Tuesday, March 06, 2007

Nebraska highlights: for glimpses of life on the Great Plains, blaze a trail across the Cornhusker State

Stretching 387 miles from its Missouri River border on the east to the western panhandle, the country's 15th largest state offers a surprising variety of tourist treats as well as miles and miles of undulating farmland that spreads to the horizons.

Follow in the footsteps of great explorers with a visit to Fort Atkinson State Historical Park, nine miles north of Omaha, near the Nebraska-Iowa state line. Here, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark set up camp on July 30, 1804. Their first official powwow with Native Americans (members of the Oto and Missouri Indian tribes) took place a few days later--15 years before the site they recommended became a federal fort in 1819. Currently under reconstruction, Fort Atkinson today encompasses Lewis and Clark's original council site and

parts of the north, south, and west barracks as well as an interpretive center. For general information and this summer's living history re-enactment schedules, call (800) 826-PARK.

Just south of Fort Atkinson, Nebraska's largest city (with a population of just under 400,000)--Omaha--offers visitors a variety of cultural experiences, including the Joslyn Memorial Art Museum, the Western Heritage Museum, and the Orpheum Fine Arts Theater. But perhaps the city's premier attraction is the Henry Doorly Zoo, recognized as one of the country's leading zoological parks. In addition to its well-deserved reputation as home to the world's largest indoor rainforest and North America's largest complex for large cats, the zoo will house the world's largest indoor environment for desert wildlife when it opens its new Desert Dome in April. For further information, call (402) 733-8401 or visit www.omaha zoo.com.

Affiliated with the Omaha zoo is the Lee G. Simmons Conservation Park & Wildlife Safari, a "drive-through wildlife adventure" nestled in the Platte River hill country southwest of the city, halfway between Omaha and Lincoln. Here, a four-mile car trail winds through prairies and wetlands where bison, elk, pronghorn, and deer roam freely. Off the beaten track, hikers crossing a bridge to Wolf Canyon may encounter not only a pack of gray wolves but also wild turkeys. Wetlands that recreate the native habitat of central Platte Valley's meadows shelter sandhill cranes and pelicans. The park (402-994-WILD) is open daily from April through October.

While in the area, a side trip to Schramm Park State Recreation Area (the state's oldest) and its Ak-Sar-Ben Aquarium will net you a glimpse at the country's largest catfish (a 95-pounder) in captivity. Paddlefish, sturgeon, and snapping turtles round out aquatic displays found in 12 tanks filled with 32 of Nebraska's fish species. A terrarium houses 19 native species of reptiles and amphibians. The recreation area surrounding the aquarium features nature trails, breathtaking bluff-top views of the Platte River, and a fish hatchery museum housing 12 dioramas that trace the state's fish management history from prehistoric to modern times. For information, call (402) 332-3901.

Lincoln, the state capital, has three outstanding museums--the Museum of Nebraska History, Lincoln Children's Museum, and University of Nebraska State Museum. Tours of the Capitol and Governor's Mansion are available.

No one visiting Nebraska in late winter or early spring should pass up the opportunity to witness the annual migration of 90 percent (some 500,000) of the world's sandhill cranes during their five-week layover in the south-central Platte River valley. The annual gathering begins around mid-February as thousands of the migratory waterfowl arrive from wintering locations in Texas, New Mexico, and northern Mexico en route to their summer breeding grounds in Canada and Alaska. Prime viewing locations along I-30 stretch from Wood River (where the Crane Meadows Nature Center is located) to the National Audubon Society's Rowe Sanctuary in Gibbon to Fort Kearny State Recreation Area's Hike-Bike Bridge in Kearney. Additionally, a series of five public viewing decks dot the river road area. Dusk and dawn offer the best opportunities for seeing wave upon wave of the water birds as flocks rise or return to the banks of the Platte.

A photographer's dream of a different sort beckons visitors to nearby Comstock (northwest of the Platte River), where the largest standing collection of windmills creates dancing silhouettes against prairie skies. Henry Nuxoll's 2nd Wind Ranch (www.windmillenter prises.net) also is the site of a June festival featuring country music and hot air balloon and parachuting demonstrations, capped off by sunset fireworks.


Cats & traps

They are called "work-ups"-a deceptively simple term that in two words says the world's most powerful Navy is getting ready for a little practice. The 100,000-ton carrier, the USS Abraham Lincoln, containing 5,500 sailors and 80-plus aircraft, would rendezvous with the rest of its fiercesome battle group off the California coast to work out tie kinks before its crew could consider themselves ready to do what they do: go to war.

This work-up would be different, however-at least, from my point of view, because I would be privileged to be part of the action.

It was with the grace of a train wreck that we slammed onto the deck of the Lincoln as it steamed off the southern coast of California last November. An arrested landing is the fitting punctuation to an hour-long flight in the carrier on-board delivery (COD)that windowless plane on which everything from mail to fresh meat is ferried from land. I supposed I was the latter.

There is no mistaking your arrival on an aircraft carrier. As the ramp on the COD drops open, your senses-previously deprived throughout the dim, droning flight-are immediately attacked by caustic jet exhaust that's being wafted by along with a hurricane soundtrack. Following the hunched-over line of "walking cargo" who were exiting the plane, I twisted past the business end of a shrieking Hornet that was taxing to the bow.

The nerve-dulling noise makes your skin and bones vibrate and arouses some primeval mechanism of self-preservation inside you. It widens your eyes and rattles your very fiber. Here, the human voice is useless for communication, and the multicolored-shirt deck crew practices a carefully choreographed dance in which every movement communicates something vital to the operation. For me, there is no other place on earth like a carrier deck during flight ops. It is pure heaven-with just a tiny bit of hell tossed in for flavor.

I was back on the boat at the invitation of VF-31. The Tomcatters, as they are known, fly the latest variant of the F-14: the "D." With its 27,000-pound-thrust afterburning engines, it is commonly called "the Super Tomcat" The purpose of my visit was to report on the expanding roles of the F-14 as a ground striker as it filled the vacuum left by the retirement of the Navy's last dedicated attack platform, the A-6 Intruder. The Lincoln battle group was beginning its composite training unit exercise (COMPTUEX) and I was to be treated to a full lineup of flight ops and related war-game drills.

After stowing my sea bag and spare camera gear in my stateroom, I made my way up to '"vultures' row," the observation deck high on the ship's island. Even above it all, the noise was awesome. The ship was in a hard left turn and listing to the right-sorry, starboard-a good 15 degrees. We were turning into the wind, and by the configuration of the deck, it was obvious the next event was about to be launched.

Typically, the daily flight plan describes a rhythm of events called "cyclic ops." Flight deck events (or "evolutions") consist of a launch and a recovery. Obviously, however, the first event of the day is usually only a launch, unless there is an inbound COD to recover.

Subsequent events always begin at the four catapults, or CATS, since the deck is fouled with outbound aircraft. Once that event is airborne and the deck has been cleared, the previous event's airplanes are recovered or "trapped." Often, these 11/4-hour cycles start before dawn and continue unabated until almost midnight It should be noted that there are no rotating shifts for flightdeck personnel. In other words, the person working CAT 1 for the first event is the same tired soul who works CAT 1 for the last event It makes for some very long days and nights.




Experimental infection of cats and dogs with West Nile virus - Research

Domestic dogs and cats were infected by mosquito bite and evaluated as hosts for West Nile virus (WNV). Viremia of low magnitude and short duration developed in four dogs but they did not display signs of disease. Four cats became viremic, with peak titers ranging from [10.sup.3.0] to [10.sup.4.0] PFU/mL. Three of the cats showed mild, non-neurologic signs of disease. WNV was net isolated from saliva of either dogs or cats during the period of viremia. An additional group of four cats were exposed to WNV orally, through ingestion of infected mice. Two cats consumed an infected mouse on three consecutive days, and two cats ate a single infected mouse. Viremia developed in all of these cats with a magnitude and duration similar to that seen in cats infected by mosquito bite, but none of the four showed clinical signs. These results suggest that dogs and cats are readily infected by WNV. The high efficiency of oral transmission observed with cats suggests that infected prey animals may serve as an important source of infection to carnivores. Neither species is likely to function as an epidemiologically important amplifying host, although the peak viremia observed in cats may be high enough to infect mosquitoes at low efficiency.
The appearance of the West Nile virus (WNV) in New York in 1999 and the subsequent establishment and spread of the virus have aroused public anxiety about the potential of companion animals to become infected, show illness and die, and transmit WNV to other species, including humans. Little information is available concerning the susceptibility of dogs and cats to WNV infection. Approximately one third of a large sample of dogs from a WNV-endemic region of South Africa had neutralizing antibody to WNV, and viremia was detected in one of three dogs inoculated with a large dose of WNV (1). Recently, WNV was isolated from the brain of a cat with "neurologic disease" (2), but nothing is known about the natural history of WNV infection in this species. Most dogs and cats spend at least some time out of doors and thus risk exposure from hematophagous insect vectors. Also, as carnivores, they may be exposed to WNV through ingestion of infected small mammals and birds, which are known to have large quantities of WNV in blood and tissue during the course of infection (2,3). Since there are an estimated 68 million companion dogs and 73 million pet cats in the United States alone (4), evaluating their response to WNV infection, assessing their potential to serve as amplifying hosts for tiffs virus, and obtaining some estimate of the clinical consequences of infection are important concerns.

Four young adult female, crossbred hounds (Harlan, Indianapolis, IN) and eight adult, female domestic, crossbred cats (Liberty Laboratories, Waverly, NY) were used. All were purchased as specific pathogen-tree animals. Each cat was negative for antibodies to feline immunodeficiency virus and negative for feline leukemia virus antigen in serum. Animals were gang housed by species under animal biosafety level three conditions with ad libitum access to food and water. They were examined clinically by a veterinarian twice daily for the duration of the study but did not receive formal neurologic evaluations. Body temperature and general appearance were recorded twice daily from days -0.5 to 7 or 9 (day 0 being the day of infection). With few exceptions, blood was collected twice daily from days -1 (dogs) or 0 (cats) to 9, at 2 and 3 weeks postinfection, and at the time of euthanasia. For the animals exposed to WNV through mosquito bites, blood was collected into EDTA tubes for hematology once daily from days -1 (dogs) or 0 (cats) to 10, and on days 14 and 21. Hematologic parameters (erythrocyte and leukocyte counts, platelet counts, plus relative and absolute mononuclear and granulocyte counts) were evaluated by using a QBC-V analyzer (Clay-Adams, Parsippany, NJ). Saliva was collected from mosquito-inoculated animals once daily from days 0 to 7 by swabbing the oral cavity with a cotton swab premoistened with BA-1 medium (M-199 salts, 1% bovine serum albumin, 250 mg/L sodium bicarbonate, 100 U penicillin G/mL, 100 [micro]g/mL streptomycin, 1 [micro]g/mL amphotericin B in 50 mM Tris, pH 7.6). All animals were euthanized between days 22 and 50 after infection by pentobarbital overdose and necropsied; their carcasses were incinerated within the containment facility.

Hematologic and body temperature data were analyzed by repeated measures analysis of variance and compared to a baseline by using the differences of least squares means statistical test (Proc Mixed, SAS Statistical Software, SAS Institute, Cary, NC). Baseline values were obtained on day 0 (body temperature) or represent the mean of values obtained on days 0 and 21 (hematologic data

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