During the winter months, absenteeism or decreased productivity at work or school can often be attributed to symptoms of the common cold. Many people seek over-the-counter (OTC) products for their symptoms, and some of the commonly purchased products are those with high-dose supplements of vitamin C (ascorbic acid). The common cold causes enormous morbidity worldwide, and it is important to know the effects of vitamin C for both preventive and therapeutic purposes to correctly recommend the proper OTC product for these symptoms. The purpose of this article is to review the current data on the relationship between vitamin C and immune function, specifically, the utility of vitamin C supplementation in the prevention and treatment of the common cold.

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Energy absorption capability of structures with embedded pores depends upon the amount of voids present and their configurations/distributions. In this study, the energy absorption of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) and polylactic acid (PLA) structures with varying pore shapes and sizes are investigated. The research was performed by two teams comprised of High School/Middle School teachers and undergraduate students as part of National Science Foundation (NSF) sponsored Research Experience for Teacher (RET)/Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) teams. ABS samples were fabricated by Team 1 and utilized cubic unit cells with octahedral pores while Team 2 fabricated PLA samples that utilized unit cells with spherical pores. Eight sets of samples with dimensions 25mm × 25mm × 20mm were fabricated using a Makerbot Replicator 2X for ABS samples and a Lulzbot TAZ 5 for PLA samples. Each sample incorporated a 5 × 5 × 4 array of pores. All the samples were tested in compression and energy absorption per unit material volume of all the samples up to a particular maximum load was calculated from load-deflection curves. It is observed that the specific energy absorption of PLA and ABS porous structures greatly increases with increased porosity.

Postpartum disease is a common occurrence in the dairy cow. Nationally about 7% of calvings and 15% of culls occur in the first 30 days postpartum. Metritis is one of the most common diseases of the postpartum period. Metritis has been shown to occur as often as 37.3% of the time (Markusfeld 2007). Monitoring of the rectal temperature of dairy cows for the first 10 days post partum is a common recommendation (100 day contract Pfizer Animal Health). Treatment with antibiotics is often recommended to be initiated if temperatures are greater than 103 to 104°F. The purpose of this study was to determine the temperature of lactating dairy cows in the first two weeks postpartum, and evaluate temperature as an indication of the need for antibiotic therapy for the treatment of metritis.