Immunocastration of male pigs

In Europe, male piglets have been surgically castrated for centuries in order to avoid boar-tainted carcasses and to eliminate boar-specific aggressive and sexual behavior. Surgical castration of male piglets is still legal within the European Union during the first week of life, even without anaesthesia or analgesia. These circumstances have led to increasing societal criticism, as the castration is painful and violates the physical integrity of the animals. In 2010, European stakeholders of the pork chain committed themselves voluntarily to ending surgical castration from 2018 onwards, but at present, more than 2 years later, the majority of male piglets are still castrated surgically without adequate pain relief. Immunocastration is one alternative to surgical castration or pork production with boars. Although this technique is approved for commercial use in Europe since 2009, the market shares of immunocastrates within the European pork market are very low. The main reasons for this low market acceptance are uncertainties whether immunocastration is reliable, competitive and accepted along the pork chain. The main objective of the present doctoral thesis was therefore to investigate the advantages and disadvantages of immunocastration with regard to the three pillars of sustainability aspects. The various sustainability aspects of immunocastration were summarized and reviewed. In addition, the effects of different housing conditions on the reliability of immunocastration were experimentally tested, as was the impact of housing conditions and sex group on the growth performance of male pigs. Finally, the consequences of pork production with immunocastrates and boars on the profitability of German pig production were analyzed with a simulation model using different carcass pricing systems for immunocastrates and risk scenarios for boar taint. Immunocastration is an active immunization against GnRH and consists of two consecutive vaccinations to induce antibodies which temporarily suppress testicular functions and prevent boar taint. It is a method which ensures both a high product quality and a high level of animal welfare. The impact of immunocastration on the three pillars of sustainability has been studied extensively, although a contemporary global overview of its different aspects has been missing. Performance results in immunocastrates are better than in barrows, but worse than in boars. The environmental impact of pork production with immunocastrates is lower than with barrows, but higher than with boars. The level of aggression is considerably lower in immunocastrates compared to boars. Societal concerns are mainly related to food safety, and are not supported by scientific evidence. After the second vaccination, immunocastrates switch physiologically from a boar-like to a barrow-like status. Therefore, the timing of the second vaccination is a fine-tuning tool to balance advantages of boars with their environmental and economic benefits against the increased risk of welfare problems and boar taint. Nevertheless, both the synergic and the conflicting relationships between the pillars of sustainability must be communicated along the value chain to produce tailored pork products. The present doctoral thesis shows that immunocastration can balance the advantages and disadvantages of pork production with boars or barrows, and thus serve as a sustainable alternative for the European pork chain. If used correctly, immunocastration is reliable in preventing boar taint and can be economically competitive with traditional surgical castration. Based on this thesis, future studies might investigate quality assurance systems that reliably detect non-responders, or animals that are incorrectly vaccinated, before slaughter or at slaughter line. In addition, the economic impact of switching from traditional pork production with barrows to pork production with immunocastrates along the entire pork chain should be further analyzed.Seit Jahrhunderten werden in Europa männliche Ferkel chirurgisch kastriert, um Ebergeruch und eberspezifisches Aggression- und Sexualverhalten zu vermeiden. Die chirurgische Kastration von Eberferkeln erfolgt dabei meistens ohne Anästhesie oder Analgesie und darf so in der Europäischen Union innerhalb der ersten Lebenswoche durchgeführt werden. Diese Praxis wird von der Gesellschaft zunehmende kritisiert, da die Kastration schmerzhaft ist und die körperliche Unversehrtheit der Tiere verletzt. Im Jahr 2010 verpflichteten sich daher europäische Stakeholder der Wertschöpfungskette freiwillig dazu, die chirurgische Ferkelkastration ab 2018 zu beenden. Mehr als zwei Jahre nach dieser Frist, wird die Mehrheit der Eberferkel nach wie vor chirurgisch kastriert, die meisten weiterhin ohne Narkose und Schmerzausschaltung. Die Immunkastration ist eine Alternative zur chirurgischen Kastration und zur Jungebermast. Obwohl diese Technik in Europa seit 2009 für den kommerziellen Gebrauch zugelassen ist, sind die Marktanteile von Immunkastraten auf dem europäischen Schweinefleischmarkt sehr gering. Die Hauptgründe, die zu dieser geringen Marktakzeptanz führen sind Unsicherheiten, ob die Immunkastration zuverlässig und wettbewerbsfähig ist und ob sie von der gesamten Wertschöpfungskette akzeptiert wird. Daher war das Hauptziel der vorliegenden Doktorarbeit zu untersuchen, welche Vor- oder Nachteile sich im Hinblick auf Nachhaltigkeitsaspekte aus der Immunkastration ergeben. Die Analyse verschiedener Nachhaltigkeitsaspekte der Schweinefleischerzeugung mit Immunkastraten wurde in einem Review zusammengefasst. Zusätzlich wurde in einem experimentellen Ansatz der Einfluss verschiedener Haltungsbedingungen auf die Zuverlässigkeit der Immunkastration untersucht. In dieser Studie wurde zudem der Einfluss der Haltungsbedingungen und des Gonadenstatus auf die Wachstumsleistung männlicher Schweine erfasst. Basierend auf den Leistungsdaten dieser Studie wurde außerdem die Rentabilität der Mast von Immunkastraten, chirurgischen Kastraten und Jungebern mit einem Simulationsmodell für deutsche Betriebe unter Verwendung verschiedener Schlachtkörperpreissysteme für Immunkastraten und Risikoszenarien für Ebergeruch analysiert. Die Immunkastration ist eine aktive Immunisierung gegen GnRH und besteht aus zwei aufeinanderfolgenden Impfungen zur Induktion von Antikörpern, die die Hodenfunktionen vorübergehend unterdrücken und damit die Bildung von Ebergeruch sowie der Hodenhormone verhindern. Es handelt sich um eine Methode, die sowohl eine hohe Produktqualität als auch ein hohes Maß an Tierschutz gewährleistet. Die Auswirkungen der Immunkastration auf die drei Säulen der Nachhaltigkeit sind bereits ausführlich untersucht worden, jedoch fehlte ein aktueller globaler Überblick über verschiedene Nachhaltigkeitsaspekte des Verfahrens. Durch die Hodenhormonbildung vor der zweiten Impfung ist die Mastleistung von Immunkastraten insbesondere die Futterverwertung besser als die von Börgen, aber schlechter als die von Ebern. Die Umweltbelastung bei der Mast mit Immunkastraten ist geringer als bei Börgen, aber höher als bei Ebern. Das Aggressionspotential ist bei Immunkastraten nach der zweiten Impfung im Vergleich zu Ebern wesentlich geringer. Verbraucherbedenken hinsichtlich der Erzeugung von Schweinefleisch mit Immunkastraten beziehen sich hauptsächlich auf die Lebensmittelsicherheit. Solche Bedenken sind aus wissenschaftlicher Sicht unbegründet, da die Unbedenklichkeit des Verzehrs von Fleisch aus dieser Produktion belegt ist. Vor der zweiten Impfung sind Immunkastraten aus physiologischer Sicht wie Eber. Daher ist der Zeitpunkt der zweiten Impfung ein Instrument zur Feinsteuerung, um die ökologischen und wirtschaftlichen Vorteile von Ebern partiell zu nutzen, ohne das erhöhte Risiko von Tierschutzproblemen und Ebergeruch einzugehen. Dennoch müssen sowohl synergistische als auch antagonistische Beziehungen zwischen den Säulen der Nachhaltigkeit entlang der Wertschöpfungskette kommuniziert werden, um marktorientierte Schweinefleischprodukte anzubieten. Die vorliegende Doktorarbeit zeigt, dass der Ersatz der chirurgischen Ferkelkastration durch die Immunkastration die Vorteile der Jungebermast und der Mast von Börgen partiell vereint und somit eine nachhaltige Alternative für die europäische Schweinefleischerzeugung darstellen kann. Bei korrekter Anwendung ist die Immunkastration zuverlässig bei der Verhinderung von Ebergeruch und kann wirtschaftlich mit der traditionellen chirurgischen Kastration konkurrieren. Ausgehend von dieser Doktorarbeit könnten zukünftige Studien Qualitätssicherungssysteme untersuchen, die zuverlässig Non-Responder oder falsch geimpfte Tiere vor der Schlachtung oder am Schlachtband detektieren. Darüber hinaus sollten die wirtschaftlichen Auswirkungen der Umstellung von der chirurgischen Kastration auf die Mast von Immunkastraten auf die gesamte Wertschöpfungskette analysiert werden

Just plain Wronga?: a multimodal critical analysis of online payday loan discourse

Payday loans constitute one of the most rapidly expanding and controversial forms of consumer lending today. Payday lending – the selling of high-interest, short-term credit – has thrived in the wake of the decline of the traditional high street banking system and the reluctance on the part of many mainstream credit services, following the 2007/8 Global Financial Crisis, to lend to low income earners. This study critically examines the website of the industry leader in the UK, Wonga, a payday lender which recently rebranded and relaunched itself (in 2015) after being embroiled in a series of financial scandals. Our analysis centres on the new Wonga website, the gateway to its financial services, and identifies three inter-related discursive strategies through which the lender, in the wake of its financial misconduct, seeks to present itself as a reputable financial service provider, namely by (1) constructing the empowered and responsible borrower, (2) de-stigmatising both its service provision and its prospective customers, the payday borrower, and (3) minimising the consequences and risks associated with payday borrowing. We argue that, collectively, these strategies constitute an artful response by Wonga to the changing legislative and socio-economic contexts in which it and other payday lenders are now required to operate, permitting it to continue marketing and selling its high-interest rate financial services

Acceptability of Dry-Cured Belly (Pancetta) from Entire Males, Immunocastrates or Surgical Castrates: Study with Slovenian Consumers

Abandoning of male piglets castration in the European Union is a challenge for the pork production sector in particular for high-quality dry-cured traditional products. The information on consumer acceptability of dry-cured products from alternatives is limited, so the objective was to test the consumer acceptability of unsmoked traditional dry-cured belly (Kraška panceta) processed from three sex categories, i.e., surgical castrates (SC), entire males (EM) and immunocastrates (IC). Consumers (n = 331) were asked to taste dry-cured bellies from EM, IC and SC and to score the taste appreciation on a 9 cm unstructured scale. After tasting the pancetta of three sex categories, the consumers attributed the lowest acceptability scores to SC, whereas IC and EM received similar scores. Only about a quarter of consumers attributed the lowest score to EM, mainly when boar taint compounds were present. The results of this study indicate that a certain share of consumers was sensitive to taste deficiencies and that the leanness of this product is very important for consumersinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Multiple Multilocus DNA Barcodes from the Plastid Genome Discriminate Plant Species Equally Well

A universal barcode system for land plants would be a valuable resource, with potential utility in fields as diverse as ecology, floristics, law enforcement and industry. However, the application of plant barcoding has been constrained by a lack of consensus regarding the most variable and technically practical DNA region(s). We compared eight candidate plant barcoding regions from the plastome and one from the mitochondrial genome for how well they discriminated the monophyly of 92 species in 32 diverse genera of land plants (N = 251 samples). The plastid markers comprise portions of five coding (rpoB, rpoC1, rbcL, matK and 23S rDNA) and three non-coding (trnH-psbA, atpF–atpH, and psbK–psbI) loci. Our survey included several taxonomically complex groups, and in all cases we examined multiple populations and species. The regions differed in their ability to discriminate species, and in ease of retrieval, in terms of amplification and sequencing success. Single locus resolution ranged from 7% (23S rDNA) to 59% (trnH-psbA) of species with well-supported monophyly. Sequence recovery rates were related primarily to amplification success (85–100% for plastid loci), with matK requiring the greatest effort to achieve reasonable recovery (88% using 10 primer pairs). Several loci (matK, psbK–psbI, trnH-psbA) were problematic for generating fully bidirectional sequences. Setting aside technical issues related to amplification and sequencing, combining the more variable plastid markers provided clear benefits for resolving species, although with diminishing returns, as all combinations assessed using four to seven regions had only marginally different success rates (69–71%; values that were approached by several two- and three-region combinations). This performance plateau may indicate fundamental upper limits on the precision of species discrimination that is possible with DNA barcoding systems that include moderate numbers of plastid markers. Resolution to the contentious debate on plant barcoding should therefore involve increased attention to practical issues related to the ease of sequence recovery, global alignability, and marker redundancy in multilocus plant DNA barcoding systems

Exploratory Survey on European Consumer and Stakeholder Attitudes towards Alternatives for Surgical Castration of Piglets

Simple SummaryIn many countries, surgical castration of piglets without pain relief or anaesthesia is still common practice. Castration is performed to minimise the incidence of boar taint, a bad taste (urine/fecal like), typically present in the meat of 5 to 10% of uncastrated male pigs. It also helps to avoid aggressive and sexual behaviour. For animal welfare reasons, alternatives are being considered, and in some countries, an alternative is already practiced. One option is to perform surgical castration with anaesthesia and relieve pain. A second option is to produce male pigs without castration, which requires detection of tainted carcasses in the slaughter house. A third option is to apply immunocastration: by a two-fold injection of a vaccine, the testes function is inhibited, which reduces boar-like behaviour and avoids boar taint. In this study, we evaluated the acceptability of each of these methods in 16 countries in Europe. Of the 4 presented options, the practice of surgical castration was least accepted (32%), whilst there was a high acceptance of castration with anaesthesia (85%), followed by immunocastration (71%) and production of boars (49%). The developed questionnaire and infographic can be used in future studies to further gain insights in consumer and stakeholder attitudes on this topic.Surgical castration of piglets without pain relief is still common practice in many countries. Possible alternatives for surgical castration are application of pain relief or anaesthesia or production of boars (entire males) and immunocastrates. Each of these alternatives faces advantages and disadvantages which may result in different citizen attitudes and consumers acceptability. Understanding which practice is acceptable to whom and why may further stimulate implementation. Consumer (n = 3251) and stakeholder (n = 1027) attitudes towards surgical castration without pain relief, surgical castration with anaesthesia, immunocastration, and production of boars were surveyed from April to June 2020 via an online questionnaire in 16 countries (>175 respondents per country). Surgical castration without pain relief was separated from each of the alternatives due to animal welfare and showed the lowest acceptability (32%). Within the alternatives, a further partitioning between the alternatives was based on perceived quality and food safety, with an acceptance of 85% for applying anaesthesia, 71% for immunocastration, and 49% for boar production. Differences depending on professional involvement and familiarity with agriculture could be observed, mainly for the acceptance of surgical castration without anaesthesia, immunocastration, and boars. Castration with anaesthesia was highly accepted by all types of respondents

Peddling a semiotics of fear: a critical examination of scare tactics and commercial strategies in public health promotion

This study critically examines the ways in which the nationwide Diabetes UK/Tesco public health promotion campaign (2013-2014) sought to raise awareness of Type 2 diabetes. Conducting a multimodal critical discourse analysis of six campaign images, we identify the presence of fear-inducing, stigmatising and commercial strategies, through which the campaign emphasises the dangers of diabetes and advocates personal responsibility for assessing both individual and others’ risk of the disease. Specifically, three discursive techniques are deployed in this campaign to achieve these ends: (1) the depiction of grief and amplification of diabetes-related danger, (2) the promotion of diabetes risk and responsibilization of individuals for their health, and (3) the commercial branding and framing of the Diabetes UK/Tesco partnership as providing tools for diabetes prevention and management. Our findings raise concerns about the moral legitimacy of using fear-inducing and commercial strategies in public health campaigns, strategies which do little to address the environmental factors which are associated with increasing rates of the disease

Earth BioGenome Project: Sequencing life for the future of life.

Increasing our understanding of Earth's biodiversity and responsibly stewarding its resources are among the most crucial scientific and social challenges of the new millennium. These challenges require fundamental new knowledge of the organization, evolution, functions, and interactions among millions of the planet's organisms. Herein, we present a perspective on the Earth BioGenome Project (EBP), a moonshot for biology that aims to sequence, catalog, and characterize the genomes of all of Earth's eukaryotic biodiversity over a period of 10 years. The outcomes of the EBP will inform a broad range of major issues facing humanity, such as the impact of climate change on biodiversity, the conservation of endangered species and ecosystems, and the preservation and enhancement of ecosystem services. We describe hurdles that the project faces, including data-sharing policies that ensure a permanent, freely available resource for future scientific discovery while respecting access and benefit sharing guidelines of the Nagoya Protocol. We also describe scientific and organizational challenges in executing such an ambitious project, and the structure proposed to achieve the project's goals. The far-reaching potential benefits of creating an open digital repository of genomic information for life on Earth can be realized only by a coordinated international effort

Why sequence all eukaryotes?

Life on Earth has evolved from initial simplicity to the astounding complexity we experience today. Bacteria and archaea have largely excelled in metabolic diversification, but eukaryotes additionally display abundant morphological innovation. How have these innovations come about and what constraints are there on the origins of novelty and the continuing maintenance of biodiversity on Earth? The history of life and the code for the working parts of cells and systems are written in the genome. The Earth BioGenome Project has proposed that the genomes of all extant, named eukaryotes-about 2 million species-should be sequenced to high quality to produce a digital library of life on Earth, beginning with strategic phylogenetic, ecological, and high-impact priorities. Here we discuss why we should sequence all eukaryotic species, not just a representative few scattered across the many branches of the tree of life. We suggest that many questions of evolutionary and ecological significance will only be addressable when whole-genome data representing divergences at all of the branchings in the tree of life or all species in natural ecosystems are available. We envisage that a genomic tree of life will foster understanding of the ongoing processes of speciation, adaptation, and organismal dependencies within entire ecosystems. These explorations will resolve long-standing problems in phylogenetics, evolution, ecology, conservation, agriculture, bioindustry, and medicine

Early mobilization in the critical care unit: A review of adult and pediatric literature.

Early mobilization of critically ill patients is beneficial, suggesting that it should be incorporated into daily clinical practice. Early passive, active, and combined progressive mobilizations can be safely initiated in intensive care units (ICUs). Adult patients receiving early mobilization have fewer ventilator-dependent days, shorter ICU and hospital stays, and better functional outcomes. Pediatric ICU data are limited, but recent studies also suggest that early mobilization is achievable without increasing patient risk. In this review, we provide a current and comprehensive appraisal of ICU mobilization techniques in both adult and pediatric critically ill patients. Contraindications and perceived barriers to early mobilization, including cost and health care provider views, are identified. Methods of overcoming barriers to early mobilization and enhancing sustainability of mobilization programs are discussed. Optimization of patient outcomes will require further studies on mobilization timing and intensity, particularly within specific ICU populations