Search

Objective To describe the radiographic and surgical findings of horses with osteochondral fragments (OCF) in the proximal intertarsal joint (PIJ) and to detail the technique for arthroscopic fragment retrieval and report outcomes. Study design Retrospective case series. Animals Twenty-nine horses (32 tarsi) with OCF in the PIJ. Methods Medical records of horses with radiographic evidence of OCF in the PIJ were reviewed. Clinical features, number of fragments, location, arthroscopic appearance, and outcome were recorded. Technical modifications with visual aids specific to this arthroscopic technique are described. Results Twenty-seven horses (93%) had radiographic evidence of osteochondritis dissecans lesions in the tarsocrural joint (TCJ). OCF were most commonly located distal to the medial trochlear ridge of the talus. In all cases, fragments were successfully retrieved with a technique based on exposing the fragments after resection of the proximal intertarsal joint capsule (PIJC). Fragments were visible from the TCJ prior resection of the PIJC in 4 of 32 tarsi. A third portal was created to access fragments located distal to the lateral trochlear ridge in 3 of 32 tarsi. Moderate intra-articular bleeding occurred when the PIJC was resected in 3 of 32 tarsi. One horse had postoperative swelling that resolved with conservative medical management. All horses with long-term follow-up available (16/29) started training or returned to their athletic career. Conclusion and clinical significance The arthroscopic technique based on resection of PIJC was effective in retrieving OCF in the PIJ and was associated with minor complications. The clinical relevance of these fragments in the PIJ remains unknown.

Data from wildlife disease surveillance programs are used to inform implementation of disease control (e.g., vaccination, population reduction) in space and time. We developed an approach to increase detection of raccoon rabies in raccoons (Procyon lotor) and skunks (Mephitis mephitis) of Quebec, Canada, and we examined the implications of using this approach for targeted surveillance. First we modeled the probability of sampling a rabid animal relative to environmental characteristics of sampling locations. Rabid animals were more likely to be found in low-lying flat landscapes that had higher proportions of corn-forest edge habitat and hay agriculture, and that were within 20 km of one or more known rabies cases. From the model, we created 2 complementary risk maps to identify areas where rabid animals were most likely to be sampled. One map accounted for habitat and known rabies case locations, and can be used to define an infection zone from which surveillance can be targeted along the periph...

This research investigates the effects of prosody on children's recall for stories using two successive studies. Study 1 is an ethnographic exploration of a group of fifth graders creating summaries of a children's story with overt prosodic elements. Study 2 is a quasi-experiment in which the story summaries created by students who heard one of two versions (more or less prosodic) of the story from Study 1 were compared. Overall, we find that the amount of prosody in a story has a significant effect on children's story recall and the quality of the stories they produce.

Much of our understanding of children's reading has been based on research with narratives, where children can rely on relatively rich prior knowledge to make sense of the text. Far less work has been conducted on children's meaning construction processes for nonnarrative, informational texts about unfamiliar topics, such as those often encountered in school content areas. This research examines children's strategies for processing informational text to understand and remember new information. In Experiment 1, 4th‐ and 6th‐grade students thought aloud as they read an easier and a harder passage. They dictated a recall report after each passage. The think‐aloud protocols were analyzed for processing activities, including paraphrasing, elaborating, explaining, monitoring, and identifying and resolving problems. In general, processing tended to focus on the local, sentence level. Self‐explanations were prevalent throughout the protocols; however, they were differentially effective in promoting understanding....

Multiple control methods have been used in North America to manage the spread of rabies caused by the raccoon (Procyon lotor) rabies virus variant (RRVV). Recently, oral vaccination with ONRAB(®) vaccine baits, which contain an adenovirus rabies glycoprotein recombinant, has been made available as an additional tool for rabies control. Our objectives were to estimate rabies antibody prevalence in wild-caught raccoons and striped skunks (Mephitis mephitis), and identify factors influencing the probability of being antibody positive at the individual level in these species, following oral rabies vaccination (ORV) campaigns in which ONRAB was distributed aerially in 2007-2009 in southern Québec, Canada. Following the aerial distribution of 43-155 ONRAB baits/km(2), the annual percentages of antibody-positive raccoons and skunks varied between 35% and 56% and 11% and 17%, respectively. In raccoons, the probability of being antibody positive was positively associated with age and density of ONRAB distributed, and influenced by the number of previous ORV campaigns conducted. Conversely, this probability was negatively associated with estimated abundance of raccoons in the trapping cell and proportion of residential areas near the raccoon capture location. None of the variables examined explained variation in the probability of being antibody positive in skunks. Our results indicate that the ONRAB density applied during ORV campaigns should be adjusted to account for variations in raccoon population density and presence of residential areas to increase the likelihood of creating an effective immunological barrier against RRVV. The high percentage of juvenile raccoons (annual mean =45 ± 3 [SE]%) and skunks (66 ± 2%) captured during post-ORV monitoring suggests that ORV campaigns should be conducted at least annually to account for the recruitment of naïve individuals into the populations. In Québec, the increasing use of ONRAB coincided with the elimination of rabies caused by RRVV. Nonetheless, our results indicate that improvements to this vaccine bait and/or the distribution techniques are required to increase its efficacy, especially in striped skunks.

A consistent recent finding in the memory literature is that processing activities have different effects across different types of texts. The present research attempted to substantiate and explore a material appropriate processing framework ( McDaniel, Einstein, Dunay, & Cobb, 1986 ) for understanding these effects. The central features of this framework are: (a) high recall occurs when subjects encode both relational and individual-item information and (b) different types of materials and processing activities encourage encoding of different types of information. Consequently, a processing activity should be effective to the extent that it encourages processing of the type of information that is not sufficiently invited by the stimulus material. Past tests of this framework were limited to one instance of a relational task and one instance of an individual-item task. The first experiment demonstrated that the framework applies to other tasks—ones that bear little surface relationship to previously used tasks. The second experiment showed that the mnemonic benefits of material appropriate processing activities persist over a one-week delay and indicated that relational processing may be especially beneficial for long-term retention. The third experiment examined the relation between degree of difficulty of a material appropriate task and memory. The results indicated that increases in difficulty beyond some moderate level have no, and possibly even negative, effects on memory. Taken together, the results support and clarify a material appropriate processing perspective.

Background Protection of public health from rabies is informed by the analysis of surveillance data from human and animal populations. In Canada, public health, agricultural and wildlife agencies at the provincial and federal level are responsible for rabies disease control, and this has led to multiple agency-specific data repositories. Aggregation of agency-specific data into one database application would enable more comprehensive data analyses and effective communication among participating agencies. In Québec, RageDB was developed to house surveillance data for the raccoon rabies variant, representing the next generation in web-based database applications that provide a key resource for the protection of public health. Results RageDB incorporates data from, and grants access to, all agencies responsible for the surveillance of raccoon rabies in Québec. Technological advancements of RageDB to rabies surveillance databases include 1) automatic integration of multi-agency data and diagnostic results on a daily basis; 2) a web-based data editing interface that enables authorized users to add, edit and extract data; and 3) an interactive dashboard to help visualize data simply and efficiently, in table, chart, and cartographic formats. Furthermore, RageDB stores data from citizens who voluntarily report sightings of rabies suspect animals. We also discuss how sightings data can indicate public perception to the risk of racoon rabies and thus aid in directing the allocation of disease control resources for protecting public health. Conclusions RageDB provides an example in the evolution of spatio-temporal database applications for the storage, analysis and communication of disease surveillance data. The database was fast and inexpensive to develop by using open-source technologies, simple and efficient design strategies, and shared web hosting. The database increases communication among agencies collaborating to protect human health from raccoon rabies. Furthermore, health agencies have real-time access to a wide assortment of data documenting new developments in the raccoon rabies epidemic and this enables a more timely and appropriate response.