Zoonoses and pet owners: A survey on risk perception in Northern Italy.

Veterinary and human medicine are focused on the issue of emerging and re-emerging diseases, which are especially represented by zoonosis that could be a threat for public health. Zoonotic risk may come from pets: some canine and/or feline viral, bacterial, parasitic, protozoal or mycotic diseases can be transmitted directly to humans. There are several strategies to prevent the transmission of such zoonosis, and among them vaccination plays an important role.

Prevalence of Serum Antibody Titers against Core Vaccine Antigens in Italian Cats.

Feline core vaccines strongly recommended for all cats are against Feline panleukopenia virus (FPV), Felid herpesvirus type 1 (FeHV-1), and Feline calicivirus (FCV), but cats can be classified as low- and high-risk based on their lifestyle. The aim of this study was to determine the actual seroprotection against FPV, FeHV-1, and FCV in a large cohort of Italian cats by using the VacciCheck test. A total of 740 cats (567 owned and 173 stray cats; 435 vaccinated and 305 unvaccinated) were analyzed for Protective Antibody Titers (PATs).

Effect of Aging on the Immune Response to Core Vaccines in Senior and Geriatric Dogs.

Elderly dogs are steadily increasing worldwide as well as veterinarians' and owners' interest in their health and wellness. Aging is not a disease, but a combination of changes negatively affecting the organism in general and the immune system in particular, resulting in a decline in protection over time. The aim of this study was to measure the specific serum antibody titers against the main dangerous and widespread viral diseases preventable by core vaccinations in senior and geriatric dogs using the in-practice test VacciCheck.

Ok Google, Start a Fire. IoT devices as witnesses and actors in fire investigations.

Fire incidents are amongst the most destructive events an investigator might encounter, completely transforming a scene with most of the objects left in ashes or highly damaged. Until now, fire investigations relied heavily on burn patterns and electrical artifacts to find possible starting locations, as well as witness statements and more recently witness imagery. As Internet of Things (IoT) devices, often seen as connected smart devices, become more common, the various sensors embedded within them provide a novel source of traces about the environment and events within.

Prevalence of Serum Antibody Titers against Core Vaccine Antigens in Italian Dogs.

Canine vaccination is the main tool for preventing dangerous and widespread diseases. The strongly recommended (core) dog vaccines are against Canine Parvovirus type 2 (CPV-2), Canine Distemper Virus (CDV), and Canine Adenovirus (CAdV-1), but vaccination protocols should be tailored to dog lifestyles. Vaccination guidelines suggest vaccinating adult dogs no more frequently than every 3 years using modified live (attenuated) vaccines (MLV), thus obtaining a long-lasting (sometimes throughout life) specific protection in many but not all animals.

IgG, IgA, and lysozyme in Martina Franca donkey jennies and their foals.

Because immune transfer from jenny to donkey foal is mostly unknown, the aim of the present study was to evaluate, from 5 days before to 10 days after foaling, immunoglobulin (Ig)G, IgA, and lysozyme peripartal concentrations in serum and mammary secretions of 10 healthy, spontaneously foaling Martina Franca jennies and in serum of their mature, viable, healthy foals, in the first 10 days after birth. The results showed that, in jennies, mammary secretion of IgG levels (ranging between 16 and 75 mg/mL) and IgA (0.9-2 mg/mL), and IgG (6.

Decrease in pathology and progression of scrapie after immunisation with synthetic prion protein peptides in hamsters.

Effective therapy for prion diseases is currently unavailable. Recently, vaccination was shown to be effective in mouse models of a particular neurodegenerative conditions: Alzheimer's disease (AD). Here, we report that vaccination with synthetic oligopeptides homologous to the hamster (Mesocricetus auratus) prion protein augments survival time in animals infected intraperitoneally with 263K scrapie agent.