Effects of Theileria orientalis Ikeda type infection on libido and semen quality of bulls.

There is an epidemic in New Zealand of infectious bovine anaemia associated with Theileria orientalis Ikeda type, an obligate intracellular protozoan parasite. To establish whether T. orientalis Ikeda type infection adversely affects fertility of bulls used for natural mating, a randomised controlled experimental study was conducted. Ten of 17 2-year-old Friesian bulls that had not been previously infected with T. orientalis were infected with T. orientalis Ikeda type and then evaluations occurred during a 20-week period. There were semen and libido evaluations every 2 weeks, starting 4 weeks before the date of infection. In addition, there were blood collections, for haematocrit and infection intensity evaluations, rectal temperatures recorded, and bulls weighed three times weekly for 13 weeks after infection and then once weekly until completion of the study. Physical activity meters were also attached from Days 9-60 and 65-124 post-infection. The ten bulls were successfully infected with T. orientalis Ikeda type and this resulted in a decrease in HCT to about 0.25 by 70 days post-infection. There were no effects of infection on semen quality; however, during the acute phase of infection, when the infection intensity was rapidly increasing, the infected bulls took a longer time period for repeated mounting of females, and were less dominant in the herd social heiracrchy. In conclusion, although the transitory effects on libido could reduce conception rates, the overall effects of T. orientalis Ikeda type infection on bull fertility will probably be little.

[Modifications in therapy for patients with severe mental illness and intellectual disability: a qualitative study]. / Aanpassingen in behandeling van patiënten met ernstige psychiatrische aandoeningen en een lichte verstande-lijke beperking; een kwalitatief onderzoek.

BACKGROUND: In ambulant psychiatric care, intellectual disability (id) is often not recognised. Therefore, a Screener for Intelligence and Learning disabilities (scil) was recently introduced to assist recognition. However, because, current therapy is not adjusted for id-related problems, its effectiveness remains unknown.
AIM: To gain insight into adequate adaptation of interventions by professionals for patients with severe mental illness (smi) and id, to improve the quality of care without the need to develop a completely new program of therapy.
METHOD: A qualitative design (n=15) including 8 interviews and one focus group, among psychiatric practitioners and id experts.
RESULTS: Five main themes were identified to adjust therapy: treatment, communication, inclusion of the network, estimation of support needs and self-management. CONCLUSIONS To align therapy with the requirements of patients with smi and id, a patient-oriented approach to care is necessary. Simple but effective modifications, summarised in a toolkit, appear to contribute to this. To offer appropriate care to patients with smi and id, attention is needed for both a support-oriented and a recovery-oriented approach.

Experimental infection of Friesian bulls with Theileria orientalis (Ikeda) and effects on the haematocrit, live weight, rectal temperature and activity.

Since 2012, New Zealand has suffered from an epidemic of infectious bovine anaemia associated with T. orientalis (Ikeda), an obligate intracellular protozoan parasite of cattle. Despite widespread agreement that T. orientalis (Ikeda) infection has impacted beef and dairy farming in New Zealand there is very little quantitative data to support this conclusion. A randomised controlled experimental study of the effect of T. orientalis (Ikeda) infection on the live weight, haematocrit (HCT), temperature and activity of 2-year-old Friesian bulls was conducted at a Massey University Research farm, Palmerston North. Ten out of seventeen 2-year-old Friesian bulls were injected intravenously with 30 mL whole blood from 2 clinical cases of Theileria-associated bovine anaemia and then followed over a period of 20 weeks. The bulls were blood sampled, had rectal temperature recorded and weighed 3 times weekly for 13 weeks and then once weekly thereafter until the end of the trial. Infection intensity was monitored using qPCR. All 10 inoculated bulls were successfully infected with T. orientalis (Ikeda). The results showed that the live weight response to infection was varied and the bulls could be divided into two groups based on this response. Four infected bulls showed a significant weight reduction of 41.5 kg (p < 0.0001), a financial loss of around NZ$112 per bull, compared with the other 6 bulls in the infected group, which were not different to the 7 uninfected controls. The live weight of the 4 poor growing bulls was significantly lower than the other 6 infected bulls from Day 71 post infection (p < 0.05). All ten infected bulls showed a similar decrease in HCT, with the lowest HCT reached around Day 60 to 80 post-infection, however the four infected bulls that grew poorly did have a significantly elevated HCT for the first 1 to 3 weeks post infection (p < 0.05). The 4 infected bulls which grew poorly also had a significantly higher infection intensity than the other infected bulls from Day 27 to Day 60 post-infection (p < 0.05). There was no pyrexia recorded in the infected group or control groups, instead there was a tendency for the infected group to have a lower rectal temperature from Day 5 to 70 post infection. The infected bulls walked on average 239 steps per day less than the control bulls, although this difference was not significant (p = 0.35). Overall the study clearly showed, by controlling infection date and infectious dose, that a proportion of cattle infected with T. orientalis (Ikeda) have significantly decreased live weight gains.

Patterns of tumor colony development over time in soft-agar culture.

Human tumors were cultured by the two-layer soft-agar technique and the time course of tumor colony development was evaluated during periods of up to 6 weeks in culture. All colony counting was performed with an automated tumor colony counter (Omnicon; Bausch and Lomb, Inc, Rochester, NY, USA). This instrument provided colony counts per culture plate in six size categories from greater than 60 microns diameter colonies to greater than 149 microns diameter colonies. Six to 24 culture plates were used for each "growth curve", generally 24. Control (non-drug-treated) cultures were obtained from 117 tumors, of which 25 also provided enough cells to allow evaluation of the time course of colony development after exposure to cytostatic agents. The development of colonies in non-drug-treated plates usually demonstrated a lag phase, a logarithmic growth phase to maximum colony development and a subsequent deterioration of colonies. In spite of clumps seeded into the agar, real colony growth could be recognized by frequent colony counting of culture dishes, although the temporal patterns of growth were sometimes different if pure single-cell suspensions were compared with suspensions containing clumps from the same tumor. Drug pre-incubation caused changes in the temporal pattern of colony growth as well as in the total number of colonies. Some cultures showed drug sensitivity when evaluated at certain time points while evaluation at later time points showed only borderline drug effect or none at all. The potential utility of tumor colony growth curves in the clinical applications of tumor colony cultures is discussed.