Comparison of nonlinear growth models and factors affecting body weight at different ages in Toy Poodles

Limited information is available to evaluate optimal growth in Toy Poodles. This work aimed at comparing three growth curves, proposing centile charts and developing a model to estimate the adult body weight (BW) in Toy Poodles. A total of 65 puppies (male = 30, female = 35) born in the same breeding centre were used. BW at birth and, weekly BW, for 53 weeks, BW of parents, litter size, type of management, daily activity and neutering were recorded. Forty-six puppies were sold, and their data were reported by the new owners. Three growth curves (i.e. Hawthorne, Brody and Gompertz) were constructed and compared; Linear Mixed Models including demographic characteristics and management habits were built. The BW at birth was 154 \ub1 35 g and adult BW was 3208 \ub1 860 g. Based on the goodness-of-fit and accuracy indices, Gompertz was the best growth model and was selected to plot centile curves based on sex. Toy Poodles achieved 50% of their adult weight at 11\u201312 weeks, with an overall growth rate of 11.8%. Adult BW was affected by birth BW (p <.01), sex (p <.05) and mother\u2019s BW (p <.01) and their effects varied depending on the age. Extrinsic factors, including litter size, type of management and daily activity were less significant, probably due to the standardised and high-level management of these Toy Poodles. These new and applicable tools for monitoring the growth and predicting adult BW could be useful for veterinarians, breeders and owners for early diagnosis of poor health and welfare. Subject classification codes: companion animals sectionsHighlights Performance of three logistic models for describing the growth curve in Italian Toy Poodles were compared Based on the goodness of fit and accuracy indices, Gompertz was the best growth model The centile growth curves were constructed for males and females using the Gompertz Adult body weight (BW) was mainly affected by the sex and birth BW, and less by BW of the parents and litter size Monitoring BW of puppies may be useful to enhance their health and welfare

Effect of lairage duration on some blood constituents and beef quality in bulls after long journey

Al fine di contribuire alla individuazione di un tempo adeguato di sosta al termine di un lungo trasporto, sono stati esaminati gli effetti di diverse durate della sosta al macello su alcuni parametri ematici e sulla qualit\ue0 della carne in bovini maschi interi sottoposti a viaggi commerciali di lunga durata. Lo studio \ue8 stato condotto su 39 vitelloni Limousine allevati nelle medesime condizioni presso un unica azienda situata nelle vicinanze di Saragoza (Spagna). Gli animali sono stati esaminati al termine di 5 viaggi commerciali dopo un tragitto di 2500 km, presso lo stabilimento di macellazione \u201cSan Giorgio\u201d di Gangi (Palermo). Il tempo di trasporto \ue8 stato pari a ore 53,6\ub110,9. Per i soggetti della prima, della terza e della quinta consegna, la durata della sosta \ue8 risultata compresa tra 24 e 36 ore, con una media pari a 31 ore (gruppo \u201cShort Lairage\u201d), mentre nella terza e nella quinta consegna la sosta \ue8 stata pari, rispettivamente, a 57 e 59 ore (gruppo \u201cLong Lairage\u201d). I risultati relativi all\u2019esame emocromo-citometrico, hanno evidenziato un effetto significativo (P>0,001) della durata della sosta pre-macellazione sia sul numero dei leucociti che sulle piastrine. La durata della sosta non ha mostrato avere nessun effetto significativo su globuli rossi, emoglobina ed ematocrito anche se l\u2019analisi della varianza per misure ripetute ha mostrato che, indipendentemente dalla durata della sosta, l\u2019ematocrito \ue8 variato significativamente dal momento dello scarico a quello della macellazione, aumentando durante tale periodo. L\u2019analisi statistica effettuata sui parametri ematochimici ha evidenziato un effetto significativo (P>0,05) della durata della sosta solo sull\u2019enzima CK e sul cortisolo. L\u2019enzima CK ha mostrato un incremento nel gruppo \u201cShort Lairage\u201d (33,2% vs 14,3%) mentre il Cortisolo ha mostrato una diminuzione nel gruppo \u201cLong Lairage\u201d (36,3% vs 3,8%). La durata della sosta non ha influenzato significativamente (P>0,05) l\u2019incidenza di lesioni lievi e gravi registrate sulle carcasse. Per quanto concerne la qualit\ue0 della carne, la durata della sosta ha influenzato significativamente il pHu, risultato pi\uf9 elevato (P>0,01) nel muscolo dei soggetti del gruppo \u201cLong Lairage\u201d; la luminosit\ue0 a 24h post mortem \ue8 risultata significativamente pi\uf9 elevata (P>0,05) nei soggetti del gruppo \u201cShort Lairage\u201d rispetto a quelli del gruppo \u201cLong Lairage\u201d, mentre gli indici del rosso e del giallo sono risultati essere maggiori in quest\u2019ultimo gruppo. Il calo peso dopo cottura \ue8 risultato significativamente minore (P>0,01) nel gruppo \u201cShort Lairage\u201d, lo stesso gruppo \u201cShort Lairage\u201d ha fatto registrare carni significativamente pi\uf9 tenere (P>0,01). Dai risultati ottenuti emerge come la durata della sosta pre-macellazione dopo un trasporto di lunga durata pu\uf2 influenzare il quadro ematologico e la qualit\ue0 della carne. Nel complesso \ue8 emerso che prolungare la sosta oltre le 36 ore non provoca alcun beneficio per il benessere dell\u2019animale e rischia di peggiorare la qualit\ue0 della carne. Nel caso di trasporti cos\uec lunghi come quelli esaminati sarebbe opportuno una migliore organizzazione della logistica al fine di ridurre il tempo di attesa degli animali prima della macellazione.With the aim to contribute to determine an adequate resting time for cattle after long transportation, the effects of different lairage time on some haematic parameters and meat quality of bulls subjected to long commercial journeys were investigated. Thirty-nine Limousine bulls supplied by one farm located near to Saragoza (Spain) were examined after 5 consignments at the final destination, after a journey of 2.550 km, of the \u201cSan Giorgio\u201d abattoir (Palermo, Italy). Transport time was of 53.6 \ub1 10.9 h; lairage duration for bulls of the 1st, 3rd and 5th consignments was of 31 h on average (\u201cShort Lairage\u201d group), whereas, for those of the 2nd and 4th consignments, was of 59 and 57 h, respectively (\u201cLong Lairage\u201d group). As regards the blood cell counts, data showed a significant effect (P< 0.001) of the lairage duration on leukocyte and platelet counts. No significant effect was observed for erythrocyte count, haemoglobin and hematocrit in relation to the lairage duration, even if the repeated measure analysis of variance showed that, irrespectively to the lairage duration, the hematocrit increased significantly from the unloading to the slaughter. Haematological parameters showed a significant (P< 0.05) effect of the lairage time only on CK and Cortisol. CK enzyme showed an increase in the \u201cShort Lairage\u201d group (33.2% vs. 14.3%) whereas, Cortisol showed a decrease in the \u201cLong Lairage\u201d group (36.3% vs. 3.8%). The different lairage duration did not significantly (P> 0.05) affect the incidence of slight and severe bruises of carcass. As regard meat quality, lairage duration has significantly influenced the pHu which was higher (P< 0.01) in the muscle of the animals of the \u201cLong Lairage\u201d group, the luminosity at 24h post mortem which was significantly higher (P< 0.05) in animals of the \u201cShort Lairage\u201d group and the red and yellow indices which were higher in the \u201cLong Lairage\u201d group. \u201cShort Lairage\u201d group showed lower (P< 0.01) value of cooking loss and higher (P< 0.01) value of tenderness. Data show that pre-slaughter lairage duration after a long transport may influence the blood parameters as well as meat quality. On the whole, the increase of the lairage duration over 36 h does not determine any benefit for the animal well-being whereas it can cause a reduction of the beef quality. For so long transports, it should be better an adequate organization of the facilities in order to diminish the pre-slaughter lairage duration

Effect of different stunning methods of pigs on subcutaneous veining defect and meat quality of raw ham

Trecentocinque suini pesanti sono stati sottoposti a stordimento elettrico (146 soggetti) o con CO2 (159 soggetti) per valutare l’effetto del metodo di stordimento sull’incidenza del difetto di venatura delle cosce, sul valore del pH, sul colore dei muscoli SM e BF e su alcuni parametri ematici. Nei suini sottoposti a stordimento con CO2 si è osservata una più alta percentuale di cosce con il difetto di venatura e valori più elevati di HCT, PT e PTT. I suini storditi mediante elettronarcosi hanno presentato un pH1 più basso e un colore più chiaro nel SM

Protocollo di valutazione infettivologica pre-trapianto

Lo screening pre-trapianto dei potenziali candidati a un trapianto d\u2019organo \ue8 parte essenziale del trapianto di organi solidi. Obiettivi dello screening pre-trapianto sono: 1. identificazione di condizioni che controindicano il trapianto; 2. identificazione e trattamento di infezioni attive pre-trapianto; 3. definizione del livello di rischio infettivo e impostazione di strategie preventive post-trapianto. Nonostante vi sia un generale accordo sulle indagini di screening da effettuare, vi sono alcune variazioni tra i diversi centri. Allo scopo di armonizzare lo screening infettivologico pre-trapianto, viene schematicamente riportato, alla luce dell\u2019esperienza personale e dei dati di letteratura, lo stato dell\u2019arte inerente lo screening infettivologico pre-trapianto

Analysis of PRKAG3 gene polymorphisms in Italian autochthonous pig breeds.

The PRKAG3 gene encodes for the regulatory gamma 3 subunit of adenosine monophosfate-activated protein kinase (AMPK) protein that acts as a regulator of carbohydrate and fat metabolism. Several single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) have been identified in the porcine PRKAG3 gene. Two of them (c.595A>G or p.I199V and c.599G>A or p.R200Q) have been associated with variability of meat quality and carcass traits. In this study, we investigated the frequency of the c.595A>G and c.599G>A SNPs in 372 animals of five Italian autochthonous pig breeds (Apulo-Calabrese, Casertana, Cinta Senese, Mora Romagnola and Nero Siciliano). Genomic DNA were extracted from hair roots or blood and SNPs genotyping was performed by PCR-RFLP protocols. The c.599A (p.200Q) allele was carried by only 3 Nero Siciliano pigs. All five breeds were polymorphic at the c.595A>G site. The c.595A (p.I199) allele was the less frequent in the analysed breeds with minor allele frequency ranging from 0.144 (Nero Siciliano) to 0.464 (Casertana). Based on identified allele frequencies, the c.595A>G SNP can be useful in association studies with meat, carcass and ham quality traits in the Italian local pig breeds

The use of thermography on the slaughter-line for the assessment of pork and raw ham quality

The left and right hams of forty heavy pig carcasses were thermographed to evaluate whether surface temperature differences were related to meat and ham quality. Thermal imaging analysis showed no differences in average surface temperature among classes of pH or of L* colour co-ordinate nor among classes of ham defects such as veining and red skin. However, hams with a lower fat cover displayed a significantly warmer average temperature surface. Infrared thermography seems to be a practical and non-invasive method to detect hamswith a fat cover below the minimum requested to be submitted to the dry-curing process

Ensemble of convolutional neural networks to improve animal audio classification

Abstract In this work, we present an ensemble for automated audio classification that fuses different types of features extracted from audio files. These features are evaluated, compared, and fused with the goal of producing better classification accuracy than other state-of-the-art approaches without ad hoc parameter optimization. We present an ensemble of classifiers that performs competitively on different types of animal audio datasets using the same set of classifiers and parameter settings. To produce this general-purpose ensemble, we ran a large number of experiments that fine-tuned pretrained convolutional neural networks (CNNs) for different audio classification tasks (bird, bat, and whale audio datasets). Six different CNNs were tested, compared, and combined. Moreover, a further CNN, trained from scratch, was tested and combined with the fine-tuned CNNs. To the best of our knowledge, this is the largest study on CNNs in animal audio classification. Our results show that several CNNs can be fine-tuned and fused for robust and generalizable audio classification. Finally, the ensemble of CNNs is combined with handcrafted texture descriptors obtained from spectrograms for further improvement of performance. The MATLAB code used in our experiments will be provided to other researchers for future comparisons at https://github.com/LorisNanni

Effect of different pre-slaughter procedures on behavioural and blood parameters in pigs.

The effect of different pre-slaughter procedures on behavioural and blood parameters were evaluated on 120 pigs reared in one farm and delivered in groups of 40 subjects to three slaughterouses. Due to the different attitude of the personnel involved, differences in handling were evident at loading and at unloading where the difficulties to srive the pigs incresed the behaviuoral events. Blood analysis parameter showed that different resting time did not reduce the physical stress exoerienced by the pigs, which seems related "per se" to loading, transport and unloading and not to the different handling applied in each slaughter plant