Prevalence of tail biting in pigs and associations to carcass condemnations - a Finnish pilot study

The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of tail biting in Finland and the relationship between tail biting and carcass condemnation

Haitallisten vieraiden kala-, rapu- ja nisäkäslajien leviäminen, tietoisuuden lisääminen ja hallinta

Työssä kerättiin tietoa mm. hopearuutanan, mustatäplätokon, puronieriän, täpläravun, rapuruton, minkin, supikoiran, amerikanmajavan ja valkohäntäkauriin tilanteesta. Hopearuutanan ja mustatäplätokon levittäytymisestä ja populaatioista kerättiin laaja aineisto. Vieraiden nisäkäslajien haittavaikutusten laajuutta arvioitiin supikoiran ja minkin osalta. Arviointiin käytettiin RKTL:ssa koottuja aineistoja, kuten saalistietoja, peltokolmio- ja riistakolmioaineistoja sekä kala-atlastietoja. Osa tiedoista on koottu julkaistuista aineistoista, osa vielä julkaisemattomista tai valmisteilla olevista materiaaleista. Vieraslajitietoisuuden lisäämiseksi ja uusien havaintojen keräämiseksi vieraslajeista tiedottamista on lisättävä sekä mediassa että kohdennetusti asiantuntijoille. Vieraslajit.fi -portaali tarjoaa hyvän kanavan tähän, mutta sen kehittämistä on edelleen syytä jatkaa. Vieraslajien levinneisyyden muutokset ja niiden elinympäristössään aiheuttamat muutokset saattavat olla nopeita. Esimerkiksi kalojen esiintymisen ja runsastumisen muutoksia olisi seurattava vuosittain. Erityistä huomiota tulisi kiinnittää leviämisvaiheen varhaisiin signaaleihin, kuten yksittäisiin havaintoihin uusista lajeista. Mustatäplätokon ja hopearuutanan todettiin aiheuttavan haittaa alkuperäisille lajeille ja ekosysteemitason muutoksia. Haittojen minimoimiseksi olisi ryhdyttävä välittömiin toimenpiteisiin lajien sisävesiin leviämisen estämiseksi. Useimmiten vieraslajien leviämistä ei voida estää, mutta tietoisuuden lisäämisellä ja asettautumiseen vaikuttavilla säätelytoimenpiteillä kyetään hidastamaan muutoksia. Pääasiassa laivojen painolastivesien mukana leviävien merilajien asettautumismahdollisuuksiin on mahdollista puuttua painolastivesisopimuksella. Sisävesien järvialtailla ja virtavesissä on paikallisilla ratkaisuilla, riskinarvioinneilla ja päätöksillä helpommin saavutettavaa vaikuttavuutta vieraslajien hallinnassa verrattuna merialueisiin. Julkaisussa annetaan lajikohtaisia suosituksia ja ohjeita vieraslajien leviämisen estämiseksi ja torjumiseksi Suomessa. -- Liite 5. HAVINA-loppuraporttiin URN:NBN:fi-fe2014062529465</a

The role of assistance dogs in society

Assistance dogs are specially trained to undertake a variety of tasks to help individuals with disabilities. This review gives an overview of the different types of assistance dogs in the UK, including guide dogs, hearing dogs, mobility assistance dogs, service dogs and dual purpose dogs. The literature describes many benefits of assistance dogs, including their impact on physical wellbeing and safety of their ‘owners,’ as well as on psychological wellbeing and social inclusion. The role of assistance dogs in society is widely recognized by the public, but is not currently acknowledged in government social policy. The current evidence on the benefits of assistance dogs is limited by the type and scale of current research. This article highlights the need for independent funding for high quality research to enable social care and policy makers to make evidence-based decisions on the value of assistance dogs to people with disabilities

Predictive Value of C-Reactive Protein (CRP) in Identifying Fatal Outcome and Deep Infections in Staphylococcus aureus Bacteremia

IntroductionClear cut-off levels could aid clinicians in identifying patients with a risk of fatal outcomes or complications such as deep infection foci in Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia (SAB). Cutoff levels for widely used clinical follow-up parameters including serum C-reactive protein (CRP) levels and white blood cell counts (WBC) have not been previously studied.Methods430 adult SAB patients in Finland took part in prospective multicentre study in which their CRP levels and WBC counts were measured on the day of the positive blood culture, every other day during the first week, twice a week during hospitalization and at 30 days. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was used to evaluate the prognostic value of CRP and WBC on the day of the positive blood culture and at days 4, 7, and 14 in predicting mortality and the presence of deep infections at 30 days. Adjusted hazard ratios (HR) for CRP level and WBC count cut-off values for mortality were calculated by the Cox regression analysis and adjusted odds ratios (OR) for cut-off values to predict the presence of deep infection by the binary logistic regression analysis.ResultsThe succumbing patients could be distinguished from the survivors, starting on day 4 after the positive blood culture, by higher CRP levels. Cut-off values of CRP for day 30 mortality in adjusted analysis, that significantly predicted fatal outcome were at day 4 CRP > 103 mg/L with sensitivity of 77%, specificity of 55%, and HR of 3.5 (95% CI, 1.2-10.3; p = 0.024), at day 14 CRP > 61 mg/L with a sensitivity of 82%, specificity of 80% and HR of 3.6 (95% CI, 1.1-10.3; p 8.6 x 10(9)/L was prognostic with sensitivity of 77%, specificity of 78% and HR of 8.2 (95% CI, 2.9-23.1; p 108 mg/L with sensitivity of 77%, specificity of 60%, and HR of 2.6 (95% CI, 1.3-4.9; p = 0.005) and at day 14 CRP > 22 mg/L with sensitivity of 59%, specificity of 68%, and HR of 3.9 (95% CI, 1.6-9.5; p = 0.003). The lack of decline of CRP in 14 days or during the second week were neither prognostic nor markers of deep infection focus.ConclusionsCRP levels have potential for the early identification of SAB patients with a greater risk for death and deep infections

Prognostic utility of human complement factor H related protein test (the BTA stat® Test)

The purpose of the study was to determine, in addition to well-known prognostic factors, histological grade, stage, tumour size and multiplicity, the correlation of BTA stat Test on disease free interval (DFI) on primary superficial bladder cancer. A total of 116 patients with newly diagnosed bladder cancer were evaluated in a prospective multicentre study. A voided urine sample was obtained prior to TURB and split for culture, cytology and BTA stat testing. Follow-up data for the patients were collected until the first recurrence or the last visit and the DFI was analysed by Kaplan–Meier method and Cox analysis. Ninety-seven of the 116 (83.6%) patients were eligible for analysis. The BTA stat Test was positive in 73 (75.3%) patients, whereas cytology detected 20 (20.6%) cases. The DFI was found to be shorter among patients with a positive BTA stat Test, and also among those with intermediate or high-grade tumours. The BTA stat Test result divided patients with grade 2 tumours into two prognostic groups, in that those testing positive had 68.6% risk of recurrence during the first year compared to 42.9% risk of those with a negative test result (P = 0.041). Although the effect of tumour size on DFI was notable, the difference did not reach statistical significance (P = 0.064). Number of tumours was not related to DFI, nor was the difference between different stage of tumour of significance. BTA stat Test is not only sensitive in detection of primary bladder cancer, but also might have some independent prognostic significance. © 2001 Cancer Research Campaign http://www.bjcancer.co

Microbial characteristics in homes of asthmatic and non-asthmatic adults in the ECRHS cohort

Microbial exposures in homes of asthmatic adults have been rarely investigated; specificities and implications for respiratory health are not well understood. The objectives of this study were to investigate associations of microbial levels with asthma status, asthma symptoms, bronchial hyperresponsiveness (BHR), and atopy. Mattress dust samples of 199 asthmatics and 198 control subjects from 7 European countries participating in the European Community Respiratory Health Survey II study were analyzed for fungal and bacterial cell wall components and individual taxa. We observed trends for protective associations of higher levels of mostly bacterial markers. Increased levels of muramic acid, a cell wall component predominant in Gram-positive bacteria, tended to be inversely associated with asthma (OR's for different quartiles: II 0.71 [0.39-1.30], III 0.44 [0.23-0.82], and IV 0.60 [0.31-1.18] P for trend .07) and with asthma score (P for trend .06) and with atopy (P for trend .02). These associations were more pronounced in northern Europe. This study among adults across Europe supports a potential protective effect of Gram-positive bacteria in mattress dust and points out that this may be more pronounced in areas where microbial exposure levels are generally lower.Peer reviewe

Comparison of Variable-Number Tandem-Repeat Markers typing and IS1245 Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism fingerprinting of Mycobacterium avium subsp hominissuis from human and porcine origins

Peer reviewe

Anti-Allergic Cromones Inhibit Histamine and Eicosanoid Release from Activated Human and Murine Mast Cells by Releasing Annexin A1

PMCID: PMC3601088This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited

IL-6 and other biomarkers as predictors of severity in COVID-19

ObjectiveCytokine release syndrome is suggested to be the most important mechanism triggering acute respiratory distress syndrome and end organ damage in COVID-19. The severity of disease may be measured by different biomarkers.MethodsWe studied markers of inflammation and coagulation as recorded in 29 patients on admission to the hospital in order to identify markers of severe COVID-19 and need of ICU.ResultsPatients who were eventually admitted to ICU displayed significantly higher serum levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6), C-reactive protein (CRP), and procalcitonin. No statistical differences were found between the groups in median levels of lymphocytes, D-dimer or ferritin.ConclusionsIL-6 and CRP were the strongest predictors of severity in hospitalized patients with COVID-19.</p