Conditioned place preference reveals ongoing pain in calves 3 weeks after disbudding.

Hot-iron disbudding, a routine procedure that prevents horn bud growth through cauterization, is painful for calves. The resulting burns remain sensitive to touch for weeks, but it is unknown whether calves experience ongoing, non-evoked pain. We evaluated conditioned place preference for analgesia in 44 calves disbudded or sham-disbudded 6 hours (Day 0) or 20 days (Day 20) before testing (n = 11/treatment). Calves were conditioned to associate the effects of a lidocaine cornual nerve block with the location and pattern of a visual stimulus, and a control injection of saline with the contrasting stimulus. On Day 0, disbudded calves tended to prefer the lidocaine-paired stimulus over the saline-paired one, suggesting that they found analgesia rewarding. On Day 20, sham calves avoided the lidocaine-paired stimulus, consistent with humans' experience of this drug being painful. Disbudded calves on Day 20 did not show this aversion, suggesting that they traded off the short-term pain of the lidocaine with the longer-term analgesia provided. Day 0 sham calves did not avoid the lidocaine-paired stimulus, likely because they received less than half the dose of Day 20 calves during conditioning. Thus, higher doses of lidocaine are aversive to uninjured animals, but disbudded calves are willing to engage in this cost. We conclude that calves experience ongoing pain 3 weeks after disbudding, raising additional welfare concerns about this procedure

Integration by Education: A Study of Cameroon‘s Bakola-Bagyeli

The process of Bakola-Bagyeli integration into the public school system of Kribi, Cameroon entails a delicate balance between modernization, preserving tradition, and protecting human rights. In the case of the Bakola-Bagyeli, education has the potential to foster empowerment, but also to erode culture. Increased integration into the education system decreases time spent learning traditional knowledge and skills, increases sedentarization, and creates a need for money to buy necessities such as books and school uniforms. Seeking money obliges Bakola-Bagyeli families to join the market economy through working and shopping, further detracting from their culture of self-sufficiency. The alternative to education is a continuing rural subsistence of their life in the forest, isolated from—and thus left vulnerable to—the processes that impact the forest and their way of life. The lack of Bakola-Bagyeli presence in the broader community in and around Kribi has meant that their voice has been largely missing from decision-making processes, despite the efforts of organizations and individuals to speak on their behalf. I focused my research on the challenges faced by the Bakola-Bagyeli, the potential of education as a tool to address these challenges, and the utility of education as perceived by the Bakola-Bagyeli themselves, school officials, and members of Kribi civil society

Branding Practices on Four Dairies in Kantale, Sri Lanka.

Hot-iron branding is illegal in Sri Lanka, but is still commonly used to identify dairy herds in extensive farming systems, which are primarily located in the countrys Dry Zone. Despite the negative welfare implications of this practice, there is no written documentation of branding in this region. We observed branding on four smallholder farms in Kantale, Eastern Province to understand the welfare implications associated with the procedure and challenges limiting the uptake of more welfare-friendly alternatives, such as ear tagging. Areas of welfare concern included the duration of restraint, the size and location of the brand, and the absence of pain relief. Animals were restrained with rope for an average duration of 12 min (range 8⁻17 min). Farmers used multiple running irons to mark their initials and, in some cases, their address, with the largest brands extending across the ribs and hip. Three farmers applied coconut or neem oil topically to the brand after performing the procedure. No analgesics were given before or after branding. Farmers reported that poor ear tag retention in extensive systems and theft were the main factors impeding the uptake of alternative forms of identification. Branding is also practiced as part of traditional medicine in some cases. Given the clear evidence that hot-iron branding impairs animal welfare and there is no evidence that this can be improved, alternative identification methods are needed, both in Sri Lanka, as well as in other countries engaging in this practice

Specimens as research objects: reconciliation across distributed repositories to enable metadata propagation

Botanical specimens are shared as long-term consultable research objects in a global network of specimen repositories. Multiple specimens are generated from a shared field collection event; generated specimens are then managed individually in separate repositories and independently augmented with research and management metadata which could be propagated to their duplicate peers. Establishing a data-derived network for metadata propagation will enable the reconciliation of closely related specimens which are currently dispersed, unconnected and managed independently. Following a data mining exercise applied to an aggregated dataset of 19,827,998 specimen records from 292 separate specimen repositories, 36% or 7,102,710 specimens are assessed to participate in duplication relationships, allowing the propagation of metadata among the participants in these relationships, totalling: 93,044 type citations, 1,121,865 georeferences, 1,097,168 images and 2,191,179 scientific name determinations. The results enable the creation of networks to identify which repositories could work in collaboration. Some classes of annotation (particularly those regarding scientific name determinations) represent units of scientific work: appropriate management of this data would allow the accumulation of scholarly credit to individual researchers: potential further work in this area is discussed.Comment: 9 pages, 1 table, 3 figure

Viola striata Aiton

https://thekeep.eiu.edu/herbarium_specimens_byname/20666/thumbnail.jp

Viola striata Aiton

https://thekeep.eiu.edu/herbarium_specimens_byname/20666/thumbnail.jp

Sphingosine 1-phosphate Receptor Signaling in Mesenchymal Stromal Cells

Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) are a multipotent cell population acquired most prominently from bone marrow with the capacity to differentiate into osteoblasts, chondrocytes, adipocytes, cardiomyoctes, fibroblasts and other cell types. The immunoprivileged nature of these cells combined with their ability to home to sites of injury enhances therapeutic interest in this stem cell population. Phase I‐III clinical trials are being conducted evaluating the therapeutic potential of MSCs in graft vs. host disease, following acute myocardial infarction, multiple sclerosis, and bone and cartilage diseases. Sphingosine 1‐phosphate (S1P) is a biologically active sphingolipid impacting proliferation, apoptosis, inflammation, and angiogenesis. Interactions with 5 G‐protein coupled S1P receptors (S1PR1‐5) mediate in part these functions. Whereas S1PR1‐R3 are ubiquitously expressed, S1PR4 and S1PR5 have more limited expression. This project seeks to assess the role of the S1PRs in the maintenance of a multipotent MSC population and the impact of modulation of S1PR2 on the progression of prostate cancer. Inhibition of S1PR2 results in increased MSC clonogenicity, migration, and proliferation. The increased Erk phosphorylation observed with S1PR2 inhibition is required for these increases in migration and proliferation. Furthermore, decreased S1PR2 expression decreases the differentiation of MSCs into adipocytes and mature osteoblasts that may be the result of increased expression of MSC pluripotency factors including Nanog, Sox9, and Oct4. Inhibition of S1PR1 and S1PR3 in contrast does not impact MSC migration or Erk activation although increased proliferation is observed. In the study, we describe the essential role of S1PR2 in MSC differentiation pathways through modification of pluripotency factors. We propose a MAPK dependent mechanism through S1PR2 inhibition that promotes equally pluripotent MSC proliferation in a way that can be exploited for better ex vivo MSC expansion in autologous MSC transplant. When MSCs are co-cultured with murine prostate cancer cells, an increased stem cell population is observed with greater proliferation of cancer cells following inhibition of S1PR2. We therefore proposed that S1PR2 in MSCs within the tumor microenvironment enhances the metastatic potential of tumors

Bone Densities and Dietary Intakes of Preschool Children in Knox County, Tennessee

The purposes of this study were to evaluate the diets of preschool children in selected kindergartens of Knox County, Tennessee; to determine the bone densities and other parameters of growth of these children; and to study the relationships that exist between diet and these measurements. The subjects for the study were 142 children enrolled in four Head Start centers and two private preschools in the Knoxville area. Height, weight, and bone density measurements of the phalanx 5-2 were determined for the children, and seven-day dietary records were obtained for them. The bone density measurements were done by the direct scan technique using x-rays. Food records were kept in terms of common household measures and were later converted to grams. Individual nutrients including calories, protein, calcium, iron, vitamin A, thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, and ascorbic acid were calculated by computer. Results of the study showed that the Head Start lunches provided more than the required 1/3 of the Recommended Dietary Allowances for preschool children, but the lunches of a private preschool made much smaller contributions to the total day\u27s intake. Of all the children in the study, 35.3% had daily intakes of less than 2/3 of the Recommended Dietary Allowances of one or more nutrients. Other children might have fallen into this category had they not been taking vitamin or iron supplements. Iron was the nutrient most often deficient in the diets of these children and calcium and niacin ranked second and third, respectively. Bone density values ranged from 0.50 to 0.96 gram equivalents per cubic centimeter of bone with a mean value of 0.69. There was no difference between the mean bone density of the boys and that of the girls and no significant difference between the mean bone densities of Head Start and private preschool children. Correlations between bone density values and levels of calcium and ascorbic acid intake were not significant. A significant correlation existed between weight and bone density for boys, but not for girls