Racial and Ethnic Disparities in COVID-19 Infection and Hospitalization in the Active Component US Military.

To assess COVID-19 disparities in the active component US military with an emphasis on race and ethnicity. In this retrospective cohort study, we calculated the incidence of COVID-19 testing, infection, and hospitalization in the active component US military in calendar year 2020. Overall, 61.

The impact of lamb and ewe mortality associated with dystocia on Australian and New Zealand sheep farms: A systematic review, meta-analysis and bio-economic model.

Dystocia contributes to lamb and ewe mortality in the periparturient period but impacts for extensive sheep production systems remain poorly understood. Here we show that lamb and ewe mortality associated with dystocia has important impacts on sheep production in Australia and New Zealand, and quantify financial impacts for the Australian sheep industry. A systematic review of the literature identified 11 publications published since 1990 that reported sheep mortality due to dystocia in Australia or New Zealand.

Intratumoral injection of BCNU in ethanol (DTI-015) results in enhanced delivery to tumor--a pharmacokinetic study.

Solvent facilitated perfusion (SFP) has been proposed as a technique to increase the delivery of chemotherapeutic agents to tumors. SFP entails direct injection of the agent into the tumor in a water-miscible organic solvent, and because the solvent moves easily through both aqueous solutions and cellular membranes it drives the penetration of the solubilized anticancer agent throughout the tumor. To test this hypothesis, we compared the pharmacokinetics (PK) of 14C-labeled 1,3-bis-chlorethyl-1-nitrosourea (BCNU) in intra-cerebral 9L rat gliomas after intravenous (IV) infusion in 90% saline--10% ethanol or direct intratumoral (IT) injection of 14C-BCNU in 100% ethanol (DTI-015).

Microbial contamination of hospital bed handsets.

Background: Hospital bed handsets, including nurse call equipment and television controls, have been found to contain biologic material and may be contaminated with microbes.

Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the microbial contamination of hospital bed handsets.

Methods: Hospital bed handsets were removed from 115 randomly chosen rooms in a suburban hospital.

Unexpectedly diverse Mesorhizobium strains and Rhizobium leguminosarum nodulate native legume genera of New Zealand, while introduced legume weeds are nodulated by Bradyrhizobium species.

The New Zealand native legume flora are represented by four genera, Sophora, Carmichaelia, Clianthus, and Montigena. The adventive flora of New Zealand contains several legume species introduced in the 19th century and now established as serious invasive weeds. Until now, nothing has been reported on the identification of the associated rhizobia of native or introduced legumes in New Zealand.

Diversity of 16S rDNA sequences of Rhizobium spp. implications for species determinations.

Comparative analysis of 70 16S rDNA sequences representing 20 Rhizobium species (including pathogenic Agrobacterium spp.) was conducted using Maximum Likelihood to establish relationships of species using multiple sequences. There is no significant internal division of the Rhizobium clade to suggest that it represents more than one genus.

Improved resolution on the phylogenetic relationships among Pseudomonas by the combined analysis of atp D, car A, rec A and 16S rDNA.

A study of representatives of the bacterial genus Pseudomonas, analysing a combined data set of four molecular sequences with completely different properties and evolutionary constraints, is reported. The best evolutionary model was obtained with a hierarchical hypothesis testing program to describe each data set and the combined data set is presented and analysed under the likelihood criterion. The resolution among Pseudomonas taxa based on the combined data set analysis of the different lineages increased due to a synergistic effect of the individual data sets.

Changing concepts in the systematics of bacterial nitrogen-fixing legume symbionts.

As of February 2003, bacteria that form nitrogen-fixing symbiotic associations with legumes have been confirmed in 44 species of 12 genera. Phylogenies of these taxa containing legume symbionts based on the comparative analysis of 16S rDNA sequences show that they are not clustered in one lineage but are distributed in the classes Alphaproteobacteria and Betaproteobacteria, and dispersed over the following nine monophyletic groups, being intermingled with other taxa that do not contain legume symbionts (shown in parentheses below): Group 1, which comprises Rhizobium and Allorhizobium species containing legume symbionts (intermingled with Agrobacterium and Blastobacter species, which are nonsymbionts); Group 2, Sinorhizobium and Ensifer species (with unclassified nonsymbionts); Group 3, Mesorhizobium species (with nonsymbiotic Aminobacter and Pseudaminobacter species); Group 4, Bradyrhizobium species and Blastobacter denitrificans (with nonsymbiotic Agromonas, Nitrobacter, Afipia, and Rhodopseudomonas species); Group 5, 'Methylobacterium nodulans" (with nonsymbiotic Methylobacterium species); Group 6, Azorhizobium species (with nonsymbiotic Xanthobacter and Aquabacter species); Group 7, 'Devosia neptuniae" (with nonsymbiotic Devosia species and unclassified nonsymbionts); Group 8, symbiotic Burkholderia strains (with nonsymbiotic Burkholderia species); and Group 9, Ralstonia taiwanensis (with nonsymbiotic Ralstonia species). For Groups 5, 8, and 9, the present classification, in which 'each monophyletic group comprises one genus wherein legume symbionts and nonsymbionts are intermingled with each other, " is considered to be retained as is because they are clearly separated from other genera at high bootstrap values and have already been sufficiently characterized based on polyphasic taxonomy.

Separation characteristics of liquid nematode cultures and the design of recovery operations.

Production of nematode-based pesticides involves the recovery of a viable nematode life stage known as the infective juvenile (IJ) from fermentation broth. Waste components to be separated from the IJs include non-IJ life stages, dead nematodes, nematode debris, spent media, and the nematode's associated bacteria. This paper reports separation characteristics of liquid cultures and suspensions of the nematodes Phasmarhabditis hermaphrodita, Steinernema feltiae, and Heterorhabditis megidis measured at small scale.