Comparison of methods to assess dog owners' therapeutic compliance

Objective To compare different methods for assessing the compliance of veterinary clients administering medication to their dogs.
Procedure Thirty-one owners whose dogs were prescribed amoxycillin-clavulanate, twice and thrice daily, for a duration of five to seven days were recruited from three Sydney veterinary hospitals. Compliance was assessed by electronic monitoring devices, return medication counts, client self-reports and veterinarians' estimation of likely compliance.
Results Electronic monitoring showed owners administered on average 84% (range 7 to 104%) of prescribed medication to their dogs. Both return medication counts and client self-reports tended to overestimate therapeutic compliance when compared with electronic monitoring. When questioned, the majority of owners (71%) claimed perfect compliance with the prescribed regimen. No correlation was found between veterinarians' estimates of owner compliance and that assessed electronically.
Conclusion Electronic monitoring provided valuable information on dose timing and variation, but proved costly and difficult to employ in veterinary practice. Simplicity and low cost of return medication counts makes this method attractive for use in veterinary compliance studies. Client self-reports reliably detected some noncompliers and permitted identification of individual problems or errors. For practical purposes a combination of return medication counts and client self-reports may have merit in future veterinary compliance studies.     

Estimation of the carcass composition from a cross-section of the rib-loin from crossbred Japanese Black × Limousin F2 cattle by computer image analysis

The carcass composition of crossbred Japanese Black × Limousin F2 cattle was examined in order to find an accurate carcass composition equation. The test animals included 17 steers and 17 heifers. The 28 image measurements from the area encircling the vertical line to the thoracic vertebra and the line from the thoracic vertebra between the sixth and seventh rib‐bones were measured by computer image analysis. The relationships between the 29 parameters that added the carcass left side weight of the animal and the carcass composition were suggested. The carcass composition included muscle weight, muscle ratio, fat weight and fat ratio. The carcass composition from steers was estimated by an equation composed of these three or four parameters (R² = 90.80%, 79.30%, 90.75% and 73.70%, respectively). The selected parameters were measured without cutting the thoracic vertebra. The carcass composition from heifers was estimated by an equation composed of two to four parameters (R² = 96.15%, 90.98%, 93.60% and 88.22%, respectively). The parameters for the estimation of the muscle and fat weight, and muscle and fat ratio are very similar. Furthermore, the equations using the parameters could estimate the carcass composition from the Japanese Black × Limousin cattle resource population.     

Density estimates of rural dog populations and an assessment of marking methods during a rabies vaccination campaign in the Philippines

We estimated the population density of dogs by distance sampling and assessed the potential utility of two marking methods for capture-mark-recapture applications following a mass canine rabies-vaccination campaign in Sorsogon Province, the Republic of the Philippines. Thirty villages selected to assess vaccine coverage and for dog surveys were visited 1 to 11 days after the vaccinating team. Measurements of the distance of dogs or groups of dogs from transect lines were obtained in 1088 instances (N = 1278 dogs; mean group SIZE = 1.2). Various functions modelling the probability of detection were fitted to a truncated distribution of distances of dogs from transect lines. A hazard rate model provided the best fit and an overall estimate of dog-population density of 468/km² (95% confidence interval, 359 to 611). At vaccination, most dogs were marked with either a paint stick or a black plastic collar. Overall, 34.8% of 2167 and 28.5% of 2115 dogs could be accurately identified as wearing a collar or showing a paint mark; 49.1% of the dogs had either mark. Increasing time interval between vaccination-team visit and dog survey and increasing distance from transect line were inversely associated with the probability of observing a paint mark. Probability of observing a collar was positively associated with increasing estimated density of the dog population in a given village and with animals not associated with a house. The data indicate that distance sampling is a relatively simple and adaptable method for estimating dog-population density and is not prone to problems associated with meeting some model assumptions inherent to mark-recapture estimators.     

家蚕产卵量的基因效应参数估计

用产卵量差异较大的两个近交系782和Ekp作亲本,配制了F1、F2正反交及F1与两亲本的回交B1和B2,加上两亲本P1和P2共8个世代,采用多世代平均值的多元回归分析方法对产卵量的基因效应参数进行了估计,得到了如下结果：（1）建立了分析家蚕产卵量的常染色体基因加性、显性和性染色体基因加性效应的非二体遗传模型,并通过实际数据检验表明产卵量遗传符合这个模式;（2）产卵量的遗传主要取决于常染色体上基因加性效应,其次是性染色体基因加性效应,显性效应很小。     

Strain-specific sensitivity estimates of Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis culture in Greek sheep and goats

The requirements for the isolation of Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (Map) may be related to the strain-type [sheep (S)- or cattle (C)-type] and not to the host. The objective of this paper was to estimate and compare strain- and biological sample (faeces or pooled-tissue)--specific sensitivities (Ses) of two solid culture media, Herrold's egg yolk medium (HEYM) and Lowenstein-Jensen (LJ) medium, for the isolation of Map from Greek dairy sheep and goats. From 400 faecal samples collected from sub-clinically infected sheep and goats of four flocks and from 214 pooled-tissue samples (142 from sheep and 72 from goats) collected, at the abattoir, from >1-year-old routinely slaughtered animals, with gross pathology suggestive of paratuberculosis, we isolated 34 Map strains. Of those, by the IS1311 PCR, 18 were categorized into the C-type and nine into the S-type; seven were not typed. We used a Bayesian approach to estimate the strain-specific Ses. SeHEYM-C-faecal=17% (95% credible interval: 7, 40) was higher than SeHEYM-S-faecal=2% (0.3, 11). Also, SeHEYM-C-faecal was higher than SeLJ-C-faecal=4% (1, 12). In pooled-tissue samples, the strain-specific Ses did not differ between the two media.     

基于粒子群优化投影寻踪的玉米单产估测

为了提高玉米单产估测精度,以河北省中部平原为研究区域,以与玉米长势和产量密切相关的条件植被温度指数(vegetation temperature condition index,VTCI)和叶面积指数(leaf area index,LAI)为遥感特征参数,通过投影寻踪法确定玉米主要生育时期VTCI和LAI的权重,进而构建基于县域尺度加权VTCI和LAI与玉米单产间的线性回归模型。结果表明,同时构建加权VTCI和LAI与玉米单产间的回归模型的精度最高,达到极显著水平(P0.001)。与变异系数法相比,基于投影寻踪法所建双参数回归模型的精度较高,研究区域各县(区)估测单产与实际单产的平均相对误差降低了0.88个百分点,均方根误差降低了50.56kg/hm2。通过投影寻踪法构建的双参数回归模型对研究区域玉米单产进行估测,结果表明研究区域玉米单产具有西部单产最高、北部和南部次之、东部最低的空间分布特征,以及在研究年份间玉米单产在波动中呈先下降后上升趋势的时间演变特征。     

控制工程造价不是盲目压价

本文对工程造价管理角度进行了论述,从不同的角度分析了控制工程造价的方法,阐明如 何科学地控制工程造价。     

基于多生育期MODIS-NDVI的区域冬小麦遥感估产研究

以河南省开封市为研究区,采用2005—2013年种植区域冬小麦生育期内16 d合成的250 m空间分辨率的归一化植被指数(NDVI)之和,与冬小麦产量数据进行相关分析,筛选得到最佳遥感估产时相,建立单变量回归模型;同时,基于冬小麦生长的各个关键时期NDVI构建多元回归模型,再通过主成分分析方法对多元回归模型参数进行改进,得到新的估产模型;最后使用开封市2014年的产量数据对估产模型进行验证,旨在构建具有较高精度的估产模型,从而更好地指导小麦生产。结果显示,3种估产模型的估产误差均控制在10.55%内,根据3个模型得到研究区内冬小麦最佳产量预测时段为3月下旬,即拔节期;3个模型中,主成分回归估产模型的产量拟合精度最高,达93.12%,具有一定的实用价值。     

农牧交错区青贮玉米粗蛋白含量分析及高光谱反演

为了探讨青贮玉米全株粗蛋白含量的基因型差异和生育进程中的变化特点,对农牧交错区引进和选育的24份青贮玉米杂交种的粗蛋白含量进行了测定分析.结果表明,不同基因型全株粗蛋白含量具有较大的差异,变幅为6.24%～10.01%,平均值为7.77%;全株粗蛋白含量和生物产量之间总体没有明显的相关关系,分组分析可以呈现出正相关、负相关和无相关三种关系.叶片和全株粗蛋白含量有随生育期的推移而下降的趋势,而且叶片对粗蛋白含量的贡献在前期最高,在中期最低;茎部对粗蛋白含量的贡献在中期最高,在后期最低.各生育期的叶片和全株粗蛋白含量之间具有显著或极显著正相关关系;生育前期叶片粗蛋白含量和收获期全株粗蛋白含量之间具有极显著正相关关系,生育前期和中期全株粗蛋白含量与生育后期全株粗蛋白含量之间具有极显著正相关关系.选用植株冠层12个波长的高光谱反射率的一阶导数,与叶片和全株粗蛋白含量作回归分析,可以获得很好的效果,拟合度(R2)可以达到0.8以上。     

基于辐射和温度的ET0模型在吐鲁番地区的比较与修正

利用吐鲁番地区3个气象站2000—2015年逐日气象资料,以FAO-56 Penman-Monteith(FAO-56 PM)模型为标准,对6种ET_0模型(M-A模型、P-T模型、M-H模型、H-S模型、Traj模型和B-H模型)进行评价并修正,采用均方根误差(RMSE)、绝对平均误差(MAE)、平均相对误差(MRE)评价指标和Wilcoxon非参数检验法比较年、月尺度上各模型修正前后的估算精度,以筛选适用吐鲁番地区ET_0简化估算模型。结果表明:吐鲁番地区ET_0的主要影响因子是R_s(太阳辐射),其次是e_s(饱和水汽压)和R_n(作物表面净辐射);修正前,年尺度上,M-H模型的估算精度最高;月尺度上,各模型误差较大且与FAO-56 PM模型存在显著差异,适用性较差;修正后,各模型在年、月尺度上的精度均有明显提高,无显著差异,其中修正后的P-T、M-H和B-H模型估算精度最高,可作为吐鲁番地区ET_0简化估算模型。