Improvement of air quality in laying hens barn using different particle separation techniques

Poultry production is increasingly regarded as a source of air pollutants which can be environmentally harmful. The air in animal housing contains gases, odours, dust and micro-organisms. These pollutants could directly attenuate poultry health which has major consequences on productivity. Moreover, they could also have a drastic influence on the general health of the people living close to poultry enterprises and the labourers working inside these enterprises. Generally dust can be considered as one of the most important sources for air contamination in poultry houses, where it may be generated from feed, litter, dried manure, feathers and building materials. According to environment protection laws and the maximum acceptable dust concentration in the workplace, dust concentration inside poultry houses must be controlled to provide adequate air for the labourers and the animals inside these buildings. The aim of this investigation was to increase the air quality by purifying the recirculating air inside the animal barn. The experiments have been done inside laying hen houses with the aviary system. Dry and wet filter techniques have been tested to reduce the indoor dust concentration inside the laying hen houses. Laboratory experiments have been done to select suitable materials for designing dry filter systems and choose the process conditions suitable for laying hen buildings. In small scale barn measurements the designed dry filter achieved the highest dust reduction efficiency in comparison to the cyclone and wet filter system. Resulting from these experiments the designed dry filter has been recommended for testing in a commercial scale farm. The reduction efficiencies of the designed dry filter under commercial scale barn measurements were 55 and 72 % for indoor concentration and dust emission rate, respectively.Verbesserung der Luftqualität im Legehennenstall durch unterschiedliche Partikeltrennungstechniken Die Geflügelhaltung wird in zunehmendem Maße als eine Quelle umweltrelevanter Schadstoffe betrachtet. Die Stallluft enthält Schadgase, Gerüche, Staub und Mikroorganismen. Diese Komponenten können die Tiergesundheit beeinträchtigen und somit die Produktivität mindern. Außerdem haben diese Stoffe einen negativen Einfluss auf die allgemeine Gesundheit der Mitarbeiter und direkten Anwohner eines Geflügelbetriebes. Der Stallstaub entsteht aus Futter, Einstreu, Stallmist, Federn und auch aus Baustoffen. Entsprechend der Umweltschutzgesetze und der maximal zulässigen Staubkonzentration am Arbeitsplatz muss die Staubkonzentration innerhalb der Geflügelställe eingehalten werden, um ausreichend saubere Luft für die Arbeiter und Tiere innerhalb dieser Ställe zur Verfügung zu stellen. Ziel dieser Untersuchung war es, die Luftqualität durch Rezirkulation und Filterung der Luft innerhalb eines Stalls zu verbessern. Die Experimente wurden im Inneren eines Legehennenstalles mit Volierensystem durchgeführt. Trocken- und Nassfiltertechniken wurden hierbei überprüft. Durch verschiedene Laborexperimente wurde zunächst geeignetes Filtermaterial für ein Trockenfiltersystem bestimmt und die Mess- bzw. Arbeitsbedingungen den Ställen entsprechend angepasst. Der entwickelte Trockenfilter zeigte die beste Staubreduzierung im Vergleich zu Zyklon- und Nassfiltersystemen. Basierend auf den Ergebnissen dieser Untersuchungen sollte im zweiten Schritt, das Trockenfiltersystem in einem typischen Legehennenstall eingesetzt werden. Die Staubreduzierung dieses Filtersystems betrug in den abschließenden Praxis-messungen für die Innenraumkonzentration 55 % und für die Staubemission 72 %.</p

The evolving SARS-CoV-2 epidemic in Africa: Insights from rapidly expanding genomic surveillance

INTRODUCTION Investment in Africa over the past year with regard to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) sequencing has led to a massive increase in the number of sequences, which, to date, exceeds 100,000 sequences generated to track the pandemic on the continent. These sequences have profoundly affected how public health officials in Africa have navigated the COVID-19 pandemic. RATIONALE We demonstrate how the first 100,000 SARS-CoV-2 sequences from Africa have helped monitor the epidemic on the continent, how genomic surveillance expanded over the course of the pandemic, and how we adapted our sequencing methods to deal with an evolving virus. Finally, we also examine how viral lineages have spread across the continent in a phylogeographic framework to gain insights into the underlying temporal and spatial transmission dynamics for several variants of concern (VOCs). RESULTS Our results indicate that the number of countries in Africa that can sequence the virus within their own borders is growing and that this is coupled with a shorter turnaround time from the time of sampling to sequence submission. Ongoing evolution necessitated the continual updating of primer sets, and, as a result, eight primer sets were designed in tandem with viral evolution and used to ensure effective sequencing of the virus. The pandemic unfolded through multiple waves of infection that were each driven by distinct genetic lineages, with B.1-like ancestral strains associated with the first pandemic wave of infections in 2020. Successive waves on the continent were fueled by different VOCs, with Alpha and Beta cocirculating in distinct spatial patterns during the second wave and Delta and Omicron affecting the whole continent during the third and fourth waves, respectively. Phylogeographic reconstruction points toward distinct differences in viral importation and exportation patterns associated with the Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Omicron variants and subvariants, when considering both Africa versus the rest of the world and viral dissemination within the continent. Our epidemiological and phylogenetic inferences therefore underscore the heterogeneous nature of the pandemic on the continent and highlight key insights and challenges, for instance, recognizing the limitations of low testing proportions. We also highlight the early warning capacity that genomic surveillance in Africa has had for the rest of the world with the detection of new lineages and variants, the most recent being the characterization of various Omicron subvariants. CONCLUSION Sustained investment for diagnostics and genomic surveillance in Africa is needed as the virus continues to evolve. This is important not only to help combat SARS-CoV-2 on the continent but also because it can be used as a platform to help address the many emerging and reemerging infectious disease threats in Africa. In particular, capacity building for local sequencing within countries or within the continent should be prioritized because this is generally associated with shorter turnaround times, providing the most benefit to local public health authorities tasked with pandemic response and mitigation and allowing for the fastest reaction to localized outbreaks. These investments are crucial for pandemic preparedness and response and will serve the health of the continent well into the 21st century

Cairo University fibrosis index (CUFI): A score based on microRNA for diagnosis of significant hepatic fibrosis: A biopsy based study

Introduction: Identification of HCV- induced liver fibrosis is mandatory for tailoring therapy, and management of complications. The current study evaluated the accuracy of circulating miRNAs; in diagnosis of hepatic fibrosis. Patients&nbsp; and methods: Seventy HCV patients were subjected to routine laboratory investigations, HCV-RNA, serum miRNA-122, 221, 192, 224 , 375, and 885&nbsp; by PCR, liver biopsy and calculation of the following scores:&nbsp; aspartate aminotransferase (AST)/alanine aminotransferase (ALT) ratio (AAR), aspartate to platelet ratio index (APRI), FIB-4 score,&nbsp; Hui index,&nbsp; Fibrosis Index (FI), Fibro-Q ,&nbsp; Fibro-Alfa Biotechnology Research Center (BRC) score and&nbsp; Gotebörg University Cirrhosis Index (GUCI). Results: Patients with significant and advanced fibrosis have significantly lower miR-122 (P &lt; 0.0001 and P= 0.007, respectively).&nbsp; miR-122, bilirubin and miR-855 were found to be&nbsp; independent predictors of significant fibrosis in univariate analysis. A novel score; Cairo University Fibrosis Index (CUFI) based on microRNA 122, bilirubin and microRNA 855 were formulated for predicting significant liver fibrosis. The AUC of this score, for predicting significant and advanced hepatic fibrosis was 0.83 and 0.80 respectively.&nbsp; This AUC was higher than those of other fibrosis scores. Conclusion: Cairo University Fibrosis Index is better than the existing scores in assessing fibrosis in chronic HCV patients

Semen quality changes during infection and recovery phases of mild-to-moderate COVID-19 in reproductive-aged patients: a prospective case series

Résumé Contexte Malgré les effets documentés de la maladie à coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) sur la spermatogenèse, la réversibilité de ces effets reste incertaine. Notre objectif était d’évaluer les changements de la qualité du sperme entre les phases d’infection et de récupération de la COVID-19 chez des hommes en âge de procréer. La qualité du sperme d’hommes atteints d’une forme de COVID-19 de légère à modérée (définie par les degrés de symptômes et l’atteinte thoracique lors de la tomodensitométrie) a été étudiée entre octobre 2020 et mai 2021 dans notre hôpital. Deux échantillons de sperme ont été analysés à des moments estimés représenter les cycles de spermatogénèse pendant les phases d’infection et de rétablissement de la COVID-19. Résultats Au total, 100 patients ont été inclus avec un âge moyen ± ET (intervalle) de 24,6 ± 3,3 ans (21-35). Au cours de l’infection, 33% des patients avaient une qualité anormale de sperme. Une réduction significative de cette anomalie de 33 à 11% (p < 0,001) a toutefois été observée après la guérison de l’infection. La comparaison des deux analyses de sperme montre des améliorations significatives des valeurs moyennes de la motilité progressive (p = 0,043) et de la morphologie normale (p< 0,001) des spermatozoïdes. Cependant, la concentration moyenne de spermatozoïdes a montré une augmentation statistiquement non significative (p = 0,844). Conclusions Chez les patients en âge de procréer atteints d’une forme de COVID-19 légère à modérée, les effets sur la qualité spermatique étaient récupérables, avec des améliorations significatives des valeurs moyennes de la motilité progressive et de la morphologie normale des spermatozoïdes entre les phases d’infection et de récupération de la COVID-19