Reduction of Coxiella burnetii prevalence by vaccination of goats and sheep, the Netherlands

Recently, the number of human Q fever cases in the Netherlands increased dramatically. In response to this increase, dairy goats and dairy sheep were vaccinated against Coxiella burnetii. All pregnant dairy goats and dairy sheep in herds positive for Q fever were culled. We identified the effect of vaccination on bacterial shedding by small ruminants. On the day of culling, samples of uterine fluid, vaginal mucus, and milk were obtained from 957 pregnant animals in 13 herds. Prevalence and bacterial load were reduced in vaccinated animals compared with unvaccinated animals. These effects were most pronounced in animals during their first pregnancy. Results indicate that vaccination may reduce bacterial load in the environment and human exposure to C. burnetii

Symptom complexes in patients with seropositive arthralgia and in patients newly diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis: a qualitative exploration of symptom development

Objective: The aim of this study was to explore symptoms and symptom development during the earliest phases of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in patients with seropositive arthralgia and patients newly diagnosed with RA

Роль інтелектуальної культури в процесі професійної підготовки майбутнього фахівця

Зниження рівня професійної підготовки фахівців у вищих навчальних закладах сьогодні є актуальною проблемою вищої освіти на всьому пострадянському просторі. І не в останню чергу ця проблема пов’язується з рівнем інтелекту студентської молоді

Украина — член международной комиссии по блоьшим плотинам

Within Herd Test Prevalence Affects Genetic Variation in Antibody Response to Mycobacterium avium Subspecies paratuberculosis in Milk of Dutch Holstein-Friesians - K.J.E. van Hulzen, M. Nielen, A.P. Koets, G. de Jong, J.A.M. van Arendonk and H.C.M. Heuven. Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands. Worldwide, classical control strategies based on hygiene and culling of infected animals have not been able to eradicate Johne’s disease. Therefore, breeding for disease resistance may be a useful tool to contribute to control the disease. In this study, genetic parameters were estimated for the presence of a Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis specific antibody response in milk of Dutch Holstein-Friesians using subsets of data based on within herd test prevalence levels. The estimated heritability ranged from 3.1% for the complete dataset to 9.7% for herds with a minimum test prevalence of 10%. Cross-validation analysis showed that breeding values were predicted most accurately using data obtained from herds with at least 2 positive tested animals, hence a heritability of 4.1% (± 0.4)

Estimating the proportion of clinical mastitis attributable to subclinical mastitis in dairy cattle using two multivariable statistical approaches

The aim of this study was to quantify the proportion of first bovine CM cases attributable to high composite somatic cell counts (CSCC). Cows were followed from the first CSCC measurement postpartum until CM or censoring, using survival analysis. A conditional logistic regression model was also fitted to the data with CM cows being matched to cows without CM. Both models identified high CSCC cows to have a higher risk for subsequent CM cases than low CSCC cows. The population attributable fraction was 0.22 for primiparae and 0.17 for multiparae according to the logistic regression model, while it was 0.25 in the survival analysis. The latter approach also identified that the proportion of cows without CM would increase from 89% to 93%. Both multivariable statistical approaches showed that a substantial reduction in CM can be achieved by decreasing the prevalence of high CSCC in the dairy population

Feasibility of a liver transcriptomics approach to assess bovine treatment with the prohormone dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA)

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Within the European Union the use of growth promoting agents in animal production is prohibited. Illegal use of natural prohormones like dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) is hard to prove since prohormones are strongly metabolized <it>in vivo</it>. In the present study, we investigated the feasibility of a novel effect-based approach for monitoring abuse of DHEA. Changes in gene expression profiles were studied in livers of bull calves treated orally (PO) or intramuscularly (IM) with 1000 mg DHEA versus two control groups, using bovine 44K DNA microarrays. In contrast to controlled genomics studies, this work involved bovines purchased at the local market on three different occasions with ages ranging from 6 to 14 months, thereby reflecting the real life inter-animal variability due to differences in age, individual physiology, season and diet.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>As determined by principal component analysis (PCA), large differences in liver gene expression profiles were observed between treated and control animals as well as between the two control groups. When comparing the gene expression profiles of PO and IM treated animals to that of all control animals, the number of significantly regulated genes (p-value <0.05 and a fold change >1.5) was 23 and 37 respectively. For IM and PO treated calves, gene sets were generated of genes that were significantly regulated compared to one control group and validated versus the other control group using Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA). This cross validation, showed that 6 out of the 8 gene sets were significantly enriched in DHEA treated animals when compared to an 'independent' control group.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This study showed that identification and application of genomic biomarkers for screening of (pro)hormone abuse in livestock production is substantially hampered by biological variation. On the other hand, it is demonstrated that comparison of pre-defined gene sets versus the whole genome expression profile of an animal allows to distinguish DHEA treatment effects from variations in gene expression due to inherent biological variation. Therefore, DNA-microarray expression profiling together with statistical tools like GSEA represent a promising approach to screen for (pro)hormone abuse in livestock production. However, a better insight in the genomic variability of the control population is a prerequisite in order to define growth promoter specific gene sets that can be used as robust biomarkers in daily practice.</p

Heat stress in a temperate climate leads to adapted sensor-based behavioral patterns of dairy cows

Most research on heat stress has focused on (sub)tropical climates. The effects of higher ambient temperatures on the daily behavior of dairy cows in a maritime and temperate climate are less studied. With this retrospective observational study, we address that gap by associating the daily time budgets of dairy cows in the Netherlands with daily temperature and temperature-humidity index (THI) variables. During a period of 4 years, cows on 8 commercial dairy farms in the Netherlands were equipped with neck and leg sensors to collect data from 4,345 cow lactations regarding their daily time budget. The time spent eating, ruminating, lying, standing, and walking was recorded. Individual cow data were divided into 3 data sets: (1) lactating cows from 5 farms with a conventional milking system (CMS) and pasture access, (2) lactating cows from 3 farms with an automatic milking system (AMS) without pasture access, and (3) dry cows from all 8 farms. Hourly environment temperature and relative humidity data from the nearest weather station of the Dutch National Weather Service was used for THI calculation for each farm. Based on heat stress thresholds from previous studies, daily mean temperatures were grouped into 7 categories: 0 = (<0°C), 1 = (0–12°C, reference category), 2 = (12–16°C), 3 = (16–20°C), 4 = (20–24°C), 5 = (24–28°C), and 6 = (≥28°C). Temperature-humidity index values were grouped as follows: 0 = (THI <30), 1 = (THI 30–56, reference category), 2 = (THI 56–60), 3 = (THI 60–64), 4 = (THI 64–68), 5 = (THI 68–72) and 6 = (THI ≥72). To associate daily mean temperature and THI with sensor-based behavioral parameters of dry cows and of lactating cows from AMS and CMS farms, we used generalized linear mixed models. In addition, associations between sensor data and other climate variables, such as daily maximum and minimum temperature, and THI were analyzed. On the warmest days, eating time decreased in the CMS group by 92 min/d, in the AMS group by 87 min/d, and in the dry group by 75 min/d compared with the reference category. Lying time decreased in the CMS group by 36 min/d, in the AMS group by 56 min/d, and in the dry group by 33 min/d. Adaptation to daily temperature and THI was already noticeable from a mean temperature of 12°C or a mean THI of 56 or above, when dairy cows started spending less time lying and eating and spent more time standing. Further, rumination time decreased, although only in dry cows and cows on AMS farms. With higher values for daily mean THI and temperature, walking time decreased as well. These patterns were very similar for temperature and THI variables. These results show that dairy cows in temperate climates begin to adapt their behavior at a relatively low mean environmental temperature or THI. In the temperate maritime climate of the Netherlands, our results indicate that daily mean temperature suffices to study the effects of behavioral adaptation to heat stress in dairy cows

Влияние ледового сжатия на составляющие скорости движения жидкости под ледяным покровом в бегущей периодической изгибно-гравитационной волне конечной амплитуды

Методом многих масштабов с точностью до величин третьего порядка малости получены асимптотические разложения, определяющие составляющие скорости движения жидкости под плавающим ледяным покровом при распространении периодической поверхностной изгибногравитационной волны конечной амплитуды в условиях ледового сжатия. Рассмотрена зависимость распределений составляющих скорости вдоль профиля волны от величины сжимающего усилия и характеристик начальной гармоники. Показано, что с увеличением сжимающего усилия происходит уменьшение амплитудных значений составляющих скорости и отставание фазы колебаний.Методом багатьох масштабів з точністю до величин третього порядку малості отримані асимптотичні розкладання, які визначають складові швидкості руху рідини під плаваючим льодяним покривом при розповсюдженні періодичної поверхневої згинально-гравітаційної хвилі кінцевої амплітуди в умовах льодяного стиснення. Розглянуто залежність розподілів складових швидкості вздовж профілю хвилі від величини стискаючого зусилля та характеристик початкової гармоніки. Показано, що із збільшенням стискаючого зусилля відбувається зменшення амплітудних значень складових швидкості та відставання фази коливань.Using the method of multiple scales, the asymptotic expansions are obtained up to the values of the third order. The expansions condition the components of fluid movement velocity under floating ice cover at propagation of periodic surface flexural-gravity wave of finite amplitude in the condition of ice compression. Dependence of distribution of velocity components along the wave profile upon the compressive force value and the initial harmonic characteristics is considered. It is shown that rise of compressive force is accompanied by decrease of amplitude values of velocity components and lag of oscillations’ phase