The socioeconomic impact of equine epizootic lymphangitis in working equids in low and middle income countries: a scoping review

Equine epizootic lymphangitis (EEL) is a very infectious and contagious fungal disease that, with its ocular, respiratory and skin forms, causes severe effects on the health and welfare of working equids. Treatment is expensive and rarely available in low and middle-income countries (LMICs). Epidemiological data is lacking in most countries where the disease is known to exist. The purpose of this scoping review is to identify the current knowledge on the socioeconomic impact of EEL in working equids in LMICs, to highlight knowledge gaps and provide recommendations for future research. Seven eligible papers were obtained from the search of four databases and backward citation searching. The review showed that the available research on this subject is very scarce and restricted to Ethiopia. From the results it emerged that EEL causes detrimental socioeconomic effects on working equids’ owners, compromising their health and livelihood. Its economic consequences were attributed to the reduced working capacity and loss of sick animals. Among the social impacts, authors highlighted the stigma around sick equids and their owners. Further studies on the socioeconomic impact of EEL conducted in endemic areas are highly required. The integration of epidemiological data with socioeconomic impact studies from LMICs may promote funding allocation for the development of cost-effective treatments and vaccines and for implementing disease prevention and control programmes. Future research would gain from applying the One Health approach to better examine the multiplicity of the disease socioeconomic effects, therefore increasing the potential of research to orientate policy

Stem Cells

The main objective of this book is to present a thorough update on stem cell research and the potential therapeutic applications of stem cells. The text is structured following a path that starts from the molecular basics and the biological properties of pluripotent, embryonic or reprogrammed stem cells, and it compares the different degrees of stemness, while describing the adult stem populations residing in the various tissues and organs of the human body. Starting from basic research, the book discusses examples of regenerative medicine that translate the experimental findings into clinical applications of cell therapy. Finally, the book reviews how stem cells represent a model to understand not only the physiological mechanisms that control their fate, but also the pathological mechanisms involved in the aberrant biology of cancer stem cells. Each chapter has been conceived by distinguished researchers in the field who provide detailed and updated contributions that distill knowledge in a very readable text. Laura Bonsi is Associate Professor of Histology at the Department of Experimental, Diagnostic and Specialty Medicine of the University of Bologna. Francesco Alviano is Assistant Professor of Histology at the Department of Experimental, Diagnostic and Specialty Medicine of the University of Bologna. Prof. Bonsi and Dr. Alviano are authors of numerous scientific papers published in international journals. They coordinate the Biotechnology Laboratory of Human Stem Cells at the University of Bologna, that is focused on the study of stem cells isolated from different sources, above all from extraembryonic tissues such as the placenta, the umbilical cord, and the fetal membranes. They are longterm members of the International Placenta Stem Cell Society (IPLASS)

ECO-labels as a multidimensional research topic: Trends and opportunities

This study analyzes the importance of ecolabels as an eco-innovation tool that can contribute to the sustainable design, production and consumption of products. Our research has a dual objective. The first is to build a theoretical framework that explains the relationship between ecolabels and eco-innovation, their determinants (demand, supply; and institutional and political influences) and the dimensions that arise from them. Second, according to this framework, a systematic literature review was carried out to identify the trends and opportunities in ecolabeling as a multidimensional topic, from empirical, geographical and sectorial perspective. The main contributions of this paper are a proposal for cyclical ecolabeling innovation process, an understanding of the ecolabeling dimensions according to the studies analyzed, and ecolabel performance in the market. Additionally, the systematic literature review revealed that ecolabels have been mainly explored in food sectors and, developed countries, and researchers tend to assess their performance from the dimension of market dynamics