Digital Commons Network^™

Radon In Caves: Clinical Aspects, Stephen A. Craven, Berend J. Smit

International Journal of Speleology

Historical, experimental and clinical evidence is presented to suggest that radon constitutes a relatively small carcinogenic risk for casual visitors to caves. The risk is dependent on radon levels and the smoking of tobacco. Show cave guides, chronically exposed to radon, may be at increased risk for lung cancer due to the effects of radon, especially if they are smokers of tobacco.

Aquatic Animal Health Subprogram: Technical Guidelines For The Translocation Of Live Aquatic Animals - With Reference To Barramundi Nodavirus, Brian Jones

Fisheries Research Reports

FRDC Project No. 2005/640

A workshop was conducted involving input from most jurisdictions. Technical issues including hazard identification and risk management associated with the translocation of live finfish were documented.

A series of recommendations, which resulted from the workshop process, will be progressed through the National Aquatic Animal Health Technical Working group and the Aquatic Animal Health Committee.

Chaotic Desynchronization Of Multistrain Diseases, Ira Schwartz, Leah Shaw, Derek Cummings, Lora Billings, Marie Mccrary, Donald Burke

Department of Mathematics Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Multistrain diseases are diseases that consist of several strains, or serotypes. The serotypes may interact by antibody-dependent enhancement rADE, in which infection with a single serotype is asymptomatic, but infection with a second serotype leads to serious illness accompanied by greater infectivity. It has been observed from serotype data of dengue hemorrhagic fever that outbreaks of the four serotypes occur asynchronously. Both autonomous and seasonally driven outbreaks were studied in a model containing ADE. For sufficiently small ADE, the number of infectives of each serotype synchronizes, with outbreaks occurring in phase. When the ADE increases past a threshold, the system …

Analyzing Panel Count Data With Informative Observation Times, Chiung-Yu Huang, Mei-Cheng Wang, Ying Zhang

Johns Hopkins University, Dept. of Biostatistics Working Papers

In this paper, we study panel count data with informative observation times. We assume nonparametric and semiparametric proportional rate models for the underlying recurrent event process, where the form of the baseline rate function is left unspecified and a subject-specific frailty variable inflates or deflates the rate function multiplicatively. The proposed models allow the recurrent event processes and observation times to be correlated through their connections with the unobserved frailty; moreover, the distributions of both the frailty variable and observation times are considered as nuisance parameters. The baseline rate function and the regression parameters are estimated by maximizing a conditional …

Wildlife Health Centre Newsletter, Volume 11, Fall 2005

Canadian Cooperative Wildlife Health Centre: Newsletters and Publications

Canada Takes a Big Step Forward
Update from the Centre for Coastal Health
West Nile Virus in non-corvid Bird Species
National Cervid Population Estimates
Disease Updates
Atlantic Region:
Fatal Encounter of a Great Horned Owl with a Porcupine
Total Amputation of Extremities in a Raccoon
Foot Gangrene in Northern Gannets
Quebec Region:
Avian Cholera in the St. Lawrence Estuary in the Common Eider
Verminous pneumonia in beluga whales from the St. Lawrence Estuary
Ontario Region:
Type E Botulism in Lake Ontario 2004/2005
Pesticide Toxicities in Birds
Virus Infections in Gulls & Cormorants on Lakes Erie and Ontario
A Mortality Event …

Canada’S National Chronic Wasting Disease Control Strategy

Canadian Cooperative Wildlife Health Centre: Newsletters and Publications

The objective of Canada’s National Chronic Wasting Disease Control Strategy is to establish a coordinated national policy and a disease response and management framework to minimize the negative impacts of Chronic Wasting Disease on biodiversity, human and livestock health, the environment and the economy. The ultimate objective of this Strategy is to eradicate Chronic Wasting Disease from Canada or, failing this, to achieve the tightest possible control of the disease so that it does not spread to new geographic areas or to new species, and so that its environmental, economic and health impacts are minimized. As mandated by the federalprovincial/ …

Wildlife Health Centre Newsletter, Volume 11-1, Fall 2005

Canadian Cooperative Wildlife Health Centre: Newsletters and Publications

Canada Takes a Big Step Forward
Update from the Centre for Coastal Health
West Nile Virus in non-corvid Bird Species
National Cervid Population Estimates
Fatal Encounter of a Great Horned Owl with a Porcupine
Total Amputation of Extremities in a Raccoon
Foot Gangrene in Northern Gannets
Avian Cholera in the St. Lawrence Estuary in the Common Eider
Verminous pneumonia in beluga whales from the St. Lawrence Estuary
Pesticide Toxicities in Birds
Virus Infections in Gulls & Cormorants on Lakes Erie and Ontario
A Mortality Event in Freshwater Drum from Lake Ontario, Associated with Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia virus (VHSv), Type IV …

The Finding Of Echinostoma (Trematoda: Digenea) And Hookworm Eggs In Coprolites Collected From A Brazilian Mummified Body Dated 600–1,200 Years Before Present, L. Sianto, Karl J. Reinhard, M. Chame, S. Chaves, S. Mendonça, M. L. C. Gonçalves, A. Fernandes, L. F. Ferreira, A. Araújo

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

The identification of parasites from ancient cultures expands our list of parasites infective to extant humans. A partially mummified human body from the archeological site of Lapa do Boquete, Minas Gerais State, Brazil, was recently discovered. It was interred between 600 and 1,200 yr ago. Dietary analysis showed that the mummified body was from a society that had a mixed subsistence of agriculture and gathering of wild foods. Coprolites from the body contained numerous helminth eggs. The eggs were identified as those of Echinostoma sp. and hookworm. Hookworm infection in pre-Columbian populations is already established, but this is the first …

The Effect Of The Hiv/Aids Epidemic On Africa's Truck Drivers, Christopher Kribs, Melanie Lee, Christine Roman, Shari Wiley, Carlos M. Hernandez-Suarez

Mathematics Faculty Publications - Archive

The AIDS epidemic is having a growing impact on the transport sector of the economy of sub-Saharan Africa, where long-distance truck drivers are at an increased risk of infection due to their frequent contacts with com- mercial sex workers. The spread of AIDS in the transport industry is especially signi¯cant to the economy, as truck drivers are largely responsible for trans- porting crops and supplies needed for daily subsistence. In this paper we analyze these e®ects via two models, one employing a switch and the other a Verhulst saturation function, to describe the rate at which new drivers are recruited …

Structure Elucidation Of Bioactive Compounds Isolated From Endophytes Of Alstonia Scholaris And Acmena Graveolens, Nicholas James Hundley

Theses and Dissertations

Alstonia scholaris is an evergreen tree native to Southeast Asia and Australia. It is commonly used as a medicinal plant throughout these regions. In the present study, an endophyte of the genus Xylaria was isolated from a stem of Alstonia scholaris, its mycelia and exudate extracted, and the extract assayed for growth inhibition of HeLa cancer cells in vitro. Several known compounds were isolated and identified based on NMR, infrared, and mass spectral data. The compounds identified are 19,20-epoxycytochalasin C; 19,20epoxycytochalasin D; and xylobovide. Two other compounds, fusaric acid and dehydrofusaric acid, were discovered in an endophyte of the Hypocreales …

The Octarepeat Domain Of The Prion Protein Binds Cu(Ii) With Three Distinct Coordination Modes At Ph 7.4, Madhuri Chattopadhyay, Eric D. Walter, Dustin J. Newell, Pilgrim J. Jackson, Eliah Aronoff-Spencer, Jack Peisach, Gary J. Gerfen, Brian Bennett, William E. Antholine, Glenn L. Millhauser

Physics Faculty Research and Publications

The prion protein (PrP) binds Cu²⁺ in its N-terminal octarepeat domain. This unusual domain is comprised of four or more tandem repeats of the fundamental sequence PHGGGWGQ. Previous work from our laboratories demonstrates that at full copper occupancy, each HGGGW segment binds a single Cu²⁺. However, several recent studies suggest that low copper occupancy favors different coordination modes, possibly involving imidazoles from histidines in adjacent octapeptide segments. This is investigated here using a combination of X-band EPR, S-band EPR, and ESEEM, along with a library of modified peptides designed to favor different coordination interactions. At pH 7.4, …

A Nested-Pcr With An Internal Amplification Control For The Detection And Differentiation Of Bartonella Henselae And B. Clarridgeiae: An Examination Of Cats In Trinidad, Joanne Rampersad, John D. Watkins, Michael S. Samlal, Raymond Deonanan, Shalini Ramsubeik, David Ammons

School of Integrative Biological & Chemical Sciences (Formerly Dept. of Chemistry)

Background

Bartonella species are bacterial blood parasites of animals capable of causing disease in both animals and man. Cat-Scratch Disease (CSD) in humans is caused mainly by Bartonella henselae and is acquired from the cat, which serves as a reservoir for the bacteria. A second species, B. clarridgeiae is also implicated in the disease. Diagnosis of Bartonellosis by culture requires a week or more of incubation on enriched media containing blood, and recovery is often complicated by faster growing contaminating bacteria and fungi. PCR has been explored as an alternative to culture for both the detection and species identification of …

Trace Elements Status Of White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus Virginianus) And Moose (Alces Alces) In Nova Scotia, Beth Pollock

Canadian Cooperative Wildlife Health Centre: Newsletters and Publications

The province of Nova Scotia is considered to have two moose (Alces alces) populations. In 2003, the moose of the mainland area of the province were formally listed “ENDANGERED” under the Nova Scotia Endangered Species Act. To date, the specific causes of the Mainland moose population decline have not been determined. Trace element imbalances have been considered as a potential etiology for the population decline. Liver and kidney samples were collected from white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) and moose throughout Nova Scotia during the fall and winter 2000-01 to compare trace element concentrations between the two species, in relation to age, …

Alphabetical Index To Vertebrate Pest Conference Proceedings, Volumes 1–21 (1962–2004)

Vertebrate Pest Conference Proceedings: Indexes

This is a 62-page (searchable) document. Listings show all authors (arranged by 1st author), full titles, and complete citations.

Date Index To Vertebrate Pest Conference Proceedings, Volumes 1–21 (1962–2004)

Vertebrate Pest Conference Proceedings: Indexes

This is a 64-page (searchable) document. Listings are by conference year, alphabetical by 1st author, and show all authors, full titles, and complete citations.

A Modular Approach To Document Indexing And Semantic Search, Dhanya Ravishankar, Krishnaprasad Thirunarayan, Trivikram Immaneni

Kno.e.sis Publications

This paper develops a modular approach to improving effectiveness of searching documents for information by reusing and integrating mature software components such as Lucene APIs, WORDNET, LSA techniques, and domain-specific controlled vocabulary. To evaluate the practical benefits, the prototype was used to query MEDLINE database, and to locate domain-specific controlled vocabulary terms in Materials and Process Specifications. Its extensibility has been demonstrated by incorporating a spell-checker for the input query, and by structuring the retrieved output into hierarchical collections for quicker assimilation. It is also being used to experimentally explore the relationship between LSA and document clustering using 20-mini-newsgroups and …

Scwds Briefs: Volume 21, Number 2 (July 2005), Michael J. Yabsley

Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study: Publications

Unexplained Sea Bird Mortality: Since June 12, 2005, there have been numerous reports of dead or dying sea birds along the beaches of the eastern seaboard from Florida to Maryland.
Deer as Hosts of Anaplasmosis: Anaplasma phagocytophilum is the causative agent of human granulocytic anaplasmosis (HGA)
Vesicular Stomatitis Update: Vesicular stomatitis New Jersey virus (VSNJV) infection was confirmed in New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Texas, and Utah.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that four transplant recipients had developed severe illnesses after receiving organs from a Rhode Island donor. Lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV) infection was confirmed in all …

Centre Canadien Cooperatif De La Sante De La Faune, Rapport Annuel 2004-2005 (Francais)

Canadian Cooperative Wildlife Health Centre: Newsletters and Publications

Le CCCSF est un partenariat inter agences qui permet aux quatre facultés de médecine vétérinaire du Canada, à des agences de tous les paliers de gouvernement et à des agences non gouvernementales de mettre leurs ressources et leur savoir-faire en commun, en vue de réduire le fardeau économique et écologique ainsi que les effets néfastes des maladies qui touchent les animaux de la faune.

Risk And Consequence Analysis Focused On Biota Transfers Potentially Associated With Surface Water Diversions Between The Missouri River And Red River Basins, Greg Linder, Ed Little, Lynne Johnson, Chad Vishy, Bruce Peacock, Heather Goeddecke

United States Geological Survey: Publications

Section 1 provides a brief overview of the project, including a cursory summary of the history of the “Garrison Diversion” and how that history relates to this work focused on the analysis of risks and consequences potentially associated with interbasin biota transfers. The present study was initiated under the auspices of the Dakota Water Resources Act (DWRA) of 2000, which directed the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a comprehensive study of the water quality and quantity needs of the Red River Valley and the options for meeting those needs. As such, the Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) requested technical support …

A Partial Likelihood For Spatio-Temporal Point Processes, Peter J. Diggle

Johns Hopkins University, Dept. of Biostatistics Working Papers

Spatio-temporal point process data arise in many fields of application. An intuitively natural way to specify a model for a spatio-temporal point process is through its conditional intensity at location x and time t, given the history of the process up to time t. Typically, this results in an analytically intractable likelihood. Likelihood-based inference therefore relies on Monte Carlo methods which are computationally intensive and require careful tuning to each application. We propose a partial likelihood alternative which is computationally straightforward and can be applied routinely. We apply the method to data from the 2001 foot-and-mouth epidemic in the UK, …

Preliminary Serologic Survey Of Selected Diseases And Movements Of Feral Swine In Texas, A. Christy Wyckoff, Scott E. Henke, Tyler Campbell, David G. Hewitt, Kurt C. Vercauteren

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Feral swine (Sus scrofa) populations occur throughout eastern, central, and southern Texas, and their populations appear to be increasing. Despite their abundance and wide distribution, little is known about their range and interaction with domestic animals. In the last decade the national pork production industry has enforced an eradication program for economically detrimental swine diseases such as pseudorabies and brucellosis. It is hypothesized that feral hogs can be reservoirs that could reintroduce diseases to disease-free domestic swine herds. The objectives of this on-going project are to determine the prevalence of selected swine diseases that exist within feral hog …

Oral Rabies Vaccination—A Progress Report, Dennis Slate, Charles Rupprecht, Mike Dunbar, Robert Mclean

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Oral rabies vaccination (ORV) targeting specific wild Carnivora species has emerged as an integral adjunct to conventional rabies control strategies to protect humans and domestic animals. ORV has been applied with progress toward eliminating rabies in red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) in western Europe and southern Ontario, Canada. Beginning in the 1990’s, coordinated ORV was implemented in Texas to contain and eliminate variants of rabies virus in the gray fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus ) and coyote (Canis latrans ) and in several eastern U.S. States with the goal of preventing spread of raccoon (Procyon lotor ) rabies. …

Canadian Cooperatie Wildlife Health Centre, Annual Report 2004-2005 (English)

Canadian Cooperative Wildlife Health Centre: Newsletters and Publications

Annual Report 2004-2005:
The CCWHC is a university-based, inter-agency partnership through which Canada’s four Colleges of Veterinary Medicine, government agencies at all levels and non-government agencies pool their resources and expertise to reduce the economic and ecological costs and impacts of wild animal diseases in Canada.

Weast Nile Virus Serosurveillance In Iowa White-Tailed Deer (1999-2003), Julian Santatella, Robert Mclean, Jeffrey S. Hall, James S. Gill, Richard A. Bowen, Harlo H. Hadow, Larry Clark

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Sera from white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) were collected in Iowa during the winter months (1999-2003), 2 years before and after West Nile virus (WNV) was first reported in Iowa (2001), and were analyzed for antibodies to WNV. Samples from 1999 to 2001 were antibody negalive by blocking enzyme-linikedI immunosorbent assay (bELISA) and plaque reduction neutralization test (PRNT₉₀). Prevalence derived from bELISA (2002, 12.7%; 2003. 11.2%) and WNV PRNT₉₀ (2002,7.9%; 2003, 8.5%) assays were similar. All sanlples were negative for antibodies against St. Louis encephalitis virus as determined by PRNT₉₀. Antibodies to flaviviruses were …

New Statistical Paradigms Leading To Web-Based Tools For Clinical/Translational Science, Knut M. Wittkowski

COBRA Preprint Series

As the field of functional genetics and genomics is beginning to mature, we become confronted with new challenges. The constant drop in price for sequencing and gene expression profiling as well as the increasing number of genetic and genomic variables that can be measured makes it feasible to address more complex questions. The success with rare diseases caused by single loci or genes has provided us with a proof-of-concept that new therapies can be developed based on functional genomics and genetics.

Common diseases, however, typically involve genetic epistasis, genomic pathways, and proteomic pattern. Moreover, to better understand the underlying biologi-cal …

Fence-Line Interactions Among Farmed And Free-Ranging Cervids: Preliminary Results, Kurt C. Vercauteren, Justin W. Fischer, Robert Pooler, Michael J. Lavelle, Greg Phillips

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Occurrences of disease outbreaks within and near captive cervid (mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus), white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), and Rocky Mountain elk (Cervus elaphus nelsoni)) farms have recently drawn attention to these facilities. Some state wildlife and agricultural agencies have pondered making double fencing mandatory or otherwise increasing regulation of captive operations. Diseases such as Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) and Bovine Tuberculosis (bovine TB) are a threat to captive and free-ranging cervid populations. Concerns over these and other diseases being transmitted from captive to wild cervids, and vice versa, have increased. In most cases, captive …

An Empirical Evaluation Of The Retrospective Pretest: Are There Advantages To Looking Back?, Paul A. Nakonezny, Joseph Lee Rodgers

Journal of Modern Applied Statistical Methods

This article builds on research regarding response shift effects and retrospective self-report ratings. Results suggest moderate evidence of a response shift bias in the conventional pretest-posttest treatment design in the treatment group. The use of explicitly worded anchors on response scales, as well as the measurement of knowledge ratings (a cognitive construct) in an evaluation methodology setting, helped to mitigate the magnitude of a response shift bias. The retrospective pretest-posttest design provides a measure of change that is more in accord with the objective measure of change than is the conventional pretest-posttest treatment design with the objective measure of change, …

Environmental Factors In Autoimmunity: Assessment Of Immunotoxicity Of Phthalates In The Induction Of Lupus-Type Anti-Dna Antibodies, So-Yon Lim

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Objectives: Little is known of the role of specific environmental factors in promoting autoimmune disorders such as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). The broad objective of this study was to address how exposure to phthalates, common environmental factors m foods, and biomedical devices could affect the immune functions of resistant and autoimmune-prone mice. Methods: The environmental chemical model used in this study is phthalates, which are widely used in various forms and readily occur during day-to-day human contacts. Groups of nonautoimmune-prone (BALB/c, DBA/2 and C57BL/6) and susceptible (NZB, NZB/W Fl) mice were immunized with phthalates ( ortho, meta and para) conjugated …

The Sensitivity And Specificity Of Markers For Event Times, Tianxi Cai, Margaret S. Pepe, Thomas Lumley, Yingye Zheng, Nancy Swords Jenny

Harvard University Biostatistics Working Paper Series

No abstract provided.

Nonparametric Estimation Of The Case Fatality Ratio With Competing Risks Data: An Application To Severe Acute Respiratory Syndome (Sars) , Nicholas P. Jewell, Xiudong Lei, A. C. Ghani, C. A. Donnelly, G. M. Leung, L. M. Ho, B. Cowling, A. J. Hedley

U.C. Berkeley Division of Biostatistics Working Paper Series

For diseases with some level of associated mortality, the case fatality ratio measures the proportion of diseased individuals who die from the disease. In principle, it is straightforward to estimate this quantity from individual follow-up data that provides times from onset to death or recovery. In particular, in a competing risks context, the case fatality ratio is defined by the limiting value of the sub-distribution function, associated with death, at infinity. When censoring is present, however, estimation of this quantity is complicated by the possibility of little information in the right tail of of the sub-distribution function, requiring use of …