Enhancing capacity for risk factor surveillance at the regional/local level: a follow-up review of the findings of the Canadian Think Tank Forum after 4 years.

Background: National health surveys are sometimes used to provide estimates on risk factors for policy and program development at the regional/local level. However, as regional/local needs may differ from national ones, an important question is how to also enhance capacity for risk factor surveillance regionally/locally.

Methods: A Think Tank Forum was convened in Canada to discuss the needs, characteristics, coordination, tools and next steps to build capacity for regional/local risk factor surveillance.

Immunorelevant gene expression in LPS-challenged bovine mammary epithelial cells.

Infection of the bovine mammary gland, in addition to causing animal distress, is a major economic burden of the dairy industry. Greater understanding of the initial host response to infection may lead to more accurate selection of resistant animals or to novel prophylactic or therapeutic intervention strategies. The epithelial cell plays a role in the host response by alerting the immune system to the infection and providing a signal as to where the infection is located.

Gene expression signatures in neutrophils exposed to glucocorticoids: a new paradigm to help explain "neutrophil dysfunction" in parturient dairy cows.

Neutrophils are the first line of immunity against most pathogens that infect cattle. These normally short-lived white blood cells develop from myeloid-lineage cells in bone marrow. Upon maturation, bone marrow neutrophils are released into the circulation where they marginate on inflamed blood vessel endothelial cells and migrate through them into the area of infection.