US pork body praises government efforts to curb antibiotic resistance

US pork body praises government efforts to curb antibiotic resistance: The National Pork Board in the US has praised Barack Obama’s administration for a draft proposal on combating antimicrobial resistance, which it claimed mirrors steps already taken by American pork producers.

US pork body praises government efforts to curb antibiotic resistance

US pork body praises government efforts to curb antibiotic resistance: The National Pork Board in the US has praised Barack Obama’s administration for a draft proposal on combating antimicrobial resistance, which it claimed mirrors steps already taken by American pork producers.

CLIMATE CHANGE,YOUR HEALTH AND YOUR ANIMALS.

Climate change can be expected to boost the number of annual premature U.S. deaths from heat waves in coming decades and to increase mental health problems from extreme weather like hurricanes and floods, a U.S. study shows. Heat waves were estimated to cause 670 to 1,300 U.S. deaths annually in recent years. Premature U.S. deaths from heat waves can be expected to rise more than 27,000 per year by 2100, from a 1990 baseline, one scenario in the study said. The rise outpaced projected decreases in deaths from extreme cold. Extreme heat can cause more forest fires and increase pollen counts and the resulting poor air quality threatens people with asthma and other lung conditions. The report said poor air quality will likely lead to hundreds of thousands of premature deaths, hospital visits, and acute respiratory illness each year by 2030. Climate change also threatens mental health, the study found. Post traumatic stress disorder, depression, and general anxiety can all result in places that suffer extreme weather linked to climate change, such as hurricanes and floods. Cases of mosquito and tick-borne diseases can also be expected to increase, though the study, completed over three years, did not look at whether locally-transmitted Zika virus cases would be more likely to hit the United States. The increase of tick borne infections,coupled with heat waves will take a toll on animal health and food security. The El nino weather pattern has resulted in heat waves resulting in death of birds and livestock.The spate of heat wave resulting in deaths of birds in India; http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Heatwave-kills-millions-of-chickens-prices-soar/articleshow/47505757.cms All hands must be on deck to ensure a safer and conducive environment for man and other living forms.

Vietnam reports first Zika infections.

Mosquitoes have infected two women with the Zika virus in Vietnam, health authorities said on Tuesday, in the country’s first cases of a disease linked in Brazil to thousands of suspected cases of microcephaly, a rare birth defect. A 64-year-old woman in the beach city of Nha Trang and a pregnant 33-year-old in Ho Chi Minh City fell sick in late March, and three rounds of tests have confirmed they are Zika-positive, health officials said. The sufferers are in stable condition and no further infections have been found among their relatives and neighbors, the health ministry said in a statement.“After epidemic investigations, we consider the source of infection could be mosquito,” Deputy Health Minister Nguyen Thanh Long said of the patient in Ho Chi Minh City. She is eight weeks pregnant, Long said in a Vietnam Television broadcast, but gave no details of the first woman. Health officials have quarantined the living areas of the patient’s families and taken samples from others living nearby for further tests, said Nguyen Chi Dung, head of Ho Chi Minh City’s department of preventive medicine. The World Health Organization is working closely with Vietnam, a WHO official told a health ministry meeting to announce the infections. Zika is carried by mosquitoes, which transmit the virus to humans. The WHO says there is a strong scientific consensus that Zika can cause microcephaly as well as Guillain-Barre syndrome, a rare neurological disorder that can result in paralysis, though conclusive proof may take months or years. Microcephaly is characterized by unusually small heads that can result in developmental problems. Zika has been endemic in Asia, with infection cases confirmed in Bangladesh, South Korea, Thailand and China. Brazil said it had confirmed more than 860 cases of microcephaly, most of which it considers to be related to Zika infections in the mothers. It is investigating more than 4,200 additional suspected cases of microcephaly. Read more at http://newsdaily.com/2016/04/two-vietnamese-women-contract-zika-virus-first-in-vietnam-government/#QYRfc6AIXf2ehxoY.99

Self-powered synthetic skin could be used to diagnose diseases.

A Stanford professor has developed solar-powered artificial skin, capable of detecting chemical and biological molecules, that could be used to diagnose patients.With artificial skin, we can basically incorporate any function we desire," said Zhenan Bao, a professor of chemical engineering, at the American Association for the Advancement of Science on 20 February. "That is why I call our skin 'super skin'. It is much more than what we think of as normal skin." Bao said that the skin, which is being developed for use in robotics and prosthetic limbs, could lead to the creation of diagnostic robots that detect disease simply by touching a patient's blood or urine and registering the levels of certain molecules. They could even monitor blood-alcohol levels in drunk drivers by touching a subject's sweat. The flexible polymer "skin" is coated with a layer of molecules (precisely which molecule changes according to what researchers are trying to detect) just a nanometre thick. On contact with certain chemical or biological molecules, this layer binds itself to the substance, thus signifying the detection. For any particular disease, there are usually one or more specific proteins associated with it -- called biomarkers -- that are akin to a 'smoking gun'," said Bao. "Detecting those protein biomarkers will allow us to diagnose the disease." The theory was put into practice and Bao's team managed to correctly identify a type of DNA. The addition of a solar cell that can generate, conduct and transmit signals from the sensors even when stretched to 30 percent its length allows for far more mobility -- without a battery that needs recharging, the subject can be lighter and have more freedom. It's able to do this by working on two axes, with a wave-like surface that conducts energy through a liquid metal. The durable nature of these solar cells affords infinite possibilities. They can not only be used on joints, as with artificial skin, but can be adapted to clothing, cars, lenses and even parts of buildings, said Darren Lipomi, a postdoctoral fellow on Bao's team. Bao was already well on her way to developing what she calls "super skin", having invented an integrated sensor in 2010 that is sensitive to touch and light pressure. Touch sensitivity was introduced by adding a very thin layer of rubber to the skin's surface. The rubber is made up of millions of tiny inverted pyramids which alter thickness when touched, affecting the flow of electricity through the skin. This change in energy flow is interpreted by sensors as touch. The skin can be made more sensitive by increasing the number of pyramids.

3D -GROWN SKIN SWEATS AND SPROUTS HAIR.

The research was led by the RIKEN Centre for Developmental Biology in collaboration with Tokyo University of Science, been published in Science Advance. A Japanese lab has grown a 3D layer of skin that can sweat and sprout hairs. The skin has sweat glands, follicles, sebaceous glands and three layers of skin cells. The researchers behind the study said the skin was able to "connect to other organ systems such as nerves and muscle fibres" and could eventually be used to treat burns patients or those requiring "new skin". The team used cells from the gums of mice to create stem cells, which were then then developed into an "embryoid body". The researchers described this as "a three-dimensional clump of cells that partially resembles the developing embryo in an actual body". The cells were then implanted into bald mice, where they connected with nerve and muscle tissues and "functioned normally", according to the team. Up until now, artificial skin development has been hampered by the fact that the skin lacked the important organs, such as hair follicles and exocrine glands, which allow the skin to play its important role in regulation. This new technique has successfully grown skin that replicates the function of normal tissue, bringing us closer to the dream of being able to recreate actual organs in the lab for transplantation, and also believe that tissue grown through this method could be used as an alternative to animal testing of chemicals. Source;wired.co.uk

VET SAVES GOLDFISH BY REMOVING BRAIN TUMOR.

Dr Tristan Rich of Melbourne’s Lort Smith Animal Hospital performed the incredible surgery to remove the tumor from Bubbles, with hopes of the fish being able to return home to his loving owner. The surgery wasn’t an easy one with Dr Rich first having to figure out how to perform surgery on a fish out of water. Dr Rich set up three buckets of water, two with varied doses of anesthetic and another with clean water for the recovery unit. “Bubbles went for a swim in the bucket with knock-out anesthetic and once he was asleep, we ran a tube from the maintenance bucket which was being oxygenated into Bubbles’ mouth so the water washed over his gills,” said Dr Rich. “We worked quickly to remove the tumor and sealed the wound with tissue glue,” he said.Fortunately the surgery was a success and Bubbles went straight into recovery.“Once that had set, Bubbles was placed in the recovery unit and given oxygen. He was also given injections with long-acting pain relief and antibiotics,” Dr Rich said.“Soon afterwards he took a couple of breaths on his own and started swimming around.” Bubbles is a much-loved goldfish and a big part of his family.The animal hospital uploaded a video of him swimming around happily post-surgery.Goldfish can life up to 30 years so his owners hoped he still had many happy years ahead. It’s not the first time Dr Rich has rescued a goldfish before, the vet became a bit of a local hero when he rescued George the goldfish in 2014 and his efforts have seen an increase in goldfish patients to the animal hospital. Source; Yahoo 7 news.