Despite their importance for the spread of zoonotic diseases, our understanding of the dynamical aspects characterizing the movements of farmed animal populations remains limited as these systems are traditionally studied as static objects and through simplified approximations. By leveraging on the network science approach, here we are able for the first time to fully analyze the longitudinal dataset of Italian cattle movements that reports the mobility of individual animals among farms on a daily basis. The complexity and inter-relations between topology, function and dynamical nature of the system are characterized at different spatial and time resolutions, in order to uncover patterns and vulnerabilities fundamental for the definition of targeted prevention and control measures for zoonotic diseases. Results show how the stationarity of statistical distributions coexists with a strong and non-trivial evolutionary dynamics at the node and link levels, on all timescales. Traditional static views of the displacement network hide important patterns of structural changes affecting nodes' centrality and farms' spreading potential, thus limiting the efficiency of interventions based on partial longitudinal information. By fully taking into account the longitudinal dimension, we propose a novel definition of dynamical motifs that is able to uncover the presence of a temporal arrow describing the evolution of the system and the causality patterns of its displacements, shedding light on mechanisms that may play a crucial role in the definition of preventive actions.

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Several research initiatives have been undertaken to map fishing effort at high spatial resolution using the Vessel Monitoring System (VMS). An alternative to the VMS is represented by the Automatic Identification System (AIS), which in the EU became compulsory in May 2014 for all fishing vessels of length above 15 meters. The aim of this paper is to assess the uptake of the AIS in the EU fishing fleet and the feasibility of producing a map of fishing effort with high spatial and temporal resolution at European scale. After analysing a large AIS dataset for the period January-August 2014 and covering most of the EU waters, we show that AIS was adopted by around 75% of EU fishing vessels above 15 meters of length. Using the Swedish fleet as a case study, we developed a method to identify fishing activity based on the analysis of individual vessels’ speed profiles and produce a high resolution map of fishing effort based on AIS data. The method was validated using detailed logbook data and proved to be sufficiently accurate and computationally efficient to identify fishing grounds and effort in the case of trawlers, which represent the largest portion of the EU fishing fleet above 15 meters of length. Issues still to be addressed before extending the exercise to the entire EU fleet are the assessment of coverage levels of the AIS data for all EU waters and the identification of fishing activity in the case of vessels other than trawlers.

To ensure food security and nutritional quality for a growing world population in the face of climate change, stagnant capture fisheries production, increasing aquaculture production and competition for natural resources, countries must be accountable for what they consume rather than what they produce. To investigate the sustainability of seafood consumption, we propose a methodology to examine the impact of seafood supply chains across national boundaries: the seafood consumption footprint. The seafood consumption footprint is expressed as the biomass of domestic and imported seafood production required to satisfy national seafood consumption, and is estimated using a multiregional input output model. Thus, we reconstruct for the first time the global fish biomass flows in national supply chains to estimate consumption footprints at the global, country and sector levels (capture fisheries, aquaculture, distribution and processing, and reduction into fishmeal and fish oil) taking into account the biomass supply from beyond national borders.

Despite an improved understanding of pelvic anatomy and organ function and advances in surgical techniques, long-term success rates in pelvic surgery are still variable (3-59%), but can reach up to 92% in the case of associated procedures. The major causes of recurrent pelvic prolapse after corrective surgery are related to patient factors, such as poor tissues, impaired healing processes and chronic pathological increases in intra-abdominal pressure. Other causes of failure are, however, probably related to surgical techniques: the use of weak or insufficient sutures, or suboptimal performance of the surgery. In line with progress in the surgical correction of abdominal hernias, the use of synthetic mesh in pelvic reconstructive surgery also seems to guarantee its reliability, especially when autologous tissue is of poor quality or insufficient quantity. Moreover, the use of artificial mesh may simplify a surgical procedure, reducing operative time and the need for additional techniques. This review evaluates the main properties of synthetic biomaterials, their complications and the most common procedures involved in the use of synthetic mesh: the abdominal sacral colpopexy and transvaginal cystocele repair.

a b s t r a c tGiven the high share of fisheries and aquaculture production entering international trade the analysis of seafood trade is of key importance for any policy measure in the aquaculture and fisheries sectors. In this study a gravity model is developed to explore the influence on seafood trade of primary production, food consumption, population, income, GDP, trade agreements and geographical distance. The model is applied to the entire seafood aggregate, in comparison with meat, over time, and at different levels of aggregation of commodities: by main commercial species, processing and preservation stage and aquaculture versus fisheries origin. From the methodological perspective the model formulation addresses two main issues in gravity models which are the incorporation of a multilateral resistance term and the treatment of zero trade flows. The results of the model indicate the peculiarities of seafood trade in respect of meat and, within the seafood aggregate, the extreme diversification of trade determinants linked to the commercial characteristics of the products. Seafood trade is attracted either by countries with well-established seafood preferences or by countries with low labour costs for further processing, while meat exports are favoured by high per capita income and high primary production of the exporting country. Seafood trade is expanding under the influence of two key forces: one is the growth of aquaculture production and the other is the trade for re-processing. These two phenomena are clearly emerging from the differences in the model coefficients when considering disaggregated seafood trade.

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