Animal movement and associated infectious disease risk in a metapopulation.

Animal movements among habitat patches or populations are important for maintaining long-term genetic and demographic viability, but connectivity may also facilitate disease spread and persistence. Understanding factors that influence animal movements is critical to understanding potential transmission risk and persistence of communicable disease in spatially structured systems. We evaluated effects of sex, age and infection status at capture on intermountain movements and seasonal movement rates observed in desert bighorn sheep () using global positioning system collar data from 135 individuals (27 males, 108 females) in 14 populations between 2013 and 2018, following a pneumonia outbreak linked to the pathogen in the Mojave Desert, California, USA.

Population connectivity patterns of genetic diversity, immune responses and exposure to infectious pneumonia in a metapopulation of desert bighorn sheep.

Habitat fragmentation is an important driver of biodiversity loss and can be remediated through management actions aimed at maintenance of natural connectivity in metapopulations. Connectivity may protect populations from infectious diseases by preserving immunogenetic diversity and disease resistance. However, connectivity could exacerbate the risk of infectious disease spread across vulnerable populations.

Previously Unrecognized Exposure of Desert Bighorn Sheep (Ovis canadensis nelsoni) to Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae in the California Mojave Desert.

A 2013 outbreak of respiratory disease in bighorn sheep from California's Mojave Desert metapopulation caused high mortality in at least one population. Subsequent PCR and strain-typing indicate widespread infection of a single strain of Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae throughout this region. Serosurvey of archived samples showed that some populations have had antibodies to M.

Egr2 induction in spiny projection neurons of the ventrolateral striatum contributes to cocaine place preference in mice.

Drug addiction develops due to brain-wide plasticity within neuronal ensembles, mediated by dynamic gene expression. Though the most common approach to identify such ensembles relies on immediate early gene expression, little is known of how the activity of these genes is linked to modified behavior observed following repeated drug exposure. To address this gap, we present a broad-to-specific approach, beginning with a comprehensive investigation of brain-wide cocaine-driven gene expression, through the description of dynamic spatial patterns of gene induction in subregions of the striatum, and finally address functionality of region-specific gene induction in the development of cocaine preference.

Claustral Neurons Projecting to Frontal Cortex Mediate Contextual Association of Reward.

The claustrum is a small nucleus, exhibiting vast reciprocal connectivity with cortical, subcortical, and midbrain regions. Recent studies, including ours, implicate the claustrum in salience detection and attention. In the current study, we develop an iterative functional investigation of the claustrum, guided by quantitative spatial transcriptional analysis.

Subregion-specific rules govern the distribution of neuronal immediate-early gene induction.

The induction of immediate-early gene (IEG) expression in brain nuclei in response to an experience is necessary for the formation of long-term memories. Additionally, the rapid dynamics of IEG induction and decay motivates the common use of IEG expression as markers for identification of neuronal assemblies ("ensembles") encoding recent experience. However, major gaps remain in understanding the rules governing the distribution of IEGs within neuronal assemblies.

Dorsal Striatal Circuits for Habits, Compulsions and Addictions.

Here, we review the neural circuit bases of habits, compulsions, and addictions, behaviors which are all characterized by relatively automatic action performance. We discuss relevant studies, primarily from the rodent literature, and describe how major headway has been made in identifying the brain regions and neural cell types whose activity is modulated during the acquisition and performance of these automated behaviors. The dorsal striatum and cortical inputs to this structure have emerged as key players in the wider basal ganglia circuitry encoding behavioral automaticity, and changes in the activity of different neuronal cell-types in these brain regions have been shown to co-occur with the formation of automatic behaviors.

Evaluating containment effectiveness of A2 and B2 biological safety cabinets.

Purpose: This study investigates the use of a canopy-connected recirculating class II type A2 biological safety cabinet (BSC) as an alternative to the B2 when preparing volatile, sterile compounded preparations. Selection of the appropriate BSC for processes that use subgram levels of volatile chemicals is difficult due to a lack of quantitative containment evidence by cabinet type. There is a perception that hazardous compounding must be done in a B2 cabinet due to the potential for vapors, and this study seeks to challenge that perception.

Contamination Control in Compounding Areas.

In pharmaceutical compounding, effective contamination control is based on a complete understanding of the impact, sources, mechanisms, and prevention of adulterants in the compounding suite. Only then do the multiple facets of designing, constructing, maintaining, cleaning, using, and monitoring controlled environments make sense. This article presents an overview of the types of contaminants likely to compromise the potency and for their eradication.

Evidence for transmission of the zoonotic apicomplexan parasite Babesia duncani by the tick Dermacentor albipictus.

Babesiosis is a potentially fatal tick-borne zoonotic disease caused by a species complex of blood parasites that can infect a variety of vertebrates, particularly dogs, cattle, and humans. In the United States, human babesiosis is caused by two distinct parasites, Babesia microti and Babesia duncani. The enzootic cycle of B.

The Claustrum Supports Resilience to Distraction.

A barrage of information constantly assaults our senses, of which only a fraction is relevant at any given point in time. However, the neural circuitry supporting the suppression of irrelevant sensory distractors is not completely understood. The claustrum, a circuit hub with vast cortical connectivity, is an intriguing brain structure, whose restrictive anatomy, thin and elongated, has precluded functional investigation.

Salient experiences are represented by unique transcriptional signatures in the mouse brain.

It is well established that inducible transcription is essential for the consolidation of salient experiences into long-term memory. However, whether inducible transcription relays information about the identity and affective attributes of the experience being encoded, has not been explored. To this end, we analyzed transcription induced by a variety of rewarding and aversive experiences, across multiple brain regions.

Lipoidal corneal degeneration in aged falcons.

Objective: To present a case series of idiopathic lipoidal corneal degeneration in falcons.

Animals Studied: Five falcons including three peregrine falcons (Falco peregrinus), one prairie falcon (Falco mexicanus), and one red-naped shaheen (Falco peregrinus babylonicus) were observed to develop slowly progressive corneal opacification that began at the temporal limbus and extended centripetally across the cornea over a period of years. Four of the birds were over 20 years old.

MOLECULAR SURVEILLANCE FOR BARTONELLA, BORRELIA, AND RICKETTSIA SPECIES IN TICKS FROM DESERT BIGHORN SHEEP ( OVIS CANADENSIS) AND MULE DEER ( ODOCOILEUS HEMIONUS) IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA, USA.

:  Ticks (Acari: Ixodidae) were collected from 44 desert bighorn sheep ( Ovis canadensis) and 10 mule deer ( Odocoileus hemionus) in southern California, US during health inspections in 2015-16. Specimens were identified and screened by PCR analysis to determine the presence and prevalence of Bartonella, Borrelia, and Rickettsia species in ticks associated with these wild ruminants. None of the 60 Dermacentor hunteri and 15 Dermacentor albipictus ticks tested yielded positive PCR results.

Floor plate descendants in the ependyma of the adult mouse Central Nervous System.

During embryonic development of the Central Nervous System (CNS), the expression of the bHLH transcription factor Nato3 (Ferd3l) is unique and restricted to the floor plate of the neural tube. In mice lacking Nato3 the floor plate cells of the spinal cord do not fully mature, whereas in the midbrain floor plate, progenitors lose some neurogenic activity, giving rise to a reduced population of dopaminergic neurons. Since the floor plate is considered to be disintegrated at the time of birth, Nato3 expression was never tested postnatally and in adult mice.

PSOROPTES INFESTATION AND TREATMENT IN AN ISOLATED POPULATION OF BIGHORN SHEEP (OVIS CANADENSIS).

The authors captured bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis) comprising a small population in the San Bernardino Mountains of California and evaluated the degree of infestation by mites of the genus Psoroptes for each individual. The animals were treated with two novel methods: amitraz-impregnated collars and cyfluthrin-impregnated ear tags and recaptured the following year to evaluate the effect of treatment. The authors compared data on degree of infestation for animals recaptured in the posttreatment year, detected no significant interyear differences in infestation severity scores among animals treated with amitraz or cyfluthrin, and could not detect any differences between treatment types.

Nitrous oxide as a tracer gas in the ASHRAE 110-1995 Standard.

ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 110 provides a quantitative method for testing the performance of laboratory fume hoods. Through release of a known quantity (4.0 Lpm) of a tracer gas, and subsequent monitoring of the tracer gas concentration in the "breathing zone" of a mannequin positioned in front of the hood, this method allows for evaluation of laboratory hood performance.

Reference intervals for mineral concentrations in whole blood and serum of bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis) in California.

Whole blood and serum mineral concentrations were measured in diverse bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis) metapopulations in California, and 90% reference intervals were determined. While there were some statistical differences between median concentrations among the different metapopulations, detected values were generally in good agreement with concentrations reported for other bighorn sheep populations and with reference ranges widely accepted for domestic sheep (Ovis aries). Although median whole blood selenium and serum copper concentrations were within adequate ranges reported for domestic sheep, some metapopulations had substantial numbers of individuals whose concentrations would be considered suboptimal for domestic sheep.

Evaluation of the Western immunoblot as a detection method for Brucella abortus exposure in elk.

Brucella abortus has been an important wildlife disease issue for most of the last century, especially because wildlife species are considered to be important disease reservoirs for cattle. Diagnostic uncertainty, caused in part by cross-reactions of antibodies to environmental pathogens such as Yersinia enterocolitica O:9 on standard Brucella serology, has exacerbated the challenges of managing the disease and has highlighted the need for test validation in wildlife species. The western immunoblot was evaluated for use in detecting B.

An ecologic study comparing distribution of Pasteurella trehalosi and Mannheimia haemolytica between Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep, White Mountain bighorn sheep, and domestic sheep.

The prevalence and phenotypic variability of Pasteurella and Mannheimia isolates from Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis sierrae), White Mountain bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis nelsoni), and domestic sheep (Ovis aries) from California, USA, were compared. The White Mountain bighorn sheep population had a recent history of pneumonia-associated mortality, whereas the Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep population had no recent history of pneumonia-associated mortality. The domestic sheep flocks were pastured in areas geographically near both populations but were not known to have direct contact with either bighorn sheep population.

Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis and Mycobacterium avium subsp. avium infections in a tule elk (Cervus elaphus nannodes) herd.

Between 2 August and 22 September 2000, 37 hunter-killed tule elk (Cervus elaphus nannodes) were evaluated at the Grizzly Island Wildlife Area, California, USA, for evidence of paratuberculosis. Elk were examined post-mortem, and tissue and fecal samples were submitted for radiometric mycobacterial culture. Acid-fast isolates were identified by a multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) that discriminates among members of the Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC).