Recording behaviour of indoor-housed farm animals automatically using machine vision technology: a systematic review

Large-scale phenotyping of animal behaviour traits is time consuming and has led to increased demand for technologies that can automate these procedures. Automated tracking of animals has been successful in controlled laboratory settings, but recording from animals in large groups in highly variable farm settings presents challenges. The aim of this review is to provide a systematic overview of the advances that have occurred in automated, high throughput image detection of farm animal behavioural traits with welfare and production implications. Peer-reviewed publications written in English were reviewed systematically following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. After identification, screening, and assessment for eligibility, 108 publications met these specifications and were included for qualitative synthesis. Data collected from the papers included camera specifications, housing conditions, group size, algorithm details, procedures, and results. Most studies utilized standard digital colour video cameras for data collection, with increasing use of 3D cameras in papers published after 2013. Papers including pigs (across production stages) were the most common (n = 63). The most common behaviours recorded included activity level, area occupancy, aggression, gait scores, resource use, and posture. Our review revealed many overlaps in methods applied to analysing behaviour, and most studies started from scratch instead of building upon previous work. Training and validation sample sizes were generally small (mean±s.d. groups = 3.8±5.8) and in data collection and testing took place in relatively controlled environments. To advance our ability to automatically phenotype behaviour, future research should build upon existing knowledge and validate technology under commercial settings and publications should explicitly describe recording conditions in detail to allow studies to be reproduced

A percepção de profissionais da saúde de um hospital sobre a violência contra as mulheres La percepción de profesionales de salud de un hospital sobre la violencia contra la mujer The perceptions of the health professionals at a hospital about the violence against women

Estudo qualitativo que objetivou conhecer percepções de profissionais de saúde acerca da assistência às mulheres em situação de violência. O cenário foi um hospital de ensino no sul do Brasil. Os sujeitos da pesquisa foram 12 profissionais de saúde do Centro Obstétrico e Pronto Socorro. A coleta dos dados realizou-se em abril/maio de 2008, a partir de vinheta e entrevista semi-estruturada. As informações foram organizadas e estruturadas por meio da análise temática. Dos resultados emergiram duas categorias: o diálogo como instrumento facilitador para a identificação da violência e seus encaminhamentos, e a complexidade do fenômeno e suas implicações na assistência. Aponta-se a necessidade de criação de espaços de responsabilização dos órgãos formadores e serviços de saúde na formação de equipe multiprofissional que discuta e implemente a política de atendimento às mulheres em situação de violência.<br>Estudio cualitativo que tuvo por objetivo conocer las percepciones de profesionales de salud acerca de la asistencia a las mujeres en situaciones de violencia. El escenario fue un hospital de enseñanza en el sur de Brasil. Los sujetos de la investigación fueron 12 profesionales de salud del Centro Obstétrico y Hospital de urgencias. La recolección de los datos se realizó en abril/mayo de 2008, a partir de viñeta y entrevista semiestructurada. Las informaciones fueron organizadas y estructuradas por medio del análisis temático. Los resultados emergieron dos categorías: el diálogo como instrumento facilitador para la identificación de la violencia y sus encaminamientos las mujeres y la complexidad del fenómeno y sus implicaciones en la asistencia. Se evidencia la necesidad de creación de espacios de responsabilización de los órganos formadores y servicios de salud en la formación del equipo multiprofesional que discuta e implemente la política de atención a las mujeres en situación de violencia.<br>This qualitative study aimed to know the perceptions of health professionals about the assistance to women living in a violent situation. The scenery was a teaching hospital of southern Brazil. The participants were 12 health professionals from the obstetric and emergency units. The data were collected by semistructured interviews started by a short story in April to May of 2008. The information was organized and categorized and subject to thematic analysis. The results showed two categories: the dialogue as a facilitator instrument to identify the violence and their referrals and the complexity of the phenomena and their implications to the assistance. We pointed out the necessity of to create spaces of the responsibility of agencies devoted to training human resources in health and health services. It is in order to form multiprofessional team that discuss and implements the policy care to women living in a violent situation

Genomic Variants Revealed By Invariably Missing Genotypes In Nelore Cattle.

High density genotyping panels have been used in a wide range of applications. From population genetics to genome-wide association studies, this technology still offers the lowest cost and the most consistent solution for generating SNP data. However, in spite of the application, part of the generated data is always discarded from final datasets based on quality control criteria used to remove unreliable markers. Some discarded data consists of markers that failed to generate genotypes, labeled as missing genotypes. A subset of missing genotypes that occur in the whole population under study may be caused by technical issues but can also be explained by the presence of genomic variations that are in the vicinity of the assayed SNP and that prevent genotyping probes from annealing. The latter case may contain relevant information because these missing genotypes might be used to identify population-specific genomic variants. In order to assess which case is more prevalent, we used Illumina HD Bovine chip genotypes from 1,709 Nelore (Bos indicus) samples. We found 3,200 missing genotypes among the whole population. NGS re-sequencing data from 8 sires were used to verify the presence of genomic variations within their flanking regions in 81.56% of these missing genotypes. Furthermore, we discovered 3,300 novel SNPs/Indels, 31% of which are located in genes that may affect traits of importance for the genetic improvement of cattle production

Rivaroxaban with or without aspirin in stable cardiovascular disease

BACKGROUND: We evaluated whether rivaroxaban alone or in combination with aspirin would be more effective than aspirin alone for secondary cardiovascular prevention. METHODS: In this double-blind trial, we randomly assigned 27,395 participants with stable atherosclerotic vascular disease to receive rivaroxaban (2.5 mg twice daily) plus aspirin (100 mg once daily), rivaroxaban (5 mg twice daily), or aspirin (100 mg once daily). The primary outcome was a composite of cardiovascular death, stroke, or myocardial infarction. The study was stopped for superiority of the rivaroxaban-plus-aspirin group after a mean follow-up of 23 months. RESULTS: The primary outcome occurred in fewer patients in the rivaroxaban-plus-aspirin group than in the aspirin-alone group (379 patients [4.1%] vs. 496 patients [5.4%]; hazard ratio, 0.76; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.66 to 0.86; P<0.001; z=−4.126), but major bleeding events occurred in more patients in the rivaroxaban-plus-aspirin group (288 patients [3.1%] vs. 170 patients [1.9%]; hazard ratio, 1.70; 95% CI, 1.40 to 2.05; P<0.001). There was no significant difference in intracranial or fatal bleeding between these two groups. There were 313 deaths (3.4%) in the rivaroxaban-plus-aspirin group as compared with 378 (4.1%) in the aspirin-alone group (hazard ratio, 0.82; 95% CI, 0.71 to 0.96; P=0.01; threshold P value for significance, 0.0025). The primary outcome did not occur in significantly fewer patients in the rivaroxaban-alone group than in the aspirin-alone group, but major bleeding events occurred in more patients in the rivaroxaban-alone group. CONCLUSIONS: Among patients with stable atherosclerotic vascular disease, those assigned to rivaroxaban (2.5 mg twice daily) plus aspirin had better cardiovascular outcomes and more major bleeding events than those assigned to aspirin alone. Rivaroxaban (5 mg twice daily) alone did not result in better cardiovascular outcomes than aspirin alone and resulted in more major bleeding events