Development of an internet based information system about alternative therapies in organic livestock farming

Titelblatt, Inhaltsverzeichnis, Lebenslauf 1\. Einleitung 2\. Literatur 3\. Material und Methoden 4\. Ergebnisse 5\. Diskussion 6\. Zusammenfassung 7\. Summary 8\. Anhang LiteraturverzeichnisDie Betreuung der zunehmenden Anzahl ökologisch gehaltener Nutztiere stellt Tierärzte, Landwirte, Berater und andere am Produktionsprozess beteiligte Personen vor neue Probleme. Unter anderem müssen die rechtlichen Bestimmungen des Ökolandbaus (z.B. die EG-Öko-Verordnung 2092/91) beachtet werden. Wirksamen alternativen Behandlungsmethoden (z.B. Homöopathie und Phytotherapie) ist nach diesen Regelungen Vorrang vor chemisch-synthetisch allopathischen Arzneimitteln einzuräumen. In der tierärztlichen Ausbildung werden jedoch weder die alternativen Therapiemethoden noch die Besonderheiten der ökologische Tierhaltung in ausreichendem Umfang gelehrt. Die Informationsbeschaffung und Literatursuche zu spezifischen Fragestellungen gestaltete sich bisher schwierig, da die Informationen in einer Vielzahl teils für den Tierarzt unzugänglicher Medien verborgen waren. Ziel dieses Promotionsvorhabens war es daher, ein internetbasiertes Informationssystem zu entwickeln, um den wachsenden Bedarf an Informationen zu alternativen Therapiemethoden in der Nutztierpraxis und der ökologischen Tierhaltung zu decken. In diesem Rahmen wurde ein innovatives Konzept für die Erstellung einer Literaturübersicht erarbeitet und umgesetzt. Das internatbasierte Informationssystem war bereits sieben Monate nach Beginn der Arbeiten unter der Internetadresse http://www.oekovet.de online verfügbar und beinhaltet eine täglich wachsende Literaturdatenbank, die derzeit 231 bewertete Literaturstellen umfasst. Über eine Suchfunktion kann der Nutzer gezielt auf die gewünschten Publikationen zugreifen. Weiterhin werden im Informationssystem aktuelle Meldungen aus den Bereichen Naturheilverfahren und der ökologischen Tierhaltung, allgemeine praxisorientierte Beschreibungen der Grundlagen der Naturheilverfahren und Beschreibungen der rechtlichen Regelungen des ökologischen Landbaus geboten. Neben Beschreibungen der Fortbildungsgýnge zu den Naturheilverfahren für Tierärzte ist eine Datenbank mit aktuellen Seminarterminen enthalten. Die Informationen stehen dem Nutzer übersichtlich, anwendungsorientiert, kostenneutral und jederzeit schnell zugänglich zur Verfügung. Um dem Nutzer ein objektives Bild über die Qualität der vorliegenden Veröffentlichungen zu geben, wurden diese systematisch und praxisorientiert beurteilt. Ziel der Bewertung war es, den Praktiker bei der Auswahl wirksamer Interventionen zur Anwendung in der Praxis zu unterstützen. Anhand der entwickelten Bewertungskriterien wurden der Informationsgehalt, Material und Methode, die Prýsentation und die praktische Anwendbarkeit bewertet. Von 231 Publikationen enthielten 97 Berichte über klinische Studien (42,0 %), 47 bestanden aus Erfahrungsberichten aus der Praxis (20,3 %) und 87 enthielten Expertenmeinungen in Form von Behandlungsanleitungen und Arzneimittelbeschreibungen (37,7 %). Nur gut durchgeführten klinischen Studien kann eine hohe Evidenz zugesprochen werden. Nur wenige Publikationen, die der Artikelart klinische Studie zugeordnet wurden, erhielten bei der Bewertung von Material und Methode die Note "befriedigend" oder "gut". Der Erkenntnisgewinn zu den alternativen Therapiemethoden in der Nutztiermedizin beruht nach diesen Ergebnissen überwiegend auf fehlerhaft durchgeführten oder unzureichend beschriebenen Studien, auf Praxiserfahrungen oder auf Expertenmeinungen. Der enorme Bedarf an guten, randomisierten Doppelblindstudien ist offensichtlich. Es sollte langfristiges Ziel sein, Metaanalysen zu Publikationen in der Veterinärmedizin durchzuführen, um eine Evidenzbasierte Veterinärmedizin zu entwickeln.Medical care of the increasing number of organic livestock causes new problems for veterinary surgeons, farmers, consultants and other involved people. The regulations of organic farming (e.g. Council Regulation (EC) No 2092/91) have to be considered. According to these regulations effective alternative treatments (e.g. phytotherapeutic and homeopathic products) have to be used in preference to allopathic products chemically synthesised. In veterinary education neither veterinary alternative medicine nor characteristics of organic livestock husbandry are taught sufficiently. The access of information and search for literature about specific topics is difficult, because the information is spread in a variety of sources. The objective of this project was to develop an internet based information system, to supply the increasing demand for information about alternative therapies in organic productive livestock farming. For this purpose an innovative concept for the compilation of a literature review was developed and implemented. After seven month the information system was already available online (http://www.oekovet.de). It comprises a daily growing data base with 231 commented articles as of today. In addition it contains news about alternative medicine, the basics of alternative therapy, descriptions of the legal regulations of organic farming and a database for continuing education. The available publications were evaluated systematically and in respect to practicality, to give the user an overview about their quality. The objective of the survey was to support the practitionerýs decision making in respect of interventions to use in practice. On the basis of developed evaluation criteria the information content, material and methods, the presentation and practicability were evaluated. Out of 231 publications 97 reported clinical trials (42,0 %), 47 contained information from personal experience (20,3 %) and 87 contained opinions of experts like guidance for treatments or descriptions of drugs (37,7 %). Only few publications about clinical trials obtained for the criteria material and methods the grade ýsatisfyingý or ýgoodý. According to these results the improvement of veterinary knowledge about the alternative therapies in livestock medicine is based mainly on inadequately conducted or insufficiently described clinical trials or on personal experiences. The need for well conducted, randomized controlled clinical trials is obvious. The objective for the future should be, to conduct meta-analyses of clinical trials and consequently develop an ýevidence-based veterinary medicineý

Study design quality of research on dogs published in peer-reviewed journals

Background In the past it has been criticised that only a low proportion of well-designed and well-reported studies in some medical specialities is available. The objective of this study was to systematically evaluate the quality of literature about canine medicine published in peer-reviewed journals in relation to six specific veterinary medicine specialities. Methods A literature search was conducted and 25 studies per speciality were selected. The quality of the articles (n = 150) published between 2007 and 2019 was evaluated with a validated checklist. Results In articles related to all specialities, deficits were found, such as not adequate number of animals in 60.0% of the studies. In 88.0%, information about housing and feeding of the dogs were not specified. In 69.4% of the prospective clinical studies, an ethical approval was reported, and written informed consent of the owners was obtained in 46.2%. Conclusions The findings revealed extensive deficits in the design and reporting of studies in canine medicine. The demand for improvement is obvious and should be addressed by authors, reviewers and journal editors in the future. Our results underline that practitioners should critically appraise the quality of literature before implementing information into practice

a meta-analysis

The objective of the conducted meta-analysis was to assess the efficacy of the treatment of bovine endometritis with PGF(2α) by statistical means. Postpartum uterine infections have a high prevalence and a very negative effect on reproductive performance in dairy cattle. Because of a wide discordance between research results, a meta-analysis of the efficacy of the treatment of bovine endometritis with PGF(2α) was conducted. A comprehensive literature search was performed using online databases to reveal a total of 2,307 references. In addition, 5 articles were retrieved by reviewing citations. After applying specific exclusion criteria and evaluating specific evidence parameters, 5 publications, comprising 6 trials, were eligible for being analyzed by means of meta-analysis. Data for each trial were extracted and analyzed using meta-analysis software Review Manager (version 5.1; The Nordic Cochrane Centre, Copenhagen, Denmark). Estimated effect sizes of PGF(2α) were calculated on calving to first service and calving to conception interval. Prostaglandin F(2α) treatment of cows with chronic endometritis had a negative effect on both reproductive performance parameters. Heterogeneity was substantial for calving to first service and calving to conception interval [I(2) (measure of variation beyond chance)=100 and 87%, respectively]; therefore, random-effects models were used. Sensitivity analysis as well as subgroup analysis showed that the performance of randomization was influential in modifying effect size of PGF(2α) treatment. The funnel plot illustrated a publication bias toward smaller studies that reported a prolonged calving to conception interval after a PGF(2α) treatment. We conclude that the investigation of this subject by means of meta-analysis did not reveal an improvement of reproductive performance of cows with endometritis after treatment with PGF(2α). Furthermore, there is a shortage of comparable high quality studies investigating reproductive performance after PGF(2α) treatment of cows with chronic endometritis

Improving decision‐making in complicated or rare cases—An approach towards Evidence‐based Veterinary Medicine in small animal reproduction

The concepts of Evidence‐based Veterinary Medicine (EBVM) provide a methodological and systematic approach to include the best evidence from research into clinical decision‐making. These concepts include steps as the search and assessment of relevant research findings and consideration of individual aspects. In addition, owners and other persons involved in animal health care should be included in shared decision‐making. Some breeders have good basic knowledge concerning breeding management and characteristics of diseases and concerning advantages and disadvantages of different therapeutic approaches, while others are notable to understand complex medical interrelations or emergency situations. All these aspects need to be addressed when communicating and discussing different diagnostic, prophylactic and therapeutic options. In special fields, such as small animal reproduction, veterinarians often see animals with rare diseases or complex conditions so that an application of standard therapies and well‐established textbook recommendations is not possible. To learn more about cases too rare for successful systematic research, the case collection tool REPROCASES (www.evssar.org/reprocases) is now available. The aim of this project is to gather information from specialists on small animal reproduction in a multicentre approach. If you see rare or not well‐investigated cases such as cystic ovarian diseases, cryptorchidism or others, you are more than welcome to share your findings via the database. Even if this approach cannot completely replace standardized clinical trials, the idea is to gather more information on effects, prognosis, side effects and long‐term fertility for specific conditions

A critical evaluation of diagnostic methods used to identify dairy cows with acute post-partum metritis in the current literature

The overall objective of this study was to investigate how relevant research publications address the validity of diagnostic methods for acute puerperal metritis (APM) in dairy cows, a disease commonly treated with antibiotic drugs. Therefore, a literature search was conducted in Journal of Dairy Science, Theriogenology, Animal Reproduction Science and The Veterinary Journal utilizing the ScienceDirect database. The search revealed 259 articles addressing APM. After applying exclusion criteria, a total of 48 trials remained. It was determined whether the author gave a clear definition of APM, the time of diagnosis relative to calving, and the person who performed the diagnosis. Studies were checked for the presence of definitions of possible findings, thresholds, and test characteristics of the methods used. Overall 9 different diagnostic methods were employed. On average 2·5 ± 1·75 diagnostic methods were used in a study. References to support the use of the diagnostic methods were provided in 10 of 48 articles (20·8%). Vaginal discharge, transrectal palpation and rectal temperature were examined in 39, 22, and 21 of the studies, respectively. Thresholds for diagnostic tests and test characteristics were mentioned in 6 and 3 of the 48 articles, respectively. Based on this systematic review of 48 research papers the evidence supporting the use of the diagnostic methods to identify cows with APM has either been not reported or is weak. In conclusion, the reporting of the diagnostic methods to identify cows with APM needs to be improved and further high- quality research is necessary to improve diagnostic performance of the methods employed

quality and comparability of clinical trials investigating the efficacy of prostaglandin F2α for the treatment of bovine endometritis

The objective of this study was to evaluate the quality and comparability of published literature, and to summarize the effect of prostaglandin F(2α) (PGF(2α)) for the treatment of endometritis. It has been postulated that there is a dearth of high-level evidence-based research results in veterinary medicine. Also, there is a marked variation in the quality of studies in veterinary and animal science. Post-partum uterine infections occur commonly in dairy cattle and are reported to have a negative impact on reproductive performance. A comprehensive literature search was conducted utilizing online databases revealing a total of 2723 references. After applying specific exclusion criteria, a total of 68 trials were eligible for further analysis. These articles were evaluated utilizing specific parameters listed in an evaluation form such as randomization and the involvement of control groups. The analysis revealed that more than half of the trials (51·5%) were at least 20 years old. Furthermore, we found that about one third (36·8%) of all trials were controlled and randomized, while 3 of those (4·4%) were also blinded. Of those trials which calculated a calving-to-conception interval (n=30), 50% of the authors claimed an improvement, which was statistically significant in 23·3% of the cases. We conclude that there is a wide discrepancy between research results investigating the efficacy of PGF(2α)

Do concentrations of non-esterified fatty acids change during gestation and lactation in healthy bitches?

During the gestation and lactation period, the energy demand in pregnant and lactating bitches is elevated. Non-esterified fatty acids (NEFAs) are utilized either directly from the fed diet or from body fat storage. High NEFA concentration in the blood plasma leads to an increased risk for diseases. Therefore, measuring blood NEFA concentrations may be an indicator for a period of scarcity. The aim of this study is to explore if serum NEFA concentrations in healthy bitches change during gestation and lactation. Healthy pregnant and lactating bitches were sampled on three appointed dates around parturition. NEFA values were examined with a multiparameter clinical chemistry analyser. All statistical analyses were performed using R. Overall, 38 bitches were enrolled in the study. Twenty-one bitches were sampled on all three appointed dates. The median NEFA concentration antepartum was 0.73 mmol/L (IQR: 0.59, 1.01); during peak lactation, it was 0.57 mmol/L (IQR: 0.44, 0.82); and around weaning, it was 0.58 mmol/L (IQR: 0.46, 0.73). NEFA concentrations rose slightly with litter size in late gestation. Body condition score had no influence on observed NEFA values. We conclude that NEFA concentrations widely remain within reference ranges in well-fed pregnant and lactating bitches. Nevertheless, they may be a valuable parameter to assess the actual metabolic status of malnourished pregnant and lactating bitches

The metabolic differences of anestrus, heat, pregnancy, pseudopregnancy, and lactation in 800 female dogs

Introduction: Reproduction causes major hormonal and physiological changes to the female body. However, the metabolic changes occurring during canine reproduction are scarcely studied. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, we assessed the metabolic effects of canine reproductive status using a 1H NMR metabolomics platform optimized and validated for canine use. The study population consisted of a total of 837 healthy, intact female dogs in breeding age, of which 663 dogs were in anestrus, 78 in heat, 43 were pseudopregnant, 15 were pregnant, and 38 were lactating. The differences in metabolite profiles between these states were studied by the Kruskal-Wallis test with post-hoc tests performed using the Dunn's test, and visualized by box plots and a heatmap. The ability of the metabolite profile to differentiate pregnant dogs from non-pregnant ones was assessed by creating a multivariate Firth logistic regression model using forward stepwise selection. Results: Lactation, pregnancy and heat all were associated with distinct metabolic changes; pregnancy caused major changes in the concentrations of glycoprotein acetyls, albumin and creatinine, and smaller changes in several lipids, citrate, glutamine, and alanine. Pseudopregnancy, on the other hand, metabolically largely resembled anestrus. Lactation caused major changes in amino acid concentrations and smaller changes in several lipids, albumin, citrate, creatinine, and glycoprotein acetyls. Heat, referring to proestrus and estrus, affected cholesterol and LDL metabolism, and increased HDL particle size. Albumin and glycoprotein acetyls were the metabolites included in the final multivariate model for pregnancy detection, and could differentiate pregnant dogs from non-pregnant ones with excellent sensitivity and specificity. Discussion: These results increase our understanding of the metabolic consequences of canine reproduction, with the possibility of improving maternal health and ensuring reproductive success. The identified metabolites could be used for confirming canine pregnancy

Flow Properties Inferred from Generalized Maxwell Models

The generalized Maxwell model is formulated as a nonlinear relaxation equation for the symmetric traceless stress tensor. The relaxation term of the equation involves the derivative of a potential function with respect to the stress tensor. Two special cases for this potential referred to as “isotropic” and “anisotropic” are considered. In the first case, the potential solely depends on the second scalar invariant, viz. the norm of the tensor. In the second case, also a dependence on the third scalar invariant, essentially the determinant, is taken into account in analogy to the Landau-de Gennes potential of nematic liquid crystals. Rheological consequences of the model are presented for a plane Couette flow with an imposed shear rate. The non-Newtonian viscosity and the normal stress differences are analyzed for stationary solutions. The dependence on the model parameters is discussed in detail. In particular, the occurrence of a shear-thickening behaviour is studied. The possibility to describe substances with yield stress and the existence of non-stationary, stick-slip-like solutions are pointed out. The extension of the model to magneto-rheological fluids is indicated.DFG, SPP 1104, Kolloidale magnetische Flüssigkeiten: Grundlagen, Entwicklung und Anwendung neuartiger FerrofluideDFG, SFB 448, Mesoskopisch strukturierte Verbundsystem