Small animal disease surveillance: respiratory disease 2017

This report focuses on surveillance for respiratory disease in companion animals. It begins with an analysis of data from 392 veterinary practices contributing to the Small Animal Veterinary Surveillance Network (SAVSNET) between January and December 2017. The following section describes canine respiratory coronavirus infections in dogs, presenting results from laboratory-confirmed cases across the country between January 2010 and December 2017. This is followed by an update on the temporal trends of three important syndromes in companion animals, namely gastroenteritis, pruritus and respiratory disease, from 2014 to 2017. A fourth section presents a brief update on Streptococcus equi subspecies zooepidemicus in companion animals. The final section summarises some recent developments pertinent to companion animal health, namely eyeworm (Thelazzia callipaeda) infestations in dogs imported to the UK and canine influenza virus in the USA and Canada

Use of vaccines and factors associated with their uptake variability in dogs, cats and rabbits attending a large sentinel network of veterinary practices across Great Britain

Vaccination remains a mainstay of companion animal population health. However, how vaccine use at a population level complies with existing guidelines is unknown. Here we use electronic health records to describe vaccination in dogs, cats and rabbits attending a large sentinel network of UK veterinary practices. In total, 77.9% (95% CI: 77.6-78.1) of animals had recorded vaccinations. The percentage of animals with recorded vaccinations was higher in dogs, neutered animals, in insured dogs and cats and in purebred dogs. Vaccination rates varied in different regions of Great Britain in all species. Dogs and cats belonging to owners living in less deprived areas of England and Scotland were more likely to be recorded as vaccinated. In the vaccinated population, cats received more core vaccines per year of life (0.86) than dogs (0.75), with feline leukaemia vaccines almost as frequent as core vaccines. In dogs, leptospira vaccines were more frequent than core vaccines. This descriptive study suggests a substantial proportion of animals are not benefiting from vaccine protection. For the first time, we identify potential factors associated with variations in recorded vaccination frequency, providing a critical baseline against which to monitor future changes in companion animal vaccination and evidence to inform future targeted health interventions

Impacto del uso de un cemento de bajo carbono en la mejora de la sostenibilidad de la producción de cemento

A preliminary assessment of conditions for the industrial manufacture of a new cementitious system based on clinker-calcined clay and limestone, developed by the authors, referred as “low carbon cement” is presented. The new cement enables the substitution of more than 50% of the mass of clinker without compromising performance. The paper presents the follow-up of an industrial trial carried out in Cuba to produce 130 tonnes of the new cement at a cement plant. The new material proved to fulfill national standards in applications such as the manufacture of hollow concrete blocks and precast concrete. No major differences either in the rheological or mechanical properties were found when compared with Portland cement. Environmental assessment of the ternary cement was made, which included comparison with other blended cements produced industrially in Cuba. The new cement has proven to contribute to the reduction of above 30% of carbon emissions on cement manufacture.Se presenta la evaluación preliminar de las condiciones de fabricación industrial de un nuevo sistema cementicio a partir del empleo de clínquer; arcillas calcinadas y piedra caliza; desarrollado por los autores; denominado “cemento de bajo carbono”. El nuevo cemento posibilita la reducción de más de un 50% de la masa de clínquer; sin comprometer el comportamiento del material. El presente trabajo presenta el monitoreo de la producción industrial en una planta en Cuba; de 130 t del nuevo cemento. El cemento obtenido cumple con las regulaciones nacionales de calidad y su empleo tiene similar rendimiento que el cemento Pórtland para la producción de bloques y hormigón de 25 MPa. Se realiza el análisis de impacto ambiental del cemento ternario mediante la comparación con otros cementos producidos industrialmente. El nuevo cemento puede contribuir a la reducción de más del 30% de las emisiones de CO2 asociadas a la manufactura de cemento

A standardized framing for reporting protein identifications in mzIdentML 1.2

Inferring which protein species have been detected in bottom-up proteomics experiments has been a challenging problem for which solutions have been maturing over the past decade. While many inference approaches now function well in isolation, comparing and reconciling the results generated across different tools remains difficult. It presently stands as one of the greatest barriers in collaborative efforts such as the Human Proteome Project and public repositories such as the PRoteomics IDEntifications (PRIDE) database. Here we present a framework for reporting protein identifications that seeks to improve capabilities for comparing results generated by different inference tools. This framework standardizes the terminology for describing protein identification results, associated with the HUPO-Proteomics Standards Initiative (PSI) mzIdentML standard, while still allowing for differing methodologies to reach that final state. It is proposed that developers of software for reporting identification results will adopt this terminology in their outputs. While the new terminology does not require any changes to the core mzIdentML model, it represents a significant change in practice, and, as such, the rules will be released via a new version of the mzIdentML specification (version 1.2) so that consumers of files are able to determine whether the new guidelines have been adopted by export software

Small animal disease surveillance:Pruritus and Pseudomonas skin infections

Report Summary: • Presentation for investigation and/or treatment of gastrointestinal (GI) disease comprised 3.0 per cent, 2.0 per cent and 1.9 per cent of total dog, cat and rabbit consultations respectively between 1 April 2017 and 31 October 2018 • Diarrhoea and vomiting without blood were the most frequently reported GI disease clinical signs (43.0 and 36.6 per cent in dogs, and 35.9 and 37.7 per cent in cats respectively) • The proportion of GI disease consultations which prescribed antibiotics authorised for systemic administration (including oral and injectable formulations) decreased between April 2014 and October 2018 • The proportion of GI disease consultations which dispensed nutraceutical products advertised as being effective at managing primary GI disease (including prebiotics, probiotics etc.) increased between April 2014 and October 2018 • Between January 2011 and August 2018, 13.5 per cent of 20,194 feline faecal samples submitted to UK-based diagnostic laboratories tested positive for presence of Tritrichomonas foetus • The proportion of feline sample submissions testing positive for T.foetus decreased between 2011 and 201

Modular framework to assess the risk of African swine fever virus entry into the European Union

BACKGROUND The recent occurrence and spread of African swine fever (ASF) in Eastern Europe is perceived as a serious risk for the pig industry in the European Union (EU). In order to estimate the potential risk of ASF virus (ASFV) entering the EU, several pathways of introduction were previously assessed separately. The present work aimed to integrate five of these assessments (legal imports of pigs, legal imports of products, illegal imports of products, fomites associated with transport and wild boar movements) into a modular tool that facilitates the visualization and comprehension of the relative risk of ASFV introduction into the EU by each analyzed pathway. RESULTS The framework's results indicate that 48% of EU countries are at relatively high risk (risk score 4 or 5 out of 5) for ASFV entry for at least one analyzed pathway. Four of these countries obtained the maximum risk score for one pathway: Bulgaria for legally imported products during the high risk period (HRP); Finland for wild boar; Slovenia and Sweden for legally imported pigs during the HRP. Distribution of risk considerably differed from one pathway to another; for some pathways, the risk was concentrated in a few countries (e.g., transport fomites), whereas other pathways incurred a high risk for 4 or 5 countries (legal pigs, illegal imports and wild boar). CONCLUSIONS The modular framework, developed to estimate the risk of ASFV entry into the EU, is available in a public domain, and is a transparent, easy-to-interpret tool that can be updated and adapted if required. The model's results determine the EU countries at higher risk for each ASFV introduction route, and provide a useful basis to develop a global coordinated program to improve ASFV prevention in the EU

Variability of trace-elements and δ18O in drip water from Gruta del Rey Marcos, Guatemala; seasonal and environmental effects, and its implications for paleoclimate reconstructions

Guatemala is located at the core of one of the largest warming pools in the planet, the Western Hemisphere Warm Pool, an important source of tropical moisture to middle and high latitudes and, thus, a key area for paleoclimatic studies. This, along the karst pervasiveness in the area provides the opportunity to obtain high-resolution records of past hydroclimatic conditions using stalagmites. Despite this, the atmospheric and geochemical processes that might affect the variability of geochemical proxies in stalagmites are yet to be constrained, as no cave-monitoring in the area has been carried out previously. Here, we present a 2.5-year cave-monitoring study from Gruta del Rey Marcos, Guatemala, which allows to understand the effect of external atmospheric and environmental conditions upon the variability of δ18O, Mg/Ca, Sr/Ca, and Ba/Ca in drip water. By incorporating cave ventilation dynamics, isotopic information of local rainfall and cave-river water, we are able to understand the most relevant processes that affect the variability of the geochemical proxies in drip water, hence stalagmites. Our results suggest that two-isotopically distinct rainfall regimes, as well as tropical cyclones affecting the area contribute to the composition of the drip-water, hence the resulting stalagmites, with low δ18O (∼-6‰ VSMOW) values indicative of strong convective activity, whilst high δ18O values (−4.5 and −5‰ VSMOW), are indicative of poor convection and proportionally more significant winter-frontal rainfall. We also demonstrate that the trace-element composition of drip water is largely modulated by PCP, and thus, the variability in underlying stalagmites can be interpreted to reflect changes in karst humidity, with low E/Ca ratios (E = Mg, Sr, Ba), indicative of a wet epikarst and high E/Ca ratios indicative of a dry epikarst. Our results provide essential information for the interpretation of the δ18O and trace element variability in stalagmites, which can result in robust paleoclimatic reconstructions from Gruta del Rey Marcos and elsewhere in central America and southern Mexico

New approaches to pharmacosurveillance for monitoring prescription frequency, diversity, and co-prescription in a large sentinel network of companion animal veterinary practices in the United Kingdom, 2014–2016

Pharmaceutical agents (PAs) are commonly prescribed in companion animal practice in the United Kingdom. However, little is known about PA prescription on a population-level, particularly with respect to PAs authorised for human use alone prescribed via the veterinary cascade; this raises important questions regarding the efficacy and safety of PAs prescribed to companion animals. This study explored new approaches for describing PA prescription, diversity and co-prescription in dogs, cats and rabbits utilising electronic health records (EHRs) from a sentinel network of 457 companion animal-treating veterinary sites throughout the UK over a 2-year period (2014-2016). A novel text mining-based identification and classification methodology was utilised to semi-automatically map practitioner-defined product descriptions recorded in 918,333 EHRs from 413,870 dogs encompassing 1,242,270 prescriptions; 352,730 EHRs from 200,541 cats encompassing 491,554 prescriptions, and 22,526 EHRS from 13,398 rabbits encompassing 18,490 prescriptions respectively. PA prescription as a percentage of booked consultations was 65.4% (95% confidence interval, CI, 64.6-66.3) in dogs; in cats it was 69.1% (95% CI, 67.9-70.2) and in rabbits, 56.3% (95% CI, 54.7-57.8). Vaccines were the most commonly prescribed PAs in all three species, with antibiotics, antimycotics, and parasiticides also commonly prescribed. PA prescription utilising products authorised for human use only (hence, 'human-authorised') comprised 5.1% (95% CI, 4.7-5.5) of total canine prescription events; in cats it was 2.8% (95% CI, 2.6-3.0), and in rabbits, 7.8% (95% CI, 6.5-9.0). The most commonly prescribed human-authorised PA in dogs was metronidazole (antibiotic); in cats and rabbits it was ranitidine (H2 histamine receptor antagonist). Using a new approach utilising the Simpson's Diversity Index (an ecological measure of relative animal, plant etc. species abundance), we identified differences in prescription based on presenting complaint and species, with rabbits generally exposed to a less diverse range of PAs than dogs or cats, potentially reflecting the paucity of authorised PAs for use in rabbits. Finally, through a novel application of network analysis, we demonstrated the existence of three major co-prescription groups (preventive health; treatment of disease, and euthanasia); a trend commonly observed in practice. This study represents the first time PA prescription has been described across all pharmaceutical families in a large population of companion animals, encompassing PAs authorised for both veterinary and human-only use. These data form a baseline against which future studies could be compared, and provides some useful tools for understanding PA comparative efficacy and risks when prescribed in the varied setting of clinical practice