Insights into udder health and intramammary antibiotic usage on Irish dairy farms during 2003-2010

By international standards, Ireland is a relatively small dairy producer. However, the industry plays a critical role to the national economy, accounting for approximately 3% of national gross domestic product. This paper presents insights into udder health and intramammary antibiotic usage on Irish dairy farms during 2003-2010, based on data from several sources. Three data sources were used, including data on milk recording data, intramammary antibiotic sales and animal health assessment. The milk recording data included a single unadjusted herd-level somatic cell count (SCC) value for each herd at each milk recording, being the arithmetic mean of cow-level SCC of each cow at that recording, weighted by cow-level yield. These data were used to calculate the percentage of herds each month where the unadjusted herd SCC exceeded 200,000 and 400,000 cells/mL. Two logistic generalised estimating-equations (GEE) models were developed, the outcome variable being either the probability that the monthly SCC of a herd was greater than 400,000 cells/mL or less than or equal to 200,000 cells/mL. Spring herds had a lower probability of a high SCC (> 400,000 cells/mL) during February to October compared to non-Spring herds but a higher probability between November to January. The odds of a high SCC were greater in 2005, 2006, 2009 and 2010 but less in 2007 and 2008 compared to 2004. Smaller herds had higher odds of having a high SCC compared to larger herds. We present the number of intramammary tubes and the quantity of active substance (kg) sold annually in Ireland during 2003-2010. We infer an incidence of clinical mastitis of 54.0 cases per 100 cow-years at risk, assuming 4 tubes per treatment regime, one affected quarter per cow, tubes restricted to clinical cases only and 100% of treated cases considered new cases, based on data collected on sales of in-lactation intra-mammary antibiotics. With differing assumptions, this estimate varied between 25.8 and 77.0 cases per 100 cow-years at risk. Using data on sales of dry cow therapy intra-mammary antibiotics, we also infer that most Irish dairy farmers use blanket dry cow therapy. It is important that Ireland has an objective understanding of current levels of udder health, to facilitate benchmarking and improvement into the future. Udder health is a concern on a number of Irish dairy farms. High SCC results were present throughout the year, but more marked towards the start and end of each milking season. Animal Health Ireland recently commenced a major national programme, CellCheck, in collaboration with a broad range of stakeholders, to support national SCC improvement. In this paper, relevant European and national legislation is also reviewed

Endoplasmic reticulum stress signalling – from basic mechanisms to clinical applications

The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is a membranous intracellular organelle and the first compartment of the secretory pathway. As such, the ER contributes to the production and folding of approximately one‐third of cellular proteins, and is thus inextricably linked to the maintenance of cellular homeostasis and the fine balance between health and disease. Specific ER stress signalling pathways, collectively known as the unfolded protein response (UPR), are required for maintaining ER homeostasis. The UPR is triggered when ER protein folding capacity is overwhelmed by cellular demand and the UPR initially aims to restore ER homeostasis and normal cellular functions. However, if this fails, then the UPR triggers cell death. In this review, we provide a UPR signalling‐centric view of ER functions, from the ER's discovery to the latest advancements in the understanding of ER and UPR biology. Our review provides a synthesis of intracellular ER signalling revolving around proteostasis and the UPR, its impact on other organelles and cellular behaviour, its multifaceted and dynamic response to stress and its role in physiology, before finally exploring the potential exploitation of this knowledge to tackle unresolved biological questions and address unmet biomedical needs. Thus, we provide an integrated and global view of existing literature on ER signalling pathways and their use for therapeutic purposes

The "Snacking Child" and its social network: some insights from an italian survey

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The hypothesis underlying this work is that the social network of a child might have an impact on the alimentary behaviors, in particular for what concerns snack consumption patterns.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>1215 Italian children 6-10 ys old were interviewed using a CATI facility in January 2010. 608 "snackers" and 607 "no-snackers" were identified. Information regarding family composition, child and relatives BMI, mother perception of child weight, child, father and mother physical activity, TV watching, social network, leisure time habits and dietary habits of peers, were collected. Association of variables with the status of snacker was investigated using a multivariable logistic regression model.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Snackers children seem to be part of more numerous social network (1.40 friends vs 1.14, p = 0.042) where the majority of peers are also eating snacks, this percentage being significantly higher (89.5 vs 76.3, p < 0.001) than in the "no-snacker" group. The snacking group is identified by the fact that it tends to practice at least 4 hours per week of physical activity (OR: 1.36, CI: 1.03-1.9). No evidence of an association between snacking consumption and overweight status has been shown by our study.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The snacking child has more active peer-to-peer social relationships, mostly related with sport activities. However, spending leisure time in sportive activities implies being part of a social environment which is definitely a positive one from the point of view of obesity control, and indeed, no increase of overweight/obesity is seen in relation to snack consumption.</p

How to measure influence in social networks?

Today, social networks are a valued resource of social data that can be used to understand the interactions among people and communities. People can influence or be influenced by interactions, shared opinions and emotions. How-ever, in the social network analysis, one of the main problems is to find the most influential people. This work aims to report on the results of literature review whose goal was to identify and analyse the metrics, algorithms and models used to measure the user influence on social networks. The search was carried out in three databases: Scopus, IEEEXplore, and ScienceDirect. We restricted pub-lished articles between the years 2014 until 2020, in English, and we used the following keywords: social networks analysis, influence, metrics, measurements, and algorithms. Backward process was applied to complement the search consid-ering inclusion and exclusion criteria. As a result of this process, we obtained 25 articles: 12 in the initial search and 13 in the backward process. The literature review resulted in the collection of 21 influence metrics, 4 influence algorithms, and 8 models of influence analysis. We start by defining influence and presenting its properties and applications. We then proceed by describing, analysing and categorizing all that were found metrics, algorithms, and models to measure in-fluence in social networks. Finally, we present a discussion on these metrics, al-gorithms, and models. This work helps researchers to quickly gain a broad per-spective on metrics, algorithms, and models for influence in social networks and their relative potentialities and limitations.This work has been supported by IViSSEM: POCI-01-0145-FEDER-28284, COMPETE: POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007043 and FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia within the R&D Units Project Scope: UIDB/00319/2020

Shaping our future: animal health in a global trading environment

Ireland is currently experiencing both the positive and negative effects of global trade in agricultural products. With increasing global competition, there is little doubt that Irish agricultural product must increasingly compete on the basis of quality, rather than price

Intracluster correlation coefficients and coefficients of variation for perinatal outcomes from five cluster-randomised controlled trials in low and middle-income countries: results and methodological implications

Background: Public health interventions are increasingly evaluated using cluster-randomised trials in which groups rather than individuals are allocated randomly to treatment and control arms. Outcomes for individuals within the same cluster are often more correlated than outcomes for individuals in different clusters. This needs to be taken into account in sample size estimations for planned trials, but most estimates of intracluster correlation for perinatal health outcomes come from hospital-based studies and may therefore not reflect outcomes in the community. In this study we report estimates for perinatal health outcomes from community-based trials to help researchers plan future evaluations.Methods: We estimated the intracluster correlation and the coefficient of variation for a range of outcomes using data from five community-based cluster randomised controlled trials in three low-income countries: India, Bangladesh and Malawi. We also performed a simulation exercise to investigate the impact of cluster size and number of clusters on the reliability of estimates of the coefficient of variation for rare outcomes.Results: Estimates of intracluster correlation for mortality outcomes were lower than those for process outcomes, with narrower confidence intervals throughout for trials with larger numbers of clusters. Estimates of intracluster correlation for maternal mortality were particularly variable with large confidence intervals. Stratified randomisation had the effect of reducing estimates of intracluster correlation. The simulation exercise showed that estimates of intracluster correlation are much less reliable for rare outcomes such as maternal mortality. The size of the cluster had a greater impact than the number of clusters on the reliability of estimates for rare outcomes.Conclusions: The breadth of intracluster correlation estimates reported here in terms of outcomes and contexts will help researchers plan future community-based public health interventions around maternal and newborn health. Our study confirms previous work finding that estimates of intracluster correlation are associated with the prevalence of the outcome of interest, the nature of the outcome of interest ( mortality or behavioural) and the size and number of clusters. Estimates of intracluster correlation for maternal mortality need to be treated with caution and a range of estimates should be used in planning future trials

Utopianism and social change: materialism, conflict and pluralism

This article discusses criticisms that utopia and utopianism undermine social change. It outlines two types of utopia, future and current. It argues against claims that utopianism is idealist and steps aside from material and conflictual dimensions of society and so undermines change, proposing that utopias are material and conflictual and contribute to change. Against liberal and pluralist criticisms that utopianism is end-ist and totalitarian and terminates diversity and change it argues that utopianism can encompass liberal and pluralist dimensions and be dynamic rather than static. It is proposed that criticisms create false conflations and dichotomies. Critical perspectives, rather than being rejected, are answered on their own terms. Utopianism, it is argued, is part of change, materially, now and in the future

Calf health from birth to weaning. III. housing and management of calf pneumonia

Calfhood diseases have a major impact on the economic viability of cattle operations. A three part review series has been developed focusing on calf health from birth to weaning. In this paper, the last of the three part series, we review disease prevention and management with particular reference to pneumonia, focusing primarily on the pre-weaned calf. Pneumonia in recently weaned suckler calves is also considered, where the key risk factors are related to the time of weaning. Weaning of the suckler calf is often combined with additional stressors including a change in nutrition, environmental change, transport and painful husbandry procedures (castration, dehorning). The reduction of the cumulative effects of these multiple stressors around the time of weaning together with vaccination programmes (preconditioning) can reduce subsequent morbidity and mortality in the feedlot. In most studies, calves housed individually and calves housed outdoors with shelter, are associated with decreased risk of disease. Even though it poses greater management challenges, successful group housing of calves is possible. Special emphasis should be given to equal age groups and to keeping groups stable once they are formed. The management of pneumonia in calves is reliant on a sound understanding of aetiology, relevant risk factors, and of effective approaches to diagnosis and treatment. Early signs of pneumonia include increased respiratory rate and fever, followed by depression. The single most important factor determining the success of therapy in calves with pneumonia is early onset of treatment, and subsequent adequate duration of treatment. The efficacy and economical viability of vaccination against respiratory disease in calves remains unclear

Species Specificity in Major Urinary Proteins by Parallel Evolution

Species-specific chemosignals, pheromones, regulate social behaviors such as aggression, mating, pup-suckling, territory establishment, and dominance. The identity of these cues remains mostly undetermined and few mammalian pheromones have been identified. Genetically-encoded pheromones are expected to exhibit several different mechanisms for coding 1) diversity, to enable the signaling of multiple behaviors, 2) dynamic regulation, to indicate age and dominance, and 3) species-specificity. Recently, the major urinary proteins (Mups) have been shown to function themselves as genetically-encoded pheromones to regulate species-specific behavior. Mups are multiple highly related proteins expressed in combinatorial patterns that differ between individuals, gender, and age; which are sufficient to fulfill the first two criteria. We have now characterized and fully annotated the mouse Mup gene content in detail. This has enabled us to further analyze the extent of Mup coding diversity and determine their potential to encode species-specific cues