An integrated process and management tools for ranking multiple emerging threats to animal health

The UK's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs supports the use of systematic tools for the prioritisation of known and well defined animal diseases to facilitate long and medium term planning of surveillance and disease control activities. The recognition that emerging events were not covered by the existing disease-specific approaches led to the establishment of the Veterinary Risk Group (VRG), constituted of government officials, and supporting structures such as the Risk Management Cycle and the Emerging Threat Highlight Report (ETHiR), to facilitate the identification, reporting and assessment of emerging threats to UK's animal health. Since its inception in November 2009 to the end of February 2011, the VRG reviewed 111 threats and vulnerabilities (T&V) reported through ETHiR. In July 2010 a decision support system (DSS) based on multi-criteria-decision-analysis (MCDA) improved ETHiR to allow the systematic prioritisation of emerging T&V. The DSS allows the regular ranking of emerging T&V by calculating a set of measurement indices related to the actual impact, possible impact on public perception and level of available capabilities associated with every T&V. The systematic characterisation of the processes leading to the assessment of T&V by the VRG has led to a consistent, auditable and transparent approach to the identification and assessment of emerging risks. The regular use of MCDA to manage a portfolio of emerging risks represents a different and novel application of MCDA in a health related context.     

Changes in blood composition of pregnant cows during the onset of hypomagnesaemia

Magnesium, calcium, phosphate, total protein and free fatty acid concentrations, and a lipase activity using p-nitrophenylpalmitate NP-C16) as a substrate, were determined in the serum of 15 pregnant Aberdeen Angus cows grazing a Phalaris tuberosa pasture with a tendency to induce tetany. A gradual decrease in magnesium concentrations, but no definite change in the other parameters, was observed when the results were plotted directly against the time of the experiment. When the results were plotted as a function of the stage of pregnancy or lactation of the animals, magnesium concentrations showed a more steady decrease which was associated with increases in calcium concentrations and, at the lowest magnesium concentrations, with increases in phosphate concentrations. Total proteins and free fatty acids remained fairly constant and the highest lipase activity was associated with parturition. The lowest magnesium concentrations in serum did not correspond with high levels of either lipase or free fatty acids. The hypomagnesaemia observed in this experiment was attributed to the high potassium:calcium and magnesium ratio in the pasture and to the physiological condition (pregnant and lactating) of the animals. None of the parameters evaluated in this paper would be more sensitive than serum magnesium levels for the early detection of the conditions that predispose grazing cattle to grass tetany.     

Degradation of the herbicide sulfentrazone in a Brazilian Typic Hapludox soil

The herbicide sulfentrazone is classified as highly mobile and persistent and this study aimed to examine degradation of this compound on a Typic Hapludox soil that is representative of regions where sulfentrazone is used in Brazil. Soil samples were supplemented with sulfentrazone (0.7 μg active ingredient (a.i.) g^?1 soil), and maintained at 27 °C. Soil moisture was corrected to 30%, 70%, or 100% water-holding capacity (WHC) and maintained constant until the end of the experimental period. Soils without added herbicide were used as controls. Aliquots were taken after 14, 30, 60, 120, 180, and 255 days of incubation for quantitative analysis of sulfentrazone residues by gas chromatography. Another experiment was conducted in soil samples, with and without the herbicide, at different temperatures (15, 30, and 40 °C), with moisture kept constant at 70% of WHC. The sulfentrazone residues were quantified by gas chromatography after 14, 30, 60, and 120 days of incubation. Sulfentrazone degradation was not affected by soil moisture. A significant effect was observed for the temperature factor after 120 days on herbicide degradation, which was higher at 30 °C. A half-life of 146.5 days was recorded. It was observed that the herbicide stimulated growth of actinomycetes, whereas bacterial and fungal growth was not affected. The microorganisms selected as potential sulfentrazone degraders were Rhizobium radiobacter, Ralstonia pickettii, Methylobacterium radiotolerans, Cladosporium sp., Eupenicillium sp., and Paecilomyces sp.     

Synthesis of deuterated volatile lipid degradation products to be used as internal standards in isotope dilution assays. 2. Vinyl ketones.

The isotopically labeled compounds [5,6-(2)H(2)]-(Z)-1, 5-octadien-3-one (d-I) and [1-(2)H(1;2),2-(2)H(1;1)]-1-octen-3-one (d-II), as well as the unlabeled reference compound (Z)-1, 5-octadien-3-one (I) were prepared by improved synthesis procedures. Labeling position, chemical purity, and isotopic distribution of the compounds were characterized by various MS and NMR techniques. These molecules are used as internal standards in quantification experiments based on isotope dilution assay. The newly prepared compound d-II was synthesized in a simple two-step procedure, and formation of the main isotopomers was studied in model systems.     

Ultrasonic shear wave velocities of MgSiO3 perovskite at 8 GPa and 800 K and lower mantle composition

Ultrasonic interferometric measurements of the shear elastic properties of MgSiO3 perovskite were conducted on three polycrystalline specimens at conditions up to pressures of 8 gigapascals and temperatures of 800 kelvin. The acoustic measurements produced the pressure (P) and temperature (T) derivatives of the shear modulus (G), namely ( partial differentialG/ partial differentialP)T = 1.8 +/- 0.4 and ( partial differentialG/ partial differentialT)P = -2.9 +/- 0.3 x 10(-2) gigapascals per kelvin. Combining these derivatives with the derivatives that were measured for the bulk modulus and thermal expansion of MgSiO3 perovskite provided data that suggest lower mantle compositions between pyrolite and C1 carbonaceous chondrite and a lower mantle potential temperature of 1500 +/- 200 kelvin.     

Agronomic and environmental implications of enhanced s‐triazine degradation

Novel catabolic pathways enabling rapid detoxification of s‐triazine herbicides have been elucidated and detected at a growing number of locations. The genes responsible for s‐triazine mineralization, i.e. atzABCDEF and trzNDF, occur in at least four bacterial phyla and are implicated in the development of enhanced degradation in agricultural soils from all continents except Antarctica. Enhanced degradation occurs in at least nine crops and six crop rotation systems that rely on s‐triazine herbicides for weed control, and, with the exception of acidic soil conditions and s‐triazine application frequency, adaptation of the microbial population is independent of soil physiochemical properties and cultural management practices. From an agronomic perspective, residual weed control could be reduced tenfold in s‐triazine‐adapted relative to non‐adapted soils. From an environmental standpoint, the off‐site loss of total s‐triazine residues could be overestimated 13‐fold in adapted soils if altered persistence estimates and metabolic pathways are not reflected in fate and transport models. Empirical models requiring soil pH and s‐triazine use history as input parameters predict atrazine persistence more accurately than historical estimates, thereby allowing practitioners to adjust weed control strategies and model input values when warranted. Published in 2010 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Technical Aspects of Laparoscopic Ovarian Autograft in Ewes After Cryopreservation by Slow-Cooling Protocol

Iatrogenic ovarian failure and infertility are long term‐term side effects of anticancerous gonadotoxic treatments in children or women of reproductive year. Ovarian cortex cryopreservation can be a solution to preserve immature germinal cells before gonadotoxic treatment, for later transplantation. The aim of our study was to prove the efficiency of a laparoscopic technique for orthotopic graft after a slow‐freezing/thawing protocol, and to evaluate the effect of ovarian cryopreservation and autograft on the primordial follicle survival rate. Experimental surgical study was performed on 6‐ to 12‐month‐old ewes. The study was approved by the ethic committee of the Lyon‐veterinary‐school. The left ovary was removed by laparoscopy and cut in half, and medulla was excised. In group 1 (n = 6), autograft was performed immediately on the right ovary, and in group 2 (n = 6), graft was performed after a slow‐freezing/thawing protocol. The second hemi‐ovary served as an ungrafted control fragment. A polypropylene/polyglactin mesh was included between graft and base to separate the two structures, to help histological analysis. The mean graft performance time was 71 ± 8 min in the first group and 57 ± 10 min in the second. Freezing did not affect the number of primordial follicles. In the ungraft control fragments, the global anomaly rate (cytoplasm plus nuclear anomaly) increased after freezing (p < 0.05). Others results did not reach signification. Pelvic adhesion occurred only once. The post‐graft primordial follicle survival rate was 5.1 ± 2.8% in the non‐frozen group vs. 6.3 ± 2.3% after freezing/thawing. Kruskal–Wallis and Wilkoxon non‐parametric tests were used for statistical analysis. Laparoscopy seems to be a well‐adapted technique for ovarian tissue orthotopic autograft. The main follicle loss occurs before graft revascularization. Our orthotopic graft’s procedure has to be improved to obtain a better graft’s neovascularization, and to have a better long‐term post‐graft primordial follicle survival rate.     

Inter-individual genetic variation in the temperature response of Leptosphaeria species pathogenic on oilseed rape

It is important to understand the likely response of plant pathogens to increased temperatures due to anthropogenic climate change. This includes evolutionary change due to selection on genetically based variation in growth rate with temperature. We attempted to quantify this in two ways. First, radial mycelial growth rates in agar culture were determined for a collection of 44 English isolates of Leptosphaeria maculans and 17 isolates of L. biglobosa, at 14 temperatures. For L. maculans the genotypic variances in four parameters were measured: minimum temperature allowing growth, optimum temperature, growth rate at the optimum temperature, and growth rate at the highest usable temperature, 31.8°C. The standard deviations were 0.068°C, 1.28°C, 0.21 mm/day, and 0.31 mm⋅day⁻¹⋅°C⁻¹, respectively. For L. biglobosa, these figures were, respectively: immeasurably small, 1.31°C, 0.053 mm/day, and 0.53 mm⋅day⁻¹⋅°C⁻¹. In addition, the incidence and severity of phoma stem canker in planta over a natural growing cycle at four temperatures (16, 20, 24, and 28°C) around the average culture optimum were determined. There was no correlation between in vitro and in planta growth, and the decrease in pathogen measures either side of the optimum temperature was much less for in planta growth than for in vitro growth. We conclude that both pathogens have the capacity to evolve to adapt to changes in environmental conditions, but that predictions of the effect of this adaptation, or estimates of heritability in natural conditions, cannot be made from measurements in vitro.