Effect of feeding fermentable fibrerich feedstuffs lupin and chicory prior to slaughter with special emphasis on the effect on chemical boar taint in organic entire male and female pigs and technological meat quality

Boar taint is an off-flavour of pork caused primarily by skatole and, androstenone. Pig off-odour and flavour mostly caused by higher skatole concentrations in backfat. It is a problem in all types of pork production and is not restricted to entire male pigs. If uncastrated, 5-10% of Danish entire male pigs (100 kg liveweight) have > 0.25 ppm skatole in backfat and are then classified as boar tainted, having a markedly reduced value. Even backfat skatole values above 0.15 ppm enhance the off-odour for skatole sensitive consumers. An alternative way to reduce high skatole concentrations may be feeding with fibre-rich feedstuffs. This idea is based on previous studies which have demonstrated that 10% dried chicory or more in the feed reduces skatole in entire male pigs significantly after 7, 14 and 21 days of feeding, resulting in a significant reduction in perceived boar taint and thus an improvement in the flavour and taste of meat. Significantly decreased skatole concentrations and a tendency to increased eating quality have also been demonstrated by feeding 25% lupines to female and castrated male pigs during the whole fattening period. The question remains, however, whether the effects of lupines on skatole and other sensory characteristics of female and entire male pigs can be obtained when used only in the last 1 or 2 weeks before slaughter. Two experimental replicates each consisting of 24 pigs (12 entire male and 12 female) was divided into three treatments according to litter and initial weight and kept in pairs (pens) of either female or entire male pigs. The male and female pigs were kept in different stables. The pairs of pigs have been fed three organic diets for either 1 or 2 weeks prior to slaughter of which two diets contained different fermentable fibre-rich feedstuffs (10% dried chicory root plus 90% organic control feed and 25% blue lupine seed plus 75% other organic feed components). These two treatments were compared with a control; where the pairs of pigs were fed organic control concentrate (“conventional”) either 1 or 2 weeks prior to slaughter (at approx. 104 kg liveweight). Levels of skatole and indole in blood plasma from Vena jugularis were monitored at the start of the experiment and just before slaughter, and skatole in backfat was measured at slaughter. Production results were registered (daily weight gain, FUp per kg gain, slaughter weight, carcass meat percentage, warm and cold carcass weight), and after slaughter at Research Centre Foulum the following technological meat quality attributes were measured on M. Longissimus dorsi (LD): meat colour (L*, a*, and b* values), drip loss, pH measurements, temperatures and glycogen at 45 minutes and 24 hours post mortem. There was a significant reduction in skatole in blood and backfat for both sexes by feeding 25% blue lupine one or two weeks prior to slaughter (P<0.001). The 10% (and 13.3%) dried chicory roots showed no significant effect. This is possibly due to error in the heat treatment of the roots during the drying process. A majority of the meat quality parameters were not significantly affected by either of the two dietary treatments. However, glycogen contents tended to be higher 45 minutes and 24 hours post mortem (P<0.10) and the drip loss lower in the lupine-fed pigs. There were clear tendencies to significant differences in production results as the 25% lupines showed negative impact on growth rate, feed conversion ratio, slaughter weight and carcass weight. Newly mixed entire male pigs showed worse performance than newly mixed female pigs during the short time experiment

Written in the Sand; The San people, statelessness and the Logic of the State

The San people of the Kalahari Desert in Southern Africa remain stateless, in a region undergoing rapid modernisation. Like other stateless groups, they exist peripherally within the states that they legally and territorially belong. This thesis, investigates how the San have remained outside the state logic of South Africa and Botswana, through testing James C. Scott’s theory of statelessness and its indicators upon the case of the San within the international system. The study spans from late 18th century colonisation to 21st century globalisation, descriptively tracing Scott’s indicators of statelessness through an empirical analytical narrative. A process undertaken using a historical critical method and formative moments. The answer is two part, firstly that during the 18th & 19th centuries the San remained stateless due to the limitations of the state, weighed against the mobility of the San, with Scott’s theory being retained. Secondly during the 20th & 21st centuries, the San remained stateless yet loosing their autonomy due to state encroachment and consequential distancing practices

Closing the Loop: The Effects of Scheduling Patients\u27 Follow-up Prior to Emergency Department Discharge

Background: A large percentage of serious medical errors involve miscommunication during the hand-off of patients between medical providers. In addition, care providers do not effectively or completely communicate important information among themselves, to the patient, or to those taking care of the patient at home in a timely fashion. The communication method whether verbal, recorded, or written has proven to be ineffective. As healthcare disparities increase with healthcare complexity, it is important to extrapolate the best evidence based practice and bring these practices to the front line. Literature Search: A comprehensive literature search using the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) and MEDLINE was performed. Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) were used in various combinations including key terms: emergency department, care coordination, and follow-up compliance. The search was limited to dates from 2004 to present, English language, Evidenced Based Medicine (EBM) reviews, Systematic Review (SR), Randomized Controlled Trials (RCT), and Human related. Selected studies demonstrated that scheduling patients’ follow-up prior to emergency department discharge has shown to be an effective method in increasing patient follow- up compliance. Several other beneficial outcomes including: increased patient satisfaction, decreased unscheduled visits to the emergency departments, possible avoidable costly hospital admissions, and an overall decrease in unnecessary health care expenditures have also been noted. Methodology: Patients who need follow-up within 30 days of emergency department discharge may be selected for enrollment. The intervention group will have follow-up scheduled for them prior to emergency department departure. The standard group will be given the hospital’s standard discharge instructions and make their own follow-up appointment. Outpatient provider offices will be contacted at 30 days following departure to ascertain if patients followed up. Selected descriptive and inferential statistics will be used as appropriate to examine follow-up compliance between groups, as well as sociodemographic factors that may impact follow-up compliance. Objective: The purpose of this research is to contribute to the growing body of knowledge supporting the transition of patient care. The project will evaluate the effects of scheduling patients for follow-up prior to emergency department discharge on followup compliance. There has been a continual growth of high level evidence that needs to be further developed and applied to the discharge of the emergency department patient

Understanding Refugee Law in an Enlarged European Union Theory

The present article seeks to explore how asylum law is formed, transformed and reformed in Europe, what its effects are on state practice and refugee protection in the Baltic and Central European candidate countries, and what this process reveals about the framework used by scholars to understand the dynamics of international refugee law. Arguably, an exclusive focus on EU institutions and their dissemination of regional and international norms among candidate countries through the acquis communitaire is misleading. Looking at the subregional interplay between Vienna and Budapest, Berlin and Warsaw, Copenhagen and Vilnius provides a richer understanding of the emergence of norms than the standard narrative of a Brussels dictate. Hence, to capture these dynamics, we will attempt to expand the framework of analysis by incorporating sub-regional settings, cutting across the divide between old and new Members, and by analysing the repercussions sent out by domestic legislation within these settings. While acknowledging that bilateral and multilateral relations are continuously interwoven, we conclude that bilateralism accounts for a greater degree of normative development and proliferation than multilateralism at EU level, and that domestic legislation as formed by sub-regional dynamics will remain the ultimate object of study for scholars of international refugee law.