Review of Storytelling in Queer Appalachia: Imagining the Unspeakable Other.

The Journal of Appalachian Health is committed to reviewing published media that relates to contemporary concepts affecting the health of residents of Appalachia. Improving the health in the region of Appalachia means knowing our people as they live and thrive in communities. The book reviewed here, Storytelling in Queer Appalachia: Imagining the Unspeakable Other (Edited by Glasby, Gradin, and Ryerson), is a must read for people who wish to gain insight on the real experience of being queer in Appalachia.

Evidence of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Nursing Syllabi: A Descriptive Analysis.

BACKGROUND: Schools of nursing must produce nurses able to address the care needs of diverse populations. Within schools of nursing, faculty should intentionally construct syllabi to establish an environment of inclusivity where diversity is embraced. METHOD: Content analysis of 81 undergraduate and graduate course syllabi from four university campuses was performed to determine explicit evidence of content on diverse populations, inclusive andragogy, and policies related to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). RESULTS: Three quarters of terms indicative of diverse populations were found in course syllabi; all terms that provided evidence of inclusive andragogy and all DEI-related policies were identified at least once in course syllabi. CONCLUSION: Strengths and weaknesses were identified in communicating DEI content, policies, and inclusive andragogy to students. Faculty development on best practices related to inclusion of DEI in the classroom beginning with the syllabus is the first step to ensure a more inclusive nursing workforce. [J Nurs Educ. 2022;61(12):665-671.].

Rare occurrence of heterotrophic bacteria with pathogenic potential in potable water.

Since the discovery of Legionella pneumophila, an opportunistic pathogen that is indigenous to water, microbiologists have speculated that there may be other opportunistic pathogens among the numerous heterotrophic bacteria found in potable water. The US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) developed a series of rapid in vitro assays to assess the virulence potential of large numbers of bacteria from potable water to possibly identify currently unknown pathogens. Results of surveys of potable water from several distribution systems using these tests showed that only 50 of the approximately 10,000 bacterial colonies expressed one or more virulence characteristics. In another study, 45 potable water isolates that expressed multiple virulence factors were tested for pathogenicity in immunocompromised mice. None of the isolates infected mice that were compromised either by treatment with carrageenan (CG), to induce susceptibility to facultative intracellular pathogens, or by cyclophosphamide (CY), to induce susceptibility to extracellular pathogens. These results indicate that there are very few potential pathogens in potable water and that the currently developed in vitro virulence screening tests give an overestimation of the numbers of heterotrophic bacteria that may be pathogens. Current efforts are focused on using the animal models to screen concentrated samples of waters known to contain large numbers of heterotrophic bacteria and newly discovered Legionella-like organisms that parasitize amoebae.

Detection of intrinsic vancomycin resistant enterococci in animal and human feces.

Fecal samples from animal species and humans were analyzed by quantitative culture for enterococci and vancomycin resistant enterococci (VRE). Each host species carried enterococci which exhibited intrinsic intermediate resistance to vancomycin and sensitivity to teicoplanin (Van C phenotype). The carriage rate in humans was 9%. Carriage rates varied among animal species with the highest percentages being found in deer, duck, goose, horse and turkey.

High-Temperature Short-Time Pasteurization Inactivates Listeria monocytogenes.

Full scare commercial pasteurization equipment operated at 72-73°C with a holding time of 15-16 s was used to determine the ability of commercial thermal processing to inactivate Listeria monocytogenes strain Scott A. Three methods of providing L. monocytogenes concentration in raw milk were employed: freely suspended (extra-cellular), inside bovine phagocytes (in vitro procedure), and inside bovine phagocytes in experimentally infected cows (in vivo). Three enrichment methods were used to assay for L. monocytogenes after pasteurization: cold enrichment (4°C, 28 d), selective enrichment of Lovett et al. (FDA procedure) (17), and the USDA-FSIS two stage enrichment procedure. In addition, a 1-L sample taken just before the vacuum breaker was incubated undiluted in the original sample container (4°C, 4 weeks). None of the four assay methods could detect Listeria in the pasteurized milk.

Detectability of Erythromycin in Eight Milk Products Using the AOAC Bacillus stearothermophilus Disc Assay.

A comparison was made of the ability of the AOAC Bacillus stearothermophilus disc method using Antibiotic Medium 4(A4) and Penicillin in Milk (PM) assay agar to detect erythromycin in eight milk products. PM assay agar outperformed A4 agar by 470%, producing an average detectable level of 0.26 ppm (range 0.16-0.37 ppm), and is the medium of choice for the detection of erythromycin by this method.

Applicability of the Bacillus stearothermophilus Disc Assay for Penicillin Residues in Casein/Caseinates.

Six buffer systems were examined as hydrating solutions for assaying antibiotic residues in bovine casein or caseinates by the qualitative Bacillus stearothermophilus disc assay method. Formic acid and 1% potassium phosphate buffer systems were suitable in that they did not react adversely with the B. stearothermophilus spores or cause degradation of penicillin. With the formic acid buffer, a 20% casein slurry and a 10% caseinate slurry were sufficiently fluid to allow capillary saturation of a 12.7-mm paper disc. Casein and caseinate rehydrated with 1% potassium phosphate buffer were too viscous to permit saturation of a disc. The detectable level in a 20% casein slurry and a 10% caseinate slurry was ≥0.004 IU penicillin G/ml. Casein and caseinate prepared from potassium or procaine penicillin G-contaminated skim milk contained no detectable level of antibiotics as determined by the B. stearothermophilus disc assay method.

Detectability Levels of Four Beta-Lactam Antibiotics in Eight Milk Products Using the AOAC Bacillus stearothermophilus Disc Assay.

The 50% dectability level (ED50) of the Bacillus stearothermophilus disc assay in raw, pasteurized whole, protein-fortified lowfat, lowfat, and skim milks, half-and-half, heavy cream and goat's milk was determined for penicillin G, ampicillin, cloxacillin and cephapirin. Results demonstrate a lower level of detectability with PM agar than with A4 agar for ampicillin, cloxacillin and penicillin. Ranges of detection using PM agar at 64°C were 0.0025 to 0.0042 IU/ml (0.0016 to 0.0026 µg/ml) for penicillin G, 0.0021 to 0.0042 µg/ml for ampicillin, 0.0030 to 0.0059 µg/ml for cephapirin and 0.0167 to 0.0334 µg/ml for cloxacillin. Liquid penicillinase is recommended when performing the confirmation test for beta-lactam identification.

Reliability and Analyst Performance Limits for the Field and Single Strip Direct Microscopic Somatic Cell Count Procedure.

The means and total components of variance were compared for the field and single strip direct microscopic somatic cell count (DMSCC) procedures. The field count procedure averaged 12 - 28% higher than the single strip count procedure in the 300,000 to 1,200,000 DMSCC/ml range. The sum of the components of variance in logarithm units for the field procedure was 0.01058 (1485 degrees of freedom) with a coefficient of variation of 24%, whereas the sum for the single strip procedure was 0.00834 (2834 degrees of freedom) with a coefficient of variation of 21%. This study demonstrates that the single strip procedure yields more reliable and less variable results than does the field procedure.