Περιβαλλοντική Ηθική και Τοπική Αυτοδιοίκηση. Ευαισθητοποίηση και εκπαίδευση πολιτών σε θέματα περιβαλλοντικής διαχείρισης.

Ο ρόλος της Τοπικής Αυτοδιοίκησης είναι σημαντικός και πολυδιάστατος. Μπορεί να γίνει ο πυρήνας, ο οποίος θα εμπνεύσει και θα συσπειρώσει το σύνολο των κατοίκων που ζουν στην περιοχή, δημιουργώντας πολίτες με αυτοπεποίθηση, ικανούς να αναπτύξουν και να προάγουν την αρμονική συνύπαρξη με το περιβάλλον. Τα περιβαλλοντικά προβλήματα και η οικολογική κρίση έχουν πολύ έντονο κοινωνικό χαρακτήρα και για την αντιμετώπισή τους επιβάλλεται ο επαναπροσδιορισμός της σχέσης του ανθρώπου με το περιβάλλον, έτσι ώστε να επιτευχθεί η αρμονική τους συνύπαρξη. Βασικό στοιχείο όμως είναι η γνώση των περιβαλλοντικών ζητημάτων τα οποία έχουν επιπτώσεις στην υγεία και ιδιαίτερα όσα σχετίζονται με τη χημική ρύπανση και τις ακτινοβολίες. Τελικός στόχος είναι οι πολίτες μέσα από προγράμματα Περιβαλλοντικής Εκπαίδευσης να αποδεχθούν τις αρχές της Περιβαλλοντικής Ηθικής και να καταστούν στην πραγματικότητα ενεργοί πολίτες.The role of Local Government is important and multidimensional. It can become the core that will inspire and rally all the inhabitants living in the area, creating citizens with confidence, able to develop and promote harmonious coexistence with the environment. Environmental problems and the ecological crisis have a very strong social character and in order to cope with them it is necessary to redefine the relation of man to the environment in order to achieve their harmonious coexistence. However, basic knowledge is the knowledge of environmental issues that have an impact on health, particularly those related to chemical pollution and radiation. The ultimate goal is for citizens through Environmental Education programs to accept the principles of Environmental Ethics and actually become active citizens

In vitro Anticoccidial Study of Oregano and Garlic Essential Oils and Effects on Growth Performance, Fecal Oocyst Output, and Intestinal Microbiota in vivo

This study investigated the in vitro effects of Greek oregano and garlic essential oils on inhibition of Eimeria parasites and their in vivo effects on production performance, intestinal bacteria counts, and oocyst output. An inhibition assay was performed in vitro using Eimeria tenella Wisconsin strain sporozoites and Madin-Darby bovine kidney (MDBK) cells. Intracellular sporozoite invasion was quantified by detection of E. tenella DNA using qPCR from cell monolayers harvested at 2 and 24 h post-infection. Parasite invasion was inhibited by the oregano essential oil at the concentration of 100 μg/ml by 83 or 93% after 2 or 24 h, respectively. Garlic essential oil reached a maximum inhibition of 70% after 24 h with the 50 μg/ml concentration. Normal morphology was observed in MDBK cells exposed to concentrations of 100 μl/ml of garlic or oregano for over 24 h. In the in vivo trial, 180 male broiler chicks (45.3 ± 0.7 g) were allocated into two treatments (6 pens of 15 chicks per treatment). Control treatment was fed commercial diets without antibiotics or anticoccidials. The ORE–GAR treatment was fed the same control diets, further supplemented with a premix (1 g/kg feed) containing the oregano (50 g/kg premix) and garlic (5 g/kg premix) essential oils. At day 37, all birds were slaughtered under commercial conditions, and intestinal samples were collected. ORE-GAR treatment had improved final body weight (1833.9 vs. 1.685.9 g; p < 0.01), improved feed conversion ratio (1.489 vs. 1.569; p < 0.01), and reduced fecal oocyst excretion (day 28: 3.672 vs. 3.989 log oocysts/g, p < 0.01; day 37: 3.475 vs. 4.007 log oocysts/g, p < 0.001). In the caecal digesta, ORE-GAR treatment had lower total anaerobe counts (8.216 vs. 8.824 CFU/g; p < 0.01), whereas in the jejunum digesta the ORE-GAR treatment had higher counts of E. coli (5.030 vs. 3.530 CFU/g; p = 0.01) and Enterobacteriaceae (5.341 vs. 3.829 CFU/g; p < 0.01), and lower counts of Clostridium perfringens (2.555 vs. 2.882 CFU/g; p < 0.01). In conclusion, the combined supplementation of oregano and garlic essential oils had a potent anticoccidial effect in vitro and a growth-promoting effect in broilers reared in the absence of anticoccidial drugs

Evaluation of in-field efficacy of dietary ferric tyrosine on performance, intestinal health and meat quality of broiler chickens exposed to natural Campylobacter jejuni challenge

Campylobacter is an important pathogen commonly found in chickens that can cause severe acute gastroenteritis in humans. Despite intensive efforts to inhibit food-borne transmission of Campylobacter no effective strategy exists to reduce Campylobacter loads in farmed broilers. This study examined the capacity of a novel feed additive to lower Campylobacter jejuni populations and to improve growth efficiency of broiler chickens. A total of 384 male one-day-old broiler chicks were used in a 42-day trial. Birds were randomly allocated into four treatments with six replicates of sixteen chicks per pen. Three groups were fed the basal diets further supplemented with TYPLEX™ chelate (ferric tyrosine) at various concentrations (0.02, 0.05 and 0.20 g/kg, groups T2-T4, respectively). Control group (T1) was fed basal diets in mash form that did not contain added ferric tyrosine. Feed and water were provided ad libitum. At 20 days of age, broilers were exposed to natural C. jejuni challenge by introducing contaminated litter from a commercial farm. At day 25, pen litter samples analysed positive for C. jejuni, and the infection intensity was homogeneous among pens. At the end of the study C. jejuni counts in bird caeca were significantly reduced, by 2 log10 in the T4 group, compared to the T1 Control and T3 groups (p = 0.004). During this study, a natural infection with Eimeria tenella occurred at days 26-29. For animal welfare reasons all birds were treated with an anti-coccidial drug as recommended, for two consecutive days. At day 42, diarrhoea was observed on the litter in only 1 of 6 pens in the T4 group, but in 5 of 6 pens in the T1 Control group. In addition, autopsies showed that the T4 group had the highest percentage of birds with normal intestinal tracts. The T1 group had the lowest percentage of birds with infection-free tracts, and higher incidence of coccidiosis and bloody diarrhoea. At 42 days of age all birds were slaughtered and samples collected for further analysis. Birds in the T4 group tended to exhibit improved weight gain and feed efficiency, a result that warrants further investigation. Collectively, our data suggest that addition of ferric tyrosine at 0.20 g/kg exerts a protective effect against C. jejuni and coccidiosis

The influence of animal species, gender and tissue on the structural, biophysical, biochemical and biological properties of collagen sponges

peer-reviewedAlthough collagen type I is extensively used in biomedicine, no study to-date has assessed how the properties of the produced scaffolds are affected as a function of species, gender and tissue from which the collagen was extracted. Herein, we extracted and characterised collagen from porcine and bovine, male and female and skin and tendon tissues and we subsequently fabricated and assessed the structural, biophysical, biochemical and biological properties of collagen sponges. All collagen preparations were of similar purity and free-amine content (p > 0.05). In general, the porcine groups yielded more collagen; had higher (p < 0.05) denaturation temperature and resistance to enzymatic degradation; and lower (p < 0.05) swelling ratio and compression stress and modulus than the bovine groups of the same gender and tissue. All collagen preparations supported growth of human dermal fibroblasts and exhibited similar biological response to human THP-1 monocytes. These results further illustrate the need for standardisation of collagen preparations for the development of reproducible collagen-based devices