Bovine TB found in wild boar for first time in UK

domingo, 13 de junio de 2010
A group of scientists have recently performed tests on a 60 kg female wild boar in the UK founding signs of bovine tuberculosis. This discover is the first of its kind in the UK and has raised some concern among the farmers. They think this could contribute to the presence of this disease in cattle, but researchers say this species has a low risk of spread the disease.
The study is conducted for the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), which recently has said: "This finding does not change our risk assessment of the roles of other wildlife at present and we continue to monitor confirmed cases of TB in all animals, including wildlife, as part of our ongoing TB surveillance."
DEFRA also said the main risk for human become infected is the handling of infected wild boars or their carcasses in field. So they recommend basic hygiene practices and the wearing of protective equipment to prevent the contact with aerosols.
The wild boar joins to the list of wild reservoirs of bovine tuberculosis. Some animals of this list, like badgers, are considered a real threat for some governments, like Wales which performs culling on them. The UK promotes the culling of some animals like wild deer when the levels of infection are too high. Scientists are divided about this measure is really effective.

ps: this is the main article http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/may/21/bovine-tb-found-in-wild-boar

The Faculty

domingo, 6 de junio de 2010

I must admit that I love my faculty because it has a lot of good things (to me) that others don't, like the green areas. But I reckon that it has a lot of facilities deficiencies too.
Firstly, the restrooms, at least the male ones, are so far away from everything and the only one which is in a central place is too little and old. I know it's too difficult to build new restrooms in better places, but at least the most used one should be remodelled.
Another problem I could tell is about the cafeteria. This place doesn't have structural deficiencies but it has serious quality problems. The menu is too limited and expensive, and the food is bad cooked and the portions are so small. In addition, sometimes you can found some insects in your salad or a piece of steel in your soup. This is a serious issue because this is the only cafeteria in the faculty and the services that it offers should have a minimum of quality. Several times the students have complained about it writing letters to the authorities of the faculty but all remains in the same state. Considering this, the only solution I see is the changing of management.
To finish I'd like to mention something that many people could consider anecdotic but to me, is a bit worrying. The faculty is now in a remodeling process: the walls are being repainted, there are new lawns and there are new signs which are written in Spanish and English. The issue is that some of them have misspelled words which is a very shameful thing considering that it belongs the best University in the country. Everytime I see them I feel ashamed about it. The solution is easy: rewrite them!