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Background: Higher numbers of family physicians (FPs) stopped practicing or retired during the COVID-19 pandemic, worsening the family doctor shortage in Canada. Our study objective was to determine which factors were associated with FPs' plans to retire earlier during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: We administered two cross-sectional online surveys to Ontario FPs asking whether they were "planning to retire earlier" as a result of the pandemic during the first and third COVID-19 pandemic waves (Apr-Jun 2020 and Mar-Jul 2021). We used logistic regression to determine which factors were associated with early retirement planning, adjusting for age. Results: The age-adjusted proportion of FP respondents planning to retire earlier was 8.2% (of 393) in the first-wave and 20.5% (of 454) in the third-wave. Planning for earlier retirement during the third-wave was associated with age over 50 years (50–59 years odds ratio (OR) 5.37 (95% confidence interval (CI):2.33–12.31), 60 years and above OR 4.18 (95% CI: 1.90-10.23)), having difficulty handling increased non-clinical responsibilities (OR 2.95 (95% CI: 1.79–4.94)), feeling unsupported to work virtually (OR 1.96 (95% CI: 1.19–3.23)) or in-person (OR 2.70 (95% CI: 1.67–4.55)), feeling unable to provide good care (OR 1.82 (95% CI: 1.10–3.03)), feeling work was not valued (OR 1.92 (95% CI: 1.15–3.23)), feeling frightened of dealing with COVID-19 (OR 2.01 (95% CI: 1.19–3.38)), caring for an elderly relative (OR 2.36 (95% CI: 1.69–3.97)), having difficulty obtaining personal protective equipment (OR 2.00 (95% CI: 1.16–3.43)) or difficulty implementing infection control practices in clinic (OR 2.10 (95% CI: 1.12–3.89)). Conclusions: Over 20% of Ontario FP respondents were considering retiring earlier by the third-wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Supporting FPs in their clinical and non-clinical roles, such that they feel able to provide good care and that their work is valued, reducing non-clinical (e.g., administrative) responsibilities, dealing with pandemic-related fears, and supporting infection control practices and personal protective equipment acquisition in clinic, particularly in those aged 50 years or older may help increase family physician retention during future pandemics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Eimeria species are parasitic protozoa that cause coccidiosis, an intestinal disease commonly characterised by malabsorption, diarrhoea and haemorrhage that is particularly important in chickens. Vaccination against chicken coccidiosis is effective using wild-type or attenuated live parasite lines. The development of protocols to express foreign proteins in Eimeria species has opened up the possibility of using Eimeria live vaccines to deliver heterologous antigens and function as multivalent vaccine vectors that could protect chickens against a range of pathogens. Results: In this study, genetic complementation was used to express immunoprotective virus antigens in Eimeria tenella. Infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV) causes Gumboro, an immunosuppressive disease that affects productivity and can interfere with the efficacy of poultry vaccination programmes. Infectious laryngotracheitis virus (ILTV) causes a highly transmissible respiratory disease for which strong cellular immunity and antibody responses are required for effective vaccination. Genes encoding the VP2 protein from a very virulent strain of IBDV (vvVP2) and glycoprotein I from ILTV (gI) were cloned downstream of 5'Et-Actin or 5'Et-TIF promoter regions in plasmids that also contained a mCitrine fluorescent reporter cassette under control of the 5'Et-MIC1 promoter. The plasmids were introduced by nucleofection into E. tenella sporozoites, which were then used to infect chickens. Progeny oocysts were sorted by FACS and passaged several times in vivo until the proportion of fluorescent parasites in each transgenic population reached ~20 % and the number of transgene copies per parasite genome decreased to < 10. All populations were found to transcribe and express the transgene and induced the generation of low titre, transgene-specific antibodies when used to immunise chickens. Conclusions: E. tenella can express antigens of other poultry pathogens that are successfully recognised by the chicken immune system. Nonetheless, further work has to be done in order to improve the levels of expression for its future use as a multivalent vaccine vector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]