Hygiene and microbial contamination along the pork value chain in Vietnam

In Vietnam, pork accounts for 75% of total meat consumed daily at households. However, pork may contain high levels of microbial contamination such as Salmonella and Escherichia coli which might cause harm to consumers. To determine microbial contamination along the pork value chain, we collected 216 samples from 72 pig farms (floor swab, drinking and waste water), 545 from 49 slaughterhouses (carcass swab, lymph node, rectal feces, floor swab and washing water) and 514 from 220 pork shops in the informal markets (pork cuts, ground pork and cutting board swab) in two provinces of Vietnam (Hung Yen and Nghe An). Samples were analyzed to detect qualitatively and quantitatively Salmonella and E. coli. Overall prevalence of Salmonella combined from all types of above mentioned samples at pig farms, slaughterhouses and pork shops were 35%, 30% and 37%, respectively. Salmonella contamination in the final product (pork at market) was 45% and an average concentration of 9 MPN/g was recorded. E. coli average load along different points of the chain was 5.3 ± 1.4 (farm floor swabs), 2.9 ± 0.9 (carcass swabs), 3.1 ± 1.0 (slaughterhouse floor swabs), and 3.3 ± 1.1 (market shop cutting board swabs) logCFU/cm2, whereas pork from the market had 3.4 ± 0.9 logCFU/g. Demonstrated high levels of Salmonella in the final product (pork at market) induces the potential health risks for the consumers. High values for E. coli indicates general poor hygiene along the chain. Appropriate hygiene practices and management are required to achieve better pork quality and reduce the risk for the consumer. These data will serve as inputs for health risk assessments related to pork consumption

PCSK9 variation and association with blood pressure in African Americans: Preliminary findings from the HyperGEN and REGARDS studies

Proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (encoded by PCSK9) plays a well-known role in the regulation of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) receptors, and an inhibitor of this enzyme is a promising new therapeutic for hyperlipidemia. Recently, animal and human studies also implicate PCSK9 genetic variation in the regulation of blood pressure. The goal of this study was to examine if common and rare polymorphisms in PCSK9 are associated with blood pressure in an African-American population at high risk for cardiovascular disease. Using genomic data assayed on the Affymetrix 6.0 array (n = 1199) and the Illumina HumanExome Beadchip (n = 1966) from the Hypertension Genetic Epidemiology Network (HyperGEN), we tested the association of PCSK9 polymorphisms with blood pressure. We used linear mixed models and the sequence kernel association test (SKAT) to assess the association of 31 common and 19 rare variants with blood pressure. The models were adjusted for age, sex, center, smoking status, principal components for ancestry and diabetes as fixed effects and family as a random effect. The results showed a marginally significant effect of two genome-wide association study (GWAS) single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) (rs12048828: β = 1.8, P = 0.05 and rs9730100: β = 1.0, P = 0.05) with diastolic blood pressure (DBP); however these results were not significant after correction for multiple testing. Rare variants were cumulatively associated with DBP (P = 0.04), an effect that was strengthened by restriction to nonsynonymous or stop-gain SNPs (P = 0.02). While gene-based results for DBP did not replicate (P = 0.36), we found an association with SBP (P = 0.04) in the Reasons for Geographic And Racial Differences in Stroke study (REGARDS). The findings here suggest rare variants in PCSK9 may influence blood pressure among African Americans, laying the ground work for further validation studies

Prevalence and quantitative microbial risk assessment of Salmonella in pork value chain in Hung Yen province, Vietnam

Objectives: In Vietnam, pork accounts for 75% of total meat consumed by households. However, pork may contain high levels of microbial contaminants such as Salmonella and Escherichia coli which can cause harm to consumers. We conducted the first risk assessment for salmonellosis risk through boiled pork consumption in Hung Yen, Vietnam. Method: A total of 646 samples were collected repeatedly from pig farms (36), slaughterhouses (26) and pork shops (108) in Hung Yen between April 2014 and February 2015. Cooking and consumption behaviour were studied through focus group discussions. Data were used for a quantitative microbial risk assessment (QMRA) to estimate the salmonellosis risk from boiled pork consumption using @Risk. Published data on reduction and cross-contamination of Salmonella during cooking were also used for the assessment. Results: Overall Salmonella prevalence at pig farms, slaughterhouses and pork shops were 36.1%, 35.3% and 34.2%, respectively. Salmonella contamination in pork sold at market was 44.4% and an average concentration of 7.4 MPN/g was recorded. QMRA results for Salmonella show a high risk of incidence for the assessed population. The risk in different level of urbanization, and sensitivity of factors are being analysed. Conclusion: High Salmonella contamination in pork aligned with QMRA results demonstrate the health risks for consumers. Feasible mitigations to improve hygiene practices are required to reduce the risk for the consumer

Multi-phenotype genome-wide association studies of the Norfolk Island isolate implicate pleiotropic loci involved in chronic kidney disease

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a persistent impairment of kidney function. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have revealed multiple genetic loci associated with CKD susceptibility but the complete genetic basis is not yet clear. Since CKD shares risk factors with cardiovascular diseases and diabetes, there may be pleiotropic loci at play but may go undetected when using single phenotype GWAS. Here, we used multi-phenotype GWAS in the Norfolk Island isolate (n = 380) to identify new loci associated with CKD. We performed a principal components analysis on different combinations of 29 quantitative traits to extract principal components (PCs) representative of multiple correlated phenotypes. GWAS of a PC derived from glomerular filtration rate, serum creatinine, and serum urea identified a suggestive peak (pmin = 1.67 × 10-7) that mapped to KCNIP4. Inclusion of other secondary CKD measurements with these three kidney function traits identified the KCNIP4 locus with GWAS significance (pmin = 1.59 × 10-9). Finally, we identified a group of two SNPs with increased minor allele frequencies as potential functional variants. With the use of genetic isolate and the PCA-based multi-phenotype GWAS approach, we have revealed a potential pleotropic effect locus for CKD. Further studies are required to assess functional relevance of this locus

Altimetry for the future: Building on 25 years of progress

In 2018 we celebrated 25 years of development of radar altimetry, and the progress achieved by this methodology in the fields of global and coastal oceanography, hydrology, geodesy and cryospheric sciences. Many symbolic major events have celebrated these developments, e.g., in Venice, Italy, the 15th (2006) and 20th (2012) years of progress and more recently, in 2018, in Ponta Delgada, Portugal, 25 Years of Progress in Radar Altimetry. On this latter occasion it was decided to collect contributions of scientists, engineers and managers involved in the worldwide altimetry community to depict the state of altimetry and propose recommendations for the altimetry of the future. This paper summarizes contributions and recommendations that were collected and provides guidance for future mission design, research activities, and sustainable operational radar altimetry data exploitation. Recommendations provided are fundamental for optimizing further scientific and operational advances of oceanographic observations by altimetry, including requirements for spatial and temporal resolution of altimetric measurements, their accuracy and continuity. There are also new challenges and new openings mentioned in the paper that are particularly crucial for observations at higher latitudes, for coastal oceanography, for cryospheric studies and for hydrology. The paper starts with a general introduction followed by a section on Earth System Science including Ocean Dynamics, Sea Level, the Coastal Ocean, Hydrology, the Cryosphere and Polar Oceans and the ‘‘Green” Ocean, extending the frontier from biogeochemistry to marine ecology. Applications are described in a subsequent section, which covers Operational Oceanography, Weather, Hurricane Wave and Wind Forecasting, Climate projection. Instruments’ development and satellite missions’ evolutions are described in a fourth section. A fifth section covers the key observations that altimeters provide and their potential complements, from other Earth observation measurements to in situ data. Section 6 identifies the data and methods and provides some accuracy and resolution requirements for the wet tropospheric correction, the orbit and other geodetic requirements, the Mean Sea Surface, Geoid and Mean Dynamic Topography, Calibration and Validation, data accuracy, data access and handling (including the DUACS system). Section 7 brings a transversal view on scales, integration, artificial intelligence, and capacity building (education and training). Section 8 reviews the programmatic issues followed by a conclusion

Altimetry for the future: building on 25 years of progress

In 2018 we celebrated 25 years of development of radar altimetry, and the progress achieved by this methodology in the fields of global and coastal oceanography, hydrology, geodesy and cryospheric sciences. Many symbolic major events have celebrated these developments, e.g., in Venice, Italy, the 15th (2006) and 20th (2012) years of progress and more recently, in 2018, in Ponta Delgada, Portugal, 25 Years of Progress in Radar Altimetry. On this latter occasion it was decided to collect contributions of scientists, engineers and managers involved in the worldwide altimetry community to depict the state of altimetry and propose recommendations for the altimetry of the future. This paper summarizes contributions and recommendations that were collected and provides guidance for future mission design, research activities, and sustainable operational radar altimetry data exploitation. Recommendations provided are fundamental for optimizing further scientific and operational advances of oceanographic observations by altimetry, including requirements for spatial and temporal resolution of altimetric measurements, their accuracy and continuity. There are also new challenges and new openings mentioned in the paper that are particularly crucial for observations at higher latitudes, for coastal oceanography, for cryospheric studies and for hydrology. The paper starts with a general introduction followed by a section on Earth System Science including Ocean Dynamics, Sea Level, the Coastal Ocean, Hydrology, the Cryosphere and Polar Oceans and the “Green” Ocean, extending the frontier from biogeochemistry to marine ecology. Applications are described in a subsequent section, which covers Operational Oceanography, Weather, Hurricane Wave and Wind Forecasting, Climate projection. Instruments’ development and satellite missions’ evolutions are described in a fourth section. A fifth section covers the key observations that altimeters provide and their potential complements, from other Earth observation measurements to in situ data. Section 6 identifies the data and methods and provides some accuracy and resolution requirements for the wet tropospheric correction, the orbit and other geodetic requirements, the Mean Sea Surface, Geoid and Mean Dynamic Topography, Calibration and Validation, data accuracy, data access and handling (including the DUACS system). Section 7 brings a transversal view on scales, integration, artificial intelligence, and capacity building (education and training). Section 8 reviews the programmatic issues followed by a conclusion

Identification of human papilloma viruses in atheromatous coronary artery disease

Objective. To identify human papilloma viruses (HPV) in atheromatous coronary arteries.Background. Atheromatous arterial disease is primarily an initial inflammatory response to unknown stimuli. The crucial question is what causes the initial inflammation in atheromatous disease? HPV infections may be relevant as US women with vaginal, high risk for cancer, HPV infections, are at up to three fold increased risk of cardiovascular disease as compared with vaginal HPV negative women. These studies did not include analyses of HPV in atheromatous coronary arteries.Methods. Atheromatous coronary arteries were identified and collected from 20 deceased donors. PCR techniques were used to identify HPV gene sequences. Immunohistochemistry methods were used to identify HPV E7 proteins. Results. HPV types 16 and 18 were identified in 11 (55%) of 20 specimens. HPV E7 protein was identified in 10 (50%) of 20 specimens. Positive and negative HPV identification and HPV E7 expression in coronary smooth muscle cells were significantly correlated (cc = 0.503, p = 0.024). The HPV E7 proteins were expressed in smooth muscle cells and plasma cells, foam cells and macrophages located in the atheromatous plaque. HPV E7 proteins were not expressed in infiltrating lymph cells. Conclusions. HPV gene sequences were identified in 55% of atheromatous coronary arteries and may have a role in coronary artery disease