The use of infrared thermography as an early indicator of bovine respiratory disease complex in calves

Bovine respiratory disease (BRD) complex causes considerable distress to domestic livestock and economic hardship to the beef industry. Furthermore, the resulting extensive use of antimicrobial treatments is a growing concern from the perspective of facilitating antibiotic resistant microbes. The earlier detection of BRD would enable an earlier, more targeted treatment regime and earlier isolation of infected individuals. The objective of the present study was to investigate the use of non-invasive infrared thermography in the early detection of BRD in cattle. Studies were conducted on 133 head of weaned calves. Data demonstrated that infrared thermography was able to identify animals at early stages of illness, often several days to over one week before clinical signs were manifest. Data indicated that 4-6 days prior to the onset of clinical symptoms of BRD, greater positive and negative predictive values and test efficiency for infrared thermography (80%, 65% and 71%, respectively) compared to the industry standard practice of clinical scoring (70%, 45% and 55%, respectively).     

Polymers, fractals, and ceramic materials

Concepts borrowed from polymer science have been applied to tailor the properties of inorganic materials, especially those derived from amorphous precursors. Fractal geometry can be used to characterize macromolecular precursors and to relate their structures to kinetic growth processes. Within the silica system, for example, it is possible to manipulate the conditions of solution polymerization to yield a variety of macromolecules from branched chains to smooth colloidal particles.     

Beef production from cull dairy cows: a review from culling to consumption

Although more than 3 million head of dairy cows enter the food supply chain in the U.S. every year, research on this topic remains limited and scarce. Meat production from dairy cows is a significant component of beef production, accounting for almost 10% of U.S. commercial beef production. Thus, the purpose of this review is to demonstrate the importance of dairy cows as a beef source, and to provide an overview on topics from farm to meat product—culling, marketing, transportation, welfare, body composition and its relationship with lactation particularities, carcass characteristics, meat quality, and traceability. Current scientific evidence has shown that culling a dairy cow at an appropriate time has beneficial effects on cow welfare and, consequently, cow value. During marketing the dairy cow is visually evaluated for health and factors associated with its expected carcass value; thus, marketing a well-conditioned cow will ensure that the animal is fit for transportation and provides high carcass yield. However, limitations such as low body condition score, lameness or mobility problems, and visual defects remain persistent. Even though beef harvest plants accommodate cows in all body composition states, the current carcass grade system does not reflect the mature cow industry needs. Therefore, improvement of the grading system could maximize carcass utilization and increase cow carcass value by recognizing subprimal cuts that could be merchandised as whole muscle cuts. Lastly, implementation of a traceability system would unify information from the farm to harvest assisting the industry in making further advancements.     

Long-term decline in the abundance of leafhoppers and planthoppers (Auchenorrhyncha) in Central European protected dry grasslands

Landscapes in Central Europe have changed considerably during the last five decades, while nature reserves have been less affected. However, there is growing concern that species richness and population size of animals in reserves may decrease even under protection.We performed a comparative study of the development in auchenorrhynchan communities of governmentally protected dry grasslands in Eastern Germany and tested whether reserves were effective in maintaining insect communities. The historical surveys are from 1963 to 1967. Between 2008 and 2010 we revisited 26 of the original sites and sampled leafhoppers and planthoppers by applying the same sampling technique as in the 1960s. Thus, we were able to perform a 40-year-comparison for auchenorrhynchan species richness and abundance. Comparisons capturing three successive years of each period allowed us to assess interannual variability in abundance.Species richness hardly differed between the two periods. However, some new species were found, and therefore species composition changed. Species abundance and overall numbers of individuals declined. Mainly species known to be very common dry grassland specialists exhibited strong declines in abundance. On average, only 27% of auchenorrhynchan numbers caught from 1964 to 1966 were recorded for the years 2008 to 2010.The results suggest that weather conditions and climate change are minor factors in the decline in auchenorrhynchan populations in recent years. Although the studied areas were under protection during the last 50 years, air-borne nitrogen deposition, the introduction of modern intense land use practices and alterations in plant communities, are likely to have influenced auchenorrhynchan abundance to a large extent.     

Near-synchronous interhemispheric termination of the last glacial maximum in mid-latitudes

Isotopic records from polar ice cores imply globally asynchronous warming at the end of the last glaciation. However, 10Be exposure dates show that large-scale retreat of mid-latitude Last Glacial Maximum glaciers commenced at about the same time in both hemispheres. The timing of retreat is consistent with the onset of temperature and atmospheric CO2 increases in Antarctic ice cores. We suggest that a global trend of rising summer temperatures at the end of the Last Glacial Maximum was obscured in North Atlantic regions by hypercold winters associated with unusually extensive winter sea ice.     

Use of geophysical methods for the study of sandy soils under Campinarana at the National Park of Viruá, Roraima state,Brazilian Amazonia

Purpose

The vegetation of the Campinaranas occurs in humid areas with hydromorphic sandy soils at the Amazon region. Thus, the determination and in situ monitoring of moisture content in Campinarana soils, besides the detection of subsurface layers are key measures for studying these soil–vegetation systems. Also, the application of ground penetrating radar (GPR) in deep sandy sedimentary sequence of Amazonia is a promising tool to enhance the knowledge on depositional and soil formation features.

Materials and methods

We studied representative soils of the Campinaranas at the National Park of Viruá, state of Roraima (Brazilian Amazonia), through the use of geophysical methods (soil moisture sensors and GPR). The study was applied in four sandy soils. Besides chemical and physical analysis of soils, soil moisture sensors were installed for monitoring during an entire hydrological year (2010/2011), and performed the calibration of sensors , coupled with imaging of the soil along transects with GPR.

Results and discussion

As a result of calibration of the soil moisture sensors we obtained a general equation with an R ² greater than 0.9. There is an influence of soil moisture content and soil temperature in the distribution of vegetation types in Campinaranas. The use of GPR identified some determinants characteristics in these soils for the differentiating the Campinaranas, represented by spodic and C horizons.

Conclusions

The spodic horizons in soils under Forest Campinarana provided potential errors in the determination of soil moisture, requiring calibration data for the precise use of this device. The investigation of the soil through the GPR showed interesting results, which allowed continuous visualization of the main soil horizons along transects in the phytophysiognomies of Campinaranas.     

Temperature regime of some soil types in Georgia

The thermal regime of the different soil types of Georgia has been studied on the basis of soil temperature records obtained at 60 weather stations in 1947–1995. It is shown that the thermal conductivity and temperature gradients in the soil profiles depend on the soil type. In the upper 0–20 cm of the soils in the intermontane depressions, the lowest temperature gradients in the summer are typical of the red ferrallitic soils (0.5–1.1°C/dm), and the highest gradients are observed in the chernozems of eastern Georgia (1.0–1.3°c/dm). The soil temperature gradients are especially high in the late spring (1.4–1.8°c/dm), when the atmospheric convection is formed. In the mountains, the lowest gradients in the summer are observed in the cinnamonic soils (0.4–0.9°c/dm), and the highest gradients are established in the brown forest soils (0.5–1.3°c/dm). The redistribution of the temperatures in the deeper layers depends on the soil texture. The lowest temperature gradient is in the soils of Telavi (3.1°c/m), where a stony layer is found at the depth of 60 cm, which causes the good heating of the deep layers. The highest gradients are seen in the clayey and loamy soils of western (Chakva, 3.8°c/m) and eastern (Tbilisi, 3.9°c/m) Georgia. This is probably related to the high water content in the heavy-textured soils.     

Site fidelity of female caribou at multiple spatial scales

Studies of site fidelity have been hampered by arbitrary designations of spatial scale and the lack of null models for comparison. We generated null expectations of fidelity at different scales from the distribution of radio-tracked animals in a population. We applied the models to space use of satellite-tracked caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou), the most vagile nonvolant terrestrial animal, from populations representing sedentary and migratory ecotypes. We compared distances between consecutive-year locations of adult females to expectations based on the total range and seasonal range of each population. At the scale of the total range, sedentary and migratory caribou displayed remarkably similar philopatry, despite a 30-fold difference in size of their population ranges, from time of calving (late May) to breeding (late October). The most intense fidelity occurred during post-calving when, on average, sedentary and migratory females returned to as near as 6.7 km and 123 km, respectively, of locations occupied the previous year. At the scale of the seasonal range, the ecotypes differed. Sedentary caribou still displayed fidelity from calving to breeding; migratory caribou exhibited fidelity only during late autumn. For migratory, but not sedentary caribou, inter-year distances during winter were negatively correlated with age, implying that older females were more philopatric. We conclude that reproductive activities delimit the season of fidelity of female caribou of both ecotypes, and that scale-dependent ecotypic differences in fidelity may reflect different factors of population limitation. A spatially-explicit approach to site fidelity is essential for synthesizing patterns across studies.     

Die Jagd im klassischen Hellas

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Hemophagocytosis and Histoplasma‐like fungal infection in 32 cats

Histoplasmosis is one of the most common systemic fungal diseases in cats from the United States. It commonly causes respiratory or disseminated disease and is often associated with one or more cytopenias. Here, we describe 32 cats in which a Histoplasma‐like fungal infection was associated with concurrent hemophagia in at least one sample site, commonly spleen, bone marrow, liver, and/or lymph node. The degree of hemophagia was characterized as moderate or marked in the majority of cases, and in all cases, there was a predominance of phagocytized mature erythrocytes. A few cases also had macrophages with phagocytized erythroid precursors, platelets, and/or neutrophils. Complete blood count results were available for 25 cats, and cytopenias were common (20/25), including solitary anemia (10), anemia and thrombocytopenia (5), solitary neutropenia (2), pancytopenia (2), and anemia and neutropenia (1). Bone marrow samples were only available in a small subset of cases, preventing the further assessment of the causes of the cytopenias. Hemophagocytosis has been previously reported in cats with neoplastic diseases and a cat with calicivirus infection, and likely occurs with other conditions as well, such as hemorrhage or hemolysis. Results of this report suggest that systemic fungal disease is an additional differential to consider when there is hemophagia in a feline cytology sample.