Rising Sika deer populations linked to bovine TB infections
2021-04-06
(Press-News.org) New research suggests Ireland's increasing populations of Sika deer may be linked to local outbreaks of TB infection in cattle.
Although TB infection rates have decreased in general in recent decades, county-level data shows a correlation between higher Sika numbers and higher local TB infections - with County Wicklow a particular hotspot.
The research, conducted by researchers from Trinity College Dublin and the National Parks and Wildlife Service and supported by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, has major implications for controlling TB. It has just been published in the journal, Frontiers in Veterinary Science.
First author of the journal article, Dr David Kelly, from Trinity's School of Natural Sciences, said:
"Irish farmers have been aware of the effects of bovine TB for well over 70 years. Its incidence has steadily diminished in Ireland, from 3% in 1960 to 0.3% some 50 years later. In the mid-1980s it became clear European badgers were a TB wildlife host. Since then, badger populations have been controlled around farms with TB outbreaks whenever those outbreaks cannot be linked to cattle.
In recent years, however, it has become clear that controlling TB in badger populations cannot rely on culling alone. Along with this change in thinking, there has been a steady shift away from culling and towards badger vaccination. Unfortunately, while the management of one TB wildlife host has made great advances, another wildlife TB host has appeared on the radar: deer."
The number of deer in Ireland has been rising steadily during the 21st century, and studies in Europe and the USA have shown that deer, at higher densities, can sustain TB in their herds. Indeed, recent research has identified Sika deer in County Wicklow as one such maintenance host of TB.
The researchers behind the current study used county-level population densities (taken between 2000 and 2018) to track the three known maintenance hosts of TB in Ireland: cattle, badgers, and Sika deer.
They then considered how variations in local densities compared with the variation in bovine TB infection across the country (and also at county-level).
Dr Kelly said:
"Our analyses show that while there have been general reductions in TB infection, there is a correlation between increasing Sika deer density and higher local TB infection. This pattern has emerged in recent years and has major implications for TB control within Ireland.
"Now, when attempting to manage TB in wildlife, Sika deer will need to be considered as well as badgers. Our analyses suggest Sika deer are currently of greatest concern in County Wicklow but if numbers continue to rise in other counties they may also pose problems elsewhere."
INFORMATION:
[Attachments] See images for this press release:
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
2021-04-06
Is there a way to chemically manipulate small, confined areas on cellular surfaces? Scientists have developed a microfluidic probe to send a flow of free radicals on live cells and track the outcome using fluorescence imaging. As outlined in the journal Angewandte Chemie, this approach makes it possible for the first time to generate a reaction zone of free radicals with controlled size and concentration for subcellular research.
Free radicals are important stimulants for cells. When live cells are exposed to radicals, they develop intense reactions that can lead to cell ...
2021-04-06
Researchers at Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokyo Tech) have experimentally demonstrated a novel cancer diagnosis technique based on the scattering of circularly polarized light. Computational studies revealed that this technique can detect the progression of precancerous lesions and early cancer. This method can be implemented using an endoscope equipped with spin-LEDs--devices that emit circularly polarized light.
Most cancers of the digestive system emerge in the surface layer first and then progress into deeper layers. While surface layer carcinomas can be readily treated using an endoscope, carcinomas that have advanced onto deeper layers need surgical intervention to prevent them from metastasizing to lymph nodes or other organs. Thus, accurate measurements of the depth of cancer ...
2021-04-06
Amsterdam, April 6, 2021 - The rarity of spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) means that promising new treatments may be tested in only a limited spectrum of patients before approval. Investigators evaluated a newly approved drug, onasemnogene abeparvovec, in a broader spectrum of patients in order to obtain expanded data on its side effects profile. They report in the Journal of Neuromuscular Diseases that the drug is associated with an immune response against the adeno-associated viral vector and needs careful monitoring, but showed no long-term adverse effects.
In recent years, the availability of a growing number of drug treatments has significantly ...
2021-04-06
New Orleans, LA - A study led by Edward Wojcik, PhD, Associate Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology at LSU Health New Orleans School of Medicine, identified how microcephaly (abnormally small heads) and blindness may develop in Zika-infected fetuses, as well as a new way to potentially prevent these neurodevelopmental defects. The results are published online in iScience, available here.
The mechanism by which Zika virus disrupts neuronal development and results in congenital Zika syndrome was unknown. Because of similarities between Zika syndrome and a recognized congenital genetic disease (Kinesin-5) known to cause microcephaly and retinopathies in developing infants, the research team studied both, looking for similarities. They discovered a direct link, the first ...
2021-04-06
Comparison of coda waves, the scattered waves that arrive after the direct waves of a seismic event, can be used to determine the relative locations of two underground explosions, according to a new study published in the open-access journal The Seismic Record.
The technique, called coda wave interferometry, was tested on explosions conducted as part of the Source Physics Experiment (SPE). Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory researchers Sean Ford and Bill Walter report that coda wave interferometry can also put a limit on the extent of damage caused by an explosion.
The findings suggest the technique could be used to improve the estimates of the relative locations ...
2021-04-06
Using samples of small cell lung tumours, a research team led by biologist Dr Silvia von Karstedt has discovered two new ways to induce tumour cell death. One of two subsets of tumour cells can be targeted by activating ferroptosis: iron-dependent cell death caused by oxidative stress. In the second subtype, oxidative stress - and hence cell death - can also be induced in a different way. Both types of cell death must be triggered simultaneously by drugs to kill the majority of the tumour mass. The results of the study have been published in Nature Communications.
Despite many advances in treatment, a diagnosis of small cell lung cancer means a particularly poor prognosis. In Germany, up to 8000 new cases ...
2021-04-06
DURHAM, N.C. -- Some guys have it all: the muscle, the power, the high social status, the accelerated aging.
But wait. Faster aging? Who wants that? For male baboons, it's the price they pay to be at the top.
New research appearing April 6 in eLife by Jenny Tung, associate professor of evolutionary anthropology and biology at Duke University, and her colleagues shows that male baboons that climb the social ladder age faster than males with lower social standing. If a male drops in social status, his estimated rate of aging drops as well.
Using blood samples from 245 wild baboons in the ...
2021-04-06
TAMPA, Fla. -- Tumors are genetically diverse with different mutations arising at different times throughout growth and development. Many models have tried to explain how genetic heterogeneity arises and what impact these alterations have on tumor growth. In a new article published in Nature Communications, Moffitt Cancer Center researchers show how the location of the tumor and spatial constraints put on it by the surrounding tissue architecture impact genetic heterogeneity of tumors.
Genetic differences are apparent among tumors from different patients, as well as within different regions of the same tumor of an individual patient. Some of these mutations may benefit the tumor and become selected for, such as mutations that allow the tumor to grow faster and spread to other ...
2021-04-06
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope is "seeing double." Peering back 10 billion years into the universe's past, Hubble astronomers found a pair of quasars that are so close to each other they look like a single object in ground-based telescopic photos, but not in Hubble's crisp view.
The researchers believe the quasars are very close to each other because they reside in the cores of two merging galaxies. The team went on to win the "daily double" by finding yet another quasar pair in another colliding galaxy duo.
A quasar is a brilliant beacon of intense light from the center of a distant galaxy that can outshine the ...
2021-04-06
Breast cancer survivors with a higher risk of cancer recurrence based on genomic testing may experience greater fear of their cancer returning, according to a new study led by researchers at NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing. However, psychological factors such as anxiety are the best predictors of survivors' fear of their cancer recurring.
"Although genomic test results were associated with fear of cancer recurrence, our findings highlight that distressing, but treatable, psychological factors fuel cancer survivors' fear of recurrence," said Maurade Gormley, PhD, RN, an assistant professor and faculty fellow at NYU Meyers and the lead author of the study, which was published in the journal Psycho-Oncology.
For breast cancer survivors, fear and worry that ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
[Press-News.org] Rising Sika deer populations linked to bovine TB infections
