Comparison of two live-animal ultrasound systems for genetic evaluation of carcass traits in Angus cattle.

The improvement of carcass traits is an important breeding objective in beef cattle breeding programs. The most common way of selecting for improvement in carcass traits is via indirect selection using ultrasound scanning of selection candidates which are submitted to genetic evaluation programs. Two systems used to analyze ultrasound images to predict carcass traits are the Pie Medical Esaote Aquila () and Central Ultrasound Processing ().

Environmental contamination by bacteria in hospital washrooms according to hand-drying method: a multi-centre study.

Background: Hand hygiene is a fundamental component of infection prevention, but few studies have examined whether hand-drying method affects the risk of dissemination of potential pathogens.

Aim: To perform a multi-centre, internal-crossover study comparing bacterial contamination levels in washrooms with hand-drying by either paper towels (PT) or jet air dryer (JAD; Dyson).

Methods: A total of 120 sampling sessions occurred over 12 weeks in each of three hospitals (UK, France, Italy).

The potential of alcohol release doorplates to reduce surface contamination during hand contact.

Background: Optimal hand hygiene may be compromised by contact with contaminated environmental surfaces.

Aim: To investigate the in-vitro efficacy of a novel alcohol-release doorplate to reduce surface contamination during hand contact.

Methods: Prototype, horizontally held, Surfaceskins, alcohol gel-impregnated and control (aluminium) doorplates were challenged (N = 72 per micro-organism) with Staphylococcus aureus-, Eschericia coli-, Enterococcus faecalis-, or Clostridium difficile-contaminated fingers.

Enhanced surveillance of Clostridium difficile infection occurring outside hospital, England, 2011 to 2013.

There are limited national epidemiological data for community-associated (CA)-Clostridium difficile infections (CDIs). Between March 2011 and March 2013, laboratories in England submitted to the Clostridium difficile Ribotyping Network (CDRN) up to 10 diarrhoeal faecal samples from successive patients with CA-CDI, defined here as C. difficile toxin-positive diarrhoea commencing outside hospital (or less than 48 hours after hospital admission), including those cases associated with community-based residential care, with no discharge from hospital within the previous 12 weeks.

Microbiological comparison of hand-drying methods: the potential for contamination of the environment, user, and bystander.

Background: The efficiency of hand drying is important in preventing pathogen spread, but knowledge surrounding which drying methods contribute least towards contamination of the environment and users is limited.

Aim: To compare the propensity of three common hand-drying methods (jet air, warm air dryers, and paper towels) to contaminate the environment, users, and bystanders.

Methods: Hands were coated in lactobacilli to simulate poorly washed, contaminated hands, and dried.

Population connectivity shifts at high frequency within an open-coast marine protected area network.

A complete understanding of population connectivity via larval dispersal is of great value to the effective design and management of marine protected areas (MPA). However empirical estimates of larval dispersal distance, self-recruitment, and within season variability of population connectivity patterns and their influence on metapopulation structure remain rare. We used high-resolution otolith microchemistry data from the temperate reef fish Hypsypops rubicundus to explore biweekly, seasonal, and annual connectivity patterns in an open-coast MPA network.

Effectiveness of deep cleaning followed by hydrogen peroxide decontamination during high Clostridium difficile infection incidence.

Background: Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) remains an infection control challenge, especially when environmental spore contamination and suboptimal cleaning may increase transmission risk.

Aim: To substantiate the long-term effectiveness throughout a stroke rehabilitation unit (SRU) of deep cleaning and hydrogen peroxide decontamination (HPD), following a high incidence of CDI.

Methods: Extensive environmental sampling (342 sites on each occasion) for C.

Global conservation outcomes depend on marine protected areas with five key features.

In line with global targets agreed under the Convention on Biological Diversity, the number of marine protected areas (MPAs) is increasing rapidly, yet socio-economic benefits generated by MPAs remain difficult to predict and under debate. MPAs often fail to reach their full potential as a consequence of factors such as illegal harvesting, regulations that legally allow detrimental harvesting, or emigration of animals outside boundaries because of continuous habitat or inadequate size of reserve. Here we show that the conservation benefits of 87 MPAs investigated worldwide increase exponentially with the accumulation of five key features: no take, well enforced, old (>10 years), large (>100 km(2)), and isolated by deep water or sand.

Escherichia coli bacteraemia: 2 years of prospective regional surveillance (2010-12).

Objectives: To determine the prevalence of antibiotic resistance and the epidemiology of Escherichia coli bacteraemia isolates across the Yorkshire and Humber National Health Service region over 2 years.

Methods: Ten percent of all E. coli blood culture isolates were collected per month from 14 laboratories across the Yorkshire and Humber region.

Meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in elderly residents of care homes: colonization rates and molecular epidemiology.

Background: Meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a significant cause of mortality and morbidity in healthcare and community settings; however, there is a paucity of large-scale, longitudinal studies monitoring the occurrence of MRSA in the care home setting.

Aim: To determine the molecular epidemiology of MRSA colonizing elderly residents of care homes.

Methods: Residents in 65 care homes in Leeds, UK, were screened for MRSA nasal colonization in four consecutive years (2006-2009).

The longitudinal prevalence of MRSA in care home residents and the effectiveness of improving infection prevention knowledge and practice on colonisation using a stepped wedge study design.

Objectives To determine the prevalence and health outcomes of meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) colonisation in elderly care home residents. To measure the effectiveness of improving infection prevention knowledge and practice on MRSA prevalence. Setting Care homes for elderly residents in Leeds, UK.

Global gene expression profiling reveals genes expressed differentially in cattle with high and low residual feed intake.

Feed efficiency is an economically important trait in beef production. It can be measured as residual feed intake. This is the difference between actual feed intake recorded over a test period and the expected feed intake of an animal based on its size and growth rate.

Spatial patterns of fishing effort off San Diego: implications for zonal management and ecosystem function.

The essence of ecosystem-based management is managing human practices to conserve the ecosystem. Ecologists focus on understanding the ecosystem, but there are fundamental information gaps including patterns of human exploitation. In particular, the spatial distribution of fishing effort must be known at the scales needed for ecologically relevant management.

The potential for airborne dispersal of Clostridium difficile from symptomatic patients.

BACKGROUND. The high transmissibility and widespread environmental contamination by Clostridium difficile suggests the possibility of airborne dissemination of spores. We measured airborne and environmental C.

Are methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus that produce Panton-Valentine leucocidin (PVL) found among residents of care homes?

Objectives: Panton-Valentine leucocidin (PVL)-positive Staphylococcus aureus are responsible for causing skin and soft tissue infections, with the potential to cause severe invasive disease. Recently, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) strains that produce PVL have emerged in the community. As residents of care homes are a key group at risk of MRSA colonization and infection, we have examined the epidemiology of MRSA in three large cohorts of residents in urban care homes to establish whether PVL-positive MRSA strains are present in this setting.

Prevalence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus colonization among older residents of care homes in the United Kingdom.

Objective: To determine the prevalence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) colonization among older residents of care homes in Leeds, United Kingdom, and to identify resident and care home risk factors for carriage.

Design: We conducted a cross-sectional prevalence survey of 715 residents from 39 care homes. All participants were tested for nasal colonization with S.

Marine reserve design: optimal size, habitats, species affinities, diversity, and ocean microclimate.

The design of marine reserves is complex and fraught with uncertainty. However, protection of critical habitat is of paramount importance for reserve design. We present a case study as an example of a reserve design based on fine-scale habitats, the affinities of exploited species to these habitats, adult mobility, and the physical forcing affecting the dynamics of the habitats.

Inactivation of White Spot Syndrome Virus (WSSV) by normal rabbit serum: implications for the role of the envelope protein VP28 in WSSV infection of shrimp.

White Spot Syndrome Virus (WSSV) is a highly pathogenic and prevalent virus affecting crustacea. A number of WSSV envelope proteins, including vp28, have been proposed to be involved in viral infectivity based on the ability of specific antibodies to attenuate WSSV-induced mortality in vivo. In the present study, a series of monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies targeting vp28 were tested for their ability to neutralize WSSV infectivity, with the purpose of identifying epitopes potentially involved in vp28-mediated infection of shrimp.

Surveillance for mupirocin resistance following introduction of routine peri-operative prophylaxis with nasal mupirocin.

The authors have previously described the successful use of a five-day peri-operative prophylaxis regimen using nasal mupirocin and topical triclosan (PPNMTT) to prevent methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection. The present article describes the results of repeated point-prevalence surveillance for four years to determine whether mupirocin resistance has emerged in surgical units using empirical, short-term, peri-operative prophylaxis with nasal mupirocin. Before starting PPNMTT and every six months thereafter for four years, point-prevalence surveillance was performed for nasal S.

Frequent Harderian gland adenocarcinomas in inbred white-footed mice (Peromyscus leucopus).

In 1997, three lines of inbred Peromyscus leucopus--GS109A, GS16A1, and GS16B--were acquired by the Peromyscus Genetic Stock Center. Since then, records have been kept on tumors detected by visible inspection of live animals. The inbred lines GS109A and GS16A1 presented tumors with frequencies substantially higher than that of the other inbred line or of random-bred P.

The contribution of hepatic steroid metabolism to serum estradiol and estriol concentrations in nonylphenol treated MMTVneu mice and its potential effects on breast cancer incidence and latency.

The two major pathways for the metabolism of estradiol-17beta (E2) are the 2- and 16-hydroxylase pathways. Research has suggested that the increased production of the estrogenically active 16-hydroxy products such as estriol (E3) may be involved in increased susceptibility to breast cancer. 4-Nonylphenol (4-NP) is an environmental estrogen that also can activate the pregnane-X receptor (PXR) and induce P-450 enzymes responsible for the production of E3.

Molecular epidemiology of endemic Clostridium difficile infection and the significance of subtypes of the United Kingdom epidemic strain (PCR ribotype 1).

We previously identified two subtypes of the epidemic strain Clostridium difficile PCR ribotype 1, one clindamycin-sensitive strain (arbitrarily primed PCR [AP-PCR] type Ia) and a closely related clindamycin-resistant strain (AP-PCR type Ib) in our institution. We have now carried out prospective epidemiological surveillance for 4 years, immediately following the relocation of two acute medicine wards for elderly patients (wards A and B), to determine the clinical epidemiology of subtypes of the epidemic C. difficile PCR ribotype 1 group.

Role of environmental cleaning in controlling an outbreak of Acinetobacter baumannii on a neurosurgical intensive care unit.

An outbreak of Acinetobacter baumannii colonization and infection occurred in 19 patients over a 14-month period during 1998-1999 on a neurosurgical intensive care unit. During efforts to control the outbreak a significant correlation was observed between the number of environmental isolates of A. baumannii obtained during each monthly screening and the number of patients with A.