Insights into genetic determinants of piglet survival during a PRRSV outbreak.

Breeding animals to produce more robust and disease-resistant pig populations becomes a complementary strategy to the more conventional methods of biosecurity and vaccination. The objective of this study was to explore the ability of a panel of genetic markers and immunity parameters to predict the survival rates during a natural PRRSV outbreak. Ten-week-old female Duroc pigs (n = 129), obtained from 61 sows and 20 boars, were naturally infected with a highly pathogenic PRRSV genotype 1 strain.

Gut microbiome and resistome characterization of pigs treated with commonly used post-weaning diarrhea treatments.

Background: The global burden of antimicrobial resistance demands additional measures to ensure the sustainable and conscious use of antimicrobials. For the swine industry, the post-weaning period is critical and for many years, antimicrobials have been the most effective strategy to control and treat post-weaning related infections. Among them, post-weaning diarrhea causes vast economic losses, as it severely compromises piglets' health and growth performance.

Safety for the environment of a feed additive consisting of semduramicin sodium (Aviax 5%) for chickens for fattening (Phibro Animal Health s.a.).

Following a request from the European Commission, the EFSA Panel on Additives and Products or Substances used in Animal Feed (FEEDAP) was asked to deliver a scientific opinion on the safety for the environment of the coccidiostat semduramicin sodium (Aviax 5%) when used in feed for chickens for fattening. The additive Aviax 5% is intended to be used as a coccidiostat in feed for chickens for fattening at a level of 20-25 mg semduramicin sodium/ kg complete feed. The safety and efficacy of the additive was evaluated by the FEEDAP Panel in 2018 and 2022.

Safety and efficacy of a feed additive consisting of NBIMCC 8270, NBIMCC 8242, NBIMCC 8269, ssp. NBIMCC 8250, ssp. NBIMCC 8244 and NBIMCC 8253 (Probiotic Lactina®) for cats and dogs (Lactina Ltd.).

Following a request from the European Commission, the Panel on Additives and Products or Substances used in Animal Feed (FEEDAP) was asked to deliver a scientific opinion on the safety and efficacy of the feed additive consisting of NBIMCC 8270, NBIMCC 8242, NBIMCC 8269, ssp. NBIMCC 8250, ssp. NBIMCC 8244 NBIMCC 8253 (Probiotic Lactina®) when used as a zootechnical additive for cats and dogs.

Safety and efficacy of a feed additive consisting of CNCM I-4622 for all animal species (Danstar Ferment AG).

Following a request from the European Commission, the Panel on Additives and Products or Substances used in Animal Feed (FEEDAP) was asked to deliver a scientific opinion on the safety and efficacy of CNCM I-4622 when used as a technological additive (acidity regulator and hygiene condition enhancers) for all animal species. The product is intended for use in mash compound feeds and/or solid feed materials used for the preparation of liquid feeds at a minimum inclusion level of 1 × 10 CFU kg feed. The bacterial species is considered by EFSA to be eligible for the qualified presumption of safety (QPS) approach.

Safety and efficacy of a feed additive consisting of endo-1,4-β-xylanase produced by ATCC PTA-127053 (Xygest™ HT) for poultry (Kemin Europa N.V.).

Following a request from the European Commission, EFSA was asked to deliver a scientific opinion on the safety and efficacy of endo-1,4-β-xylanase produced by ATCC PTA-127053 (Xygest™ HT) as a zootechnical feed additive for poultry. The production strain is genetically modified. No viable cells nor recombinant DNA of the production strain were detected in the final product.

Safety and efficacy of a feed additive consisting of DSM 32292 for all animal species (Marigot Ltd t/a Celtic Sea Minerals).

Following a request from the European Commission, the Panel on Additives and Products or Substances used in Animal Feed (FEEDAP) was asked to deliver a scientific opinion on the safety and efficacy of DSM 32292 as a technological additive for all animal species. The additive is intended to improve the production of silage at a proposed application rate of 5 × 10 colony forming units (CFU)/kg forage. The bacterial species is considered by EFSA to be suitable for the qualified presumption of safety (QPS) approach.

Safety and efficacy of Correlink™ ABS1781 (NRRL B-67259) as a feed additive for all growing poultry species.

Following a request from the European Commission, the Panel on Additives and Products or Substances used in Animal Feed (FEEDAP) was asked to deliver a scientific opinion on the safety and efficacy of Correlink™ ABS1781 (hereafter designated as Correlink™ ABS1781) when used as a feed additive for chickens for fattening, turkeys for fattening, chickens reared for laying, turkeys reared for breeding and minor growing poultry species. The product under assessment is based on viable spores of a strain originally identified as , which in the course of the current assessment, was reclassified as NRRL B-67259. The bacterial species is considered suitable for the qualified presumption of safety (QPS) approach to safety assessment.

Malignant asbestos-related disease in a population exposed to asbestos.

Objectives: The first asbestos fiber cement plant in Spain operated in Cerdanyola, in the Barcelona metropolitan area, between 1907 and 1997. We describe clinical and epidemiological characteristics of patients diagnosed with the malignant asbestos-related disease (ARD) in the area of the plant between 2007 and 2016.

Methods: A prospective, descriptive study was undertaken in the 12 municipalities of the county of Barcelona most proximate to the plant.

Risk Factors of Mortality from All Asbestos-Related Diseases: A Competing Risk Analysis.

Background: The mortality from all malignant and nonmalignant asbestos-related diseases remains unknown. The authors assessed the incidence and risk factors for all asbestos-related deaths.

Methods: The sample included 544 patients from an asbestos-exposed community in the area of Barcelona (Spain), between Jan 1, 1970, and Dec 31, 2006.

Smart nanopaper based on cellulose nanofibers with hybrid PEDOT:PSS/polypyrrole for energy storage devices.

In the current work, flexible, lightweight, and strong conductive nanopapers based on cellulose nanofibers (CNFs) with poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS) and/or polypyrrole (PPy) were prepared by following a mixing and in situ chemical polymerization method. A successful homogeneous coating of PEDOT:PSS on cellulose nanofibers occurred by means hydrogen-bonding interactions between the hydroxyl functionalized CNF and the electronically charged PEDOT:PSS, as shown by FTIR spectra. The electrical conductivity and the specific capacitance of CNF-PEDOT:PSS nanopapers were 2.

Pleural mesothelioma in relation to meteorological conditions and residential distance from an industrial source of asbestos.

Objectives: Few studies have focused on pleural mesothelioma and environmental exposure in individuals residing around an industrial source of asbestos. The aim of this study is to determine whether residential distance and wind conditions are related to the risk of developing pleural mesothelioma.

Methods: In this retrospective cohort study carried out in an area of Barcelona province (Catalonia, Spain), 24 environmental pleural mesothelioma cases were diagnosed between 2000 and 2009.

Carcass conformation and fat cover scores in beef cattle: a comparison of threshold linear models vs grouped data models.

Background: Beef carcass conformation and fat cover scores are measured by subjective grading performed by trained technicians. The discrete nature of these scores is taken into account in genetic evaluations using a threshold model, which assumes an underlying continuous distribution called liability that can be modelled by different methods.

Methods: Five threshold models were compared in this study: three threshold linear models, one including slaughterhouse and sex effects, along with other systematic effects, with homogeneous thresholds and two extensions with heterogeneous thresholds that vary across slaughterhouses and across slaughterhouse and sex and a generalised linear model with reverse extreme value errors.

Parametric bootstrap for testing model fitting of threshold and grouped data models: an application to the analysis of calving ease of Bruna dels Pirineus beef cattle.

The aim of this study was to compare the goodness of fit of the threshold models with homoscedasticity or heteroscedasticity and the grouped data model for the analysis of calving ease in beef cattle by using a parametric bootstrap procedure. Field data included 8,205 records of the Bruna dels Pirineus beef cattle breed in the Pyrenean mountain areas of Catalonia (Spain). The actual distribution was 81.

Prospective study of asbestos-related diseases incidence cases in primary health care in an area of Barcelona province.

Background: Asbestos related diseases include a number of conditions due to inhalation of asbestos fibres at work, at home or in the environment, such as pleural mesothelioma, asbestosis and calcified pleural plaques. Few epidemiological studies have established the incidence of asbestos related diseases in our area. The present proposal is based on a retrospective study externally funded in 2005 that is currently taking place in the same area and largely carried out by the same research team.

Connectedness among herds of beef cattle bred under natural service.

Background: A procedure to measure connectedness among herds was applied to a beef cattle population bred by natural service. It consists of two steps: (a) computing coefficients of determination (CDs) of comparisons among herds; and (b) building sets of connected herds.

Methods: The CDs of comparisons among herds were calculated using a sampling-based method that estimates empirical variances of true and predicted breeding values from a simulated n-sample.

Binational evaluation of type traits from Germany and France with a single-trait MACE animal model.

Binational genetic evaluation between Germany and France were performed for each type trait using a single-trait MACE (multiple across-country evaluation) model. Daughter yield deviations (DYD) of bulls having 30 equivalent daughter contributions or more were the data for parameter estimation. Full pedigree information of bulls was used via sire and dam relationships.

[Asbestos-related diseases in a population near a fibrous cement factory].

Background And Objective: The first fibrous cement factory in Spain was set up in Cerdanyola, Barcelona, in 1907 and was a source of pollution there until it was closed in 1997. The aim of this study was to determine the clinical and epidemiologic characteristics of the population with by asbestos-related diseases who had worked in the factory and/or lived in the vicinity.

Material And Methods: We retrospectively collected information available on patients with asbestos-related diseases who at the time of diagnosis had resided in the area near the fibrous cement factory.

A strategy for QTL fine-mapping using a dense SNP map.

Background: Dense marker maps require efficient statistical methods for QTL fine mapping that work fast and efficiently with a large number of markers. In this study, the simulated dataset for the XIIth QTLMAS workshop was analyzed using a QTL fine mapping set of tools.

Methods: The QTL fine-mapping strategy was based on the use of statistical methods combining linkage and linkage disequilibrium analysis.

Data transformation for rank reduction in multi-trait MACE model for international bull comparison.

Since many countries use multiple lactation random regression test day models in national evaluations for milk production traits, a random regression multiple across-country evaluation (MACE) model permitting a variable number of correlated traits per country should be used in international dairy evaluations. In order to reduce the number of within country traits for international comparison, three different MACE models were implemented based on German daughter yield deviation data and compared to the random regression MACE. The multiple lactation MACE model analysed daughter yield deviations on a lactation basis reducing the rank from nine random regression coefficients to three lactations.

Validation of an approximate REML algorithm for parameter estimation in a multitrait, multiple across-country evaluation model: a simulation study.

A multitrait, multiple across-country evaluation (MT-MACE) model permitting a variable number of correlated traits per country allows international genetic evaluation models to more closely match national models. Before the MT-MACE evaluation can be applied, genetic (co)variance components within and across country must be estimated. An approximate REML algorithm for parameter estimation was developed and was validated via simulation.

Analysis of longevity and exterior traits on Large White sows in Switzerland.

Records of length of productive life, from first farrowing to culling, of 16,464 Large White purebred sows from SUISAG were studied using survival analysis. The major aims of the study were to model the risk of culling within parity and to assess the influence of exterior traits, such as the number of teats or feet and leg scores, on culling. Culling was concentrated at the first day after each farrowing or at the first day after weaning.

Parametric bootstrap for testing model fitting in the proportional hazards framework: an application to the survival analysis of Bruna dels Pirineus beef calves.

Given that correct assumptions on the baseline survival function are determinant for the validity of further inferences, specific tools to test the fit of a model to real data become essential in proportional hazards models. In this sense, we have proposed a parametric bootstrap to test the fit of survival models. Monte Carlo simulations are used to generate new data sets from the estimates obtained through the assumed models, and then bootstrap intervals can be established for the survival function along the time space studied.

Validation of an approximate approach to compute genetic correlations between longevity and linear traits.

The estimation of genetic correlations between a nonlinear trait such as longevity and linear traits is computationally difficult on large datasets. A two-step approach was proposed and was checked via simulation. First, univariate analyses were performed to get genetic variance estimates and to compute pseudo-records and their associated weights.