Shifting the paradigm: sail-propulsion, decentralization and sustainable supply chains

Shipping connects the world, and arguably has more impact on humanity and our ecosystem then any other industry, making it a perfect vehicle for positive change. Fair Winds multi access Praocargo is being designed, specifically to give remote regions with little or no port infrastructure access to world markets. Our areas of impact are SIDS and coastal LDC’s. We are currently working in West Africa and with partners in the South Pacific. Our objectives are to design and build a cargo ship that has little to zero negative impact, can transport goods rapidly, access goods near point of production (shallow draft) and requires no port infrastructure (autonomous loading and off loading). DUAL ports is looking at reducing cost and CO2 in NSR entrepreneurial ports. As a module of that project FW is creating a sail cargo network, using existing sailing ships to transport cargo between small ports, recreating the short sea shipping routes that were commonly used in the past, reinvigorating the North Seas formerly vibrant smaller seaports In the Port of Oostende we plan on developing a sailcargo dedicated areas, using a derelict quayside and customs house, This quay can accommodate first stages, allowing a low impact “human sized” transport network to evolve. This is a first step in a staged approach to introducing wind propulsion into small and medium sized shipping, while creating access for small sized ports and areas of remote access world wide

Study of the neuropathology of HIV infection in an African Paediatric Cohort

BACKGROUND: In 1991-92 a large collaborative post-mortem study of adults and children was undertaken in the West African city of Abidjan, Cote d'lvoire, in order to document the impact of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection on the already high mortality from infectious disease. As part of this original study, brain tissue preserved in paraffin wax blocks was retained from 78 HIV positive children (76 HIV-1 and 2 HIV-2) and 77 age-matched HIV-negative children. The baseline neuropathological findings were published and the material was stored as an archive at the Western General Hospital, Edinburgh. Further study of this unique collection of cases was clearly warranted.HYPOTHESES AND AIMS OF THE PRESENT STUDY: In the Initial Study, an attempt was made to quantify white matter cell numbers using a small sample of the whole cohort. The hypothesis was that it would be possible to obtain reproducible numbers for total cell counts in the white matter of HIV negative children and that the numbers were likely to be significantly higher in HIV positive children. The Main Study focussed on the extent of inflammatory change in HIV negative and positive cases, with the prediction that HIV positive children would show a higher level of inflammatory infiltrate than HIV negative children, despite the high level of background brain pathology in the latter group, and that this would be associated with evidence of greater white matter damage in the HIV positive cases. Lastly in the Apolipoprotein E (APOE) Study, it was predicted that the inflammatory response, particularly the degree of microglial activation would be influenced by the APOE genotype, being most evident in children possessing one or more APOE e4 alleles.MATERIALS AND METHODS: For the Initial Study, eight age-matched HIV negative and positive cases were selected from the African cohort, together with an additional HIV negative case at either end of the age spectrum. Four regions of the brain were selected from each of these 10 cases, including cerebral convexity, hippocampus, basal ganglia and the cerebellum. Sections were stained routinely with haematoxylin and eosin, Luxol fast blue and by immunohistochemistry. Total cell counts were performed in an area of one mm2, and subsequently for individual cell types identified using a combination of simple morphology and immunostaining for glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP). Although there is no immunostain that reliably identifies all of the members of a particular glial population, whether they be astrocytes, oligodendrocytes or microglia, separation of these cell types was attempted on the basis of GFAP positivity or on simple nuclear morphology. The results were tabulated in Excel.In the Main Study 40 further cases from the African cohort were examined. These included 20 HIV negative and 20 positive, chosen to represent three age groups, lower, middle and upper, up to the age of six years. The basal ganglia and the hippocampus were selected for examination in these cases. In about half of these cases, significant pathology other than HIV-associated changes was present and the spectrum of CNS disease included malaria, meningitis and non-HIV encephalitis. Sections were stained routinely with haematoxylin and eosin, Luxol fast blue and by immunohistochemistry for inflammatory cell markers (CD 14, CD 16 and CD68) or lymphocyte markers (CD8 and CD20). Sections were examined by routine microscopy, and by simple quantitation or image analysis.In the APOE study genotyping was undertaken first on the forty cases used in the main study. Twenty further cases were added subsequently, 10 HIV positive and 10 negative, and within the same age range as those in the main study. DNA was extracted from paraffin sections according to a standard protocol and amplified using polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The degree of inflammation, as detected by CD 16 and CD68 image analysis in these cases, was correlated with the different APOE genotypes. All cases used in this study were anonymised. Ethical permission was sought and obtained for this study (LREC/2003/6/6).RESULTS: The results of the Initial Study showed that the total cell numbers varied from case to case in the HIV negative group, and from one brain region to another, but that these differences were not statistically significant. The total cell counts also varied between individual HIV positive cases and these differences were not statistically significant either. However, comparison ofthe means for HIV negative cases with those of the HIV positive cases revealed significant increases in the latter group. Despite the obvious limitations of the morphological approach to individual cell typing, subset counts from the cerebral convexity, basal ganglia, hippocampus and cerebellum, putatively of astrocytes, oligodendrocytes, microglia and endothelial cells, showed significantly higher levels in the HIV positive cases.In the Main Study, changes in the white matter assessed by routine and Luxol fast blue staining, and by immunohistochemistry for myelin basic protein (MBP), P-amyloid precursor protein (BAPP) and GFAP, and graded according to a simple system, showed only limited differences between HIV positive and negative groups. A general increase in activation of macrophage/microglial cells and of lymphocyte numbers was found in both basal ganglia and hippocampus in the HIV positive group. This increase in the HIV positive group was detected despite a reasonable balance of background brain pathology between the HIV positive and negative subsets. In the case of CD68 immunostaining, the increase was statistically significant for the grey (p=0.002) and white (p=0.009) matter of the basal ganglia. For counts of CD8 positive perivascular cells, the increase was also significant in grey (p=0.001) and white matter (p=0.000) of the basal ganglia, and in grey (p=0.002) and white (p=0.000) matter of the hippocampus.In the APOE study, DNA extraction was successful in 47 cases in total. The distribution of APOE s3 and s4 alleles in this group proved in accordance with the known West African distributions where the s4 allele approaches a frequency of up to 29%. In this study, though the case numbers are small, the frequency of the e4 allele was 41% in HIV negative children and 23% in HIV positive children (p=0.01). These rates were significantly higher than in most Caucasian populations (p=0.001). Satisfactory immunostaining for inflammatory markers was achieved in 44 of the genotyped cases. Correlations with the degree of neuroinflammation in grey and white matter of the basal ganglia were confined to APOE s3/e3 and APOE e3/e4 cases because of the small numbers of cases with rarer APOE allelic patterns. For HIV negative children, there was little difference for CD 16 or CD68 staining between APOE e3/e3 and APOE e3/e4 cases, either in white or grey matter. For HIV positive children, subjects with e3/e4 genotypes did show a trend for higher levels of CD68 activation than those with 3/3 genotypes, particularly in the basal ganglia white matter, but failed to reach significance (p=0.07 for white matter and p=0.1 for grey matter).CONCLUSIONS: 1. Although the results of the initial study are limited in their possible application to any studies other than in this cohort, the increases in total and individual cell counts in the HIV positive group are intriguing. The limitations of a study based on morphological assessment are recognised. 2. In the main study the failure to demonstrate significant white matter change in either HIV negative or positive groups may mean that there is none, but wider sampling in each case and examination of a larger number of cases would increase confidence in this result. It is noted that incomplete myelination in these young subjects is a possible confounding factor in this study. Inflammatory changes, both innate and acquired, proved to be significantly greater in both grey and white matter of HIV positive compared with negative cases, there being a relative balance of co-existing disease in the two groups. This study shows, as predicted, that HIV infection is accompanied by significant microglial activation in these West African children, and that this occurs even in the absence of productive viral infection in the brain. This finding is in keeping with what is known in Western paediatric populations infected with HIV. 3. APOE genotyping revealed a distinctive allele distribution especially in respect of the s4 allele, which was found to be twice as common in this African cohort as in the Scottish population. Although there was trend for greater microglial activation in APOE c4 HIV positive children, the differences between these and APOE e3 HIV positive children did not reach significance

Characterisation of ranaviral infection and its management in Australian lizards

Background Reptiles are considered to be one of the most evolutionary and ecologically remarkable groups of living organisms, having successfully inhabited most of the planet including the oceans. Despite this, reptile species worldwide are on the decline due to threats such as residential and commercial development, agriculture and aquaculture, climate change, and introduction of invasive species and diseases. Approximately 19% of all assessed reptiles globally are listed as 'threatened' by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species. Infectious diseases are listed as one of the top five causes of global species extinctions and one of the biggest causes of morbidity and mortality in reptiles. Ranaviruses (family Iridoviridae) have been identified as emerging pathogens of ecological significance in ectothermic vertebrates due to their expanding host and geographic range. This group of viruses infects over 175 species of ectothermic vertebrates worldwide and is listed as notifiable to the The World Organization for Animal Health (Office International des Epizootics, OIE) in amphibians and fish. The majority of ranaviral research has been conducted in amphibians with only a few surveys targeting wild reptiles despite several reported mortality events in captive lizards and turtles. Hence the aims of this thesis were to investigate the susceptibility and pathogenesis of Ranavirus sp. in juvenile eastern water dragons (Intellagama lesueurii lesueurii); determine if Ranavirus sp. is present in Australian lizards; and to identify and understand Australian reptile owners experience and management of disease in captive reptile collections. The susceptibility of an Australian semi-aquatic lizard to Bohle iridovirus In Chapter 2 we investigated the susceptibility of juvenile eastern water dragons to a local ranavirus isolate (Bohle iridovirus, BIV) via oral inoculation, intramuscular injection, and cohabitation with orally infected lizards. This lizard species was investigated as they share habitat with several fish, amphibians and reptiles shown to be susceptible to BIV. A range of tissues (spleen, kidney, lung, liver, kidney, gastrointestinal tract, heart, tongue, brain, and bone marrow) were collected for histopathology, and liver and kidney samples were also collected for viral isolation and polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The outcome of this study demonstrated that juvenile eastern water dragons are susceptible to BIV via all exposure methods and have the ability to infect naïve individuals. These findings add another ectotherm to the list of species susceptible to ranavirus. The pathogenesis of Bohle iridovirus infection in juvenile eastern water dragons In order to investigate the pathogenesis of BIV in this host, juvenile eastern water dragons were orally infected with BIV and euthanized at pre-determined time-points (Chapter 3). Tissue samples were collected for histopathology, immunohistochemistry (ISH), in-situ hybridization (ISH), viral isolation and PCR. The findings from this study identified the progression of BIV infection which appeared to start in the spleen, followed by the liver, then the other organs. Ranaviral DNA was detected by PCR in liver, kidney and cloacal swabs at 3 days post infection, suggesting cloacal swabs could be a reliable source of diagnostic sampling in BIV-infected lizards. Histopathology changes were observed in the liver and tongue at 3 days post infection and IHC identified viral antigen in the spleen at 6 days post infection. The ISH labelling of skin, bone marrow, liver, pancreas, stomach, intestine and spleen matched the location and pattern detected by IHC. Infection was well underway before clinical signs were observed. Molecular detection of Ranavirus sp. in captive and wild Australian lizards Wild and captive Australian lizards from northern Queensland, New South Wales and Australian Capital Territory were surveyed for ranaviral DNA using combined oral-cloacal swabs and PCR (Chapter 4). Ranaviral DNA was detected in samples from 4/123 asymptomatic captive lizards and 5/63 asymptomatic wild lizards. These PCR-positive samples belonged to three central bearded dragons (Pogona vitticeps) and one frilled neck lizard (Chlamydosaurus kingii) from two different captive collections, and five wild eastern water dragons from Paluma Range National Park, Queensland. Amplicons from this study shared 100% nucleotide identity with the cognate regions of BIV and four other ranaviruses and were only one base different to the cognate region of epizootic haematopoietic necrosis virus, an Australian ranavirus that affects fish and is listed as notifiable to the OIE. The detection of ranavirus in asymptomatic lizards in both captivity and in the wild introduces the possibility of carrier lizards and highlights importance of disease management strategies (e.g. quarantine). The health and wellbeing of Australian pet reptiles An online survey (SurveyMonkey®) of Australian reptile owners was conducted between November and December 2017 (Chapter 5). This cross-sectional study consisted of multiple choice and open-ended questions. Quantitative data were analysed descriptively using frequencies, mean, median, standard deviation, range, and interquartile range. Open-ended question responses were analysed thematically and grouped into themes. The average age of participants was 34 years old with snakes and lizards the most popular reptile kept in captivity. Most participants cleaned enclosures weekly, disinfected enclosures monthly, and used UVA/UVB lights, heat lamps and multivitamin supplements to prevent health problems within their collection. Quarantine periods were employed by 72% of participants for an average of 4 weeks, with only 30% physically isolating the animal. Disease knowledge was limited to non-infectious diseases such as metabolic bone disease. Barriers to seeking veterinary assistance for unwell reptiles included cost and perceived lack of knowledge/experience on the veterinarians' part. Findings from this survey identified the need for more readily available resources for Australian reptile keepers including access to information on diseases and experienced veterinarians. Outcomes This research has identified eastern water dragons as a susceptible species to ranaviral infection and provides further evidence of the ability of ranaviruses to infect a wide range of ectothermic vertebrates. The detection of ranavirus in asymptomatic wild and captive lizards suggests the possibility that ranavirus is circulating in the wild and is part of the normal microflora of Australian lizards. This also identifies lizards as a potential host that can spread and amplify ranaviruses in the wild. Further investigation is required to characterize the ranavirus found in this study, and molecular and serum surveys of wild and captive populations. Furthermore, the detection of ranavirus in captive lizards combined with the results from the survey of Australian reptile owners highlights the need for more readily available resources on disease identification, prevention, and treatment

Research Reference Document 06/01 : Anadromous Alosid Restoration in the Androscoggin River Watershed Semi-Annual Report (January 1, 2006 - June 30, 2006)

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