Stefania Cavallo

Feline leishmaniosis (FeL) is still considered an emerging and neglected disease. Cats, once considered accidental hosts, are now recognized as adjunctive reservoirs of the disease, especially in areas where canine (CanL) and human (HumL) leishmaniosis are widespread. Although often asymptomatic, infected cats could contribute to the transmission cycle of the parasite. Recent studies in Campania (Italy) have found a significant prevalence of feline infection, indicating the need to implement diagnostic and surveillance protocols to prevent the spread of the disease. The aim of the study was to outline the current scenario by studying the prevalence of FeL in Campania to identifying the potential zoonotic risk and in addition to validate the Immunofluorescence Antibody Test (IFAT) method for the diagnosis of leishmaniosis in cats. The study involved initially 702 cats; for each cat, a clinical record was compiled, including identification data, anamnesis, and clinical findings. Due to incomplete information, statistical analysis was performed only on a subset of 601 cats. A blood sample was collected to obtain serum/plasma specimens. When feasible, a lymph node fine-needle aspiration was performed. The observed seroprevalence rate was 32.1% (193/601), with a higher seroprevalence in outdoor cats and the presence of asymptomatic seropositive animals (28.0%;54/193), suggesting that felines may act as silent reservoirs of Leishmania infantum. An excellent result was obtained for the validation and standardization of the analytical IFAT method for the diagnosis of feline leishmaniasis; therefore, an inter-laboratory test has been carried out to establish the dilution cut-off at ≥1:80 as compatible with infection. Furthermore, a xenodiagnosis examination was conducted on a cat that was infected to more accurately evaluate the possibility of asymptomatic cats acting as carriers of the infection; however, this test resulted negative.

A comparative analysis of testicular tumors in dogs and humans highlights notable similarities in cancer behavior, particularly regarding environmental influences. The ubiquitous distribution of endocrine disruptors in industrialized countries and their effects are strongly linked to the development of testicular cancers. This study examined 221 and 174 cases of testicular tumor in dogs and humans, respectively, from the Campania Animal Cancer Registry and the database of the National Cancer Institute “Fondazione G. Pascale-IRCCS”, between 2020 and 2023. These data were integrated with environmental data from the Ministry of Environment and Energy Security website and the Campania Regional Agency for Environmental Protection (ARPAC). The areas with the highest frequency of testicular tumors in both species were the municipalities of Napoli, Salerno, and Caserta, and their corresponding provinces. The same locations experienced severe contamination of soil and water by environmental pollutants, probably correlated to testicular tumors. Although the molecular mechanisms are not yet fully understood, our data suggest a strong link between the frequency of testicular tumors in humans and dogs and high concentrations of environmental pollutants in the reported locations. These findings emphasize the value of dogs as a potential animal model for studying human health and the effect of environmental factors on cancer development.

Neoplastic disease in dogs and humans has many similarities, including similar clinical manifestations, metastatic potential, and genomic instability. However, tumor latency is shorter in dogs, which may serve as a sentinel for the identification of carcinogenic environmental exposures. This study aims to describe the data collected in the Animal Tumor Registry (RTA) of the Campania Region in the period 2018-2022, with particular attention to the incidence rates of malignant tumors in dogs, divided by province. RTA tumor cases received by the Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale del Mezzogiorno were analyzed; out of a total of 885 tumors, 70% were malignant, with a higher frequency in female dogs. The crude and standardized incidence rate of malignant tumors in dogs was calculated on a provincial basis. Caserta showed the highest incidence rate for both malignant tumors [incidence rate: 135.07 per 100,000; 95% confidence interval (CI): 135.01-135.13] and mammary tumors (incidence rate: 52.75 per 100,000; 95% CI: 52.69-52.80). The results highlight the importance of tumor monitoring in dogs as an indicator of potential environmental risk factors and underline the value of the RTA for the collection of data useful for the prevention and study of neoplastic diseases, as well as in humans.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the association between consumers' experience of COVID-19 and changes in their food purchasing decisions during the lockdown as a result of their risk perception. An online questionnaire was created to analyze consumer purchasing behavior and awareness during the pandemic. At the end of the online administration period, the replies collected were downloaded. A descriptive analysis of the data was carried out through the construction of tables of individual variables; for each variable, the patterns, frequencies, and percentages with which they occurred were determined. Subsequently, a multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) was conducted; this is one of the most widely used statistical techniques for the “multiple” analysis of qualitative or mixed data collected through questionnaires. The final extraction of the completed questionnaires returned the replies of 114 individuals. In the MCA, not all the variables of the matrix were considered, as they were not proportional to the number of individuals. We considered 7 active variables and 1 supplementary variable, which contributed to the formation of factors. The most notable pattern was that those people who were most worried about the risk of contagion not only sanitized their purchases but also reduced their online purchases and deliveries, believing that these measures could reduce the risk of contagion.

The aim of this research was to investigate the effects of the prolonged use of the broad-spectrum antimicrobial widely used in animal husbandry. By means of a mouse model, a translational study was carried out on immunocompetent mice (with a complete immune system). This study highlighted the effect of antimicrobial residues taken in with food on the growth time of cancer and on alterations to the gut microbiota. This project considered the fight against antimicrobial resistance from a One Health perspectivethrough collaboration between human medicine and veterinary medicine. Regarding food safety, antimicrobial residues in products of animal origin are rarely detected; they therefore constitute a negligible factor in determining colorectal cancer.

Accidental fires present a significant and growing threat to ecosystems, communities, and economies worldwide. This paper presents the development and implementation of Smoketracer, a novel on-demand application empowered by advanced computational workflows for fast response to accidental fire and effects mitigation. The DAGonStar workflow engine orchestrates the application leveraging a brand-new ad-hoc file system, turning the workflow:// schema used to define the tasks' data dependencies into an actual user-space distributed in-RAM storage. Although the evaluation results of the DAGon File System (DAGonFS) are still preliminary, the performance of file copy operations is from 31% up to 63% faster than the baseline (shared scratch directory hosted on mechanical hard drives). The accidental fires application wall clock is reduced by 57% when using the DAGonFS on four data nodes.

Ethnic food is produced by an ethnic group—using their familiarity with local ingredients of plants and/or animal origin—and it is consumed in a country other than the country of origin. In Italy, the ethnic food market has expanded over the last three decades. The aim of this study was to evaluate the correct labeling, the microbiological communities and the allergens present in 50 ethnic foods. The visual inspection of labels and microbiological and allergen analyses have been carried out for evaluating their food safety. The visual inspection of labels revealed the absence of labeling in Italian and/or a failure to specify the place of origin. Microbiological analyses showed the absence of pathogens (i.e., Salmonella spp., Listeria monocytogenes and E. coli 0157:H7) in all matrices, but the presence of process hygiene indicator bacteria (total bacterial count, Coagulase-positive Staphylococci, Bacillus cereus, coliforms, yeasts and molds) was found in 37 samples. With regard to allergens, 12 samples were non-compliant for the presence of at least one allergen, while only two products were of species different from those declared on the label. This research highlights the need to increase the control of ethnic foods and also to improve the labeling system by standardizing international regulations.