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Biomedical subjects

J C Holmes

Publications and source records attributed to J C Holmes.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Expenditures for veterinary services and other costs of disease and disease prevention in 57 California beef herds in the National Animal Health Monitoring System (1988-1989).

Data on costs associated with episodes of disease and disease prevention, including expenditures for veterinary services, were collected from 57 California beef cow-calf herds during 1988-1989 as part of the National Animal Health Monitoring System. Mean cost associated with episodes of disease was $33.90/cow-year, with $0.78 and $1.37/cow-year being spent for veterinary services and drugs, respectively. The highest cost for veterinary services related to episodes of disease were for dystocia, lameness, and ocular carcinoma. For disease prevention, mean expenditures for veterinary services were $1.67/cow-year, nearly all of which was spent on prevention of reproductive tract conditions. Preventive expenditures for veterinary services related to female infertility (pregnancy examination), vaccination against brucellosis and male infertility (breeding soundness examination) were $0.72, $0.39, and $0.22/cow-year, respectively. Many costs associated with episodes of disease and disease prevention were similar to those reported from Colorado National Animal Health Monitoring System beef herds.

Agriculture

The hypocholesterolemic effect of dietary soybean protein vs. casein in hamsters fed cholesterol-free or cholesterol-enriched semipurified diets.

Golden Syrian hamsters fed a cholesterol-free diet containing 25% casein had higher plasma total triglyceride and cholesterol levels and VLDL + LDL cholesterol levels than animals fed a 25% soybean protein diet. Hamsters fed the cholesterol-free casein diet also had higher HDL cholesterol levels than animals fed the soybean protein diet, but these differences were not statistically significant. Addition of cholesterol to the diets caused even greater mean differences between the animals fed different types of protein, but the increased inter-animal variability of response to the added cholesterol resulted in less statistically significant differences. Although less responsive than the nonhybrid Golden Syrian hamsters, hybrid F1B hamsters showed similar effects of dietary casein vs. soybean protein on plasma lipids. These results indicate that the hamster may be a useful model to examine the effect of different types of protein and the interaction with dietary cholesterol on various plasma lipids and lipoproteins.

Animals

Veterinary and nonveterinary costs of disease in 29 California dairies participating in the National Animal Health Monitoring System from 1988 to 1989.

Twenty-nine California dairy herds were studied over a 12-month period from 1988 to 1989 as part of the National Animal Health Monitoring System. Monthly interviews administered to dairy producers were used to measure the costs of all health-related expenditures and disease incidence in these herds. Of the total $1,523,558 reported, $1,355,467 (89%) was attributed to cost of disease events and $168,091 (11%) to cost of disease prevention. Most (78%) of the cost of disease events was attributable to death and culling losses. Veterinary services accounted for only $54,099 (4%) of total costs, 64% of which was used for disease prevention, compared with 36% for disease treatment. Udder disease was the most costly category of diseases reported at an average of $49.85/head at risk annually, followed by reproductive problems at $38.05. Through the use of sampling strategies less biased than those used in other surveys, the National Animal Health Monitoring System is designed to provide statistically-valid estimates of disease incidence and costs across broad geographic areas, potentially benefiting all those interested in the economics of livestock diseases in the United States.

Animals

Competition, contacts, and other factors restricting niches of parasitic helminths.

Mechanisms that restrict the intraintestinal niches of helminths (as indicated by the sites they occupy) can be favored by several selection pressures. These selection pressures act on different scales, and may interact to have different effects in different circumstances. In addition, the end results may not reflect responses to the niche, but be a by-product of other processes, such as the immune responses of the host.

Animals

Low-normal concentrations of free thyroxin in serum in late pregnancy: physiological fact, not technical artefact.

Free thyroxin (FT4) concentrations, total thyroxin/thyroxin-binding globulin (T4/TBG) ratios, and thyrotropin (TSH) and albumin concentrations were measured in serum in a longitudinal study in each of the three trimesters of 25 normal pregnancies. In late pregnancy, FT4 estimates by assays reputedly either affected or unaffected by albumin were in the lower half of the reference range for nonpregnant subjects. T4/TBG ratios and albumin concentrations were similarly lower. FT4 overall was significantly (P less than 0.001) correlated with these latter two values. Serum TSH concentrations increased as FT4 declined in late pregnancy. Nonesterified fatty acid (NEFA) concentrations were too low to displace T4 from its binding proteins and were not correlated with other measurements. Within any one of the trimesters, FT4 and T4/TBG were independent of variations in TBG or albumin concentrations. This implies that lower FT4 concentrations in late pregnancy are real, merely coinciding with parallel decreases in albumin. They are not artefacts of albumin-affected assays.

Adult

Functional relationships and microhabitat distributions of enteric helminths of grebes (Podicipedidae): the evidence for interactive communities.

The significance of interspecific interactions as a structuring force in the enteric helminth communities of 4 species of grebes (Aechmophorus occidentalis, Podiceps grisegena, P. nigricollis, and P. auritus) was evaluated. Patterns of microhabitat distribution revealed that helminths resided in predictable locations along the length of the small intestine. Individual species of helminths occupied a high proportion of the intestine and varied in position in different host species suggesting a broad tolerance for conditions along the intestine. However, in individual birds, helminths were much more restricted in distribution, overlapped considerably less than their overall ranges would suggest, congeners had complementary distributions, and there was evidence of interference by at least 1 core species, all suggesting that interactions are important in these communities. Nevertheless, vacant niches were present in most birds, and core species were not distributed more evenly than would be expected through random placement. This suggests that important resources may not be distributed evenly along the intestinal gradient.

Animals

Experimental infections of free-ranging Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep with lungworms (Protostrongylus spp.; Nematoda: Protostrongylidae).

Twelve free-ranging Rocky Mountain bighorn lambs (Ovis canadensis canadensis), each exposed experimentally to 125-1,000 infective third-stage larvae of Protostrongylus stilesi and P. rushi, shed significantly more first-stage larvae in their feces than did control lambs, but showed no clinical signs of illness and had equivalent summer and overwinter survival as control lambs. Two adult ewes, each exposed to 925 infective larvae, showed no increase in numbers of first-stage larvae in their feces; both survived at least 14 mo postexposure. Experimentally exposed lambs did not differ from control lambs in numbers of larvae in their feces in the following summer. Three experimental lambs had 313-402 adult P. stilesi and 0-97 adult P. rushi on necropsy; two control lambs had 255 and 270 P. stilesi and no P. rushi. The presence of these numbers of lungworms did not appear to be sufficient to precipitate lungworm pneumonia in bighorn lambs under the conditions of this study.

Animals

Hemodynamic effects of nitroprusside and hydralazine in experimental cardiac tamponade.

Cardiac tamponade is associated with decreased cardiac output and increased systemic vascular resistance. Thus, vasodilator drugs might lower systemic resistance and increase cardiac output. Three groups of dogs were studied during tamponade. Group I received nitroprusside only; group II received blood transfusion and then nitroprusside; group III received hydralazine. In group I, nitroprusside lowered right artrial pressure and systemic resistance; cardiac output was unchanged. In group II, transfusion raised right atrial pressure but not cardiac output. Then nitroprusside raised cardiac output significantly. Hydralazine decreased right atrial pressure less than nitroprusside but decreased vascular resistance and raised cardiac output. Both nitroprusside and hydralazine decreased systemic vascular resistance during tamponade, but only hydralazine raised cardiac output probably because of its lesser effect upon the capacitance vessels. Nitroprusside maintained cardiac output during tamponade despite lowered right atrial pressure but increased cardiac output only after transfusion.

Animals

Tardy ulnar nerve palsy in children.

Tardy ulnar nerve palsy in the child is an infrequent occurrence. In 5 cases all occurring after injury about the elbow, the lesion involved not only lateral but also medial structures. The latency period from elbow injury to palsy was not always long and ranged from 2 months to 29 months. Possibly because of the age of the patients and short duration of the palsy, anterior transposition promoted prompt remission of symptoms and signs.

Adolescent

Fusion for instability and potential instability of the cervical spine in children and adolescents.

Instability and potential instability of the cervical spine in the child and adolescent not presenting as emergencies may be due to many causes. We have reviewed 30 patients treated surgically over a seven year period and have grouped them under four general headings: isolated congenital anomalies of the cervical spine, postlaminectomy instability, traumatic instability with delayed presentation, and bony or ligamentous inadequacy secondary to miscellaneous conditions. The variety of conditions permits few generalizations. However, an overview of the entire group supports the concept that abnormal motion in an immature spine or the potential for such motion should be viewed cautiously by the orthopedist, for it may herald severe neurologic compromise. When compromise has occurred, the decision to intervene is made easier. Should only increased motion or the potential for such be present, the natural history of the lesion, if available, should be the guide to treatment. If the natural history of a cervical spine lesion is not available and structural integrity is compromised with abnormal motion present, fusion is advised. Appropriate patient counseling as to the lack of an alternative, with the exception of prolonged bracing to avoid the hazards of life, is essential in this group of individuals.

Adolescent