3D Printing the Future of Surgery.

3D printing has had and will continue to have impacts on many areas. One of the most hotly anticipated areas for 3D printing to impact is medicine. By 3D printing medical models, students, doctors and other staff members can get a hands-on learning experience of a pathology, organ or a part of the human anatomy. 3D prints can be made illustrating all manner of conditions or states. These models can be touched, passed around, discussed and are used as a learning tool worldwide. They can be used by residents, medical students, nurses or even to help patients understand their condition or operation. Initially 3D printed medical prototypes were high end and often hand painted affairs. They cost hundreds or thousands of dollars and competed with hand made models. Now desktop 3D printed medical prototypes are providing for an extremely low cost alternative.continue

Antibiotic resistance can occur naturally in soil bacteria.

Scientists have found antibiotic-resistant bacteria in prairie soils that had little or no exposure to human or animal activity.U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists have found antibiotic-resistant bacteria in prairie soils that had little or no exposure to human or animal activity. Antibiotics have effectively treated bacterial diseases for years, but some bacteria have developed resistance to the antibiotics that once killed them.Agricultural Research Service (ARS) researchers are investigating agriculture-related antibiotic resistance and developing solutions to address food safety, animal production and protection, and the environment. Part of their efforts involves looking at antibiotic resistance in soils. Antibiotic-resistant bacteria and antibiotic-resistant genes found in soils where manure was deposited by animals can provide valuable information about what is currently present in a sample site, such as a feedlot. However, the concern is that even if bacteria in manure are dead, their genes can persist in soils. The team examined native prairie soils that had little human impact and no animal grazing during the past 20 years. They collected soil samples from the sites and screened them for antibiotic-resistant bacteria. They found that all prairies contained bacteria that were resistant to tetracycline and cefotaxime -- two commonly prescribed antibiotics that treat a wide variety of infections -- and nearly half of the samples contained bacteria resistant to two or more antibiotics.

Brazilian peppertree Can knock out antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

Scientists at Emory University have discovered that the red berries of the Brazilian peppertree ,a weedy, invasive species common in Florida contain an extract with the power to disarm dangerous antibiotic-resistant staph bacteria. The journal Scientific Reports published the finding made in the Emory's Center for the Study of Human Health and in the School of Medicine's Department of Dermatology.Traditional healers in the Amazon have used the Brazilian peppertree for hundreds of years to treat infections of the skin and soft tissues. The researchers showed that a refined, flavone-rich composition extracted from the berries inhibits formation of skin lesions in mice infected with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus auereus (MRSA). The compound works not by killing the MRSA bacteria, but by repressing a gene that allows the bacteria cells to communicate with one another. Blocking that communication prevents the cells from taking collective action, a mechanism known as quorum quenching. The compound essentially disarms the MRSA bacteria, preventing it from excreting the toxins it uses as weapons to damage tissues, so the body's normal immune system then stands a better chance of healing a wound.

Model assesses interventions for bovine tuberculosis in Morocco.

Researchers reporting in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases have used a disease modeling approach to analyze the cost and effectiveness of interventions aimed at bovine tuberculosis among cattle in Morocco. In many developing countries, a significant fraction of the tuberculosis burden comes potentially from the tuberculosis bacteria carried by animals, essentially cattle. The efforts to reduce the tuberculosis burden therefore, must include strategies to reduce incidence of the bacteria in animals using "One Health" approach. Around 18 percent of cattle in Morocco carry Mycobacterim bovis, which can cause tuberculosis in humans who catch the bacteria from consuming raw milk or being in contact with infected animals. One previous study found that 17.8% of drug resistant TB among humans in Morocco was due to M. bovis rather than the classic Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The main strategy to control bovine tuberculosis (BTB)in Morocco is based on a test and slaughter scheme, but testing is not mandatory. In the study,researchers used a mathematical model of Bovine tuberculosis transmission from cattle to cattle and cattle to humans in order to assess the disease cost and simulate interventions. They assumed a prevalence of 18% among cattle and used annual data on cattle numbers collected by the Moroccan Ministry of Agriculture. The model showed that the time for bovine tuberculosis elimination ranged from 12 years -- with a hundred percent tested -- to 75 years -- when only 20 percent of cattle were tested annually.The simulation also suggested that using a more conservative cutoff for a positive skin test for Bovine tuberculosis would result in cheaper and quicker elimination of the disease.

FRESH-AIR MEAT.

Fresh air meat refers to products derived from pastured livestock,animals raised by sustainable methods.This is the story of a farm raising animals in a sustainable manner ,with increased yield and profit. Continue

AVIAN INFLUENZA: PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE.

In 1996, an H5 avian influenza was identified in geese in Guangdong, China. Almost 20 years later, a variation of that virus wiped out 48 million birds in the U.S. How did the virus get from China to the U.S.? Why did it take 20 years? And how did it spread so rapidly? Those are questions that Travis Schaal, internal technical services manager at Hy-Line International, is trying to answer to ensure that the devastation caused by the virus from 2014 to 2015 isn’t repeated again. continue

COW FERTILITY, SOIL HEALTH, AND COW EFFICIENCY.

Cow fertility: This is one of the left-behind traits of the cattle industry, says Megan Rolf, an animal breeding professor at Kansas State University. While many cattle traits, such as daily gain and muscle quality, have benefited greatly from research, fertility traits like pregnancy rate and calving percentage have stayed fairly stagnant over many years. “What we need to do is find out how to get more cow pregnancies early in the breeding season, and then maintain more of them to term,” says Rolf. A growing database of genomic information on animals assists her and colleagues at other colleges have a project that will use the power of data and computers to plan matings of cows and bulls to eliminate some that could have a lethal ending because of a recessive gene trait. This would enhance fertility – more cows that get bred stay bred. The cattle breed associations control most of this genetic data and will impact how soon this system makes its way to your ranch. A group of animal geneticists from around the country is conducting a study to find if there is a genetic connection to bovine respiratory disease (BRD), the biggest disease scourge to the beef industry. Alison Van Eenennaam of the University of California-Davis tells beef producers that 1.4% of feedlot cattle die before harvest, many of them of BRD. Continue