Controlled Atmosphere Stunning

Controlled atmosphere (CAS) stunning includes several variations of gaseous mixtures given to induce an anaesthetic state before slaughter poultry. One method of multi phase CAS is to unload the birds out of the crate on a conveyor belt and subject the birds to an atmosphere of 30% O2, 40% CO2 and 30% N2 for 1 min to stun them followed by an atmosphere of 80% CO2 and 5% O2 for 2 min. Another approach of CAS involves exposure of poultry while remaining in the crates in a chamber to a mixture of inert gasses to produce anoxic loss of consciousness. This approach includes killing with a number of different gasses by anoxia such as Ar and N2 content up to 90% with a CO2 content limited to 30% and O2 maximised by 2%. Initially Ar and O2 were used in contents of > 90% and 2%, respectively. At present N2 and Ar with/ or without CO2 for broilers and N2 with CO2 are used for turkey. After stunning the birds are shackled, exsanguinated and slaughtered. CO2 is an naesthetic gas which produces rapid unconsciousness when inhaled at high concentrations, however, signs of asphyxia and behavioural excitation are observed due to occurrence of both hypercapnia and hypoxia. More over, it is an acidic gas. It is likely that an avoidance response is mediated by the olfactory system in birds. Exposure of birds to 90% Ar in air or 60% Ar / 30% CO2 in air results in an anoxic condition. Anoxia results in suppression of the rostral reticular formation and therefore loss of consciousness and in suppression of the caudal reticular formation and therefore onset of convulsions. Wing flapping is observed before the onset of loss of posture when exposed to Ar or Ar / CO2 gas mixtures

Dynamic accommodative response to different visual stimuli (2D vs 3D) while watching television and while playing Nintendo 3DS console

PURPOSE: The aim of the present study was to compare the accommodative response to the same visual content presented in two dimensions (2D) and stereoscopically in three dimensions (3D) while participants were either watching a television (TV) or Nintendo 3DS console. METHODS: Twenty-two university students, with a mean age of 20.3 ± 2.0 years (mean ± S.D.), were recruited to participate in the TV experiment and fifteen, with a mean age of 20.1 ± 1.5 years took part in the Nintendo 3DS console study. The accommodative response was measured using a Grand Seiko WAM 5500 autorefractor. In the TV experiment, three conditions were used initially: the film was viewed in 2D mode (TV2D without glasses), the same sequence was watched in 2D whilst shutter-glasses were worn (TV2D with glasses) and the sequence was viewed in 3D mode (TV3D). Measurements were taken for 5 min in each condition, and these sections were sub-divided into ten 30-s segments to examine changes within the film. In addition, the accommodative response to three points of different disparity of one 3D frame was assessed for 30 s. In the Nintendo experiment, two conditions were employed - 2D viewing and stereoscopic 3D viewing. RESULTS: In the TV experiment no statistically significant differences were found between the accommodative response with TV2D without glasses (-0.38 ± 0.32D, mean ± S.D.) and TV3D (-0.37 ± 0.34D). Also, no differences were found between the various segments of the film, or between the accommodative response to different points of one frame (p > 0.05). A significant difference (p = 0.015) was found, however, between the TV2D with (-0.32 ± 0.32D) and without glasses (-0.38 ± 0.32D). In the Nintendo experiment the accommodative responses obtained in modes 2D (-2.57 ± 0.30D) and 3D (-2.49 ± 0.28D) were significantly different (paired t-test p = 0.03). CONCLUSIONS: The need to use shutter-glasses may affect the accommodative response during the viewing of displays, and the accommodative response when playing Nintendo 3DS in 3D mode is lower than when it is viewed in 2D.None of the authors has an interest in the products and devices mentioned in the study. This study has been funded by projects PTDC/SAU-BEB/098392/2008 funded by the Portuguese Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia through the European Social Fund

PHP143 Exploratory Test of Stakeholder Theory in the Implementation Process of It-Innovations in Hospital Care

Objectives The main hypothesis in this study is that stakeholders have different preferences concerning IT innovations in hospitals, and these preferences are caused by perceived cost/benefit ratios. This will translate in disagreement between stakeholders on which innovations to implement first, possibly explaining the slow diffusion of innovations in health care. Methods Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) was used to quantify stakeholders positions in their priority of nine IT innovations. These innovations were selected after a systematic literature review and expert interviews. In the AHP, decision criteria related to costs and benefits of the innovations were defined: improvement in efficiency, health gains, satisfaction with care process, and required investments. Stakeholders judged the importance of the decision criteria and prioritized the selected IT innovations according to their expectations of how well the innovations would perform on these decision criteria. Results Sixty-two respondents, including patients, nurses, physicians, managers, health care insurers and policy makers showed significant differences in their expectations about their respective costs and benefits of the innovations, resulting in diverging preferences for the health care innovations. For instance, self tests are one of the most preferred innovations by health care insurers and managers, due to its expected positive impacts on efficiency and health gains. However, physicians, nurses and patients strongly doubt the health gains of self tests, and accordingly rank self tests as the least preferred innovation. Conclusions We found clear differences in expectations of different stakeholder groups on IT innovations. The differences can be understood from the perspective of costs and benefits per stakeholder for each innovation. This study gives a first quantitative insight in stakeholder differences and presents a novel way to study stakeholder differences. The results may be used by decision makers to include alignment of stakeholder positions in implementation processes

Risks and deficient communication in thrombosis care

De onderlinge afstemming tussen trombosediensten en zorgverleners die betrokken zijn bij trombosezorg, zoals ziekenhuizen, verzorgingshuizen en apotheken, verloopt niet optimaal. Hierdoor beschikken trombosediensten niet altijd over voldoende informatie om te kunnen beslissen of de medicatie moet worden aangepast. Het gevolg kan zijn dat patienten verkeerde doses medicatie krijgen, wat het risico op bloedstollingen of bloedingen vergroot. In dit onderzoek kon de relatie tussen suboptimale afstemming en risico's echter niet worden aangetoond. Dat kan komen doordat de data nog onvoldoende geschikt zijn voor analyses. Wel geven trombosediensten aan dat ze veel tijd kwijt zijn om de zorg voor patienten goed te laten aansluiten op de zorg van andere zorgverleners. Bijna de helft van de trombosediensten heeft geen formele afspraken gemaakt met andere zorgverleners over de afstemming van de behandeling. Hierdoor verliezen de trombosediensten veel tijd met het vinden van ad-hoc oplossingen voor problemen met medicatie(wijzigingen) bij patienten. Ook blijken er verschillende medisch-inhoudelijk protocollen door betrokken disciplines te worden gebruikt, waardoor de continuiteit van zorg niet gewaarborgd is. Een good practice die naar voren komt uit dit onderzoek is het gebruik van ICT voor uitwisseling van informatie tussen zorgverleners. Zorgverleners gaven daarnaast aan dat een coordinator die de regie voert voor de zorgverlening van de patient in de hele zorgketen, de zorg zou kunnen verbeteren. Toepassing van een te ontwikkelen landelijk protocol of een zorgstandaard door zorgverleners zou de doelmatigheid van de trombosezorg kunnen verhogen. Uit eerder onderzoek is gebleken dat bij een kwart van de vermijdbare ziekenhuisopnames vanwege bijwerkingen van geneesmiddelen, antistollingsmedicatie is betrokken. Hieronder vallen de medicijnen waar trombosediensten mee werken (cumarines). Het doel van dit onderzoek is het achterhalen van knelpunten en risico's in de trombosezorg. Voor het onderzoek zijn trombosediensten geinterviewd en zijn vragenlijsten voorgelegd aan trombosediensten en verpleeg- en verzorgingstehuizen. Daarnaast zijn experts uit de hele zorgketen gehoord.Communication between thrombosis services and other care providers involved in thrombosis care, such as hospitals, homes for the elderly and pharmacies, is not optimal. Because of this, the thrombosis service may lack sufficient information to decide whether a patient's medication needs to be adapted. As a consequence, patients may receive inappropriate doses of medication thus increasing the risk of thrombi or haemorrhages. Yet, this study could not show an association between a lack of communication and such risks, possibly because of inadequate data. Still, the thrombosis services indicated to lose much time due to insufficient information from other care providers, to ensure that patients receive the care that they need. Almost half of the thrombosis services does not have formal agreements on communication concerning the care, forcing thrombosis services time and time again to find ad hoc solutions. Additionally, the different disciplines involved in thrombosis care use different medical protocols which may interfere with the continuity of care. This study found the use of ICT for information exchange between care providers as a good practice. Also, care providers indicated that a coordinator, responsible for the care given to the patient, may improve thrombosis care. The use of a national protocol or standard for care can help improve the efficiency of thrombosis care. The reason for this study was that in almost a quarter of the avoidable hospital admissions due to medication, anticoagulants are involved. Among these drugs are cumarines, the medication managed by the thrombosis service. The aim of this study is to find problems and risks in the thrombosis care. For this study, thrombosis services were interviewed and questionnaires were filled out by thrombosis services and homes for the elderly. Experts involved in the complete process of thrombosis care were asked about their findings.IG

Ritueel slachten en het welzijn van dieren

This report is a literature survey concerning animal welfare aspects of ritual slaughter. The main conclusion of the survey was that ritual slaughter has a number of negative aspects for the animals when compared to conventional procedures where a stun is performed prior to slaughter. The authors recommend various possibilities to improve the situation of animals destined for ritual slaughte

Hazard identification and characterization of welfare aspects during transport of farm animals

Within the EU, free movement of animals from one Member State to another and more uniformity among production animals and production systems has resulted in more long distance transport from farm to farm or from farm to slaughterhouse. Since there is a lot of discussion about transport of farm animals within Europe a workshop on transport of farm animals was organized. The objective of the workshop was to identify research priorities and obtaining commitment with regard to livestock transport through dialogue and debate on issues of welfare, legislation and economic aspects. The second objective of the workshop was to try to set research priorities and to obtain consensus among stakeholders about potential risks and “blank spots” in the transport of livestock, in particular with regard to animals welfare aspect

Differentiating innovation priorities among stakeholder in hospital care

Background Decisions to adopt a particular innovation may vary between stakeholders because individual stakeholders may disagree on the costs and benefits involved. This may translate to disagreement between stakeholders on priorities in the implementation process, possibly explaining the slow diffusion of innovations in health care. In this study, we explore the differences in stakeholder preferences for innovations, and quantify the difference in stakeholder priorities regarding costs and benefits. Methods The decision support technique called the analytic hierarchy process was used to quantify the preferences of stakeholders for nine information technology (IT) innovations in hospital care. The selection of the innovations was based on a literature review and expert judgments. Decision criteria related to the costs and benefits of the innovations were defined. These criteria were improvement in efficiency, health gains, satisfaction with care process, and investments required. Stakeholders judged the importance of the decision criteria and subsequently prioritized the selected IT innovations according to their expectations of how well the innovations would perform for these decision criteria. Results The stakeholder groups (patients, nurses, physicians, managers, health care insurers, and policy makers) had different preference structures for the innovations selected. For instance, self-tests were one of the innovations most preferred by health care insurers and managers, owing to their expected positive impacts on efficiency and health gains. However, physicians, nurses and patients strongly doubted the health gains of self-tests, and accordingly ranked self-tests as the least-preferred innovation. Conclusions The various stakeholder groups had different expectations of the value of the nine IT innovations. The differences are likely due to perceived stakeholder benefits of each innovation, and less to the costs to individual stakeholder groups. This study provides a first exploratory quantitative insight into stakeholder positions concerning innovation in health care, and presents a novel way to study differences in stakeholder preferences. The results may be taken into account by decision makers involved in the implementation of innovation

Humane slaughter of African sharptooth catfish (Clarias gariepinus): Effects of various stunning methods on brain function

Common slaughter procedures for African sharptooth catfish (Clarias gariepinus) include asphyxiation, ice chilling and exsanguination, which may all cause substantial suffering over prolonged periods of time before death. Therefore, comprehensive evaluations of potentially more humane slaughter procedures for this species are urgently needed. Here, we use a non-invasive electroencephalographic (EEG) method to assess the state of sensibility in African sharptooth catfish in response to various stunning methods (e.g. ice chilling, electrical stunning, electrical stunning followed by exsanguination, percussive stunning, and immersion in isoeugenol). Based on the abolition of visually evoked responses (VERs) on the EEG, ice slurry immersion induced insensibility between 2.6 and 7.6 min, during which catfish exhibited aversive behaviours. Once VERs were lost, they remained absent so long as catfish remained immersed in the ice slurry. Electrical stunning (i.e. exposure to ~1.7 A dm−2 at a water conductivity of ~997 μS cm−1) induced insensibility immediately but not irreversibly. Depending on the duration of the stun (i.e. from 1 to 10 s), catfish either regained VERs immediately or within 4.9 min after the completion of the electrical insult. However, when a 10 s electrical stun was immediately followed by exsanguination and immersion in an ice slurry, the duration of insensibility was sufficient to humanely kill catfish. When administered correctly, manual percussive stunning with a fish priest induced insensibility immediately and irreversibly. However, 36% of catfish regained VERs, which is likely explained by the difficulty associated with administering an accurate manual percussive stun of sufficient force on a live and struggling catfish. Catfish appeared to be sedated following immersion in isoeugenol (i.e. catfish were calm and easy to handle), yet VERs remained present at doses exceeding that recommended for euthanasia in salmonids, which indicates that this substance may not be suitable for stunning catfish. However, the potential for using isoeugenol as a pre-stunning sedative for improving handleability and reducing handling stress of this species warrants further investigation. In conclusion, this study clearly demonstrates that when singularly administered, none of the abovementioned stunning methods could reliably induce insensibility immediately and/or irreversibly without welfare implications. Yet, our findings indicate that these shortcomings can be resolved by using a combination of methods. This could include an electrical or percussive stun to immediately induce insensibility that should be immediately followed by exsanguination and immersion in an ice slurry to maintain insensibility until death