Effekte verschiedener Aufzuchtmethoden von Ziegen auf Gesundheits-, Leistungs- und Verhaltensparameter

Die Auswirkungen von Ziegen-Kitz-Trennung und Absetzen auf die Gesundheit, Leistung und Verhaltensparameter wurden in drei Aufzuchtsystemen untersucht: 1) Kitze, die Muttermilch trinken, 2) Mutter-Kitz-Trennung und Konsum von Milchersatz, 3) und Kitze, die sowohl Muttermilch als auch Milchaustauscher konsumieren. Das Körpergewicht, die Morbidität und der Milchaustauschkonsum wurden für die Kitze gemessen, und die somatische Zellzahl in der Milch, die Milchleistung, die Morbidität, die Anzahl der Schritte, die Positionsänderungen von Stehen zu Liegen und die Liegezeit für Ziegen. Pp Trennung führte zu einer niedrigeren Variabilität der somatischen Zellzahl innerhalb der Gruppe und zu einer niedrigeren Anzahl kranker Mütter. Jedoch führte pp Trennung bei Kitzen zu einer fluktuierenden Körpergewichtszunahme und zu einem erhöhten Morbiditätsrisiko. Die gegenteiligen Ergebnisse wurden für Ziegen und Kitze, die zusammen gehalten wurden, gefunden. Die verhaltenswissenschaftlichen Ergebnisse zeigten keine klaren Trends. Der Testlauf zur Steigerung des Wohlbefindens und der Milchleistung durch die Gabe von Milchaustauscher für Kitze, die mit den Ziegen gehalten wurden, erwies sich als nicht vorteilhaft

Efficacy and safety of Apixaban in the treatment of cerebral venous sinus thrombosis: a multi-center study

BackgroundInformation regarding the safety and efficacy of specific direct oral anticoagulants (DOAC) in the treatment of cerebral sinus and venous thrombosis (CSVT) is scarce. Apixaban is one of the most frequently prescribed DOACs. Therefore, we aimed to compare the safety and efficacy of Apixaban with those of vitamin k antagonists (VKA) in patients with CSVT.MethodsProspective CSVT databases from seven academic medical centers were retrospectively analyzed. Patients treated with Apixaban were compared to those treated with VKA. Data on demographics, clinical presentations, risk factors, radiological and outcome parameters were studied.ResultsOverall, 403 patients were included in the analysis. Of them, 48 (12%) were treated with Apixaban, and 355 (88%) were treated with VKA. Rates of coagulopathies were significantly higher in the VKA-treated patients but no other differences between the groups were found in baseline characteristics and underlying etiology. No significant differences were found between groups in efficacy or safety parameters including the rates of recanalization, favorable outcomes, one-year mortality, seizures, intracranial hemorrhage or CSVT recurrences.ConclusionOur data suggests that Apixaban may be safe and effective for patients with CSVT. These results should be tested in prospective randomized clinical studies

Novel ways to use sensor data to improve mastitis management

Current sensor systems are used to detect cows with clinical mastitis. Although, the systems perform well enough to not negatively affect the adoption of automatic milking systems, the performance is far from perfect. An important advantage of sensor systems is the availability of multiple measurements per day. By clearly defining the need for detection of subclinical mastitis (SCM) and clinical mastitis (CM) from the farmers' management perspective, detection and management of SCM and CM may be improved. Sensor systems may also be used for other aspects of mastitis management. In this paper we have defined 4 mastitis situations that could be managed with the support of sensor systems. Because of differences in the associated management and the epidemiology of these specific mastitis situations, the required demands for performance of the sensor systems do differ. The 4 defined mastitis situations with the requirements of performance are the following: (1) Cows with severe CM needing immediate attention. Sensor systems should have a very high sensitivity (>95% and preferably close to 100%) and specificity (>99%) within a narrow time window (maximum 12 h) to ensure that close to all cows with true cases of severe CM are detected quickly. Although never studied, it is expected that because of the effects of severe CM, such a high detection performance is feasible. (2) Cows with mastitis that do not need immediate attention. Although these cows have a risk of progressing into severe CM or chronic mastitis, they should get the chance to cure spontaneously under close monitoring. Sensor alerts should have a reasonable sensitivity (>80%) and a high specificity (>99.5%). The time window may be around 7 d. (3) Cows needing attention at drying off. For selective dry cow treatment, the absence or presence of an intramammary infection at dry-off needs to be known. To avoid both false-positive and false-negative alerts, sensitivity and specificity can be equally high (>95%). (4) Herd-level udder health. By combining sensor readings from all cows in the herd, novel herd-level key performance indicators can be developed to monitor udder health status and development over time and raise alerts at significant deviances from predefined thresholds; sensitivity should be reasonably high, >80%, and because of the costs for further analysis of false-positive alerts, the specificity should be >99%. The development and validation of sensor-based algorithms specifically for these 4 mastitis situations will encourage situation-specific farmer interventions and operational udder health management.</p

Stochasticity constrained by deterministic effects of diet and age drive rumen microbiome assembly dynamics

How complex communities assemble through the animal’s life, and how predictable the process is remains unexplored. Here, we investigate the forces that drive the assembly of rumen microbiomes throughout a cow’s life, with emphasis on the balance between stochastic and deterministic processes. We analyse the development of the rumen microbiome from birth to adulthood using 16S-rRNA amplicon sequencing data and find that the animals shared a group of core successional species that invaded early on and persisted until adulthood. Along with deterministic factors, such as age and diet, early arriving species exerted strong priority effects, whereby dynamics of late successional taxa were strongly dependent on microbiome composition at early life stages. Priority effects also manifest as dramatic changes in microbiome development dynamics between animals delivered by C-section vs. natural birth, with the former undergoing much more rapid species invasion and accelerated microbiome development. Overall, our findings show that together with strong deterministic constrains imposed by diet and age, stochastic colonization in early life has long-lasting impacts on the development of animal microbiomes

Welfare Issues on Israeli Dairy Farms: Attitudes and Awareness of Farm Workers and Veterinary Practitioners

Attitudes toward practical dairy cow welfare issues were evaluated based on a questionnaire answered by 500 dairy farm workers and 27 veterinary practitioners. Primarily, the effect of demographic characteristics on attitudes toward cattle welfare was tested. Professionally, five themes were identified: effect of welfare awareness on productivity, knowledge of cattle’s senses and social structure, effects of man–animal interactions on milk yield, pain perception and prevention, and knowledge transfer from veterinary practitioners to farm workers. Farms with a higher welfare awareness score also had higher annual milk yield, with an annual mean difference of 1000 L of milk per cow between farms with higher and lower awareness scores. Veterinary practitioners showed high awareness of cows’ social structure, senses, and pain perception. Farm workers were aware of the influence of man–animal interactions during milking and stress effects on milk yield, and the possible effect of man’s behavior on heifers and cows. Practitioners and farm workers had different views regarding pain perception, mostly involving mutilation procedures. All veterinary practitioners advocated the use of pain alleviation in painful procedures, but only some of them instructed the farm workers to administer it. The survey results emphasize the variation in welfare knowledge and practical applications across farms, and the interest of both the animals and their managers to improve applied knowledge of best practice

Does Malignancy Status Effect Outcomes in Patients With Large Vessel Occlusion Stroke and Cancer Who Underwent Endovascular Thrombectomy?

Background Cancer is associated with an increased risk of acute ischemic stroke, including large vessel occlusions. Whether cancer status affects outcomes in patients with large vessel occlusions that undergo endovascular thrombectomy remains unknown. Methods and Results All consecutive patients undergoing endovascular thrombectomy for large vessel occlusions were recruited into a prospective ongoing multicenter database, and the data were retrospectively analyzed. Patients with active cancer were compared with patients with cancer in remission. Association of cancer status with 90‐day functional outcome and mortality were calculated in multivariable analyses. We identified 154 patients with cancer and large vessel occlusions that underwent endovascular thrombectomy (mean age, 74±11; 43% men; median National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale 15). Of the included patients, 70 (46%) had a remote history of cancer or cancer in remission, and 84 (54%) had active disease. Outcome data at 90 days poststroke were available for 138 patients (90%) and was classified as favorable in 53 (38%). Patients with active cancer were younger and more often smoked but did not significantly differ from those without malignancy in other risk factors, stroke severity, stroke subtype, or procedural variables. Favorable outcome rates among patients with active cancer did not significantly differ compared with those seen in patients without active cancer, but mortality rates were significantly higher among patients with active cancer on univariate and multivariable analyses. Conclusions Our study suggests that endovascular thrombectomy is safe and efficacious in patients with history of malignancy as well as in those with active cancer at the time of stroke onset, although mortality rates are higher among patients with active cancer