XIII International Congress in Animal Hygiene, June 17-21, 2007, Tartu, Estonia "Animal health, animal welfare and biosecurity" : proceedings. Volume 2

KonverentsikogumikOn behalf of both the Organising Committee and the Scientific Committee, I am pleased to welcome you in Tartu, Estonia, to participate at the XIII International Congress of the International Society for Animal Hygiene (ISAH). The ISAH (www.isah-soc.org) was founded in 1970 and has today members from 48 countries throughout the world. ISAH can be considered as a group of scientists contributing to efficient, sustainable animal farming with healthy animals, providing wholesome food in a sound environment. Veterinarians and non-veterinary academic scientists (animal science, agricultural economics, engineers, microbiologists, public health professionals, epidemiologists etc., etc) and respective professionals in animal husbandry, who work and/or do research and education in the field of animal hygiene, can apply for a membership of ISAH, and are most welcome to attend ISAH congresses. The first ISAH congress was held in Budapest in 1973. The last ISAH main congress took place in Warsaw, Poland in 2005 and the last in-between symposium in Saint-Malo, France in 2004. Starting from Warsaw congress in 2005, the ISAH, considering the need for a more flexible and frequent exchange of scientific and practical knowledge, organizes its congresses every second year. The present, XIII ISAH congress in Tartu, Estonia, in June 17–21, 2007 is organised under the device "Animal health, animal welfare and biosecurity”. The scientific programme, trying to follow the scope of the ISAH and receive the feedback from modern animal husbandry and food production, concentrates with more profoundness on the following subjects: interaction between the environment and health and welfare of individual animal and herds; managing animal health in large dairy units; ensuring animal welfare during transportation and slaughter; economical implications considering animals’ health; possibilities of precision livestock farming in maintaining good health and welfare of animals; measures for prevention the development and spread of diseases and pathogens in animals including those posing risk to human health (zoonoses); food safety relevant infections and contaminations such as residues in food derived from animals; influence of the animal production on the environment and public health. The Proceedings from the XIII ISAH Congress are herewith presented. The papers on lectures from invited speakers, oral and poster presentations from 11 parallel sessions are included in this excellent compilation. In general, the printed contribution to the ISAH-2007 congress illustrates clearly the broad scientific field of the ISAH and related to it activities. I hereby would like to express my most sincere gratitude in the address of ISAH-2007 organising and scientific committees. Special thanks go to Frens Conference Services for their excellent organizational and technical contribution and to AS Triip for their outstanding printing job of these proceedings. We also appreciate different companies and organisations for their considerable financial support which gave us the opportunity to keep the registration fees affordable. Finally, we thank all participants, contributors, chairpersons, organisational and technical assistants for your considerable efforts – you made the ISAH-2007 in Tartu real success. We wish you all interesting and pleasant congress and enjoyable stay in Tartu. A. Aland Editor Chairman of the ISAH-2007 Organising Committe

Animal Welfare Assessment

This Special Issue provides a collection of recent research and reviews that investigate many areas of welfare assessment, such as novel approaches and technologies used to evaluate the welfare of farmed, captive, or wild animals. Research in this Special Issue includes welfare assessment related to pilot whales, finishing pigs, commercial turkey flocks, and dairy goats; the use of sensors or wearable technologies, such as heart rate monitors to assess sleep in dairy cows, ear tag sensors, and machine learning to assess commercial pig behaviour; non-invasive measures, such as video monitoring of behaviour, computer vision to analyse video footage of red foxes, remote camera traps of free-roaming wild horses, infrared thermography of effort and sport recovery in sport horses; telomere length and regulatory genes as novel biomarkers of stress in broiler chickens; the effect of environment on growth physiology and behaviour of laboratory rare minnows and housing system on anxiety, stress, fear, and immune function of laying hens; and discussions of natural behaviour in farm animal welfare and maintaining health, welfare, and productivity of commercial pig herds

Models and analysis of vocal emissions for biomedical applications: 5th International Workshop: December 13-15, 2007, Firenze, Italy

The MAVEBA Workshop proceedings, held on a biannual basis, collect the scientific papers presented both as oral and poster contributions, during the conference. The main subjects are: development of theoretical and mechanical models as an aid to the study of main phonatory dysfunctions, as well as the biomedical engineering methods for the analysis of voice signals and images, as a support to clinical diagnosis and classification of vocal pathologies. The Workshop has the sponsorship of: Ente Cassa Risparmio di Firenze, COST Action 2103, Biomedical Signal Processing and Control Journal (Elsevier Eds.), IEEE Biomedical Engineering Soc. Special Issues of International Journals have been, and will be, published, collecting selected papers from the conference

XIII International Congress in Animal Hygiene, June 17-21, 2007, Tartu, Estonia "Animal health, animal welfare and biosecurity" : proceedings. Volume 1

KonverentsikogumikOn behalf of both the Organising Committee and the Scientific Committee, I am pleased to welcome you in Tartu, Estonia, to participate at the XIII International Congress of the International Society for Animal Hygiene (ISAH). The ISAH (www.isah-soc.org) was founded in 1970 and has today members from 48 countries throughout the world. ISAH can be considered as a group of scientists contributing to efficient, sustainable animal farming with healthy animals, providing wholesome food in a sound environment. Veterinarians and non-veterinary academic scientists (animal science, agricultural economics, engineers, microbiologists, public health professionals, epidemiologists etc., etc) and respective professionals in animal husbandry, who work and/or do research and education in the field of animal hygiene, can apply for a membership of ISAH, and are most welcome to attend ISAH congresses. The first ISAH congress was held in Budapest in 1973. The last ISAH main congress took place in Warsaw, Poland in 2005 and the last in-between symposium in Saint-Malo, France in 2004. Starting from Warsaw congress in 2005, the ISAH, considering the need for a more flexible and frequent exchange of scientific and practical knowledge, organizes its congresses every second year. The present, XIII ISAH congress in Tartu, Estonia, in June 17–21, 2007 is organised under the device "Animal health, animal welfare and biosecurity”. The scientific programme, trying to follow the scope of the ISAH and receive the feedback from modern animal husbandry and food production, concentrates with more profoundness on the following subjects: interaction between the environment and health and welfare of individual animal and herds; managing animal health in large dairy units; ensuring animal welfare during transportation and slaughter; economical implications considering animals’ health; possibilities of precision livestock farming in maintaining good health and welfare of animals; measures for prevention the development and spread of diseases and pathogens in animals including those posing risk to human health (zoonoses); food safety relevant infections and contaminations such as residues in food derived from animals; influence of the animal production on the environment and public health. The Proceedings from the XIII ISAH Congress are herewith presented. The papers on lectures from invited speakers, oral and poster presentations from 11 parallel sessions are included in this excellent compilation. In general, the printed contribution to the ISAH-2007 congress illustrates clearly the broad scientific field of the ISAH and related to it activities. I hereby would like to express my most sincere gratitude in the address of ISAH-2007 organising and scientific committees. Special thanks go to Frens Conference Services for their excellent organizational and technical contribution and to AS Triip for their outstanding printing job of these proceedings. We also appreciate different companies and organisations for their considerable financial support which gave us the opportunity to keep the registration fees affordable. Finally, we thank all participants, contributors, chairpersons, organisational and technical assistants for your considerable efforts – you made the ISAH-2007 in Tartu real success. We wish you all interesting and pleasant congress and enjoyable stay in Tartu. A. Aland Editor Chairman of the ISAH-2007 Organising Committe

Emerging infectious diseases

Emerging Infectious Diseases is providing access to these abstracts on behalf of the ICEID 2012 program committee (www.iceid.org), which performed peer review. Emerging Infectious Diseases has not edited or proofread these materials and is not responsible for inaccuracies or omissions. All information is subject to change. Comments and corrections should be brought to the attention of the authors.Influenza preparedness: lessons learned -- Policy implications and infectious diseases -- Improving preparedness for infectious diseases -- New or rapid diagnostics -- Foodborne and waterborne infections -- Effective and sustainable surveillance platforms -- Healthcare-associated infections -- Molecular epidemiology -- Antimicrobial resistance -- Tropical infections and parasitic diseases -- H1N1 influenza -- Risk Assessment -- Laboratory Support -- Zoonotic and Animal Diseases -- Viral Hepatitis -- E1. Zoonotic and animal diseases -- E2. Vaccine issues -- E3. H1N1 influenza -- E4. Novel surveillance systems -- E5. Antimicrobial resistance -- E6. Late-breakers I -- Antimicrobial resistance -- Influenza preparedness: lessons learned -- Zoonotic and animal diseases -- Improving preparedness for infectious diseases -- Laboratory support -- Early warning systems -- H1N1 influenza -- Policy implications and infectious diseases -- Modeling -- Molecular epidemiology -- Novel surveillance systems -- Tropical infections and parasitic diseases -- Strengthening public health systems -- Immigrant and refugee health -- Foodborne and waterborne infections -- Healthcare-associated infections -- Foodborne and waterborne infections -- New or rapid diagnostics -- Improving global health equity for infectious diseases -- Vulnerable populations -- Novel agents of public health importance -- Influenza preparedness: lessons learned -- Molecular epidemiology -- Zoonotic and animal diseases -- Vaccine-preventable diseases -- Outbreak investigation: lab and epi response -- H1N1 influenza -- laboratory support -- effective and sustainable surveillance platforms -- new vaccines -- vector-borne diseases and climate change -- travelers' health -- J1. Vectorborne diseases and climate change -- J2. Policy implications and infectious diseases -- J3. Influenza preparedness: lessons learned -- J4. Effective and sustainable surveillance platforms -- J5. Outbreak investigation: lab and epi response I -- J6. Late-breakers II -- Strengthening public health systems -- Bacterial/viral coinfections -- H1N1 influenza -- Novel agents of public health importance -- Foodborne and waterborne infections -- New challenges for old vaccines -- Vectorborne diseases and climate change -- Novel surveillance systems -- Geographic information systems (GIS) -- Improving global health equity for infectious diseases -- Vaccine preventable diseases -- Vulnerable populations -- Laboratory support -- Prevention challenges for respiratory diseases -- Zoonotic and animal diseases -- Outbreak investigation: lab and epi response -- Vectorborne diseases and climate change -- Outbreak investigation: lab and epi response -- Laboratory proficiency testing/quality assurance -- Effective and sustainable surveillance platforms -- Sexually transmitted diseases -- H1N1 influenza -- Surveillance of vaccine-preventable diseases -- Foodborne and waterborne infections -- Role of health communication -- Emerging opportunistic infections -- Host and microbial genetics -- Respiratory infections in special populations -- Zoonotic and animal diseases -- Laboratory support -- Antimicrobial resistance -- Vulnerable populations -- Global vaccine initiatives -- Tuberculosis -- Prevention challenges for respiratory diseases -- Infectious causes of chronic diseases -- O1. Outbreak investigation: lab and epi response II -- O2. Prevention challenges for respiratory diseases -- O3. Populations at high risk for infectious diseases -- O4. Foodborne and waterborne infections -- O5. Laboratory support: surveillance and monitoring infections -- O6. Late-breakers IIIAbstracts published in advance of the conference

T cell targeted nanoparticles for pulmonary siRNA delivery as novel asthma therapy

The aim of this work was to develop and optimize a T cell targeted delivery system for pulmonary delivery of siRNA directed against GATA3, the central transcription factor of Th2 cytokines, as a novel therapy for asthma. Therefore, an existing carrier system on the basis of polycationic polymer polyethylenimine (PEI) and targeting Ligand transferrin (Tf), resulting in the so-called Tf-PEI, was chosen and fully characterized concerning relevant siRNA polyplex characteristics such as size, zeta potential, siRNA encapsulation efficiency and gene silencing capability in vitro and in vivo. Subsequently, Tf-PEI was blended with a second conjugate, Tf-Mel, containing the lysosomal Peptide melittin, in order to increase endosomal escape of the polyplexes. Resulting Tf-Mel-PEI blends were characterized and optimized to achieve siRNA polyplexes combining specific targeting of activated T cells and efficient cytoplasmic siRNA release, resulting in successful gene knockdown. For GATA3 silencing, a suitable siRNA sequence combination was found and applied within the Tf-Mel-PEI blend polyplexes to investigate down-stream effects of the gene knockdown on cytokine levels. These were concludingly tested in an optimized model for activated T cells as a first step for evaluation of relevant therapeutic effects in an inflammatory environment

Horses as Sentinels of Emerging Infectious Disease

Horses with illness consistent with Hendra virus (HeV) are routinely sampled and submitted with case descriptions, to government laboratories for timely testing. Extensive investigations for further infectious agents are rare, yet <1% of around 1000 horses test HeV positive annually. Most that test negative feature infectious-like signs such as acute, severe neurological or respiratory illness and pyrexia, yet do not receive causative diagnosis HeV in horses and testing of suspect cases have highlighted challenges/ gaps in significant zoonotic disease investigation. Yet horses investigated for HeV-like disease present unique opportunities for improvements of broad profound biosecurity benefit. Horses are maintained in close association with other animals and humans, monitored thoroughly for disease and susceptible to agents transmitted by insects and wildlife such as bats This research identified significant pathogens among horses with severe HeV-like illness beyond those currently recognised and considered disease significance Fore-front diagnostic approaches integrated with information theoretical, epidemiological and virological analyses. Systematic pathologic-basis-interpretation of disease descriptions sensitively informed likelihood of infectious cause. Three innovative pillars were developed • purpose-built SQL database integrating bio-banked sample ID, sample event, subject and clinical details with parallel test results • explorative multiplex microbead immunoassay serological testing approach screening both IgG and IgM for emerging pathogens • explorative molecular methods targeting novel and emerging infectious agents, including high-throughput pan-PCR, metatranscriptomic sequencing and bioinformatical pipelines Integrated application to suitably bio-banked clinical samples served proof-of-concept for proactive convergence research consideration of emerging infectious agents that could affect One health, livestock, trade and industry security and public healt

Covipendium : information available to support the development of medical countermeasures and interventions against COVID-19

The living paper on the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) provides a structured compilation of scientific data about the virus, the disease and its control. Its objective is to help scientists identify the most relevant publications on COVID-19 in the mass of information that appears every day. It is also expected to foster a global understanding of disease control and stimulate transdisciplinary initiatives