Detection of Equine Papillomaviruses and Gamma-Herpesviruses in Equine Squamous Cell Carcinoma.

Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) seriously compromises the health and welfare of affected horses. Although robust evidence points to equine papillomavirus type 2 (EcPV2) causing genital lesions, the etiopathogenesis of equine SCC is still poorly understood. We screened a series of SCCs from the head-and-neck (HN), (peri-)ocular and genital region, and site-matched controls for the presence of EcPV2-5 and herpesvirus DNA using type-specific EcPV PCR, and consensus nested herpesvirus PCR followed by sequencing. EcPV2 DNA was detected in 45.5% of HN lesions, 8.3% of (peri-)ocular SCCs, and 100% of genital tumors, whilst control samples from tumor-free horses except one tested EcPV-negative. Two HNSCCs harbored EcPV5, and an ocular lesion EcPV4 DNA. Herpesvirus DNA was detected in 63.6%, 66.6%, 47.2%, and 14.2% of horses with HN, ocular, penile, and vulvar SCCs, respectively, and mainly identified as equine herpesvirus 2 (EHV2), 5 (EHV5) or asinine herpesvirus 5 (AsHV5) DNA. In the tumor-free control group, 9.6% of oral secretions, 46.6% of ocular swabs, 47% of penile samples, and 14.2% of vaginal swabs scored positive for these herpesvirus types. This work further highlights the role of EcPV2 as an oncovirus and is the first to provide information on the prevalence of (gamma-)herpesviruses in equine SCCs.

An intervention for enhancing public health crisis response willingness among local health department workers: a qualitative programmatic analysis.

OBJECTIVES: This study evaluated the impact of a novel multimethod curricular intervention using a train-the-trainer model: the Public Health Infrastructure Training (PHIT). PHIT was designed to 1) modify perceptions of self-efficacy, response efficacy, and threat related to specific hazards and 2) improve the willingness of local health department (LHD) workers to report to duty when called upon. METHODS: Between June 2009 and October 2010, eight clusters of US LHDs (n = 49) received PHIT. Two rounds of focus groups at each intervention site were used to evaluate PHIT. The first round of focus groups included separate sessions for trainers and trainees, 3 weeks after PHIT. The second round of focus groups combined trainers and trainees in a single group at each site 6 months following PHIT. During the second focus group round, participants were asked to self-assess their preparedness before and after PHIT implementation. SETTING: Focus groups were conducted at eight geographically representative clusters of LHDs. PARTICIPANTS: Focus group participants included PHIT trainers and PHIT trainees within each LHD cluster. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Focus groups were used to assess attitudes toward the curricular intervention and modifications of willingness to respond (WTR) to an emergency; self-efficacy; and response efficacy. RESULTS: Participants reported that despite challenges in administering the training, PHIT was well designed and appropriate for multiple management levels and disciplines. Positive mean changes were observed for all nine self-rated preparedness factors (p < 0.001). The findings show PHIT's benefit in improving self-efficacy and WTR among participants. CONCLUSIONS: The PHIT has the potential to enhance emergency response willingness and related self-efficacy among LHD workers.

Determinants of emergency response willingness in the local public health workforce by jurisdictional and scenario patterns: a cross-sectional survey.

BACKGROUND: The all-hazards willingness to respond (WTR) of local public health personnel is critical to emergency preparedness. This study applied a threat-and efficacy-centered framework to characterize these workers' scenario and jurisdictional response willingness patterns toward a range of naturally-occurring and terrorism-related emergency scenarios. METHODS: Eight geographically diverse local health department (LHD) clusters (four urban and four rural) across the U.S. were recruited and administered an online survey about response willingness and related attitudes/beliefs toward four different public health emergency scenarios between April 2009 and June 2010 (66% response rate). Responses were dichotomized and analyzed using generalized linear multilevel mixed model analyses that also account for within-cluster and within-LHD correlations. RESULTS: Comparisons of rural to urban LHD workers showed statistically significant odds ratios (ORs) for WTR context across scenarios ranging from 1.5 to 2.4. When employees over 40 years old were compared to their younger counterparts, the ORs of WTR ranged from 1.27 to 1.58, and when females were compared to males, the ORs of WTR ranged from 0.57 to 0.61. Across the eight clusters, the percentage of workers indicating they would be unwilling to respond regardless of severity ranged from 14-28% for a weather event; 9-27% for pandemic influenza; 30-56% for a radiological 'dirty' bomb event; and 22-48% for an inhalational anthrax bioterrorism event. Efficacy was consistently identified as an important independent predictor of WTR. CONCLUSIONS: Response willingness deficits in the local public health workforce pose a threat to all-hazards response capacity and health security. Local public health agencies and their stakeholders may incorporate key findings, including identified scenario-based willingness gaps and the importance of efficacy, as targets of preparedness curriculum development efforts and policies for enhancing response willingness. Reasons for an increased willingness in rural cohorts compared to urban cohorts should be further investigated in order to understand and develop methods for improving their overall response.

Domain-specific and generalized disgust sensitivity in blood-injection-injury phobia: the application of behavioral approach/avoidance tasks.

The separate and combined roles of fear and disgust in mediating phobic responding in blood-injection-injury (BII) phobia have generated considerable empirical interest. The present study aimed to replicate previous research regarding fear and disgust responding to phobia-relevant and generalized disgust elicitors, as well as to provide a novel examination of performance on behavioral approach/avoidance tasks (BATs) and the "contaminated cookie" procedure (i.e., willingness to eat a cookie after it has come into brief contact with a threat-relevant stimulus). Fear and disgust responses toward pictures (mutilation, insects) and in vivo stimuli (bloody gauze, severed deer leg, cockroach, worm) were assessed in a sample of analogue BII phobics and nonphobics. Consistent with previous research. BII phobics expressed significantly greater fear and disgust toward phobia-relevant pictures and BAT stimuli, with disgust being the dominant emotional response. We failed to find any between-group differences on disgust responding toward the generalized disgust pictures and BAT stimuli. Results from the BATs suggest that BII phobics were less willing to perform all tasks involving blood stimuli, and less willing to complete the latter stages of the insect BATs. BII phobics were less likely to eat the "contaminated cookie" after it had come into contact with only the insect stimuli. Future implications for research examining domain-specific and generalized disgust sensitivity in BII phobia are outlined.

Dual-task attention deficits in dysphoric mood.

The attentional functioning of nondysphoric, mildly dysphoric, and moderately to severely dysphoric college students was tested using the attentional blink (AB) paradigm. These groups performed equally well at reporting a single target appearing in a rapidly presented stream of stimuli. All groups showed an AB, with report sensitivity for a 2nd target being reduced when the 2 targets were presented less than 0.5 s apart. Nondysphoric and mildly dysphoric participants showed the same size ABs, but the ABs for moderately to severely dysphoric participants were larger and longer. As predicted, the results showed that moderately to severely dysphoric individuals have attentional impairments. These impairments, however, were evident only in the more demanding dual-task condition.