Prevalence and molecular characterization of Salmonella isolated from wild birds in fresh produce environments.

Wild birds pose a difficult food safety risk to manage because they can avoid traditional wildlife mitigation strategies, such as fences. Birds often use agricultural fields and structures as foraging and nesting areas, which can lead to defecation on crops and subsequent transfer of foodborne pathogens. To assess the food safety risk associated with these events, wild bird feces were collected from produce fields across the southeastern United States during the 2021 and 2022 growing seasons. In total 773 fecal samples were collected from 45 farms across Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and Tennessee, and 2.1% (n = 16) of samples were Salmonella-positive. Importantly, 75% of Salmonella were isolated from moist feces, showing reduced Salmonella viability when feces dry out. 16S microbiome analysis showed that presence of culturable Salmonella in moist feces correlated to a higher proportion of the Enterobacteriaceae family. From the Salmonella-positive samples, 62.5% (10/16) contained multi-serovar Salmonella populations. Overall, 13 serovars were detected, including six most commonly attributed to human illness (Enteriditis, Newport, Typhimurium, Infantis, Saintpaul, and Muenchen). PCR screening identified an additional 59 Salmonella-positive fecal samples, which were distributed across moist (n = 44) and dried feces (n = 15). On-farm point counts and molecular identification from fecal samples identified 57 bird species, including for 10 Salmonella-positive fecal samples. Overall, there was a low prevalence of Salmonella in fecal samples, especially in dried feces, and we found no evidence of Salmonella transmission to proximal foliage or produce. Fecal samples collected in farms close together shared highly related isolates by whole genome sequencing and also had highly similar Salmonella populations with comparable relative frequencies of the same serovars, suggesting the birds acquired Salmonella from a common source.

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Derived Biomarkers for Evaluating Cardiometabolic Risk in Youth and Young Adults Across the Spectrum of Glucose Tolerance.

Youth with obesity have an increased risk for cardiometabolic disease, but identifying those at highest risk remains a challenge. Four biomarkers that might serve this purpose are "by products" of clinical NMR LipoProfile® lipid testing: LPIR (Lipoprotein Insulin Resistance Index), GlycA (inflammation marker), BCAA (total branched-chain amino acids), and glycine. All are strongly related to insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes (T2DM) in adults (glycine inversely) and are independent of biological and methodological variations in insulin assays. However, their clinical utility in youth is unclear. We compared fasting levels of these biomarkers in 186 youth (42 lean normal glucose tolerant (NGT), 88 obese NGT, 23 with prediabetes (PreDM), and 33 with T2DM. All four biomarkers were associated with obesity and glycemia in youth. LPIR and GlycA were highest in youth with PreDM and T2DM, whereas glycine was lowest in youth with T2DM. While all four were correlated with HOMA-IR (Homeostatic Model Assessment for Insulin Resistance), LPIR had the strongest correlation (LPIR: r = 0.6; GlycA: r = 0.4, glycine: r = -0.4, BCAA: r = 0.2, all P < 0.01). All four markers correlated with HbA1c (LPIR, GlycA, BCAA: r ≥ 0.3 and glycine: r = -0.3, all P < 0.001). In multi-variable regression models, LPIR, GlycA, and glycine were independently associated with HOMA-IR (Adjusted R2 = 0.473, P < 0.001) and LPIR, glycine, and BCAA were independently associated with HbA1c (Adjusted R2 = 0.33, P < 0.001). An LPIR index of >44 was associated with elevated blood pressure, BMI, and dyslipidemia. Plasma NMR-derived markers were related to adverse markers of cardiometabolic risk in youth. LPIR, either alone or in combination with GlycA, should be explored as a non-insulin dependent predictive tool for development of insulin resistance and diabetes in youth. Clinical Trial Registration: Clinicaltrials.gov, identifier NCT:02960659.

Age, values, farming objectives, past management decisions, and future intentions in New Zealand agriculture.

Governments such as New Zealand's seek to raise the value of agricultural exports while concurrently protecting the natural environment. Therefore, farmers are encouraged to increase production while reducing environmental impacts. In this paper, we analyse the relationship between age and farmer values, farming objectives, past management decisions, and future intentions, all of which may impact the environment. Using multivariate regression that controls for gender, education, industry, and region, we find that older farmers are more risk averse, less willing to experiment, less likely to be influenced by social expectations, and more focused on financial performance. Older farmers are less likely to adopt new technologies and to have concrete plans to convert land and to intensify existing land uses. Using an agro-environmental land use model to project changes in farmer demographics, we find that if farm succession and adoption rates follow our estimates, then the natural shift in farmer age and resulting preferences for implementing plans to manage nutrients and soils over time could lead to a reduction in New Zealand's annual total nitrogen, phosphorus, and soil loss by 7%, 9%, and 19%, respectively, between 2015 and 2075. We conclude by noting that encouraging younger individuals to become more active in the farming community is a positive step towards accelerating the adoption of management practices with environmental benefits, but caution that this strategy alone will not meet the full objectives of the country's recent freshwater reforms.