Methane production: Where should we focus our attention?

The UN recently called for reducing meat consumption due to its contribution to global warming. However, from my perspective as a researcher, the role of livestock greenhouse gas emissions is often exaggerated.The annual reports of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the EU1 and the USA2 reveal that the contribution of agriculture, particularly the livestock sector, is of little relevance compared to that of other industries. Thus, focusing attention and efforts to decrease emissions in those sectors would have a greater influence on GHG than the reduction of meat consumption.The May 2019 EU report indicates that 4,330 tons of CO2 equivalent were emitted in 2017, almost 80% of which were from the energy industry and only 10% (440ton) were from agriculture. Of those 440 tons, less than 40% corresponds to enteric fermentation methane. Furthermore, all GHG producing sectors have decreased their production of CO2 equivalent since 1990, except for transportation and air conditioning, which together have increased by more than 260 tons in the same period. The equivalent CO2 production of cattle in Europe was 190 tons and has decreased by 50 tons in 27 years. Transport, on the other hand, produces 880 tons of CO2 equivalent (2017) and in the same 27 years has increased its production by 180 ton, which is roughly equivalent to emission from cattle in 2017.The numbers are similar for the United States, however, GHG production has not decreased since 1990. Total GHG emissions in the USA in 2017 were 5700 tons of CO2 equivalent and, at 5400 tons of CO2 equivalent, the energy sector was the greatest contributor. Agriculture emitted 540 tons of CO2 equivalent, which represents 8.4% of the total production. Enteric fermentation by cattle was 175 tons. In contrast, from 1990-2017, fossil fuel combustion increased from 4740 tons to 4910 tons (170 tons), which is almost equivalent to all enteric fermentation. Although animal scientists should continue to search for ways to reduce GHG emissions, the facts prompt the question, where should we really focus our attention

Introduction

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Introduction: Questions and Orientations in History During the Last 20 Years

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Introduction

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1. The Balkans at the Turn of the Nineteenth to the Twentieth Centuries

Nikos Sigalas, review of The "lost homelands" beyond nostalgia: a sociocultural-political history of Ottoman Greeks, mid-19th–early 20th centuries, by Haris Exertzoglou.Elias G. Skoulidas, review of "Blessed are those who possess the land": Land-conquering plans for the "disappropriation" of consciences in Macedonia, 1880-1909, by Spyros Karavas.Roumen Daskalov, review of The Balkans: modernisation, identities, ideas; in honour of Prof. Nadia Danova (collective volume).Loring M. Danforth, review of Battlefields of Memory: The Macedonian Conflict and Greek Historical Culture, by Erik Sjöberg.Sada Payır, review of Les Grecs d'Instabul au XIXe siècle: Histoire socioculturelle de la communauté de Pera, by Méropi Anastassiadou.Dimitris Stamatopoulos, review of Society and Politics in Southeastern Europe during the 19th Century, by Tassos Anastasiadis and Nathalie Clayer (eds).

Improvisation or planning the control of an infectious disease outbreak?

Chile has more than 6,000 commercial cattle dairy producers, which are mainly located in Los Rios and Los Lagos regions. The country has one million hectares of grassland, 500,000 dairy cows and many dairy plants including some multinationals. Nevertheless, this productive sector faces certain animal-health problems which undermine the production, economic return, and potentially limit international trade. Additionally, they diminish the overall health of the herds, and some of them also represent a public health hazard.Livestock handlers, veterinarians, abattoir workers, meat inspectors, laboratory staff handling biological samples from infected cattle, people consuming unpasteurized milk or other dairy products and improperly prepared meats, infants, the elderly, the immunocompromised, and those with other underlying health conditions are at increased risk of contracting bovine zoonotic infections.Extensive outbreaks of zoonotic disease are not uncommon in Chile, as seen recently in southern Chile due to an outbreak of human Q fever. The perception of the general public regarding the risks involved considerably influences policy-making in the health field. In this regard, the WHO makes the following recommendations to deal with emerging diseases:-New mechanisms of surveillance and response are required, using new tools (satellite remote sensing data, analytical molecular epidemiology) and bringing together different disciplines (medical, veterinary, population biology, information technology, diagnosis).-Integrating the early warning and alert systems of international organizations (WHO, FAO and OIE) to facilitate early detection of potentially linked animal and public health events.-Integrating animal and human health data at national and regional levels, including an inter-sectoral committee for zoonosis preparedness and control.Perhaps, this may be a good opportunity to propose a zoonosis health network (at least at a regional base) in order to manage outbreaks in the future with the structure and level of information recommended by the WHO

Impact Factor: No metric is perfect

The Impact Factor has the hard task to measure the quality of a scientific journal and the impact on the community, based on the number of citations of articles from a given journal. Using this number, we may rank journals across different fields. However, this quality criterion rests on the assumption that its creator, Eugene Garfield, stated as: “The more frequently a journal’s articles are cited, the more the world’s scientific community implies that it finds the journal to be a carrier of useful information”. This rank would actually help librarians to improve the management in their collections. However, since 1975, this number has become a fashionable and trendy topic that researchers pursue to escalate because of a wide range of reasons, including more chances for financial support. Thus, as expected, an index made for journal evaluation has switched to being a quantitative measure of scientific achievement and individual performance.The evaluation of scientific quality is complex, as is the scientific community itself. Several other indexes have tried to accomplish a similar goal, but the Impact Factor has prevailed among others because Journals persist in reminding us about it. In consequence, where to publish is based mainly on the Journal’s Impact Factor, influencing back on this number. Our journal has been recently granted with an Impact Factor of 0.206. This number represents the number of citations during the previous two years given the number of citable source items published during those years. The median for the Subject Area, Veterinary Sciences, is 1.013 (2018). As a growing Journal, our goal in the mid-term is to position Austral Journal of Veterinary Sciences in the second quartile. During the last four years, our journal has experienced significant transformations with the only purpose to improve the quality of manuscripts that our readers deserve. Austral Journal of Veterinary Sciences has transitioned from being bilingual to English-only and has improved and enhanced the editorial processes by using an online platform. We expect to increase our audience, which requires work from the Editors to persuade researchers to submit articles of better quality. Therefore, many more challenges await our Editorial team in the short-term.As an Open Access journal, reaching the community may come from different perspectives that are not being covered by the single parameter called Impact Factor. Thus, just as Journals have made progress and changes to increase their quality, readability, and visibility, including the Austral Journal of Veterinary Sciences, we expect no less from the Impact Factor. We shall wait and see how perfectible this metric can be. Editorial CommitteeAustral Journal of Veterinary Science

1. The Balkans at the Turn of the Nineteenth to the Twentieth Centuries

Nikos Sigalas, review of The "lost homelands" beyond nostalgia: a sociocultural-political history of Ottoman Greeks, mid-19th–early 20th centuries, by Haris Exertzoglou.Elias G. Skoulidas, review of "Blessed are those who possess the land": Land-conquering plans for the "disappropriation" of consciences in Macedonia, 1880-1909, by Spyros Karavas.Roumen Daskalov, review of The Balkans: modernisation, identities, ideas; in honour of Prof. Nadia Danova (collective volume).Loring M. Danforth, review of Battlefields of Memory: The Macedonian Conflict and Greek Historical Culture, by Erik Sjöberg.Sada Payır, review of Les Grecs d'Instabul au XIXe siècle: Histoire socioculturelle de la communauté de Pera, by Méropi Anastassiadou.Dimitris Stamatopoulos, review of Society and Politics in Southeastern Europe during the 19th Century, by Tassos Anastasiadis and Nathalie Clayer (eds).

Introduction: Questions and Orientations in History During the Last 20 Years

Editoria