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- Nyokabi, Ndungu S., et al.
(author)
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Exploring veterinary students' awareness and perception of zoonoses risks, infection control practices, and biosecurity measures in Ethiopia
- 2024
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In: Frontiers in Veterinary Science. - : Frontiers Media S.A.. - 2297-1769. ; 11
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Universities and colleges are often regarded as playing a key role in educating veterinarians and animal health workers who advise farmers on herd health and animal husbandry. However, to date, studies examining veterinary students' knowledge of zoonotic diseases of public health importance and the source of this knowledge, as well as their preparedness to respond to these diseases, have focused on the Global North rather than the Global South. This study takes Ethiopia as a case study in exploring veterinary medicine students' knowledge of zoonosis risks, infection control practices and biosecurity measures, recognizing that it is imperative to reconcile national-level veterinary education curricula with emerging global trends, such as One Health-focused training. This training advocates for a collaborative, interdisciplinary response at local, national, and international levels to the adverse impact of zoonotic diseases on animal health and productivity, and human and environmental health. Data for this study were collected through a pre-tested online questionnaire administered to 154 veterinary students from several universities in Ethiopia. The findings of this study suggest veterinary students were aware of the public health risks posed by zoonoses and the important role that collaboration between the disciplines of human and animal health can play in addressing zoonoses and emerging health risks. However, students demonstrated poor knowledge of the need to adopt infection control measures (ICPs) and biosecurity measures to reduce occupational risks and prevent within and between herd transmission of infection. Moreover, students' vaccination rates against zoonotic diseases associated with occupational risks, such as rabies, were low. The results of this study suggest that there are currently gaps in Ethiopia's veterinary curriculum and that enhancing veterinary students' access to information regarding infection control practices and biosecurity measures could contribute to reducing their future occupational exposure to zoonoses. This study highlights the policy implications of the current veterinary medicine curriculum in Ethiopia and the scope for aligning the curriculum with important global initiatives, such as One Health-focused training.
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2. |
- Munthe, Christian, 1962
(author)
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Djurhållning och antibiotika: en gyllene triangel!
- 2023
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In: Tidskriften Alba. - 1403-5448. ; :2023-10-24
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Journal article (other academic/artistic)abstract
- För ett par veckor sedan var jag i Amsterdam och talade om etiska dilemman och utmaningar i arbetet med antibiotikaresistens i djurhållning och veterinärmedicin på en konferens. ”Från fabrik till gödselstack” var devisen för mitt bidrag, för att framhålla att djurhållningens användning av antibiotika – precis som sjukvårdens – är en del av en större helhet, där även produktionssystemen för läkemedel och mat (och friska djur och människor), och naturmiljön ingår. Varje del både bidrar till utmaningen med resistens – att vår användning och hantering av dessa viktiga mediciner gör dem obrukbara – och utgör löften för att sätta in åtgärder som kan mildra problemet. Alla sådana åtgärder kommer samtidigt ha nackdelar och kostnader – därav behovet att analysera etiken. På konferensen fick jag också chans att förkovra mig i olika slags forskning om hur jordbruk och annan djurhållning kan hantera antibiotikaresistensen bättre. Jag lärde mig då att området utgör en riktig gyllene triangel – på gott och ont.
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3. |
- Wiszmeg, Andréa, et al.
(author)
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Transforming trash to treasure Cultural ambiguity in foetal cell research
- 2021
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In: Philosophy Ethics and Humanities in Medicine. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1747-5341. ; 16:1
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background Rich in different kind of potent cells, embryos are used in modern regenerative medicine and research. Neurobiologists today are pushing the boundaries for what can be done with embryos existing in the transitory margins of medicine. Therefore, there is a growing need to develop conceptual frameworks for interpreting the transformative cultural, biological and technical processes involving these aborted, donated and marginal embryos. This article is a contribution to this development of frameworks. Methods This article examines different emotional, cognitive and discursive strategies used by neurobiologists in a foetal cell transplantation trial in Parkinson's disease research, using cells harvested from aborted embryos. Two interviews were analysed in the light of former observations in the processing laboratories, using the anthropologist Mary Douglas's concept of pollution behaviour and the linguist, philosopher, psychoanalyst and feminist Julia Kristeva's concept of the abjective to explain and make sense of the findings. Results The findings indicate that the labour performed by the researchers in the trial work involves transforming the foetal material practically, as well as culturally, from trash to treasure. The transformation process contains different phases, and in the interview material we observed that the foetal material or cells were considered objects, subjects or rejected as abject by the researchers handling them, depending on what phase of process or practice they referred to or had experience of. As demonstrated in the analysis, it is the human origin of the cell that makes it abjective and activates pollution discourse, when the researchers talk of their practice. Conclusions The marginal and ambiguous status of the embryo that emerges in the accounts turns the scientists handling foetal cells into liminal characters in modern medicine. Focusing on how practical as well as emotional and cultural strategies and rationalizations of the researchers emerge in interview accounts, this study adds insights on the rationale of practically procuring, transforming and utilizing the foetal material to the already existing studies focused on the donations. We also discuss why the use and refinement of a tissue, around which there is practical consensus but cultural ambiguity, deserves further investigation.
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4. |
- Robling, Helena, et al.
(author)
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Measuring sustainability at farm level : A critical view on data and indicators
- 2023
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In: Environmental and Sustainability Indicators. - 2665-9727. ; 18
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Measuring sustainability at farm level is a priority for both research and policy and requires sustainability indicators to track progress. Indicators make the sustainability concept more concrete and guide farm level decisions, playing a decisive role in determining food system impacts on societies and the environment. Data availability is often a limiting factor when choosing indicators, but not enough attention is paid to the role of data in indicator construction and assessment results. This paper assessed the critical role of data in indicator construction and the potential limitations that current data availability imposes on farm-level sustainability assessments, using the example of dairy farms in Sweden. To do so we used a five-step approach consisting of a literature review, an inventory of data sources, an expert consultation, a matching and gap analysis, and a critical assessment. We found that 20 indicators categorized under 12 out of 20 sustainability themes had measurement issues due to missing scope, temporary data, or additional data requirements. At least some indicators were measurable within all themes in the social and economic dimensions while all indicators for pesticides, non-renewable energy, and soil quality in the environmental dimension had measurement issues. In the critical assessment, we argue that for some indicators, there are trade-offs between data availability and issues of comprehensibility and analytical validity. Furthermore, we found that no single data source could be used to measure all themes; which means that merging of different data sets is needed for a broader on-farm sustainability assessment. Our findings are relevant for the discussion on sustainability indicators and will inform future programs aimed at collecting sustainability data at farm level, which should consider the broad data needs identified and the potential to merge data to enable holistic sustainability assessments.
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6. |
- Björnström, Agnes, et al.
(author)
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Sindbis virus neutralising antibodies detected in Swedish horses
- 2021
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In: One Health. - : Elsevier. - 2352-7714. ; 12
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- A number of viruses transmitted by mosquitoes are well known to cause disease in both humans and horses, ranging from mild fevers to mortal neurological disease. A recently discovered connection between the alphavirus Sindbis virus (SINV) and neurological disease in horses in South Africa initiated this serological study in northern Europe, where the same genotype of SINV (SINV-I) is also highly endemic. We tested 171 serum samples, originally obtained from horses for other reasons from April to October 2019, for presence of SINV neutralising antibodies using a plaque reduction neutralisation test (PRNT). The serum from six horses reduced the plaque count more than 80%, and two out of these reduced the plaque count more than 90%. These horses were sampled in six different regions of Sweden, and included individuals sampled from April to August. This study shows that horses in Sweden have become infected with SINV and developed neutralising antibodies. Potential connections between infection and development of disease are important questions for future studies.
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7. |
- Vågsholm, Ivar
(author)
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Challenges and opportunities in the implementation of new meat inspection systems in Europe
- 2021
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In: Trends in Food Science and Technology. - : Elsevier BV. - 0924-2244. ; 116, s. 460-467
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Research review (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: The traditional meat inspection system is often found to be inefficient. Meat inspection in European countries is in a phase of modernisation to reflect improvements in livestock health and advances in understanding meat safety. The key point of progress is to replace the traditional meat inspection with risk-based meat inspection, including the elements of a meat safety assurance system (MSAS). Scope and approach: Modernisation of meat inspection was launched by the European Food Safety Authority's (EFSA) opinions and recommendations in the period 2011-2013 and consequent amendments to the EU meat inspection legislation in the period 2014-2019. For this study, the EU-funded RIBMINS COST Action conducted a comprehensive survey using an in-depth questionnaire to estimate the level of implementation of new risk-based meat inspection systems in Europe, stakeholders' confidence in the new systems and the main identified obstacles. Key findings and conclusions: The implementation of new meat inspection systems is still ongoing, as they have been fully implemented in just 61%, 42% and 38% of the surveyed countries in the pig, bovine, and poultry sectors, respectively. The main identified obstacles are existing trade agreements with 3rd countries, costs of implementation, inadequate food chain information and resistance from meat inspectors. Improvement of all components of the current meat inspection systems is a prerequisite for further modernisation.
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8. |
- Schnitzer, Barbara Maria, 1992, et al.
(author)
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The synergy of damage repair and retention promotes rejuvenation and prolongs healthy lifespans in cell lineages
- 2020
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In: PLoS Computational Biology. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1553-734X .- 1553-7358. ; 16:10
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Damaged proteins are inherited asymmetrically during cell division in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, such that most damage is retained within the mother cell. The consequence is an ageing mother and a rejuvenated daughter cell with full replicative potential. Daughters of old and damaged mothers are however born with increasing levels of damage resulting in lowered replicative lifespans. Remarkably, these prematurely old daughters can give rise to rejuvenated cells with low damage levels and recovered lifespans, called second-degree rejuvenation. We aimed to investigate how damage repair and retention together can promote rejuvenation and at the same time ensure low damage levels in mother cells, reflected in longer health spans. We developed a dynamic model for damage accumulation over successive divisions in individual cells as part of a dynamically growing cell lineage. With detailed knowledge about single-cell dynamics and relationships between all cells in the lineage, we can infer how individual damage repair and retention strategies affect the propagation of damage in the population. We show that damage retention lowers damage levels in the population by reducing the variability across the lineage, and results in larger population sizes. Repairing damage efficiently in early life, as opposed to investing in repair when damage has already accumulated, counteracts accelerated ageing caused by damage retention. It prolongs the health span of individual cells which are moreover less prone to stress. In combination, damage retention and early investment in repair are beneficial for healthy ageing in yeast cell populations.
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9. |
- Lerner, Henrik, 1975-
(author)
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Health in Non-human Organisms
- 2020. - 1 uppl
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In: Explaining Health Across the Sciences. - Cham : Springer Nature. - 9783030526627 - 9783030526634 ; , s. 333-346
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Book chapter (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This chapter analyses attempts made to define health for non-human organisms. This could be done either as a bottom-up approach finding a common denominator that all organisms share, or as a top-down approach which starts with a certain valuable criterion that those organisms share. Through this chapter I will discuss both approaches. I will briefly discuss the concept of organism and why I only choose to discuss biological organisms. This chapter will also further develop a categorization of health definitions that acknowledges the variety of the different kinds of definitions. This is done as a two-level categorization consisting of categories and versions of these categories. I will go through relevant categories and versions in order to be able to say which could be fruitful to use as well as where science needs to be heading.
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10. |
- Lerner, Henrik, 1975-, et al.
(author)
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Towards a healthy concept of health
- 2020. - 2 uppl
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In: One Health. - Wallingford : CABI Publishing. - 9781789242577 - 9781789242591 - 9781789242584 ; , s. 52-56
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Book chapter (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This chapter analyses the concept of One Health and focuses on the two words in the concept with the aim to better explain what the terms ‘one’ and ‘health’ refer to. First, making a distinction between the usage of the terms ‘One Health approaches’, which refers to all appraoches with a multispecies and multi- or interdisciplinary scope, and ‘One Health’, which refers to a specific kind of approach being made. Second, the One Health definition set forth in this book was compared to three other definitions of One Health, and pros and cons were identified. Additionally, the meaning of ‘one’ was discussed, showing the need for an interdisciplinary approach. Finally, the meaning of ‘health’ was shown to be complex, both regarding which definition of health to choose and on which level (individual, population or ecosystem) to apply it. A non-speciesist definition of health is needed, which could be either a bottom up or top-down definition. Further discussions within the One Health approaches are needed.
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