Impacts of utilizing swine lagoon sludge as a composting ingredient.

Lagoon sludge, a byproduct of swine operations in the Southeast United States, poses a management challenge due to its high mineral and metal content. Composting is a low-cost, scalable technology for manure management. However, limited information is available on composting swine lagoon sludge in terms of recipes, greenhouse gas emissions and end-product quality. Moreover, due to its high Zn and Cu content, high inclusion of sludge in composting recipes can potentially inhibit the process. To address these knowledge gaps, in-vessel aerated composting (0.4 m3each) was carried out to evaluate impacts of sludge inclusion, at 10% (Low Sludge, LS-Recipe) and 20% (High sludge, HS-Recipe) wet mass-basis, on composting process and end-product quality. Comparable maximum temperatures (74 ± 2.7 °C, 74.9 ± 2.9 °C), and organic matter loss were observed in both recipes. Similarly, sludge inclusion ratio had no significant impact on cumulative GHG emissions. The global warming potential (20-year GWP) for swine lagoon sludge composting using LS and HS recipes was observed to be 241.9 (±13.3) and 229.9 (±8.7) kg CO2-e/tDM respectively. Both recipes lost 24-28% of initial carbon (C) and 4-15% of nitrogen (N) respectively. Composting and curing did not change water-extractable (WE) phosphorus (P) concentrations while WE Zn and Cu concentrations decreased by 67-74% and 55-59% respectively in both recipes. End compost was stable (respiration rates <2 mgCO2-C/g OM/day) with germination index >93 for both recipes.

Impacts of Air Velocity Treatments under Summer Conditions: Part II-Heavy Broiler's Behavioral Response.

Broiler chickens exposed to heat stress adapt to various behavioral changes to regulate their comfortable body temperature, which is critical to ensure their performance and welfare. Hence, assessing various behavioral responses in birds when they are subjected to environmental changes can be essential for assessing their welfare under heat-stressed conditions. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of two air velocity (AV) treatments on heavy broilers' behavioral changes from 43 to 54 days under summer conditions. Two AV treatments (high and low) were applied in six poultry growth chambers with three chambers per treatment and 44 COBB broilers per chamber from 28 to 61 days in the summer of 2019. Three video cameras placed inside each chamber (2.44 m × 2.44 m × 2.44 m in dimension) were used to record the behavior of different undisturbed birds, such as feeding, drinking, resting, standing, walking, panting, etc. The results indicate that the number of chickens feeding, drinking, standing, walking, sitting, wing flapping, and leg stretching changed under AV treatments. High AV increased the number of chickens feeding, standing, and walking. Moreover, a two-way interaction with age and the time of day can affect drinking and panting. This study provides insights into heavy broilers' behavioral changes under heat-stressed conditions and AV treatments, which will help guide management practices to improve birds' performance and welfare under commercial conditions in the future.

Impacts of Air Velocity Treatments under Summer Condition: Part I-Heavy Broiler's Surface Temperature Response.

Heavy broilers exposed to hot summer conditions experience fluctuations in surface temperatures due to heat stress, which leads to decreased performance. Maintaining a bird's homeostasis depends on several environmental factors (temperature, relative humidity, and air velocity). It is important to understand the responses of birds to environmental factors and the amount of heat loss to the surrounding environment to create thermal comfort for the heavy broilers for improved performances and welfare. This study investigates the variation in surface temperatures of heavy broilers under high and low air velocity treatments. Daytime, age and bird location's effect on the surface temperature variation was also examined. The experiment was carried out in the poultry engineering laboratory of North Carolina State University during summers of 2017, 2018, and 2019 as a part of a comprehensive study on the effectiveness of wind chill application to mitigate heat stress on heavy broilers. This live broiler heat stress experiment was conducted under two dynamic air velocity treatments (high and low) with three chambers per treatment and 44 birds per chamber. Surface temperatures of the birds were recorded periodically through the experimental treatment cycles (flocks, 35-61 d) with infrared thermography in the morning, noon, evening, and nighttime. The overall mean surface temperature of the broilers under two treatments was found to be 35.89 ± 2.37 °C. The variation in surface temperature happened due to air temperature, thermal index, air velocity, bird's age, daytime, and position of birds inside the experimental chambers. The surface temperatures were found lower under high air velocity treatment and higher under low air velocity treatment. During the afternoon time, the broilers' surface temperatures were higher than other times of the day. It was also found that the birds' surface temperature increased with age and temperature humidity indices. Based upon the experimental data of five flocks, a simple linear regression model was developed to predict surface temperature from the birds' age, thermal indices, and air velocity. It will help assess heavy broilers' thermal comfort under heat stress, which is essential to provide a comfortable environment for them.

Italian pediatric data support hypothesis that simultaneous epidemics of type 1 diabetes and type 2 diabetes/metabolic syndrome/obesity are polar opposite responses (i.e., symptoms) to a primary inflammatory condition.

We previously postulated that iatrogenic inflammation caused epidemics of type 2 diabetes/metabolic syndrome/obesity by activating an immune suppressive cortisol response which protects against type 1 diabetes and other autoimmune diseases. In the current study, data on the incidence of obesity in different Italian provinces was compared with the incidence of type 1 diabetes in the same region. The association between obesity and type 1 diabetes was analyzed using Wilcoxon rank analysis. Results showed an inverse relationship; the regions with the highest rate of obesity (Campania and Lazia) were associated with a protective effect against type 1 diabetes. However, regions with the lowest rates of obesity were associated with the highest rate of type 1 diabetes. These results are consistent with previous analysis across different racial groups; races with high cortisol activity had an increased rate of type 2 diabetes but were protected from type 1 diabetes.

Physicochemical data of p-cresol, butyric acid, and ammonia.

There is a renewed interest in treating odorous contaminants such as butyric acid, p-cresol, and ammonia that are emitted from animal farming operations. However, developing newer treatment technologies require quantitative information regarding the properties of the target pollutants. Therefore, in this communication, baseline data related to physicochemical and thermodynamic properties of butyric acid, p-cresol, and ammonia were predicted using computational chemistry. Density functional theory was employed via B3LYP functional coupled with polarized 6-31G (d) basis set without any solvent effects using Gaussian 16W and GaussView6. The predicted baseline properties collected here are expected to be useful to scientists and engineers working in environmental mitigation technologies in developing treatment processes and make the animal agricultural industry environmental friendly and sustainable.

Spatial and temporal variations of PM2.5 mass closure and inorganic PM2.5 in the Southeastern U.S.

Fine particulate matter (i.e., PM2.5) has gained extensive attention owing to its adverse effects. The impacts of PM2.5 may vary in time and space due to the spatiotemporal variations of PM2.5 number size distribution and chemical compositions. This research analyzed the latest PM2.5 chemical compositions measurements with an aim to better understand the dynamic changes of PM2.5 in response to emission reductions due to the new regulations. The particulate measurements from the Southeastern Aerosol Research and Characterization (SEARCH) network between 2001 and 2016 were analyzed for the spatiotemporal variations of PM2.5 and inorganic PM2.5 (iPM2.5 = SO42- + NH4+ + NO3-) chemical compositions in the Southeastern United States (U.S.). It was discovered that PM2.5 and iPM2.5 mass concentrations exhibited significant downward trends in 2001-2016. Both PM2.5 and iPM2.5 mass concentrations were higher at urban and inland sites than rural/suburban and coastal sites. The higher iPM2.5 concentrations at agricultural sites were attributed to the influences of ammonia (NH3) emissions from animal feeding operations (AFOs). The iPM2.5 was the dominant contributor to PM2.5 in 2001-2016 at the coastal sites, whereas organic carbon matter (OCM) was the major contributor to PM2.5 after 2011 at the inland sites. Our data analysis suggests that significant decrease of PM2.5 concentrations is attributed to the reductions in nitrogen oxides (NOx) and sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions in 2001-2016. Findings from this research provide insights into the development of effective PM2.5 control strategies and assessment of air pollutants exposure.

Modeling the Growth of Archaeon Halobacterium halobium Affected by Temperature and Light.

The objective of this study was to develop sigmoidal models, including three-parameter (Quadratic, Logistic, and Gompertz) and four-parameter models (Schnute and Richards) to simulate the growth of archaeon Halobacterium halobium affected by temperature and light. The models were statistically compared by using t test and F test. In the t test, confidence bounds for parameters were used to distinguish among models. For the F test, the lack of fit of the models was compared with the prediction error. The Gompertz model was 100 % accepted by the t test and 97 % accepted by the F test when the temperature effects were considered. Results also indicated that the Gompertz model was 94 % accepted by the F test when the growth of H. halobium was studied under varying light intensities. Thus, the Gompertz model was considered the best among the models studied to describe the growth of H. halobium affected by temperature or light. In addition, the biological growth parameters, including specific growth rate, lag time, and asymptote changes under Gompertz modeling, were evaluated.

Clustering of cases of insulin dependent diabetes (IDDM) occurring three years after hemophilus influenza B (HiB) immunization support causal relationship between immunization and IDDM.

OBJECTIVE: The hemophilus vaccine has been linked to the development of autoimmune type 1 diabetes, insulin dependent diabetes (IDDM) in ecological studies. METHODS: We attempted to determine if the Hemophilus influenza B (HiB) vaccine was associated with an increased risk of IDDM by looking for clusters of cases of IDDM using data from a large clinical trial. All children born in Finland between October 1st, 1985 and August 31st, 1987, approximately 116,000 were randomized to receive 4 doses of the HiB vaccine (PPR-D, Connaught) starting at 3 months of life or one dose starting after 24 months of life. A control-cohort included all 128,500 children born in Finland in the 24 months prior to the HiB vaccine study. Non-obese diabetic prone (NOD) mice were immunized with a hemophilus vaccine to determine if immunization increased the risk of IDDM. RESULTS: The difference in cumulative incidence between those receiving 4 doses and those receiving 0 doses is 54 cases of IDDM/100,000 (P = 0.026) at 7 years, (relative risk = 1.26). Most of the extra cases of IDDM appeared in statistically significant clusters that occurred in periods starting approximately 38 months after immunization and lasting approximately 6-8 months. Immunization with pediatric vaccines increased the risk of insulin diabetes in NOD mice. CONCLUSION: Exposure to HiB immunization is associated with an increased risk of IDDM. NOD mice can be used as an animal model of vaccine induced diabetes.

Nutrient recovery from swine lagoon water by Spirodela punctata.

Spirodela punctata 7776, the best duckweed strain in total protein production selected from in vitro screening experiments with synthetic swine lagoon water medium was examined for N and P recovery. It has shown a capability to grow in and to remove N and P from synthetic swine lagoon water with high N (240 mg NH4 N/l) and P (31.0 mg PO4 P/l) levels. A lag period of approximately 96 h was observed before the duckweed started to grow. During the lag period, utilization of N and P by the duckweed was very slow. The rates of N and P uptake, and duckweed growth increased with the increase of the initial N and P concentrations in the medium. The highest rates of N and P uptakes, and duckweed growth observed in this study were 0.955. 0.129 mg/l-h, and 1.33 g/m2-h (or 31.92 g/m2-day), respectively. The N:P ratio in swine lagoon water is adequate for growing the duckweed.

Review of evidence that epidemics of type 1 diabetes and type 2 diabetes/metabolic syndrome are polar opposite responses to iatrogenic inflammation.

There is an epidemic in children of metabolic syndrome, obesity, type 2 diabetes and other individual diseases that form the components of metabolic syndrome. Poor diet and low exercise can not explain many facets of the epidemic including the onset in children 6 month of age, the protective effect of obesity on the incidence of type 1 diabetes and the epidemic of type 2 diabetes/metabolic syndrome in grass fed horses. Poor diet and exercise also do not explain the epidemic of type 1 diabetes in children that resembles the epidemic of type 2 diabetes/metabolic syndrome. Several papers have been published to indicate that the epidemics of type 1 and type 2 diabetes/metabolic syndrome in children are linked and are polar opposite responses to iatrogenic inflammation. Several lines of research support this. Data from different races indicates that there is an inverse relationship between developing type 1 diabetes and type 2 diabetes. Races with high risk of developing type 2 diabetes have a decreased risk of developing type 1 diabetes. Data from Italy confirmed an inverse association between obesity and type 1 diabetes. Further studies indicate the inverse relationship between type 1 diabetes and type 2 diabetes/obesity is due to cortisol production. Data indicates those with low cortisol responses have a predilection for type 1 diabetes and other autoimmune disorders following inflammation, while those with high cortisol/ immune suppressive responses develop type 2 diabetes/metabolic syndrome/obesity which resembles a Cushingoid state but are spared in the autoimmune disorders. Japanese children produce much more cortisol following immunization than Caucasian children. The later explains why discontinuation of BCG vaccination was associated with a decrease in type 1 diabetes in European children and a decrease in type 2 diabetes in Japanese children. Both the epidemics of type 1 diabetes and metabolic syndrome correlate with an increase in immunization. Finally, there is a strong mechanism data that macrophage produced interleukin 1, tumor necrosis factor and interleukin 6, which are released following inflammation, causing destruction of insulin secreting islet cells and increase cortisol release, and thus have the ability to cause both type 1 and type 2 diabetes/metabolic syndrome (which resembles a Cushingoid state). The propensity to develop type 1 diabetes or type 2 diabetes/metabolic syndrome depends on the propensity to release of cortisol which correlates with race.

Enhanced funding of pharmacoepidemiology through patenting the disclosure of adverse event information.

PURPOSE: Known drug adverse events have been estimated to be between the 4th and 6th leading cause of death in the US (1). There are currently insufficient funds to perform the quantity and quality of studies necessary to ensure all drug adverse events are discovered in a timely fashion. METHODS/RESULTS: One approach to attract capital for pharmacoepidemiology studies is to patent the discoveries from the studies. Potential investors, whether executives of branded pharmaceutical companies or not, will consider funding pharmacoepidemiology studies if they can expect to receive competitive returns on their investments. Pharmacoepidemiolists who desire to patent their discoveries should seek novel drug-drug and drug-food interactions or negative interactions between drugs and certain phenotypes, genotypes or preexisting comorbidities. CONCLUSION: These discoveries can lead to safer, and patentable, use of the drug by avoiding these interactions.