L'identità europea è un'identità istituzionale, fatta di norme pattuite dagli Stati membr... more L'identità europea è un'identità istituzionale, fatta di norme pattuite dagli Stati membri che sono i concreti soggetti istituenti dell'Unione. L'Unione europea, attraverso l'uguaglianza giuridica dei suoi Stati membri, dà voce a realtà economiche disuguali ed è basata sull'azione di istituzioni che si differenziano fra loro per logiche di lavoro. Ne consegue un sistema che risulta da un intreccio di accordi in cui è fondamentale la procedura che crea il sistema stesso e la base giuridica uguale per i rapporti fra attori disuguali, in quanto salda logiche di lavoro istituzionale disuguali. In quanto identità giuridico-istituzionale procedurale, l'Unione europea è un gradino nella scala dell'integrazione economica e giuridica del mondo. Parole-chiave: identità, norme, procedure, integrazione, sistema European identity is an institutional identity, made up of rules agreed by the member States which are the concrete founders of the Union. The European Un...
The illicit use of dexamethasone and other glucocorticoids for cattle fattening in livestock prod... more The illicit use of dexamethasone and other glucocorticoids for cattle fattening in livestock production has been widely described; evidence for illegal treatments can be obtained by direct or indirect detection. In our previous study, we applied two-dimensional electrophoresis (2DE) to identify plasma protein markers of dexamethasone administration in veal calves. Comparison of 2DE maps obtained from blood samples before and after treatment showed the disappearance of two protein spots identified as serum paraoxonase/arylesterase 1 precursor (PON1). In the present study, we validated PON1 as a marker by analysing a larger number of samples treated with dexamethasone for illicit use. Analysis of samples from experimental treatment with other glucocorticoids, androgens and oestrogens confirmed that their influence on PON1 could be excluded. The specificity of the PON1 protein marker was verified on expected negative field samples to exclude interfering factors. However, there is poor statistical evidence to support a significant association between the outcome of PON1 and the considered variables. The results on field samples were compared with histological examination of the thymus as a biomarker of corticosteroid treatment monitored in the Italian histological plan for the control of growth promoters in animals. Two suspect cases were identified from two Piedmont farms where other animals had tested positive at histological examination. In conclusion, the absence of PON1 in the plasma of veal calves can indirectly reveal illicit dexamethasone treatment in individual animals and so identify suspect farms for further investigation. It is effective in a period ranging from 3 to about 10 days from illicit treatment, covering a time span that goes beyond the limits of official chemical controls and preceding histological controls on the thymus of slaughtered animals. PON1 detection in plasma can be coupled with other tests to identify illegal dexamethasone use on veal calf farms.
RIASSUNTO’applicazione a livello europeo e nazionale dei piani di eradicazione della Tubercolosi ... more RIASSUNTO’applicazione a livello europeo e nazionale dei piani di eradicazione della Tubercolosi bovina ha determinato la diminuzione nel riscontro al macello di lesioni riconducibili a stadi avanzati dell’infezione, ed il rilevamento invece di stadi iniziali. Diventa percio complesso identificare e classificare queste lesioni in aree e regioni indenni in cui la ricomparsa di focolai di infezione deve essere invece identificata rapidamente. In questo frangente l’apporto dell’esame istopatologico appare di valido ausilio, ma e indispensabile valutare la sua affidabilita in termini di sensibilita e specificita diagnostica. Nel presente lavoro e stata valutata l’accuratezza dell’esame istopatologico con colorazione ematossilina eosina, delle colorazioni Ziehl-Neelsen ed Auramina-Rodamina e della colorazione immunoistochimica con anticorpo anti-Mycobacterium bovis su 173 campioni di linfonodi bovini provenienti da soggetti con lesioni macroscopicamente evidenti considerate come sospette...
Caprine herpesvirus 1 (CpHV-1) causes neonatal mortality and reproductive failure in goats. Despi... more Caprine herpesvirus 1 (CpHV-1) causes neonatal mortality and reproductive failure in goats. Despite its impact on herd reproductive performance, few studies have investigated the risk factors associated with CpHV-1 infection. The aim of this cross-sectional study was to identify potential herd- and host-level risk factors associated with CpHV-1 prevalence in a goat population with heterogeneous seropositivity for CpHV-1. Blood samples and individual data from 4542 goats were collected from 255 herds in Piedmont, Italy. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and serum neutralization tests were carried out to detect antibodies against CpHV-1. A mixed-effects model was applied to identify any statistical association between CpHV-1 seropositivity and a set of putative host-level and herd-level risk factors. A total of 630 samples tested were found positive by ELISA (prevalence = 13.9%; 95% confidence interval (CI) 12.9-14.9). Of the 255 tested herds, 85 were classified as positive fo...
Journal of veterinary diagnostic investigation : official publication of the American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians, Inc, 2017
We report the diagnostic sensitivity of 3 EU-approved rapid tests (ELISAs; 1 from IDEXX and 2 fro... more We report the diagnostic sensitivity of 3 EU-approved rapid tests (ELISAs; 1 from IDEXX and 2 from Bio-Rad) for the detection of transmissible spongiform encephalopathy diseases in goats. Ninety-eight goat brainstem samples were tested. All the rapid tests had 100% specificity and ≥80% sensitivity, with the IDEXX test significantly more sensitive than the 2 Bio-Rad tests. All tests detected 100% of samples from goats with clinical scrapie, but missed 8% (IDEXX) to 33% (Bio-Rad SG) of samples from preclinical goats. Importantly, only IDEXX picked up all samples from clinical bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE)-infected goats, whereas the other 2 rapid tests missed 15% (Bio-Rad SG) to 25% (Bio-Rad SAP). These results show that a fraction of preclinical scrapie infections are likely missed by EU surveillance, with sensitivity of detection strongly dependent on the choice of the rapid test. Moreover, a significant proportion of clinical BSE infections are underestimated by using eith...
As a result of bovine tuberculosis eradication plans in Europe and Italy, advanced stages of the ... more As a result of bovine tuberculosis eradication plans in Europe and Italy, advanced stages of the infection are less often reported at abattoir post mortem inspection, whereas early stages of bovine tuberculosis mainly represented by primary complexes are most commonly observed. Rapid diagnosis and identification of these lesions are pivotal. In this frame the contribution of histopatological examination is helpful, but it is necessary to evaluate its sensibility and specificity. This study evaluated the accuracy of histopathological examination by hematoxylin and eosin (HE), ZN and Auramine- Rodamine staining and immunohistochemistry using polyclonal anti-Mycobacterium bovis antibody. For this purpose we analysed samples of 173 bovine lymph nodes belonging to cattle displaying suspected lesions at abattoir post-mortem inspection and with known result at mycobacterial culture. Histopathology sensitivity resulted 97.5% when the inconclusive lesion were considered as negative, and 93.4...
L'identità europea è un'identità istituzionale, fatta di norme pattuite dagli Stati membr... more L'identità europea è un'identità istituzionale, fatta di norme pattuite dagli Stati membri che sono i concreti soggetti istituenti dell'Unione. L'Unione europea, attraverso l'uguaglianza giuridica dei suoi Stati membri, dà voce a realtà economiche disuguali ed è basata sull'azione di istituzioni che si differenziano fra loro per logiche di lavoro. Ne consegue un sistema che risulta da un intreccio di accordi in cui è fondamentale la procedura che crea il sistema stesso e la base giuridica uguale per i rapporti fra attori disuguali, in quanto salda logiche di lavoro istituzionale disuguali. In quanto identità giuridico-istituzionale procedurale, l'Unione europea è un gradino nella scala dell'integrazione economica e giuridica del mondo. Parole-chiave: identità, norme, procedure, integrazione, sistema European identity is an institutional identity, made up of rules agreed by the member States which are the concrete founders of the Union. The European Un...
The illicit use of dexamethasone and other glucocorticoids for cattle fattening in livestock prod... more The illicit use of dexamethasone and other glucocorticoids for cattle fattening in livestock production has been widely described; evidence for illegal treatments can be obtained by direct or indirect detection. In our previous study, we applied two-dimensional electrophoresis (2DE) to identify plasma protein markers of dexamethasone administration in veal calves. Comparison of 2DE maps obtained from blood samples before and after treatment showed the disappearance of two protein spots identified as serum paraoxonase/arylesterase 1 precursor (PON1). In the present study, we validated PON1 as a marker by analysing a larger number of samples treated with dexamethasone for illicit use. Analysis of samples from experimental treatment with other glucocorticoids, androgens and oestrogens confirmed that their influence on PON1 could be excluded. The specificity of the PON1 protein marker was verified on expected negative field samples to exclude interfering factors. However, there is poor statistical evidence to support a significant association between the outcome of PON1 and the considered variables. The results on field samples were compared with histological examination of the thymus as a biomarker of corticosteroid treatment monitored in the Italian histological plan for the control of growth promoters in animals. Two suspect cases were identified from two Piedmont farms where other animals had tested positive at histological examination. In conclusion, the absence of PON1 in the plasma of veal calves can indirectly reveal illicit dexamethasone treatment in individual animals and so identify suspect farms for further investigation. It is effective in a period ranging from 3 to about 10 days from illicit treatment, covering a time span that goes beyond the limits of official chemical controls and preceding histological controls on the thymus of slaughtered animals. PON1 detection in plasma can be coupled with other tests to identify illegal dexamethasone use on veal calf farms.
RIASSUNTO’applicazione a livello europeo e nazionale dei piani di eradicazione della Tubercolosi ... more RIASSUNTO’applicazione a livello europeo e nazionale dei piani di eradicazione della Tubercolosi bovina ha determinato la diminuzione nel riscontro al macello di lesioni riconducibili a stadi avanzati dell’infezione, ed il rilevamento invece di stadi iniziali. Diventa percio complesso identificare e classificare queste lesioni in aree e regioni indenni in cui la ricomparsa di focolai di infezione deve essere invece identificata rapidamente. In questo frangente l’apporto dell’esame istopatologico appare di valido ausilio, ma e indispensabile valutare la sua affidabilita in termini di sensibilita e specificita diagnostica. Nel presente lavoro e stata valutata l’accuratezza dell’esame istopatologico con colorazione ematossilina eosina, delle colorazioni Ziehl-Neelsen ed Auramina-Rodamina e della colorazione immunoistochimica con anticorpo anti-Mycobacterium bovis su 173 campioni di linfonodi bovini provenienti da soggetti con lesioni macroscopicamente evidenti considerate come sospette...
Caprine herpesvirus 1 (CpHV-1) causes neonatal mortality and reproductive failure in goats. Despi... more Caprine herpesvirus 1 (CpHV-1) causes neonatal mortality and reproductive failure in goats. Despite its impact on herd reproductive performance, few studies have investigated the risk factors associated with CpHV-1 infection. The aim of this cross-sectional study was to identify potential herd- and host-level risk factors associated with CpHV-1 prevalence in a goat population with heterogeneous seropositivity for CpHV-1. Blood samples and individual data from 4542 goats were collected from 255 herds in Piedmont, Italy. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and serum neutralization tests were carried out to detect antibodies against CpHV-1. A mixed-effects model was applied to identify any statistical association between CpHV-1 seropositivity and a set of putative host-level and herd-level risk factors. A total of 630 samples tested were found positive by ELISA (prevalence = 13.9%; 95% confidence interval (CI) 12.9-14.9). Of the 255 tested herds, 85 were classified as positive fo...
Journal of veterinary diagnostic investigation : official publication of the American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians, Inc, 2017
We report the diagnostic sensitivity of 3 EU-approved rapid tests (ELISAs; 1 from IDEXX and 2 fro... more We report the diagnostic sensitivity of 3 EU-approved rapid tests (ELISAs; 1 from IDEXX and 2 from Bio-Rad) for the detection of transmissible spongiform encephalopathy diseases in goats. Ninety-eight goat brainstem samples were tested. All the rapid tests had 100% specificity and ≥80% sensitivity, with the IDEXX test significantly more sensitive than the 2 Bio-Rad tests. All tests detected 100% of samples from goats with clinical scrapie, but missed 8% (IDEXX) to 33% (Bio-Rad SG) of samples from preclinical goats. Importantly, only IDEXX picked up all samples from clinical bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE)-infected goats, whereas the other 2 rapid tests missed 15% (Bio-Rad SG) to 25% (Bio-Rad SAP). These results show that a fraction of preclinical scrapie infections are likely missed by EU surveillance, with sensitivity of detection strongly dependent on the choice of the rapid test. Moreover, a significant proportion of clinical BSE infections are underestimated by using eith...
As a result of bovine tuberculosis eradication plans in Europe and Italy, advanced stages of the ... more As a result of bovine tuberculosis eradication plans in Europe and Italy, advanced stages of the infection are less often reported at abattoir post mortem inspection, whereas early stages of bovine tuberculosis mainly represented by primary complexes are most commonly observed. Rapid diagnosis and identification of these lesions are pivotal. In this frame the contribution of histopatological examination is helpful, but it is necessary to evaluate its sensibility and specificity. This study evaluated the accuracy of histopathological examination by hematoxylin and eosin (HE), ZN and Auramine- Rodamine staining and immunohistochemistry using polyclonal anti-Mycobacterium bovis antibody. For this purpose we analysed samples of 173 bovine lymph nodes belonging to cattle displaying suspected lesions at abattoir post-mortem inspection and with known result at mycobacterial culture. Histopathology sensitivity resulted 97.5% when the inconclusive lesion were considered as negative, and 93.4...
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Papers by Francesco Ingravalle