Voluntary business engagement in climate change: A study of the ClimateWise Principles

There is an expectation that the insurance sector should be leading business efforts in responding to climate change due to their inherent exposure to increasing risks. However, insurance companies normally operate on a one year time horizon - underwriting risks through policies which change each year to reflect new knowledge of these risks. The ClimateWise principles is a voluntary initiative of the insurance sector that was launched in 2007 to provide a basis for insurance companies to engage with climate change risks. This paper introduces the ClimateWise initiative and explores progress made since its launch. The paper presents new knowledge on whether this voluntary initiative provides a useful structure for the insurance sector in responding to the challenge of climate change. It finds that while the insurance sector has engaged with climate change, there is much more to do and we welcome the recent changes to ClimateWise that more accurately reflect this. The paper concludes that ClimateWise has been a useful initiative for the insurance companies and as a potential benchmark for the sector it offers some value. However, ClimateWise has not provided a strong enough engagement across the sector to embed climate action into business decisions

Olfactory neuroblastoma in dogs and cats--a histological and immunohistochemical analysis

Olfactory neuroblastoma (ONB) was identified in 13 dogs and nine cats. The tumours were subjected to microscopical examination and were graded using a human pathological grading system. In the canine and feline tumours there was more necrosis and higher mitotic activity (mitotic index and Ki67 labelling index) than reported in human ONB. Rosettes were a common feature of feline ONBs. A significant correlation was observed between the histological grade and the Ki67 labelling index. The histopathological diagnosis of ONB was confirmed immunohistochemically by demonstration of the neuronal marker neuron-specific enolase (NSE). Two other neuron-specific antibodies specific for microtubule-associated protein-2 (MAP-2) and neuronal nuclei antigen (NeuN) were evaluated. MAP-2 expression proved to have higher specificity than labelling for NSE. NeuN expression was less sensitive and of limited practical value

Occurrence of Leishmania sp. in cutaneous lesions of horses in Central Europe

The present report describes a novel etiological agent of cutaneous leishmaniasis in horses that, at least for some cases, sporadically appeared as autochthonous infections in geographically distant regions of Germany and Switzerland. The infection was initially diagnosed upon clinical and immunohistological findings. Subsequent comparative sequence analysis of diagnostic PCR products from the internal transcribed spacer 1 (ITS1) of ssrRNA classified the respective isolates as neither Old World nor New World Leishmania species. However, four isolates subjected to molecular analyses all exhibited a close phylogenetic relationship to Leishmania sp. siamensis, an organism recently identified in a visceral leishmaniasis patient from Thailand. Future investigations will demonstrate if this form of leishmaniasis represents an emerging, and perhaps zoonotic, disease of European, or even global, importance

Atypical Cowpox Virus Infection in a Series of Cats

Within 4 weeks, five cats with skin lesions affecting the hindlimbs and mainly consisting of oedema, hyperaemia and plaque-like alterations were presented to the same veterinary clinic. The cats were suffering from lameness, trauma, renal insufficiency or complicated tail amputation. Although the lesions seemed unusual for a poxvirus infection, microscopical examination of biopsy samples or specimens taken during necropsy examination revealed ballooning degeneration of keratinocytes with eosinophilic, cytoplasmic inclusion bodies indicative of an orthopoxvirus infection. Cowpox virus infection was verified using immunohistochemistry and virus isolation. Molecular analysis revealed identical haemagglutinin gene sequences in four cases and spatiotemporal circumstances in some cases pointed to hospital-acquired transmission. Unusual manifestations of feline cowpox may have an unexpected risk for human infection