Attivismo per gli animali e cambiamento sociale

Gli animali non-umani allevati per uno scopo vivono in modo socialmente invisibile. Non ogni singolo animale − ma quasi ognuno di loro − vive in una proprietà privata, lontano da sguardi casuali degli umani. Ovviamente, i proprietari di questi animali, che guadagnano dalle loro vite, possono vederli. Ma i membri della comunità che non ha interessi economici legati alle loro vite sono spesso impossibilitati a vederli strutturalmente. La maggior parte degli animali che alleviamo vengono al mondo per scopi legati all’agricoltura. Di questi, la maggior parte vive in allevamenti dove gli animali sono “lontano dagli occhi, lontano dal cuore”

Biofortification of Chicken Eggs with Vitamin K—Nutritional and Quality Improvements

peer reviewedNational nutrition surveys have shown that over half of all adults in Ireland, the United Kingdom (UK), and the United States of America (USA) have low vitamin K intakes. Thus, dietary strategies to improve vitamin K intakes are needed, and vitamin K biofortification of food may be one food-based approach. The primary aim of our study was to establish whether increasing the vitamin K3 content of hen feed can increase the vitamin K content of eggs, and the secondary aims were to examine the effects on hen performance parameters, as well as egg and eggshell quality parameters. A 12 week hen feeding trial was conducted in which Hyline chickens were randomized into four treatment groups (n = 32/group) and fed diets containing vitamin K3 (as menadione nicotinamide bisulfite) at 3 (control), 12.9, 23.7, and 45.7 mg/kg feed. Vitamin K1, menaquinone (MK)-4, MK-7, and MK-9 were measured in raw whole eggs via a liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry method. MK-4 was the most abundant form of vitamin K (91–98%) found in all eggs. Increasing the vitamin K3 content of hen feed over the control level significantly (p < 0.001) enhanced the MK-4 content of eggs (mean range: 46–51 µg/100 g, representing ~42–56% of US Adequate Intake values). Vitamin K biofortification also led to significant (p < 0.05) increases in the yellowness of egg yolk and in eggshell weight and thickness, but no other changes in egg quality or hen performance parameters. In conclusion, high-quality vitamin K-biofortified eggs can be produced with at least double the total vitamin K content compared to that in commercially available eggs

The effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of the ‘Walk with Me’ peer-led walking intervention to increase physical activity in inactive older adults:Study protocol for a randomised controlled trial

Background: The proportion of the population aged 65 years or older is increasing. Typically, physical activity and health decline with age, which is why action to promote active ageing is a major public health priority, particularly due to health inequalities in older adults. The aim of this study is to assess the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of the Walk with Me peer-led walking intervention for older adults. Methods: This study is a two-arm, assessor-blind, randomised controlled trial. The intervention is a 12-week peer-led walking intervention based on social cognitive theory. Participants in the control group will receive information on active ageing and healthy nutrition. The study will target 348 community-dwelling older adults, aged 60 years or over living in areas of socio-economic disadvantage communities. Trained peer mentors will deliver the intervention. The primary outcome will be a mean between-group change in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity at 12 months from baseline, measured using an Actigraph accelerometer. Secondary outcomes will include quality of life, mental wellbeing, blood pressure, BMI and waist circumference. An embedded process evaluation will involve focus groups and participant diaries. Discussion: Evidence-based, cost-effective interventions to promote physical activity in older adults living in socio-economically disadvantaged communities are needed to address health inequalities

Interviews with Irish healthcare workers from different disciplines about palliative care for people with Parkinson’s disease: a definite role but uncertainty around terminology and timing

Background: An integrated palliative care approach is recommended in all life-limiting diseases, including Parkinson’s disease (PD). However research shows that people with PD have unmet palliative care needs. The study aimed to explore multidisciplinary healthcare workers’ (HCWs) views on palliative care for people with PD, identifying perceived barriers and facilitators. Methods: A qualitative design was used; data was analysed using Thematic Analysis. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 30 HCWs, working either with people with PD or in a palliative care setting in Ireland. Results: A number of perceived barriers were evident helping to account for the previously reported unmet palliative care needs in PD. A lack of education about PD and palliative care meant that HCWs were unsure of the appropriateness of referral, and patients and carers weren’t equipped with information to seek palliative care. A lack of communication between PD and palliative care specialists was seen to impede collaboration between the disciplines. Uncertainty about the timing of palliative care meant that it was often not introduced until a crisis point, despite the recognised need for early planning due to increased prevalence of dementia. Conclusions: Most HCWs recognised a need for palliative care for people with PD; however several barriers to implementing a palliative care approach in this population need to be addressed. Implications for clinical practice and policy include the need for an integrated model of care, and education for all HCWs, patients, carers, and the public on both the nature of advanced PD, and the potential of palliative care in support of patients and their family members

Animal Ethics and the Political

Some of the most important contributions to animal ethics over the past decade or so have come from political, as opposed to moral, philosophers. As such, some have argued that there been a ‘political turn’ in the field. If there has been such a turn, it needs to be shown that there is something which unites these contributions, and which sets them apart from previous work. We find that some of the features which have been claimed to be shared commitments of the turn are contested by key theorists working in the field. We also find that the originality of the turn can be exaggerated, with many of their ideas found in more traditional animal ethics. Nonetheless, we identify one unifying and distinctive feature of these contributions: the focus on justice; and specifically, the exploration of how political institutions, structures and processes might be transformed so as to secure justice for both human and nonhuman animals

Sudden cardiac death due to deficiency of the mitochondrial inorganic pyrophosphatase PPA2

We have used whole exome sequencing to identify biallelic missense mutations in the nuclearencoded mitochondrial inorganic pyrophosphatase (PPA2) in ten individuals from four unrelated pedigrees that are associated with mitochondrial disease. These individuals show a range of severity, indicating that PPA2 mutations may cause a spectrum of mitochondrial disease phenotypes. Severe symptoms include seizures, lactic acidosis and cardiac arrhythmia and death within days of birth. In the index family, presentation was milder and manifested as cardiac fibrosis and an exquisite sensitivity to alcohol, leading to sudden arrhythmic cardiac death in the second decade of life. Comparison of normal and mutated PPA2 containing mitochondria from fibroblasts showed the activity of inorganic pyrophosphatase significantly reduced in affected individuals. Recombinant PPA2 enzymes modeling hypomorphic missense mutations had decreased activity that correlated with disease severity. These findings confirm the pathogenicity of PPA2 mutations, and suggest that PPA2 is a new cardiomyopathy-associated protein, which has a greater physiological importance in mitochondrial function than previously recognized

Comprehensive Rare Variant Analysis via Whole-Genome Sequencing to Determine the Molecular Pathology of Inherited Retinal Disease

Inherited retinal disease is a common cause of visual impairment and represents a highly heterogeneous group of conditions. Here, we present findings from a cohort of 722 individuals with inherited retinal disease, who have had whole-genome sequencing (n = 605), whole-exome sequencing (n = 72), or both (n = 45) performed, as part of the NIHR-BioResource Rare Diseases research study. We identified pathogenic variants (single-nucleotide variants, indels, or structural variants) for 404/722 (56%) individuals. Whole-genome sequencing gives unprecedented power to detect three categories of pathogenic variants in particular: structural variants, variants in GC-rich regions, which have significantly improved coverage compared to whole-exome sequencing, and variants in non-coding regulatory regions. In addition to previously reported pathogenic regulatory variants, we have identified a previously unreported pathogenic intronic variant in $\textit{CHM}$ in two males with choroideremia. We have also identified 19 genes not previously known to be associated with inherited retinal disease, which harbor biallelic predicted protein-truncating variants in unsolved cases. Whole-genome sequencing is an increasingly important comprehensive method with which to investigate the genetic causes of inherited retinal disease.This work was supported by The National Institute for Health Research England (NIHR) for the NIHR BioResource – Rare Diseases project (grant number RG65966). The Moorfields Eye Hospital cohort of patients and clinical and imaging data were ascertained and collected with the support of grants from the National Institute for Health Research Biomedical Research Centre at Moorfields Eye Hospital, National Health Service Foundation Trust, and UCL Institute of Ophthalmology, Moorfields Eye Hospital Special Trustees, Moorfields Eye Charity, the Foundation Fighting Blindness (USA), and Retinitis Pigmentosa Fighting Blindness. M.M. is a recipient of an FFB Career Development Award. E.M. is supported by UCLH/UCL NIHR Biomedical Research Centre. F.L.R. and D.G. are supported by Cambridge NIHR Biomedical Research Centre

Considering Animals: Contemporary Studies in Human-Animal Relations. By Carol Freeman, Elizabeth Leane and Yvette Watt. Ashgate: Surrey, UK, 2011; Hardcover, 236 pp; ISBN 978-1-4094-0013-4

In 2005 a small group of academics gathered at the University of Western Australia for a modest yet highly significant interdisciplinary conference focused on scholarship in the emerging field of human-animal studies. A critical mass of academics from the University of Tasmania attended that first conference and pledged to host a second human-animal studies conference two years later. True to their word a second human-animal studies conference was held in Hobart, Australia, in 2007. The organisers called the second conference “Considering Animals” and the book under review here is a compilation of papers presented at that conference. [...