Control of the pinewood nematode Bursaphelenchus xylophilus by essential oils and extracts obtained from plants: a review.

The pinewood nematode (PWN), Bursaphelenchus xylophilus, is a serious threat to forest ecosystems at a global scale. The nematode has become a major quarantine problem due to its capability to completely destroy Pinus spp. trees, with great damage to the wood industry. Controlling the nematode inside a living tree is quite difficult, the techniques used being often ineffective and quite expensive. In the coming years, most chemicals used to control nematodes will be banned and replaced by safer and environmentally friendly products. As so, chemicals naturally produced by plants will play an important role in controlling diseases such as pine wilt. Plants, particularly aromatic ones, are commonly used due to the chemical properties of their secondary metabolites. Among these, essential oils and/or extracts are highly employed and are being tested as possible control of some organisms, like nematodes. Recent publications have evaluated essential oils derived from different plant species as natural nematicides [1; 2], antibacterial [3], anti-fungal [4] as well as insecticidal [5]. Concerning control of the PWN, a significant amount of information on plants tested, results obtained and employed techniques, is available. Our revision has extensively gathered this information, making it easier to search, read and use. It may become useful information for future studies on the subject, since it will be possible to check the plants already tested. Although numbers aren´t definitive, so far, tested plants are distributed amongst 148 families. The extracts or essential oils of plants belonging to the Asteraceae, Lamiaceae and Euphorbiaceae families show promising results on controlling the pinewood nematode

Phenols, essential oils and carotenoids of Rosa canina from Tunisia and their antioxidant activities

The antioxidant activity of leaf extracts of Rosa canina from diverse localities of Tunisia were evaluated by ABTS and DPPH methods, whereas in those of essential oils and carotenoids extracts such activity was determined only by the ABTS method. Total phenols determined by the Folin method revealed that at Aindraham, samples showed a great variability of phenol content in contrast to those from Feija. After chemical analysis of the essential oils by gas chromatography (GC) and gas chromatography coupled to mass spectra (GC-MS), revealed that the oils of Feija were predominantly composed of palmitic acid, vitispirane, linoleic acid, lauric acid, myristic acid and phytol acetate, while in thosesamples from Aindraham predominated vitispirane, palmitic acid, linoleic acid and phytol acetate. Higher concentrations of b-carotene and lycopene were found in the samples from Aindraham after determination by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). All samples possess antioxidant activity, nevertheless much more significant in phenol extracts in contrast to the carotenoid extracts, which possess the lowest activity

Thermal stability of the essential oils isolated from Tunisian Thymus capitatus Hoff. et Link.: Effect on the chemical composition and the antioxidant and antibacterial activities

The chemical composition, the antioxidant and the antibacterial activities of essential oils, isolated from the aerial parts of Tunisian Thymus capitatus during the flowering phase, and stored in the dark during 37 days in the oven, at 60 degrees C were evaluated. Samples taken periodically were used to evaluate the chemical composition, the antioxidant and the antibacterial activities. With some fluctuations, carvacrol (68-74%) was the major component of the oil independent of the storage period. alpha-Terpinene and gamma-terpinene decreased over time, whereas p-cymene increased in the same period. Despite the thirty-seven days of storage at 60 degrees C, T. capitatus essential oil still showed high antioxidant and stable antimicrobial activity

Guidelines for developing a risk-based plan to mitigate virus transmission from imported feed ingredients

There is increasing concern regarding the risk of swine disease transmission via feed ingredients, whether imported or domestically produced. This risk may be reduced in the feed ingredient supply chain by identifying and implementing preventive controls (supply chain, sanitation, transportation, and process) at different steps of the chain. The objective of this study was to develop a practical guide to help feed ingredient suppliers and buyers to safely manufacture, package, transport, and use feed ingredients in swine feeding programs. The Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) provides the basis of this study because these regulations require proactive risk-based preventive control processes that are applied in the food supply chain to prevent or reduce the risk of hazards from being present in the final product. Using this conceptual framework, implementation of preventive controls in the feed production chain can control or decrease the potential introduction of foreign animal viruses through feed ingredients into the U.S. A decision tree was developed as a first step in identifying preventive controls and potential high-risk feed ingredient sourcing scenarios. A case-study using Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea virus (PEDV) and the corresponding decision tree was developed as an illustration on how to use this new approach. Although this approach is based on swine viral diseases, it can serve as a template for other pathogenic viruses and species.Swine Health Information Center, Ames, I

African Swine Fever-Vitamin Supply Chain Workshop Notes

An African swine fever-vitamin meal supply chain workshop involving key industry stakeholders was conducted on April 26, 2019 on the University of Minnesota St. Paul campus. Several vitamins are produced exclusively in China, while others are also primarily produced in China by a few manufacturers. Likewise, most vitamin manufacturers produce human and animal grade vitamins using the same quality assurance and controls that meet human grade standards. Most meeting participants consider the risk of ASF introduction from vitamins to be low but recognize that, if contaminated, vitamins can be a vehicle for virus introduction in the U.S. Several research and development priorities were identified including 1) develop a surrogate for ASF virus for monitoring processes that can inactivate the virus if it was present, 2) develop third party biosecurity modules and audits that can be implemented for feed ingredient manufacturers, 3) conduct a risk assessment of virus transmission throughout the vitamin supply chain, and 4) explore the use of blockchain technology for greater transparency and trust in the vitamin supply chain. Several education and communication priorities were also identified. A clear, transparent, and unified message is needed to educate the feed and pork industry to decrease confusion and suspicion of the perceived risks of virus transmission in the vitamin supply chain. Key components of this story include: 1) what is known about ASF virus characteristics, survival, and inactivation, 2) general description of raw materials, chemical and fermentation processes used to produce various vitamins, 3) current quality assurance programs, 4) packaging and transport, 5) potential for cross contamination from other porcine derived feed ingredients in multi-species feed mills, 6) approved sources vs. brokers and traders, and 7) holding times, origin of carriers, and premix manufacturing processes used before delivery to feed mills and commercial swine farms. Vitamin suppliers have industry wide standards for ingredient safety that minimize the opportunity for virus introduction. However, pork producers are responsible for knowing their suppliers and asking the right questions to screen potential suppliers that do not follow standards of safety. A comprehensive description of the entire vitamin supply chain is needed and a unified, accurate, and consistent message to the pork industry.Swine Health Information Center, Ames, I

Complaint management: comparison between traditional and digital banks and the benefits of using management systems for improvement

Purpose: This paper compares traditional and digital banks in nine categories of complaints and provides insights to improve complaint management performance. Design/methodology/approach: A sample of the major Brazilian banks was defined, with four traditional and four digital banks. The grey relational analysis (GRA) method was applied as an analytical tool to compare the most frequent complaints of traditional and digital banks. The most critical complaints identified were considered to discuss potential improvements in complaint management using quality and service management system concepts. Findings: The GRA method enabled the development of a ranking of nine complaint categories, considering the uncertainty involved in the data and differentiating between traditional and digital banks. The most critical complaint categories, regardless of business model, were “unauthorized charges” and “poor service,” which were ranked first and second in the frequency rankings. Traditional and digital banks differed the most in the complaint category “unfair charge,” ranking third and eighth in the rankings, respectively. Practical implications: Managers from traditional and digital banks can improve complaint management performance by applying ISO 9001 and ISO 20000 concepts such as incident, problem, change, service level, availability, capacity, information technology service continuity and financial management. Social implications: The study's findings can help bank managers improve service levels in the face of technological competition. Improving these organizations is an important factor for developing countries such as Brazil. Originality/value: This paper reveals the differences between two business models regarding complaint management. It also considers a methodological approach to include the uncertainty related to customers' perception and subjectivity inherent to complaints

Addressing the evolution of automated user behaviour patterns by runtime model interpretation

The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10270-013-0371-3The use of high-level abstraction models can facilitate and improve not only system development but also runtime system evolution. This is the idea of this work, in which behavioural models created at design time are also used at runtime to evolve system behaviour. These behavioural models describe the routine tasks that users want to be automated by the system. However, users¿ needs may change after system deployment, and the routine tasks automated by the system must evolve to adapt to these changes. To facilitate this evolution, the automation of the specified routine tasks is achieved by directly interpreting the models at runtime. This turns models into the primary means to understand and interact with the system behaviour associated with the routine tasks as well as to execute and modify it. 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Environmental surveillance and in vitro activity of antimicrobial agents against Legionella pneumophila isolated from hospital water systems in Campania, South Italy: a 5-year study.

Abstract Background Legionellosis' treatment failures have been recently reported showing the possibility of resistance development to traditional therapy, especially in healthcare related disease cases. Environmental impact of antibiotic residues, especially in hospital waters, may act on the resistome of Legionella resulting in developing resistance mechanisms. Objectives In this study we investigate the antibiotic susceptibility of environmental Legionella pneumophila (Lpn) strains isolated from hospital water systems in Campania, a region located in Southwest Italy. Methods 5321 hospital water samples were investigated for the presence of Lpn. Among positive samples, antibiotic susceptibility was tested for a random subset of 125 Lpn strains (25 Lpn isolates from each of the following serogroups: 1, 3, 5, 6, 8). Susceptibility testing was performed, using the E-test on buffered charcoal yeast extract agar supplemented with α-ketoglutarate, for 10 antimicrobial drugs: azithromycin, cefotaxime, clarithromycin, doxycycline, erythromycin, rifampicin, tigecycline, ciprofloxacin, levofloxacin and moxifloxacin. Non parametric tests were used to determine and assess the significant differences in susceptibility to the different antimicrobics between the serogroups. Results Among the isolated strains, none showed resistance to the antibiotics tested. Rifampicin was the most active antibiotic against overall Legionella strains, followed by levofloxacin. Between the macrolides the clarithromycin was overall the most active drug, instead the azithromycin was the less active. Analyzing the different serogroups a significant difference was found between serogroup 1 and non-1 serogroup isolates for doxycycline and tigecycline. Conclusions Antibiotic susceptibility of environmental isolates of Legionella spp. might be useful for the early detection of resistance to antibiotics that directly impacts on mortality and length of hospital stay