Improving Summer/Autumn Feed Quality in New Zealand Hill Country

Pasture management in spring has a strong influence on pasture quality in summer and autumn in New Zealand hill country pastures. Manipulation of defoliation frequency and intensity during mid-late spring can impact summer and autumn pasture quality and quantity (Orr et al. 1988). Summer/autumn management is mainly concerned with maintaining herbage quality in summer wet areas and controlling animal pressure in summer dry areas for drought management and winter feed stocks (Clark 1994). Deferred grazing to transfer pasture growth from late spring into summer and autumn deficits is difficult due to detrimental effects on pasture quality, plant density and species composition (Sheath et al. 1987). Various grazing management models have been published to inform hill farmers of pasture management considerations during this period (Smith and Dawson 1977; Sheath and Bircham 1983; Sheath et al. 1987). It has previously been shown that management of late spring surpluses to restrict reproductive growth will increase summer pasture quality through a reduction in accumulated stem and dead material and an increase in clover content (Sheath et al. 1987). However, there is no information on the longevity of these effects. This trial aimed to determine the effect of different defoliation intensities during spring on herbage quality and composition throughout the subsequent summer-autumn period

Successful Establishment of Oversown Chicory and Plantain on Uncultivatable Hill Country

All-year grazing of livestock on steep, non-arable hill country (\u3e 20o slope angle, \u3c 1,000 m elevation) is a significant feature of New Zealand agriculture. Hill country pastures are in various states of improvement depending on factors such as extent of subdivision, fertiliser inputs, plant species introduction, and grazing management. Numerous introduced grass, legume and herb species are available to match the many micro-sites in steep hill country (Kemp et al. 1999). There has been increasing use of the perennial herbs chicory (Chicorium intybus L.) and plantain (Plantago lanceolata L.) in seed mixtures used on a range of topographies, mostly flat to undulating terrain. Advantages of these species include tolerance of drought and high summer temperatures, highly palatable foliage, enhanced mineral content, and high animal growth rates (Stewart 1996; Li and Kemp 2005). Farmers have sown these species on hill country but there is negligible information on their establishment in such landscapes. As part of a large, New Zealand-wide programme to increase pasture productivity on non-arable hill country through new germplasm introduction, chicory and plantain were included in a seed mixture broadcast-sown at a range of sites. This paper reports on the seedling establishment of these two species

Effects of probe geometry on transscleral diffuse optical spectroscopy

The purpose of this study was to investigate how the geometry of a fiber optic probe affects the transmission and reflection of light through the scleral eye wall. Two geometrical parameters of the fiber probe were investigated: the source-detector distance and the fiber protrusion, i.e. the length of the fiber extending from the flat surface of the fiber probe. For optimization of the fiber optic probe geometry, fluorescence stained choroidal tumor phantoms in ex vivo porcine eyes were measured with both diffuse reflectance- and laser-induced fluorescence spectroscopy. The strength of the fluorescence signal compared to the excitation signal was used as a measure for optimization. Intraocular pressure (IOP) and temperature were monitored to assess the impact of the probe on the eye. For visualizing any possible damage caused by the probe, the scleral surface was imaged with scanning electron microscopy after completion of the spectroscopic measurements. A source-detector distance of 5 mm with zero fiber protrusion was considered optimal in terms of spectroscopic contrast, however, a slight fiber protrusion of 0.5 mm is argued to be advantageous for clinical measurements. The study further indicates that transscleral spectroscopy can be safely performed in human eyes under in vivo conditions, without leading to an unacceptable IOP elevation, a significant rise in tissue temperature, or any visible damage to the scleral surface

Long-term musculoskeletal morbidity after adult burn injury: a population-based cohort study

Objective - To investigate if adults who are hospitalised for a burn injury have increased long-term hospital use for musculoskeletal diseases. Design - A population-based retrospective cohort study using linked administrative health data from the Western Australian Data Linkage System. Subjects - Records of 17,753 persons aged at least 20 years when hospitalised for a first burn injury in Western Australia during the period 1980–2012, and 70,758 persons who were age and gender-frequency matched with no injury admissions randomly selected from Western Australia's electoral roll. Main outcome measures - Admission rates and cumulative length of stay for musculoskeletal diseases. Negative binomial and Cox proportional hazards regression modelling were used to generate incidence rate ratios (IRR) and HRs with 95% CIs, respectively. Results - After adjustment for pre-existing health status and demographic characteristics, the burn cohort had almost twice the hospitalisation rate for a musculoskeletal condition (IRR, 95% CI 1.98, 1.86 to 2.10), and spent 3.70 times as long in hospital with a musculoskeletal diagnosis (95% CI 3.10 to 4.42) over the 33-year period, than the uninjured comparison cohort. Adjusted survival analyses of incident post-burn musculoskeletal disease admissions found significant increases for the 15-year post burn discharge period (0–6 months: HR, 95% CI 2.51, 2.04 to 3.11; 6 months–2 years: HR, 95% CI 1.77, 1.53 to 2.05; 2–15 years: HR, 95% CI 1.32, 1.23 to 1.42). Incident admission rates were significantly elevated for 20 years post-burn for minor and severe burn injury for a range of musculoskeletal diseases that included arthropathies, dorsopathies, osteopathies and soft tissue disorders. Conclusions - Minor and severe burn injuries were associated with significantly increased post-burn incident admission rates, long-term hospital use and prolonged length of stay for a range of musculoskeletal diseases. Further research is required that facilitates identification of at-risk patients and appropriate treatment pathways, to reduce the long-term morbidity associated with burns

Backyard poultry cases in UK small animal practices: Demographics, health conditions and pharmaceutical prescriptions

Background: Backyard poultry ownership is of keen interest in the United Kingdom. However, despite this, little is known about veterinary care engagement and outcomes of visits in this group of species. Methods: This study described and characterised veterinary practice‐visiting backyard poultry, utilising electronic health record data supplied by veterinary practices voluntarily participating in the Small Animal Veterinary Surveillance Network between 1st April 2014 and 31st March 2019. Results: In total, 4424 recorded poultry consultations originating from 197 veterinary practices (352 sites) were summarised. Chicken consultation (n = 3740) peak incidence was in early summer (April‐June), relative to all recorded species. More chickens resided in rural (incident rate ratio = 2.5, confidence interval [CI] 2.3–2.6, p <0.001) or less deprived areas. Non‐specific clinical signs were commonly recorded (17.6% of chicken consultations, CI 15.9–19.2), as were those indicative of advanced disease. This latter finding was reflected in prescribed management strategies, with euthanasia comprising 29.8% (CI 27.0–32.6) of consultations. Antimicrobials were commonly prescribed (33.0% of consultations, CI 29.8–36.2), 43.8% of which included antimicrobials considered ‘highest priority critically important’ by the World Health Organisation. Conclusion: Our findings indicate a need to tailor antimicrobial prescription guidance to the backyard poultry setting. In addition, late presentation of disease, vague clinical descriptions in clinical narratives and high euthanasia rates show that disease identification, management and knowledge of poultry health and welfare among owners and veterinary surgeons can be improved

Prevalence of Obesity and the Relationship between the Body Mass Index and Body Fat: Cross-Sectional, Population-Based Data

Background: Anthropometric measures such as the body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference are widely used as convenient indices of adiposity, yet there are limitations in their estimates of body fat. We aimed to determine the prevalence of obesity using criteria based on the BMI and waist circumference, and to examine the relationship between the BMI and body fat.Methodology/Principal Findings: This population-based, cross-sectional study was conducted as part of the Geelong Osteoporosis Study. A random sample of 1,467 men and 1,076 women aged 20&ndash;96 years was assessed 2001&ndash;2008. Overweight and obesity were identified according to BMI (overweight 25.0&ndash;29.9 kg/m2; obesity 30.0 kg/m2) and waist circumference (overweight men 94.0–101.9 cm; women 80.0–87.9 cm; obesity men 102.0 cm, women $88.0 cm); body fat mass was assessed using dual energy X-ray absorptiometry; height and weight were measured and lifestyle factors documented by self-report. According to the BMI, 45.1% (95%CI 42.4&ndash;47.9) of men and 30.2% (95%CI 27.4&ndash;33.0) of women were overweight and a further 20.2% (95%CI 18.0&ndash;22.4) of men and 28.6% (95%CI 25.8&ndash;31.3) of women were obese. Using waist circumference, 27.5% (95%CI 25.1&ndash;30.0) of men and 23.3% (95%CI 20.8&ndash;25.9) of women were overweight, and 29.3% (95%CI 26.9&ndash;31.7) of men and 44.1% (95%CI 41.2&ndash;47.1) of women, obese. Both criteria indicate that approximately 60% of the population exceeded recommended thresholds for healthy body habitus. There was no consistent pattern apparent between BMI and energy intake. Compared with women, BMI overestimated adiposity in men, whose excess weight was largely attributable to muscular body builds and greater bone mass. BMI also underestimated adiposity in the elderly. Regression models including gender, age and BMI explained 0.825 of the variance in percent body fat.Conclusions/Significance: As the BMI does not account for differences in body composition, we suggest that gender- and age-specific thresholds should be considered when the BMI is used to indicate adiposity.<br /

The development of a network for community-based obesity prevention: the CO-OPS Collaboration

Background: Community-based interventions are a promising approach and an important component of a comprehensive response to obesity. In this paper we describe the Collaboration of COmmunity-based Obesity Prevention Sites (CO-OPS Collaboration) in Australia as an example of a collaborative network to enhance the quality and quantity of obesity prevention action at the community level. The core aims of the CO-OPS Collaboration are to: identify and analyse the lessons learned from a range of community-based initiatives aimed at tackling obesity, and; to identify the elements that make community-based obesity prevention initiatives successful and share the knowledge gained with other communities.Methods: Key activities of the collaboration to date have included the development of a set of Best Practice Principles and knowledge translation and exchange activities to promote the application (or use) of evidence, evaluation and analysis in practice.Results: The establishment of the CO-OPS Collaboration is a significant step toward strengthening action in this area, by bringing together research, practice and policy expertise to promote best practice, high quality evaluation and knowledge translation and exchange. Future development of the network should include facilitation of furtherevidence generation and translation drawing from process, impact and outcome evaluation of existing communitybased interventions.Conclusions: The lessons presented in this paper may help other networks like CO-OPS as they emerge around the globe. It is important that networks integrate with each other and share the experience of creating these networks.<br /

Measurement of the tt¯tt¯ production cross section in pp collisions at √s=13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

A measurement of four-top-quark production using proton-proton collision data at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV collected by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 139 fb−1 is presented. Events are selected if they contain a single lepton (electron or muon) or an opposite-sign lepton pair, in association with multiple jets. The events are categorised according to the number of jets and how likely these are to contain b-hadrons. A multivariate technique is then used to discriminate between signal and background events. The measured four-top-quark production cross section is found to be 26+17−15 fb, with a corresponding observed (expected) significance of 1.9 (1.0) standard deviations over the background-only hypothesis. The result is combined with the previous measurement performed by the ATLAS Collaboration in the multilepton final state. The combined four-top-quark production cross section is measured to be 24+7−6 fb, with a corresponding observed (expected) signal significance of 4.7 (2.6) standard deviations over the background-only predictions. It is consistent within 2.0 standard deviations with the Standard Model expectation of 12.0 ± 2.4 fb

Measurements of Higgs bosons decaying to bottom quarks from vector boson fusion production with the ATLAS experiment at √=13TeV

The paper presents a measurement of the Standard Model Higgs Boson decaying to b-quark pairs in the vector boson fusion (VBF) production mode. A sample corresponding to 126 fb−1 of s√=13TeV proton–proton collision data, collected with the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider, is analyzed utilizing an adversarial neural network for event classification. The signal strength, defined as the ratio of the measured signal yield to that predicted by the Standard Model for VBF Higgs production, is measured to be 0.95+0.38−0.36 , corresponding to an observed (expected) significance of 2.6 (2.8) standard deviations from the background only hypothesis. The results are additionally combined with an analysis of Higgs bosons decaying to b-quarks, produced via VBF in association with a photon