Embryo metabolism : what does it really mean?

The study of early embryo metabolism has fascinated researchers in the field for nearly a century. Herein, we give a brief account of the general features of embryo metabolism and some consideration of the research performed to reach such conclusions. It is becoming increasingly obvious that metabolism informs many fate decisions and outcomes beyond ATP generation, such as DNA methylation, Reactive Oxygen Species generation and cell signaling. We discuss the reasons for studying metabolism in the face of our current knowledge of the effect that the culture environment on the developing embryo and the downstream effects that can cause. The study of in vitro embryo metabolism can also give us insight into developmental perturbations in vivo. The strengths and limitations of the methods we use to study metabolism are reviewed with reference to species-specific fundamental biology and plasticity and we discuss what the future holds for metabolic studies and the unanswered questions that remain

Preliminary findings on carbohydrate metabolism of intact equine cumulus-oocyte complexes during in vitro maturation

Conference paper abstrac

The application of a sentiment analysis approach to explore public understandings of animal agriculture

Ideas about farming are important components of consumers' value judgements about the foods they purchase and consume. Nevertheless, a divide exists between public perceptions and the realities of agricultural practices. We take a novel approach, using sentiment analysis, amongst other methods, to explore what consumers think about farming and how the visual elements of agricultural images might contribute to these perceptions. Data were drawn from responses to questions about three photographs of contemporary UK dairy farms, part of an online survey (n = 521), exploring public perceptions of food and farming. Sentiment and content analysis, descriptive statistics and Spearman's rank correlations were used to analyse the data. Participants thought good animal farming involves an evaluation of both farmers' skill and the relative ethical correctness of certain farming practices. Dirt and untidiness were linked with an increased likelihood of animal disease, and cleanliness and tidiness with a decreased likelihood. According to respondents, keeping cattle inside was problematic, whereas keeping animals outside is more appropriate, linked to their ability to graze in fields and the perceived goodness of a grass-based diet. Respondents discussed the need for farmers to be qualified, passionate and care for their animals. The paper concludes by reflecting on the use of images and sentiment analysis in this type of research, suggesting that along with certain benefits there are limitations to these methods

Changing interventions in farm animal health and welfare: a governmentality approach to the case of lameness

Lameness is a significant health and welfare issue in farmed animals. This paper uses a governmentality approach, which focuses on how a problem is made governable, to examine an emerging ‘ecology of devices’ introduced to intervene in, and attempt to reduce, on-farm incidence of lameness. These devices are associated with advisers who work with farmers on-farm; they enact lameness as a governable entity, are tools to assess the existence of lameness against established norms, and prescribe actions to be taken in response to evidence of lameness. In doing this they subjectify farmers and advisers into seeing and responding to lameness in particular ways. Using concepts of governmentality alongside other perspectives on the power relations and the simplifications and complexities involved in interventions in animal health and farm practice, the paper draws on in-depth research with advisers including vets and other paraprofessionals who work with farmers, and their cows and sheep. It explores how this set of devices introduces particular techniques and practices in lameness management, and produces farmer and adviser subjectivities. It then explores some of the problematics of this mode of governing lameness, including analysis of the limitations and unintended consequences of attempts to simplify lameness management. The paper concludes by arguing that its approach is valuable in analysing ongoing intensification of interventions in farming practices and in understanding the limits of such interventions and the unanticipated divergences from expected conduct

Interspecies encounters with endemic health conditions: co-producing BVD and lameness with cows and sheep in the north of England

This paper focuses on the relationships between people and farmed nonhuman animals, and between these animals and the farmed environments they encounter, in the enactment of interspecies endemic disease situations. It examines how the nonhuman embodied capacities, agency and subjectivities of cows and sheep on farms in the north of England make a difference to how the endemic conditions of lameness and bovine viral diarrhoea (BVD) are encountered and responded to by farmers and advisers. The paper draws on empirical research with farmers and their advisers, and explores three key, inter-related, themes: first, the importance of intersubjective relationships between people and animals on farms; second, the nonhuman components of the ‘disease situations’ associated with endemic diseases, including animals’ embodied characteristics and behaviours and the relationships between bodies and environments on different farms; and finally the ways in which animal agency and resistance makes a difference to on-farm interventions aiming to prevent or treat lameness and BVD. The paper concludes by arguing that animals’ capacities, and nonhuman difference, should be taken further into account in future policy and practice interventions in endemic disease in farmed animals

Exploring farmer and advisor lameness management behaviours using the COM-B model of behaviour change

This paper applies the COM-B framework to farmer and farm advisor understandings and responses to lameness in sheep, beef, and dairy systems. It reflects on how farmers' and advisors' capability, opportunity, and motivation (COM-B) influence lameness management practices in these farming systems, and considers the interaction between these three factors, and stakeholders' behaviour.Interviews with 29 farmers and 21 farm advisors in the north of England were conducted. Thematic analysis was undertaken with results categorised in relation to the COM-B framework focusing on barriers and enablers of lameness management. Use of the COM-B model provides a useful means of understanding the underlying behavioural mechanisms that contribute towards the persistence of lameness. This includes the complexities and interactions which hamper implementation of lameness management best practice. The findings highlight three key areas to address with interventions to improve lameness management on farm: 1) removing physical and social barriers for lameness management; 2) improving psychological capability and motivation for lameness management; and 3) facilitating relationships and developing communication between farmers and advisors.In particular, the value of exploring both farmer and advisor perspectives on behaviour in the animal health context is demonstrated. Future interventions should look to target these three areas to overcome barriers and focus on factors that enable positive lameness practices to occur

Living with cows, sheep and endemic disease in the north of England: embodied care, biosocial collectivities and killability.

This paper engages with debates surrounding practices of care in complex situations where human and non-human lives are entangled. Focusing on the embodied practices of care involving farmers, their advisers and cows and sheep in the North of England, the paper explores how biosocial collectivities fabricate care around endemic health conditions in specific farming situations. Based on in-depth research with farmers and advisers, the paper examines how Bovine Viral Diarrhoea (BVD) and lameness are made ‘visible’ and become cared about, what practices are mobilised in response to an evident need to care, and how some animals are, paradoxically, made ‘killable’ in the practising of care for populations of cows and sheep. The paper discusses how the perspectives of farmers and advisers are aligned in developing practices of care for animals, although there are some tensions and differences between these groups. Advisers focus on making endemic diseases important to farmers, so that they become enrolled into taking prescribed action. However, the sets of competing priorities farmers have to address, in complex on-farm situations, along with some resistance to taking prescribed action, produces other perspectives on and practices of care. The paper concludes by emphasising the problematics of practising care in farming, showing how care for endemic disease coexists with harm to some animals and the reproduction of modes of farming which make it more likely that endemic conditions persist

Education Policy is Health Policy

Capstone presentation for the University of Richmond SSIR (Sophomore Scholars in Residence) Program.https://scholarship.richmond.edu/ssir-presentations-2017/1000/thumbnail.jp

Assessing a novel contact heater as a new method of recovering explosives traces from porous surfaces

It can be very challenging to recover explosives traces from porous surfaces, such as clothing and car seats, compared to non-porous surfaces. The contact heater has been developed as a novel instrument designed to recover explosives traces from porous surfaces. Samples are taken by heating and drawing air across a surface, with the air flowing through a sampling cartridge containing adsorbent polymer beads, which act to trap any recovered explosive material. Any collected explosive can then be eluted from this cartridge using a solvent, prior to analysis. This paper outlines work performed to evaluate the usefulness of the contact heater with regards to the recovery of explosives traces from porous materials. Ethylene glycol dinitrate (EGDN) and triacetone triperoxide (TATP) were chosen as two representative explosives for this study. Quantification was performed using GC–MS for EGDN and LC–MS/MS for TATP. Different sampling temperatures, sampling times and elution solvents were investigated. Recovery was trialled from leather, carpet and denim. Recoveries of up to 71% were obtained following optimisation. It was also possible to recover TATP from fabrics exposed to TATP vapour in a vapour-laden jar up to two hours after exposure. The contact heater therefore appears to be a very useful tool for the recovery of explosives traces from porous materials

The stability of TNT, RDX and PETN in simulated post-explosion soils:Implications of sample preparation for analysis

Explosives residues in soils may be a useful source of evidence following the detonation of an improvised explosive device (IED), such as a vehicle-borne IED. Soil samples collected from the vicinity of an explosion scene will often be stored for some time prior to analysis, yet explosives residues in soil samples are susceptible to rapid degradation or transformation. Although some research has assessed the use of different storage temperatures with a view to reducing explosives' degradation over time, further research examining the degradation of explosives in soil when stored under a variety of storage conditions is crucial to determine the optimal sample collection and storage procedures for soil containing explosives residues. In this work, three different soils were spiked with solutions of TNT, RDX and PETN and stored either at room temperature, refrigerated or frozen. Samples were extracted over 6 weeks, with additional samples gamma-irradiated or nitrogen purged prior to storage. Experimental results indicate that TNT underwent very rapid degradation at room temperature, attributed to microbial action, whereas PETN and RDX proved to be more stable. Gamma irradiation and nitrogen purging proved of some benefit for mitigating TNT degradation, with lower storage temperatures ultimately proving the most effective method of mitigating degradation