Spread and Control of Rift Valley Fever virus after accidental introduction in the Netherlands: a modelling study.

Rift Valley Fever (RVF) is a zoonotic vector-borne infection and causes a potentially severe disease in both humans and young animals. The Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation (EL&I) is interested in the risk of an outbreak of Rift Valley Fever virus (RVFV) for the Netherlands, and more knowledge is needed about the risk of introduction of the virus, the risk of spread (transmission) of the virus in the country once introduced, and the methods for control and surveillance. For this purpose, a mathematical model was developed to study (1) the probability of a RVF outbreak at different days of introduction during the year, (2) the probability of persistence of the infection during the entire year, and (3) outbreak size and duration at different days of introduction during the year

Towards Contagious Animal Disease Detection using Machine Learning

In livestock farms an increasing number of sensors is implemented to monitoring farm production and animal welfare, leading to large amounts of data. We investigated the potential of sensor data for the detection of contagious animal diseases, using machine learning for the interpretation of the data. An ..

Quantized field description of rotor frequency-driven dipolar recoupling

A formalized many-particle nonrelativistic classical quantized field interpretation of magic angle spinning (MAS) nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) radio frequency-driven dipolar recoupling (RFDR) is presented. A distinction is made between the MAS spin Hamiltonian and the associated quantized field Hamiltonian. The interactions for a multispin system under MAS conditions are described in the rotor angle frame using quantum rotor dynamics. In this quasiclassical theoretical framework, the chemical shift, the dipolar interaction, and radio frequency terms of the Hamiltonian are derived. The effect of a generalized RFDR train of π pulses on a coupled spin system is evaluated by creating a quantized field average dipolar-Hamiltonian formalism in the interaction frame of the chemical shift and the sample spinning. This derivation shows the analogy between the Hamiltonian in the quantized field and the normal rotating frame representation. The magnitude of this Hamiltonian peaks around the rotational resonance conditions and has a width depending on the number of rotor periods between the π pulses. Its interaction strength can be very significant at the n = 0 condition, when the chemical shift anisotropies of the interacting spins are of the order of their isotropic chemical shift differences

MAS NMR structure refinement of uniformly 13C enriched chlorophyll a/water aggregates with 2D dipolar correlation spectroscopy

Solid state NMR/Biophysical Organic Chemistr

13C Magic angle spinning NMR characterization of the functionally asymmetric QA binding in Rhodobacter sphaeroides R26 photosynthetic reaction centers using site-specific 13C-labeled ubiquinone-10

Bio-organic SynthesisBiological and Soft Matter Physic

Laag pathogene aviaire influenza virus infecties op pluimveebedrijven in Nederland

Laag Pathogene Aviaire Influenza (LPAI) is een aandoening bij pluimvee die wordt veroorzaakt door LPAI virussen. In Nederland worden elk jaar meer infecties met LPAI virussen op pluimveebedrijven gedetecteerd. In dit rapport is gekeken naar een aantal mogelijke oorzaken voor deze toename. Het vermoeden bestaat dat serologisch en/of virologisch positieve bedrijven vaker dan gemiddeld bedrijven zijn met vrije uitloop. De vraag is of dit werkelijk zo is, en zo ja welke maatregelen dan genomen kunnen worden om de kans op een introductie op een bedrijf met vrije uitloop te verminderen

Omvang diergezondheidsfonds pluimvee 2005-2010

Het doel van dit rapport is handvatten te geven voor de nieuw te maken afspraken (2005/10) rond het plafond van het Diergezondheidsfonds voor de pluimveesector. Het huidige plafond staat op Euro 11,3 miljoen per 5 jaar. De uitgevoerde risico-analyse beperkt zich tot uitbraken van hoogpathogene aviaire influenza. (De totale "Diergezondheidsfondskosten" van de 2003 AI-uitbraak bedroegen, vóór aftrek van de EU-vergoeding, Euro 250 miljoen.

Risk maps for the spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza in poultry

Devastating epidemics of highly contagious animal diseases like avian influenza, classical swine fever, and foot-and-mouth disease underline the need for improved understanding of the factors promoting the spread of these pathogens. Here we present a spatial analysis of the between-farm transmission of a highly pathogenic H7N7 avian influenza virus that caused a large epidemic in The Netherlands in 2003. We develop a method to estimate key parameters determining the spread of highly transmissible animal diseases between farms based on outbreak data. The method enables us to identify high-risk areas for propagating spread in an epidemiologically underpinned manner. A central concept is the transmission kernel which determines the probability of pathogen transmission from infected to uninfected farms as a function of inter-farm distance. We show how an estimate of the transmission kernel naturally provides estimates of the critical farm density and local reproduction numbers, which allows one to evaluate the effectiveness of control strategies. For avian influenza our analyses show that there are two poultry-dense areas in The Netherlands where epidemic spread is possible, and in which local control measures are unlikely to be able to halt an unfolding epidemic. In these regions an epidemic can only be brought to an end by the depletion of susceptible farms by infection or massive culling. Our analyses provide an estimate of the spatial range over which highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses spread between farms, and emphasize that control measures aimed at controlling such outbreaks need to take into account the local density of farm