Dying alone due to COVID-19 : do the needs of the many outweigh the rights of the few—or the one?

The COVID-19 pandemic, caused by infection with the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has been striking the world since it was first identified in December 2019 in China. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak a “public health emergency of international concern” on January 30th, 2020, and recognized its pandemic status on March 11th. The pandemic has caused universal psychosocial impact (1) and global economic disruption. Discourse and measures have been discussed focused on lockdown strategies, healthcare policies (2), application of emerging treatments, accelerated clinical trials, among others. Management guidelines are continuously updated based on emerging findings (3). However, as the disease spreads through a community, suffering deepens due to strict procedures that, arguably, may be questioned from an ethical standpoint. The pandemic has sufficiently disrupted and impaired people’s livelihood worldwide, and every effort to prevent any additional suffering must be made.Instituto de VirologíaFil: Capozzo, Alejandra Victoria. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Virología; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Capozzo, Alejandra Victoria. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin

Application of Serological Tests to Assess the Efficacy of Foot-and-Mouth Disease Vaccination in Dairy Cattle with or without Viral Leucosis

Enzootic bovine leucosis is an infectious viral disease of cattle distributed worldwide that affect dairy cattle over 2 years of age. This diseaseproduces changes in the animal´s immune system that may affect vaccine efficacy. During the last 10 years many reports have highlighted theassociation of BLV infection with a diminished or modified immune response against routinely used cattle vaccines. Our group has focused onstudying the possible role of BLV infection on the immune response elicited by foot-and-mouth disease primo or multiple vaccinations makinguse of serological assays aimed to characterize the antibody response in terms of IgG-subtypes and avidity. These tools demonstrated to be veryuseful for analyzing the effects of BLV in FMD vaccine immunity. The use of simple high-throughput assays delving on the quality of the antibodyresponse is paramount for assessing vaccine efficacy and can help in analyzing the impact of BLV infection at herd level.Fil: Capozzo, Alejandra Victoria. Instituto Nacional de Tecnologia Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigacion En Ciencias Veterinarias y Agronomicas. Instituto de Virologia E Innovaciones Tecnologicas. - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas. Oficina de Coordinacion Administrativa Pque. Centenario. Instituto de Virologia E Innovaciones Tecnologicas.; Argentin

Editorial : Women in veterinary epidemiology and economics

While the number of women graduating from veterinary schools has increased globally over the last few decades, this has not translated into reduced gender bias and inequity in academia and veterinary science research (1). Gender-based discrimination starts at university where women veterinary students are pushed toward “women-majority fields” (e.g., small animal medicine) (2) or where they face discrimination during animal husbandry placements (3). Following graduation, there is clear evidence that gender differences persist in pay and attainment of senior and leadership positions (4). Women's advancement and standing in academic veterinary medicine may in part be influenced by pronounced gender differences in the authorship of veterinary research articles. Women are less likely to be a senior author on a research paper and they are significantly underrepresented in some fields such as surgical and production animal research (5). Gender disparity in professional leadership roles like editorial boards—the median publisher in veterinary sciences had 27.5% editorships belonging to women (6)—can summate by impairing peer recognition and academic advancement.Instituto de VirologíaFil: Capozzo, Alejandra. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Virología e Innovaciones Tecnológicas; ArgentinaFil: Capozzo, Alejandra. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Vial, Flavie. Animal and Plant Health Agency; Reino Unid

Morir en soledad: la terrible situación de las personas que fallecen por COVID-19 y el dolor de sus familiares en un contexto de desborde del sistema de salud

La Organización Mundial de la Salud declaró la pandemia de covid-19 el 11 de marzo de 2020. El coronavirus pandémico afecta a todo el mundo desde que se identificó en diciembre de 2019 en Wuhan, China. La pandemia causó un fuerte impacto psicosocial en todo el planeta (1), además de los ya conocidos efectos negativos sobre la economía. Se ha discutido y trabajado en estrategias de cuarentena, aislamiento, políticas de atención médica, protocolos para la aplicación inmediata de tratamientos con medicamentos ya aprobados y ensayos clínicos acelerados, entre otros puntos relevantes. Sin embargo, nos debemos un debate. A medida que la enfermedad progresa a través de una comunidad, el sufrimiento se agrava debido a procedimientos estrictos que a menudo pierden de vista la humanidad y que, a mi entender, deben ser revisados.Instituto de VirologíaFil: Capozzo, Alejandra Victoria. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Virología; Argentina.Fil: Capozzo, Alejandra Victoria. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin

Estimating the protection afforded by foot-and-mouth disease vaccines in the laboratory

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) vaccines must be carefully selected and their application closely monitored to optimise their effectiveness. This review covers serological techniques for FMD vaccine quality control, including potency testing, vaccine matching and post-vaccination monitoring. It also discusses alternative laboratory procedures, such as antigen quantification and nucleotide sequencing, and briefly compares the approaches for FMD with those for measuring protection against influenza virus, where humoral immunity is also important. Serology is widely used to predict the protection afforded by vaccines and has great practical utility but also limitations. Animals differ in their responses to vaccines and in the protective mechanisms that they develop. Antibodies have a variety of properties and tests differ in what they measure. Antibody-virus interactions may vary between virus serotypes and strains and protection may be affected by the vaccination regime and the nature and timing of field virus challenge. Finally, tests employing biological reagents are difficult to standardise, whilst cross-protection data needed for test calibration and validation are scarce. All of this is difficult to reconcile with the desire for simple and universal criteria and thresholds for evaluating vaccines and vaccination responses and means that oversimplification of test procedures and their interpretation can lead to poor predictions. A holistic approach is therefore recommended, considering multiple sources of field, experimental and laboratory data. New antibody avidity and isotype tests seem promising alternatives to evaluate cross-protective, post-vaccination serological responses, taking account of vaccine potency as well as match. After choosing appropriate serological tests or test combinations and cut-offs, results should be interpreted cautiously and in context. Since opportunities for experimental challenge studies of cross-protection are limited and the approaches incompletely reflect real life, more field studies are needed to quantify cross-protection and its correlation to in vitro measurements

Morir en soledad: la terrible situación de las personas que mueren por COVID-19 y el dolor de sus familiares en un contexto de desborde del sistema de salud

Carta al Editor.Fil: Capozzo, Alejandra Victoria. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigación En Ciencias Veterinarias y Gastronómicas. Instituto de Virología E Innovaciones Tecnológicas. - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Virología e Innovaciones Tecnológicas; Argentin

Development and Validation of a Novel ELISA for the Detection of Neospora Caninum Antibodies in Bovine Sera

Neospora caninum is a world-wide distributed apicomplexan parasite, causative agent of bovine neosporosis, which is one of themajor causes of reproductive losses in cattle affecting both dairy and beef industries. Several techniques are regularly used for the diagnosis of bovine neosporosis. Amongst them, serological techniques are generally preferred, being IFAT the traditionally accepted reference method for diagnosis (gold standard). However, ELISA has become the most eligible method for large-scale screening ofspecific antibodies against N. caninum in diagnostic laboratories around the world, providing results that can be easily standardized between laboratories, within a few hours at a relative low-cost. There is no local production of commercial ELISA tests nor in Argentina neither in South America, therefore they must be purchased abroad, turning unfeasible the routinely use of ELISA tests. Here we have developed and validated accordingly to OIE specifications a novel ELISA test based on soluble antigens from N. caninum tachyzoites to accurately determine the presence of specific antibodies anti- N. caninum antigens in bovine sera samples, enabling the rapid, objective and low-cost diagnosis of bovine neosporosis in Argentina; replacing IFAT and avoiding delays and high importation taxes.Fil: Mansilla, Florencia Celeste. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Veterinarias y Agronómicas; ArgentinaFil: Gual, Ignacio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro Regional Buenos Aires Sur. Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Balcarce; ArgentinaFil: Pereyra, Rodrigo. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Veterinarias y Agronómicas; ArgentinaFil: Turco, Cecilia Soledad. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Veterinarias y Agronómicas; ArgentinaFil: Capozzo, Alejandra Victoria. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Veterinarias y Agronómicas; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario; Argentin

Generation Y & Web Design: Usability Through Eye Tracking

At eighty-two million people, Generation Y (18-31) is the largest generation since the Baby Boomers, spending $200 billion yearly. Little past research investigates the web preferences of Generation Y, although some oblique studies have been conducted. This study extends past research by looking specifically at the web design preferences of this important age group. Data is collected through subjective measures (self-report surveys) as well as objective measures (eye tracking). The eye tracker used in this study relies on reflections from the retina to gather data, therefore eliminating the need for headgear and thus allowing eye movement to be tracked unobtrusively. Analysis shows that Generation Y prefers web pages with a main large image, pictures of celebrities, a search feature, and little text. This study has important theoretical and practical implications for businesses and future research

Editorial : Foot-and-mouth disease epidemiology, vaccines and vaccination : moving forward

Vaccination has played a major role in foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) control. There are different approaches to the design and implementation of vaccination campaigns, and epidemiological information is paramount in influencing the vaccine and vaccination strategy that best suit each geographic location. FMD-endemic regions typically organize vaccination campaigns as a routine preventive control policy or to mitigate the impact of the disease. The majority of currently used vaccines are formulated with chemically inactivated whole-viral particles and suitable adjuvants such as single and double oil emulsions. The most recent strains circulating in a particular region are typically selected as antigens based on the results of vaccine-matching data and in vitro experiments, however, predictions based on vaccine-matching approaches are usually uncertain without a live virus challenge in natural hosts combined with reliable field data. Vaccine selection and successful vaccination campaigns rely on a deep knowledge of the epidemiology of the region where these vaccines will be used, as well as access to the appropriate diagnostic tools to underpin these campaigns.Instituto de VirologíaFil: Capozzo, Alejandra. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Virología e Innovaciones Tecnológicas; ArgentinaFil: Capozzo, Alejandra. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Vosloo, Wilna. Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) Health and Biosecurity. Transboundary Disease Mitigation. Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness; AustraliaFil: de los Santos, Teresa. United States Department of Agriculture. Agricultural Research Service. Plum Island Animal Disease Center; Estados UnidosFil: Pérez, Andrés M. University of Minnesota. Department of Veterinary Population Medicine; Estados UnidosFil: Perez Filgueira, Daniel Mariano. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Virología e Innovaciones Tecnológicas; ArgentinaFil: Perez Filgueira, Daniel Mariano. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin