrasound infection in a regional centre in New South Wales, Australia.

Design: A single-centre retrospective review from August 2013 until August 2017.

Setting: Murrumbidgee Local Health District, New South Wales.

Cattle Assessment On-Site During Emergencies.

Veterinary assessment of the condition and needs of livestock and their owners in an emergency is an essential element of the disaster response. The emergency response for livestock has 4 critical components: assessing the need for and attending to the immediate medical needs of injured or affected livestock, determining the resources available to meet the needs, including feed and facilities, identifying any ongoing threats or potential hazards to livestock health and welfare, and appropriate documentation of damages and actions by responders. Information gathered from cattle assessments by veterinarians is used to prioritize resources and plan for anticipated needs.

Shopping on the Public and Private Health Insurance Marketplaces: Consumer Decision Aids and Plan Presentation.

Background: The design of the Affordable Care Act's (ACA) health insurance marketplaces influences complex health plan choices.

Objective: To compare the choice environments of the public health insurance exchanges in the fourth (OEP4) versus third (OEP3) open enrollment period and to examine online marketplace run by private companies, including a total cost estimate comparison.

Design: In November-December 2016, we examined the public and private online health insurance exchanges.

Using performance data and reproductive measurements to predict fertility in replacement beef heifers.

This study investigated the predictive value of reproductive tract evaluation and growth characteristics measured 30-70 d prior to the breeding season on 1) pregnancy outcome and 2) time to conception in replacement beef heifers. A total of 1,992 heifers (BW 329 ± 42 kg; age 347 ± 27 d) were delivered for enrollment in the Georgia Heifer Evaluation and Reproductive Development () program between 2006 and 2011 at two locations. Physical traits were selected to assess management of heifers prior to entering the program in addition to developmental traits traditionally measured in the HERD program and included: reproductive tract maturity score (), weight 70 d prior to breeding as a percentage of target weight, hip height () 40-50 d prior to breeding, and average daily gain 40-50 d prior to breeding.

Inhibition of microbial biofuel production in drought-stressed switchgrass hydrolysate.

Background: Interannual variability in precipitation, particularly drought, can affect lignocellulosic crop biomass yields and composition, and is expected to increase biofuel yield variability. However, the effect of precipitation on downstream fermentation processes has never been directly characterized. In order to investigate the impact of interannual climate variability on biofuel production, corn stover and switchgrass were collected during 3 years with significantly different precipitation profiles, representing a major drought year (2012) and 2 years with average precipitation for the entire season (2010 and 2013).

For Third Enrollment Period, Marketplaces Expand Decision Support Tools To Assist Consumers.

The design of the Affordable Care Act's online health insurance Marketplaces can improve how consumers make complex health plan choices. We examined the choice environment on the state-based Marketplaces and HealthCare.gov in the third open enrollment period.

Comparison of 4- versus 5-day Co-Synch + controlled internal drug release (CIDR) + timed artificial insemination protocols in dairy heifers.

The objective of this study was to compare the pregnancy rate after timed artificial insemination (P/TAI) in dairy heifers treated with 4- versus 5-day Co-Synch + controlled internal drug release (CIDR) protocols. A total of 120 Holstein heifers were randomly assigned to one of two groups. The heifers received an intravaginal CIDR insert containing 1.

Evaluation of novel oral vaccine candidates and validation of a caprine model of Johne's disease.

Johne's disease (JD) caused by Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (MAP) is a major threat to the dairy industry and possibly some cases of Crohn's disease in humans. A MAP vaccine that reduced of clinical disease and/or reduced fecal shedding would aid in the control of JD. The objectives of this study were (1) to evaluate the efficacy of 5 attenuated strains of MAP as vaccine candidates compared to a commercial control vaccine using the protocol proposed by the Johne's Disease Integrated Program (JDIP) Animal Model Standardization Committee (AMSC), and (2) to validate the AMSC Johne's disease goat challenge model.

Intravenous beta(2)-agonists versus intravenous aminophylline for acute asthma.

Background: Inhaled beta(2)-agonist therapy is central to the management of acute asthma. For rapid bronchodilation in severe cases, penetration of inhaled drug to the affected small conducting airway may be impeded, and the intravenous (IV) rather than inhaled administration of bronchodilators may provide an earlier response. IV beta(2)-agonist agents and IV aminophylline may also be considered as additional interventions in this setting and this review compares IV beta-agonist agents and IV aminophylline in the treatment of people with acute asthma.

Addition of intravenous beta(2)-agonists to inhaled beta(2)-agonists for acute asthma.

Background: Inhaled beta-agonist therapy is central to the management of acute asthma. This review evaluates the benefit of an additional use of intravenous beta(2)-agonist agents.

Objectives: To determine the benefit of adding intravenous (IV) beta(2)-agonists to inhaled beta(2)-agonist therapy for acute asthma treated in the emergency department.

Dietary fat is a lipid source in 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-ρ-dioxin (TCDD)-elicited hepatic steatosis in C57BL/6 mice.

2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-ρ-dioxin (TCDD) increases fatty acid (FA) transport and FA levels resulting in hepatic steatosis in mice. Diet as a source of lipids was investigated using customized diets, stearoyl-CoA desaturase 1 (Scd1) null mice, and (14)C-oleate (18:1n9) uptake studies. C57BL/6 mice fed with 5, 10, or 15% fat or 50, 60 or 70% carbohydrate diets exhibited increased relative liver weight following gavage with 30 µg/kg TCDD for 168 h.

Airway clearance techniques for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Background: Cough and sputum production are common in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and are associated with adverse clinical outcomes. Airway clearance techniques (ACTs) aim to remove sputum from the lungs, however evidence of their efficacy during acute exacerbations of COPD (AECOPD) or stable disease is unclear.

Objectives: To assess the safety and efficacy of ACTs for individuals with AECOPD and stable COPD.

WITHDRAWN: Bronchopulmonary hygiene physical therapy for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and bronchiectasis.

Background: Bronchopulmonary hygiene physical therapy is a form of chest physical therapy including chest percussion and postural drainage to remove lung secretions. These are applied commonly to patients with both acute and chronic airway diseases. Despite controversies in the literature regarding its efficacy, it remains in use in a variety of clinical settings.

Glucose meters and opportunities for in-hospital transmission of infection: Quantitative assessment and management with and without patient assignment.

Background: Increasing use of glucose meters in hospitals has increased opportunities for infection transmission that have not been quantitatively assessed or managed.

Methods: Before-and-after study of the effects of augmentation of glucose meter inventory and of assignment of glucose meters to individual patients on the sequential use of glucose meters on different patients in a 214-bed hospital.

Results: During October 2008, 11,665 measurements were performed using 38 glucose meters on 803 patients.

Finite element modelling of cell wall properties for onion epidermis using a fibre-reinforced hyperelastic model.

A combined finite element method and inverse modelling approach is used to model the mechanical deformation of onion epidermis. A fibre-reinforced hyperelastic composite material model considering the fibre distribution has been used to simulate the mechanical behaviour of samples under tension. The mechanical parameters of onion epidermis are determined using an inverse modelling approach.

Volatile profiling reveals intracellular metabolic changes in Aspergillus parasiticus: veA regulates branched chain amino acid and ethanol metabolism.

Background: Filamentous fungi in the genus Aspergillus produce a variety of natural products, including aflatoxin, the most potent naturally occurring carcinogen known. Aflatoxin biosynthesis, one of the most highly characterized secondary metabolic pathways, offers a model system to study secondary metabolism in eukaryotes. To control or customize biosynthesis of natural products we must understand how secondary metabolism integrates into the overall cellular metabolic network.