Prevalence of gastrointestinal, liver and claw disorders in veal calves fed large amounts of solid feed through a cross-sectional study.

Abstract The impact of the current practice of feeding veal calves with large amounts of solid feed (SF) on the prevalence of specific disorders on rumen, abomasum, liver and claws was investigated through a post-mortem inspection at the abattoir. Forty-one batches ("batch" referred to a group of calves of the same breed, coming from the same farm and belonging to the same slaughter group) of crossbred male calves from dairy breed were randomly inspected at 213.6 days old. On average 16.0 rumens, 15.6 abomasa, 15.1 livers, and 30.5 hind claws were checked per batch. Rumens were evaluated for the presence of hyperkeratosis and plaques; abomasa for the presence of lesions in the pyloric area; livers for the presence of lipidosis, abscess or fibrous adherence; and claws for the presence of sole hemorrhages. More than 60% of rumens per batch had signs of hyperkeratosis and plaques, and 80 to 100% of abomasa per batch showed at least 1 lesion in the pyloric area. On average 24% of livers per batch were diseased and about 65% of claws per batch had sole hemorrhages. Affected abomasa were positively correlated to rumens with plaques. Claws with sole hemorrhages tended to be positively correlated to rumens with hyperkeratosis. Calves of inspected batches were fed 311 ± 31 kg DM/cycle of milk-replacer and 158 ± 44 kg DM/cycle of SF containing more than 85% of corn grain. Based on the recorded prevalence of alterations, this feeding strategy should be reconsidered in order to improve veal calves' welfare

An insight into the dairy chain of a Protected Designation of Origin cheese: The case study of Asiago cheese.

The Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) label of the European Union safeguards and guarantees top-quality traditional agri-food products that must be manufactured in a specific region according to traditional production methods. Production specifications of PDO cheeses are often focused on the cheese-making process and lack information on the dairy farming system that is upstream of the chain. This case study aimed to analyze and cluster the dairy farms that supply milk to the chain of Asiago, an internationally known PDO cheese of northeastern Italy. A large survey involving all of the cheese factories of the Asiago PDO chain was made in 2017. Each cheese factory submitted a questionnaire to its supplying dairy farmers concerning (1) farm facilities and herd management and (2) feeding program of lactating cows. Results from 517 farms were processed; there were 67 ± 27% (mean ± standard deviation) respondents per cheese factory. Four clusters of dairy farms were identified by hierarchical clustering analysis. Cluster 1 (8% of the surveyed farms) and cluster 2 (22%) are small in size and low in yield, representing the traditional milk production system; farms are mainly located on mountains or hills and have autochthonous dual-purpose breeds mostly housed in tiestall barns. By rearing cattle of endangered breeds and feeding cows primarily with forages produced on-farm together with the use of pasture, these clusters, and especially cluster 1, have shown to provide essential ecosystem services for landscape and biodiversity preservation in the alpine areas. Clusters 3 and 4 (34 and 36% of the surveyed farms, respectively) gather medium-scale farms mainly located in the lowland that operate according to modern management and housing systems and rear high-producing dairy cows. These cows are mainly fed total mixed rations based on corn silage, but the dietary forage:concentrate ratio is kept relatively high, as farmers are more interested in producing high-quality milk for cheese-making than pushing for yield. Regardless of the cluster allocation, a considerable cow longevity, which is a recognized "iceberg indicator" of cattle well-being, was highlighted. This study showed that different farming systems may lay behind a single PDO cheese. The knowledge of their characteristics is important to reinforce the PDO production specifications as well as to distinguish and protect niche products that come from specific groups of farms that provide essential ecosystem services

Physiological and productive response of lactating dairy cows to the alpine transhumance at the end of the summer grazing*

The study aimed at verifying if the prolonged walking and fasting of the driving down transhumance from an alpine pasture to the farm of origin at the end of the summer grazing may impair health and productive response of lactating cows belonging to two specialised dairy breeds. The study considered a herd of 380 dairy cows and heifers of Italian Holstein and Italian Brown breeds that faced a driving down transhumance with a vertical drop of about 1050 m. The animals walked for about 40 km completing the journey in 23 h, including three resting periods. Ten Holstein and nine Brown lactating cows were selected and monitored before and after the driving down transhumance taking individual blood samples and recording milk yield. The prolonged physical exercise and the limited water and energy intake during the driving down transhumance impaired cows' metabolic profile resembling a status of ketosis. A significant drop in milk yield was observed in all the monitored animals regardless of the breed. The production loss was more severe (49.4%) in cows with high milk yield and less days in milk. These animals required also a prolonged time to recover from the milk drop due to the driving down transhumance and, based on these findings, they should be excluded from this practise

Transient Receptor Potential Ankyrin 1 (TRPA1) Methylation and Chronic Pain: A Systematic Review

Background and objective: Chronic pain represents a major global health issue in terms of psycho-physiological, therapeutic, and economic burden, not limited to adults but also to the pediatric age. Despite its great impact, its molecular mechanisms have still not been completely unraveled. Focusing on the impact of epigenetics in the pain complex trait, we assessed the association between chronic pain and the methylation pattern of TRPA1, a key gene related to pain sensitivity. Methods: We conducted a systematic review retrieving articles from three different databases. After deduplication, 431 items were subjected to manual screening, and then 61 articles were selected and screened again. Of these, only six were maintained for meta-analysis and analyzed using specific R packages. Results: Six articles were divided into two groups (group 1: comparison of mean methylation levels between healthy subjects and patients with chronic pain; group 2: correlation between mean methylation levels and pain sensation). A non-significant mean difference was obtained from the analysis of group 1 with a value of 3.97 (95% C.I. -7.79; 15.73). Analysis of group 2 showed a high level of variability between studies (correlation = 0.35, 95% C.I. -0.12; 0.82) due to their heterogeneity (I2 = 97%, p < 0.01). Conclusions: Despite the high variability observed in the different studies analyzed, our results suggest that hypermethylation and increased pain sensitivity could be connected, possibly due to the variation of TRPA1 expression

Effect of the number of daily distributions of solid feed on veal calves' health status, behaviour, and alterations of rumen and abomasa

The research aimed at evaluating the effect of three versus two daily distributions of solid feed on veal calves' health, behaviour, and rumen and abomasal mucosa alterations with the rationale that three distributions might improve calves' health and welfare. The study was carried out in two veal calf farms that provided different amounts of solid feed (farm A 200 kg DM/calf; farm B 150 kg DM/calf) during the fattening in addition to liquid milk-replacer. It involved 342 calves in farm A and 108 calves in farm B. The change from two to three solid feed distributions/day started for half calves/farm after the third month of fattening when farm A was feeding 800 g and farm B 600 g DM/calf/day. Health status, blood haemoglobin, and behaviour were assessed on farm at different times. Calves' carcass weight was recorded and rumens and abomasa were inspected post mortem. Increasing solid feed distributions did not improve calves' health but it reduced non-nutritive oral behaviours (4.8 versus 3.2 ± 0.4% for two and three distributions/day, respectively) by prolonging the time spent eating solid feed. Carcass weight was similar between treatments. Three daily solid feed distributions did not reduce the prevalence of rumen mucosa hyperkeratinisation and abomasal alterations, worsening the frequency of rumen plaques. As the partition of daily dose of solid feed in three distributions is more time and labour consuming, its benefits addressing only the reduction of non-nutritive oral behaviours seem not sufficient to justify the routinely adoption of this practice by veal producers

Comparison of intranasal versus intravenous midazolam for management of status epilepticus in dogs : a multi‐center randomized parallel group clinical study

Background: The intranasal (IN) route for rapid drug administration in patients with brain disorders, including status epilepticus, has been investigated. Status epilepticus is an emergency, and the IN route offers a valuable alternative to other routes, especially when these fail. Objectives: To compare IN versus IV midazolam (MDZ) at the same dosage (0.2 mg/kg) for controlling status epilepticus in dogs. Animals Client-owned dogs (n = 44) with idiopathic epilepsy, structural epilepsy, or epilepsy of unknown origin manifesting as status epilepticus. Methods: Randomized parallel group clinical trial. Patients were randomly allocated to the IN-MDZ (n = 21) or IV-MDZ (n = 23) group. Number of successfully treated cases (defined as seizure cessation within 5 minutes and lasting for >= 10 minutes), seizure cessation time, and adverse effects were recorded. Comparisons were performed using the Fisher's exact and Wilcoxon rank sum tests with statistical significance set at alpha < .05. Results: IN-MDZ and IV-MDZ successfully stopped status epilepticus in 76% and 61% of cases, respectively (P = .34). The median seizure cessation time was 33 and 64 seconds for IN-MDZ and IV-MDZ, respectively (P = .63). When the time to place an IV catheter was taken into account, IN-MDZ (100 seconds) was superior (P = .04) to IV-MDZ (270 seconds). Sedation and ataxia were seen in 88% and 79% of the dogs treated with IN-MDZ and IV-MDZ, respectively. Conclusions and Clinical Importance: Both routes are quick, safe, and effective for controlling status epilepticus. However, the IN route demonstrated superiority when the time needed to place an IV catheter was taken into account

Prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 positivity in infants with bronchiolitis: a multicentre international study

Background Bronchiolitis is the leading acute respiratory tract infection in infants during the winter season. Since the beginning of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, a reduction in the number of bronchiolitis diagnoses has been registered. Objective The present study aimed to describe the incidence and clinical features of bronchiolitis during the 2020-2021 winter season in a large cohort of children in Europe and Israel, and to clarify the role of SARS-CoV-2. Setting, patients, interventions We conducted a multicentre observational cross-sectional study in 23 paediatric emergency departments in Europe and Israel. Clinical and demographic data about all the cases of infants diagnosed with bronchiolitis from 1 October 2020 to 30 April 2021 were collected. For each enrolled patient, diagnostic tests, treatments and outcomes were reported. Main outcome measures The main outcome was the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2-positive bronchiolitis. Results Three hundred and fourteen infants received a diagnosis of bronchiolitis during the study period. Among 535 infants who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, 16 (3%) had bronchiolitis. Median age, male sex predominance, weight, history of prematurity and presence of comorbidities did not differ between the SARS-CoV-2-positive and SARS-CoV-2-negative groups. Rhinovirus was the most common involved pathogen, while respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) was detected in one case. SARS-CoV-2 bronchiolitis had a mild clinical course, with one patient receiving oxygen supplementation and none requiring paediatric or neonatal intensive care unit admission. Conclusions During the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, a marked decrease in the number of bronchiolitis diagnoses and the disappearance of the RSV winter epidemic were observed. SARS-CoV-2-related bronchiolitis was rare and mostly displayed a mild clinical course.During the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, very few infants with SARS-CoV-2 had bronchiolitis and mostly displayed a mild clinical course. Overall there was a marked decrease in bronchiolitis cases, indeed the RSV winter epidemic did not occur

Comparison of intranasal versus intravenous midazolam for management of status epilepticus in dogs: A multi-center randomized parallel group clinical study.

BACKGROUND: The intranasal (IN) route for rapid drug administration in patients with brain disorders, including status epilepticus, has been investigated. Status epilepticus is an emergency, and the IN route offers a valuable alternative to other routes, especially when these fail. OBJECTIVES: To compare IN versus IV midazolam (MDZ) at the same dosage (0.2 mg/kg) for controlling status epilepticus in dogs. ANIMALS: Client-owned dogs (n = 44) with idiopathic epilepsy, structural epilepsy, or epilepsy of unknown origin manifesting as status epilepticus. METHODS: Randomized parallel group clinical trial. Patients were randomly allocated to the IN-MDZ (n = 21) or IV-MDZ (n = 23) group. Number of successfully treated cases (defined as seizure cessation within 5 minutes and lasting for ≥10 minutes), seizure cessation time, and adverse effects were recorded. Comparisons were performed using the Fisher's exact and Wilcoxon rank sum tests with statistical significance set at α < .05. RESULTS: IN-MDZ and IV-MDZ successfully stopped status epilepticus in 76% and 61% of cases, respectively (P = .34). The median seizure cessation time was 33 and 64 seconds for IN-MDZ and IV-MDZ, respectively (P = .63). When the time to place an IV catheter was taken into account, IN-MDZ (100 seconds) was superior (P = .04) to IV-MDZ (270 seconds). Sedation and ataxia were seen in 88% and 79% of the dogs treated with IN-MDZ and IV-MDZ, respectively. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL IMPORTANCE: Both routes are quick, safe, and effective for controlling status epilepticus. However, the IN route demonstrated superiority when the time needed to place an IV catheter was taken into account

Speciation analysis of iodine and bromine at picogram-per-gram levels in polar ice

Iodine and bromine species participate in key atmospheric reactions including the formation of cloud con- densation nuclei and ozone depletion. We present a novel method coupling a high-performance liquid chromatogra- phy with ion chromatography and inductively coupled plas- ma mass spectrometry, which allows the determination of iodine (I) and bromine (Br) species (IO3−, I−, Br−, BrO3−) at the picogram-per-gram levels presents in Antarctic ice. Chromatographic separation was achieved using an ION- PAC® AS16 Analytical Column with NaOH as eluent. Detection limits for I and Br species were 5 to 9 pg g−1 with an uncertainty of less than 2.5% for all considered species. Inorganic iodine and bromine species have been determined in Antarctic ice core samples, with concentrations close to the detection limits for iodine species, and approximately 150 pg g−1 for Br−. Although iodate (IO3−) is the most abundant iodine species in the atmosphere, only the much rarer iodide (I−) species was present in Antarctic Holocene ice. Bromine was found to be present in Antarctic ice as Br−

Appropriateness of Opioid Prescription in Children, Adolescents, and Younger Adults-The Elephant in the Room

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