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Live bird markets are often the focus of surveillance activities monitoring avian influenza viruses (AIV) circulating in poultry. However, in order to ensure a high sensitivity of virus detection and effectiveness of management actions, poultry management practices features influencing AIV dynamics need to be accounted for in the design of surveillance programmes. In order to address this knowledge gap, a cross-sectional survey was conducted through interviews with 791 traders in 18 Vietnamese live bird markets. Markets greatly differed according to the sources from which poultry was obtained, and their connections to other markets through the movements of their traders. These features, which could be informed based on indicators that are easy to measure, suggest that markets could be used as sentinels for monitoring virus strains circulating in specific segments of the poultry production sector. AIV spread within markets was modelled. Due to the high turn-over of poultry, viral amplification was likely to be minimal in most of the largest markets. However, due to the large number of birds being introduced each day, and challenges related to cleaning and disinfection, environmental accumulation of viruses at markets may take place, posing a threat to the poultry production sector and to public health.

Abstract:In this study, in order to enhance the aqueous solubility and to overcome the limitation of curcumin (Cur) in free form, as well as to develop a carrier for transdermal delivery of hydrophobic pharmaceutical agents such as Cur, a sonicated synthetic process of nanocurcumin (nCur) in thermally responsive Chitosang-Pluronic (CP) copolymer is disclosed herein. The use of CP copolymer solution as a dispersant medium is a very attractive method to avoid the use of toxic organic solvent and non-biocompatible surfactant. The obtained Cur nanoparticles had a fairly narrow distribution of 8-23 nm. nCur-dispersed CP solution showed good stability with no change in color characteristic and no phase separation after 1 month of storage. Rheological characterization of CP hydrogels had indicated sol-gel transition at the same temperature (35°C). Interestingly, the rate of Cur release for this system can be conveniently modulated as transdermal drug delivery.

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The microbiota of dairy cow milk varies with the season, and this accounts in part for the seasonal variation in mastitis-causing bacteria and milk spoilage. The microbiota of the cowshed may be the most important factor because the teats of a dairy cow come into contact with bedding material when the cow is resting. The objectives of the present study were to determine whether the microbiota of the milk and the cowshed vary between seasons, and to elucidate the relationship between the microbiota. Methods: We used 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing to investigate the microbiota of milk, feces, bedding, and airborne dust collected at a dairy farm during summer and winter. Results: The seasonal differences in the milk yield and milk composition were marginal. The fecal microbiota was stable across the two seasons. Many bacterial taxa of the bedding and airborne dust microbiota exhibited distinctive seasonal variation. In the milk microbiota, the abundances of Staphylococcaceae, Bacillaceae, Streptococcaceae, Microbacteriaceae, and Micrococcaceae were affected by the seasons; however, only Micrococcaceae had the same seasonal variation pattern as the bedding and airborne dust microbiota. Nevertheless, canonical analysis of principle coordinates revealed a distinctive group comprising the milk, bedding, and airborne dust microbiota. Conclusion: Although the milk microbiota is related to the bedding and airborne dust microbiota, the relationship may not account for the seasonal variation in the milk microbiota. Some major bacterial families stably found in the bedding and airborne dust microbiota, e.g., Staphylococcaceae, Moraxellaceae, Ruminococcaceae, and Bacteroidaceae, may have greater influences than those varied between seasons.

In this study, we designed a novel hydrogel composite membrane based on the combination of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), agar, and maltodextrin through a facile solution‐casting router. From Fourier‐transform infrared spectroscopy, contact angle, scanning electron microscopy, and swelling analyses, the formation of hydrogen bonds between surface functional groups of PVA, agar, and maltodextrin was confirmed. As a result, the PVA/agar/maltodextrin membranes exhibited a more hydrophobic nature compared with pure PVA. The thermal stability and integrity of such obtained composite membranes were also elucidated by the evaluation of thermogravimetric analysis and mechanical behavior. Besides, the composite membrane exhibited high selective adsorption for cationic dyes, namely 20.2 mg g−1 for methylene blue and 19.17 mg g−1 for crystal violet at initial dye concentration of 100 mg/L, an adsorbent dosage of 0.1 g, contact time of 180 min, and solution pH 7, while anionic dyes such as congo red and methyl orange are approximately zero. The adsorption kinetics and isotherm of the as‐prepared composite membranes were well fitted to the pseudo‐second‐order and Temkin model. The effect of factors, including contact time, solution pH, PVA content, and initial dye concentration on the adsorption capacity of the as‐prepared composite membrane was also investigated in detail. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2019, 137, 48904.

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