Virulence Characterisation of Salmonella enterica Isolates of Differing Antimicrobial Resistance Recovered from UK Livestock and Imported Meat Samples.

Salmonella enterica is a foodborne zoonotic pathogen of significant public health concern. We have characterized the virulence and antimicrobial resistance gene content of 95 Salmonella isolates from 11 serovars by DNA microarray recovered from UK livestock or imported meat. Genes encoding resistance to sulphonamides (sul1, sul2), tetracycline [tet(A), tet(B)], streptomycin (strA, strB), aminoglycoside (aadA1, aadA2), beta-lactam (bla TEM), and trimethoprim (dfrA17) were common.

Comparative analysis of cytokine transcript profiles within mediastinal lymph node compartments of pigs after infection with porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome genotype 1 strains differing in pathogenicity.

Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) induces a weak immune response enabling it to persist in different organs of infected pigs. This has been attributed to the ability of PRRSV to influence the induction of cytokine responses. In this study, we investigated the cytokine transcriptional profiles in different compartments of the mediastinal lymph node of pigs infected with three genotype 1 PRRSV strains of differing pathogenicity: the low virulence prototype Lelystad virus (LV), and UK field strain 215-06 and the highly virulent subtype 3 SU1-Bel isolate from Belarus.

Effects of an over-the-counter vented mouthguard on cardiorespiratory responses to exercise and physical agility.

Many athletes avoid using mouthguards because they believe that they impair their ability to breath and negatively affect performance. Recently, some manufacturers have developed "vented" mouthguards (VentMGs) to address this concern. The purposes of this investigation were to describe the impact of a commercially available "vented" boil-and-bite mouthguard on the physiological responses to graded exercise and to determine whether the use of the same mouthguard influences performance during traditional physical agility tests.

Development and preliminary evaluation of a quality of life measure targeted at dementia caregivers.

Background: Providing care for individuals with a progressive, debilitating condition such as dementia can adversely impact the quality of life (QOL) of informal caregivers. To date, there is no existing caregiver quality of life measure for dementia caregivers with breadth of coverage or that is applicable to caregivers of diverse ethnic backgrounds. The purpose of this study was to develop and evaluate a caregiver-targeted quality-of-life measure (CGQOL) for informal caregivers of persons with dementia that can be used with caregivers from a variety of ethnicities.

Decreased callosal thickness in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

Background: Neuroimaging studies of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have revealed structural abnormalities in the brains of affected individuals. One of the most replicated alterations is a significantly smaller corpus callosum (CC), for which conflicting reports exist with respect to the affected callosal segments.

Methods: We applied novel surface-based geometrical modeling methods to establish the presence, direction, and exact location of callosal alterations in ADHD at high spatial resolution.

Production of reactive oxygen species in Arabidopsis thaliana cell suspension cultures in response to an elicitor from Fusarium oxysporum: implications for basal resistance.

The present understanding of ROS generation in the defence response of Arabidopsis thaliana is reviewed. Evidence suggests that the apoplastic oxidative burst generated during basal resistance is peroxidase-dependent. The ROS generated during this basal resistance may serve to activate NADPH oxidase during the R-gene-mediated hypersensitive response.

Mini-Mental State and Cognistat performance in an older African American sample.

Ninety-three normal, healthy, community-dwelling African American men and women aged 60 and older completed the Folstein Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and the Cognistat (formerly known as Neurobehavioral Cognitive Status Examination). Results indicated significant age and education effects on MMSE and Cognistat performance. The strength of the effects was less than had been noted in earlier work.

Frequency and characteristics of anxiety among patients with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias.

The purpose of this study was to assess the cross-sectional prevalence and characteristics of anxiety among patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD), as compared with patients with frontotemporal dementia (FTD), patients with vascular dementia (VaD), and normal control subjects. The authors used the anxiety subscale of the Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI), an instrument with established reliability and validity, to compare patients. Patients were identified in a query of the UCLA Alzheimer's Disease Center database and included 115 patients with probable AD, 43 patients with VaD, 33 patients with FTD, and 40 normal, elderly control subjects.