Bovine coronavirus (BCoV) is an important viral pathogen associated with neonatal calf diarrhea. Our aim was to investigate the incidence of BCoV in diarrhea outbreaks in beef and dairy herds from Argentina during 1994-2010. A total of 5.365 fecal samples from diarrheic calves were screened for BCoV diagnosis by ELISA. The virus was detected in 1.71% (92/5365) of the samples corresponding to 5.95% (63/1058) of the diarrhea cases in 239 beef and 324 dairy farms. The detection rate of BCoV was significantly higher in dairy than in beef herds: 12.13% (29/239) vs. 4.32% (14/324) respectively. Phylogenetic analysis of the hypervariable S1 region of seven representative samples (from different husbandry systems, farm locations and years of sampling) indicated that BCoV strains circulating in Argentinean beef and dairy herds formed a cluster distinct from other geographical regions. Interestingly, Argentinean strains are distantly related (at both the nucleotide and amino acid levels) with the Mebus historic reference BCoV strain included in the vaccines currently available in Argentina. However, Mebus-induced antibodies were capable of neutralizing the BCoV Arg95, a field strain adapted to grow in vitro, and vice versa, indicating that both strains belong to the same CoV serotype reported in cattle. This work represents the first large survey describing BCoV circulation in Argentinean cattle.

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Group A rotavirus (RVA) is one of the main causes of neonatal calf diarrhea worldwide. RVA strains affecting Argentinean cattle mainly possess combinations of the G6, G10, P[5] and P[11] genotypes. To determine RVA diversity among Argentinean cattle, representative bovine RVA strains detected in diarrheic calves were selected from a survey conducted during 1997-2009. The survey covered the main livestock regions of the country from dairy and beef herds. Different phylogenetic approaches were used to investigate the genetic evolution of RVA strains belonging to the prevalent genotypes. The nucleotide phylogenetic tree showed that all genotypes studied could be divided into several lineages. Argentinean bovine RVA strains were distributed across multiple lineages and most of them were distinct from the lineage containing the vaccine strains. Only the aminoacid phylogenetic tree of G6 RVA strains maintained the same lineages as observed at the nucleotide level, whereas a different clustering pattern was observed for the aminoacid phylogenetic trees of G10, P[5] and P[11] suggesting that the strains are more closely related at the aminoacid level than G6 strains. Association between P[5] and G6(IV), prevalent in beef herd, and between P[11] and G6(III) or G10 (VI and V), prevalent in dairy herds, were found. In addition, Argentinean G6(III), G10, P[5] and P[11] bovine RVA strains grouped together with human strains, highlighting their potential for zoonotic transmission. Phylogenetic studies of RVA circulating in animals raised for consumption and in close contact with humans, such as cattle, contribute to a better understanding of the epidemiology of the RVA infection and evolution.

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Bovine noroviruses are enteric pathogens detected in fecal samples of both diarrheic and non-diarrheic calves from several countries worldwide. However, epidemiological information regarding bovine noroviruses is still lacking for many important cattle producing countries from South America. In this study, three bovine norovirus genogroup III sequences were determined by conventional RT-PCR and Sanger sequencing in feces from diarrheic dairy calves from Argentina (B4836, B4848, and B4881, all collected in 2012). Phylogenetic studies based on a partial coding region for the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp, 503 nucleotides) of these three samples suggested that two of them (B4836 and B4881) belong to genotype 2 (GIII.2) while the third one (B4848) was more closely related to genotype 1 (GIII.1) strains. By deep sequencing, the capsid region from two of these strains could be determined. This confirmed the circulation of genotype 1 (B4848) together with the presence of another sequence (B4881) sharing its highest genetic relatedness with genotype 1, but sufficiently distant to constitute a new genotype. This latter strain was shown in silico to be a recombinant: phylogenetic divergence was detected between its RNA-dependent RNA polymerase coding sequence (genotype GIII.2) and its capsid protein coding sequence (genotype GIII.1 or a potential norovirus genotype). According to this data, this strain could be the second genotype GIII.2_GIII.1 bovine norovirus recombinant described in literature worldwide. Further analysis suggested that this strain could even be a potential norovirus GIII genotype, tentatively named GIII.4. The data provides important epidemiological and evolutionary information on bovine noroviruses circulating in South America.

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The Nutrition Clinic at the Universidad Iberoamericana offers its services to the members of the university community who request it. The aim of this project was to describe the baseline anthropometric characteristics of 1238 patients that attended the clinic during the last 8 years. The media age was 31.7 ±14–71 years, 73.3% were women. BMI pattern was significantly different by sex: 5% of the women were undernourished, 45% overweight or obese, while 65% of males had a BMI above 25. There was an effect of instruction, 85% of the subjects with basic education (6 to 9 years) were overweight or obese, while only 15% had a normal BMI; the waist circumference average was 100.2 cm and had 37.6% of body fat. In contrast (p<0.000), subjects with 16 to 20 years of instruction, were thinner, 2% under‐nourished and 52.4% overweight or obese, with an average waist circumference of 91.9 cm and body fat percentage of 29.8. Considering working activity, there was a significant difference in overweight or obesity among academics, administrative workers, students and maintenance personnel (59.0%, 68.9%, 33.6% and 82.8%, respectively; p<0.000). 55.5% of the population did not exercise (men 35.1%). This work shows the necessity of developing a special project aimed to achieve a better lifestyle of the college community by improving their nutritional status and, according to their different educational level.