The British pig health schemes: integrated systems for large-scale pig abattoir lesion monitoring

Pig health schemes based on abattoir inspections provide an integrated system to optimise the postmortem detection and the reporting of pathological lesions. In Great Britain, two initiatives have been implemented by the pig industry: Wholesome Pigs Scotland (WPS) and the BPEX Pig Health Scheme (BPHS). These schemes record the presence of a range of pathological lesions detected by means of detailed inspection of the pluck and the skin of the slaughtered pigs. The lesions are those associated with a reduction in performance traits or are indicators of animal welfare problems. This paper aims to provide an overview of the objectives behind the BPHS and their activities, outlining similarities and differences between WPS and BPHS on five main operational topics: the lesions monitored, the administration of the schemes, flow of the information, inspection strategies and the major idiosyncratic characteristics of the schemes. These initiatives inform individual producers and their veterinarians of the occurrence of pathological conditions affecting their pig herds. Additionally, they offer the added value of providing nationwide disease monitoring information and have the potential to be a useful surveillance tool for emerging and enzootic conditions.     

Epidemiology and impact of Neospora caninum infection in three Queensland tropical dairy herds

This study investigated the epidemiology of Neospora caninum in three tropical dairy herds in North Queensland, Australia. All animals in the herds were bled, and the sera were tested by ELISA for N. caninum antibodies. Herd records were examined, and the number of calves carried to term and the number of abortions which occurred over the lifetime of each animal were recorded to determine the abortion rate for each animal. Pedigrees were constructed for two of the herds to investigate whether vertical transmission was occurring. The seroprevalence of N. caninum ranged from 23% to 34%. The abortion rate in seropositive animals was significantly (p < 0.001) higher than in seronegative animals in all three herds (12-20.1% cf. 3.6-7%). Overall, the probability of a calf being seropositive was 3.5 times higher when the dam was also seropositive than when the dam was seronegative. Subsequent selective breeding employed by one herd reduced the N. caninum seroprevalence from 23% to 5% over a 9-year period. This study shows that N. caninum infection is prevalent in North Queensland dairy cattle, and both post-natal infection and vertical transmission are common.     

The structure of the upper atmosphere of mars: In situ accelerometer measurements from mars global surveyor

The Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) z-axis accelerometer has obtained over 200 vertical structures of thermospheric density, temperature, and pressure, ranging from 110 to 170 kilometers, compared to only three previous such vertical structures. In November 1997, a regional dust storm in the Southern Hemisphere triggered an unexpectedly large thermospheric response at mid-northern latitudes, increasing the altitude of thermospheric pressure surfaces there by as much as 8 kilometers and indicating a strong global thermospheric response to a regional dust storm. Throughout the MGS mission, thermospheric density bulges have been detected on opposite sides of the planet near 90 degreesE and 90 degreesW, in the vicinity of maximum terrain heights. This wave 2 pattern may be caused by topographically-forced planetary waves propagating up from the lower atmosphere.     

Antagonism of detomidine with tolazoline in isoflurane-anaesthetised ponies

The effects of tolazoline (4.0 mg/kg iv) antagonism of detomidine (0.02 mg/kg iv) were evaluated in isoflurane-anaesthetised, ventilated ponies. Each of 6 ponies received both tolazoline and saline treatment during separate anaesthetic episodes only (no surgery was performed). Detomidine administration produced an increase in blood pressure, decrease in heart rate and decrease in P_aO₂ Tolazoline treatment transiently increased heart rate while blood pressure returned to baseline after both treatments. Arterial oxygenation decreased further after tolazoline treatment while oxgenation recovered towards baseline with saline treatment. No other cardiopulmonary effects were detected. Recovery from anaesthesia tended to be more rapid when detomidine was antagonized. The potential benefit of antagonizing detomidine-induced bradycardia with tolazoline, during isoflurane anaesthesia should be weighed against the potential to produce a decrease in arterial oxygenation. The mechanism for this effect is not clear.     

Risk factors for hide contamination of Scottish cattle at slaughter with Escherichia coli O157

In the slaughter processing of cattle, contaminated hides have been identified as one of the major sources of Escherichia coli O157 carcase contamination. Logistic regression analysis was applied to data collected in a large scale study in Scotland involving 222 cattle forming 34 groups sent for slaughter from 30 farms to 10 slaughterhouses. Aspects of individual animal characteristics, farm management practices and slaughterhouse features were examined to identify potential risk factors for hide contamination at harvest. Two models were developed, the first in which slaughterhouse was modelled as a fixed effect, and a second model where slaughterhouse and farm groups were modelled as random effects. In the first model, there was a significantly increased risk of a carcase testing positive for E. coli O157 on the hide if either the hide of the carcase immediately before or after it on the line was contaminated (OR 3.6; 95% CI: 1.4–9.9). If both adjacent carcases had contaminated hides, the odds ratio for the study carcase having a contaminated hide rose to 11.5 (95% CI: 4.4–32.5). If animals were held in lairage, receiving hay as feed appeared to have a protective effect on hide contamination. Transportation to the slaughterhouse by haulier, as opposed to transport by the farmer, was associated with a 5.4 increase in the odds of E. coli O157 contamination. The use of a crush in the lairage, often employed when reading ear tags, was also found to significantly increase the odds of hide contamination with E. coli O157. In the second model, the inclusion of slaughterhouse and farm group as random effects resulted in two of the previously identified factors being associated with hide contamination. If at least one of the adjacent carcases on the line had a contaminated hide, the associated odds ratio was 6.6 (95% CI: 2.8–15.9), which rose to 22.7 (95% CI: 9.3–55.5) if both adjacent hides were contaminated. Receiving hay in lairage was found to be important to the model, although not significant in itself (OR 0.005; 95% CI: 1.2e⁻⁶–20.7). These results suggest that modifiable risk factors for hide contamination exist. However, in order best to reduce the prevalence of hide contamination at slaughter, individual slaughterhouse risk assessment and intervention strategies are appropriate.