Assessment of human risk for yersinosis after consumption of Danish produced non-heat-treated ready-to-eat pork products

The objectives were to evaluate the risk of obtaining an infective dose of Yersinia enterocolitica (Y. enterocolitica) after consuming fermented sausages (made in a controlled process) and smoked filet made of Danish pork. For fermented sausages it was estimated that a maximum of two bacteria would be present in a serving of up to 40 g. However, most likely only one bacterium would be present per serving (4,000 times of one million simulations of 40 g serving’s = 0.4 %)

An experimental study of the number of levels effect in metric conjoint analysis

An experiment conducted with 248 undergraduate students to provide additional evidence to the "Number of levels effect", and to investigate its relationship with several characteristics of conjoint design

Targeting Neuronal Populations of the Striatum

The striatum is critically involved in motor and motivational functions. The dorsal striatum, caudate–putamen, is primarily implicated in motor control and the learning of habits and skills, whereas the ventral striatum, the nucleus accumbens, is essential for motivation and drug reinforcement. The GABA medium-sized spiny neurons (MSNs, about 95% of striatal neurons), which are targets of the cerebral cortex and the midbrain dopaminergic neurons, form two pathways. The dopamine D1 receptor-positive (D1R) striatonigral MSNs project to the medial globus pallidus and substantia nigra pars reticulata (direct pathway) and co-express D1R and substance P, whereas dopamine D2 receptor-positive (D2R) striatopallidal MSNs project to the lateral globus pallidus (indirect pathway) and co-express D2R, adenosine A2A receptor (A2AR) and enkephalin (Enk). The specific role of the two efferent pathways in motor and motivational control remained poorly understood until recently. Indeed, D1R striatonigral and D2R striatopallidal neurons, are intermingled and morphologically indistinguishable, and, hence, cannot be functionally dissociated with techniques such as chemical lesions or surgery. In view of the still debated respective functions of projection D2R striatopallidal and D1R striatonigral neurons and striatal interneurons, both in motor control and learning but also in more cognitive processes such as motivation, the present review sum up the development of new models and techniques (bacterial artificial chromosome transgenesis, optogenetic, viral transgenesis) allowing the selective targeting of these striatal neuronal populations in adult animal brain to understand their specific roles

Social coordination in animal vocal interactions. Is there any evidence of turn-taking? The starling as an animal model

International audienceTurn-taking in conversation appears to be a common feature in various human cultures and this universality raises questions about its biological basis and evolutionary trajectory. Functional convergence is a widespread phenomenon in evolution, revealing sometimes striking functional similarities between very distant species even though the mechanisms involved may be different. Studies on mammals (including non-human primates) and bird species with different levels of social coordination reveal that temporal and structural regularities in vocal interactions may depend on the species' social structure. Here we test the hypothesis that turn-taking and associated rules of conversations may be an adaptive response to the requirements of social life, by testing the applicability of turn-taking rules to an animal model, the European starling. Birdsong has for many decades been considered as one of the best models of human language and starling songs have been well described in terms of vocal production and perception. Starlings do have vocal interactions where alternating patterns predominate. Observational and experimental data on vocal interactions reveal that (1) there are indeed clear temporal and structural regularities, (2) the temporal and structural patterning is influenced by the immediate social context, the general social situation, the individual history, and the internal state of the emitter. Comparison of phylogenetically close species of Sturnids reveals that the alternating pattern of vocal interactions varies greatly according to the species' social structure, suggesting that interactional regularities may have evolved together with social systems. These findings lead to solid bases of discussion on the evolution of communication rules in relation to social evolution. They will be discussed also in terms of processes, at the light of recent neurobiological finding

Human health risk of residues in Danish pork – in theory and practice

Residues of pharmacological active substances or their metabolites might be found in food products from food-producing animals posing a potential risk to human health. Maximum Residue Limits (MRLs) for pharmacological active substances in foodstuffs of animal origin are established to assure high food safety standards, and residue surveillance programmes are required to verify compliance with legislation, export requirements and consumer confidence

Corrigendum: Social coordination in animal vocal interactions. Is there any evidence of turn-taking? The starling as an animal model

International audience[This corrects the article on p. 1416 in vol. 6, PMID: 26441787.

Managerial and environmental determinants of clinical mastitis in Danish dairy herds

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Several management and environmental factors are known as contributory causes of clinical mastitis in dairy herd. The study objectives were to describe the structure of herd-specific mastitis management and environmental factors and to assess the relevance of these herd-specific indicators to mastitis incidence rate.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Disease reports from the Danish Cattle Data Base and a management questionnaire from 2,146 herds in three Danish regions were analyzed to identify and characterize risk factors of clinical mastitis. A total of 94 (18 continuous and 76 discrete) management and production variables were screened in separate bivariate regression models. Variables associated with mastitis incidence rate at a p-value < 0.10 were examined with a factor analysis to assess the construct of data. Separately, a multivariable regression model was used to estimate the association of management variables with herd mastitis rate.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Three latent factors (quality of labor, region of Denmark and claw trimming, and quality of outdoor holding area) were identified from 14 variables. Daily milk production per cow, claw disease, quality of labor and region of Denmark were found to be significantly associated with mastitis incidence rate. A common multiple regression analysis with backward and forward selection procedures indicated there were 9 herd-specific risk factors.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Though risk factors ascertained by farmer-completed surveys explained a small percentage of the among-herd variability in crude herd-specific mastitis rates, the study suggested that farmer attitudes toward mastitis and lameness treatment were important determinants for mastitis incidence rate. Our factor analysis identified one significant latent factor, which was related to labor quality on the farm.</p

Evaluation of the potential use of risk-based sampling to surveillance of antibacterial residues in Danish pork

Consumers consider presence of chemical substances in food products as undesirable. In Denmark, more than 20,000 samples are analysed each year for presence of antibacterial residues in Danish slaughter pigs, and these surveillance data indicate that the true antibacterial residue prevalence in Danish slaughter pigs is negligible. The question has been raised whether it would be possible to improve the cost-effectiveness of the surveillance programme. This was addressed in this study