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One of the defining characteristics of humans, one that could also explain our species' success, is probably our ability to cook food. A brief review of the literature suggests several adaptations of the mouth can be interpreted to support this. All probably enhance the efficiency of the physical treatment of food in the mouth.
The spatial, temporal, and spatio-temporal features of the 2001 British foot-and-mouth disease epidemic in selected areas within the counties of Cumbria and Devon, which experienced the greatest incidence of disease, are described using hazard functions, extraction mapping and the space-time K-function. In Cumbria, the hazard of foot-and-mouth disease infection peaked at 2.8% in the week commencing 8 March 2001 and farm holdings in this area continued to be identified with disease to 12 September 2001. In contrast, peak infection hazard in Devon was 0.7% in the week commencing 15 March 2001 and eradication of the disease was achieved in this area by 31 May 2001. Persistence of the disease in Cumbria was consistent with: (1) many cattle holdings infected early in the epidemic (creating a high environmental viral load), and (2) a relatively large amount of medium-to-long-distance spread of the virus associated with seasonal farming activities-compounded to some extent by the movement of people and vehicles between disaggregated farm land parcels. The interaction of disease risk in Cumbria showed that premises remained infectious for longer throughout May, June and July, consistent with delays in disease detection during this period.
We describe an approach to modelling the spatio-temporal spread of foot and mouth disease through feral animal and unfenced livestock populations. We used a susceptible-infected-recovered model, implemented in a cellular automata framework, to assess the spread of FMD across two regions of Queensland, Australia. Following a sensitivity analysis on the infectious states, scenario analyses were conducted using feral pigs only as the susceptible population, and then with the addition of livestock, and initiated in the wet season and in the dry season. The results indicate that, depending on the season the outbreak is initiated, and without the implementation of control measures, an outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease around Winton could continue unchecked, while an outbreak around Cape York may die out naturally. The approach explicitly incorporates the spatial relationships between the populations through which the disease spreads and provides a framework by which the spread of disease outbreaks can be explored through varying the model parameters. It highlights the emergence and importance of spatio-temporal patterns, something that previous modelling of FMD in feral animal and unfenced livestock populations has lacked.
Thirty-two patients with burning mouth syndrome and 32 matched control subjects were evaluated for their personality profile using a comprehensive, reliable, and validated inventory. All subjects were requested to complete the Neo PI-R questionnaire that measures the 5 dimensions of personality and their facets. A t-test and univariate correlations (Pearson's correlation coefficient) were used to compare the 2 groups. Results show high significant differences in some personality factors. Neuroticism and all its facets, which include anxiety, angry hostility, depression, self-consciousness, impulsiveness and vulnerability, were significant at P<.001. Other domains like extraversion, openness, and conscientiousness showed significant differences also (P<.05). Many personality characteristics differentiate burning mouth syndrome patients from controllers according to the Neo PI-R and this should affect the treatment plan according to the identified characteristics.
For efficient and accurate genotyping of transgenic and knockout mice, the ability to reduce pain and suffering and to obtain DNA early in life are critical. We have developed a novel method to sample buccal cells from neonatal mice to obtain DNA. Our mouse mouth cell collection process includes an oral speculum and collection device which enables rapid extraction of enough DNA for up to 50 PCRs from each buccal sampling. This cell collection device fills a clear need for buccal sampling from neonatal mice, greatly facilitating research in mouse models of human disease. Eliminating the pain, distress, and death caused by invasive and mutilating procedures lessens the potential for confounding variables between control and experimental animals. In conclusion, our mouse mouth cell collection process can be applied to very small animals for which there exists no current device.
BACKGROUND: Argyrophilic nucleolar organizer regions (AgNORs) represent a tissue marker of cell proliferative activity. The purpose of this study was to assess the prognostic value of AgNORs expression in oral squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). METHODS: The AgNORs area/nucleus was studied in paraffin sections by means of digital image analysis in 43 cases of stage II oral tongue and floor of the mouth SCC. RESULTS: Time free of disease was considered a dependent variable of a binary indicator of AgNORs expression (7.77 microns2/nucleus as a cut-off point). High AgNORs level was associated with a statistically significant negative effect on recurrence-free interval of disease in a Cox proportional hazards models controlled for occult lymph node metastasis, involvement of the surgical margins, thickness of the lesion, and vascular invasion. CONCLUSIONS: The AgNORs area increased the capability of predicting which patients have a high risk of recurrence of cancer, and its evaluation may provide useful information for the therapeutic approach to the oral tongue and floor of the mouth SCC.
The majority of cases of oral malodour are thought to be due to bacterial activities in the mouth, but many of the bacterial species responsible have not been identified. Volatile sulphide compounds have been proposed as constituents of oral malodour. Therefore, the relation between intensity of odour and numbers of bacteria in the mouth that are sulphide-producing from sulphate was investigated. Numbers of such dissimilatory sulphate-reducing bacteria (SRB) and sulphide reduction rates were evaluated in samples from different oral sites in relation to measures of oral malodour. Results showed that sulphate-reducing bacterial numbers and activities were negatively correlated with malodour, as determined by organoleptic assessment and measurement with a sulphide-monitoring instrument, the Halimeter. The data indicate that sulphide produced by oral SRB may not be an important contributor to oral malodour. A rather poor correlation was observed between Halimetric and organoleptic values, indicating that these methods may measure different aspects of oral malodour intensity.
The carrier state in foot and mouth disease (FMD) is characterized by the asymptomatic low-level excretion of foot and mouth disease virus (FMDV) from the oropharynx of ruminants for periods that are species and virus strain-dependent. Persistent infection with FMDV readily occurs following the failure of virus elimination at the acute stage of infection, a process thought to be mediated through the phagocytosis of antibody/virus immune complexes. Recent evidence supports the view that carrier cattle are important in the epidemiology of FMD in the field. The absence of histopathological change in persistently infected tissues and the reduced cytopathology of carrier virus isolates in tissue culture suggest that less lytic FMDV variants are generated or selected in the carrier animal. Altered virus replication, due to attenuation or interference, rather than antigenic variation may therefore allow evasion of the exaggerated FMDV-specific systemic and local humoral immune responses that occur in the carrier state. Although cell-mediated immune mechanisms for FMDV clearance have not been described, the eventual elimination of many persistent virus infections involves this arm of the immune system. Thus, further investigation of cellular elements of the immune response, more particularly the local interaction of mononuclear cell infiltrates with persistently infected cells, represents an area of research that has the potential to elucidate the carrier state problem.
A total of 298 serum samples were collected from Dutch cattle born in 1988 or before, and examined in the virus neutralisation test for antibodies against foot-and-mouth disease virus types A10 Holland. O BFS, and C1Detmold. All the cattle had been vaccinated at least twice during the annual vaccination programme, which stopped in 1991. Antibody titres equal to or higher than the titre at which 95 per cent of the cattle would be expected to be protected against challenge, were found in 57 to 73 per cent of the younger age groups, and in 100 per cent of the older animals. Since the animals tested constituted only 10.5 per cent of the total cattle population on the farms tested, it is concluded that should the virus be introduced, foot-and-mouth disease would be detected as easily in the Netherlands as in a country with no history of vaccination.
The author describes activities conducted by the International Organisation for Animal Health (OIE: Office International des Epizooties) to control foot and mouth disease (FMD) world-wide. These activities fall within the framework of the principal missions of the OIE. The first of these missions is the collection and dissemination of epidemiological information and of scientific knowledge on animal diseases, the socio-economic or disease implications of which can be particularly serious. The implementation of the measures required to control the disease and to protect countries threatened by FMD depends on the quality and rapidity of the transmission of this information. The co-ordination of studies, research and control programmes against FMD is equally important for the OIE. This work is based, in particular, on work conducted by the OlE foot and mouth disease and other epizootics Commission. OIE Member Countries not only have access to the most recent data on the diagnosis, surveillance and control of FMD but also have recourse to the official recognition procedure for disease-free status provided by this Commission. Finally, through the standardisation of health recommendations, diagnostic tests, manufacture protocols and the control of biological products, made available by the OIE International Animal Health Code Commission in regard to the former and by the OIE Standards Commission in regard to the latter, the OIE provides the reference for international trade in animals and animal products, and is recognised in this role by the World Trade Organization.
Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is the most contagious animal virus disease of cloven-hoofed livestock and requires reliable and accurate diagnosis for the implementation of measures to control effectively its spread. Routine diagnosis of FMD is carried out at the OIE/FAO World Reference Laboratory for Foot-and-Mouth Disease (WRL for FMD), Pirbright by the combined use of ELISA and virus isolation in cell culture supplemented by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) methods. These techniques require skilled personnel and dedicated laboratory facilities which are expensive. The development of a rapid and simple test for the detection of FMD virus antigen using Clearview chromatographic strip test technology for field application is described. This device detected FMD viral antigen in nasal swabs, epithelial suspensions and probangs from clinical samples submitted from the field, from animals infected experimentally and in supernatant fluids resulting from their passage in cell culture. The test system was more sensitive than ELISA for the diagnosis of all seven serotypes of FMD virus in the epithelial suspensions and nasal swabs and had equivalent sensitivity to the ELISA for the detection of contemporary virus strains in cell culture supernatant fluids. The study demonstrated the potential for this device to confirm a clinical diagnosis at the site of a suspected FMD outbreak, thereby offering the possibility of implementing control procedures more rapidly. Such pen-side diagnosis would have particular benefits in FMD emergencies, relevance to FMD control programmes which operate in endemic regions of the world such as South East Asia and for increasing disease awareness in other areas where efforts to control disease may be difficult. In each circumstance the availability of a pen-side device for diagnosis would reduce the necessity for sending routine diagnostic samples to an FMD laboratory and thereby reduce the delay in diagnosis, which can in some areas be considerable.
A simple solid-phase blocking ELISA for the detection of antibodies directed against type O foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) was developed. The ELISA was validated using field sera collected from cattle, pigs and sheep originating from FMDV infected and non-infected Dutch farms, reference sera obtained from the World Reference Laboratory for foot-and-mouth disease at the Institute for Animal Health, Pirbright Laboratory, UK and sera from experimentally infected animals. Testing 2664 sera collected from non-infected cattle, pigs and sheep resulted in a specificity of 96%. A sensitivity relative to the virus neutralisation test (VNT) of >99% was achieved when testing 148 positive cattle, goat and sheep sera collected from FMDV-infected Dutch farms. All international reference sera scored consistently correct. The ELISA also correctly scored 398 of 409 positive experimentally derived sera. The sensitivity and specificity of this monoclonal antibody-based ELISA for detection of type O FMDV antibodies is sufficient for use as a screening ELISA. During the 2001 epidemic in the Netherlands, 8000 serum samples per day were regularly tested in this ELISA. The samples scoring positive were then tested by neutralisation for confirmation thus making optimum use of the neutralisation testing capacity.
This paper addresses the risks involved when bovine embryos are moved internationally and, specifically, the possibilities of transmitting foot-and-mouth disease, bluetongue and vesicular stomatitis by embryos originating from an area in South America. The risk scenario pathway was divided into three phases for analysis. The first phase dealt with the potential for embryo contamination which depends on the disease situation in the exporting country and/or region, the health status of the herds and the donor cows from which the embryos are collected, and the pathogenetic characteristics of the specified disease agent. The second phase covers risk mitigation by use of internationally accepted standards for processing of embryos, and the third phase encompassed the risk reductions resulting from post-collection surveillance of the donors and donor herds, and also from testing of embryo-collection (flushing) fluids for the disease agent. Quantitative risk analysis showed that under the circumstances specified in the paper, the risk of transmission of foot-and-mouth disease and vesicular stomatitis by embryos would be likely to be less than 1 in 100 billion (10(-11.0)) and 1 in 100 million (10(-8.0)), respectively. The values for bluetongue were 1 in 30,000 (10(-4.2)) when embryos were collected in the vector season and 1 in 1 million (10(-6.0)) in the season with low vector activity. These risk values were influenced by the incidence of each disease in the area of origin and the ease with which clinical signs can be recognised. Competent embryo processing according to procedures recommended by the International Embryo Transfer Society were also of great importance. The analysis showed that the reasons for the low levels of risk of transmission differed for each of the three diseases. In the case of bluetongue, vector ecology was of major importance.
Foot-and-mouth disease is a highly contagious disease of cloven hooved animals. In cattle, both acute and long-term persistent infections occur. Foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV), a picornavirus, has been shown, using virus isolation procedures, to replicate in the pharynx and soft palate of cattle. In this study, in situ hybridization has been used to detect FMDV RNA within the cells of tissues removed from infected bovines. A digoxigenin-labelled anti-sense RNA probe was prepared corresponding to a region of the FMDV genome encoding part of the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (3D). The efficacy and specificity of this probe for in situ hybridisation was determined using virus-infected cells in tissue culture. Strong cytoplasmic staining was only detected in FMDV-infected cells. Various tissue samples were collected from FMDV-infected cattle between 5 and 17 days post-infection. Viral RNA was detected by in situ hybridisation within cells of the soft palate, tonsil and pharynx up to 17 days post-infection. This technique is useful for the study of FMDV localization in cattle both during and after the acute clinical phase of disease and may assist in identifying specific sites of virus persistence.
The burning mouth syndrome is characterized by burning and painful sensations of the mouth in the absence of significant mucosal abnormalities. For patients in whom no causative factor can be identified, empiric antifungal, nutritional, and estrogen replacement therapy can be initiated. If these fail, long-term therapy with antidepressants, benzodiazepines, and clonazepam can be considered. Topical capsaicin and laser therapy have been reported beneficial in a few patients.
OBJECTIVES: To describe the results obtained from conducting non-hospital mouth surgery in a buccal-dental health unit, to evaluate the quality of care and to monitor its evolution over two years. DESIGN: Descriptive, retrospective study with quality assessment methodology. PARTICIPANTS: Oral surgery interventions conducted during 1998 and 1999. SETTING: Primary care. Buccal-Dental Health Unit at Villanueva de la Serena. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: 140 interventions took place in 1998 and 1999. 12 descriptive variables were analysed. 10 explicit standard quality criteria were worked out. Scientific and technical quality was measured through compliance rates. The radicular remains (28.6%) and the cordal remains included or retained (24.3%) were the most common diagnoses. The most frequently employed surgical procedures were: residual root extraction (28.6%) and the surgical extraction of included tooth (24.3%). 100% of users had signed an informed consent. In 9.9% of procedures a biopsy was performed: it gave 92.8% concordance with the diagnosis. In 1998, 6 of the 10 criteria scored above 90%. The mean of criteria satisfied per intervention was 7.4. There were clear deficiencies in anamnesis data collection (9.24%) and recording of post-operative complications (0% compliance). 60% of criteria did not achieve the standard. In 1999, 40% of criteria had a figure between 99 and 100%. 70% of criteria achieved the standard. The quantification of the improvement was significant in anamnesis (p < 0.001), analysis (p < 0.001) and post-operative complications (p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Performing mouth surgery is a feasible non-hospital service. The quality cycle installed was highly effective.
We have designed a peptide-based vaccine for foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) effective in swine. The peptide immunogen has a G-H loop domain from the VP1 capsid protein of foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) and a novel promiscuous T helper (Th) site for broad immunogenicity in multiple species. The G-H loop VP1 site was optimised for cross-reactivity to FMDV by the inclusion into the peptide of cyclic constraint and adjoining sequences. The incorporation of consensus residues into the hypervariable positions of the VP1 site provided for broad immunogenicity. The vaccine protected 20 out of 21 immunised pigs from infectious challenge by FMDV O1 Taiwan using peptide doses as low as 12.5 microg, and a mild adjuvant that caused no lesions. A safe chemically-defined product would have considerable advantages for vaccination against FMD.
In this work, we have investigated the immune response in pigs to two recombinant plasmids containing immunodominant neutralizing antibody epitopes of foot-and-mouth disease virus structural protein (VP1) coexpressed with viral non-structural proteins as a source of T cell epitopes. The plasmid pcDNA3.1/3D15 contained a sequence coding for the 3D polymerase upstream of a sequence coding for peptide FMDV15, a peptide derived from VP1, previously shown to stimulate protective immunity to foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV), that consisted of the carboxy terminal peptide [VP1(200-213)] linked by ProProSer to the "loop" peptide [VP1(143-160)] and terminating in CysGly. The plasmid, pcDNA3.1/2B15 contained a sequence coding for the non-structural protein 2B, and the same FMDV15 peptide sequence. Pigs injected with both constructs showed antibody and T cell responses to 3D and 2B, but not to the FMDV15 peptide. Additionally, delayed type hypersensitivity responses were observed in some cases to both 3D or 2B and to FMDV virus. Finally, no protection was seen against FMDV infection in animals immunized with either of the two FMDV DNA constructs. The additional co-immunization of plasmids encoding for GMCSF did not result in any significant change in the immune responses to the plasmids encoding for FMDV. This work gives some optimism for the construction of a DNA vaccine for FMDV in the future.