Herd health surveillance and management in an integrated HACCP based system

Future herd health management systems need to focus on precaution and documentation of how product and process failures are prevented. HACCP-based herd health surveillance schemes have been developed for dairy cattle herds, organic pig and egg production systems and for mink production in Denmark. The generic part of such systems, including definition of hazards and risk factors, can be developed through expert opinion panels. The development of sets of control points, alarm values and corrective actions need typically to be farm specific. On-farm systems focusing on broad topics such as animal welfare and food safety tend to grow too big to be operational. It is suggested that a part of the system is controlled through ‘good management practice’ leaving only a few hazards to be controlled by control points, alarm values and corrective actions

Scenarios for use of biogas for heavy-duty vehicles in Denmark and related GHG emission impacts

Biogas may be a promising alternative fuel, mainly for heavy-duty vehicles, that can reduce CO2 emissions via substitution of fossil fuels and further reduce methane emissions from agricultural manure handling. However, as methane is a potent climate gas loss of methane from production to use of biogas is of concern. This study has analysed the potential biomass and biogas production from all Danish organic waste sources under different scenario assumptions for future scenario years. The analysis includes energy demand of the road transportation sector by means of transport and fuel types, and potential use of the limited biogas resource taking into account alternative fuel options available for transportation (electricity, hydrogen, biofuels). Further, the total differences in fuel consumption and GHG emissions due to the replacement of diesel-powered heavy-duty vehicles by gas-powered heavy-duty vehicles are estimated in a well-to-wheel perspective taking into account methane losses

Alcohol consumption and mortality in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass graft (CABG):a register-based cohort study

BACKGROUND: Previous studies have shown that compared with abstinence and heavy drinking, moderate alcohol consumption is associated with a reduced risk of mortality among the general population and patients with heart failure and myocardial infarction. We examined the association between alcohol consumption and mortality in coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) patients. METHOD: We studied 1,919 first-time CABG patients using data on alcohol consumption and mortality obtained from Danish national registers from March 2006 to October 2011. Alcohol consumption was divided into the following groups: abstainers (0 units/week), moderate consumers (1–14 units/week), moderate-heavy drinkers (15–21 units/week) and heavy drinkers (>21 units/week). Hazard ratios (HR) of all-cause mortality were calculated using Cox proportional hazard regression analysis. RESULTS: The median follow-up was 2.2 years [IQR 2.0]. There were 112 deaths, of which 96 (86 %) were classified as cardiovascular. Adjustments for age and sex showed no increased risk of all-cause mortality for the abstainers (HR 1.61, 95 % CI, 1.00–2.58) and moderate-heavy drinkers (HR 1.40, 95 % CI, 0.73–2.67) compared with moderate consumers. However, heavy drinkers had a high risk of all-cause mortality compared with moderate consumers (HR 2.44, 95 % CI, 1.47–4.04). A full adjustment showed no increase in mortality for the abstainers (HR 1.59, 95 % CI, 0.98–2.57) and moderate-heavy drinkers (HR 1.68, 95 % CI, 0.86–3.29), while heavy drinkers were associated with an increased mortality rate (HR 1.88, 95 % CI, 1.10–3.21). There was no increased risk of 30-day mortality for the abstainers (HR 0.74, 95 % CI, 0.23–2.32), moderate-heavy drinkers (HR 0.36, 95 % CI, 0.07–1.93) and heavy drinkers (HR 2.20, 95 % CI, 0.65–7.36). CONCLUSION: There was no increased risk of mortality for abstainers (0 units/week) or moderate-heavy drinkers (15–21 units/week) following a CABG. Only heavy drinking (>21 units/week) were significantly associated with an increased mortality rate. These results suggest that only heavy drinking present a risk factor among CABG patients