Coronaviruses Detection in Italian Alpine Marmots (Marmota Marmota)

Intro: Coronaviruses infect humans and a wide range of wild and domestic animals. Some CoVs could be zoonotic, being able to mutate, crossing the species barrier and infecting humans (e.g. SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV). Since the emergence of SARS-CoV-2, several studies were carried out to ascertain the susceptibility of both domestic and wild animals to SARS-CoV-2. However, information on some species is lacking, and for others only RDB-ACE receptor affinity studies have been carried out. Considering the high densities of Marmota marmota in the alpine environment, where livestock and recreational activities are commonly present, this study aims to investigate the presence and characterization of CoVs in this species. Method(s): During provincial relocation plan carried out in 2021 and 2022, 170 alpine marmots were captured in municipality of Livigno in Sondrio province (North-Italy) for decreasing animal density and, after a quarantine period, they were released in other alpine places. Faecal samples were collected from each animal and then subjected to RNA extraction and nested RT-PCR pan-Coronavirus and real time RT-PCR for SARS-CoV-2. PCR positive samples for pan-CoV were then sequenced. Finding(s): The pan-Coronavirus RT-PCR detected CoVs in seven marmots. The CoV sequence originating from one marmot sampled in 2021 had 97% affinity to strains isolated in lagomorphs. The other six sequences from 2022 were highly correlate with Bovine Beta-CoVs. This could be explained by the fact that marmots share alpine pastures with these species;in fact, the trapping area in 2022 represented grazing and forage production areas. All samples tested for SARS-CoV-2 resulted negative. Conclusion(s): Despite the absence of zoonotic coronaviruses, marmots show high plasticity in harbouring CoVs of sympatric species. For this reason, and considering the affinity of their ACE-receptor demonstrated for SARS-CoV, it would be worthwhile to increase surveillance for CoVs in this species.Copyright © 2023

Leveraging Campus Landscapes for Public Health: A Pilot Study to Understand the Psychological Effects of Urban Sheep Grazing on College Campuses.

Since the 1980s, college students in the U.S. have self-reported a decline in their physical and emotional health. With these conditions compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic and its physical distancing restrictions, higher education institutions have an increased responsibility to establish strategic interventions and health-promoting programs for their students. Research collaborations between public health professionals and environmental designers have highlighted the benefits of environmental factors, such as wildlife, street trees, and public parks, on mental health. This pilot project aims to build upon the transdisciplinary dialogue between ecology, design, and public health by examining the social benefits of grazing lawnscape management, which is the practice of using herbivorous livestock to manage turfgrass areas. Through the design of an accessible central campus grazing space for a flock of 25 sheep and use of online questionnaires, a smartphone-based single-item survey, and open-ended feedback given via social media, the UC Davis Sheepmower Project addresses three primary questions: (1) Are there differences in self-reported stress levels and well-being between people who did not watch grazing sheep (no sheepmower group) compared with those who did watch grazing sheep (sheepmower group)? (2) Does holding sheep grazing events create opportunities for education about well-being and engagement with the campus community? (3) Can this type of urban grazing installation ultimately contribute to the overall identity of a college campus? Web-based questionnaire results indicate there is no significant difference in self-reported stress levels between the two groups; however, the moment-in-time smartphone-based single item question suggests that the presence of sheep provides temporary, noticeable relief and enhanced mood for those who observe the animals. Reflections posted on social media suggested that participants found the sheep grazing events fostered feelings of community and placemaking within the campus identity. However, the questionnaire sample indicated the grazing events did not have a significant effect on participants' sense of place or overall campus identity. This transdisciplinary effort breaks down traditionally siloed approaches to human and environmental health and is an example of a whole-systems approach to developing innovative solutions and encouraging applied collective action.

Impact of COVID-19 on eating behaviors and BMI in patients with a history of bariatric surgery

Antoinette Hu Hershey PA1, Alexandra Harvey 2, Ann Rogers Hershey PA1, Andrea Rigby Hershey PA1, Melissa Butt Hershey PA1 Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey MC1 Penn State College of Medicine2 Few studies have explored the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the eating behaviors, dietary quality, and changes in weight of post-operative bariatric surgery patients. In this cross-sectional study, a survey on eating behaviors and attitudes towards food was emailed to patients who had bariatric surgery before March 2020, with a response rate of 17.90% (99/553). Patient charts were reviewed for weight measures. Sixty-eight (68.69%) patients experienced weight regain and 23 (23.23%) experienced binge eating with 15 (65.22%) of those experiencing loss-of-control eating (LOCE). LOCE was significantly associated with grazing behavior (r=0.21, p=0.04), emotional over-eating (r=0.32, p=0.001), and food responsiveness (r=0.32, p=0.002). LOCE was negatively associated with dietary quality (r=-0.34, p=0.0009) and satiety responsiveness (r=-0.26, p=0.01). Grazing behavior was significantly associated with emotional over-eating (r=0.43 p<0.0001) and food responsiveness (r=0.51, p<0.0001) as well as negatively associated with dietary quality (r=-0.47, p<0.0001). Slow eating was negatively associated with grazing (r=-0.25, p=0.01), emotional over-eating (r=-0.30, p=0.003), and food responsiveness (r=-0.39, p<0.0001). When included in a regression model controlling for age and sex, emotional over-eating was a significant predictor of weight regain (β = 0.25;p=0.04). Our results suggest that maladaptive eating behaviors are associated with LOCE and poor dietary quality during the COVID-19 pandemic, however slow eating may be protective against grazing, emotional over-eating and food responsiveness. To help prevent weight recurrence after surgery, patients should be counseled on not only the importance of slow eating but also the triggers and signs for LOCE, which may be exacerbated by the pandemic.

Monitoring visitors in the context of increasing interest in domestic tourism due to the pandemic and its impacts on the natural landscape and agriculture

Domestic tourism in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic is gaining in importance, with more and more visitors looking for trips to the natural sites. However, natural sites are struggling to cope with the sudden influx of tourists and their interest is often at odds with the capacity of the site. Movement of visitors thus has a negative effect on the agricultural landscape. The own research focuses on ways to use motion monitoring as a tool to protect agricultural sites. The main goal of the project is the use of information and communication technologies for monitoring of the visitors in selected area, namely the design and assessment of selected technologies for monitoring movement of persons and obtaining information on the behavior and characteristics of visitors and subsequent pilot verification available technologies. Based on the data obtained, the data can be used to protect the landscape and agricultural areas as the fields, meadows and pastures with an impact on tourism and regional development.

Resilience of Agri-Food Systems

In considering resilience of agri-food systems, we need to take a holistic perspective of many factors that can influence supply chains and their logistics: declining availability of arable land, water and healthy soils;pests and diseases of crop plants and livestock;unpredictability of weather and changing climate;growth in emerging economies;aging and increasingly urbanized populations;greater demand for convenience foods;consumer interest in provenance and ethical values in food production. To look to the future, we should consider how far agri-food systems have progressed in recent times. Since 1971 (a year chosen because of its personal significance of submitting my PhD thesis and celebrating my wedding) the world’s population has doubled from four to nearly eight billion, yet the global average daily energy and protein consumption per person have increased by about 20–25% [8], indicating a significant boost to food production. On farms, real-time sensing technologies are used for: monitoring weather, soil conditions and water availability;the growth and health of crops and livestock;outbreaks of pests, diseases and weeds;spoilage in grain storage;and to provide decision support and land-use mapping tools. Interest in alternative food sources and obtaining more dietary protein from alternative sources such as plants or insects is generating important research questions on “green” methods for processing of raw materials and developing flavoursome and nutritious products attractive to consumers, and how such systems can add value to the agri-food chain, given that a significant amount of food production currently comes from livestock grazing on marginal lands unsuited to cropping.

Virulent Zones: Animal Disease and Global Health at China's Pandemic Epicenter By Lyle Fearnley,. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 2020. viii, 280 pp. ISBN: 9781478011057 (paper)

Laboratory work on viral phylogenetics combined with broad claims about agricultural practices in South China, specifically the cultivation of free-grazing ducks, to produce claims about China as a disease epicenter;the development of spatial models of influenza epidemics in the early 2000s turned this ideological claim into a research object. Using a case study of the FAO Emergency Center for Transboundary Animal Diseases established in Beijing in 2006, Fearnley suggests that senior technical director Vincent Martin employed two contrasting tactics to gain access to the epidemic epicenter: affinity, involving the cultivation of relationships to facilitate exchange of information and materials, and stratification, in which Martin demonstrated the insignificance of territorial boundaries to questions of epidemic risk and biosecurity. Rich McKay has recently shed light on stigmatizing discourses of “Patient Zero” that arose in the context of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the 1980s.2 How do the scaled-up efforts to demarcate zones of risk traced so carefully by Fearnley connect to ever-growing concerns with identifying the individual, episodic origin of epidemics?

One Health, one national park: a contribution to new perspectives and economics for modern times

One Health is a concept that sees human, animal, and environmental health as parts of a single interdependent system. The Covid-19 pandemic, its implications reaching far beyond the direct effects of a coronavirus on people's health, underlines the importance of this increasingly influential perspective. In practice, One Health has its roots in early affiliations of human and animal health science. Over time, each sphere of inquiry evolved to address its own agenda. Recently, veterinary scientists have led the reintegration, extension, and promotion of One Health sciences to address modern-day problems in which health and people's general wellbeing are viewed as inseparable. A prerequisite is to set out a framework of concepts and principles enabling clear definition of problems, interrelationships needing to be understood, and the level of aggregation appropriate for quantitative analysis. This paper extends the framework by considering economic trade-offs that inevitably must be made in the human, animal, and environmental sub-systems, and the consequences when policy interventions are superimposed on them. The New Forest National Park in southern England is a case where this perspective is essential. Following the Stone Mountain definition of One Health, first a conventional approach linking human and animal health is taken. Lyme disease, Alabama rot, bovine tuberculosis and strangles are examples of diseases known to be of significant concern. The focus is finding scope for socially efficient risk reduction in response to mitigation resource use. Superimposed on the grazing livestock subsystems are support payments for commoner farmers. The financial incentives provided by what effectively are headage payments have caused animal inventories to grow so much that the wider environment may well be subject to adverse spillover effects that merit investigation.

Eating behaviors and weight outcomes in bariatric surgery patients amidst COVID-19.

BACKGROUND: Recent studies suggest that eating habits are an area particularly affected by the lockdown imposed by many countries to curb the COVID-19 epidemic. Individuals that received bariatric surgery may represent a particularly susceptible population to the adverse effects of lockdown for its potential impact on eating, psychological, and weight loss outcomes. OBJECTIVES: This study seeks to investigate the incremental impact of COVID-19 lockdown on treatment outcomes of postbariatric patients in the risk period for weight regain. SETTING: Main hospital center. METHODS: This work uses data from an ongoing longitudinal study of bariatric patients assessed before surgery (T0), 1.5 years after sugery (T1), and 3 years after surgery (T2). Two independent groups were compared: the COVID-19_Group (n = 35) where T0 and T1 assessments were conducted before the pandemic started and T2 assessment was conducted at the end of the mandatory COVID-19 lockdown; and the NonCOVID-19_Group (n = 66), covering patients who completed T0, T1, and T2 assessments before the epidemic began. Assessment included self-report measures for disordered eating, negative urgency, depression, anxiety, stress, and weight outcomes. RESULTS: General linear models for repeated measures showed that the COVID-19_Group presented significantly higher weight concern (F = 8.403, P = .005, ƞ2p = .094), grazing behavior (F = 7.166, P = .009, ƞ2p = .076), and negative urgency (F = 4.522, P = .036, ƞ2p = .05) than the NonCOVID-19_Group. The COVID-19_Group also showed less total weight loss (F = 4.029, P = .05, ƞ2p = .04) and larger weight regain at T2, with more COVID-19_Group participants experiencing excessive weight regain (20% versus 4.5%). CONCLUSION: These results show evidence for the impact of the coronavirus outbreak on eating-related psychopathology and weight outcomes in postbariatric surgery patients.