Particulate matter concentrations and emissions in rabbit farms

[EN] The extent of the potential health hazards of particulate matter (PM) inside rabbit farms and the magnitude of emission levels to the outside environment are still unknown, as data on PM concentrations and emissions in and from such buildings is scarce. The purpose of this study was to quantify airborne PM10 and PM2.5 concentrations and emissions on two rabbit farms in Mediterranean conditions and identify the main factors related with farm activities influencing PM generation. Concentrations of PM10 and PM2.5 were determined continuously using a tapered element oscillating microbalance (TEOM) in one farm with fattening rabbits and one reproductive doe farm in autumn. At the same time as PM sampling, the time and type of human farm activity being performed was recorded. Additionally, temperature, relative humidity and ventilation rate were recorded continuously. Emissions were calculated using a mass balance on each farm. Results showed PM concentrations in rabbit farms are low compared with poultry and pig farms. Average PM10 concentrations were 0.082±0.059 mg/m3 (fattening rabbits), and 0.048 ±0.058 mg/m3 (reproductive does). Average PM2.5 concentrations were 0.012±0.016 mg/m3 (fattening rabbits), and 0.012±0.035 mg/m3 (reproductive does). Particulate matter concentrations were significantly influenced by the type of human farm activity carried out in the building rather than by animal activity. The main PM-generating activity on the fattening rabbit farm was sweeping, and the major PM-generating activity in reproductive does was sweeping and burning hair from the cages. Average PM10 emissions were 5.987±6.144 mg/place/day (fattening rabbits), and 14.9±31.5 mg/place/day (reproductive does). Average PM2.5 emissions were 0.20±1.26 mg/place/day (fattening rabbits), and 2.83±19.54 mg/place/day (reproductive does). Emission results indicate that rabbit farms can be considered relevant point sources of PM emissions, comparable to other livestock species. Our results improve the knowledge on factors affecting concentration and emissions of PM in rabbit farms and can contribute to the design of suitable PM reduction measures to control not only PM inside rabbit houses, but also its emission into the atmosphere.The authors thank the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation for the economic support to conduct this study (Project GasFarm-2 AGL2008-04125) and the Campus de Excelencia Internacional of the Universitat Politecnica de Valencia. The authors are also grateful to the farmers and staff at the farms who collaborated during sampling periods.Adell Sales, E.; Calvet Sanz, S.; Torres, AG.; Cambra López, M. (2012). Particulate matter concentrations and emissions in rabbit farms. World Rabbit Science. 20(1):1-11. https://doi.org/10.4995/wrs.2012.1035SWORD11120

Morphology, chemical composition, and bacterial concentration of airborne particulate matter in rabbit farms

[EN] Livestock houses are major sources of airborne particulate matter (PM), which can originate from manure, feed, feathers, skin and bedding and may contain and transport microorganisms. Improved knowledge of particle size, morphology, chemical and microbiological composition of PM in livestock houses can help identify major sources of PM and contribute to the development of appropriate source- specific reduction techniques. In rabbit production systems, however, there is limited information on specific particle characteristics. The objective of this study was to characterise airborne PM in rabbit farms in terms of morphology, chemical compositions and bacterial concentration in different size fractions. Size-fractioned PM was sampled in the air of 2 rabbit farms, 1 for fattening rabbits and 1 for reproductive does, using a virtual cascade impactor, which simultaneously collected total suspended PM (TSP), PM10 and PM2.5 size fractions. Airborne PM samples were examined by light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy combined with energy dispersive X-ray analysis. Representative samples from potential sources of PM were also collected and examined. Additionally, a methodology to extract bacteria from the collected samples of airborne PM was developed to determine the bacterial concentration per PM size fraction. Results showed that airborne PM in rabbit farms is highly complex in particle morphology, especially in size. Broken skin flakes, disintegrated particles from feed or faecal material from mechanical fracture are the main sources of airborne PM in rabbit farms. Major elements found in rabbit airborne PM were S, Ca, Mg, Na and Cl. Bacterial concentrations ranged from 1.7¿104 to 1.6¿106 colony forming units (CFU)/m3 (TSP); from 3.6¿103 to 3.0¿104 CFU/m3 (PM10); and from 3.1¿103 to 1.6¿104 CFU/m3 (PM2.5). Our results will improve the knowledge on essential particle characteristics necessary to understand PM¿s origin in rabbit farms and contribute to its reduction.The authors thank the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation for the economic support to conduct this study (Project GasFarm AGL2009-0067) and the Campus de Excelencia Internacional of the Universitat Politecnica de Valencia. The authors are also grateful to the farmers and staff at the farms who collaborated during sampling periods. We thank the Electronic Microscopy Service (Universitat Politecnica de Valencia) for expert technical assistance during SEM analysis.252Adell Sales, E.; Estellés Barber, F.; Torres, AG.; Cambra López, M. (2012). Morphology, chemical composition, and bacterial concentration of airborne particulate matter in rabbit farms. World Rabbit Science. 20(4). doi:10.4995/wrs.2012.1211SWORD24120

The amount of keratinized mucosa may not influence peri-implant health in compliant patients: A retrospective 5-year analysis

AIM (a) To investigate the influence of the keratinized mucosa (KM) on peri-implant health or disease and (b) to identify a threshold value for the width of KM for peri-implant health. MATERIALS AND METHODS The total dataset was subsampled, that is one implant was randomly chosen per patient. In 87 patients, data were extracted at baseline (prosthesis insertion) and 5 years including the width of mid-buccal KM, bleeding on probing, probing depth, plaque index and marginal bone level (MB). Spearman correlations with Holm adjustment for multiple testing were used for potential associations. RESULTS Depending on the definition of peri-implant diseases, the prevalence of peri-implantitis ranged from 9.2% (bleeding on probing threshold: <50% or ≥50%) to 24.1% (threshold: absence or the presence). The prevalence of peri-implant mucositis was similar, irrespective of the definition (54%-55.2%). The width of KM and parameters for peri-implant diseases demonstrated negligible (Spearman correlation coefficients: -0.2 < ρ < 0.2). No threshold value was detected for the width of mid-buccal KM in relation to peri-implant health. CONCLUSION The width of KM around dental implants correlated to a negligible extent with parameters for peri-implant diseases. No threshold value for the width of KM to maintain peri-implant health could be identified

Adapting established instruments to build useful food sovereignty indicators

The recent context of global food emergency and ecological crisis has increased the relevance of people’s struggle for food sovereignty (FSv), which promotes the transformation of the dominant food system and claims ‘the right of peoples to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods, and their right to define their own food and agriculture systems’. Revisiting two Spanish and Catalan articles developing FSv indicators, this article aims at discussing the need and utility of developing FSv indicators at different territorial levels. Confronting these two territorial scales, the paper also identifies common steps that can facilitate other future processes of building FSv indicators. As a conclusion, the paper suggests that these processes of building indicators can contribute to providing political direction at different geographical scales for the implementation of the FSv proposal. At the same time, they favor the movement’s self-reflexivity in its practices while supporting the collective shaping of future action

Molecular impact of launch related dynamic vibrations and static hypergravity in planarians

Although many examples of simulated and real microgravity demonstrating their profound effect on biological systems are described in literature, few reports deal with hypergravity and vibration effects, the levels of which are severely increased during the launch preceding the desired microgravity period. Here, we used planarians, flatworms that can regenerate any body part in a few days. Planarians are an ideal model to study the impact of launch-related hypergravity and vibration during a regenerative process in a “whole animal” context. Therefore, planarians were subjected to 8.5 minutes of 4 g hypergravity (i.e. a human-rated launch level) in the Large Diameter Centrifuge (LDC) and/or to vibrations (20–2000 Hz, 11.3 Grms) simulating the conditions of a standard rocket launch. The transcriptional levels of genes (erg-1, runt-1, fos, jnk, and yki) related with the early stress response were quantified through qPCR. The results show that early response genes are severely deregulated after static and dynamic loads but more so after a combined exposure of dynamic (vibration) and static (hypergravity) loads, more closely simulating real launch exposure profiles. Importantly, at least four days after the exposure, the transcriptional levels of those genes are still deregulated. Our results highlight the deep impact that short exposures to hypergravity and vibration have in organisms, and thus the implications that space flight launch could have. These phenomena should be taken into account when planning for well-controlled microgravity studies