This is the first published report describing A phagocytophilum morulae in neutrophils of naturally infected North American cats with infection confirmed by PCR. A phagocytophilum infection should be considered in cats evaluated for lethargy, anorexia and fever living in Ixodes species endemic areas.

We report a replication of Patel, Gibson, Ratner, Besson, and Holcomb (1998). The results of our replication are largely consistent with the conclusions of the original study. We found evidence of a P600 component of the event-related potential (ERP) in response to syntactic violations in language and harmonic inconsistencies in music. There were some minor differences in the spatial distribution of the P600 on the scalp between the replication and the original. The experiment was pre-registered at https://osf.io/g3b5j/. We conducted this experiment as part of an undergraduate cognitive science research methods class at Vassar College; we discuss the practice of integrating replication work into research methods courses.

Background For decades, zinc sulfate centrifugal fecal flotation microscopy (ZCF) has been the mainstay technique for gastrointestinal (GI) parasite screening at veterinary clinics and laboratories. Elsewhere, PCR has replaced microscopy because of generally increased sensitivity and detection capabilities; however, until recently it has been unavailable commercially. Therefore, the primary aim of this study was to compare the performance of real-time PCR (qPCR) and ZCF for fecal parasite screening. Secondary aims included further characterization of markers for hookworm treatment resistance and Giardia spp. assemblages with zoonotic potential and qPCR optimization. Methods A convenience sampling of 931 canine/feline fecal samples submitted to a veterinary reference laboratory for routine ZCF from the Northeast US (11/2022) was subsequently evaluated by a broad qPCR panel following retention release. Detection frequency and agreement (kappa statistics) were evaluated between ZCF and qPCR for seven GI parasites [hookworm/(Ancylostoma spp.), roundworm/(Toxocara spp.), whipworm/(Trichuris spp.), Giardiaduodenalis, Cystoisospora spp., Toxoplasmagondii, and Tritrichomonasblagburni] and detections per sample. Total detection frequencies were compared using a paired t-test; positive sample and co-infection frequencies were compared using Pearson’s chi-squared test (p ≤ 0.05 significant) and qPCR frequency for hookworm benzimidazole (BZ) resistance (F167Y) and zoonotic Giardia spp. assemblage markers calculated. Confirmatory testing, characterization, and qPCR optimization were carried out with Sanger sequencing. Results qPCR detected a significantly higher overall parasite frequency (n = 679) compared to ZCF (n = 437) [p =  < 0.0001, t = 14.38, degrees-of-freedom (df) = 930] and 2.6 × the co-infections [qPCR (n = 172) vs. ZCF (n = 66)], which was also significant (p =  < 0.0001, X2 = 279.49; df = 1). While overall agreement of parasite detection was substantial [kappa = 0.74; (0.69–0.78], ZCF-undetected parasites reduced agreement for individual and co-infected samples. qPCR detected markers for Ancylostomacaninum BZ resistance (n = 5, 16.1%) and Giardia with zoonotic potential (n = 22, 9.1%) as well as two parasites undetected by ZCF (T.gondii/T.blagburni). Sanger sequencing detected novel roundworm species, and qPCR optimization provided detection beyond ZCF. Conclusions These results demonstrate the statistically significant detection frequency advantage offered by qPCR compared to routine ZCF for both single and co-infections. While overall agreement was excellent, this rapid, commercially available qPCR panel offers benefits beyond ZCF with detection of markers for Giardia assemblages with zoonotic potential and hookworm (A.caninum) BZ resistance. Graphical Abstract

We report a replication of Patel, Gibson, Ratner, Besson &amp; Holbomb (1998). The results of our replication are largely consistent with the conclusions of the original study. We found evidence of a P600 component of the event-related potential (ERP) in response to syntactic violations in language and harmonic inconsistencies in music. There were some minor differences in the spatial distribution of the P600 on the scalp between the replication and the original. The experiment was pre-registered at https://osf.io/g3b5j/register/565fb3678c5e4a66b5582f67. We conducted this experiment as part of an undergraduate cognitive science research methods class at Vassar College; we discuss the practice of integrating replication work into research methods courses.

We report a replication of Boutonnet and Lupyan’s (2015) study of the effects of linguistic labelling on perceptual performance. In addition to a response time advantage of linguistic labels over non-linguistic auditory cues in judging visual objects, Boutonnet and Lupyan found that the two types of cues produced different patterns in the early perceptual ERP components P1 and P2 but not the later, semantics-relevant N4. This study thus adds an important piece of evidence supporting the claim of genuine top-down effects on perception. Given the controversy over this claim and the need for replication of key findings, we attempted to replicate Boutonnet and Lupyan (2015). We replicated their behavioral findings that response times to indicate whether an auditory cue matches a visual image of an object were faster for match than mismatch trials and faster for linguistic than non-linguistic cues. We did not replicate the main ERP effects supporting a positive effect of linguistic labels on the early perceptual ERP components P1 and P2, though we did find a congruence by cue type interaction effect on those components. Unlike Boutonnet and Lupyan, we found a main effect of cue type on the N4 in which non-linguistic cues produced more negative amplitudes. Exploratory analyses of the unpredicted N4 effect suggest that the response time advantage of linguistic labels occurred during semantic rather than early visual processing. This experiment was pre-registered at https://osf.io/cq8g4/ and conducted as part of an undergraduate cognitive science research methods class at Vassar College.