Trichoderma Enzymes for Degradation of Aflatoxin B1 and Ochratoxin A.

The contamination of agricultural products with mycotoxins causes risks to animal and human health and severe economic losses. Mycotoxicoses can be reduced by preventing fungal infection using chemical and biological approaches. The chemical strategies can release toxic molecules; therefore, strategies for biological control are being evaluated, such as using nontoxic fungi and their metabolites. This work evaluated the effect of exoenzymes produced by the beneficial fungus Trichoderma afroharzianum strain T22 in degrading Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) and Ochratoxin A (OTA). The ability of Trichoderma to produce hydrolases was stimulated by using different inducing substrates. The highest AFB1 and OTA degradation activity was obtained using a medium containing lyophilized mushrooms and crude fiber. The T. afroharzianum T22's ability to reduce mycotoxins may be attributed to peroxidase enzymes. This study showed that T. afroharzianum strain T22 or its peroxidase supplementation could represent a sustainable strategy for the degradation of AFB1 and OTA in feed and food products

Immunity to poliovirus among children and the elderly in north-east Italy

Introduction. Italy and Europe were declared polio-free in June 2002, but increasing migration, even from undeveloped countries where polio still exists, may lead to a come-back of circulating poliovirus (PV) and infection in previously polio-free areas. It is consequently advisable to continue to monitor the immunity of the population in polio-free areas. The aim of this study was to assess the current prevalence of neutralizing antibodies in recently-immunized children and in elderly people who were never vaccinated. Methods. Sera from 511 healthy subjects resident in the Veneto Region were examined to assay their antibody titer for PV 1, 2 and 3, using the microneutralization test. Data were analyzed by chi-squared test, Student?s t-test and linear regression analysis, using EPI-Info 2000 supplied by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Atlanta, GA, USA). Results. Neutralizing antibodies in group A (231 subjects aged 1-17 years) showed significantly higher geometric mean titers (GMTs) than in group B (280 subjects aged 65-100 years) for all three PV serotypes (P : 0.001). Nobody simultaneously lacked neutralizing antibodies for all three serotypes. There were no difference between the two groups in terms of male/female GMTs for the three PV. Antibodies decreased with time since vaccination, but the difference was only significant for PV 3. GMTs were lower in the elderly, with no significant difference among the three PV. Discussion. The population examined showed a good level of protection against the three PV strains: both groups A (vaccinated) and B (naturally immunized) revealed a valid immunity to poliovirus. Conclusion. Immunization programs and immunity status population screening are still advisable until polio has been worldwide eradicated

Shrimp Farming Practices in the Puttallam District of Sri Lanka: Implications for Disease Control, Industry Sustainability, and Rural Development

Shrimp farming has great potential to diversify and secure income in rural Sri Lanka, but production has significantly declined in recent years due to civil conflicts, some unsustainable practices and devastating outbreaks of disease. We examined management practices affecting disease prevention and control in the Puttalam district to identify extension services outputs that could support sustainable development of Sri Lankan shrimp farming. A survey on 621 shrimp farms (603 operational and 18 nonoperational) was conducted within the Puttalam district over 42 weeks comprising a series of three-day field visits from August 2008 to October 2009, covering two consecutive shrimp crops. Fundamental deficits in disease control, management, and biosecurity practices were found. Farmers had knowledge of biosecurity but the lack of financial resources was a major impediment to improved disease control. Smallholder farmers were disproportionately constrained in their ability to enact basic biosecurity practices due to their economic status. Basic breaches in biosecurity will keep disease as the rate limiting step in this industry. Plans to support this industry must recognize the socioeconomic reality of rural Sri Lankan aquaculture

A multi-element psychosocial intervention for early psychosis (GET UP PIANO TRIAL) conducted in a catchment area of 10 million inhabitants: study protocol for a pragmatic cluster randomized controlled trial

Multi-element interventions for first-episode psychosis (FEP) are promising, but have mostly been conducted in non-epidemiologically representative samples, thereby raising the risk of underestimating the complexities involved in treating FEP in 'real-world' services

Liver metastases from carcinoid tumor: Imaging patterns

Our study was aimed at describing the diagnostic imaging patterns of carcinoid liver metastases. Six patients with liver metastases secondary to carcinoid tumor were examined. The metastases were histologically proved in each patient. All patients were examined with ultrasonography (US), Computed Tomography (CT), Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and Digital Subtraction Angiography (DSA). All patients were treated with transcatheter embolization of liver metastases. Diagnostic imaging methods showed ten to many dozen metastases in each patient. Tumor size ranged 0.5 to 14 cm. US showed hypoechoic, hyperechoic and isoechoic carcinoid liver metastases with a hypoechoic halo. Large lesions had anechoic central areas due to colliquative necrosis. Hypoechoic patterns were the most frequent ones. Precontrast CT showed hypodense metastases; very small lesions were isodense relative to surrounding liver. CT during contrast agent injection showed that the metastases were hyperdense in the arterial phase; contrast enhancement was poorer in the portal phase. Large lesions showed a hypodense central area due to necrosis which remained hypodense in the late phase. The metastases were hypointense on T1-weighted and hyperintense on T2-weighted MR images. Gradient echo dynamic imaging with Gd-DTPA showed high-signal metastases in the arterial phase and lower signal intensity in the portal phase. DSA, an essential exam before embolization, showed tortuous and elongated intra- and extrahepatic arteries and tumor neovascularization with no malignant abnormalities. In the capillary phase, tumor uptake and inhomogeneous hypervascular patterns were shown. Portal veins were only displaced and compressed, but never infiltrated by the metastases. All the techniques we used contributed to assess liver involvement by carcinoid metastases. DSA must be used only before treatment; both CT and MRI showed the hypervascular patterns of the metastases, but no technique could predict their nature