Calf health from birth to weaning. III. housing and management of calf pneumonia

Background

The objective of this study was to describe aspects of case study herds investigated by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (DAFF) in which animal welfare incidents occurred and to identify key performance indicators (KPIs) that can be monitored to enhance the Early Warning System (EWS). Despite an EWS being in place for a number of years, animal welfare incidents continue to occur. Questionnaires regarding welfare incidents were sent to Superintending Veterinary Inspectors (SVIs), resulting in 18 herds being chosen as case study herds, 12 of which had a clearly defined welfare incident date. For each study herd, data on six potential KPIs were extracted from DAFF databases. The KPIs for those herds with a clearly defined welfare incident date were studied for a consecutive four year window, with the fourth year being the 'incident year', when the welfare incident was disclosed. For study herds without a clearly defined welfare incident date, the KPIs were determined on a yearly basis between 2001 and 2009.

Results

We found that the late registration of calves, the use of on-farm burial as a method of carcase disposal, an increasing number of moves to knackeries over time and records of animals moved to 'herd unknown' were notable on the case farms.

Conclusion

Four KPIs were prominent on the case study farms and warrant further investigation in control herds to determine their potential to provide a framework for refining current systems of early warning and prevention.     

CsBi(4)Te(6): A high-performance thermoelectric material for low-temperature applications

Thermoelectric (Peltier) heat pumps are capable of refrigerating solid or fluid objects, and unlike conventional vapor compressor systems, they can be miniaturized without loss of efficiency. More efficient thermoelectric materials need to be identified, especially for low-temperature applications in electronics and devices. The material CsBi(4)Te(6) has been synthesized and its properties have been studied. When doped appropriately, it exhibits a high thermoelectric figure of merit below room temperature (ZT(max) approximately 0.8 at 225 kelvin). At cryogenic temperatures, the thermoelectric properties of CsBi(4)Te(6) appear to match or exceed those of Bi(2-x)Sb(x)Te(3-y)Se(y) alloys.     

Out of Eden: stem cells and their niches

Stem cells are currently in the news for two reasons: the successful cultivation of human embryonic stem cell lines and reports that adult stem cells can differentiate into developmentally unrelated cell types, such as nerve cells into blood cells. Both intrinsic and extrinsic signals regulate stem cell fate and some of these signals have now been identified. Certain aspects of the stem cell microenvironment, or niche, are conserved between tissues, and this can be exploited in the application of stem cells to tissue replacement therapy.     

Perceptions of Quality of Life and Priorities of Owners of Cats with Heart Disease

Background: Owners' perceptions and priorities regarding quality of life (QoL) are important considerations given the unknown efficacy of many commonly administered medications, stress of hospital visits, difficulties providing home care, and personal choices including euthanasia. Objective: To describe the relative importance of quality versus quantity of life to owners of cats with heart disease. Animals: Two hundred and thirty‐nine cats with heart disease. Methods: Prospective questionnaire‐based clinical study. Cat owners completed a questionnaire to identify important parameters when assessing their cat's QoL, the relative importance of quality versus quantity of life, and willingness to trade survival time for QoL. Variables associated with these parameters were evaluated with multivariate analyses. Results: Appetite, owner interaction, sleep patterns, and litterbox habits were deemed important to QoL. Concern over pet suffering was significantly greater than concern over life expectancy. Ninety‐three percent of owners were willing to trade survival time for good QoL; 57% of these were willing to trade up to 6 months. On multivariate analysis, the only factor significantly (P= .002) associated with willingness to trade 6 months was study site. Owner concern regarding stress of administering medications at home increased with number and frequency of medications. Conclusions and Clinical Relevance: These results indicated that QoL is more important to owners of cats with heart disease than longevity. The various priorities and concerns of cat owners should be taken into account in order to provide optimal care.     

Adolescent Male Chimpanzees at Ngogo, Kibale National Park, Uganda Have Decided Dominance Relationships

Dominance relationships are common among primates, and are usually the result of resource competition. Adult male chimpanzees have pronounced dominance relationships, and can be ranked relative to one another in dominance hierarchies. Adult male chimpanzees achieve, and maintain, high rank through a combination of physical size, strength and political ability. Dominance in male chimpanzees has very real benefits as high-ranking males have priority access to resources and potential mates, and father more offspring than do low-ranking conspecifics. Previous research has suggested that adolescent male chimpanzees do not have dominance relationships with each other. Here, I report the first evidence of decided dominance relationships and a linear dominance hierarchy in adolescent male chimpanzees from an unusually large community of wild chimpanzees at Ngogo, Kibale National Park, Uganda.     

Release of plant-available silicon from various silicon-rich amendments into soil solutions and leachates

Journal of Soils and Sediments - This study assessed the efficacy of selected silicon-rich soil amendments in terms of their ability to provide dissolved silicon (Si) to soil solutions during a...