Understanding Institutional Finance 101: Leadership Beyond the Operating Room.

The purpose of this invited review is to promote understanding of fundamental health care finances, to gain acknowledgement of financial realities in our institutions, and to expand the "tool box" for cardiothoracic surgeons.

Industry-Informed Workshops to Develop Graduate Skill Sets in the Circular Economy Using Systems Thinking.

Increasing demand for chemicals worldwide, depleting resources, consumer pressure, stricter legislation, and the rising cost of waste disposal are placing increasing pressure on chemical and related industries. For any organization to survive in the current arena of growing climate change laws and regulations, and increasing public influence, the issue of sustainability must be fundamental to the way it operates. A sustainable manufacturing approach will enable economic growth to be combined with environmental and social sustainability and will be realized via collaboration between a multidisciplinary community including chemists, biologists, engineers, environmental scientists, economists, experts in management, and policy makers.

Healthy spaces: Exploring urban Indigenous youth perspectives of social support and health using photovoice.

Ongoing injustices perpetrated by colonization and racism have resulted in a disproportionate burden of health disparities among Indigenous peoples, with youth being particularly vulnerable. However, very little is known about the health experiences of Indigenous youth, particularly how they understand and interpret such experiences. In collaboration with an Indigenous-led youth program, this research explored the relationship between social support and health among a unique group of Indigenous youth living in Winnipeg, Canada.

Efficacy of oral BCG vaccination in protecting free-ranging cattle from natural infection by Mycobacterium bovis.

Vaccination of cattle against bovine tuberculosis could be a valuable control strategy, particularly in countries faced with intractable ongoing infection from a disease reservoir in wildlife. A field vaccination trial was undertaken in New Zealand. The trial included 1286 effectively free-ranging cattle stocked at low densities in a remote 7600ha area, with 55% of them vaccinated using Mycobacterium bovis BCG (Danish strain 1311).

Sustained protection against tuberculosis conferred to a wildlife host by single dose oral vaccination.

Background: Vaccination of wildlife against bovine tuberculosis (TB) is being considered by several countries to reduce the transmission of Mycobacterium bovis infection to livestock. In New Zealand, where introduced brushtail possums (Trichosurus vulpecula) are the major wildlife hosts, we have previously shown that repeat applications of a lipid-encapsulated oral bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine reduce the incidence of naturally acquired TB in wild possums. Here we extend this conceptual demonstration to an operational level, assessing long-term protection against TB conferred to free-living possums by a single oral immunisation.

Mortality rate and gross pathology due to tuberculosis in wild brushtail possums (Trichosurus vulpecula) following low dose subcutaneous injection of Mycobacterium bovis.

Gross pathology due to tuberculosis can be established experimentally in brushtail possums (Trichosurus vulpecula) within 7 weeks of injection of virulent Mycobacterium bovis into subcutaneous connective tissues of the peripheral limbs. This pathology involves lymphadenomegaly and development of gross lesions in peripheral lymph nodes, with subsequent gross lesions in the lungs and reticuloendothelial organs. Using this artificial infection model, we here assessed the mortality rate for possums in the wild, to provide new information on the likely survival period for New Zealand's major wildlife host.

Longevity of Mycobacterium bovis in brushtail possum (Trichosurus vulpecula) carcasses, and contact rates between possums and carcasses.

Aim: To determine, for a variety of environmental conditions, how long Mycobacterium bovis might remain viable inside the carcass of a brushtail possum (Trichosurus vulpecula) that died of bovine tuberculosis (Tb), and to measure the rate of contact between free-ranging possums and possum carcasses.

Methods: Lesions of M. bovis were simulated by inoculating excised spleens weighing 0.

Reduced spillover transmission of Mycobacterium bovis to feral pigs (Sus scofa) following population control of brushtail possums (Trichosurus vulpecula).

In New Zealand, bovine tuberculosis (bTB) is present in domestic cattle and deer herds primarily as the result of on-going disease transmission from the primary wildlife host, the brushtail possum (Trichosurus vulpecula). However, bTB is also present in other introduced free-ranging mammalian species. Between 1996 and 2007, we conducted a series of studies to determine whether poison control of possum populations would have any effect on the prevalence of Mycobacterium bovis infection in sympatric feral pigs (Sus scrofa).

Characterization of c-Kit expression and activation in KSHV-infected endothelial cells.

Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) herpesvirus (KSHV) is the etiological agent of several immunodeficiency-linked cancers, including KS. Our previous work showed that the proto-oncogene c-kit is upregulated in KSHV-infected endothelial cells (ECs), as well as in KS lesions. We show here that KSHV-dependent induction of both c-kit mRNA and protein requires the establishment of a latent infection and that this upregulation occurs in primary DMVECs as well as in immortalized DMVECs (eDMVECs).

Self-report of drinking compared to objective markers of alcohol consumption.

Background: The validity of self-report data is an area of continuing concern in the substance abuse treatment field. It is uncertain how well self-report of alcohol relapse corresponds with more objective indices.

Methods: We compared the self-report of alcohol relapse to collateral reports and biological indices of relapse.

Appetitive-based learning in rats: lack of effect of chronic exposure to fluoride.

Background: Chronic ingestion of optimally fluoridated water (ca. 1.0 mg/L) has not been associated with any adverse health effects.

Induction of tumorigenesis and metastasis by the murine orthologue of tumor protein D52.

Expression studies have consistently identified tumor protein D52 (TPD52) overexpression in tumor cells. Murine TPD52 (mD52) shares 86% identity with the human orthologue. To study a possible role for TPD52 in transformation, 3T3 fibroblasts were transfected with the full-length cDNA for mD52.

Prevalence of ballooning of the severed carotid arteries at slaughter in cattle, calves and sheep.

Previous work in calves indicated that ballooning of the severed arteries is a potential concern in animals receiving a reversible stun before slaughter, and in animals not stunned before slaughter, as it could extend the duration of brain function before the animals die. This study determined the prevalence of ballooning of the carotid arteries in a total of 987 cattle, calves and lambs at slaughter. The severed ends of the carotid arteries were examined by palpation.

What would VA nursing home care cost? Methods for estimating private sector payments.

Objectives: To describe the methods used to validate Veterans Health Administration (VA) nursing home acuity data and estimate hypothetical payments for nursing home patients in VA-based and community-based units.

Methods: For a sample of VA-based and community-based nursing home patients at six sites, auditors validated the resource utilization classifications from the most recent complete full or quarterly assessments. Scores were averaged to obtain an acuity index for each nursing home population.

Estimating private sector payments for VA specialized inpatient care.

Objectives: To describe methods for estimating what payments to private sector providers might be for specialized inpatient care in the absence of Veterans Health Administration (VA) facilities.

Methods: Psychiatric, rehabilitation, domiciliary, partial and day hospitalization, and psychiatric residential treatment programs at six study sites were audited for program content that would meet Medicare criteria for excluding providers from the prospective payment system. A 10% sample of patients in each program was also audited to see if they met VA program criteria.

Use of released pigs as sentinels for Mycobacterium bovis.

Identifying the presence of bovine tuberculosis (TB; Mycobacterium bovis) in wildlife is crucial in guiding management aimed at eradicating the disease from New Zealand. Unfortunately, surveys of the principal wildlife host, the introduced brushtail possum (Trichosurus vulpecula), require large samples (> 95% of the population) before they can provide reasonable confidence that the disease is absent. In this study, we tested the feasibility of using a more wide-ranging species, feral pig (Sus scrofa), as an alternative sentinel capable of indicating TB presence.

Serotonin reuptake is less efficient in taste aversion resistant than in taste aversion-prone rats.

We have previously reported the development of rat lines bred selectively for differences in taste aversion conditionability. Earlier studies demonstrated that the taste aversion resistant (TAR) animals exhibited lower concentrations of brain serotonin and consumed greater amounts of ethanol than their taste aversion prone (TAP) counterparts. In the present study, TAR rats demonstrated significantly less efficient brain serotonin transport compared to TAP rats, but the rat lines demonstrated similar levels of serotonin transporter or V(max) and similar whole brain paroxetine (a specific serotonin reuptake inhibitor) binding (B(max)).

The prevalence of ST-segment depression on ambulatory electrocardiographic monitoring during daily life in high-risk asymptomatic police officers.

Background: In individuals with no known ischaemic heart disease, the prevalence and significance of ST-segment depression on ambulatory electrocardiographic monitoring is unclear. We therefore determined the prevalence of ST-segment depression among middle-aged male police officers, an occupational group in whom an increased risk of ischaemic heart disease has been reported, who also had multiple individual coronary risk factors but no known ischaemic heart disease.

Methods: Full-time male police offices aged 45 years or more with at least two coronary risk factors but no known ischaemic heart disease performed a 24h ambulatory electrocardiographic monitor, timed to include a shift of work.

Left ventricular function in uremia: echocardiographic and radionuclide assessment in patients on maintenance hemodialysis.

Echocardiography and radionuclide ventriculography were performed in 37 uremic patients on maintenance hemodialysis with no apparent coronary artery disease, pericardial effusion, valvular heart disease or heart failure. These non-invasive studies were performed during the interdialytic period (about 18 hours after a dialysis). Sixty-two percent of our patients had abnormal left ventricular function with one or more abnormal echocardiographic parameters.

The effect of a selective beta adrenergic blocking agent on ventricular arrhythmias in the first year following myocardial infarction.

Fifty-five patients with recent acute myocardial infarction entered a single-blind cross-over trial to assess the effect of oral practolol 200 mg twice daily on the incidence and nature of ventricular arrhythmias in the first year following myocardial infarction. Patients had 24-hour Holter electrocardiogram tape monitoring at two weeks following infarction and at three-monthly intervals for one year. Twenty-six patients completed the full year of the trial with 12% of tape recordings technically unsatisfactory.

Aspects of myocardial ischaemia: sudden death.

The majority of patients who die suddenly have significant coronary artery disease, and it seems likely that myocardial ischaemia, in consequence of these diseased arteries, plays an aetiological role in causation of sudden death.

Nickel gas chromatographic columns: an alternative to glass for biological samples.

Nickel tubing may be substituted for glass in the fabrication of gas chromatographic columns for use with samples of biological interest. Comparisons of separations of mixtures of steroids, narcotic alkaloids, phenothiazines, and amphetamines on stainless stell, glass, and nickel packed columns showed little or no observable sample decomposition on glass or nickel as contrasted to complete loss of certain compounds on stainless steel. The nickel columns are easily prepared, durable, economical, and not subject to breakage.

Primary tuberculosis of the conjunctiva.

A five-year-old boy developed primary tuberculosis of the conjunctiva which spread to the preauricular and cervical lymph nodes, producing caseous lymphadenitis. Because conjunctival tuberculosis is rare, the correct diagnosis may be easily missed. When unilateral conjunctivitis is accompanied by lymph node enlargement and persists or progresses, tuberculosis should be suspected.