Molecular Epidemiology of Campylobacter Isolates from Poultry Production Units in Southern Ireland

This study aimed to identify the sources and routes of transmission of Campylobacter in intensively reared poultry farms in the Republic of Ireland. Breeder flocks and their corresponding broilers housed in three growing facilities were screened for the presence of Campylobacter species from November 2006 through September 2007. All breeder flocks tested positive for Campylobacter species (with C. jejuni and C. coli being identified). Similarly, all broiler flocks also tested positive for Campylobacter by the end of the rearing period. Faecal and environmental samples were analyzed at regular intervals throughout the rearing period of each broiler flock. Campylobacter was not detected in the disinfected house, or in one-day old broiler chicks. Campylobacter jejuni was isolated from environmental samples including air, water puddles, adjacent broiler flocks and soil. A representative subset of isolates from each farm was selected for further characterization using flaA-SVR sub-typing and multi-locus sequence typing (MLST) to determine if same-species isolates from different sources were indistinguishable or not. Results obtained suggest that no evidence of vertical transmission existed and that adequate cleaning/disinfection of broiler houses contributed to the prevention of carryover and cross-contamination. Nonetheless, the environment appears to be a potential source of Campylobacter. The population structure of Campylobacter isolates from broiler farms in Southern Ireland was diverse and weakly clonal

Legislative History: An Act to Change the Moose Hunting Season (HP93)(LD 117)

https://digitalmaine.com/legishist118/1116/thumbnail.jp

Taming the Emotional Dog: Moral Intuition and Ethically-Oriented Leader Development

Traditional approaches describe ethical decision-making of leaders as driven by conscious deliberation and analysis. Accordingly, existing approaches of ethically-oriented leader development usually focus on the promotion of deliberative ethical decision-making, based on normative knowledge and moral reasoning. Yet, a continually growing body of research indicates that a considerable part of moral functions involved in ethical decision-making is automatic and intuitive. In this article, we discuss the implications of this moral intuition approach for the domain of ethically-oriented leader development. Specifically, we introduce a conceptual model and develop a set of theoretical propositions, suggesting that the moral intuition perspective significantly contributes to effective ethically-oriented leader development. The discussion examines theoretical implications and practical applications of the presented propositions and outlines directions for future research

Conservation agriculture and climate change

This chapter review aims at developing a clear understanding of the impacts and benefits of conservation agriculture (CA) with respect to climate change, and examining if there are any misleading findings at present in the scientific literature. Most of the world’s agricultural soils have been depleted of organic matter and soil health over the years under tillage-based agriculture (TA), compared with their state under natural vegetation. This degradation process can be reversed and this chapter identifies the conditions that can lead to increase in soil organic matter content and improvement in soil health under CA practices which involve minimum soil disturbance, maintenance of soil cover, and crop diversity. The chapter also discusses the need to refer to specific carbon pools when addressing carbon sequestration, as each carbon category has a different turnover rate. With respect to greenhouse gas emissions, sustainable agricultural systems based on CA principles are described which result in lower emissions from farm operations as well as from machinery manufacturing processes, and that also help to reduce fertilizer use. This chapter describes that terrestrial carbon sequestration efficiently be achieved by changing the management of agricultural lands from high soil disturbance, as TA practices to low disturbance, as CA practices, and by adopting effective nitrogen management practices to provide a positive nitrogen balance for carbon sequestration. However, full advantages of CA in terms of carbon sequestration can usually be observed only in the medium to longer term when CA practices and associated carbon sequestration processes in the soil are well established