“Biomarkers in a One Health perspective: current knowledge of their ability to merge human and animal health

Biomarkers are nowadays essential tools to be one step ahead for fighting disease, enabling an enhanced focus on disease prevention and on the probability of its occurrence. Research in a multidisciplinary approach has been an important step towards the repeated discovery of new biomarkers. Biomarkers are defined as biochemical measurable indicators of the presence of disease or as indicators for monitoring disease progression. Currently, biomarkers have been used in several domains such as oncology, neurology, cardiovascular, inflammatory and respiratory disease, and several endocrinopathies. Bridging biomarkers in a One Health perspective has been proven useful in almost all of these domains. In oncology, humans and animals are found to be subject to the same environmental and genetic predisposing factors: examples include the existence of mutations in BR-CA1 gene predisposing to breast cancer, both in human and dogs, with increased prevalence in certain dog breeds and human ethnic groups. Also, breast feeding frequency and duration has been related to a decreased risk of breast cancer in women and bitches. When it comes to infectious diseases, this parallelism is prone to be even more important, for as much as 75% of all emerging diseases are believed to be zoonotic. Examples of successful use of biomarkers have been found in several zoonotic diseases such as Ebola, dengue, leptospirosis or West Nile virus infections. Acute Phase Proteins (APPs) have been used for quite some time as biomarkers of inflammatory conditions. These have been used in human health but also in the veterinary field such as in mastitis evaluation and PRRS (porcine respiratory and reproductive syndrome) diagnosis. Advantages rely on the fact that these biomarkers can be much easier to assess than other conventional disease diagnostic approaches (example: measured in easy to collect saliva samples). Another domain in which biomarkers have been essential is food safety: the possibility to measure exposure to chemical contaminants or other biohazards present in the food chain, which are sometimes analytical challenges due to their low bioavailability in body fluids, is nowadays a major breakthrough. Finally, biomarkers are considered the key to provide more personalized therapies, with more efficient outcomes and fewer side effects. This approach is expected to be the correct path to follow also in veterinary medicine, in the near future.

Geographical and environmental correlates of big and small game in Andalusia (southern Spain)

In Andalusia, southern Spain, each game estate applies its own rules and presents its results in annual hunting reports, which have been mandatory for Spanish game estates since 1989. We used the information about hunting yields, included in 32134 annual hunting reports produced during the period 1993/94 to 2001/02 by 6049 game estates, to determine the current distribution of hunting yields of big and small game species in Andalusia. Using generalised linear models and a geographic information system, we determined the most favourable municipalities to big and small game, respectively, and delimited potential areas to attain good hunting yields for big and small game at a 1-km2 resolution. Municipalities and areas favourable to big game are mainly located in the Sierra Morena and the westernmost fringe of the Betic Range, while those favourable to small game occupy the upper Guadalquivir River valley. There is a clear segregation between big and small game species according to the physiography and land uses of the territory. Big game species are typical of Mediterranean woodland areas, while the most emblematic small game species prefer agricultural areas. Our results provide a territorial ordination of hunting yields in southern Spain and have several potential applications in strategic planning for hunting activities and biodiversity conservation in Andalusia that can be extrapolated to other regions.

Land use and environmental factors affecting red-legged partridge (Alectoris rufa) hunting yields in southern Spain

The red-legged partridge is a small game species widely hunted in southern Spain. Its commercial use has important socioeconomic effects in rural areas where other agrarian uses are of marginal importance. The aims of the present work were to identify areas in Andalusia (southern Spain) where game yields for the red-legged partridge reach high values and to establish the environmental and land use factors that determine them. We analysed 32,134 annual hunting reports (HRs) produced by 6,049 game estates during the hunting seasons 1993/1994 to 2001/2002 to estimate the average hunting yields of red-legged partridge in each Andalusian municipality (n=771). We modelled the favourability for obtaining good hunting yields using stepwise logistic regression on a set of climatic, topographical, land use and vegetation variables that were available as digital coverages or tabular data applied to municipalities. Good hunting yields occur mainly in plain areas located in the Guadalquivir valley, at the bottom of Betic Range and in the Betic depressions. Favourable areas are related to highly mechanised, lowelevation areas mainly dedicated to intensive dry crops. The most favourable areas predicted by our model are mainly located in the Guadalquivir valley.

Distinguishing the distributions of two cryptic frogs (Anura: Discoglossidae) using molecular data and environmental modeling

Currently, the identification of two cryptic Iberian amphibians, Discoglossus galganoi Capula, Nascetti, Lanza, Bullini and Crespo, 1985 and Discoglossus jeanneae Busack, 1986, relies on molecular characterization. To provide a means to discern the distributions of these species, we used 385-base-pair sequences of the cytochrome b gene to identify 54 Spanish populations of Discoglossus. These data and a series of environmental variables were used to build up a logistic regression model capable of probabilistically designating a specimen of Discoglossus found in any Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) grid cell of 10 km × 10 km to one of the two species. Western longitudes, wide river basins, and semipermeable (mainly siliceous) and sandstone substrates favored the presence of D. galganoi, while eastern longitudes, mountainous areas, severe floodings, and impermeable (mainly clay) or basic (limestone and gypsum) substrates favored D. jeanneae. Fifteen percent of the UTM cells were predicted to be shared by both species, whereas 51% were clearly in favor of D. galganoi and 34% were in favor of D. jeanneae, considering odds of 4:1. These results suggest that these two species have parapatric distributions and allow for preliminary identification of potential secondary contact areas. The method applied here can be generalized and used for other geographic problems posed by cryptic species.