Use of Yeast Probiotics in Ruminants: Effects and Mechanisms of Action on Rumen pH, Fibre Degradation, and Microbiota According to the Diet

International audienc

Diageo's 'Stop Out of Control Drinking' Campaign in Ireland: An Analysis.

BACKGROUND: It has been argued that the alcohol industry uses corporate social responsibility activities to influence policy and undermine public health, and that every opportunity should be taken to scrutinise such activities. This study analyses a controversial Diageo-funded 'responsible drinking' campaign ("Stop out of Control Drinking", or SOOCD) in Ireland. The study aims to identify how the campaign and its advisory board members frame and define (i) alcohol-related harms, and their causes, and (ii) possible solutions. METHODS: Documentary analysis of SOOCD campaign material. This includes newspaper articles (n = 9), media interviews (n = 11), Facebook posts (n = 92), and Tweets (n = 340) produced by the campaign and by board members. All material was coded inductively, and a thematic analysis undertaken, with codes aggregated into sub-themes. RESULTS: The SOOCD campaign utilises vague or self-defined concepts of 'out of control' and 'moderate' drinking, tending to present alcohol problems as behavioural rather than health issues. These are also unquantified with respect to actual drinking levels. It emphasises alcohol-related antisocial behaviour among young people, particularly young women. In discussing solutions to alcohol-related problems, it focuses on public opinion rather than on scientific evidence, and on educational approaches and information provision, misrepresenting these as effective. "Moderate drinking" is presented as a behavioural issue ("negative drinking behaviours"), rather than as a health issue. CONCLUSIONS: The 'Stop Out of Control Drinking' campaign frames alcohol problems and solutions in ways unfavourable to public health, and closely reflects other Diageo Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activity, as well as alcohol and tobacco industry strategies more generally. This framing, and in particular the framing of alcohol harms as a behavioural issue, with the implication that consumption should be guided only by self-defined limits, may not have been recognised by all board members. It suggests a need for awareness-raising efforts among the public, third sector and policymakers about alcohol industry strategies

Qualitative and Semiquantitative Assessment of Exposure to Engineered Nanomaterials within the French EpiNano Program: Inter- and Intramethod Reliability Study

The relatively recent development of industries working with nanomaterials has created challenges for exposure assessment. In this article, we propose a relatively simple approach to assessing nanomaterial exposures for the purposes of epidemiological studies of workers in these industries. This method consists of an onsite industrial hygiene visit of facilities carried out individually and a description of workstations where nano-objects and their agglomerates and aggregates (NOAA) are present using a standardized tool, the Onsite technical logbook. To assess its reliability, we implemented this approach for assessing exposure to NOAA in workplaces at seven workstations which synthesize and functionalize carbon nanotubes. The prediction of exposure to NOAA using this method exhibited substantial agreement with that of the reference method, the latter being based on an onsite group visit, an expert’s report and exposure measurements (Cohen kappa = 0.70, sensitivity = 0.88, specificity = 0.92). Intramethod comparison of results for exposure prediction showed moderate agreement between the three evaluators (two program team evaluators and one external evaluator) (weighted Fleiss kappa = 0.60, P = 0.003). Interevaluator reliability of the semiquantitative exposure characterization results was excellent between the two evaluators from the program team (Spearman rho = 0.93, P = 0.03) and fair when these two evaluators’ results were compared with the external evaluator’s results. The project was undertaken within the framework of the French epidemiological surveillance program EpiNano. This study allowed a first reliability assessment of the EpiNano method. However, to further validate this method a comparison with robust quantitative exposure measurement data is necessary

Identification of hotspots in the European Union for the introduction of four zoonotic arboviroses by live animal trade

Live animal trade is considered a major mode of introduction of viruses from enzootic foci into disease-free areas. Due to societal and behavioural changes, some wild animal species may nowadays be considered as pet species. The species diversity of animals involved in international trade is thus increasing. This could benefit pathogens that have a broad host range such as arboviruses. The objective of this study was to analyze the risk posed by live animal imports for the introduction, in the European Union (EU), of four arboviruses that affect human and horses: Eastern and Western equine encephalomyelitis, Venezuelan equine encephalitis and Japanese encephalitis. Importation data for a five-years period (2005-2009, extracted from the EU TRACES database), environmental data (used as a proxy for the presence of vectors) and horses and human population density data (impacting the occurrence of clinical cases) were combined to derive spatially explicit risk indicators for virus introduction and for the potential consequences of such introductions. Results showed the existence of hotspots where the introduction risk was the highest in Belgium, in the Netherlands and in the north of Italy. This risk was higher for Eastern equine encephalomyelitis (EEE) than for the three other diseases. It was mainly attributed to exotic pet species such as rodents, reptiles or cage birds, imported in small-sized containments from a wide variety of geographic origins. The increasing species and origin diversity of these animals may have in the future a strong impact on the risk of introduction of arboviruses in the EU. (Résumé d'auteur

Assessing the conformational changes of pb5, the receptor-binding protein of phage T5, upon binding to its Escherichia coli receptor FhuA

Within tailed bacteriophages, interaction of the receptor-binding protein (RBP) with the target cell triggers viral DNA ejection into the host cytoplasm. In the case of phage T5, the RBP pb5 and the receptor FhuA, an outer membrane protein of Escherichia coli, have been identified. Here, we use small angle neutron scattering and electron microscopy to investigate the FhuA-pb5 complex. Specific deuteration of one of the partners allows the complete masking in small angle neutron scattering of the surfactant and unlabeled proteins when the complex is solubilized in the fluorinated surfactant F6-DigluM. Thus, individual structures within a membrane protein complex can be described. The solution structure of FhuA agrees with its crystal structure; that of pb5 shows an elongated shape. Neither displays significant conformational changes upon interaction. The mechanism of signal transduction within phage T5 thus appears different from that of phages binding cell wall saccharides, for which structural information is available

Pyrethroid insecticide exposure and cognitive developmental disabilities in children: The PELAGIE mother–child cohort

International audiencePyrethroid insecticides are widely used in agriculture and in homes. Despite the neurotoxicity of these insecticides at high doses, few studies have examined whether lower-level exposures could adversely affect children's neurodevelopment. The PELAGIE cohort included 3421 pregnant women from Brittany, France between 2002 and 2006. When their children reached their sixth birthday, 428 mothers from the cohort were randomly selected, successfully contacted and found eligible. A total of 287 (67%) mothers agreed to participate with their children in the neuropsychological follow-up. Two cognitive domains were assessed by the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children: verbal comprehension and working memory. Five pyrethroid and two organophosphate insecticide metabolites were measured in maternal and child first-void urine samples collected between 6 and 19 gestational weeks and at 6 years of age, respectively. Linear regression models were used to estimate associations between cognitive scores and urinary pyrethroid metabolite concentrations, adjusting for organophosphate metabolite concentrations and potential confounders. Maternal prenatal pyrethroid metabolite concentrations were not consistently associated with any children's cognitive scores. By contrast, childhood 3-PBA and cis-DBCA concentrations were both negatively associated with verbal comprehension scores (P-trend = 0.04 and P-trend < 0.01, respectively) and with working memory scores (P-trend = 0.05 and P-trend < 0.01, respectively). No associations were observed for the three other childhood pyrethroid metabolite concentrations (4-F-3-PBA, cis-DCCA, and trans-DCCA). Low-level childhood exposures to deltamethrin (as cis-DBCA is its principal and selective metabolite), in particular, and to pyrethroid insecticides, in general (as reflected in levels of the 3-PBA metabolite) may negatively affect neurocognitive development by 6 years of age. Whatever their etiology, these cognitive deficits may be of importance educationally, because cognitive impairments in children interfere with learning and social development. Potential causes that can be prevented are of paramount public health importanc

Urinary Biomarkers of Prenatal Atrazine Exposure and Adverse Birth Outcomes in the PELAGIE Birth Cohort

Background: Despite evidence of atrazine toxicity in developing organisms from experimental studies, few studies—and fewer epidemiologic investigations—have examined the potential effects of prenatal exposure

The Public Health Responsibility Deal: Using a Systems-Level Analysis to Understand the Lack of Impact on Alcohol, Food, Physical Activity, and Workplace Health Sub-Systems.

The extent to which government should partner with business interests such as the alcohol, food, and other industries in order to improve public health is a subject of ongoing debate. A common approach involves developing voluntary agreements with industry or allowing them to self-regulate. In England, the most recent example of this was the Public Health Responsibility Deal (RD), a public⁻private partnership launched in 2011 under the then Conservative-led coalition government. The RD was organised around a series of voluntary agreements that aim to bring together government, academic experts, and commercial, public sector and voluntary organisations to commit to pledges to undertake actions of public health benefit. This paper brings together the main findings and implications of the evaluation of the RD using a systems approach. We analysed the functioning of the RD exploring the causal pathways involved and how they helped or hindered the RD; the structures and processes; feedback loops and how they might have constrained or potentiated the effects of the RD; and how resilient the wider systems were to change (i.e., the alcohol, food, and other systems interacted with). Both the production and uptake of pledges by RD partners were largely driven by the interests of partners themselves, enabling these wider systems to resist change. This analysis demonstrates how and why the RD did not meet its objectives. The findings have lessons for the development of effective alcohol, food and other policies, for defining the role of unhealthy commodity industries, and for understanding the limits of industry self-regulation as a public health measure