Thomas Farver - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Thomas Farver

A polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay was developed for detection of white sturgeon iridovirus ... more A polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay was developed for detection of white sturgeon iridovirus (WSIV). The synthetic oligonucleotides WS 229F and WS 245R generate a 519 bp DNA amplicon from the WSIV genome that encodes the putative major capsid protein (MCP) gene. The WSIV PCR detected as little as 1 fg of plasmid DNA as mixed with 100 ng of host DNA. No amplicons were detected with the WSIV PCR assay upon testing of genomic DNA from uninfected white sturgeon spleen cell line (WSS-2), uninfected white sturgeon tissues, white sturgeon adenovirus (WSAV), Acipenserid herpesvirus 2 (AcHV-2), frog virus 3 (FV-3), epizootic haematopoietic necrosis virus (EHNV), and red sea bream iridovirus (RSIV). The newly developed PCR assay was also evaluated with groups of juvenile white sturgeon following experimental exposures to WSIV. An analysis of WSIV detection by PCR compared to current histological methods provided sensitivity estimates of 98% and 64% for PCR and histology, respectively. This new PCR assay provides a more rapid and sensitive approach for the detection of WSIV infections among juvenile white sturgeon than currently available diagnostic approaches including virus isolation and microscopic examinations of stained tissue sections.

Animal health research reviews / Conference of Research Workers in Animal Diseases, 2014

Clinical scoring systems have been proposed for respiratory disease diagnosis in calves, includin... more Clinical scoring systems have been proposed for respiratory disease diagnosis in calves, including the Wisconsin (WI) system (McGuirk in 2008) which uses five clinical signs, each partitioned into four levels of severity. Recently, we developed the California (CA) bovine respiratory disease (BRD) scoring system requiring less calf handling and consisting of six clinical signs, each classified as normal or abnormal. The objective of this study was to estimate the on-farm agreement between the WI and the CA scoring systems. A total of 100 calves were enrolled on a CA dairy and assessed for BRD case status using the two scoring systems simultaneously. The Kappa coefficient of agreement between these two systems was estimated to be 0.85, which indicated excellent agreement beyond chance. The simpler design and reduced calf handling required by the CA BRD scoring system may make it advantageous for on-farm use.

Virology, 2009

Many theories about the modes of avian influenza virus (AIV) transmission have been proposed, but... more Many theories about the modes of avian influenza virus (AIV) transmission have been proposed, but few have been quantified, and none within a flock or live bird market (LBM) setting where birds are often kept in stacked cages. We describe a novel experimental design and the results collected for the purpose of estimating transmission rates specific to the potential modes of AIV transmission within an LBM. Chickens of the strains and ages found in California LBMs were inoculated with low pathogenicity AIV H6N2. Aerosol exposure was found to be the most important route of transmission for this H6N2 AIV. The handling of infectious chickens resulted in the transmission of H6N2 AIV, though the virus was not detectible by rRT-PCR. Chickens with fecal exposure to infected birds (median = 8.0 DPI) had detectable virus earlier than in those with aerosol exposure only (median = 10.0 DPI). Changes in the hemagglutinin sequence were not found to be associated with oropharyngeal or cloacal shedding in this study.

Veterinary Research Communications, 1981

A mixed breed flock of lambs, consisting of Suffolks, Hampshires, Columbias and Finnish breeds, w... more A mixed breed flock of lambs, consisting of Suffolks, Hampshires, Columbias and Finnish breeds, were vaccinated with binary ethylenimine inactivated blue-tongue virus (BTV) serotypes 11, 17 and a mixture of 11 and 17 in aluminum hydroxide. Agar gel precipitin antibodies were used as an indicator of immunity. Sero-conversion of Hampshires and Suffolk lambs was poor at 43% as compared to 84% in the Columbia and Finn lambs. These results indicate a breed difference in immunological response to inactivated BTV vaccine.

Veterinary Dermatology, 2011

Resume Une importance croissante est donnée au rôle des facteurs de croissance des fibroblastes (... more Resume Une importance croissante est donnée au rôle des facteurs de croissance des fibroblastes (FGF) dans le cycle pilaire. Chez la souris, les pics d'expression d'ARNm FGF18 au cours de la phase télogène tardive implique que FGF pourrait jouer un rôle dans l' ...

Veterinary Clinical Pathology, 1986

Improper handling of specimens results in artifactually high Mean Platelet Volume (MPV) measureme... more Improper handling of specimens results in artifactually high Mean Platelet Volume (MPV) measurements limiting their usefulness as a clinical tool. MPV measurement and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) were performed on split specimens collected from normal dogs using two anticoagulants and two temperatures over a period of 4 hours. Platelets exposed to EDTA and main-tained at 4OC (39.2OF) exhibited the highest artifactual increase in MPV, while those exposed to citrate and maintained at 37OC (98.6OF) exhibited minimal change. The increase in MPV was accompanied by platelet shape change from a smooth disc to an irregular sphere with filopodia. It is recommended that citrated specimens maintained at 37OC be used in all MPV meagurements.

Preventive Veterinary Medicine, 1997

This paper reports results from two example data sets of a two-stage sampling design where sampli... more This paper reports results from two example data sets of a two-stage sampling design where sampling (in panels) both farms and animals within selected farms increases the efficiency of parameter estimation from measurements recorded over time. With such a design, not only are farms replaced from time-to-time but also animals subsampled within retained farms are subject to replacement. Three general categories of parameters estimated for the population (the set of animals belonging to the universe of farms of interest) were (1) the total at each measurement occasion; (2) the difference between means or totals on successive measurement occasions; (3) the total over a sequence of successive measurement periods. Whereas several responses at the farm level were highly correlated over time ( p,), the corresponding animal responses were less correlated over time ( p,)-leading to only moderate gains in relative efficiency. Intraclass correlation values were too low in most cases to counteract the overall negative impact of p2. In general, sizeable gains in relative efficiency were observed for estimating change-confirming a previous result which showed this to be true provided that p, was high (irrespective of pz). 0 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.

Preventive Veterinary Medicine, 1986

Habtemariam, T., Ruppanner, R., Farver, T.B. and Riemann, H.P., 1986. Determination of risk group... more Habtemariam, T., Ruppanner, R., Farver, T.B. and Riemann, H.P., 1986. Determination of risk groups to African trypanosomiasis using discriminant analysis. Prey. Vet. Med., The classification of regions into high or low risk areas with respect to the trypanosomiasis--tsetse problem is essential to planning disease control activities. Discriminant analysis was performed on a multivariate data set obtained from Southwest Ethiopia, to obtain a mathematical function that can be used for classification into high or low risks using 24 explanatory variables. The prevalence of trypanosomiasis, the dependent variable, was evaluated at either 5% or 10%. For the classification rule based on a critical prevalence demarcation of 10%, the presence of forested areas (XT), human population density per cultivated hectare (X,4), and fusca group tsetse (X~9) were important; therefore, control of the disease should emphasize these factors. Various misclassification probabilities and an interpretation of the above functions in light of the epidemiology of the disease were presented. The overall significance df discriminant analysis as an epidemiological tool was discussed.

Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, 2001

To determine seroprevalence of antibodies to Bartonella vinsonii subsp berkhoffii and risk factor... more To determine seroprevalence of antibodies to Bartonella vinsonii subsp berkhoffii and risk factors for seropositivity among working dogs owned by the US government. Cross-sectional study. 1,872 dogs. An ELISA was used to detect antibodies to B vinsonii subsp berkhoffii. Antibodies to B vinsonii subsp berkhoffii were detected in 162 dogs (8.7%; 95% confidence interval, 7.4 to 10.0%). Dogs living in the southeast, plains states, southwest, and south-central were significantly more likely to be seropositive than were dogs living in other regions of the United States. German Shepherd-type dogs were significantly less likely to be seropositive than were dogs of other breeds, and dogs entering training programs or that had been rejected from a training program were significantly more likely to be seropositive than were dogs used for narcotics detection and dogs trained to patrol or detect explosives. Dogs used by the border patrol or Federal Aviation Administration were more likely to be seropositive than were dogs used by the Department of Defense or customs service. Odds that dogs would be seropositive were significantly higher for dogs stationed in the southern United States, the northeastern United States, or a foreign country, compared with dogs stationed in all other regions of the United States. Overall, 8.7% of this diverse group of healthy dogs was found to be seropositive for antibodies to B vinsonii subsp berkhoffii, and seropositivity rates were associated with location, suggesting either that there are multiple vectors for the organism or that the major vector for the organism depends on geographic and environmental factors.

Journal of Clinical Ultrasound, 1984

Serial ultrasound measurements of fetal growth were made during uncomplicated pregnancy in 28 tim... more Serial ultrasound measurements of fetal growth were made during uncomplicated pregnancy in 28 time-mated rhesus monkeys. Gestational sac (GS) size, crown-rump length (CRL), biparietal diameter (BPD), head circumference (HC), head area (HA), abdominal circumference (AC), abdominal area (AA), and femur length (FL) were measured. Average longitudinal growth curves for each parameter were obtained from individual fetal growth curves. Data analysis indicated that the linear model was optimal for GS, CRL, HA, AA, and FL. The linear-quadratic model was optimal for AC, and the linear-cubic model was optimal for BPD and HC.