Quantitative assessment of biosecurity in broiler farms using Biocheck.UGent in Central Luzon, Philippines

The biosecurity status of 397 broiler farms in Central Luzon, the highest poultry meat-producing region in the Philippines, was assessed using Biocheck.Ugent. This online biosecurity assessment tool quantifies biosecurity level or compliance of surveyed farms. The system generates scores that reflect the current biosecurity status of each farm in terms of the different external and internal biosecurity measures being implemented in each farm. It was initially developed for pigs and broilers but recently is available for layers, swine, and cattle (beef, dairy, and veal). The overall biosecurity score of broiler farms in Central Luzon was 71.2%, with average external and internal biosecurity scores of 68.5 and 77.2%, respectively. Bataan had the highest biosecurity scores (76.5%) compared with the other 6 provinces. This was also true for the external and internal biosecurity scores of the province, with mean scores of 72.1 and 80.1%, respectively. Of the 11 subcategories of external and internal biosecurity that were assessed, purchase of day-old chicks, feeds and water supply, supply of materials, cleaning and disinfection, and materials between compartments had scores higher than the global scores. Low scores were generated from transport of live animals and infrastructure and biological vectors. The mean biosecurity score of farms with traditional/dconventional type of housing was 7.8% lower than that with tunnel vent housing. Every year as the farm gets older, there was a corresponding drop of 0.2% in the biosecurity score. Biosecurity measures are in place in broiler farms in the country. However, there were areas with low scores which need to be prioritized to improve and upgrade the farms' biosecurity status. To date, this is the first quantitative assessment of biosecurity in broiler farms in the Philippines. High biosecurity scores may entail greater protection from disease incursion

Beneficios y costos de la rehabilitación de pasturas degradadas en Honduras

The impact of pasture degradation on animal productivity in six regions of Honduras was assessed, and pasture rehabilitation costs were estimated. The study, carried out in March 2004, involved the interviewing of 25 livestock producers and eight extension agents. The milk and beef production of cows grazing pastures with different levels of degradation was calculated, as well as the losses in income also attributable to the process of degradation. The proportion of pastures found at each level of degradation was determined for each of the six administrative regions of Honduras, and the different strategies to rehabilitate degraded pastures were identified and their cost calculated. A 4-level degradation gradient was defined, level 1 being non-apparent degradation and level 4, severe degradation. Based on personal and descriptive information provided by the interviewees, regressions were generated that better explained the loss in animal productivity at each level of pasture degradation. According to producers, 29% of the area under pastures in Honduras ranked as level 1 of degradation, whereas extension agents ranked 19% of the pastures as level 1. Similarly, livestock producers considered that 27% of the pastures were level 4 of degradation, while extension agents estimated that 31% ranked as level 4. According to producer estimates, each year Honduras ceases to produce 284,106 MT of fluid milk and animal live weight gains equivalent to 48,271 MT of beef due exclusively to the loss of productivity of pasture in level 4 of degradation, which is equivalent to 48% of the country’s annual milk production and 37% of its beef production. In economic terms, losses in milk production totaled US$63 million per year and those of beef production, US$48 million. The cost of rehabilitating pastures of level 4 degradation in Honduras was estimated at US$57.1 million, according to producers, and at US$83.6 million, according to extension agents. These figures represented, respectively, 51% of the US$111.2 million in annual income for sale of milk and beef that were not received and 52$159.8 million in lower annual income per concept of lower sale of milk and beef. Livestock producers indicated that the average useful life of improved pastures was approximately 10 years, ranging from 9 years for B. humidicola and Digitaria swazilandensis to 12 years for star grass (Cynodon nlemfuensis). Extension agents, on the other hand, considered that grasses have a useful life of 8.4 years, ranging from 6 years for D. swazilandensis to 12 years for B. brizantha cv. Marandú. According to study results, the annual rate of degradation of pastures in Honduras varied from 10% to 12%. To eliminate pasture areas of level 4 of degradation nationwide, it would be necessary to make a one-time investment of US$57 million. However, the annual profit in increased milk and beef production would amount to 156,000 liters milk per day and 26,500 kg liveweight that amount to an additional income of US$22.2 million per year. This should serve as both economic and production incentive for the private and public sectors to jointly develop and execute an action plan that allows paddocks in advanced state of degradation to be recovered

The exposure of the hybrid detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory

The Pierre Auger Observatory is a detector for ultra-high energy cosmic rays. It consists of a surface array to measure secondary particles at ground level and a fluorescence detector to measure the development of air showers in the atmosphere above the array. The "hybrid" detection mode combines the information from the two subsystems. We describe the determination of the hybrid exposure for events observed by the fluorescence telescopes in coincidence with at least one water-Cherenkov detector of the surface array. A detailed knowledge of the time dependence of the detection operations is crucial for an accurate evaluation of the exposure. We discuss the relevance of monitoring data collected during operations, such as the status of the fluorescence detector, background light and atmospheric conditions, that are used in both simulation and reconstruction.Comment: Paper accepted by Astroparticle Physic

Large-scale association analyses identify host factors influencing human gut microbiome composition

To study the effect of host genetics on gut microbiome composition, the MiBioGen consortium curated and analyzed genome-wide genotypes and 16S fecal microbiome data from 18,340 individuals (24 cohorts). Microbial composition showed high variability across cohorts: only 9 of 410 genera were detected in more than 95% of samples. A genome-wide association study of host genetic variation regarding microbial taxa identified 31 loci affecting the microbiome at a genome-wide significant (P < 5 x 10(-8)) threshold. One locus, the lactase (LCT) gene locus, reached study-wide significance (genome-wide association study signal: P = 1.28 x 10(-20)), and it showed an age-dependent association with Bifidobacterium abundance. Other associations were suggestive (1.95 x 10(-10) < P < 5 x 10(-8)) but enriched for taxa showing high heritability and for genes expressed in the intestine and brain. A phenome-wide association study and Mendelian randomization identified enrichment of microbiome trait loci in the metabolic, nutrition and environment domains and suggested the microbiome might have causal effects in ulcerative colitis and rheumatoid arthritis

Social work and food security: Case study on the nutritional capabilities of the landfill waste pickers in South Africa

Food security (or the lack of it) has a direct impact on people’s well-being and is of great concern to many disciplines. The study on which the article is based used Drèze and Sen’s ‘nutritional capability’ concept as a theoretical framework to explain the food (in)security of landfill waste pickers. A cross-sectional research approach was followed, coupled with a triangulation mixed method research design. Viewing the waste pickers against the nutritional capability framework highlighted the important role that social work should play in focusing on people’s capabilities within their particular context

Transitions of cardio-metabolic risk factors in the Americas between 1980 and 2014

Describing the prevalence and trends of cardiometabolic risk factors that are associated with non-communicable diseases (NCDs) is crucial for monitoring progress, planning prevention, and providing evidence to support policy efforts. We aimed to analyse the transition in body-mass index (BMI), obesity, blood pressure, raised blood pressure, and diabetes in the Americas, between 1980 and 2014

Constraints on axionlike particles with H.E.S.S. from the irregularity of the PKS 2155-304 energy spectrum

Axionlike particles (ALPs) are hypothetical light (sub-eV) bosons predicted in some extensions of the Standard Model of particle physics. In astrophysical environments comprising high-energy gamma rays and turbulent magnetic fields, the existence of ALPs can modify the energy spectrum of the gamma rays for a sufficiently large coupling between ALPs and photons. This modification would take the form of an irregular behavior of the energy spectrum in a limited energy range. Data from the H.E.S.S. observations of the distant BL Lac object PKS 2155-304 (z=0.116) are used to derive upper limits at the 95% C.L. on the strength of the ALP coupling to photons, ggammaa<2.1×10-11GeV-1 for an ALP mass between 15 and 60 neV. The results depend on assumptions on the magnetic field around the source, which are chosen conservatively. The derived constraints apply to both light pseudoscalar and scalar bosons that couple to the electromagnetic fieldFil: Medina, Maria Clementina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico La Plata. Instituto Argentino de Radioastronomia (i); ArgentinaFil: H.E.S. S. collaboration

Gene expression profile during coffee fruit development and identification of candidate markers for phenological stages

The objective of this work was to identify genes that could be used as suitable markers for molecular recognition of phenological stages during coffee (Coffea arabica) fruit development. Four cultivars were evaluated as to their differential expression of genes associated to fruit development and maturation processes. Gene expression was characterized by both semi-quantitative and quantitative RT-PCR, in fruit harvested at seven different developmental stages, during three different seasons. No size polymorphisms or differential expression were observed among the cultivars for the evaluated genes; however, distinct expression profiles along fruit development were determined for each gene. Four out of the 28 evaluated genes exhibited a regular expression profile in all cultivars and harvest seasons, and, therefore, they were validated as candidate phenological markers of coffee fruit. The gene α-galactosidase can be used as a marker of green stage, caffeine synthase as a marker of transition to green and yellowish-green stages, and isocitrate lyase and ethylene receptor 3 as markers of late maturation