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A trial was conducted to determine the total rumen degradable protein intake (RDPI) required to maximise the digestible organic matter intake (DOMI) of beef cows consuming low quality grass hay from the northern variation of Cymbopogon-Themeda pasture type. Thirty-five pregnant (last trimester) Afrikaner × Simmentaler crossbred cows (517.08 ± 53.06 kg) were stratified according to fasted body weight and allocated to five treatments. A rumen degradable protein (RDP) source, calcium caseinate (90% crude protein on dry matter basis and 100% rumen degradable) was used and mixed with a molasses based concentrate. Treatments provided the following supplemental RDP levels/cow/day from casein: (1) control, 0 g, (2) 180 g, (3) 360 g, (4) 540 g, and (5) 720 g. The cows had ad libitum access to low quality grass hay (2.26% CP; 73.94% neutral detergent fibre, NDF). The trial period consisted of 14 d of adaptation, 21 d of the intake study, and 7 d of the digestibility study. No statistically significant influence of RDP on the apparent digestibility of DM, organic matter, or NDF was detected. The grass DM intake, DOMI, and metabolizable energy intake increased in a quadratic manner with increasing supplementary RDP. The single broken-line model predicted DOMI/kg metabolic weight (BW0.75) with higher accuracy than the quadratic regression procedure. According to this model, 4.03 g daily RDPI/kg BW0.75 or 8.07% RDP of digestible organic matter was required to maximise DOMI of pregnant beef cows consuming winter grassveld hay. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simmentaler cows grazing Cymbopogon-Themeda veld in the western Highveld region of South Africa (1985/86-1989/90) received three levels of phosphorus (P) supplementation. Dicalcium phosphate content of the supplement was manipulated to give intakes of 8 (CS), 4 (HS) or 0 (ZS) g P/cow/day during summer. All cows received supplemental P (10 g/cow/day) during winter (1986-1989). In 1990, supplemental P (10 (CW), 5 (HW) or 0 (ZW) g P/cow/day) was given in a winter maintenance supplement (protein, energy and minerals). Rainfall was above average during the trial period. Reproductive performance was not influenced by P supplementation. Mean livemass of the CS group was greatest (p < 0.01), and that of HS was greater (p < 0.01) than ZS at the end of summer. Both CS and HS had better (p < 0.01) condition scores than ZS. Bone P content was lowest and indicative of deficiency (p < 0.01) in ZS cows (112.6 vs 141.9 and 130.8 mg P/cm[sub 3] bone for CS and HS respectively). Calf performance was not affected (p > 0.05) by P supplementation. Cow mass was affected by winter P supplementation (p < 0.05). Both CW and HW displayed improved (p < 0.01) condition scores and higher (p < 0.01) bone P content than ZW. Fatalities (4) occurred in ZW due to P deficiency (74.5 mg P/cm[sub 3] bone), and deficiency symptoms were manifested in the entire group. Both summer and winter veld is deficient in P, which makes continuous supplementation a recommended practice in this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parvovirus B19 (B19V) DNAemia appears to be a relatively common finding after kidney transplantation. However, not all DNAemia signifies active infection with replicating virus. This study screened 134 patients posttransplantation for B19V DNAemia and identified 2 cases in which viral DNA was present after transplantation, with the donor kidney as probable source of the DNA. In both cases intact viral particles could not be detected using an endonuclease method, indicating the presence of noninfectious DNA remnants., Competing Interests: Potential conflicts of interest. All authors: No reported conflicts., (© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Infectious Diseases Society of America.)

The Polyomaviridae is a family of ubiquitous dsDNA viruses that establish persistent infection early in life. Screening for human polyomaviruses (HPyVs), which comprise 14 diverse species, relies upon species-specific qPCRs whose validity may be challenged by accelerating genomic exploration of the virosphere. Using this reasoning, we tested 64 published HPyV qPCR assays in silico against the 1781 PyV genome sequences that were divided in targets and nontargets, based on anticipated species specificity of each qPCR. We identified several cases of problematic qPCR performance that were confirmed in vitro and corrected through using degenerate oligos. Furthermore, our study ranked 8 out of 52 tested BKPyV qPCRs as remaining of consistently high quality in the wake of recent PyV discoveries and showed how sensitivity of most other qPCRs could be rescued by annealing temperature adjustment. This study establishes an efficient framework for ensuring confidence in available HPyV qPCRs in the genomic era., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2021 The Author(s).)

Background: Human polyomaviruses (HPyVs), like herpesviruses, cause persistent infection in a large part of the population. In immunocompromised and elderly patients, PyVs cause severe diseases such as nephropathy (BK polyomavirus [BKPyV]), progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (JC polyomavirus [JCPyV]), and skin cancer (Merkel cell polyomavirus [MCPyV]). Like cytomegalovirus, donor-derived PyV can cause disease in kidney transplant recipients. Possibly blood components transmit PyVs as well. To study this possibility, as a first step we determined the presence of PyV DNA in Dutch blood donations., Study Design and Methods: Blood donor serum samples (n = 1016) were analyzed for the presence of DNA of 14 HPyVs using HPyV species-specific quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) procedures. PCR-positive samples were subjected to confirmation by sequencing. Individual PCR findings were compared with the previously reported PyV serostatus., Results: MC polyomavirus DNA was detected in 39 donors (3.8%), JCPyV and TS polyomavirus (TSPyV) DNA in five donors (both 0.5%), and HPyV9 DNA in four donors (0.4%). BKPyV, WU polyomavirus (WUPyV), HPyV6, MW polyomavirus (MWPyV), and LI polyomavirus (LIPyV) DNA was detected in one or two donors. Amplicon sequencing confirmed the expected product for BKPyV, JCPyV, WUPyV, MCPyV, HPyV6, TSPyV, MWPyV, HPyV9, and LIPyV. For JCPyV a significant association was observed between detection of viral DNA and the level of specific IgG antibodies., Conclusion: In 5.4% of Dutch blood donors PyV DNA was detected, including DNA from pathogenic PyVs such as JCPyV. As a next step, the infectivity of PyV in donor blood and transmission via blood components to immunocompromised recipients should be investigated., (© 2019 The Authors. Transfusion published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of AABB.)

Background: The improvements in cancer control led to an increase in the number of cancer survivors, notably, in the working age population (16-64 years). There is a strong need to assess and understand their reintegration on the labour market, which underlines and ensures their social integration and quality of life. The objectives of the EMPCAN study is therefore to measure the scale of return-to-work after cancer and to identify the determining factors, allowing for the implementation of an adequate socio-professional support., Methods: We requested data from the Belgian Cancer Registry and the Crossroad Bank for Social Security. We included all socially insured Belgian workers diagnosed between 2004 and 2011 with colorectal, breast, head & neck, prostate, testis, lung and corpus uteri cancer. The end of (administrative) follow-up was 31st December 2012. We include demographic, health-related and work-related factors in the analysis and observed how these factors interplay to determine the working status. After having solved legal, ethical and technical issues for the coupling, we will perform survival analysis with competing risks using the Fine and Gray model; we will also perform a multistate model using transitions probabilities; and finally, a group-based modeling for longitudinal data using the 'proc traj' package in SAS., Discussion: The results of the EMPCAN study will allow the provision of an evidence-based support to professional reintegration policies. It will also bring some key features for the prediction of the cancer-related social security needs. Besides the raise of awareness among health professionals and policy makers, this study could lead to a better planning and organization of vocational rehabilitation programs., Competing Interests: The EMPCAN study received the approval of the Health Section and Social Security Section of the Belgian Privacy Commission on respectively the 15th December 2015 and 12th January 2016.All personal data have been completely anonymized before the research could access them. No personal information would be subject to disclosure.The researchers do not have any competing interest to declare.Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Objectives: The number of workers with cancer has dramatically increasing worldwide. One of the main priorities is to preserve their quality of life and the sustainability of social security systems. We have carried out this study to assess factors associated with the ability to work after cancer. Such insight should help with the planning of rehabilitation needs and tailored programmes., Participants: We conducted this register-based cohort study using individual data from the Belgian Disability Insurance. Data on 15 543 socially insured Belgian people who entered into the long-term work disability between 2007 and 2011 due to cancer were used., Primary and Secondary Outcome Measures: We estimated the duration of work disability using Kaplan-Meier and the cause-specific cumulative incidence of ability to work stratified by age, gender, occupational class and year of entering the work disability system for 11 cancer sites using the Fine and Gray model allowing for competing risks., Results: The overall median time of work disability was 1.59 years (95% CI 1.52 to 1.66), ranging from 0.75 to 4.98 years. By the end of follow-up, more than one-third of the disabled cancer survivors were able to work (35%). While a large proportion of the women were able to work at the end of follow-up, the men who were able to work could do so sooner. Being women, white collar, young and having haematological, male genital or breast cancers were factors with the bestlikelihood to be able to return to work., Conclusion: Good prognostic factors for the ability to work were youth, woman, white collar and having breast, male genital or haematological cancers. Reviewing our results together with the cancer incidence predictions up to 2025 offers a high value for social security and rehabilitation planning and for ascertaining patients' perspectives., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2018. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.)

Introduction: Artisanal gold mining is an activity ensuring the survival of about 700,000 families in Burkina Faso with a considerable contribution to the national economy. Techniques and chemicals used in the operation, have adverse impacts on health and the environment. Our study aims to evaluate the perceptions and knowledge of these different impacts among artisanal gold miners., Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted in artisanal gold mines Bouda and Nagsene in the region of the North of Burkina Faso. Two hundred miners over 18 years of age were interviewed., Results: All the participants have recognized that gold mining has health impacts and 88.5% felt these impacts as important with a significantly higher proportion among those with more than 3 years' seniority (p = 0.001). The environmental impacts were perceived as important by 64.5% of miners, with a significant difference according to the position (p = 0.004). Sixty percent (60%) of respondents could identify at least 3 of the 5 health impacts of gold mining listed and 49.5% acknowledged at least 3 impacts on the environment. The diggers had significantly more knowledge about the symptoms (p < 0.001)., Conclusion: Study highlights the lack of knowledge of the Stampeders on the health and environmental impacts of artisanal gold mining. Findings might be used to develop more effective awareness campaigns in the future. Communication with diggers must focus on the risk perception because it appears that raising risk perceptions from low to high would have a major effect on behavior.

The management of hospital waste is a high-risk practice in the hospitals of Kinshasa, the largest city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, from the point of view of public health and the environment. A multi-criteria study carried out in 4 hospitals assessed the situation and put forward solutions., (Copyright © 2016. Publié par Elsevier Masson SAS.)

The north-western part of South Africa, in particular, is well known for mineral imbalances. Aphosphorosis, resulting in rickets and osteomalacia, received a lot of attention at the turn of the nineteenth century (1882-1912). This was followed in 1997 by research on Vryburg hepatosis, another area-specific mineral imbalance-related disease in young calves reared on manganese-rich soil derived from the weathering of dolomitic (carbonate) rock formations. In 1982, a totally new syndrome (osteochondrosis) manifested in, amongst others, areas in South Africa where aphosphorosis was rife. Osteochondrosis was also identified in the south-western parts of Namibia as well as southern Botswana and other areas in South Africa. Osteochondrosis has a multifactorial aetiology and this study focused on the role of minerals, particularly phosphorus, in the development of the disease. A significant improvement in the clinical signs in experimental animals and a reduction of osteochondrosis occurred on farms where animals received bioavailable trace minerals and phosphorus as part of a balanced lick. An increase in the occurrence of the disease on farms during severe drought conditions in 2012-2013 prompted researchers to investigate the possible role of chronic metabolic acidosis in the pathogenesis of the disease.