Aggressivt beteende hos suggor vid gruppering

Syftet med den här litteraturstudien är att undersöka vilka faktorer som påverkar aggressionsnivån hos grupphållna suggor och vilka konsekvenser aggressivt beteende kan få för produktionsresultaten. Aggressivt beteende hos suggor påverkas av många olika faktorer, t.ex. boxstorlek, boxutformning, utfodringssystem, tillgång på strömedel, djurhantering och avel. Behandling med lugnande preparat eller maskeringslukter har däremot ingen betydande effekt på förekomsten av aggressivt beteende. Sådana preparat förskjuter förekomst av aggression och resulterar ofta i en kraftig stressrespons, vilket pekar på försämrad djurvälfärd. Slutsatsen är att förekomst av aggressivt beteende bland suggor kan minskas genom att förändra utfodringsmodell (t.ex. fodertilldelning ad libitum och ökad fibermängd i fodret), stallsystem (t.ex. större boxutrymme per sugga), levnadsstandard (t.ex. ökad tilldelning av strö och förbättrad djurhantering) eller genom att via avel reducera aggressivitet.The aim of this review is to investigate factors affecting aggressiveness in group-housed sows, and what consequences aggressive behaviour has on production results. Aggressive behaviour in sows is affected by many different factors such as size of the pen, the shape of the pen, feeding system, access to straw, management and genetic selection. Treatments such as tranquiliser or masking odours have no significant effect on the aggressive behaviour. Such treatments only postpone the aggressive interactions and often results in a massive stress reaction, which indicate impaired animal welfare. In conclusion, aggressive behaviour in group housed sows can be reduced by change in feeding strategy (e.g. feed provided ad libitum and high content of fibre in the feed), housing systems (e.g. more space per sow) and the living standards (e.g. access to straw, animal management). It is also possible to reduce the level of aggressiveness through genetic selection

Variation in fattening pig exterior, gait and weight gain in commercial organic herds

Pigs in Swedish organic production systems have been shown to have more findings of arthritis at slaughter, compared to pigs in conventional pig production. With this in mind a study was performed, to primary, investigate variation in exterior, gait and weight gain between sire breeds and, secondly, to investigate variation between herds, season, gender, age and assessment occasion on these recordings. Swedish commercial hybrids, crosses between Norwegian Landrace and Swedish Yorkshire were inseminated with either Hampshire or Duroc as terminal sire. All the pigs had known pedigree as each semen dose contained sperms from one individual boar. All piglets were individually tagged closely after birth, and exterior and gait assessment were performed at two separate occasions, early and late during the fattening period. At the assessment, exterior and gait parameters (lameness, back, leg, swollen joints and movement) were investigated. Data was collected and analyzed using SAS software, using three different statistical models. For the first two settings the results show that sire breed had little effect, while herd, gender, season, age and assessment occasion has some effect on the exterior and gait parameters. For the third setting the result showed that all the parameters; sire breed, birth herd, gender and season had some effect on weight and growth performance.Grisar i ekologisk grisproduktion i Sverige har på senare tid fått en högre andel slaktanmärkningar angående ledproblem, jämfört med grisar från konventionell grisproduktion. Med detta i åtanke utfördes en studie med syftet att undersöka variationer i benhälsa och tillväxt mellan olika faderraser, samt undersöka variation mellan besättning, säsong, kön, ålder och bedömningstillfälle. Svenska kommersiella sugghybrider, Lantras- och Yorkshire korsningar, seminerades med antingen Hampshire- eller Duroc-galt. Alla suggor och galtar hade känd härstamning och varje semindos innehöll sperma från en individuell galt. Alla smågrisar öronmärktes strax efter födsel och exteriörbedömningar utfördes vid två tillfällen, tidigt och sent under slaktgrisens tillväxtperiod. Vid exteriörbedömningarna bedömdes 5 olika parametrar; hälta, rygg, benställning, svullna leder och rörelser. Data samlades in och analyserades statistiskt med SAS-programmet, i tre olika analyser. Resultaten från de två första analyserna visade att faderras hade liten effekt, medan besättning, kön, säsong, ålder och bedömningstillfälle hade viss effekt på exteriör parametrarna. I den tredje analysen visades att vikt och tillväxt påverkades av alla undersökta parametrar; faderras, smågrisbesättning, kön och säsong

Leg health, growth and carcass characteristics in growing-finishing pigs of two different genotypes reared on Swedish organic farms

Increased prevalence of joint abnormalities at slaughter among pigs from organically certified herds in Sweden has been reported. Most of these abnormalities are caused by osteochondrosis, which has a genetic background. Thus, we investigated whether changing the sire breed from the commonly used Hampshire to the commercially available sire breed Duroc affected joint health and growth rate. We studied 766 commercially reared growing-finishing pigs from insemination of the mother sow until slaughter. The pigs were raised at four commercial organic farms (integrated or externally integrated, and had 40–160 sows in production)and slaughtered at one slaughter plant. We found no significant difference between the offspring of the two sire breeds regarding back conformation, leg conformation, swollen joints, locomotion or lameness at 13 or 24 weeks of age, or regarding joint abnormalities at slaughter. This indicates that clinical leg health will not be improved by changing sire breed. However, the Hampshire-sired pigs had higher daily growth rate(P< 0.008), allowing earlier slaughter

Production and composition of sow milk

Colostrum and milk yield and composition are important for piglet survival and growth Mammogenesis occurs during prepuberty, puberty, gestation and lactation. Colostrogenesis starts before parturition and transcends into lactogenesis 24-36 hours after parturition. If the teats are not suckled, involution will occur. The piglets start to suckle from 20-30 minutes after birth, nurses almost once every hour both day and night and the milk let down is ten to 20 seconds per nursing time. Colostrum yield is roughly around four kg during the first 24 hours after parturition. Milk yield is roughly around nine kg/day. Yield is difficult to measure. The sow reaches peak lactation at around day 12. The semi-natural length of sow lactation is 17 weeks but the length of lactation in production systems ranges from two to five weeks. Colostrum has a higher DM, CP and whey protein content than milk. This is due to the high amount of immunoglobulins in colostrum. Mature milk has a higher content of lactose, fat and caseins than colostrum. Factors that affect yield and composition are genetics, feeding strategies, sow health, parity number, weight of the sow, litter size, total litter weight and mean piglet birth weight

How the EMERGE guideline on medication adherence can improve the quality of clinical trials.

Medication adherence in drug trials is suboptimal, affecting the quality of these studies and adding significant costs. Nonadherence in this setting can lead to null findings, unduly large sample sizes and the need for dose modification after a drug has been approved. Despite these drawbacks, adherence behaviours are not consistently measured, analysed or reported appropriately in trial settings. The ESPACOMP Medication Adherence Reporting Guideline (EMERGE) offers a solution by facilitating a sound protocol design that takes this crucial factor into account. This article summarises key evidence on traditional and newer measurements of adherence, discusses implementation in clinical trial settings and makes recommendations about the analysis and interpretation of adherence data. Given the potential benefits of this approach, the authors call on regulators and the pharmaceutical industry to endorse the EMERGE guideline

IDOL regulates systemic energy balance through control of neuronal VLDLR expression.

Liver X receptors limit cellular lipid uptake by stimulating the transcription of Inducible Degrader of the LDL Receptor (IDOL), an E3 ubiquitin ligase that targets lipoprotein receptors for degradation. The function of IDOL in systemic metabolism is incompletely understood. Here we show that loss of IDOL in mice protects against the development of diet-induced obesity and metabolic dysfunction by altering food intake and thermogenesis. Unexpectedly, analysis of tissue-specific knockout mice revealed that IDOL affects energy balance, not through its actions in peripheral metabolic tissues (liver, adipose, endothelium, intestine, skeletal muscle), but by controlling lipoprotein receptor abundance in neurons. Single-cell RNA sequencing of the hypothalamus demonstrated that IDOL deletion altered gene expression linked to control of metabolism. Finally, we identify VLDLR rather than LDLR as the primary mediator of IDOL effects on energy balance. These studies identify a role for the neuronal IDOL-VLDLR pathway in metabolic homeostasis and diet-induced obesity

Treating subclinical hypothyroidism in individuals with or without mental health problems - A Delphi based expert consensus study in two countries

Background: Subclinical hypothyroidism (SCH) is a common endocrine problem with prevalence estimates between 4% and 20%. Symptoms are often non-specific but can substantially affect well-being leading to repeated medical consultations. The effect of thyroid hormone replacement therapy (THRT) in patients with SCH remains uncertain. Current guidelines, limited by the lack of high-quality evidence, have been controversial with limited adherence in clinical practice. Methods: Three-round modified Delphi method to establish consensus regarding diagnosis and treatment of individuals with SCH with and without affective disorder or anxiety, conducted with clinicians from three specialties, general practice, endocrinology and psychiatry, and two countries, Sweden and the United Kingdom. Results: Sixty clinicians, 20 per specialty, were recruited. Fifty-three (88%) participants completed all three rounds. The participants reached consensus on five of the 26 practice statements that (a) repeated testing was required for the diagnosis of subclinical hypothyroidism, (b) antibody screening should usually occur, and (c and d) antibody screening would strengthen the indication for thyroid hormone replacement therapy in both individuals with or without affective disorder or anxiety. The participants disagreed with (e) a requirement of a TSH threshold ≥ 20 mIU/L for thyroid hormone replacement therapy start. Psychiatrists and GPs but not endocrinologists, agreed that there was a frequent discrepancy between laboratory results and clinical symptoms, and disagreed that testing for thyroid dysfunction was overused in patients presenting with depression or anxiety, or fatigue. Conclusions: In many aspects, attitudes toward diagnosing and treating SCH remain diverse. The inability of our Delphi panel to achieve consensus on most items and the disagreement with a TSH ≥ 20 mIU/L threshold for treatment suggest that the concept of SCH may need rethinking with a better understanding of the hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid physiology. Given that the scientific evidence is currently not conclusive, guidelines in this area should not be taken as definitive.Originally included in thesis in manuscript form.</p

Clinical presentation of calmodulin mutations: the International Calmodulinopathy Registry

AIMS: Calmodulinopathy due to mutations in any of the three CALM genes (CALM1-3) causes life-threatening arrhythmia syndromes, especially in young individuals. The International Calmodulinopathy Registry (ICalmR) aims to define and link the increasing complexity of the clinical presentation to the underlying molecular mechanisms. METHODS AND RESULTS: The ICalmR is an international, collaborative, observational study, assembling and analysing clinical and genetic data on CALM-positive patients. The ICalmR has enrolled 140 subjects (median age 10.8 years [interquartile range 5-19]), 97 index cases and 43 family members. CALM-LQTS and CALM-CPVT are the prevalent phenotypes. Primary neurological manifestations, unrelated to post-anoxic sequelae, manifested in 20 patients. Calmodulinopathy remains associated with a high arrhythmic event rate (symptomatic patients, n = 103, 74%). However, compared with the original 2019 cohort, there was a reduced frequency and severity of all cardiac events (61% vs. 85%; P = .001) and sudden death (9% vs. 27%; P = .008). Data on therapy do not allow definitive recommendations. Cardiac structural abnormalities, either cardiomyopathy or congenital heart defects, are present in 30% of patients, mainly CALM-LQTS, and lethal cases of heart failure have occurred. The number of familial cases and of families with strikingly different phenotypes is increasing. CONCLUSION: Calmodulinopathy has pleiotropic presentations, from channelopathy to syndromic forms. Clinical severity ranges from the early onset of life-threatening arrhythmias to the absence of symptoms, and the percentage of milder and familial forms is increasing. There are no hard data to guide therapy, and current management includes pharmacological and surgical antiadrenergic interventions with sodium channel blockers often accompanied by an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator

Sky view factor as predictor of solar availability on building façades

Solar availability on urban façades varies signifcantly, affected by obstructions by nearby buildings as well as orientation. A convenient way to evaluate their solar energy potential is deemed to facilitate the task of architects in increasing the use of photovoltaic systems and, thus solar energy generation in the urban environment. This study explores to what extent the sky view factor (SVF), a measure of the openness of a point to the sky, can be employed for evaluating solar irradiation of façades in complex urban scenes. For this purpose, extensive statistical analysis was performed testing the correlation of SVF with solar irradiances for 30 orientations, considering three European climates (i.e. Athens, London and Helsinki), and three periods (i.e. year, January and July). Special emphasis is put on global irradiance, which expresses the sum of three solar components, i.e. direct, diffuse and reflected. The study uses 24 urban forms - of 500 × 500 m area - in London for which SVF and solar irradiance simulations were performed for nine sky models (three locations by three periods). The results reveal a strong linear relationship (R2 > 0.8) between SVF and annual global irradiance in all orientations, at all three locations. In fact, as SVF was found to correlate well with both major solar components, direct and diffuse, it can be presumably used for predicting façades' annual solar irradiation at any location within the tested range of latitudes. With respect to monthly global irradiance, the relationship appears less consistent, affected by the increased sensitivity of the relationship of SVF with monthly direct irradiance to façade orientation and location's latitude, associated with the variations of solar altitude