Aflatoxicosis, ochratoxicosis, and T-2 toxicosis were produced by feeding diets containing graded concentration of the appropriate toxin to broiler chicks from hatching unit 3 weeks of age. Aflatoxin, even at levels not growth inhibitory, produced a malabsorption syndrome characterized by steatorrhea, hypocarotenoidemia, and decreased concentrations of bile salts and pancreatic lipase, trypsin, amylase, and RNase. The T-2 toxin at concentrations higher than required to inhibit growth produced a mild malabsorption syndrome characterized by steatorrhea and decreased levels of pancreatic lipase, trypsin, amylase, and RNase. The only suggestion of malabsorption during ochratoxicosis was a severe hypocarotenoidemia. The following observations indicated a lack of correlation between lipid malabsorption and hypocarotenoidemia. The T-2 toxicosis exhibited lipid malabsorption in the absence of hypocarotenoidemia, ochratoxicosis exhibited hypocarotenoidemia in the absence of lipid malabsorption, and aflatoxicosis exhibited both symptoms. These findings imply that carotenoids are physiologically active compounds with specific metabolic processes and are not inert substances swept along with lipids as is commonly assumed from the ability to grow apparently healthy birds free of carotenoids. The current findings also indicate that great specificities exist in mycotoxicoses despite superficial similarities.

Dietary aflatoxin at concentrations of 1.25 microgram/g or above caused in broiler chickens a significant (P less than .05) decrease in the specific activities of pancreatic amylase, trypsin, lipase, RNase, and DNase. These enzymes are the primary enzymes of digestion for starches, protein, lipid, and nucleic acids. At concentrations of 2.5 microgram/g or above there was a compensatory pancreatomegaly that resulted in essentially normal total activity for trypsin, RNase, and DNase. Thus, aflatoxicosis was associated with reduced activity levels of enzymes that digest starch and lipid. This digestive deficiency could account for a malabsorption syndrome observed in field outbreaks of aflatoxicosis.

Graded levels of dietary aflatoxin (0, .625, 1.25, 2.5, 5 and 10 microgram/g) were tested for their effect on lipid excretion in feces of young broiler chickens. There was a highly significant (P less than .01) increase at 1.25 microgram/g and above including a threefold increase at 10 microgram/g, while growth rate was decreased only at levels of 2.5 microgram/g and above. Pancreatic lipase, the primary fat digestive enzyme, was decreased significantly (P less than .05) at all levels of aflatoxin and at 10 microgram/g was only 40% of the control value, Bile, which is required for lipid digestion and absorption, was decreased highly significantly (P less than .01) in concentration by all growth inhibition levels of aflatoxin. A slight but significant ( P less than .05) increase in bladder size at growth inhibitory levels of aflatoxin appeared adequate to compensate for decreased bile concentration. A pair feeding technique showed the effect of aflatoxin on fecal lipids and pancreatic lipase occurred in diets low (2%) or high (17%) in fat. The steatorrhea caused by aflatoxin apparently reflects a lipid malabsorption syndrome caused by an impaired ability to digest lipids.

Design professionals have not often been consulted regarding devastation after natural disasters. Most solutions and techniques of natural disaster-related recovery emphasize infrastructure engineering and food provision. Whereas recovery efforts and basic survival demand that food delivery and movement be facilitated in such areas, issues designers concern themselves with are seldom considered. Designers' focus is on integration of ecological and cultural concerns in planning for disaster recovery. Indeed, after events such as the Southeast Asian tsunami of 2004, societies must start again with few material objects but with an extensive cultural consciousness. This paper addresses the role that designers play in such a situation. It is suggested how designers and other professionals can facilitate a series of best practices in disaster recovery. Overviews of large-scale disasters from three countries show how cultural and ecological considerations are the two elements most needed in disaster planning, both pre and post-event. Suggestions are made about how these elements may be best incorporated into future eco-culturally-based recovery efforts. Evaluation of design precedents used to renovate the natural and built environment is a positive and necessary framework for recovery.

Between 2000 and 2004, a 12-state consortium in the southeastern United States used a “train-the-trainer” effort to introduce good agricultural practices (GAPs) to the region's fresh produce growers, packers, and consumers. Supported by the National Food Safety Initiative, the consortium created and implemented training by using a program and supporting materials specifically applicable to conditions and commodities in southern states. Because several factors distinguish the southeastern U.S. fresh produce industry from that of other regions in the U.S., a region-specific training program addressing distinguishing factors was needed. Distinguishing factors include: 1) southeastern U.S. producers are typically grower-packers, with some notable exceptions in Florida and Texas; 2) most such producer entities are seasonal, have their own packinghouse operation, are small-scale in that they pick what they grow and pack and often use migrant and seasonal labor; 3) modern worker training, sanitary practice, and facilities and supervisory expertise are either somewhat limited or completely lacking; and 4) the use of seasonal and migrant labor dictates the use of Spanish language interpreters and training. To meet fresh produce food safety training needs for the region, project leaders created a 329-page training program and associated PowerPoint presentation-containing compact disc, nine four-page crop-specific brochures relating GAPs to crop “groups,” a Spanish language handwashing video and a new model recall program for the fresh produce industry. The leveraging effect of this train-the-trainer effort ultimately reached nearly 20,000 people in this multi-disciplinary, multi-state, integrated project, thus expanding and reinforcing regional cooperative extension efforts.