The objectives of this study were to induce and characterize verotoxin-encoding phages from a collection of 91 verotoxin-producing Escherichia coli (VTEC) O103:H2 strains of human and bovine origins. All the strains carried the vt1 gene, and two carried the vt2 gene as well. The phages were induced by UV irradiation and characterized by DNA restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP), genom...

Characteristics of VTEC cases identified through routine surveillance in Ontario between 1990 and 1994 are described. Information was extracted from the Reportable Disease Information System (RDIS) of Ontario and was evaluated for its completeness and internal validity. A total of 2,441 VTEC cases were identified for the five-year study period corresponding to an average annual rate of 4.8 case...

The proinflammatory cytokines tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) interleukin (IL)-1 beta, IL-6, and IL-8 were measured in plasma and urine samples from 19 children with verocytotoxin-producing Escherichia coli (VTEC) induced haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS) and 30 controls. TNF-alpha was detected in the plasma of two cases and one control; IL-6 in the plasma of one, and the urine of two ...

The effect of the thermospheric vertical neutral wind on vertical total electron content (vTEC) variations including longitudinal anomaly, remaining winter anomaly, mid-latitude summer night anomaly, and semiannual anomaly is studied at mid-latitude regions around zero magnetic declination at midnight during high solar activity. By using the principal component analysis (PCA) numerical techniqu...

The locus of enterocyte effacement (LEE) and genomic O island 122 (OI-122) are pathogenicity islands in verocytotoxin-producing Escherichia coli (VTEC) serotypes that are associated with outbreaks and serious disease. Composed of three modules, OI-122 may occur as "complete" (with all three modules) or "incomplete" (with one or two modules) in different strains. OI-122 encodes two non-LEE effec...

European Union legislation requires member states to keep national databases of all bovine animals. This allows for disease spread models that includes the time-varying contact network and population demographic. However, performing data-driven simulations with a high degree of detail are computationally challenging. We have developed an efficient and flexible discrete-event simulator SimInf fo...

Although breeding of F4 receptor - negative (F4R(-)) pigs may prevent post-weaning diarrhea, the underlying immunity is poorly understood. Here, various doses of a Bacillus licheniformis and Bacillus subtilis mixture (BLS-mix) were orally administered to F4ab/acR(-) pigs for 1 week before F4 (K88) - positive ETEC/VTEC/EPEC challenge. Administration of BLS-mix increased the percentage of Foxp3(-...

Regularized estimation of Total Electron Content (Reg-Est) is a novel technique which can combine signals from all the satellites for a given instant and given station and estimate the vertical TEC (VTEC) values for any desired period without missing any important features in the temporal or spatial domain. The preprocessed signals from all the satellites that are received for a certain time pe...

A randomized control trial on verocytotoxigenic Escherichia coli (VTEC)-infected farms found evidence that: (1) keeping animals in the same group; (2) maintaining dry bedding; (3) preventing direct contact with neighbouring cattle; and (4) maintaining a closed herd, were associated with a reduced risk of infection in youngstock aged 3–18 months. This study evaluated these interventions using a ...

The incidence of malignant lymphomas has been increasing in recent years worldwide. These diseases are often accompanied by venous thromboembolic complications (VTEC). development VTEC leads to interrupting therapy, mortality and significant rising treatment costs. Anticoagulants effective prophylaxis. Prescribing anticoagulant therapy is based on different risk scales, which far from perfect. ...