Diseases of Cattle in Australasia: A Comprehensive Textbook

"Diseases in of Cattle in Australasia" provides cattle practitioners and veterinary students with an authoritative text on cattle diseases that may be encountered in the predominantly pasture-based environments in New Zealand and Australia. The cattle industry in Australasia is the largest animal industry in the region, and includes the dairy, pasture-fed beef, feedlot, and live-export sectors. The industry operates across a wide range of environments and production systems, and more than half of the produced dairy and beef commodities are exported. This textbook is arranged in 25 chapters, commencing with an overview of the dairy and beef industries in New Zealand and Australia and ending with a chapter on practical therapeutics, and comes with an extensive image library on CD-ROM. The text has been mainly co-authored by Tim Parkinson, Jos Vermunt and Jakob Malmo, with additional contributions from fifteen other authors. The book is written from the perspective of the veterinary practitioner encountering the diseases in cattle on a farm. The reader is provided with a detailed outline of the diagnostic methodology based on clinical examination of body systems, with confirmation by ancillary tests and responses to treatment. The principal authors are eminently qualified and experienced. Tim Parkinson is currently Professor of Farm Animal Reproduction and Health at Massey University in New Zealand, and a Diplomate of the European College of Animal Reproduction and Fellow of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons. Tim has extensive practical, academic and research experience with cattle in both the United Kingdom and New Zealand. Jos Vermunt is a registered veterinary specialist in cattle medicine and Fellow of the Australian College of Veterinary Scientists, and has combined cattle practice in (the Netherlands, Middle East, Canada, New Zealand and Australia, with academic teaching and research. Jakob Malmo is a registered veterinary specialist in cattle medicine and Fellow of the Australian College of Veterinary Scientists, and has combined a career in private practice while running two dairy farms, with teaching cattle medicine to undergraduate veterinary science students at the University of Melbourne, and supervising postgraduate students undertaking research projects in commercial dairy herds. Together, these principal authors bring a wealth of practical, academic and research experience to this text. This is the definitive textbook on diseases of cattle in Australasia. All of the important diseases of cattle are covered, with particular emphasis on clinical examination, diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, lameness, mastitis, and reproductive disorders. The textbook will be an essential reference for cattle practitioners throughout Australia and New Zealand, and will have application where cattle are kept under similar conditions in other countries. The chapter on practical therapeutics for the c1ttle veterinarian will be of great value for veterinary students, and for the young cattle veterinarian to have in the car for reference during on-farm consultations

Machine Learning Prediction of Susceptibility to Visceral Fat Associated Diseases

Classifying subjects into risk categories is a common challenge in medical research. Machine Learning (ML) methods are widely used in the areas of risk prediction and classification. The primary objective of such algorithms is to use several features to predict dichotomous responses (e.g., healthy/at risk). Similar to statistical inference modelling, ML modelling is subject to the problem of class imbalance and is affected by the majority class, increasing the false-negative rate. In this study, we built and evaluated thirty-six ML models to classify approximately 4300 female and 4100 male participants from the UK Biobank into three categorical risk statuses based on discretised visceral adipose tissue (VAT) measurements from magnetic resonance imaging. We also examined the effect of sampling techniques on the models when dealing with class imbalance. The sampling techniques used had a significant impact on the classification and resulted in an improvement in risk status prediction by facilitating an increase in the information contained within each variable. Based on domain expert criteria the best three classification models for the female and male cohort visceral fat prediction were identified. The Area Under Receiver Operator Characteristic curve of the models tested (with external data) was 0.78 to 0.89 for females and 0.75 to 0.86 for males. These encouraging results will be used to guide further development of models to enable prediction of VAT value. This will be useful to identify individuals with excess VAT volume who are at risk of developing metabolic disease ensuring relevant lifestyle interventions can be appropriately targeted

The On-orbit Calibrations for the Fermi Large Area Telescope

The Large Area Telescope (LAT) on--board the Fermi Gamma ray Space Telescope began its on--orbit operations on June 23, 2008. Calibrations, defined in a generic sense, correspond to synchronization of trigger signals, optimization of delays for latching data, determination of detector thresholds, gains and responses, evaluation of the perimeter of the South Atlantic Anomaly (SAA), measurements of live time, of absolute time, and internal and spacecraft boresight alignments. Here we describe on orbit calibration results obtained using known astrophysical sources, galactic cosmic rays, and charge injection into the front-end electronics of each detector. Instrument response functions will be described in a separate publication. This paper demonstrates the stability of calibrations and describes minor changes observed since launch. These results have been used to calibrate the LAT datasets to be publicly released in August 2009.Comment: 60 pages, 34 figures, submitted to Astroparticle Physic

Complemento cromosómico y fenotipo externo de 25 ovejas infértiles

Veinticinco ejemplares ovinos infértiles se obtuvieron a partir de varios orígenes. Los análisis citogenéticos se realizaron mediante cromosomas teñidos de forma convencional, obtenidos a partir de cultivos de linfocitos de sangre periférica y de fibroblastos peritoneales. A partir del complemento cromosómico y análisis post mortem, se diagnosticaron 21 freemartins (54,XX/54,XY), 2 intersexos (54,XX, machos pseudohermafroditas), 1 como hembra con hipoplasia ovárica (54,XX) y 1 como presunto mosaico (53,X0(54,XX). Las 21 hembras freemartin, pertenecían a las siguientes razas: 7 Suffolks, 7 Frisonas británicas, 2 Jacobs, 1 Bleu demaine, 1 Exmoor Hom, 1 Cambridge, 1 Mule y un cruce para came de raza indeterminada. Se sabe que siete de las freemarfin tuvieron compañeros macho de camada. Otras tres freemartin, todas Suffolk, fueron confirmadas como 54,XX cuando se examinaron los fibroblastos. El presunto animal mosaico X0/XX, fue infértil, aunque produjo corderos momificados. El fenotipo de los animales infértiles sera discutido en relación a su complemento cromosómica

Complemento cromosómico y fenotipo externo de 25 ovejas infértiles

Veinticinco ejemplares ovinos infértiles se obtuvieron a partir de varios orígenes. Los análisis citogenéticos se realizaron mediante cromosomas teñidos de forma convencional, obtenidos a partir de cultivos de linfocitos de sangre periférica y de fibroblastos peritoneales. A partir del complemento cromosómico y análisis post mortem, se diagnosticaron 21 freemartins (54,XX/54,XY), 2 intersexos (54,XX, machos pseudohermafroditas), 1 como hembra con hipoplasia ovárica (54,XX) y 1 como presunto mosaico (53,X0(54,XX). Las 21 hembras freemartin, pertenecían a las siguientes razas: 7 Suffolks, 7 Frisonas británicas, 2 Jacobs, 1 Bleu demaine, 1 Exmoor Hom, 1 Cambridge, 1 Mule y un cruce para came de raza indeterminada. Se sabe que siete de las freemarfin tuvieron compañeros macho de camada. Otras tres freemartin, todas Suffolk, fueron confirmadas como 54,XX cuando se examinaron los fibroblastos. El presunto animal mosaico X0/XX, fue infértil, aunque produjo corderos momificados. El fenotipo de los animales infértiles sera discutido en relación a su complemento cromosómica

Peripheral Seeding of Mycotic Aneurysms from an Infected Aortic Stent Graft

Aortic stent graft infection is rare and there are no reported cases of seeded peripheral mycotic aneurysms complicating this condition. We describe the case of a 54 year old man who developed a late stent graft infection at three years, resulting in the peripheral seeding of three mycotic aneurysms with two incidents of rupture. He was successfully treated with extra-anatomic bypass of the aorta and both surgical and endovascular repair of his peripherally seeded mycotic aneurysms

Comparison of Fixed-time Artificial Insemination and Natural Mating on Pregnancy rates in Mpwapwa Breed Cattle

The goal of this study was to assess if a designed prostaglandin (PGF2α)-protocol when used against natural mating (NM) in well-managed Mpwapwa cattle would improve pregnancy rates during the breeding season. Of the PGF2α oestrus synchronization protocols, a standard 14-day PGF2α protocol accompanied with fixed-time artificial insemination (FTAI) was tested against NM.  Totals of 39 and 49 cows became pregnant in the FTAI and NM groups respectively following completion of the study of 100 cows for each group. Statistically, the difference between the two groups was not significant (P=0.21), even though there was a lower risk of pregnancy in the FTAI group compared to the NM group (unadjusted relative risk: 0.8, 95%CI: 0.58-1.09). The results from this study suggest that PGF2α–based synchronization protocol and FTAI, especially when combined with NM in Mpwapwa breed cattle, can yield better reproductive performance and enhance greater genetic improvement compared to being naturally serviced. Few cows (only 10/100 cows) displayed behavioural oestrus signs after receiving the first PGF2α injection. The poor oestrus response might be due to either ineffective detection of oestrus or cows lacked a responsive corpus luteum (CL) at the time of synchronisation. Therefore, this might reflect a large number of cows to have been in anoestrus. Further investigation on the reproductive status and performance of Mpwapwa cows is needed to identify the effects of anoestru