High diversity of salmonella serotypes found in an experiment with outdoor pigs

Little is known about the risk of Salmonella infection in outdoor pig production, but seroprevalence data has indicated a higher occurrence of Salmonella in outdoor production systems than in conventional indoor systems. This is perhaps due to the increased exposure to the surrounding environment including contact with wildlife. An unexpected high diversity of Salmonella serotypes, as e.g. S. Uganda and S. Goldcoast, which are not normally isolated from pigs, was detected in connection with an experimental study on transmission of Salmonella in outdoor organic pigs. In order to elucidate the potential source of the different Salmonella serotypes, a small-scale examination of wildlife was performed. Salmonella was not detected in any of a total of 22 rats, mice and shrews or in 21 birds (mainly crowbirds). The unidentified source of these Salmonella serotypes implies inadequate control possibilities and may therefore pose a problem for outdoor pig production in terms of food safety

Substitution of labour and energy in agriculture and options for growth

Viewed from the technical angle, labour and energy may be considered the basic resources for production. Methods to compute the requirement of energy and labour for the production processes from raw material to the product at the farm gate are discussed. It is shown that limited amounts of added energy and labour are required to achieve the maximum possible production per hectare. The form of the functions that relate the requirement for these resources with the level of production is considered in two limiting situations. These concern the minimum amount of added labour that is required when energy is abundantly available and the minimum amount of added energy that is required when labour is abundantly available. By means of these functions and the added energy and added labour used in the actual farm situation, iso-yield functions are constructed. These functions identify the possibilities for substitution of energy and labour during the production process at various yield levels. The shape of the expansion paths indicate that there may be a considerable range of production situations where the yield per unit of added energy, the yield per unit of added labour and the yield per unit of surface increase with increasing use of added labour and energy per hectare, whereas the added energy use per unit of added labour decreases at the same time. Some resulting options for growth, with special reference to the situation in the Netherlands, are discussed

Farming for Health: Aspects from Germany

Until now, the term ‘Farming for Health’ is unknown in Germany but it would cover a wide spectrum of different kinds of social agriculture already existing in Germany, such as farms that integrate disabled people or drug therapy into their farming system, or farms that integrate children, pupils or older people. Relevant work in Germany is done in ‘Sheltered Workshops’, where supporting and healing powers of farming and gardening are used for disabled people with a diversity of work possibilities. Relevant activities also take place in work-therapy departments using horticultural therapy and in animalassisted therapy. There are an estimated number of 1000 different projects for mentally ill, disabled and elderly people in hospitals, Sheltered Workshops, on farms and other projects in Germany with a multitude of individual work places. The upcoming idea of Farming for Health may be met by the term ‘multifunctionality’ as one of the future goals of agriculture: to combine the production of cash crops with social functions, like providing space for recreation, care for landscapes and care for disabled people. Research showed that farms that work together with clients in their farming system have more time and financial support to integrate aims like caring for biotopes and landscape measures into their work schedule

Energy production and use in Dutch agriculture

Energy relationschips in the agriculture of one of the most densely populated areas of the world, the Nether lands, are described. The Netherlands appear selfsupporting in food energy. However, if one takes account of energy consumption in horticulture, the direct and indirect fossil energy cost exceeds the food energy produced in agriculture. An input-output analysis to estimate the indirect energy is applied on Japanese data. It appears that in Japanese agriculture for every unit energy used directly, two units are used indirectly. Energy relationships are different for the main agricultural sectors. In the primary production sector more energy is produced than consumed (9 : 1), while in the secondary production sector and in the horticulture the oppositie holds (1 : 7). The energy input of the secondary production sector, however, is mainly of plant origin. Energy balances of an arable farm at present and around 1800 are given to show in more detail in which way food energy is and was produced. Possible ways to diminish the fossil energy input of the modern farm are discussed

Measuring public-health outcomes of release of transgenic mosquitoes

The transgenic RIDL method could ensure that male mosquitos can be released without biting females and that the males would have no female progeny after mating to wild females. Urban Anopheles or Aedes vector populations, surrounded by different species in rural areas, would seem to be the most appropriate targets for such releases, aiming at eradication. In urban areas intensity of transmission is generally not very high and the public-health outcomes of such urban programmes could be monitored by passive surveillance through health facilities or by active surveillance for infections with or without associated symptoms. The alternative use of transgenic mosquitos would be to produce strains refractory to infection by pathogens such as Plasmodium and to drive such genes into wild populations. In theory, in contrast to sterile-male eradication, such a procedure could "resist" a limited level of immigration and could open up the possibility of using the method against African rural malaria. However, in practice it would seem extremely difficult or impossible to ensure the necessary complete linkage of the refractoriness genes to the driving system. If this problem could be overcome one could monitor the impact of the spreading of the refractoriness genes by its impact on (i) the sporozoite rate in the wild population; (ii) the incidence of re-infection after clearing existing infections with an appropriate drug treatment; (iii) active surveillance for prevalence of malaria fever and anaemia in children; (iv) attacks of severe malaria and deaths monitored though hospitals and village reporters

Grading and sorting as a method of market segmentation for agricultural products

The concepts of market segmentation, grading and sorting are outlined and criteria are proposed. The application of these criteria to the sorting of cucumbers and tomatoes did not achieve effective market segmentation, and quality grading was only partially achieved. (Abstract retrieved from CAB Abstracts by CABI’s permission

Where should livestock graze? Integrated modeling and optimization to guide grazing management in the Cañete basin, Peru

Integrated watershed management allows decision-makers to balance competing objectives, for example agricultural production and protection of water resources. Here, we developed a spatially-explicit approach to support such management in the Cañete watershed, Peru. We modeled the effect of grazing management on three services – livestock production, erosion control, and baseflow provision – and used an optimization routine to simulate landscapes providing the highest level of services. Over the entire watershed, there was a trade-off between livestock productivity and hydrologic services and we identified locations that minimized this trade-off for a given set of preferences. Given the knowledge gaps in ecohydrology and practical constraints not represented in the optimizer, we assessed the robustness of spatial recommendations, i.e. revealing areas most often selected by the optimizer. We conclude with a discussion of the practical decisions involved in using optimization frameworks to inform watershed management programs, and the research needs to better inform the design of such programs

Sarcoidosis in Iceland 1981-2003

Neðst á síðunni er hægt að nálgast greinina í heild sinni með því að smella á hlekkinn View/OpenOBJECTIVE: To investigate the incidence of sarcoidosis in Iceland, its clinical manifestations and potential environmental influences. MATERIALS AND METHODS: All histopathological diagnoses of non-necrotizing granulomas generated in Iceland during the period 1981-2003 were reviewed with respect to a diagnosis of sarcoidosis. Further, patients were identified by searching hospital discharge diagnoses at the University Hospital in Reykjavik and the Regional Hospital in Northern Iceland. Only histologically verified cases were included. RESULTS: A total of 235 patients were found with histopathologically proven sarcoidosis. Limited to patients verified by tissue diagnosis, the annual incidence of sarcoidosis is 3,84/100.000/year. The incidence was found to be 2,8/100,000/year during the first half of the investigation period and 5,0/100,000/year during the second. This rate is lower than in other Nordic countries. There were 122 women and 113 men. The mean age at diagnosis was 50,8 years for women and 47,5 for men. The mean age at diagnosis was higher in Iceland than elsewhere. Clinically, respiratory symptoms predominated. Ocular symptoms and erythema nodosum are rare, and life-threatening cardiovascular and neurological manifestations are distinctly unusual. CONCLUSION: The low incidence is undoubtedly due to the strict inclusion criteria in the present study, i.e. only those with a tissue diagnosis were included. We have no explanation as to the higher age at diagnosis in Iceland than elsewhere. Registration of possible environmental factors and clinical evaluation may be improved.Tilgangur: Markmið rannsóknarinnar var að kanna tíðni sarklíkis á Íslandi, birtingarform sjúkdómsins og mögulega áhrifaþætti umhverfis. Efniviður og aðferðir: Allar vefjagreiningar á árunum 1981-2003 á hnúðabólgu á rannsóknastofum í meinafræði voru kannaðar og sarklíkitilfelli vinsuð frá. Útskriftargreiningar á Landspítala og Fjórðungssjúkrahúsinu á Akureyri voru kannaðar með tilliti til sarklíkis og athugað hvort vefjagrein-ing lægi fyrir. Þeir sem greindust með sarklíki samkvæmt vefjasýni mynda rannsóknarhópinn. Niðurstöður: Alls fundust 235 sjúklingar með sarklíki og var nýgengið 3,84/100 þús/ári. Á fyrri hluta rannsóknartímabilsins var nýgengið 2,8/100 þús/ári, en hlutfallslega hærra, 5/100 þús/ári, á seinni helmingi tímabilsins. Nýgengi sarklíkis var lægra en annars staðar á Norðurlöndunum. Konur voru 122 (52%) og karlar 113 (48%). Meðalaldur kvenna við greiningu var 50,8 ár, en meðalaldur karla 47,5 ár. Meðalaldur var hærri við greiningu hér á landi en víðast annars staðar. Algengust voru einkenni frá öndunarfærum. Augneinkenni og hnútarós var sjaldgæft í þessum hópi og lífshættuleg einkenni frá hjarta eða taugakerfi voru afar sjaldgæf meðal íslenskra sarklíkissjúklinga. Ályktun: Lægra nýgengi má líklega rekja til strangari inntökuskilyrða í þessari rannsókn en í öðrum faraldsfræðilegum rannsóknum. Skýring á hærri meðalaldri við greiningu liggur ekki ljós fyrir. Skráning mögulegra áhrifaþátta sarklíkis og uppvinnsla sjúklinga þyrfti að vera markvissari