Federal Surveillance Of Veterinary Drugs And Chemical Residues (With Recent Data)

Background and Aim:Dairy cow mortality and culling are important parameters reflecting on cow health, productivity, and welfare as well as important determinants of herd sustainability, growth, and profitability. There are no published reports on the causes and rates of mortality and culling of dairy cows in Jordan. Therefore, the objectives of this study were to determine the most common causes and rates of mortality and culling of adult dairy cows in Jordan using a single well-managed dairy farm as a model over 3 years.Materials and Methods:Data extracted from the farm management record software over 3 years (January 2016–December 2018) were used in this study. Cow-specific data included the date and month of sale, death or euthanasia, age, parity, reproductive status, and daily milk yield. Cow health-specific data included physical examination findings, presumptive diagnosis, medical or surgical treatments, postmortem findings, and any available laboratory findings. Descriptive analysis was performed to determine means (± standard deviation) and frequencies of various variables using Excel Spreadsheets of Microsoft Word 10.Results:The 3-year rolling cow population in the farm used in the study was 500 ± 35. The overall mortality and culling rates were 5.9% and 28.5%, respectively. The mean age of died and culled cows was 3 ± 1.2 and 4 ± 1.5 years, respectively. The mortality rates were highest in the colder months (January through April). The most frequent causes of mortality were infectious diseases (28%), followed by non-infectious gastrointestinal diseases (25%), udder and teat diseases (mastitis 22%), and other diseases/accidents (25%). Of the infectious diseases, the most frequently diagnosed were enterotoxemia (12%), tuberculosis (TB) (8%), enteric salmonellosis (7%), and paratuberculosis (1%). The most frequently diagnosed non-infectious gastrointestinal diseases were traumatic reticulitis (11%), vagal indigestion (9%), and abomasal ulcer (5%). The most frequently diagnosed diseases causing mortality involving other body systems were reproductive diseases (acute puerperal metritis 6%), respiratory diseases (pneumonia 5% and pulmonary embolism 1%), metabolic diseases (fatty liver 3%), musculoskeletal diseases (septic arthritis 3% and downer cow syndrome 4%), neurologic diseases (unspecified causes 2%), and finally accidents (electrocution 1%). The most frequent causes of culling were old age/low milk production (39%), followed by the poor reproductive performance (31%), diseases/accidents (24%), and unidentified causes (6%). The most frequent diseases/accidents causing culling were udder diseases (mastitis 32%), followed by non-infectious gastrointestinal diseases (28%) (vagal indigestion [15%], rumen tympany [7%], and abomasal ulcer [6%]), musculoskeletal diseases (23%) (foot and claw diseases [7%], downer cow syndrome [7%], hip luxation [5%], septic arthritis [2%], and gastrocnemius rupture [2%]), respiratory diseases (pneumonia 10%), and finally infectious diseases (9%) (paratuberculosis [3%], hemorrhagic bowel syndrome [2%], and TB [2%]).Conclusion:Results of this study showed that the majority of deaths and culling of dairy cows in Jordan are due to infectious diseases followed by non-infectious gastrointestinal diseases and mastitis. More efforts aiming at improving biosecurity standards, nutritional management, and mastitis prevention measures are required to limit the impact of disease on farm economy, animal health and productivity, and animal welfare in Jordan.

To determine whether cull dairy cows with signs of certain clinical conditions, termed suspect, are more likely than healthy-appearing cull dairy cows to have violative concentrations of flunixin meglumine in their tissues at slaughter. Cross-sectional study. 961 cull dairy cows. Suspect cull dairy cows were selected from 21 beef slaughter establishments with a high production volume of dairy cows, and kidney and liver tissues were collected for screening. Kidney tissues were screened for antibiotics and sulfonamides with the fast antimicrobial screening test (FAST). Liver tissues were screened for flunixin meglumine with an ELISA, and quantitative analysis of ELISA-positive samples was performed with high-performance liquid chromatography. During the same time period, liver tissues from 251 healthy-appearing cull dairy cows were collected for the Food Safety and Inspection Service National Residue Program Scheduled Sampling Plan, but were screened only for flunixin meglumine. Of 710 suspect cull dairy cows, 50 (7.04%) had liver tissue flunixin concentrations higher than the flunixin tolerance concentration (0.125 ppm). Thirty-one of 168 (18.45%) FAST-positive and 19 of 542 (3.51%) FAST-negative suspect cull dairy cows had violative tissue flunixin concentrations. Two of the 251 (0.80%) healthy-appearing cull dairy cows had violative tissue flunixin concentrations. Suspect cull dairy cows, especially those that were also FAST positive, had a significantly higher incidence of violative tissue flunixin concentrations than healthy-appearing cull dairy cows at slaughter. Targeted sampling plans for flunixin meglumine in suspect dairy cows can help to support more efficient use of resources and further safeguard the nation's food supply.

Veterinary drugs are routinely used in the dairy industry. The Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act specifically mentions veterinarians as individuals who could be responsible for illegal drug residues in edible animal products. Despite the laws and inspection activities by federal agencies, drug residues in animal products continue to cause public health concern. Of particular concern are culled dairy cows that are eventually sold for beef. Previous research has found the greatest level of drug residue violations in beef from cull dairy cows and bob veal in the United States. As part of the development of an overall educational program for dairy beef quality assurance, an industry-wide group wanted to assess the knowledge, practices and attitudes of bovine veterinarians and dairy producers concerning beef quality assurance, with particular emphasis on drug residue avoidance. Two survey instruments were developed for dairy producers and for veterinarians in order to identify effective methods for educational outreach

We reviewed and summarized the efforts in the United States to collect data on oral diseases, conditions, and behaviors implemented at the national and state level. The main characteristics of these efforts were: (1) systematic collection of data from representative samples, mostly at the national level; (2) one-time or sporadic experiences when data are collected at state and local levels; (3) use of visual-tactile protocols implemented at the tooth-surface or tooth-site level for data collection; (4) focus mainly on dental caries and periodontal diseases; and (5) leap-time from data collection to publication of results. Using the definition of surveillance in public health (the ongoing and systematic collection, analysis, and interpretation of outcome-specific data for use in planning, implementing, and evaluating public health practice), we show there is an impending need to develop new techniques to build up surveillance systems for oral diseases, conditions, and behaviors at the national, state, and local levels. In the second part of this review, we presented a number of alternative techniques developed in the last 10 years to collect timely data for oral health. The main characteristics of these efforts include: (1) focusing on data collection at state and local level; (2) integration into existing and ongoing surveillance systems; (3) using visual-only protocols to collect data on oral disease status; (4) focusing on a variety of diseases, conditions, and behaviors; and (5) analyzing the data in a timely matter. Many of these efforts have been integrated into the National Oral Health Surveillance System, which has developed eight indicators in response to national health objectives. Finally, we envision the future of visual-tactile protocols in data collection of representative samples to monitor oral health status at the national level and as a research tool. At the state and local level, however, we envision an integrated system of data collection as a constantly evolving process as new techniques are developed in response to new demands.

I commend Nachman et al. (2013) on their careful study of arsenic content in market samples of chicken and am dismayed to learn that arsenic levels in chicken remain high despite our report of arsenic levels in Environmental Health Perspectives in 2004 (Lasky et al. 2004). One possible explanation is the very complicated lines of authority around the regulation of drugs fed to food animals, along with the enforcement of those regulations. Nachman et al. (2013) focused their discussion on the role of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), but many other agencies participate in the regulation and enforcement of residue safety in food animals. As noted by the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) in the introduction to their 2012 Residue Sampling Plans (FSIS 2012), The U.S. National Residue Program (NRP) for Meat, Poultry, and Egg Products, administered by the USDA [U.S. Department of Agriculture] FSIS, is an interagency program designed to identify, rank and test for chemical contaminants in meat, poultry, and egg products. They continue, The NRP requires the cooperation and collaboration of several agencies for its successful design and implementation. The USDA FSIS, the EPA [U.S. Environmental Protection Agency], and the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) FDA are the primary federal agencies managing this program. The FDA, under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, establishes tolerances for veterinary drugs, and action levels for food additives and environmental contaminants. The EPA, under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (as modified by the Food Quality Protection Act), establishes tolerance levels for registered pesticides…. Representatives from FSIS, FDA, EPA, the USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS), the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), and the DHHS Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) collaborate to develop the scheduled sampling program. Setting and enforcing safety levels involves several steps, one of which is the collection of meat and poultry samples, followed by statistical analysis, interpretation, and action. The NRP sampling plan is designed to identify samples with residues above the allowed levels. The data are then analyzed as categorical values (violation, no violation). Current methods of data analysis do not include estimation of mean values that can then be extrapolated to the national food supply. It was by analyzing the data as a continuous variable that my coauthors and I were able to describe the high levels of arsenic in chicken in 2004 (Lasky et al. 2004). Concerns about arsenic levels in chicken are of increasing importance because of the increased per capita consumption of chicken over the past decade (USDA Economic Research Service 2013).

In our paper (Nachman et al. 2013) we focused on dietary arsenic exposure from the use of arsenic-based drugs in food animal production, specifically chicken. We thank Lasky for broadening the discussion on arsenic regulations for food to include federal agencies beyond the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The results of our study (Nachman et al. 2013) indicate that the use of arsenic-based drugs increases the levels of inorganic arsenic in chicken meat. Based on these findings, we recommend banning the use of arsenic-based drugs in food animal production, which are under the jurisdiction of the FDA. It is important, however, to recognize the potential role that could be played by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) under its National Residue Program (NRP). Under its mandate, the NRP facilitates the monitoring of arsenic levels in poultry products and supports enforcement actions for animal products in violation of arsenic standards (USDA FSIS 2012). Unfortunately, the NRP faces constraints (in addition to those noted by Lasky) that limit its effectiveness (Silbergeld and Nachman 2008). The most important of these constraints is the current arsenic standard for meat, which was set before 1963 (FDA 1963) and does not account for recent epidemiologic research. In addition, the standard applies to total arsenic concentrations rather than to inorganic arsenic, the species of greatest health relevance. Because arsenic can be present in food in various forms that have widely varying toxicity, standards might need to be species specific. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is currently revising its toxicological assessment for inorganic arsenic (U.S. EPA 2010) as part of its Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) program. The purpose of this revision is to produce health-based guidance that can be useful in setting arsenic standards in different media (including foods) that reflect our current understanding of dose–response relationships between arsenic exposures and adverse health outcomes. To achieve this goal, coordination between the FDA, U.S. EPA, and NRP is essential. By applying appropriate standards and methods with adequate sensitivity for the arsenic species of interest, the NRP could play a central role in minimizing dietary exposure to arsenic through animal products. Although sale of roxarsone remains suspended in the United States, nitarsone, a chemically similar arsenical drug, continues to be sold (Zoetis 2013). Industry statements in the media have confirmed nitarsone use in the turkey industry (Aubrey 2013), and the USDA estimates of per capita turkey consumption are increasing (USDA 2013). Research is needed to characterize potential contributions of nitarsone to inorganic arsenic concentrations in turkey meat. For these reasons, monitoring efforts remain relevant. In the absence of regulations that limit inorganic arsenic in our foods, the banning of arsenic-based drugs would minimize dietary arsenic exposures in poultry consumers.

The way to maximize scope of analysis, sample throughput, and laboratory efficiency in the monitoring of veterinary drug residues in food animals is to determine as many analytes as possible as fast as possible in as few methods as possible. Capital and overhead expenses are also reduced by using fewer instruments in the overall monitoring scheme. Traditionally, the highly polar aminoglycoside antibiotics require different chromatographic conditions from other classes of drugs, but in this work, we demonstrate that an ion-pairing reagent (sodium 1-heptanesulfonate) added to the combined final extracts from two sample preparation methods attains good separation of 174 targeted drugs, including 9 aminoglycosides, in the same 10.5-min ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS) analysis. The full method was validated in bovine kidney, liver, and muscle tissues according to US regulatory protocols, and 137-146 (79-84%) of the drugs gave between 70 and 120% average recoveries with ≤ 25% RSDs in the different types of tissues spiked at 0.5, 1, and 2 times the regulatory levels of interest (10-1000ng/g depending on the drug). This method increases sample throughput and the possible number of drugs monitored in the US National Residue Program, and requires only one UHPLC-MS/MS method and instrument for analysis rather than two by the previous scheme. Graphical abstract Outline of the streamlined approach to monitor 174 veterinary drugs, including aminoglycosides, in bovine tissues by combining two extracts of the same sample with an ion-pairing reagent for analysis by UHPLC-MS/MS.

This study analyzes the National Residue Program (NRP) of the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), data for the for the years 1983–1998 to determine the effectiveness of all three microbiological screen tests that were developed and used by the FSIS to control antimicrobial residues in food animals. The Swab Test On Premises (STOP) Sulfonamide Test (CAST) and the Fast Antimicrobial Screen Test (FAST). The data for STOP indicates that during 1983–1998, the rate of food animal carcasses with violative levels of was the first screen test introduced in slaughterhouses, followed by the Calf Antibiotic and surveillance plan, the rate reduced from 55.1% to 0.56%. Similarly, the data for CAST indicates that the rate of calf carcasses with violative levels of antimicrobial residue also declined significantly during those years. Because of its higher sensitivity and shorter analytical time, the use of FAST started in 1995. By 1999, it had replaced the use of STOP and CAST in bovine species. The use of only one test such as FAST instead of different tests has removed confusion for testing different species of food animals and thereby has enhanced the efficiency of the NRP.

Public Health Surveillance Meets Translational Informatics: A Desiderata

In resolving issues such as research problems, my opinion is that one should try hard to ensure the robustness of the solution and its reasonable lifespan. My respect for the processes that underpin research projects emanates from this position. Whilst I do not necessarily agree with him completely, it is against the same background that I understand Mouly (as cited in Cohen and Manion, 1980) when he writes: ‘Research is best conceived as the process of arriving at dependable solutions to problems through the planned and systematic collection, analysis, and interpretation of data’ (p. 29). Meanwhile, Schumacher and McMillan (1993) consider research as ‘a systematic process of collecting and logically analysing information (data) for some purpose’ (p. 8). The centrality of the need for systematisation in both cases cannot be overemphasised. However, the questions that arose for me were: what does it mean to be systematic? Is it planned or does it emerge? These questions sounded simplistic at first. However, it soon dawned on me that these questions are the core concerns of methods and methodologies. How one responds to them is largely dependent on one’s set of beliefs and values, or simply put, on one’s paradigm or an interpretative framework (Denzin and Lincoln, 1994).

BackgroundExternal causes of death are the second main killers in several parts of Russia. However, no systematic collection and analysis of injury data exists hindering development of effective prevention. Our...

Society is experiencing the increasingly frequent and severe impacts of climate change and natural climate variability, and needs to prepare. In response to that, European (and non-European) research institutions, private companies, policymakers, funding bodies, and other stakeholders, are becoming more and more concerned about the importance of having quality climate information for supporting decision-making. In this sense, climate services are a key element for adaptation to and mitigation of anthropogenic climate change.Information relevant in the climate services field includes both quantitative data (e.g. measurements of climate variables, uncertainty, etc.) and qualitative data (e.g. stakeholders’ contexts, topics of interest, etc.). Qualitative data refers to non-numerical, descriptive data that captures information, characteristics, or attributes of a phenomenon, allowing for a deeper understanding of certain topics. The increased volume of available qualitative data, together with the advances in computational social sciences in the latest years, have revolutionized the way society is studied. Computational methods can assist in uncovering, for example, themes, patterns, insights, and relationships.This poster presents the application of a computational approach for the systematic identification, collection, storage, and analysis of social sciences data and information, in this case related to the field of climate services. The objective is to understand the current landscape of climate services in Europe, and the stakeholders involved, in order to build an equitable community encompassing providers and users of climate services.Various sources of information related to the provision of climate information and services exist. In this use case, we have focused on examining the EU-funded projects (number of projects, funding programmes and topics, participating institutions, etc.) related to climate services and climate information that are listed in CORDIS (the European Commission's platform on the results of projects funded by the EU's Research and Innovation framework programs).In addition to the methodology used, some preliminary results obtained from the analyses are shown, illustrating the evolution in the number of these projects, which has recently been growing, as well as the institutions involved by country and type of organization. We believe that these results can be a good indicator of the importance being given in Europe to climate services as tools to support communities, organizations, and institutions in adapting to climate change and variability.This is valuable information for the Climateurope2 project (which aims to support the community of climate services and develop recommendations for standardizing them) as it allows the identification of potential already existing projects and institutions that Climateurope2 could engage with. It also indicates where more emphasis needs to be placed on communicating the importance of climate services for decision-making.

Teenage pregnancy is a concern in both developed and developing countries; however the re-entry of teenage mothers into the school system continues to demand attention as society’s negative attitude towards pregnant girls and teenage mothers persists. Those who do return to school suffer from stigmatisation, ridicule, and abuse from both teachers and other learners. This study sought to investigate the impact of teenage motherhood on the academic performance in public primary schools in Bungoma County. The study was guided by social integration model on student retention in schools whose primary purpose was to explain how the interactions among different individuals within the academic, social systems and the communities which comprised them lead individuals of different characteristics to withdraw from that institution prior to completion. Descriptive survey was adopted for the study. The study employed  both quantitative and qualitative technique where quantitative relies on the principle of verifiability and the researcher wants to obtain a large body of data or to perform statistical analysis in order to produce results that can be generalized to the target population while qualitative involves systematic collection, analysis and interpretation of data in order to provide description  on selected issues; hence the researcher will use both techniques in order to maximize the strengths and minimize the limitation of each. The study employed stratified sampling, simple random and purposive sampling. A sample of 35 respondents (teenage mothers) and3 head teachers from public schools in Kopsiro division were sampled for the study. The research instruments used were questionnaire, interview schedule and document analysis. The questionnaires were administered to the teenage mothers while the interview schedules were administered to head teachers. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. The descriptive analysis was summarized using frequencies, percentages and cross-tabulations. The study found out that education prepares girls for jobs, livelihoods, and raises their self-esteem and that teenage motherhood leads to low educational attainment. The study recommended that by supporting teenage mothers would help them achieve their goals in education.   Key words: Teenage, Teenage Motherhood, Academic, Performance, public primary.

BackgroundUnderstanding the effects of herd management practices on the prevalence of multidrug-resistant pathogenic Salmonella and commensals Enterococcus spp. and Escherichia coli in dairy cattle is key in reducing antibacterial resistant infections in humans originating from food animals. Our objective was to explore the herd and cow level features associated with the multi-drug resistant, and resistance phenotypes shared between Salmonella, E. coli and Enterococcus spp. using machine learning algorithms.MethodsRandomly collected fecal samples from cull dairy cows from six dairy farms in central California were tested for multi-drug resistance phenotypes of Salmonella, E. coli and Enterococcus spp. Using data on herd management practices collected from a questionnaire, we built three machine learning algorithms (decision tree classifier, random forest, and gradient boosting decision trees) to predict the cows shedding multidrug-resistant Salmonella and commensal bacteria.ResultsThe decision tree classifier identified rolling herd average milk production as an important feature for predicting fecal shedding of multi-drug resistance in Salmonella or commensal bacteria. The number of culled animals, monthly culling frequency and percentage, herd size, and proportion of Holstein cows in the herd were found to be influential herd characteristics predicting fecal shedding of multidrug-resistant phenotypes based on random forest models for Salmonella and commensal bacteria. Gradient boosting models showed that higher culling frequency and monthly culling percentages were associated with fecal shedding of multidrug resistant Salmonella or commensal bacteria. In contrast, an overall increase in the number of culled animals on a culling day showed a negative trend with classifying a cow as shedding multidrug-resistant bacteria. Increasing rolling herd average milk production and spring season were positively associated with fecal shedding of multidrug- resistant Salmonella. Only six individual cows were detected sharing tetracycline resistance phenotypes between Salmonella and either of the commensal bacteria.DiscussionPercent culled and culling rate reflect the increase in culling over time adjusting for herd size and were associated with shedding multidrug resistant bacteria. In contrast, number culled was negatively associated with shedding multidrug resistant bacteria which may reflect producer decisions to prioritize the culling of otherwise healthy but low-producing cows based on milk or beef prices (with respect to dairy beef), amongst other factors. Using a data-driven suite of machine learning algorithms we identified generalizable and distant associations between antimicrobial resistance in Salmonella and fecal commensal bacteria, that can help develop a producer-friendly and data-informed risk assessment tool to reduce shedding of multidrug-resistant bacteria in cull dairy cows.

Summary: Introduction: Colorectal cancer (CRC) screening is a key tool for secondary prevention, whose eff ectiveness depends on population participation, accessibility of care, and quality of the examinations. Its impact is further determined by systematic data collection and analysis. High-quality data represent a fundamental pillar for monitoring ongoing screening, evaluating outcomes, and identifying weaknesses in the program. The aim is to demonstrate the benefi ts of data for optimizing the Czech program through two case studies. Methods: Data sources included the National Health Information System and the Database of Preventive Colonoscopies managed by the Institute of Health Information and Statistics of the Czech Republic, complemented with sociodemographic data from the Czech Statistical Offi ce. Evaluation was carried out using screening quality indicators and a budget impact analysis focused on the change of age limits in screening. Results: The fi rst case study shows a 33% decrease in CRC incidence and a 49% reduction in mortality since program implementation. Coverage of the target population has long remained around 30%. In 2020, a positive fecal occult blood test (FOBT) rose to 10%. The interval between a positive FOBT and fol low-up colonoscopy corresponds to 3 months. The uptake of fol low-up colonoscopy after a positive FOBT reaches 60%. The second case study revealed that expanding the eligible age range from 45– 74 years will initially lead to a 5– 6% increase in costs; however, from 2029 onwards, a reduction is expected. Discussion: The fi rst study demonstrates the success of screening in reducing incidence and mortality, while also highlighting challenges such as low coverage, high FOBT positives, long waiting times for fol low-up colonoscopy, and low uptake of fol low-up colonoscopy. The second study found that expanding the age range will be cost-eff ective. Data confi rm the benefi ts of screening for population health and indicate areas requiring further attention. Conclusion: Systematically collected and analyzed data are an essential component for evaluating and managing screening programs. The case studies illustrate their applicability in monitoring care quality and supporting health policy decisions. Key words: colorectal cancer – adenoma – screening – colonoscopy – fecal occult blood test – quality indicators – data – statistical analysis