A review of Brucella infection in marine mammals, with special emphasis on Brucella pinnipedialis in the hooded seal (Cystophora cristata)

Brucella spp. were isolated from marine mammals for the first time in 1994. Two novel species were later included in the genus; Brucella ceti and Brucella pinnipedialis, with cetaceans and seals as their preferred hosts, respectively. Brucella spp. have since been isolated from a variety of marine mammals. Pathological changes, including lesions of the reproductive organs and associated abortions, have only been registered in cetaceans. The zoonotic potential differs among the marine mammal Brucella strains. Many techniques, both classical typing and molecular microbiology, have been utilised for characterisation of the marine mammal Brucella spp. and the change from the band-based approaches to the sequence-based approaches has greatly increased our knowledge about these strains. Several clusters have been identified within the B. ceti and B. pinnipedialis species, and multiple studies have shown that the hooded seal isolates differ from other pinniped isolates. We describe how different molecular methods have contributed to species identification and differentiation of B. ceti and B. pinnipedialis, with special emphasis on the hooded seal isolates. We further discuss the potential role of B. pinnipedialis for the declining Northwest Atlantic hooded seal population

The global epidemiology of Brucella infections in terrestrial wildlife: A meta-analysis

Brucellosis is a widespread zoonotic disease with serious consequences on human and animal health. Brucella infections were reported in many terrestrial wild animals, from subtropical and temperate regions to arctic regions. In many areas, the epidemiology of brucellosis in wildlife is closely associated with the occurrence of the disease in livestock. Some wild species may contribute to the re-introduction of Brucella infections in livestock (spillback), even in officially brucellosis-free (OBF) regions. Through meta-regression analysis, this study draws a global picture of the prevalence of Brucella spp. in terrestrial wild animals, trying to determine most affected subgroups as well as preferential sampling and screening methods. For this purpose, a literature search was carried out among publications published from 1983 to 2019. Different subgroups were compared according to animal species, feeding, gender, age as well as the method used for sampling and for brucellosis diagnostic. To determine heterogeneity of studies, chi-squared test was used and a random-effects model (REM) estimated the pooled prevalence among subgroups. A total of 68 publications, comprising 229 data reports/studies, were selected. The most-reported Brucella species in wildlife was Brucella abortus, and the highest prevalence rate was found in American bison, Bison bison (39.9%) followed by Alpine ibex, Capra ibex (33%). Serology was the most widely applied diagnostic approach (66%), while PCR appeared to be highly sensitive (36.62% of positive results). The gender of animals showed no significant association with the prevalence of brucellosis (p > .05). Blood samples and visceral organs constituted the great majority of specimen used for the detection of Brucella spp., while lymph nodes showed a high prevalence of positive samples (94.6%). The present study provides insight into the global epidemiology and enzootic potential of brucellosis in wild terrestrial animals worldwide, aiming at helping the appropriate authorities to strengthen prevention, surveillance and control strategies

Brucella pinnipedialis in hooded seal (Cystophora cristata) primary epithelial cells

License:Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)Background: Marine Brucella spp. have been isolated from numerous pinniped and cetacean species, but pathological findings in association with infection with Brucella pinnipedialis in pinnipeds have been sparse. The capacity of brucellae to survive and replicate within host macrophages underlies their important ability to produce chronic infections, but previous work has shown that B. pinnipedialis spp. are rapidly eliminated from hooded seal (Cystophora cristata) alveolar macrophages. Results: To investigate if multiplication could take place in other hooded seal cell types, primary epithelial cells were isolated, verified to express the epithelial marker cytokeratin and challenged with three different strains of B. pinnipedialis; B. pinnipedialis sp. nov., B. pinnipedialis hooded seal strain B17, and B. pinnipedialis hooded seal strain 22F1. All strains were steadily eliminated and the amounts of intracellular bacteria were reduced to less than one-third by 48 h post infection. Intracellular presence was verified using immunocytochemistry. Conclusions: So far, intracellular multiplication in seal cells has not been documented for B. pinnipedialis. The lack of intracellular survival in macrophages, as well as in epithelial cells, together with the fact that pathological changes due to B. pinnipedialis infection is not yet identified in seals, suggests that the bacteria may only cause a mild, acute and transient infection. These findings also contribute to substantiate the hypothesis that seals may not be the primary host of B. pinnipedialis and that the transmission to seals are caused by other species in the marine environment

Progress in Plasma-Assisted Catalysis for Carbon Dioxide Reduction

Production of chemicals and fuels based on CO2 conversion is attracting a special attention nowadays, especially regarding the fast depletion of fossil resources and increase of CO2 emissions into the Earth’s atmosphere. Recently, plasma technology has gained increasing interest as a non-equilibrium medium suitable for CO2 conversion, which provides a promising alternative to the conventional pathway for greenhouse gas conversion. The combination of plasma and catalysis is of great interest for turning plasma chemistry in applications related to pollution and energy issues. In this chapter a short review of the current progress in plasma-assisted catalytic processes for CO2 reduction is given. The most widely used discharges for CO2 conversion are presented and briefly discussed, illustrating how to achieve a better energy and conversion efficiency. The chapter includes the recent status and advances of the most promising candidates (plasma catalysis) to obtain efficient CO2 conversion, along with the future outlook of this plasma-assisted catalytic process for further improvement

Kunst og næring - en studie av forutsetninger for økt samarbeid

Formålet med oppgaven har vært å belyse hvilke forutsetninger som skal til for å skape et økt samarbeid mellom kunst/kultur og næring i praksis og hvordan organisasjonen Arts & Business kan bidra til dette. Kreativitet og innovasjon har blitt krav for konkurransedyktighet og overlevelse i de fleste sektorer og verdiskaping et sentralt argument for både kunst/kultur- og næringsaktørene når det gjelder motivasjonen for å innlede et samarbeid. Derfor etterspørres kompetansen til kunstnere og kultursektoren mer enn tidligere. En utfordring i samspillet mellom kunst/kultur og næring er den tradisjonelt store avstanden mellom disse to sektorene. Det mest konkrete og kollektive uttrykket for utviklingen er satsingsområdet «Kultur og næring». Organisasjonen Arts & Business er et resultat av denne satsingen. Formålet deres er å vise potensialet som ligger i møtet mellom kultur og næringsliv. Gjennom en kvalitativ undersøkelse av Arts & Business setter oppgaven søkelyset på hvilke forutsetninger som er viktige for økt samarbeid mellom kunst/kultur og næring. Oppgaven omfatter tre parter; det er kunstnerne, næringslivet og organisasjonen Arts & Business. Det empiriske materialet er skaffet gjennom tre intervjuer og teorier om estetisering av samfunnet, autonomi og kunstnerens roller, kreative gruppeprosesser, kommunikasjon translatørkompetanse benyttes for analysen. Hovedkonklusjonen i oppgaven er at kunnskapen må styrkes for at samarbeidet mellom kunst/kultur og næring skal lykkes. Dette gjelder særlig kunnskap om kreativitet som fag og kreative prosesser som verdiskapende faktor, om aktørenes ulike virkeligheter, kulturer og språk, grupperelasjoner og kommunikasjon. Et metodisk hovedpoeng er å kunne oversette, formulere og dokumentere praksiser for hvordan overføring av kunnskap mellom sektorene kan skje.The purpose of this thesis is to investigate important prerequisites needed in order to obtain successful collaboration schemes between art/ culture and businesses in practice. The organization Arts & Business is a result of the recognition that there is an increasing mutual interest for more cooperation between art/ culture and business. A barrier for such cooperation is the traditionally big gap between these two sectors. The purpose of Arts & Business is to stimulate and facilitate cooperation projects with the objective to strengthen the ability of making such ventures work. Creativity and innovation are increasingly considered fundamental requirement for competitiveness in all sectors. Value creation has become an important motivation factor for initiating collaboration between art/culture and businesses. This is an important explanation for the increase in demand for professional artists in the commercial sector. The thesis explores, through a qualitative study of Arts & Business, the conditions that are needed in order to increase a constructive collaboration between art/ culture and business. The empirical evidence is obtained through interviews with informants representing the three involved parties; artists, business and the organization Arts & Business. The theoretical framework applied entails theories of aesthetisation of society, autonomy and artist roles, creative group processes, communications and translation competence. The main conclusion of the thesis is that increased knowledge is needed in order for the collaboration between art/ culture and business to succeed. This is particularly true for knowledge concerning creativity as a discipline as well as knowledge about creative processes that lead to adding value to processes, products and services. In addition, more knowledge is also needed about the differences in the realities, cultures, languages, group relations and communication in the different sectors. A key point is that a methodology is needed in order to translate, formulate and document the practices of what knowledge and how knowledge can be transferred between sectors.Master i estetiske fa