Evaluating viral interference between infectious bronchitis virus and Newcastle disease virus vaccine strains using quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction.

The potential for infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) and Newcastle disease virus (NDV) replication interference was evaluated using quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Fourteen-day-old broiler chickens were inoculated via eyedrop with live commercial vaccine strains of IBV and NDV alone or in combination to directly evaluate IBV and NDV replication in the trachea at 1, 3, and 5 days after vaccination. Commercial NDV vaccine strains used were B1, VG/GA, and C2. The vaccine strains of IBV tested were Massachusetts (Mass) and Arkansas (Ark). The NDV + Mass vaccines used were commercially manufactured combined products. The NDV + Ark vaccines used were commercial vaccines manufactured as single entity products that were administered by eyedrop to opposite eyes of each chicken. As measured by qRT-PCR, the replication of NDV strains B1, VG/GA, and C2 did not interfere with the growth of IBV Mass and Ark strain vaccines in the combined vaccine treatment groups. Combination vaccinations using B1 and VG/GA did not interfere with IBV immunity based on challenge or serum antibody production. In the C2 + Mass vaccination trial, IBV immunity after challenge was reduced, but it did not seem to be a result of reduced Mass vaccine growth or the ability of the Mass vaccine to induce serum IBV antibody. In contrast, the replication of IBV strains Mass and Ark interfered with the growth of NDV strains B1, VG/GA, and C2 as measured by qRT-PCR. However, interference with NDV replication was not reflected in a reduction in Newcastle disease challenge of immunity findings when combination Mass + NDV products manufactured by vaccine companies were tested. Moreover, NDV immunity was not compromised in two of three trials using single entity vaccines of NDV and Ark IBV vaccines manufactured separately but administered simultaneously. However, in one trial, NDV immunity was decreased where a NDV single entity product (C2) was given with an IBV single entity Ark vaccine. This finding emphasizes the importance of using manufactured combination vaccines whenever possible to avoid potential interference.

The impact of genetic enhancement on equality.

There apparently is a genuine possibility that genetic and non-genetic mechanisms eventually will be able to significantly enhance human capabilities and traits generally. Examining this prospect from the standpoint of equality considerations is one useful way to inquire into the effects of such enhancement technologies. Because of the nature and limitations of competing ideas of equality, we are inevitably led to investigate a very broad range of issues. This Article considers matters of distribution and withholding of scarce enhancement resources and links different versions of equality to different modes of distribution. It briefly addresses the difficulties of defining "enhancement" and "trait" and links the idea of a "merit attribute" to that of a "resource attractor." The role of disorder-based justifications is related to equality considerations, as is the possibility of the reduction or "objectification" of persons arising from the use of enhancement resources. Risks of intensified and more entrenched forms of social stratification are outlined. The Article also considers whether the notion of merit can survive, and whether the stability of democratic institutions based on a one-person, one-vote standard is threatened by attitude shifts given the new technological prospects. It refers to John Stuart Mill's "plural voting" proposal to illustrate one challenge to equal-vote democracy.

Intramuscular ketorolac for postoperative analgesia following laparoscopic sterilisation.

The analgesic effect of intramuscular ketorolac was assessed by double blind study in forty women presenting for day-case laparoscopic sterilisation. The patients were randomly allocated to receive either ketorolac 30 mg or saline by intramuscular injection immediately following induction of general anaesthesia. There was no statistically significant difference between the groups in pain scores, opioid requirements or incidence of nausea and vomiting in the postoperative period. In view of the potential side-effects of ketorolac, and the apparent lack of efficacy when used prophylactically, the routine use of the drug in this group of patients cannot be recommended.

PIP: Ketorolac is one of the newer non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) that appears to have significant analgesic properties. The purpose of this study was to determine whether ketorolac would provide adequate postoperative analgesia following laparoscopic sterilization and whether it would impact the incidence of nausea and vomiting. Patients were assigned randomly, in double-blind fashion, to receive either ketorolac 30 mg or saline by intramuscular injection immediately following induction of anaesthesia. All patients received fentanyl 100 mcg, a sleep-inducing dose of propofol, either atracurium or vecuronium, oxygen, nitrous oxide, isoflurane, atropine 1.2 mg, and neostigmine 2.5 mg. Surgery consisted of applying Hulka clips to the fallopian tubes. Postoperative pain was assessed using a visual analogue score (VAS) on 3 separate occasions in recovery. Patients received analgesia using a standard intravenous fentanyl, morphine or pethidine protocol if required. There was no significant difference between the 2 groups with respect to age, weight or procedure duration. Assessment of pain using the VAS slightly, but not significantly, favored the ketorolac group when patients were assessed prior to leaving the first stage recovery and prior to discharge. The worst pain scores recorded prior to discharge were similar in the 2 groups. On all occasions, there was an extremely wide range of scores in both groups. The mean opioid requirement in terms of pethidine equivalents was 23.5 mg in the ketorolac group and 35.5 mg in the saline group. This difference, however, is not statistically significant. Nausea occurred in 50% of ketorolac and 60% of saline groups, while vomiting ensued in 25% of ketorolac and 35% of saline patients. Anti-emetic use was similar in both groups (ketorolac 35%, saline 45%). A large study involving more than 186 patients would be necessary in order to demonstrate a statistically significant benefit of routinely administering ketorolac, with its potential side-effects, to all patients undergoing laparoscopic sterilization as out-patients.

Abnormal stress responses in patients with diseases affecting the sympathetic nervous system.

Diseases that cause malfunction of the sympathetic nervous system provide insight into how the sympathetic nerves normally modulate responses to stress. This paper discusses insight from a number of such diseases. Transection of the cervical spinal cord leads to autonomic dysreflexia. This syndrome causes episodic hypertension in quadriplegic patients from excess sympathetic activity reflexly activated by bowel or bladder distention. These patients lack cerebral control of spinal sympathetic reflexes. Radiotherapy to the neck can destroy the arterial baroreceptors that monitor blood pressure fluctuations. Patients who lack baroreceptors have exaggerated blood pressure responses to stress. They have episodes of hypertension and hypotension that cause headaches and dizziness. Diabetics and uremics often develop a peripheral sympathetic neuropathy. They have postural hypotension and diminished blood pressure responses to stress. They are often unable to tolerate heat, exercise, or fluid deprivation. Patients with heart failure deplete sympathetic neuronal norepinephrine stores. The continual stress of heart failure diminishes their ability to respond to further stresses such as standing upright or exercising. Patients with diseases of the sympathetic nervous system illustrate that everyday occurrences such as a change in posture or ambient temperature are stresses requiring a marked change in sympathetic nervous activity. Both physical and psychological stresses elicit large initial sympathetic neuronal responses that are subsequently damped by feedback inhibition from structures such as the baroreceptors. Damage to part of these feedback loops leads to exaggerated pressor responses to stress.

Ion exposure chambers for small animals.

Ion exposure chambers that have been designed and tested for use in biological and behavioral research with small animals are described in this report. The chambers exhibit an acceptable degree of uniformity in ion concentration, current density, and electric field within the exposure area. Gaseous by-products of corona discharge (O3 and NO2) have been measured and found to be less than .01 ppm and less than .1 ppm, respectively. Filtered air is fed to the individual exposure chambers, and temperature and humidity are well controlled. Noise due to corona and the air delivery system has been measured.