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The article discusses issues discussed in the international disease monitoring report for January to March 2007, prepared by the Dept. for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs' Food and Farming Group, International Animal Health. These include cases of bluetongue detected in north-west Europe, emergency vaccination of pigs in Romania to control classical swine fever, outbreaks of pathogenic avian influenza in Hungary and Great Britain, and Rift Valley fever confirmed in Kenya and Tanzania.

This article summarises official information on outbreaks of specified animal diseases and other diseases that may be of interest. The specified diseases are those high-impact diseases formerly included in the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE, Paris, France) List A diseases. The OIE stopped using this list in January 2005. Nevertheless, DEFRA'S International Animal Health Division (IAHD) continues to report on these specified diseases in countries that trade with the UK and EU member states. This is conducted in the context of assessing their significance to international trade and the potential impact on the UK'S animal health status, and raising awareness in the UK of these outbreaks, The IAHD also notes new epidemiological developments, which may give an early warning of emerging threats to the UK. Where a new disease outbreak could pose a threat, the IAHD carries out a qualitative analysis of the risks to UK livestock. These analyses, aimed to assist decision making, are publicly available on DEFRA'S website (www.defre.gov.uk/animalh/diseases/monitoring/index.htm). The EU and the UK take appropriate safeguard measures to mitigate the potential risks of disease being introduced through legal trade. DEFRA notes that it is also important to recognise the continuing threat to the UK through illegal imports from countries with endemic disease and other routes, for example, highly pathogenic avian influenza or Newcastle disease from migrating birds. Maps in this report were prepared from official reports received during the period; they do not necessarily reflect the true situation in every country and should not be regarded as definitive. The maps were produced using ESRI Data and Maps CD (2002). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

∗THIS article summarises official reports received by DEFRA'S International Animal Health Division (IAHD) on outbreaks of Office International des Epizooties (OIE) List A diseases and other diseases of interest from October to December 2004. The IAHO monitors animal disease outbreaks in countries that have trade with the UK and EU member states. It also notes new epideminiogical developments which may give an early warning of emerging threats to the UK. Where a new disease outbreak could pose a threat, the IAHD carries out a qualitative analysis of the risks to UK livestock. These analyses are published on DEFRA'S website (www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/diseases/monitoring/index.htm). The EU and the UK take appropriate safeguard measures to mitigate the potential risks of disease being introduced through legal trade. DEFRA notes that it is also important to recognise the continuing threat to the UK through illegal imports from countries with endemic disease, and other routes, for example, highly pathogenic avian influenza and Newcastle disease from migrating birds. Official information in this article was received from the OIE and the European Commission, unless otherwise stated. Maps were prepared from official reports received during this period; they do not necessarily reflect the true situation in every country and should not be regarded as definitive. The maps were produced using ESRI Data and Maps CD (2002) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• African horse sickness in Swaziland, Zambia, Botswana and Lesotho • African swine fever in Italy • Bluetongue in Cyprus, Croatia and Italy • Classical swine fever in Bulgaria • Contagious bovine pleuropneumonia in Eritrea, Zambia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo • Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in Zambia, Malawi, Peru and Brazil • Follow-up on the FMD outbreaks in Israel • Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) (H5N1) in Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam • Follow-up on HPAI in the USA (H5N2) and Canada (Km³) • Follow-up on low pathogenic avian influenza (H5N2) in Taiwan (Taipei China) and the USA (H7N2) • Swine vesicular disease in Italy • Vesicular stomatitis in Bolivia and the USA [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article summarises official reports received by DEFRA's International Animal Health Division (IAHD) on outbreaks of Office International des Epizooties (OIE) List A diseases and other diseases of interest from January to March 2004. The IAHD monitors animal disease outbreaks in European Union (EU) member states, countries bordering the EU and the UK's trading partners. It also notes disease in countries near to trading partners and new epidemiological developments which may give an early warning of emerging threats to the UK. Where an outbreak in a trading partner could pose a threat, the IAHD carries out a qualitative risk analysis of the risks to UK livestock. These risk assessments are published on DEFRA'S website (www.defra.gov.uk). The EU and the UK take appropriate safeguard measures to mitigate the potential risks of disease being introduced through legal trade. DEFRA notes that it is also important to recognise the continuing threat to the UK through illegal imports from countries with endemic disease, and, for Newcastle disease and highly pathogenic avian influenza, from migrating birds. Official information in this article was received from the OIE and the European Commission, unless otherwise stated. Maps were prepared from official reports received during this period; they do not necessarily reflect the true situation in every country and should not be regarded as definitive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reports on animal diseases in different countries from October to December 2003. Outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in Tajikistan in December; Occurrence of contagious bovine pleuropneumonia in Africa and other areas; Outbreak of classical swine fever in domestic pigs in Slovakia. INSETS: Contagious bovine pleuropneumonia.;Classical swine fever in Europe.;Pigeon paramyxovirus type 1..

Objective: To determine the outcomes and acceptability of final-year students tutoring in Clinical Skills to Years 1-2 students in a 4-week Medical Education elective., Methods: A paper-based survey with 14 questions requiring responses on a Likert-like scale and 2 questions with free-text responses was used to investigate Year 6 student-tutor (n=45) and Years 1-2 tutee (n=348) perceptions of near-peer teaching in Clinical Skills. The independent t-test compared mean responses from student-tutors and tutees, and thematic analysis of free-text responses was conducted., Results: Tutee perceptions were significantly higher than student-tutor self-perceptions in small-group teaching and facilitation skills (p=0.000), teaching history-taking skills (p=0.046) and teaching physical examination skills (p=0.000). Perceptions in aspects of 'Confidence in tutoring' were not significantly different for student-tutors and tutees, with both having lowest perceptions for identifying and providing remediation for underperforming tutees. Student-tutors rated all areas of personal and professional development highly. Main themes emerging from analysis of student comments were the benefits to student-tutors, benefits to tutees and areas needing improvement, with outcomes of this near-peer teaching relating well to cognitive and social theories in the literature., Conclusions: Both student tutors and their tutees perceived near-peer teaching in Clinical Skills to be acceptable and beneficial with particular implications for Medical Education.

Waste prevention is a policy priority in many countries. For example, European Union member states are currently required to prepare a national Waste Prevention Programme. This article reports on a major international review of the evidence base for business waste prevention to underpin such policy-making. A strict definition of waste prevention is used, including waste avoidance, waste reduction at source or in process, and product reuse-recycling is outside the scope of this article. The review was organised with two key dimensions. Eight types of policy intervention were identified: standards, labelling, procurement, commitments and voluntary agreements, communication, incentives, waste minimisation clubs and other business support. Six illustrative sectors were selected: construction and demolition, food and drink, hospitality, retail, automotive and office-based services. Four broad approaches to business waste prevention have been distinguished and used as part of the analytical framework, classified into a two by two matrix, using supply- and demand-side drivers as one axis, and incremental versus radical change as the other. A fundamental focus was on attitudes and behaviours. A conceptual framework is presented to navigate the various behavioural influences on businesses, and to discuss those motivations and barriers for which the evidence is relatively robust. The results suggest that the (financial) benefits to business of waste prevention are potentially huge, and that some progress is being made, but measurement is a challenge. A taster of some of the learnings on the effectiveness of the different policy interventions to promote waste prevention is also presented.