23 research outputs found
Studies on the epidemiology of classical swine fever in the republic of Korea
No full textClassical swine fever (CSF) is a serious and highly infectious viral disease of domestic pigs and wild boar, which is caused by a single stranded RNA pestivirus. A study was undertaken to further understand the disease in pigs in the Republic of Korea. This study was designed to describe the history of outbreaks and risk factors for the disease in the Republic of Korea and to conduct a risk assessment for the introduction of CSF into Jeju Island, which is currently free from the disease.
The pig industry has an important role in the Republic of Korea due to the preference by Koreans for the consumption of meat from freshly killed pigs. Historical data, collected as part of active disease surveillance, were examined to determine the seroprevalence of antibodies and antigen to CSF. Only 0.03% (95% CI: 0.03 – 0.04) of samples tested from 2004 to 2010 were positive for CSF antigen. There was no significant difference in the prevalence between years. In contrast the average seroprevalence (antibody) for this period was 89.25% (95% CI: 89.20 – 89.29). The level of antibody in piglets was lower than in older pigs, most likely due to maternal antibody interference. There were no consistent differences in the prevalence from samples collected from different provinces or cities. It is suggested that these inconsistencies arose from differences in the efficacy of vaccine due to variation in the cold chain, method of vaccination and cross-reactions from other pathogens.
After the declaration that the Republic of Korea was a CSF-free country in December 2001, the disease was again reported in 2002. It was hypothesised that the disease was reintroduced through indirect means from other countries and subsequently 72 outbreaks originated from one infected breeding farm. This finding highlights the importance of biosecurity on farms. Subsequently sporadic cases of CSF have been reported and may indicate spread through wild boars.
Four major factors were identified in the risk assessment for the introduction of CSF into the free area of Jeju Island: the prevalence of CSF on the mainland; the smuggling of pork into Jeju; the heat treatment of swill; and the rate of transmission between farms.
It is concluded that CSF will only be eradicated from the Republic of Korea if there is full cooperation between the government and the livestock industry. However, the disease has the potential to reenter via pork smuggled from infected neighbouring countries or through the inadequate treatment of swill. Since the eradication of CSF is the ultimate goal of the Republic of Korea, it is recommended that material be developed to improve the education of farmers about the disease, and a cost benefit analysis is undertaken to evaluate the benefit in stopping the vaccination of pigs
Characterization, prevalence, and risk factors of breast myopathies (spaghetti meat, woody breast, white striping) in broiler chickens from Ontario, Canada
No full textSpaghetti meat (SM), woody breast (WB), and white striping (WS) are myopathies that affect the pectoral muscle of fast-growing broiler chickens. Although reported in numerous countries with intensive poultry production, no studies have characterized these myopathies in Canada. By obtaining samples from two large processing plants in Ontario, the objectives of this thesis were to 1) determine the prevalence of and identify the risk factors associated with SM, WB, and WS in Ontario broilers; 2) characterize the morphological changes associated with breast myopathies by evaluating the macroscopic and histological features of affected fillets; and 3) evaluate the transcriptomic profiles of normal and SM- or WB-affected fillets using RNA sequencing and droplet digital PCR. The prevalence of SM, severe WB, and mild or moderate WS was 36.3%, 11.8%, and 96.0%, respectively (n = 9,250). Most (85.1%) of the fillets presented with multiple myopathies. Regression analyses showed that the odds of SM increased with live weight and higher environmental temperature during the grow-out period. The odds of WB increased with live weight and flock mortality rate during grow-out. Macroscopically, the odds of SM and severe WB were significantly associated with increased fillet thickness and weight. Histologically, myopathies had overlapping lesions consisting of polyphasic myodegeneration, perivascular inflammatory cuffing, and endomysial accumulation of fibrous tissue and fat. Transcriptomic analysis showed that there were no differences between normal and SM fillets, while the transcriptomic profile of WB fillets significantly differed from both normal and SM. Most of the differentially expressed genes in WB fillets were involved with the extracellular environment and immune response. Taken together, our results show that the macroscopic and microscopic features of SM, WB and WS in our cohort were similar to those has been reported from other countries. These myopathies were highly prevalent in Ontario broilers, suggesting a significant economic impact on the Canadian poultry industry. While WS was present in most fillets, risk factor analysis showed that heavier broilers had an increased risk of both SM and severe WB. Lastly, lack of significant differences in expressed genes between normal and SM fillets suggests that SM may not be caused by factors intrinsic to the broiler breast muscle, but rather could be caused by mechanical disruption after slaughter.Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affair
Breast muscle myopathies: twists and turns in modern broilers
No full textAlthough poultry meat production supports the livelihood and provides food security for billions of people worldwide, it is facing substantial challenges. The emergence of broiler breast myopathies (white striping, woody breast, spaghetti meat) at large scale is one of the most significant economic and welfare challenges that menace poultry production sustainability and for which there is currently no effective prevention, due to its unknown aetiologies. Here, by inviting and gathering several experts with diverse, but complementary disciplines, the objective of the present review is to highlight the current progress and knowledge on these myopathies. Five sections are presented, describing in detail the history and geographic occurrence of these breast myopathies, their macroscopic morphologies and microscopic characteristics, their putative aetiologies and causes as well as their underlying molecular mechanisms, and potential strategies and solutions. The is review summarizes both descriptive and functional mechanistic studies, highlights the complexity of these myopathies and the kinship between broiler genome, nutrition, and management, and outlines some of the promising molecular signatures. It aims to offer new fundamental frameworks for future investigations
Effects of broiler chilling methods on the occurrence of pale, soft, exudative (PSE) meat and comparison of detection methods for PSE meat using traditional and Nix colorimeters
No full textABSTRACT: The aims of this study were to i) estimate the occurrence of pale, soft, and exudative (PSE) meat in modern commercial Ontario broiler flocks, ii) determine the effects of the chilling method (water vs. air) on PSE meat, and iii) investigate a new inexpensive colorimeter (10% of the price of traditional color meters), the Nix Color Sensor, as an objective color measurement of chicken meat. Between June 2019 to March 2020, a total of 17 different broiler flocks were processed. The color of 1,700 boneless skinless Pectoralis major muscles was randomly measured (100/flock), where 255 samples were also measured for pH, water-holding capacity (WHC), cooking loss, and penetration force. In addition, a traditional Minolta colorimeter was used to measure random 95 samples from a single water-chilled flock and subsequently compared the values obtained with the Nix Color Sensor. Strong correlations of L* values (rho = 0.75; P < 0.001), a* values (rho = 0.72; P < 0.001), and b* values (rho = 0.80; P < 0.001) were observed. When an L* value of 43 was used as the cut-off for the Nix, 12.5% of fillets were classified as PSE meat. Statistical differences (P < 0.05) were observed between the air and water-chill methods for L*, pH, and WHC. However, there were no significant differences observed between the 2 methods for cooking loss and penetration force values. The study indicated that PSE meat is still a challenge in Ontario broilers, and that the L*, pH, and WHC of breast meat (all indicate meat quality) are affected by the chilling method. In addition, the Nix was found to be an affordable, objective, and convenient sensor for measuring chicken meat color
Similar Word Replacement Method for Improving News Commenter Analysis
No full textIn Korea, it is common to read and comment on news stories on portal sites. To influence public opinion, some people write comments repeatedly, some of which are similar to those posted by others. This has become a serious social issue. In our previous research, we collected approximately 2.68 million news comments posted in April 2017. We classified the political stance of each author using a deep learning model (seq2seq), and evaluated how many similar comments each user wrote, as well as how similar each comment was to those posted by other people, using the Jaccard similarity coefficient. However, as our previous model used Jaccard’s similarity only, the meaning of the comments was not considered. To solve this problem, we propose similar word replacement (SWR) using word2vec and a method to analyze the similarity between user comments and classify the political stance of each user. In this study, we showed that when our model used SWR rather than Jaccard’s similarity, its ability to detect similarity between comments increased 3.2 times, and the accuracy of political stance classification improved by 6%
Textural and physical properties of breast fillets with myopathies (wooden breast, white striping, spaghetti meat) in Canadian fast-growing broiler chickens
No full textThe combined effects of different severities of Wooden Breast (WB), White Striping (WS), and Spaghetti Meat (SM) were examined in 300 chicken breast fillets from 10 flocks. Severity (0 = absent, 1 = mild, noticeable upon close inspection, 2 = severe), noticeably altered from normal breast fillet (NB). Results showed that any combination of myopathies and severity resulted in significantly elevated compression force, pH and peak counts measured by the shear force test. With the exception of mild WB + mild WS, all combinations resulted in significantly higher drip loss, cooking loss and lightness value. Overall, the quality of fillets was affected the least by WS, while negatively affected the most by SM. There were limited effects on fillet quality from mild WB but major deleterious effects from severe WB
Pie charts illustrating the prevalence of spaghetti meat (SM), woody breast (WB), and white striping (WS).
No full textThe prevalence of SM (SM1) was 36.3%. The prevalence of moderate WB (WB1) was 70.5%, and the prevalence of severe WB (WB2) was 11.8%. The prevalence of mild WS (WS1) was 93.8%, and the prevalence of moderate WS (WS2) was 2.2%. There was no severe WS (WS3) observed in our samples (n = 9,250; average live weight at slaughter: 2.36 kg).</p
Summary of data collected from the questionnaire and Environment Canada weather stations for the analysis of the occurrence of breast myopathies.
No full textSummary of data collected from the questionnaire and Environment Canada weather stations for the analysis of the occurrence of breast myopathies.</p
Transcriptomic Profiles of Pectoralis major Muscles Affected by Spaghetti Meat and Woody Breast in Broiler Chickens
No full textSpaghetti meat (SM) and woody breast (WB) are breast muscle myopathies of broiler chickens, characterized by separation of myofibers and by fibrosis, respectively. This study sought to investigate the transcriptomic profiles of breast muscles affected by SM and WB. Targeted sampling was conducted on a flock to obtain 10 WB, 10 SM, and 10 Normal Pectoralis major muscle samples from 37-day-old male chickens. Total RNA was extracted, cDNA was used for pair-end sequencing, and differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were determined by a false discovery rate of <0.1 and a >1.5-fold change. Principal component and heatmap cluster analyses showed that the SM and WB samples clustered together. No DEGs were observed between SM and WB fillets, while a total of 4018 and 2323 DEGs were found when comparing SM and WB, respectively, against Normal samples. In both the SM and WB samples, Gene Ontology terms associated with extracellular environment and immune response were enriched. The KEGG analysis showed enrichment of cytokine–cytokine receptor interaction and extracellular matrix–receptor interaction pathways in both myopathies. Although SM and WB are macroscopically different, the similar transcriptomic profiles suggest that these conditions may share a common pathogenesis. This is the first study to compare the transcriptomes of SM and WB, and it showed that, while both myopathies had profiles different from the normal breast muscle, SM and WB were similar, with comparable enriched metabolic pathways and processes despite presenting markedly different macroscopic features
Results of the final random intercept 2-level (flock-fillet) multivariable regression model for woody breast, in a cohort of 9,250 chicken breast fillets collected at two processing plants between 2019–2020 in Ontario, Canada (n = 9,250 fillets).
No full textResults of the final random intercept 2-level (flock-fillet) multivariable regression model for woody breast, in a cohort of 9,250 chicken breast fillets collected at two processing plants between 2019–2020 in Ontario, Canada (n = 9,250 fillets).</p
