Development of a facial expression scale using footrot and mastitis as models of pain in sheep

Management of pain in sheep is limited by the challenges of recognising and accurately quantifying pain in this species. The use of facial expression scoring to assess pain is a well-utilised, practical tool in both humans and non-human animals. The objective of this study was to develop a standardised facial expression pain scale for adult sheep, that could be used reliably and accurately to detect pain associated with naturally occurring painful diseases, such as footrot and mastitis. We also investigated whether the scale could be reliably and accurately utilised by observers after training, enabling the development of an on-farm pain assessment tool. The Sheep Pain Facial Expression Scale (SPFES) was able to correctly identify sheep suffering from disease with a high degree of accuracy (AUC; Footrot: 0.81, Mastitis: 0.80). Diseased sheep scored higher on the scale than controls on the day of disease identification (P<0.05) and diseased sheep showed changes in their facial expression after treatment (P<0.001). The abnormal facial expressions of diseased sheep reduced over time, and at recovery were in line with control sheep. Control sheep did not change their facial expression over time. Five scorers who were trained to use the developed scale also assessed the facial expressions of sheep. The scorers were blind to treatment and session. Scorers reliably (ICC: 0.86) and accurately (α = 0.86) identified changes in the facial expression of sheep with footrot over time (P<0.05), and scored control sheep consistently low over time. The SPFES offers a reliable and effective method of assessing pain in sheep after minimal training.We would like to thank the EU VII Framework Program (FP7-KBBE-2010-4) for funding this study as part of the AWIN project. Boehringer Imgelheim Ltd are thanked for providing the meloxicam used in this study.This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Elsevier via http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.applanim.2016.01.00

Technical note: Validation of an automatic recording system to assess behavioural activity level in sheep (Ovis aries)

The welfare of an individual can be assessed by monitoring behavioural changes, such as inactivity, that may indicate injury or disease. In this study we validated the Actiwatch Mini® activity monitor (AM) for automatic recording of behavioural activity levels of nine Texel ewes. The AM devices were attached to collars placed around the necks of the ewes. AM recordings were taken at 25 second intervals for 21 consecutive days and in addition, direct behavioural observations made on days 9–13. AM recordings were compared with direct behavioural observations to investigate whether different levels of behaviour activity could be distinguished by the AM. Six different behaviours were matched to the activity scores recorded by the AM which were low activity (lying ruminating, lying), medium activity (standing, standing ruminating, and grazing) and high activity behaviours (walking). There were differences in the activity scores for all three scores. However, higher levels of accuracy in distinguishing between activity levels were achieved when combining high and medium activity level behaviours. This method of capturing data provides a practical tool in studies assessing the impact of disease or injury. For example, assessing the effects of lameness on the activity level of sheep at pasture, without the presence of an observer influencing behaviour.The authors thank the staff at the farm, at which data were collected, for supporting the study and for taking good care of the animals. This study was part of a project funded by the EU VII Framework programme Animal Welfare Indicators (Grant no. FP7-KBBE-2010-4) who had no involvement in the study design, data collection, data analysis or writing of the report. The Actiwatches’ were provided to AJM through funding from CHDI Foundation, Inc.This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Elsevier at http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921448815001455

Integration of visual and joint information to enable linear reaching motions

A new dynamics-driven control law was developed for a robot arm, based on the feedback control law which uses the linear transformation directly from work space to joint space. This was validated using a simulation of a two-joint planar robot arm and an optimisation algorithm was used to find the optimum matrix to generate straight trajectories of the end-effector in the work space. We found that this linear matrix can be decomposed into the rotation matrix representing the orientation of the goal direction and the joint relation matrix (MJRM) representing the joint response to errors in the Cartesian work space. The decomposition of the linear matrix indicates the separation of path planning in terms of the direction of the reaching motion and the synergies of joint coordination. Once the MJRM is numerically obtained, the feedfoward planning of reaching direction allows us to provide asymptotically stable, linear trajectories in the entire work space through rotational transformation, completely avoiding the use of inverse kinematics. Our dynamics-driven control law suggests an interesting framework for interpreting human reaching motion control alternative to the dominant inverse method based explanations, avoiding expensive computation of the inverse kinematics and the point-to-point control along the desired trajectories

Discerning Secluded Sector gauge structures

New fundamental particles, charged under new gauge groups and only weakly coupled to the standard sector, could exist at fairly low energy scales. In this article we study a selection of such models, where the secluded group either contains a softly broken U(1) or an unbroken SU(N). In the Abelian case new {\gamma}v gauge bosons can be radiated off and decay back into visible particles. In the non-Abelian case there will not only be a cascade in the hidden sector, but also hadronization into new {\pi}v and {\rho}v mesons that can decay back. This framework is developed to be applicable both for e+e- and pp collisions, but for these first studies we concentrate on the former process type. For each Abelian and non-Abelian group we study three different scenarios for the communication between the standard sector and the secluded one. We illustrate how to distinguish the various characteristics of the models and especially study to what extent the underlying gauge structure can be determined experimentally.Comment: removed extra figure

Macrophages promote angiogenesis in human breast tumour spheroids in vivo

An in vivo model has been established to study the role of macrophages in the initiation of angiogenesis by human breast tumour spheroids in vivo. The extent of the angiogenic response induced by T47D spheroids implanted into the dorsal skinfold chamber in nude mice was measured in vivo and compared to that induced by spheroids infiltrated with human macrophages prior to implantation. Our results indicate that the presence of macrophages in spheroids resulted in at least a three-fold upregulation in the release of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in vitro when compared with spheroids composed only of tumour cells. The angiogenic response measured around the spheroids, 3 days after in vivo implantation, was significantly greater in the spheroids infiltrated with macrophages. The number of vessels increased (macrophages vs no macrophages 34±1.9 vs 26±2.5, P<0.01), were shorter in length (macrophages vs no macrophages 116±4.92 vs 136±6.52, P<0.008) with an increased number of junctions (macrophages vs no macrophages 14±0.93 vs 11±1.25, P<0.025) all parameters indicative of new vessel formation. This is the first study to demonstrate a role for macrophages in the initiation of tumour angiogenesis in vivo

QCD and strongly coupled gauge theories : challenges and perspectives

We highlight the progress, current status, and open challenges of QCD-driven physics, in theory and in experiment. We discuss how the strong interaction is intimately connected to a broad sweep of physical problems, in settings ranging from astrophysics and cosmology to strongly coupled, complex systems in particle and condensed-matter physics, as well as to searches for physics beyond the Standard Model. We also discuss how success in describing the strong interaction impacts other fields, and, in turn, how such subjects can impact studies of the strong interaction. In the course of the work we offer a perspective on the many research streams which flow into and out of QCD, as well as a vision for future developments.Peer reviewe

Gene silencing by RNA interference in the ectoparasitic mite, Psoroptes ovis

Abstract The presence of components of the RNA interference (RNAi) pathway in Psoroptes ovis, an ectoparasitic mite responsible for psoroptic mange, was investigated through interrogation of the P. ovis genome. Homologues of transcripts representing critical elements for achieving effective RNAi in the mite, Tetranychus urticae and the model organisms Caenorhabditis elegans and Drosophila melanogaster were identified and, following the development of a non-invasive immersion method of double stranded RNA delivery, gene silencing by RNAi was successfully demonstrated in P. ovis. Significant reductions in transcript levels were achieved for three target genes which encode the Group 2 allergen (Pso o 2), mu-class glutathione S-transferase (PoGST-mu1) and beta-tubulin (Poβtub). This is the first demonstration of RNAi in P. ovis and provides a mechanism for mining transcriptomic and genomic datasets for novel control targets against this economically important ectoparasite