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Environmental pollution is a big challenge that has been faced by humans in contemporary life. In this context, fossil fuel, cement production, and plastic waste pose a direct threat to the environment and biodiversity. One of the prominent solutions is the use of renewable sources, and different organisms to valorize wastes into green energy and bioplastics such as polylactic acid. Chlorella vulgaris, a microalgae, is a promising candidate to resolve these issues due to its ease of cultivation, fast growth, carbon dioxide uptake, and oxygen production during its growth on wastewater along with biofuels, and other productions. Thus, in this article, we focused on the potential of Chlorella vulgaris to be used in wastewater treatment, biohydrogen, biocement, biopolymer, food additives, and preservation, biodiesel which is seen to be the most promising for industrial scale, and related biorefineries with the most recent applications with a brief review of Chlorella and polylactic acid market size to realize the technical/nontechnical reasons behind the cost and obstacles that hinder the industrial production for the mentioned applications. We believe that our findings are important for those who are interested in scientific/financial research about microalgae. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bovine viral diarrhea (BVD) is a disease that affects ruminants globally, including camels, and causing significant financial losses. The epidemiology of BVD in camels in Egypt are not well understood. Thus, this study aimed to determine the prevalence of anti-BVD virus (BVDV) antibodies in camels and identify the potential variables associated with the infection. A total of 400 camel sera from three Egyptian governorates were examined using commercial ELISA kit. The total seroprevalence was 4.8% in examined camels and the BVDV seropositivity were more prevalent in camels from Giza governorate. The highest seropositivity was found in aged camels more than 8 years (OR = 8.62, 95%CI: 1.03–71.87), camels from herd size less than 30 (OR = 4.20, 95%CI: 0.89–19.78), previously aborted animals (OR = 5.98, 95%CI: 2.12–16.92), and in animals kept in contact with sheep or goats (OR = 7.48, 95%CI: 2.56–21.86). Consequently, the camels may be a significant source of BVD infection for other ruminant animals in the same herd due to their susceptibility to the viral infection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: A neurological infectious viral disease, avian encephalomyelitis was initially discovered in 2-week-old commercial chicks in 1930 and classified as a neurotropic viral disease. Aim: A neurological outbreak caused by avian encephalomyelitis virus (AEV) in young chicks was first reported in Al-Ahsa in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) in 2010. The aim of this article is to examine the AEV in KSA, Al-Ahsa Province. Methods: Gizzard, proventriculus, cerebrum, cerebellum, and medulla oblongata tissue samples were collected from infected chicks for histopathology test and molecular identification. Results: Infected chicks showed neurological signs particularly incoordination, mild head and neck tremors, stretching of legs, and lameness. The average morbidity and mortality rates were 35% and 10%, respectively. At necropsy, no obvious identifiable macroscopic lesions were found in the infected chicks. Nonsuppurative encephalomyelitis was found histopathologically in the central nervous system, mainly in the cerebral molecular layer. Microscopic lesions in the proventriculus showed masses of heavy numbers of small lymphocytes within the muscular layer. RT-PCR followed by sequence analysis revealed that The KSA strain (KJ939252) is intimately related to chicken European strains from Poland (KC912695) and the United Kingdom (AJ225173) with identity 99.6% than Chinese strains (AY225319, AY517471, and AY275539) with identity ranged between 94.6% and 95%. The phylogenetic tree analysis showed that the KSA strain is grouped in a similar clade with chicken European strains. Conclusion: The pattern of disease findings was typical of vertically transmitted AEV. The spread of AEV in Saudi Arabia is most likely due to the trade of birds and bird products with European countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) still to pose great economic losses among chickens of all ages in many parts in the world. Despite the massive application of IBV vaccines in many countries including Saudi Arabia, several outbreaks are still frequently reported. One of the important challenges that hampered the selection of the right vaccine candidates is the identification of the local circulating strain in a certain area. IBV is recently reported in many chickens flocks in the Eastern region of the Kingdom. The major goals of our study were to evaluate the immune status of some chicken farms in Al-Ahsa to IBV. To achieve this goal, total of (368) serum samples from chicken farms from Al-Ahsa region were collected. Our results showing high seroprevelance of IBV in the non-IBV vaccinated chicken farms suggesting their exposure to the natural IBV infection. Meanwhile, we were able to detect a high IBV antibody titers in vaccinated chicken farms suggesting the used vaccines induced detectable IBV antibodies. This suggesting the circulation of novel IBV strains in these chicken farms. The overall results confirm the circulating of novel IBV strains in chicken farms in Al-Ahsa region. Further studies are needed to do molecular characterization of these IBV strains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Monitoring and surveillance of respiratory viral infections in different animals is essential to build up the future bovine animal health and control strategies. The aim of present study was to document the prevalence of some common bovine respiratory viral infections in different regions in Saudi Arabia. Infectious Respiratory viral diseases in cattle are an important cause of mortality especially in young calves. Out of this group of viruses, present study choses to focus on Infectious Bovine Rhinotracheitis virus (IBRV), Bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV), and Bovine Parainfluenza-3 virus (BPI-3V). Little is known about the prevalence of these viruses throughout the Gulf and so the primary goal of the study was to test the exposure history of different cattle herds in Saudi Arabia to the indicated viruses. To achieve this goal, 359 serum samples were collected from four different regions in Saudi Arabia (Eastern, Central, Northern, and Western regions). Commercially available ELISA kits were used to evaluate the immune response of animals against these viruses. The results showed the high seroprevalence of the indicated viruses in Saudi Arabia. The seroprevalence of IBRV, BVDV and PI-3 were 50 %, 35%, and 39% respectively. Since the animals used in the current study have not been vaccinated against the indicated viruses, it is highly likely that those herds were exposed to these viruses previously, and thus seroconverted to against these viruses. More molecular studies are urgently needed to do further characterization these viruses in Saudi Arabia. Meanwhile, application of science- based monitoring systems is highly recommended to mitigate the risk of exposure of different animals for such viruses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]