Analyses of the poultry value chain and its linkages and interactions with HPAI risk factors in Nigeria

Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) has impacts that reverberate throughout the poultry marketing chain. Nigeria suffered waves of HPAI outbreaks that peaked twice in February 2006 and February 2007. The outbreaks affected 3,057 commercial and rural household farms causing 1.3 million of the country’s 160 million poultry to be destroyed at the cost of United States Dollars (USD) 5.4 m paid in compensation by the Government of Nigeria (Federal Department of Livestock [FDL], 2008). However, some impacts of HPAI are often overlooked in policy circles, with policymakers focusing mainly on the upstream impacts at the producer level. The cumulative downstream impacts of HPAI on traders, slaughterhouses, retailers, casual employment, and support services can often dwarf the impacts of the disease at the farm level. More significantly, the failure to capture these diverse impacts may have important implications on the evolution and control of disease that may accentuate its impact. In particular, socio-economic linkages embedded in livestock value chains may serve as important risk factors for the entry, spread, and persistence of disease. Thus, an understanding of these linkages is critical to inform policy and understand the broader livelihood impacts of disease

Kinetics study of hydrochlorothiazide lactose liquid state interaction using conventional isothermal arrhenius method under basic and neutral conditions

ABSTRACT The Maillard reaction of hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ) and lactose has been previously demonstrated in pharmaceutical formulations. In this study, the activation energy of - hydrohlorothiazide and lactose interaction in the liquid state was ascertained under basic and neutral conditions. Conventional isothermal High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) technique was employed to ascertain the kinetic parameters using Arrhenius method. Results: The activation energy obtained was 82.43 and 100.28 kJ/mol under basic and neutral conditions, respectively. Consequently, it can be inferred that Maillard reaction is significantly affected by pH, which can be used as a control factor whenever the reaction potentially occurs

Angola Block 18WAD and Block 31 pre-operational environmental survey, October 2005: analysis of seabed images taken using WASP (Wide-Angle Seabed Photography)

This report details seabed observations carried out on behalf of BP Angola for an environmental survey of Angola Blocks 18 and 31 (bathyal SE Atlantic). Seabed photography (still and video) was undertaken with the NOC WASP vehicle. The WASP deployments spanned water depths of 1550-2050m over the Angolan Margin and included studies on the open continental slope and on and around seabed pockmarks and salt diapirs. The shallower sites (Block 18; 1550-1650m) were dominated by small elpidiid holothurians. At intermediate depths (Block 31; c. 1800m) the megabenthos was dominated by the holothurian Scotoplanes globosa. The deeper sites (Block 31 &gt;1900m) were dominated by the spatangoid urchin Pourtalesia alcocki. Two ‘local variant’ faunas were recognized; one associated with the elevated topography of salt diapirs and dominated by ophiuroids. The other from a large seabed pockmark with a highly abundant population of Pourtalesia alcocki (mean abundance 39.56 10m-2; maximum 108.88 10m-2) and also notable for the presence of fragments of cemented sediment, large numbers of dead bivalve tests (including Vesicomyidae Calyptogena-type), squat lobsters (Munidopsis sp.), a bacterial mat and a possible tubeworm (? Siboglinidae). All the latter observations suggest the possibility of fluid flow / cold seep conditions in the vicinity of the pockmark.Should you wish to consult or cite this report please contact the author directly (Brian Bett, [email protected], +44 (0)23 80596355).<br/

Seabed environmental survey of Angola Blocks 18WAD and 31: analysis of seabed samples

This report details the analysis and interpretation of seabed sample data carried out on behalf of BPAngola for an environmental survey of Angola Blocks 18 and 31 (bathyal SE Atlantic). Seabedsampling was undertaken with the NOC Megacorer to produce material for the assessment ofhydrocarbons, heavy metals, particle size, total organic carbon and nitrogen and macrobenthos. Seabedsampling spanned water depths of 1300-2050m over the Angolan Margin and included sites on the opencontinental slope and on and around seabed pockmarks and salt diapirs. Analysis of the resultant dataindicates that many physical / chemical parameters vary systematically with water depth and withseabed type (background, diapir and pockmark habitats). Contrary to expectation, sediments coarsenand organic matter (total organic carbon and total nitrogen) increases with depth, this, however, may bea local rather then regional trend. A number of the sampled diapir and pockmark sites are notable forpossible indicators of fluid flow, elevated total hydrocarbon levels, unusual hydrocarbon compositionsand variant macrobenthos species composition, all potentially indicative of fluid escape from the seabed(? seep sites). The macrobenthos are highly diverse and likely include a majority of species new toscience. There is a strong trend of increasing biodiversity, particularly species richness, with depth andsome indication that biodiversity is enhanced at diapir sites and somewhat reduced at pockmark sites.Controls on the species composition of the macrobenthos are undoubtedly complex and include both asuite of depth varying factors together with local habitat variation, which likely includes the influence of fluid flow.Should you wish to consult or cite this report please contact the author directly (Brian Bett, [email protected], +44 (0)23 80596355)

The macro- and micro-scale patchiness of meiobenthos associated with the Darwin Mounds (north-east Atlantic)

Meiobenthic community structure was investigated at different spatial scales (from 100 metres to centimetres) on and adjacent to a group of coral-topped sandy mounds in the bathyal north-east Atlantic (Darwin Mounds, Rockall Trough) and related to the environmental conditions in the area, mainly differences in sediment organic carbon content and presence of biogenic structures. Meiobenthos abundances were similar to those observed in other deep-sea sites, with nematodes representing at least 94% of the total community. The dominant nematode genera were Microlaimus, followed by Sabatieria, Richtersia, Rhynchonema and Trefusia, together with typical deep-sea genera (e.g. Halalaimus and Acantholaimus). Multivariate analysis of nematode generic relative abundances at the different stations indicated that there was no significant influence on distribution resulting from large scale topographic and biogeochemical conditions around the mounds. The same genera were associated with dead tests of the xenophyophore Syringammina fragilissima and in the surrounding sediments. The vertical distribution of nematodes on and adjacent to the mound showed some unusual features, as the deeper layers of the sediments were inhabited by stilbonematids. These genera harbour ectosymbiotic, chemoautotrophic bacteria and have not previously been recorded from the deep sea. The occurrence of stilbonematids in notable numbers in the subsurface layers of the sediments in the vicinity of the Darwin Mounds provides evidence for the occurrence of anoxic microenvironments

Two abyssal sites in the Southern Ocean influenced by different organic matter inputs: Environmental characterization and preliminary observations on the benthic foraminifera

The abundance and diversity of the deep-sea benthos are intimately linked to inputs of organic matter from the euphotic zone. However, it is often difficult to isolate the influence of surface productivity on benthic ecosystems from other environmental factors. To this end, two abyssal sites (4200 m water depth) located under contrasting productivity regimes around the Crozet Plateau, in the Indian Ocean sector of the Southern Ocean, were sampled during the austral summer of 2004/2005. One site (M5), east of the Crozet Isles, was located beneath an area where there was an enduring seasonal phytoplankton bloom. The second site (M6) was located in an oligotrophic high-nutrient low-chlorophyll (HNLC) region to the south of the islands. Organic fluxes to the seafloor at these sites are thought to reflect the overlying productivities, so that the benthic environment to the east of the islands was more eutrophic than at the southerly station. All other environmental variables were similar at the two sites, which are located just 460 km apart. The concentrations of chlorophyll-a and total organic carbon in the surficial sediments were significantly greater at the relatively eutrophic site, east of the islands (M5), than at the southerly site (M6). Total nitrogen, however, was similar at both sites. Significantly higher phytopigment concentrations were observed in the surficial sediments at the eutrophic site; in particular, the concentration of chlorophyll-a was 3 times greater than at the southern site, although the freshness of the labile component, as measured by chlorophyll-a to pheophorbide ratio, was not different between sites. These results confirm that fluxes of organic matter to the seafloor were higher at the site located beneath the bloom region. This was reflected in the abundance and diversity of live (stained) and dead benthic foraminifera (>125 μm), which were greater at the eutrophic site. The species composition of the dead foraminiferal assemblages were similar at both sites, however, and were dominated by Nuttallides umbonifera, Pullenia bulloides, and Melonis pompiloides. An exception was the “phytodetritus species” Epistominella exigua, which was more abundant at the eutrophic site, indicating a larger seasonal component to the export under the bloom region. Differences in the organic matter input regimes at the two sites appear to influence the abundance and diversity, but not the overall species composition, of the foraminiferal assemblages