Study of urgent visits to commercial rabbit farms in Spain and Portugal during 1997-2007

[EN] This is a report on work carried out on 4307 visits to 868 commercial farms with domestic rabbits in Spain and Portugal from January 1997 to December 2007. Of the total visits, 2237 (52%) were emergencies on 660 farms. The median size of the farms ranged between 450 does in 1997 and 750 in 2007. This retrospective study measures the clinical disease occurrence using the Monthly Risk of urgent visits (MR), i.e. the percentage of visits made as a result of each clinical disease in comparison with the total number of urgent visits made each month. The main reasons for the emergencies were mucoid enteropathy (similar to Epizootic Rabbit Enteropathy), with a MR: 25.0%, enteritis-diarrhoea (24.1%), myxomatosis, (11.1%), reproductive troubles (8.6%), respiratory diseases (7.2%) and staphylococcosis (4.2%). Fifty-four percent of the urgent visits were due to diseases of the digestive system. Mucoid enteropathy was still one of the main diseases faced by the commercial rabbit industry during the study period. No significant yearly or monthly variations were observed in the analysis of the MR. A seasonal effect was only found in respiratory diseases during the summer (MR: 11.06±0.01) and myxomatosis in autumn (MR: 14.60±0.02), in comparison with spring (MR: 7.44±0.02). It is therefore concluded that farms should be permanently protected as they might be affected by any of these diseases at any time during the year.Rosell, J.; Fuente, LDL.; Badiola, J.; Fernández De Luco, D.; Casal, J.; Saco, M. (2009). Study of urgent visits to commercial rabbit farms in Spain and Portugal during 1997-2007. World Rabbit Science. 17(3):127-136. doi:10.4995/wrs.2009.65212713617

First peptide vaccine providing protection against viral infection in the target animal: studies of canine parvovirus in dogs.

A synthetic peptide vaccine which protects dogs against challenge with virulent canine parvovirus is described. The amino acid sequence used was discovered in previous studies on the immunogenic properties of previously mapped antigenic sites and represents the amino-terminal region of viral protein VP2. As with marker vaccines, it is possible to discriminate between vaccinated dogs that have not been exposed to the virus and dogs that have been infected with the virus. The protective mechanism can be explained by a humoral response against the peptide aided by T-cell epitopes contained in the carrier protein used for peptide coupling. This is the first example of a synthetic peptide vaccine that induces protection in target animals

First peptide vaccine providing protection against viral infection in the target animal: studies of canine parvovirus in dogs.

A synthetic peptide vaccine which protects dogs against challenge with virulent canine parvovirus is described. The amino acid sequence used was discovered in previous studies on the immunogenic properties of previously mapped antigenic sites and represents the amino-terminal region of viral protein VP2. As with marker vaccines, it is possible to discriminate between vaccinated dogs that have not been exposed to the virus and dogs that have been infected with the virus. The protective mechanism can be explained by a humoral response against the peptide aided by T-cell epitopes contained in the carrier protein used for peptide coupling. This is the first example of a synthetic peptide vaccine that induces protection in target animals

Long-Day Photoperiod Enhances Jasmonic Acid-Related Plant Defense

[EN] Agricultural crops are exposed to a range of daylengths, which act as important environmental cues for the control of developmental processes such as flowering. To explore the additional effects of daylength on plant function, we investigated the transcriptome of Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) plants grown under short days (SD) and transferred to long days (LD). Compared with that under SD, the LD transcriptome was enriched in genes involved in jasmonic acid-dependent systemic resistance. Many of these genes exhibited impaired expression induction under LD in the phytochrome A (phyA), cryptochrome 1 (cry1), and cry2 triple photoreceptor mutant. Compared with that under SD, LD enhanced plant resistance to the necrotrophic fungus Bottytis cinerea. This response was reduced in the phyA cry1 cry2 triple mutant, in the constitutive photomorphogenicl (cop1) mutant, in the myc2 mutant, and in mutants impaired in DELLA function. Plants grown under SD had an increased nuclear abundance of COP1 and decreased DELLA abundance, the latter of which was dependent on COP1. We conclude that growth under LD enhances plant defense by reducing COP1 activity and enhancing DELLA abundance and MYC2 expression.This study was supported by a Guggenheim Foundation fellowship (to J.J.C), by Agencia Nacional de Promocion Cientifica y Tecnologica (PICT-2015-1796), by the University of Buenos Aires (20020100100437, to J.J.C.), by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (J.I.C.), and by the SIGNAT-Research and Innovation Staff Exchange (H2020-MSCA-RISE-2014, to P.D.C., M.A.B., D.A., and J.J.C.).Cagnola, J.; Cerdan, P.; Pacín, M.; Andrade, A.; Rodríguez, V.; Zurbriggen, M.; Legris, M.... (2018). Long-Day Photoperiod Enhances Jasmonic Acid-Related Plant Defense. PLANT PHYSIOLOGY. 178(1):163-173. https://doi.org/10.1104/pp.18.00443S163173178

The IFMIF-EVEDA accelerator beam dump design

The IFMIF-EVEDA accelerator will be a 9 MeV, 125 mA cw deuteron accelerator prototype for verifying the validity of the 40 MeV accelerator design for IFMIF. A beam dump designed for maximum power of 1.12 MW will be used to stop the beam at the accelerator exit. The conceptual design for the IFMIF-EVEDA accelerator beam dump is based on a conical beam stop made of OFE copper. The cooling system uses an axial high velocity flow of water pressurized up to 3.4 × 105 Pa to avoid boiling. The design has been shown to be compliant with ASME mechanical design rules under nominal full power conditions. A sensitivity analysis has been performed to take into account the possible margin on the beam properties at the beam dump entrance. This analysis together with the study of the maintenance issues and the mounting and dismounting operations has led to the complete design definition

The CARMENES search for exoplanets around M dwarfs. First visual-channel radial-velocity measurements and orbital parameter updates of seven M-dwarf planetary systems

Stars and planetary system