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The purpose of this article was to consider the need for guidelines and consistent criteria for support and enrichment of students facing the transition from secondary school to tertiary education, and some of the challenges involved. The article’s narrow context is language and accounting; the wider context is challenges faced by most students and educators in the above key phases. Through a brief review of initiatives at two prominent universities in South Africa and an analysis of 17 interviews with teachers, tutors and lecturers working with adolescents, the researchers have sought to identify several existing challenges. Data collected indicate that most stakeholders acknowledge the importance of support / enrichment. Many, though, are unsure of how to achieve the desired outcomes of programmes. This conflict seems to lie in a lack of focused guidelines. There seems to be a need for consistency: this will strengthen initiatives as the successes and failures of educators and policy makers will help to form a framework for work in the immediate future.

The levels of two key pathogens, Salmonella and Campylobacter, are assessed along with the indicator organism Escherichia coli in aerosols within and outside poultry sheds. The studies have shown that the public health risk from these organisms in poultry environments via the aerosol pathway is very minimal.

Background: Nonmelanoma skin cancer is the most common malignancy. Multiple therapies prevent recurrence but vary widely in cost. The most common therapies are local destruction, excision, and Mohs surgery (histologically guided tumor removal). Clinical variables that may affect treatment choices can be identified, but little is known about how clinicians choose among therapies.Objective: The objective of this study was to learn if variations exist in the treatment of nonmelanoma skin cancer in different practice settings.Research Design: Prospective cohort study.Subjects: Subjects consisted of consecutive patients with nonmelanoma skin cancer at a university-affiliated private dermatology practice and the dermatology clinic at the nearby affiliated Veterans Affairs (VA) medical center.Data: We studied data from medical records and patient surveys.Results: Overall, 1777 nonrecurrent nonmelanoma skin cancers were diagnosed in 1375 patients. Compared with the VA site, patients at the private site were younger, more likely to be female, and less likely to be poor, and their tumors were smaller and less likely to be on visible areas of the body. Treatments varied between the 2 sites (P <0.001). The proportions of tumors treated at the private and VA sites, respectively, were 23% and 19% for destruction, 25% and 48% for excision, and 37% and 25% for Mohs surgery. In multiple clinical subgroups, Mohs surgery was more likely to be performed at the private site than at the VA. Moreover, in multivariable models controlling for clinical features that may have affected treatment choice, tumors at the private site were more likely than tumors at the VA to be treated with Mohs surgery (odds ratio, 2.39; 95% confidence interval, 1.54-3.70).Conclusions: Care for nonmelanoma skin cancer varied at 2 academic practice sites that are near each other and that share some clinician staff. These findings raise questions not only about overuse or underuse of procedures at the 2 sites, but also about systematic differences in patient preferences and/or physician incentives in prepaid and fee-for-service settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study describes the development and use of bacteriophage cocktails to control Campylobacter in broiler chickens, in a commercial setting, in Queensland Australia, following the birds from farm to the processing plant. The components of the bacteriophage cocktails were selected to be effective against the maximum number of Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli isolates encountered on SE Queensland farms. Farms were identified that had suitable Campylobacter target populations and phage were undetectable 1 week prior to the intended treatment. Cocktails of phages were administered at 47 days of age. Groups of study birds were slaughtered the following day, on-farm, at the end of flock transport to the plant, and at processing (approximately 28 h post-treatment). On Farm A, the phage treatment significantly reduced Campylobacter levels in the ceca at the farm in the range of 1-3 log 10 CFU/g ( p = 0.007), compared to mock treated controls. However, individual birds sampled on farm (1/10) or following transport (2/10) exhibited high cecal Campylobacter counts with low phage titers, suggesting that treatment periods > 24 h may be required to ensure phage replication for effective biocontrol in vivo . At the time of the trial the control birds in Farm B were phage positive despite having been negative one week earlier. There was no significant difference in the cecal Campylobacter counts between the treatment and control groups following treatment but a fall of 1.7 log 10 CFU/g was observed from that determined from birds collected the previous week ( p = 0.0004). Campylobacter isolates from both farms retained sensitivity to the treatment phages. These trials demonstrated bacteriophages sourced from Queensland farms have the potential to reduce intestinal Campylobacter levels in market ready broiler chickens., (Copyright © 2020 The State of Queensland (through the Department Agriculture and Fisheries).)

Introduction: There is a known association between Clostridium Septicum, mycotic aneurysm and colon neoplasm., Case Presentation: We report the case of a 90 year old female admitted with abdominal pain to the general surgery unit. Admission CT scan demonstrated a thick walled caecum and pericaecal inflammation suspicious for a perforated carcinoma. This was subsequently confirmed at colonoscopy with biopsy demonstrating a poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma. A laparoscopic right hemicolectomy was completed the following week after perioperative workup and intravenous antibiotic therapy. On the 9th postoperative day, fever and rising inflammatory markers prompted repeat abdominal CT scan which demonstrated a mycotic aneurysm of the upper abdominal aorta. After discussion with the vascular surgery and infectious diseases team, along the patient and family, the decision was made to palliate. The patient died at home from presumed spontaneous rupture two weeks after discharge., Discussion: Mycotic aneurysm in colonic malignancy is a rare and often lethal complication. C. Septicum is causative in over 70% of cases with concomitant colonic malignancy., Conclusion: Mycotic aneurysm should be considered in any deteriorating patient with concomitant colonic malignancy., (Copyright © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Background: Evidence continues to accumulate that oxidative stress is etiologically important in the pathogenesis of age-related maculopathy (ARM) and that appropriate antioxidants of dietary origin may protect against this condition., Objective: Risk factors for ARM may be classed as established or putative. We report a study designed to investigate whether such risk factors are associated with a dietary lack of antioxidants relevant to retinal health., Design: Dietary, anthropometric, and sociodemographic details relating to 828 healthy Irish subjects aged 20-60 y were recorded in a cross-sectional fashion and analyzed for associations between risk factors for ARM and dietary intake of relevant nutrients., Results: Of the established risk factors for ARM, increasing age was associated with a relative lack of dietary zeaxanthin (P < 0.05) and tobacco use with a relative lack of dietary vitamin C (P < 0.05). Of the putative risk factors for ARM, alcohol consumption was associated with a relative lack of dietary alpha-linoleic acid (P < 0.05), and female sex was associated with a relative lack of dietary zinc (P < 0.05)., Conclusions: We showed that several variables related to risk for ARM are associated with a relative dietary lack of key nutrients. Our finding that age, the most important and universal risk factor for ARM, is associated with a relative lack of dietary zeaxanthin, is an important finding that warrants further investigation.