Occurrence of Salmonella spp. in eggs from backyard chicken flocks in Portugal and Romania - results of a preliminary study

The aim of this study was to conduct a preliminary investigation on the occurrence of Salmonella spp. in eggs from chickens raised in backyards in Portugal and Romania. A lack of compliance with safety practices by chicken owners, was demonstrated, especially in Portugal, as 96% of the eggs were visibly dirty and 92.5% were stored at room temperature. In Romania the 202 analysed eggs were Salmonella free, whereas in Portugal six of the 200 eggs sampled were positive for Salmonella spp. (3%). A positive egg for Salmonella spp. was found in 10.7% of the 56 backyard flocks sampled in Portugal. One egg exhibited contamination both in the shellmembrane mixture and in its content, while in the remaining eggs, the pathogen was found either in the shellmembrane (n = 2) or in the yolk and white mixture (n = 3). The serotypes S. Typhimurium (with identical PFGE patterns) and S. Enteritidis were isolated from five eggs and one egg, respectively. Whilst S. Enteritidis was sensitive to the 14 antibiotics tested, S. Typhimurium isolates presented divergent antimicrobial resistant phenotypes and three were classified as multi-drug resistant.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Mattrygghet i Europa: en kartlegging av kritiske matpraksiser og kulturelle forskjeller i Frankrike, Norge, Portugal, Romania og Storbritannia

How is food handled in safe and unsafe ways from retail to fork in European households? This is the overall research question raised in this report. The aim of this report is to contribute to an in-depth, detailed, empirical and nuanced analysis of how food is handled in everyday life in five European countries: France, Norway, Portugal, Romania and the UK. The first chapters (Part 1) describe the food cultural difference and food safety variation between the five countries, theories of practices that underpin the study and the transdisciplinary methods employed for studying shopping, transportation, storage and cooking a meal with chicken and raw vegetables in 75 European households. The first empirical chapters (Part 2) introduce the households in this study (chapter 2.1), discuss the everyday food life the households (chapter 2.2) and describe food anxieties and experiences with foodborne illnesses (chapter 2.3). Part 3 concentrates on food procuring and organising practices in the households and includes three empirical discussions of shopping (chapter 3.1), transportation (chapter 3.2) and storage (chapter 3.3). Part 4 discusses food preparation and comprises five chapters discussing the order of cooking (chapter 4.1), chicken preparation (chapter 4.2), vegetable preparation (chapter 4.3), determining doneness (chapter 4.4) and washing hands (chapter 4.5). Finally, Part 5 discusses the main findings in the report and suggests further research steps.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Ancient pigs reveal a near-complete genomic turnover following their introduction to Europe

Archaeological evidence indicates that pig domestication had begun by ∼10,500 y before the present (BP) in the Near East, and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) suggests that pigs arrived in Europe alongside farmers ∼8,500 y BP. A few thousand years after the introduction of Near Eastern pigs into Europe, however, their characteristic mtDNA signature disappeared and was replaced by haplotypes associated with European wild boars. This turnover could be accounted for by substantial gene flow from local European wild boars, although it is also possible that European wild boars were domesticated independently without any genetic contribution from the Near East. To test these hypotheses, we obtained mtDNA sequences from 2,099 modern and ancient pig samples and 63 nuclear ancient genomes from Near Eastern and European pigs. Our analyses revealed that European domestic pigs dating from 7,100 to 6,000 y BP possessed both Near Eastern and European nuclear ancestry, while later pigs possessed no more than 4% Near Eastern ancestry, indicating that gene flow from European wild boars resulted in a near-complete disappearance of Near East ancestry. In addition, we demonstrate that a variant at a locus encoding black coat color likely originated in the Near East and persisted in European pigs. Altogether, our results indicate that while pigs were not independently domesticated in Europe, the vast majority of human-mediated selection over the past 5,000 y focused on the genomic fraction derived from the European wild boars, and not on the fraction that was selected by early Neolithic farmers over the first 2,500 y of the domestication process

Extensive Left Iliac Veins and Inferior Vena Cava Thrombosis Revealing a Giant Uterine Myoma

A deep vein thrombosis was rarely associated with uterine myomas. Hereby, it is presented the case of a 40-year-old woman in which the clinical manifestation of the deep vein thrombosis revealed the further diagnosis of a large uterine myoma. The diagnosis, management and clinical outcome of the patient are emphasized and discussed. The management of a patient with a uterine myoma and deep vein thrombosis is challenging and implies a multidisciplinary team

Neutrophils Modulate Fibroblast Function and Promote Healing and Scar Formation after Murine Myocardial Infarction

AIM: Recruitment of neutrophils to the heart following acute myocardial infarction (MI) initiates inflammation and contributes to adverse post-infarct left ventricular (LV) remodeling. However, therapeutic inhibition of neutrophil recruitment into the infarct zone has not been beneficial in MI patients, suggesting a possible dual role for neutrophils in inflammation and repair following MI. Here, we investigate the effect of neutrophils on cardiac fibroblast function following MI. Methods and Results: We found that co-incubating neutrophils with isolated cardiac fibroblasts enhanced the production of provisional extracellular matrix proteins and reduced collagen synthesis when compared to control or co-incubation with mononuclear cells. Furthermore, we showed that neutrophils are required to induce the transient up-regulation of transforming growth factor (TGF)-ß1 expression in fibroblasts, a key requirement for terminating the pro-inflammatory phase and allowing the reparatory phase to form a mature scar after MI. Conclusion: Neutrophils are essential for both initiation and termination of inflammatory events that control and modulate the healing process after MI. Therefore, one should exercise caution when testing therapeutic strategies to inhibit neutrophil recruitment into the infarct zone in MI patients

Neutrophils modulate fibroblast function and promote healing and scar formation after murine myocardial infarction

10.3390/ijms21103685International Journal of Molecular Sciences2110368