Demography and disorders of the French Bulldog population under primary veterinary care in the UK in 2013

Abstract Background Despite its Gallic name, the French Bulldog is a breed of both British and French origin that was first recognised by The Kennel Club in 1906. The French Bulldog has demonstrated recent rapid rises in Kennel Club registrations and is now (2017) the second most commonly registered pedigree breed in the UK. However, the breed has been reported to be predisposed to several disorders including ocular, respiratory, neurological and dermatological problems. The VetCompass™ Programme collates de-identified clinical data from primary-care veterinary practices in the UK for epidemiological research. Using VetCompass™ clinical data, this study aimed to characterise the demography and common disorders of the general population of French Bulldogs under veterinary care in the UK. Results French Bulldogs comprised 2228 (0.49%) of 445,557 study dogs under veterinary care during 2013. Annual proportional birth rates showed that the proportional ownership of French Bulldog puppies rose steeply from 0.02% of the annual birth cohort attending VetCompass™ practices in 2003 to 1.46% in 2013. The median age of the French Bulldogs overall was 1.3 years (IQR 0.6–2.5, range 0.0–13.0). The most common colours of French Bulldogs were brindle (solid or main) (32.36%) and fawn (solid or main) (29.9%). Of the 2228 French Bulldogs under veterinary care during 2013, 1612 (72.4%) had at least one disorder recorded. The most prevalent fine-level precision disorders recorded were otitis externa (14.0%, 95% CI: 12.6–15.5), diarrhoea (7.5%, 95% CI: 6.4–8.7), conjunctivitis (3.2%, 95% CI: 2.5–4.0), nails overlong (3.1%, 95% CI% 2.4–3.9) and skin fold dermatitis (3.0%, 95% CI% 2.3–3.8). The most prevalent disorder groups were cutaneous (17.9%, 95% CI: 16.3–19.6), enteropathy (16.7%, 95% CI: 15.2–18.3), aural (16.3%, 95% CI: 14.8–17.9), upper respiratory tract (12.7%, 95% CI: 11.3–14.1) and ophthalmological (10.5%, 95% CI: 9.3–11.9). Conclusions Ownership of French Bulldogs in the UK is rising steeply. This means that the disorder profiles reported in this study reflect a current young UK population and are likely to shift as this cohort ages. Otitis externa, diarrhoea and conjunctivitis were the most common disorders in French Bulldogs. Identification of health priorities based on VetCompass™ data can support evidence–based reforms to improve health and welfare within the breed

Brésil

Plus que la "frontière" pionnière de l'intérieur du pays, c'est la région du Centre-Sud, et notamment ses grandes villes, qui attire le plus grand nombre de migrants brésiliens, comme l'atteste l'analyse des recensements de 1985 et 1991. Le Centre-Sud, en effet, est la région la plus urbanisée, la plus industrialisée du pays; elle est en situation dominante dans les secteurs tertiaires, de l'agriculture et de l'élevage, et constitue ainsi le véritable moteur de l'organisation territoriale brésilienne. Ainsi, cette restructuration spatiale, placée sous le signe de l'urbanisation, s'opère aujourd'hui selon deux modèles. D'une part, des zones à la production agropastorale moderne, bien reliées aux circuits économiques et, notamment, au complexe agro-industriel. D'autre part, des régions, dotées d'une population nombreuse, tournées vers l'autoconsommation et, donc, peu intégrées dans les circuits commerciaux. (Résumé d'auteur

Improved food crop marketing through appropriate transport for poor farmers in Uganda. Baseline study based on participatory rural appraisals and household questionnaire surveys in nine sub-counties of Iganga, Kasese, and Katakwi districts

The project Improved Food Crop Marketing through Appropriate Transport for Poor Farmers in Uganda was approved for funding for one year by the DFID Crop Post-Harvest Programme in April 2002. Subject to the results of a review in February 2003, the project may be extended on terms to be agreed upon. The project purpose is to develop and promote strategies that will improve food security of poor households through increased availability and improved quality of food and better access to markets. The main outputs of the project are: a) Capacity building, b) Improved understanding of poor farmers' transport needs, c) Validated technology for Intermediate Means of Transportation (IMTs), d) Promotional material

Managing urban flood resilience through the English planning system: insights from the ‘SuDS-face'

In academic and professional circles, ‘resilience thinking’ has emerged as the dominant paradigm in flood risk management, which emphasizes the need to plan and design cities that can absorb water and replicate natural processes more closely. In this paper, we explore how planners in England are expected to respond to the resilience agenda against the realities in practice, zoning in on the delivery of sustainable (urban) drainage systems (SuDS). Our exploration highlights that, while SuDS are being implemented, they are largely characterized by a ‘bog standard’ design. We found that there are three main institutional factors that are constraining the implementation of SuDS: the lack of legislative backing, the power afforded to private commercial interests in the neoliberalized planning process, compounded by the severe lack of resources in local authorities. What is missing at the moment is SuDS process and design that is flexible, integrated, collaborative and innovative. There are clear implications that, without the necessary institutional support, resilience thinking will remain largely aspirational, and professionals will struggle to gain traction and translate the larger flood resilience policy agenda into England's future climate-resilient places

Perfect fluids from high power sigma-models

Certain solutions of a sextic sigma-model Lagrangian reminiscent of Skyrme model correspond to perfect fluids with stiff matter equation of state. We analyse from a differential geometric perspective this correspondence extended to general barotropic fluids.Comment: 17 pages. Version published in IJGMMP 8 (2011). Added Example 3.4 and 1 referenc