Application of PCR and reverse line blot hybridization to detect arthropod transmitted haemopathogens in horses presented at a referral veterinary faculty in New Jersey, USA

Equine granulocytic ehrlichiosis is a tick-borne zoonotic disease caused by the intracellular bacterium Anaplasma phagocytophilum. This disease has been well documented in California, USA and sporadic cases have been recorded in New Jersey and other states. Equine piroplasmosis is a reportable disease in the United States with the most recent outbreak reported in Florida in 2008. In order to detect these diseases in an area of low prevalence, two PCRs followed by a reverse line blot (RLB) hybridization process were performed on DNA extracted from blood of 133 horses presented at a large equine referral clinic in New Jersey. One PCR amplified the 16S rRNA gene for Anaplasma/ Ehrlichia and gene and the other the 18S rRNA gene for Theileria/Babesia. Amplified products were applied to a membrane to which oligonucleotide probes for equine granulocytic ehrlichiosis ( Anaplasma phagocytophilum) and equine piroplasmosis (Theileria equi and Babesia caballi) were covalently attached. Two horses were positive for Anaplasma phagocytophilum. This is the first published record of A phagocytophilum DNA to be detected in horses in the United States using the reverse line blot hybridization process. This technique is useful for large scale epidemiological screening and detection of several tick-transmitted haemopathogens simultaneously in animals with vague clinical signs of disease.

Mercury, Lead, Cadmium, Cobalt, Arsenic and Selenium in the Blood of Semipalmated Sandpipers (Calidris pusilla) from Suriname, South America: Age-related Differences in Wintering Site and Comparisons with a Stopover Site in New Jersey, USA.

It is essential to understand contaminant exposure and to compare levels of contaminants in organisms at different ages to determine if there is bioaccumulation, and to compare levels encountered in different geographical areas. In this paper, we report levels of mercury, lead, cadmium, cobalt, arsenic and selenium in the blood of semipalmated sandpipers (Calidris pusilla) wintering in Suriname as a function of age, and compare them to blood levels in northbound migrants at a stopover in Delaware Bay, New Jersey. We found (1) young birds had higher levels of cadmium, cobalt, and lead than adults (after second year birds); (2) there were no age-related differences for arsenic, mercury and selenium; (3) only four of the possible 16 inter-metal correlations were significant, at the 0.05 level; (4) the highest correlation was between cadmium and lead (Kendall tau = 0.37); and (5) the adult sandpipers had significantly higher levels of cadmium, mercury and selenium in Suriname than in New Jersey, while the New Jersey birds had significantly higher levels of arsenic. Suriname samples were obtained in April, after both age classes had spent the winter in Suriname, which suggests that sandpipers are accumulating higher levels of trace elements in Suriname than in Delaware Bay. The levels of selenium may be within a range of concern for adverse effects, but little is known about adverse effect levels of trace elements in the blood of wild birds.

International travellers from New Jersey: piloting a travel health module in the 2011 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System survey.

BACKGROUND: In 2011, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the New Jersey Department of Health used the New Jersey Behavioral Risk Factor Survey (NJBRFS), a state component of the national Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) to pilot a travel health module designed to collect population-based data on New Jersey residents travelling internationally. Our objective was to use this population-based travel health information to serve as a baseline to evaluate trends in US international travellers. METHODS: A representative sample of New Jersey residents was identified through a random-digit-dialing method and administered the travel health module, which asked five questions: travel outside of USA during the previous year; destination; purpose; if a healthcare provider was visited before travel and any travel-related illness. Additional health variables from the larger NJBRFS were considered and included in bivariate analyses and multiple logistic regression; weights were assigned to variables to account for survey design complexity. RESULTS: Of 4029 participants, 841 (21%) travelled internationally. Top destinations included Mexico (10%), Canada (9%), Dominican Republic (6%), Bahamas (5%) and Italy (5%). Variables positively associated with travel included foreign birth, ≥$75 000 annual household income, college education and no children living in the household. One hundred fifty (18%) of 821 travellers with known destinations went to high-risk countries; 40% were visiting friends and relatives and only 30% sought pre-travel healthcare. Forty-eight (6%) of 837 responding travellers reported travel-related illness; 44% visited high-risk countries. CONCLUSIONS: Approximately one in five NJBRFS respondents travelled internationally during the previous year, a sizeable proportion to high-risk destinations. Few reported becoming ill as a result of travel but almost one-half of those ill had travelled to high-risk destinations. Population-based surveillance data on travellers can help document trends in destinations, traveller type and disease prevalence and evaluate the effectiveness of disease prevention programmmes.

Mejoramiento de la producción de una vacuna oleosa contra estomatitis vesicular bivalente / Improvement of oil vesicular stomatitis bivalent vaccine production

El presente estudio calculó diferentes MI (Multiplicidad de Infección) para la producción de cultivos industriales de virus de Estomatitis Vesicular (EV) y evaluó el efecto de la cantidad de glicoproteína G en la inducción de respuesta de anticuerpos neutralizantes contra el virus de EV en cobayos inmunizados con una vacuna oleosa bivalente (Indiana (I) y New Jersey (NJ)). Al establecer el MI más eficiente se logró mejorar la cinética de infección de los cultivos industriales disminuyendo los tiempos de cultivo y mejorando los títulos infectantes. Adicionalmente se encontró que títulos de anticuerpos neutralizantes de cobayos inmunizados con vacuna de EV conteniendo aproximadamente 5 microgramos de glicoproteína G de cada serotipo fueron de 3.66 log10 para I y 4.06 log10 para NJ, los cuales se correlacionan con títulos de protección en bovinos. De este estudio se puede concluir que al seleccionar un mejor MI se puede hacer más eficiente el proceso de producción de cultivos virales industriales de EV y que la formulación de una vacuna contra estomatitis vesicular a partir de la cuantificación de la glicoproteína G puede ser una metodología de gran utilidad en la producción industrial de vacunas de buena calidad.

This experiment assess different MI for Vesicular Stomatitis VS virus industrial culture production and evaluated the effect of glycoprotein G concentration in relation to antibodies induction against VS on guinea pigs vaccinated with oil bivalent vaccine (Indiana I and New Jersey NJ). With efficient MI it was possible to get better kinetic of infection at industrial cultures, reducing time of culture and improving viral titers. In addition, it was found that neutralizing titers of guinea pigs immunized with an EV vaccine containing 5 micrograms of glycoprotein G, were 3.66 log10 for I and 4.06 log10 for NJ, which are correlated to protection titers in cattle. About this study can be concluded that selecting a superior MI, efficiency of industrial VE virus production can be improved; on the other hand, glycoprotein G quantification methodology can be useful for a good quality VS Vaccine industrial manufacture.

Application of PCR and Reverse Line Blot Hybridization to Detect Arthropod 1 Transmitted Haemopathogens in Horses Presented at a Referral Veterinary Facility in 2 New Jersey, USA

Equine granulocytic ehrlichiosis is a tick-borne zoonotic disease caused by the 36 intracellular bacterium Anaplasma phagocytophilum. This disease has been well 37 documented in California, USA and sporadic cases have been recorded in New Jersey 38 and other states. Equine piroplasmosis is a reportable disease in the United States with 39 the most recent outbreak reported in Florida in 2008. In order to detect these diseases in 40 an area of low prevalence, two PCRs followed by a reverse line blot (RLB) hybridization 41 process were performed on DNA extracted from blood of 133 horses presented at a large 42 equine referral clinic in New Jersey. One PCR amplified the 16S rRNA gene for 43 Anaplasma/ Ehrlichia and gene and the other the 18S rRNA gene for Theileria/Babesia. 44 Amplified products were applied to a membrane to which oligonucleotide probes for equine granulocytic ehrlichiosis (Anaplasma phagocytophilum) and equine piroplasmosis 46 (Theileria equi and Babesia caballi) were covalently attached. Two horses were positive 47 for Anaplasma phagocytophilum .This is the first published record of A phagocytophilum 48 DNA to be detected in horses in the United States using the reverse line blot 49 hybridization process. This technique is useful for large scale epidemiological screening 50 and detection of several tick-transmitted haemopathogens simultaneously in animals with 51 vague clinical signs of disease.

A comparison of the fertility of Dominican, Puerto Rican and mainland Puerto Rican adolescents.

Data from three fertility surveys are used to examined the probabilities and determinants of adolescent births among Dominican and Puerto Rican women. Young women in the Dominican Republic are the most likely to have had a child by each year of age from 14 through 24, followed by young women on the Island of Puerto Rico; the probability of an early birth is lowest for Puerto Rican women on the U.S. mainland. Eighteen percent of Dominican women have had a child before their 18th birthday, compared with 13% of women living in Puerto Rico, and 10% of Puerto Rican women in metropolitan New York. The cumulative probabilities that Puerto Rican women will have borne a child before their 20th birthday are almost identical, whether the women live on the island or the U.S. mainland, but the difference between Puerto Rican and Dominican women widens. The order is reversed, however, in the analysis of premarital births: The probability of a premarital birth during adolescence is highest for Puerto Rican women in New York, and lowest for Dominican women. In a separate logistic regression analysis, education and age at first sexual intercourse are shown to be important determinants of adolescent fertility in all three populations.

PIP: Researchers analyzed 1980s data on female adolescents including Puerto Ricans in the New York metropolitan area, those in Puerto Rico, and Dominicans in the Dominican Republic to determine the probabilities and determinants of adolescent births among these women. Female adolescents from the Dominican Republic had the highest probability of having delivered an infant by each year from 14-24 years followed by those in Puerto Rico and then Puerto Rican immigrants in the US. For example, the cumulative hazard rate at age 24 was .65 for the Dominicans compared to 0.5 for Puerto Ricans in Puerto Rico and in the US. Moreover 18% of Dominicans delivered an infant before 18 years old whereas this figure for the 2 Puerto Rican groups was 13% and 10% respectively. Further the cumulative probabilities that Puerto Rican female adolescents will have had a child before 20 years old were essentially equal (37.4% and 37.3% respectively) compared to 56.1% for the Dominicans. On the other hand, the order was opposite for premarital births. Puerto Rican women living in metropolitan New York were at greatest risk of having a premarital birth (cumulative hazard rate at age 24=.2) then those living in Puerto Rico (.1) followed by Dominican women (.05). Age at 1st intercourse was the strongest determinant of adolescent birth in all 3 countries (p=.001). Indeed the younger the adolescent was at 1st intercourse, the greater the likelihood she would deliver a child while an adolescent. Another strong determinant of adolescent birth was dropping out of school (p=.001 in US and Puerto Rico; p=.01 in the Dominican Republic). The fact that most women did not use contraceptives before 1st birth was only significant for the women not living in the US (p=.001). Further research is needed to identify regional and cohort differences in contraceptive use and attitudes toward early sexual activity and childbearing.

Migration and household/family structure: Puerto Ricans in the United States.

"The analyses in this research were intended to demonstrate the advantages of utilizing microdata from [U.S.] census sources for examining migration status and related household and family structures. By asking for the self-identification of ethnic origin, in this case Spanish/Hispanic origin, a census is able to trace not only first generation migrants by different durations of residence, but also later generations. The flexibility afforded by microdata tape files enables [the authors] to further examine multilevel effects of migration and family patterns. In this present example, the widespread nature of family instability among persons of Puerto Rican origin in the New York/New Jersey area has been noted." (summary in FRE, SPA)