Does Occupational Exposure to Swine Increase the Risk of Influenza? A Systematic Literature Review

Background Workers who have an occupational exposure to swine may have an increased risk of influenza infection. Objective We conducted a systematic review regarding occupational exposure to swine and influenza infection in humans. Methods We searched articles published within the past ten years at the time of writing, and included original studies that quantified exposures to swine and resulting influenza infections in swine farm workers, including veterinarians. We evaluated the risk of bias of individual studies and the overall quality and strength of the evidence according to the Navigation Guide systematic review methodology. Twelve studies met the inclusion criteria. We rated studies “low”, “probably low”, “probably high”, and “high” risk of bias and rated the overall body of evidence as “moderate” quality with “sufficient” evidence for an association between occupational swine exposure and risk of influenza. Discussion Understanding the risk factors for possible spillover and species jump of influenza is critical to preventing not only illnesses, but also epidemics. Our review found “sufficient evidence” of an association between occupational exposure to swine and increased influenza antibodies, or increased influenza infection. Our results that occupational exposure to swine is associated with an increase in influenza exposure were generally consistent across all twelve studies, except for one. Conclusions We concluded there was sufficient evidence supporting an association between occupational exposure to live swine and increased influenza antibodies and/or infections. Preventing on-farm influenza exposures may reduce the risk for novel viruses entering the broader human population

Acute Particulate Matter Exposure and Suicide in North East Asia: A Literature Review

A systematic literature review was conducted on research exploring the relationship between acute exposures to ambient particulate matter and changes in suicide rates in North East Asian countries. From the eight studies analyzed limited evidence was found and additional research about the association is suggested

Implications of Foodborne Bacteria on Human Health: Isolation and Antibiotic Resistance of Salmonella enterica and Campylobater spp. on Retail Chicken Sold in California

Overuse of antibiotics contributes to antimicrobial resistance (AMR), which continues to be a growing threat to human health. In the United States, industrial food animal production (IFAP) is a formidable driver for antibiotic use. Prior work has focused on the link between antimicrobial use in poultry and human AMR infections. Common foodborne pathogens such as Salmonella enterica (S. enterica) along with Campylobacter coli (C. coli) and Campylobacter jejuni (C. jejuni) are commonly associated with human gastroenteritis. However, it has been shown that these pathogens are capable of causing disease outside of the gastrointestinal tract, specifically urinary tract infections (UTIs). Due to their ubiquitous nature on raw and undercooked poultry, these pathogens serve as an overlooked source of UTIs for individuals with exposure to retail poultry. AMR has become a major public health concern and predicted to cause more than 10 million AMR related deaths. In 2015, California passed senate bill 27 (SB-27), the first bill of its kind to restrict the use of antimicrobial drugs in the poultry industry. Implemented on January 1, 2018, the legislation places poultry farmers’ ability to administer “medically important antimicrobial drugs” to their livestock under the discretionary supervision of licensed veterinarians. The legislation is intended to reduce antibiotic usage in the poultry industry for non-therapeutic purposes such as preventative measures, promoting weight gain, or improving feed efficiency. This study, therefore, examined the relationship between the implementation of SB-27 and rates of AMR in Salmonella and Campylobacter species present on retail chicken produced and sold in California. Samples were collected weekly from September 2017 through April 2018. Collection sizes ranged from 30-70 samples. S. enterica, C. coli, and C. jejuni were selected and isolated from the meat. Confirmed isolates were then subjected to AMR testing. S. enterica was found on 15.2% of samples and Campylobacter spp. on 28.0% of samples. Resistance was found in 14 of 15 antibiotics tested on Salmonella positive samples. Resistance was found on 7 of 7 antibiotics tested on Campylobacter positive samples. In future analyses, the AMR profiles of the retail poultry isolates will be compared to those of clinical isolates from UTI patients diagnosed in proximity to the outlets from which poultry samples were collected. This comparison probes the validity of the foodborne urinary tract infection (FUTI) paradigm for Salmonella and Campylobacter, which posits the significance of foodborne reservoirs of pathogenic bacteria leading to the acquisition of urinary tract infection

Foodborne urinary tract infections: A new paradigm for antimicrobial-resistant foodborne illness

Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are among the most common bacterial infections worldwide. Disproportionately affecting women, UTIs exact a substantial public burden each year in terms of direct medical expenses, decreased quality of life, and lost productivity. Increasing antimicrobial resistance among strains of extraintestinal pathogenic Escherichia colichallenges successful treatment of UTIs. Community-acquired UTIs were long considered sporadic infections, typically caused by the patients’ native gastrointestinal microbiota; however, the recent recognition of UTI outbreaks with probable foodborne origins has shifted our understanding of UTI epidemiology. Along with this paradigm shift come new opportunities to disrupt the infection process and possibly quell increasing resistance, including the elimination of non-therapeutic antimicrobial use in food-animal production

Sclerostin's role in bone's adaptive response to mechanical loading

Mechanical loading is the primary functional determinant of bone mass and architecture, and osteocytes play a key role in translating mechanical signals into (re)modelling responses. Although the precise mechanisms remain unclear, Wnt signalling pathway components, and the anti-osteogenic canonical Wnt inhibitor Sost/sclerostin in particular, play an important role in regulating bone's adaptive response to loading. Increases in loading-engendered strains down-regulate osteocyte sclerostin expression, whereas reduced strains, as in disuse, are associated with increased sclerostin production and bone loss. However, while sclerostin up-regulation appears to be necessary for the loss of bone with disuse, the role of sclerostin in the osteogenic response to loading is more complex. While mice unable to down-regulate sclerostin do not gain bone with loading, Sost knockout mice have an enhanced osteogenic response to loading. The molecular mechanisms by which osteocytes sense and transduce loading-related stimuli into changes in sclerostin expression remain unclear but include several, potentially interlinked, signalling cascades involving periostin/integrin, prostaglandin, estrogen receptor, calcium/NO and Igf signalling. Deciphering the mechanisms by which changes in the mechanical environment regulate sclerostin production may lead to the development of therapeutic strategies that can reverse the skeletal structural deterioration characteristic of disuse and age-related osteoporosis and enhance bones' functional adaptation to loading. By enhancing the osteogenic potential of the context in which individual therapies such as sclerostin antibodies act it may become possible to both prevent and reverse the age-related skeletal structural deterioration characteristic of osteoporosis

The Contribution of Experimental <i>in vivo </i>Models to Understanding the Mechanisms of Adaptation to Mechanical Loading in Bone

Changing loading regimens by natural means such as exercise, with or without interference such as osteotomy, has provided useful information on the structure:function relationship in bone tissue. However, the greatest precision in defining those aspects of the overall strain environment that influence modeling and remodeling behavior has been achieved by relating quantified changes in bone architecture to quantified changes in bones’ strain environment produced by direct, controlled artificial bone loading.Jiri Heřt introduced the technique of artificial loading of bones in vivo with external devices in the 1960s using an electromechanical device to load rabbit tibiae through transfixing stainless steel pins. Quantifying natural bone strains during locomotion by attaching electrical resistance strain gauges to bone surfaces was introduced by Lanyon, also in the 1960s. These studies in a variety of bones in a number of species demonstrated remarkable uniformity in the peak strains and maximum strain rates experienced.Experiments combining strain gauge instrumentation with artificial loading in sheep, pigs, roosters, turkeys, rats and mice has yielded significant insight into the control of strain-related adaptive (re)modeling. This diversity of approach has been largely superseded by non-invasive transcutaneous loading in rats and mice which is now the model of choice for many studies. Together such studies have demonstrated that; over the physiological strain range, bone’s mechanically-adaptive processes are responsive to dynamic but not static strains; the size and nature of the adaptive response controlling bone mass is linearly related to the peak loads encountered; the strain-related response is preferentially sensitive to high strain rates and unresponsive to static ones; is most responsive to unusual strain distributions; is maximized by remarkably few strain cycles and that these are most effective when interrupted by short periods of rest between them

Fluoroquinolone-Resistant Campylobacter Isolates from Conventional and Antibiotic-Free Chicken Products

The use of fluoroquinolones (FQs) in poultry production is an important issue in public health today. In February 2002, two prominent U.S. poultry companies pledged to stop using FQs for flock-wide treatment. One year later, we began a survey of Campylobacter isolates on chicken products from these two companies and from two producers claiming total abstention from antibiotic use. Using both standard isolation methods and new methods modified to enhance detection of FQ-resistant Campylobacter, we compared rates of FQ-resistant Campylobacter among these products. Four major findings were drawn from this study: a) antibiotic-free brands were not more likely to be contaminated with Campylobacter; b) a high percentage of products from the two conventional brands were contaminated with FQ-resistant Campylobacter (43 and 96%); c) these conventional brands had significantly higher odds of carrying resistant strains compared with antibiotic-free products; and d) supplementing media with FQs increased the sensitivity of detecting FQ-resistant strains among mixed populations of Campylobacter, thus reducing a bias toward underestimating the prevalence of FQ-resistant Campylobacter on samples. These results suggest that FQ resistance may persist in the commercial poultry environment in the absence of FQ-selective pressure and that these strains contaminate a larger proportion of foods than reported previously