Improving animal and human health through understanding liver fluke immunology
- Authors: Piedrafita, David , Spithill, Terry , Smith, Rebecca , Raadsma, Herman
- Date: 2010
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Parasite Immunology Vol. 32, no. 8 (2010), p. 572-581
- Full Text: false
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- Description: Sheep, goats and cattle represent the most numerous and economically important agricultural species worldwide used as sources for milk, fibre and red meat. In addition, in the developing world, these species often represent the sole asset base for small-holder livestock farmers and cattle/buffaloes often provide the majority of draught power for crop production. Production losses caused by helminth diseases of these animals are a major factor in extending the cycle of poverty in developing countries and a major food security issue for developed economies. Fasciola spp. are one of the most important zoonotic diseases with a global economic impact in livestock production systems and a poorly defined but direct effect on human health. Improvements in human and animal health will require a concerted research effort into the development of new accurate and simple diagnostic tests and increased vaccine and drug development against Fasciola infections. Here, the use of definitive natural host breeds with contrasting resistance to Fasciola infections is discussed as a resource to contrast parasite–host interactions and identify parasite immune evasion strategies. Such studies are likely to boost the discovery of new vaccine, drug and diagnostic candidates and provide the foundation for future genetic selection of resistant animals.
First Holocene cryptotephras in mainland Australia reported from sediments at Lake Keilambete, Victoria, Australia
- Authors: Smith, Rebecca , Tyler, Jonathan , Reeves, Jessica , Blockley, Simon , Jacobsen, Geraldine
- Date: 2017
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Quaternary Geochronology Vol. 40, no. (2017), p. 82-91
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: We report the first observations of Holocene cryptotephra deposits in lacustrine sediments from mainland Australia. All counts of cryptotephra shards are presented, but we focus on two prominent peaks of dark coloured glass shards representing, distinct cryptotephras within the sediments of Lake Keilambete, Victoria, southeast Australia. These two basaltic cryptotephras, aged 4589-3826 cal BP and 7149-5897 cal BP, may have derived from eruptions of Mts Gambier or Schank, South Australia. In addition, colourless shards, most likely of silicic composition and therefore unlikely to emanate from an Australian volcano were observed, suggesting a distant volcanic source beyond Australia. The presence of both the 'local' basaltic shards and the distal silicic shards highlights the potential to identify isochronous marker horizons in southern Australian sediments, thus potentially enabling a long-term goal of establishing a novel chronostratigraphic tool based on a cryptotephra network. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.