During the last few years, many Danish dairy farmers have expressed increasing concerns regarding a group of cows, which we have chosen to term ‘loser cows’. Until now, a loser cow has not been described scientifically. We defined a loser cow on the basis of a clinical examination of the cow. A total of 15,151 clinical examinations were made on 6,451 individual cows from 39 randomly selected, large Danish dairy herds with loose-housing systems using a clinical protocol. Scores for the clinical signs lameness, body condition, hock lesions, other cutaneous lesions, vaginal discharge, condition of hair coat and general condition were converted into a loser cow score. Cows with a loser cow score of 8 or more were classified as loser cows. The overall prevalence of loser cows was 2.15%, 4.50% and 2.98% during the first, second and third round of herd visits, respectively.
The associations between the loser cow state and milk production, mortality, morbidity, culling and workload for the farmer were evaluated using data from herd visits and from the Danish Cattle Database and a number of different statistical techniques. It was concluded that the loser cow state has significant negative consequences for both the farmer and the cow. On average, loser cows yielded 0.61 to 2.24 kg energy corrected milk less per day than non-loser cows depending on parity. Hazard ratio for death or euthanasia was 5.69 for loser cows compared to non-loser cows. Incidence rate ratio for disease treatments was 0.69 for non-loser cows compared to loser cows. Loser cows were often culled in an ‘unfavourable’ way and generally caused extra workload for the farmer.
A simplified version of the loser cow score was evaluated and is recommended for future research and use in practice. 相似文献
Quantitative multi-elemental analysis by inductively coupled plasma (ICP) spectrometry depends on a complete digestion of
solid samples. However, fast and thorough sample digestion is a challenging analytical task which constitutes a bottleneck
in modern multi-elemental analysis. Additional obstacles may be that sample quantities are limited and elemental concentrations
low. In such cases, digestion in small volumes with minimum dilution and contamination is required in order to obtain high
accuracy data. 相似文献
Application of sequential solvent extraction, followed by HPLC combined with the taste dilution analysis, enabled the localization of the most intense velvety astringent, drying, and puckering astringent, as well as bitter-tasting, compounds in red wine, respectively. Isolation of the taste components involving gel adsorption chromatography, ultrafiltration, and synthesis revealed the identification of 26 sensory-active nonvolatiles, among which several hydroxybenzoic acids, hydroxycinnamic acids, flavon-3-ol glycosides, and dihydroflavon-3-ol rhamnosides as well as a structurally undefined polymeric fraction (>5 kDa) were identified as the key astringent components. In contradiction to literature suggestions, flavan-3-ols were found to be not of major importance for astringency and bitter taste, respectively. Surprisingly, a series of hydroxybenzoic acid ethyl esters and hydroxycinnamic acid ethyl esters were identified as bitter compounds in wine. Taste qualities and taste threshold concentrations of the individual wine components were determined by means of a three-alternative forced-choice test and the half-mouth test, respectively. 相似文献
In the 1970s unexpected forest damages, called “new type of forest damage” or “forest decline”, were observed in Germany and
other European countries. The Federal Republic of Germany and the German Federal States implemented a forest monitoring system
in the early 1980s, in order to monitor and assess the forest condition. Due to the growing public awareness of possible adverse
effects of air pollution on forests, in 1985 the ICP Forests was launched under the convention on long-range transboundary
air pollution (CLRTAP) of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UN-ECE). The German experience in forest monitoring
was a base for the implementation of the European monitoring system. In 2001 the interdisciplinary case study “concept and
feasibility study for the integrated evaluation of environmental monitoring data in forests”, funded by the German Federal
Ministry of Education and Research, concentrated on in-depths evaluations of the German data of forest monitoring. The objectives
of the study were: (a) a reliable assessment of the vitality and functioning of forest ecosystems, (b) the identification
and quantification of factors influencing forest vitality, and (c) the clarification of cause-effect-relationships leading
to leaf/needle loss. For these purposes additional data from external sources were acquired: climate and deposition, for selected
level I plots tree growth data, as well as data on groundwater quality. The results show that in particular time series analysis
(crown condition, tree growth, and tree ring analysis), in combination with climate and deposition are valuable and informative,
as well as integrated evaluation of soil, tree nutrition and crown condition data. Methods to combine information from the
extensive and the intensive monitoring, and to transfer process information to the large scale should be elaborated in future.
‘Conserving Nature’s stage’ has been advanced as an important conservation principle because of known links between biodiversity and abiotic environmental diversity, especially in sensitive high-latitude environments and at the landscape scale. However these links have not been examined across gradients of human impact on the landscape.
Objectives
To (1) analyze the relationships between land-use intensity and both landscape-scale biodiversity and geodiversity, and (2) assess the contributions of geodiversity, climate and spatial variables to explaining vascular plant species richness in landscapes of low, moderate and high human impact.
Methods
We used generalized additive models (GAMs) to analyze relationships between land-use intensity and both geodiversity (geological, geomorphological and hydrological richness) and plant species richness in 6191 1-km2 grid squares across Finland. We used linear regression-based variation partitioning (VP) to assess contributions of climate, geodiversity and spatial variable groups to accounting for spatial variation in species richness.
Results
In GAMs, geodiversity correlated negatively, and plant species richness positively, with land-use intensity. Both relationships were non-linear. In VP, geodiversity best accounted for species richness in areas of moderate to high human impact. These overall contributions were mainly due to variation explained jointly with climate, which dominated the models. Independent geodiversity contributions were highest in pristine environments, but low throughout.
Conclusions
Human action increases biodiversity but may reduce geodiversity, at landscape scale in high-latitude environments. Better understanding of the connections between biodiversity and abiotic environment along changing land-use gradients is essential in developing sustainable measures to conserve biodiversity under global change.
To study the effects of MK-467, a peripheral α2-adrenoceptor antagonist, on sedation, heart rate and blood pressure after intramuscular (IM) coadministration with 25 μg kg?1 of dexmedetomidine in cats.
A total of eight healthy, adult, neutered male cats.
Methods
Cats were administered five IM treatments at least 2 weeks apart, consisting of dexmedetomidine 25 μg kg?1 (D25), MK-467 600 μg kg?1 (M600) and D25 combined with 300, 600 and 1200 μg kg?1 of MK-467 (D25M300, D25M600 and D25M1200, respectively). Heart rate and direct arterial blood pressure were recorded via telemetry and sedation assessed prior to treatments and at intervals for 8 hours thereafter.
Results
Heart rate decreased significantly after all treatments with dexmedetomidine and remained below baseline up to 240 (D25), 20 (D25M300) and 3 minutes (D25M600 and D25M1200). Mean arterial pressure (MAP) increased with D25, remained unchanged with M600 and decreased over time with all combination treatments. The highest and lowest MAP after each treatment were 168 ± 17 and 100 ± 14 (D25), 157 ± 18 and 79 ± 11 (D25M300), 153 ± 11 and 74 ± 10 (D25M600), 144 ± 12 and 69 ± 7 (D25M1200) and 136 ± 9 and 104 ± 13 mmHg (M600). All treatments with dexmedetomidine produced sedation although its duration was significantly reduced by the addition of MK-467.
Conclusions and clinical relevance
Dexmedetomidine induced bradycardia and hypertension, which were attenuated by all three doses of MK-467. The duration of sedation was reduced by MK-467. MK-467 may improve the cardiovascular tolerance of IM dexmedetomidine in cats. 相似文献
Objective: To determine the antinociceptive effects of epidural administration of morphine or buprenorphine in cats by use of a thermal threshold model. ANIMALS: 6 healthy adult cats. PROCEDURES: Baseline thermal threshold was determined in duplicate. Cats were anesthetized with isoflurane in oxygen. Morphine (100 microg/kg diluted with saline [0.9% NaCl] solution to a total volume of 0.3 mL/kg), buprenorphine (12.5 microg/kg diluted with saline solution to a total volume of 0.3 mL/kg), or saline solution (0.3 mL/kg) was administered into the epidural space according to a Latin square design. Thermal threshold was determined at various times up to 24 hours after epidural injection. RESULTS: Epidural administration of saline solution did not affect thermal threshold. Thermal threshold was significantly higher after epidural administration of morphine and buprenorphine, compared with the effect of saline solution, from 1 to 16 hours and 1 to 10 hours, respectively. Maximum (cutout) temperature was reached without the cat reacting in 0, 74, and 11 occasions in the saline solution, morphine, and buprenorphine groups, respectively. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Epidural administration of morphine and buprenorphine induced thermal antinociception in cats. At the doses used in this study, the effect of morphine lasted longer and was more intense than that of buprenorphine. 相似文献