Handling End-of-Life Situations in Small Animal Practice:What Strategies do Veterinarians Contemplate During their Decision-Making Process?

This study researched end-of-life (EoL) decision-making processes in small animal practices in the Netherlands, focusing on strategies veterinarians contemplate during this process. Fourteen veterinarians were interviewed about animal end-of-life decision-making. The results of these interviews show that the decision-making process consists of three steps. The first step is to assess the animal’s health and welfare. During the second step, veterinarians consider the position of the owner. Based on steps 1 and 2, veterinarians decide in step 3 whether their advice is to a) euthanize or b) contemplate one or more strategies to come to a decision or potentially alter the decision. These results can support members of the veterinary profession to reflect on their decision-making process. If veterinarians know what strategies their peers use to deal with EoL situations, this can help to reduce the stress they experience in such situations. In addition, veterinarians may find inspiration for new strategies in the study results. For the veterinary profession itself, the current results can be used as a starting point for describing best practices for EoL decision-making in small animal practice.</p

Genetics of rearing success in four pure laying hen lines during the first 17 weeks of age

This study aimed to investigate the genetics of rearing success (RS) in laying hens. Four rearing traits: clutch size (CS), first week mortality (FWM), rearing abnormalities (RA), and natural death (ND), were included as factors determining RS. Pedigree, genotypic, and phenotypic records of 4 purebred genetic lines of White Leghorn layers were available for 23,000 rearing batches obtained between 2010 and 2020. FWM and ND showed little or no variation amongst the 4 genetic lines over the years 2010-2020, whereas an increase was observed for CS and a decrease for RA. To determine whether these traits were heritable, genetic parameters for each trait were estimated, using a Linear Mixed Model. Heritabilities within lines were low (0.05-0.19 for CS, 0.01-0.04 for FWM, 0.02-0.06 for RA, 0.02 -0.04 for ND, and 0.01-0.07 for RS). Additionally, genome wide association study was done to scan the genomes of the breeders to reveal single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with these traits. Manhattan plots indicated the existence of 12 differ-ent SNPs having a significant effect on RS. Thus, the identified SNPs will increase the understanding of the genetics of RS in laying hens

Ptychographic electron microscopy using high-angle dark-field scattering for sub-nanometre resolution imaging

Diffractive imaging, in which image-forming optics are replaced by an inverse computation using scattered intensity data, could, in principle, realize wavelength-scale resolution in a transmission electron microscope. However, to date all implementations of this approach have suffered from various experimental restrictions. Here we demonstrate a form of diffractive imaging that unshackles the image formation process from the constraints of electron optics, improving resolution over that of the lens used by a factor of five and showing for the first time that it is possible to recover the complex exit wave (in modulus and phase) at atomic resolution, over an unlimited field of view, using low-energy (30 keV) electrons. Our method, called electron ptychography, has no fundamental experimental boundaries: further development of this proof-of-principle could revolutionize sub-atomic scale transmission imaging

Considering life and death: a qualitative vignette study among farm animal veterinarians in the Netherlands on considerations in end-of-life decision-making

Farm animal veterinarians are frequently involved in animals’ end-of-life (EoL) situations. Existing literature found that the decision-making process to end an animal’s life can be experienced as complex and stressful by veterinarians. The complexity of the process may find its origin in the multiple medical and non-medical aspects that veterinarians consider coming to their decision. Although research provides insight into what considerations are at stake, the literature does not provide information on how these aspects affect the decision-making process. This study explores how different considerations affect the decision-making process of farm animal veterinarians in EoL situations. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with nineteen farm animal veterinarians in the Netherlands. During the interviews, case scenarios in the form of vignettes were used to identify and explore the considerations that play a role for these veterinarians in EoL decision-making. Based on the analysis of the interview data, we discovered that farm animal veterinarians consider EoL situations using one of three identified frames: function, prospect, and duty. These frames illustrate one’s perspective on the interplay of medical and non-medical aspects. Whereas veterinarians for whom the function frame is dominant focus on the human-centred function that an animal fulfils, veterinarians for whom the prospect frame is dominant focus on an animal’s prospects based on the animal’s living conditions and the influence of the owner. Veterinarians for whom the duty frame is dominant focus on the owner’s legal position towards the animal, illustrating a clear distinction between the veterinarian’s professional duties towards the animal and the duty of care of the animal owner. As such, the key contributions of this study are the discovery of the importance of the interplay between considerations in EoL decision-making and the frame-specific approach of veterinarians. The identified frames may relate to the coping strategies of veterinarians dealing with the complexity of EoL situations

The views of farm animal veterinarians about their roles and responsibilities associated with on-farm end-of-life situations

Farm animal veterinarians are often involved in on-farm end-of-life (EoL) decisions and questions concerning euthanasia. These decisions can be challenging for the veterinarian, particularly if the interests of the animal and owner conflict. Moreover, the challenge is related to fundamental assumptions about roles and responsibilities veterinarians ascribe to themselves in EoL situations. Getting insight into what roles and responsibilities veterinarians perceive in these situations is important to understand the challenges veterinarians face and to explore ways to enable them to manage such situations. Existing literature and professional guidelines do not provide sufficient clarity and guidance in terms of the role conception and responsibilities of veterinarians in on-farm EoL situations. The objective of the current qualitative study was to better understand the views of farm animal veterinarians in the Netherlands regarding their roles and responsibilities associated with on-farm EoL situations. In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with 19 farm animal veterinarians. In terms of roles in EoL situations, our analysis shows that 1) seven roles can be distinguished based on the interviews, 2) two contextual dimensions influence role perception: a) the stage in which a veterinarian gets involved at the end of an animal’s life and b) the question of whose interests should be taken into consideration and how to prioritize (conflicting) interests by a veterinarian, 3) veterinarians enact a number of the identified roles and the combination of roles varies between individuals and 4) the individual veterinarian changes between roles depending on contextual aspects. In terms of responsibilities in EoL situations, analyses show that 1) individual veterinarians perceive a combination of five identified responsibilities, and 2) the perception of responsibilities relates predominantly to specific animal sectors. This insight into the roles and responsibility perceptions of veterinarians facilitates understanding the challenges veterinarians face in on-farm EoL situations and creates a starting point for how veterinarians can be supported to deal with potential conflicts of interest. These insights could also be valuable in the training of future veterinarians and lifelong learning of veterinarians as it provides a starting point to reflect on, and discuss, one’s role and responsibility in EoL situations

Mild orotic aciduria in UMPS heterozygotes: a metabolic finding without clinical consequences

BACKGROUND: Elevated urinary excretion of orotic acid is associated with treatable disorders of the urea cycle and pyrimidine metabolism. Establishing the correct and timely diagnosis in a patient with orotic aciduria is key to effective treatment. Uridine monophosphate synthase is involved in de novo pyrimidine synthesis. Uridine monophosphate synthase deficiency (or hereditary orotic aciduria), due to biallelic mutations in UMPS, is a rare condition presenting with megaloblastic anemia in the first months of life. If not treated with the pyrimidine precursor uridine, neutropenia, failure to thrive, growth retardation, developmental delay, and intellectual disability may ensue. METHODS AND RESULTS: We identified mild and isolated orotic aciduria in 11 unrelated individuals with diverse clinical signs and symptoms, the most common denominator being intellectual disability/developmental delay. Of note, none had blood count abnormalities, relevant hyperammonemia or altered plasma amino acid profile. All individuals were found to have heterozygous alterations in UMPS. Four of these variants were predicted to be null alleles with complete loss of function. The remaining variants were missense changes and predicted to be damaging to the normal encoded protein. Interestingly, family screening revealed heterozygous UMPS variants in combination with mild orotic aciduria in 19 clinically asymptomatic family members. CONCLUSIONS: We therefore conclude that heterozygous UMPS-mutations can lead to mild and isolated orotic aciduria without clinical consequence. Partial UMPS-deficiency should be included in the differential diagnosis of mild orotic aciduria. The discovery of heterozygotes manifesting clinical symptoms such as hypotonia and developmental delay are likely due to ascertainment bias

Willingness to pay for multifunctional megaprojects: A stated preference analysis among firms in the Amsterdam Zuidas area

http://hdl.handle.net/1871/1621

A Search for Dark Higgs Bosons

Recent astrophysical and terrestrial experiments have motivated the proposal of a dark sector with GeV-scale gauge boson force carriers and new Higgs bosons. We present a search for a dark Higgs boson using 516 fb-1 of data collected with the BABAR detector. We do not observe a significant signal and we set 90% confidence level upper limits on the product of the Standard Model-dark sector mixing angle and the dark sector coupling constant.Comment: 7 pages, 5 postscript figures, published version with improved plots for b/w printin

Search for anomalous t t-bar production in the highly-boosted all-hadronic final state

A search is presented for a massive particle, generically referred to as a Z', decaying into a t t-bar pair. The search focuses on Z' resonances that are sufficiently massive to produce highly Lorentz-boosted top quarks, which yield collimated decay products that are partially or fully merged into single jets. The analysis uses new methods to analyze jet substructure, providing suppression of the non-top multijet backgrounds. The analysis is based on a data sample of proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 5 inverse femtobarns. Upper limits in the range of 1 pb are set on the product of the production cross section and branching fraction for a topcolor Z' modeled for several widths, as well as for a Randall--Sundrum Kaluza--Klein gluon. In addition, the results constrain any enhancement in t t-bar production beyond expectations of the standard model for t t-bar invariant masses larger than 1 TeV.Comment: Submitted to the Journal of High Energy Physics; this version includes a minor typo correction that will be submitted as an erratu