Evaluation of the impact of live pig trade network, vaccination coverage and socio-economic factors in the classical swine fever eradication program in Peru.

Classical swine fever (CSF) is a viral infectious disease of swine with significant economic impact in the affected countries due to the limitation of trade, culling of infected animals and production losses. In Latin America, CSF is endemic in several countries including Ecuador, Bolivia, Brazil and Peru. Since 2010, the National Veterinary Services of Peru have been working to better control and eradicate the disease with an intensive vaccination program. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the vaccination program and determine which factors are still contributing to the persistence of the disease in certain regions of Peru. We integrated the data from the vaccination campaign, the live pig movement network and other socioeconomic indicators into a multilevel logistic regression model to evaluate their association with CSF occurrence at district level. The results revealed that high vaccination coverage significantly reduces the risk of CSF occurrence (OR = 0.07), supporting the effectiveness of the vaccination program. Districts belonging to large and medium pig trade network communities (as identified with walktrap algorithm) had higher probability to CSF occurrence (OR = 2.83 and OR = 5.83, respectively). The human development index (HDI) and the presence of a slaughterhouse in the district was also significantly associated with an increased likelihood of CSF occurrence (OR = 1.52 and OR = 3.25, respectively). Districts receiving a high proportion of the movements from districts that were infected in the previous year were also at higher risk of CSF occurrence (OR = 3.30). These results should be useful to guide the prioritization of vaccination strategies and may help to design other intervention strategies (e.g., target education, movement restrictions, etc.) in high-risk areas to more rapidly advance in the eradication of CSF in Peru.

Damping-Off and Root Rot of Pepper Caused by Fusarium oxysporum in Almería Province, Spain.

Bell pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) is intensively cropped in ~9,920 ha of plastic houses in southern Spain. In summer 2013, pepper seedlings cv. Melchor, Acorde, Galena, Prometeo, and Souleria, with 4 to 8 leaves, grown in a nursery greenhouse near El Ejido, Almería Province, exhibited root rot and stunting. Incidence of symptomatic plants was ~35% among over 10 million. Fusarium sp. was consistently isolated on potato dextrose agar (PDA) from primary and secondary roots of symptomatic plants. Eight single spore isolates (FC1, FC2, FC3, FC4, FC5, FC6, FC11, and FC12) were identified on PDA, carnation leaf-piece agar medium, and Spezieller Nährstoffarmer agar medium as Fusarium oxysporum because of their production of macroconidia (20.5 to 38.2 × 3.9 to 5.8 µm) containing mostly three or rarely four septa, with foot-shaped basal cells. Microconidia (5.9 to 16.5 × 2.6 to 4.7 µm) with 0 to 1 septa formed on false heads on short monophialides and chlamydospores. DNA was extracted from various isolates used in the pathogenicity test, and a portion of the elongation translation factor 1-alpha using primers EF-1 and EF-2 was amplified and sequenced. All the pathogenic isolates were identical, and they differed from the non-pathogenic in 6 to 8 base pairs. The isolates had 99% homology with several isolates of F. oxysporum corresponding to different specialized forms (vasinfectum, lilii, lycopersici, and radicis-lycopersici) at the Fusarium-ID database (1) and GenBank. The sequences of two isolates, FC-6 and FC-12, were deposited in GenBank with accession nos. KF928930 and KF928931, respectively. The pathogenicity of these eight isolates was tested on pepper cv. Melchor in 1-liter containers filled with vermiculite in August and October. Seedlings were inoculated at sowing. PDA plates fully covered with the colony of each isolate were separately blended and homogenized with 300 ml of sterile distilled water. Inocula (5.0 × 105 to 9.4 × 106 conidia/ml) were poured at 50 ml per container. Each experiment had four replicates and 5 to 6 plants per replicate. Treatments with different isolates were arranged in a randomized complete block design. In both experiments, the same number of uninoculated seedlings served as controls. The plants were maintained for 40 days following inoculation in a greenhouse with mean temperatures of 24.0 to 32.4°C and 23.6 to 31.20°C for August and October experiments, respectively. In both experiments, all control plants and those inoculated with FC2, FC3, and FC4 remained asymptomatic. The first wilting occurred 11 days after inoculation. At the end of the August experiment, plants inoculated respectively with FC1, FC5, FC6, FC11, and FC12 showed symptoms in 60, 70, 65, 80, and 90% and 25, 0, 15, 40, and 25% died. At the October experiment, plants showed symptoms in 91.7, 95.8, 100.0, 91.7, and 87.5% and 83.3, 75, 62.5, 83.3, and 79.2% died. Symptomatic plants exhibited damping-off, necrosis of the primary and secondary roots, and sometimes necrotic streaks on the stem. F. oxysporum was consistently recovered from the primary root of symptomatic plants in both experiments and 10 of these isolates were inoculated in a third pathogenicity test, being all pathogens, thus fulfilling Koch's postulates. Although F. oxysporum was reported in peppers (2), to our knowledge, this is the first report of F. oxysporum as the causal agent of damping-off and root rot in pepper seedlings in Almería Province. References: (1) D. M. Geiser et al. Eur. J. Plant Pathol. 110:473, 2004. (2) K. Pernezny et al. Compendium of Pepper Diseases. APS Press, St. Paul, MN, 2009.

Características clínicas y pronóstico de pacientes con enfermedad cerebrovascular crónica (estudio ICBAR) / Clinical features and prognosis of patients with chronic cerebrovascular disease (ICBAR study)

Introducción. Los pacientes con enfermedad cerebrovascular (ECV) son un grupo de muy alto riesgo cardiovascular, ademásde por su propia patología vascular, probablemente por un inadecuado control de factores de riesgo y por la presencia de comorbilidades.Pacientes y métodos. Estudio multicéntrico, con participación de 34 médicos de atención primaria y registro de característicasde 473 pacientes con historia de episodio de ECV que precisó hospitalización. Tras seguimiento clínico de la cohorte, se analizaron reingresos hospitalarios, mortalidad y causas. Resultados. La edad media de los pacientes (el 52% varones) fue de 75 ± 10 años, y los factores de riesgo más prevalentesfueron hipertensión arterial (79%), dislipidemia (66%), obesidad (43%) y diabetes (29%). El 68% de los pacientes tenía diagnóstico de ictus y el 32%, de ataque isquémico transitorio. El tiempo medio transcurrido desde el primer episodio de ECV fue de 6,6 ± 5,5 años. Presentaban situación de dependencia el 29% y sólo un tercio mostraron buen control tensionaly lipídico. Durante un seguimiento de 8,2 ± 2,3 meses, el 7,2% de los pacientes sufrió algún episodio cardiovascular (muerte u hospitalización), del que resultaron determinantes independientes la insuficiencia cardíaca previa (hazard ratio, HR = 2,74; intervalo de confianza del 95%, IC 95% = 1,3-5,9), la miocardiopatía (HR = 3,32; IC 95% = 1,4-8,2), laanemia (HR = 3,09; IC 95% = 1,6-6,2), la insuficiencia renal (HR = 2,4; IC 95% = 1,0-5,6), la situación de dependencia (HR = 2,57; IC 95% = 1,3-5,7) y los ingresos cardiovasculares en el último año (HR = 3,05; IC 95% = 1,5-5,6).Conclusiones. Los pacientes con ECV seguidos en el ámbito de atención primaria presentan una prevalencia elevada y un escaso grado de control de hipertensión arterial. Su pronóstico está condicionado por comorbilidades cardiovasculares ysecuelas de su patología cerebrovascular (AU)

Introduction. Patients with cerebrovascular disease (CVD) are a group with a very high cardiovascular risk, in addition tothat arising from their own vascular pathology, probably due to an inadequate control of risk factors and owing to the presence of comorbidities. Patients and methods. This research consisted in a multi-centre study involving the collaboration of 34 primary carephysicians and recording of the features of 473 patients with a previous history of a CVD event that required hospitalisation.After a clinical follow-up of the cohort, hospital readmissions, mortality and causes were analysed.Results. The mean age of patients (52% males) was 75 ± 10 years and the most prevalent risk factors were arterial hypertension (79%), dyslipidaemia (66%), obesity (43%) and diabetes (29%). Sixty-eight per cent of patients had been diagnosed with stroke and 32% with transient ischaemic attack. The mean amount of time elapsed since the first CVDevent was 6.6 ± 5.5 years. Twenty-nine per cent of patients had a situation of dependence and only one third showed good blood pressure and lipid control. During a follow-up lasting 8.2 ± 2.3 months, 7.2% of patients suffered some kind of cardiovascular event (death or hospitalisation), which independent determinants were found to be previous heart failure (hazard ratio, HR = 2.74; 95% confidence interval, CI 95% = 1.3-5.9); cardiomyopathy (HR = 3.32; CI 95% = 1.4-8.2); anaemia (HR = 3.09; CI 95% = 1.6-6.2); renal failure (HR = 2.4; CI 95% = 1.0-5.6); the situation of dependence (HR = 2.57; CI 95% =1.3-5.7) and cardiovascular admissions over the past year (HR = 3.05; CI 95% = 1.5-5.6).Conclusions. Patients with CVD followed up in the area of primary care present a high prevalence of arterial hypertension and little is done to control it. Their prognosis is conditioned by cardiovascular comorbidities and sequelae of their cerebrovascular disease (AU)

3-Ketothiolase deficiency.

Two patients have been studied in whom the activity of the short chain-length-specific mitochondrial 3-ketothiolase was found to be deficient. Use of a range of 3-ketoacyl-CoA substrates showed that the other 3-ketothiolase isoenzymes were normal in each case. Both patients had episodic ketosis and metabolic acidosis. One patient had substantial evidence of damage to the central nervous system and two siblings who had died of the disease. The organic aciduria was characterized by the excretion of 2-methyl-3-hydroxybutyric acid and tiglyglycine. In one patient the organic aciduria was very subtle and was masked during the presence of ketosis, but it was clarified by an isoleucine load after recovery from ketosis.