Perfusion defect size predicts engraftment but not early retention of intra-myocardially injected cardiosphere-derived cells after acute myocardial infarction

Therapeutic cell retention and engraftment are critical for myocardial regeneration. Underlying mechanisms, including the role of tissue perfusion, are not well understood. In Wistar Kyoto rats, syngeneic cardiosphere-derived cells (CDCs) were injected intramyocardially, after experimental myocardial infarction. CDCs were labeled with [18F]-FDG (n = 7), for quantification of 1-h retention, or with sodium-iodide-symporter gene (NIS; n = 8), for detection of 24-h engraftment by reporter imaging. Perfusion was imaged simultaneously. Infarct size was 37 ± 9 and 38 ± 9% of LV in FDG and NIS groups. Cell signal was located in the infarct border zone in all animals. No significant relationship was observed between infarct size and 1-h CDC retention (r = −0.65; P = 0.11). However, infarct size correlated significantly with 24-h engraftment (r = 0.75; P = 0.03). Residual perfusion at the injection site was not related to cell retention/engraftment. Larger infarcts are associated with improved CDC engraftment. This observation encourages further investigation of microenvironmental conditions after ischemic damage and their role in therapeutic cell survival

SARS-CoV-2 susceptibility and COVID-19 disease severity are associated with genetic variants affecting gene expression in a variety of tissues

Variability in SARS-CoV-2 susceptibility and COVID-19 disease severity between individuals is partly due to genetic factors. Here, we identify 4 genomic loci with suggestive associations for SARS-CoV-2 susceptibility and 19 for COVID-19 disease severity. Four of these 23 loci likely have an ethnicity-specific component. Genome-wide association study (GWAS) signals in 11 loci colocalize with expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs) associated with the expression of 20 genes in 62 tissues/cell types (range: 1:43 tissues/gene), including lung, brain, heart, muscle, and skin as well as the digestive system and immune system. We perform genetic fine mapping to compute 99% credible SNP sets, which identify 10 GWAS loci that have eight or fewer SNPs in the credible set, including three loci with one single likely causal SNP. Our study suggests that the diverse symptoms and disease severity of COVID-19 observed between individuals is associated with variants across the genome, affecting gene expression levels in a wide variety of tissue types

A first update on mapping the human genetic architecture of COVID-19

peer reviewe

Precision Livestock Farming in Swine Welfare: A Review for Swine Practitioners

The burgeoning research and applications of technological advances are launching the development of precision livestock farming. Through sensors (cameras, microphones and accelerometers), images, sounds and movements are combined with algorithms to non-invasively monitor animals to detect their welfare and predict productivity. In turn, this remote monitoring of livestock can provide quantitative and early alerts to situations of poor welfare requiring the stockperson’s attention. While swine practitioners’ skills include translation of pig data entry into pig health and well-being indices, many do not yet have enough familiarity to advise their clients on the adoption of precision livestock farming practices. This review, intended for swine veterinarians and specialists, (1) includes an introduction to algorithms and machine learning, (2) summarizes current literature on relevant sensors and sensor network systems, and drawing from industry pig welfare audit criteria, (3) explains how these applications can be used to improve swine welfare and meet current pork production stakeholder expectations. Swine practitioners, by virtue of their animal and client advocacy roles, interpretation of benchmarking data, and stewardship in regulatory and traceability programs, can play a broader role as advisors in the transfer of precision livestock farming technology, and its implications to their clients

Early Ethical Assessment: An Application to the Sustainability of Swine Body Scanners

An early ethics assessment method was used to evaluate sustainability goals and early findings from an automated body scanning technology for swine production. The project had twin goals of discovering potential pitfalls in the technology and exploring the applicability of the method, derived from the Ethical Matrix, as a tool to aid researchers in product design at very early stages in the research and development (R&D) process. This paper reports results on the second objective. Results of the evaluation workshop were coded and qualitatively analyzed. These results are reported and compared; the exercise is compared to the findings of other researchers using more traditional methods for ethical assessment on similar technologies, as well as standard social science methods for ascertaining economic sustainability and social acceptability of technological innovations. We conclude that the method has promise, especially for its applicability at very early stages in R&D, but that it does not substitute for analyses that occur at a much later stage in product or procedural development

Porcine Hemagglutinating Encephalomyelitis Virus and Respiratory Disease in Exhibition Swine, Michigan, USA, 2015

Acute outbreaks of respiratory disease in swine at agricultural fairs in Michigan, USA, in 2015 raised concern for potential human exposure to influenza A virus. Testing ruled out influenza A virus and identified porcine hemagglutinating encephalomyelitis virus as the cause of influenza-like illness in the affected swine

Precision livestock farming: a qualitative exploration of swine industry stakeholders

Introduction: Precision livestock farming (PLF) technology development has proliferated recently, but on-farm adoption has lagged. Understanding PLF stakeholders’ views, practical applications, limitations, and concerns are necessary to understand the factors influencing the adoption of PLF technology. Methods: Using semi-structured online interviews, 12 influential stakeholders’ PLF views and lived experiences were investigated. A phenomenological paradigm was used to generate qualitative data that was analyzed using template analysis. Results: We identified two unique groups of stakeholders, namely the PLF enthusiast and PLF cautious groups. The majority of the participants were well aware and had firsthand experience with the PLF technologies that are currently being used in the swine industry. Discussion: We found that PLF technology was perceived to improve specificity in decision-making, better care for pigs, improve animal health and welfare, increase labor efficiency, and improve resource-use efficiency. Poor internet connectivity and the inability to use PLF data for decision-making due to needing to first complete daily on-farm tasks were considered key obstacles to its implementation. To integrate PLF technology into the existing barn environment, it is necessary to modify farm buildings and infrastructure and management protocols. Stakeholders’ main concerns with PLF technology included data privacy issues and the influence of PLF technology on human-animal relationships and farmers’ duty of care to the animals. In conclusion, stakeholders perceived camera systems for monitoring pig health and welfare and ensuring individual pig identification as a high priority in PLF development going forward.This article is published as Akinyemi BE, Vigors B, Turner SP, Akaichi F, Benjamin M, Johnson AK, Pairis-Garcia MD, Rozeboom DW, Steibel JP, Thompson DP, Zangaro C and Siegford JM (2023) Precision livestock farming: a qualitative exploration of swine industry stakeholders. Front. Anim. Sci. 4:1150528. doi: 10.3389/fanim.2023.1150528. © 2023 Akinyemi, Vigors, Turner, Akaichi, Benjamin, Johnson, Pairis-Garcia, Rozeboom, Steibel, Thompson, Zangaro and Siegford. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms