Ethical motivations (consumers) of animal welfare and the interest for farmers.

I consider J. Webster as a "moderate" animalist, but I do not know if he agrees with such definition; anyhow, I think he is, with D. Broom, one of major scientists of farm animal welfare. For these reasons I like to recall the start of "Introduction: Man's Dominion" to his book "Animal welfare (a cool eye towards Eden): "Man has dominion over the animals whether we like it or not. Wherever we share space on the planet, and this includes all but the most inaccessible regions of land, sea and air, it is we, no they that determine where and how they will live. We may elect to put hens in a battery cage or establish a game reserve to preserve the tiger but in each case the decision is ours, no theirs. We make a pet of the hamster but poison the rat. These are very human decision but they have much in common with decisions taken by other animals, since they reflect our own will to survive, preserve our genetic inheritance and enrich the quality of our lives. We need good food and battery eggs are nutritious an cheap. We need good hygiene, and fear that rats carry germs. Pets enrich our lives and those of our children. We admire the tiger not only for its fearful symmetry but as a symbol of freedom itself, so we offer it rather more freedom than we would think fit for the chicken. It is impossible, however, to avoid the issue that both the chicken and the tiger are living on our terms" (Webster, 1994). Can this be interpreted as a denial of animal welfare? I do not think so; he in fact concluded the Preface of the same book as follow: "My aim, I repeat, is to offer constructive solutions to the problem of man's dominion over the animals. These solutions will not be achieved by self-indulgent moralizing on the nature of animal rights but by practical approaches designed to reconcile our aspirations for those animals within our dominion with a proper concern for their welfare. I do not e�pect to achieve paradise but I do my best to be fair" (Webster, 1994). This clearly means that our approach to the welfare issue must consider several aspects, besides the animal "happiness", and these include different value of men and animals, the human needs for animal derived foods, the farm economical sustainability etc.. Therefore, if man has been created "in the image and likeness of God" as suggested by Bible, man has duties versus animals which rights are subordinated to the human's ones (Warren, 198�; cited by Pascalev, 200��). In other words, as suggested above by Webster, man is responsible of a fair breeding situation where animals: do not suffer hunger, thirst, heat, cold, e�haustion, pain, malaise and fear; enjoy pleasure of delight feeds, of lu�ury and of optimal fitness for comfortable environment. Nevertheless, these feelings that can be included in the � freedoms of Brambell's report and afterwards of FAWC (199�), cannot be totally and contemporary fulfilled, again accor

Model to evaluate welfare in dairy cow farms.

The assessment of herd welfare is a scientific discipline that is rapidly developing. The scientific community plays an important role in delivering appropriate, repeatable, valid and feasible models for this assessment. Unfortunately, there are different feelings regarding the welfare of animals and it is imperative for its assessment that certain agreement on the meaning of animal welfare is accepted. Then it is necessary to look at the goals of the models of welfare assessment because different goals require a different combination of welfare indicators. The different models for welfare assessment can be categorized broadly into research, legislative requirements, certification systems, and advisory/management tools. These models may have various goals: quantification of welfare, provision of welfare assurance or welfare management. However, it is widely accepted that welfare is best assessed with multiple different measures; therefore, a welfare assessment model for a livestock herd can include two types of measure: a description of the housing system and management (indirect indicators) and data recording on how the animals react to the system (direct indicators). The first type provides information on risk factors for welfare problems. Direct measures on the animals provide information on their response to the environment and are more direct measures of welfare than their counterparts, but direct welfare indicators alone do not point out the causes of impaired welfare. Because welfare is a complex construct, different approaches for the aggregation of the different aspects of welfare have been proposed, although the aggregation in an overall welfare value is not sufficient. The thresholds between acceptable and unacceptable welfare levels have to be included in the model of welfare assessment but it seems useful to set certain minimum standards for each single welfare aspect. Afterward, judging the validity of a common welfare assessment model is important. In addition to considering its aim and the fact that a gold standard for animal welfare does not exist, it aids in identifying some widely accepted reference parameters which cannot be utilized in the field (i.e. ACTH challenge, immune system parameters, etc.), but which can be utilized to validate the field models. A new model has been recently set up in our Institute, which is based on many environmental factors included into two clusters: life conditions and feeding. A further cluster considers the animal responses in general and to the previous factors; specific indicators of behavioural, physiological, performance and health type have been included in this last cluster

Some physiological and biochemical methods for acute and chronic stress evaluationin dairy cows

Stress factors are so numerous and so diverse in their strength and duration that the consequences on animal welfare can be quite varied. The first important distinction concerns the characterization of acute and chronic stress conditions. Acute stress is a short-lived negative situation that allows a quick and quite complete recovery of the physiological balance (adaptation), while chronic stress is a long lasting condition from which the subject cannot fully recover (maladaptation). In the latter case, the direct effects of the stress factors (heat, low energy, anxiety, suffering etc.), as well as the indirect ones (changes occurring at endocrinological, immune system or function level) can be responsible for pre-pathological or pathological consequences which reduce animal welfare. To evaluate the possible chronic stress conditions in single animals or on a farm (in particular a farm of dairy cows), some parameters of the direct or indirect effects can be utilised. They are physiological (mainly hormone changes: cortisol, β-endorphin), behavioural (depression), biochemical (metabolites, acute phase proteins, glycated proteins etc.), as well as performance parameters (growing rate, milk yield, fertility, etc.). Special attention has been paid to the interpretation of cortisol levels and to its changes after an ACTH challenge. Despite fervent efforts, well established and accepted indices of chronic stress (distress) are currently lacking; but without this objective evaluation, the assessment of animal welfare and, therefore, the optimization of the livestock production, could prove more difficult

A non-deterministic approach to forecasting the trophic evolution of lakes

Limnologists have long recognized that one of the goals of their discipline is to increase its predictive capability. In recent years, the role of prediction in applied ecology escalated, mainly due to man\u27s increased ability to change the biosphere. Such alterations often came with unplanned and noticeably negative side effects mushrooming from lack of proper attention to long-term consequences. Regression analysis of common limnological parameters has been successfully applied to develop predictive models relating the variability of limnological parameters to specific key causes. These approaches, though, are biased by the requirement of a priori cause-relation assumption, oftentimes difficult to find in the complex, nonlinear relationships entangling ecological data. A set of quantitative tools that can help addressing current environmental challenges avoiding such restrictions is currently being researched and developed within the framework of ecological informatics. One of these approaches attempting to model the relationship between a set of inputs and known outputs, is based on genetic algorithms and programming (GP). This stochastic optimization tool is based on the process of evolution in natural systems and was inspired by a direct analogy to sexual reproduction and Charles Darwin\u27s principle of natural selection. GP works through genetic algorithms that use selection and recombination operators to generate a population of equations. Thanks to a 25-years long time-series of regular limnological data, the deep, large, oligotrophic Lake Maggiore (Northern Italy) is the ideal case study to test the predictive ability of GP. Testing of GP on the multi-year data series of this lake has allowed us to verify the forecasting efficacy of the models emerging from GP application. In addition, this non-deterministic approach leads to the discovery of non-obvious relationships between variables and enabled the formulation of new stochastic models

Some new aspects of nutrition, health conditions and fertility of intensively reared dairy cows.

Speaking in terms of the general relationship between nutrition and reproduction, many different aspects are more or less involved depending on geographical areas, species, production systems, technological levels etc. There are deficiency conditions: energy, proteins, vitamins and minerals; but also some excesses (namely protein and few minerals) or toxic substances such as micotoxins or plant compounds (i.e. phyto-oestrogens). Their relevance is different in the intensive systems for better feeds and relative easiness to create appropriate diets. Nevertheless, intensification does not reduce the nutritional risks for livestock reproduction for several reasons: namely, a suspected higher susceptibility of high genetic merit cows to the usual stresses. There is also a new risk: metabolic stress (e.g. negative energy balance). The latter is particularly relevant when early lactation and new pregnancy are close (as in dairy cows), however, of great importance are also oxidative stress and disease stress (pro-inflammatory cytokines). In dairy cows, inflammatory phenomena around calving - when an immune response occurs in spite of clinical symptoms are missing - are significantly related to a lower pregnancy rate. A possible explanation can be seen in the pro-inflammatory cytokines, which modify liver synthesis and seem to impair energy balance thereby reducing feed intake and increasing energy expenditure. This suggests that in order to improve fertility not only better feeding mecahnisms, but any husbandry tool that can reduce diseases and health disorders are needed

Progettazione di un'attrezzatura robotica per la valutazione sperimentale dei disturbi di forza ammissibili nel cammino.

L’argomento della tesi è da inquadrare in uno studio più ampio mirante alla progettazione e realizzazione del Sistema robotico Body Extender. Nell’interazione tra operatore e Body Extender si sviluppano delle forze non quantificabili che possono causare, durante la locomozione, il ribaltamento del sistema. Tutto ciò premesso, è dunque necessaria un’opportuna attività sperimentale per dare una stima cautelativa delle massime forze d’interazione tra Body Extender ed operatore. Scopo del progetto è quello di studiare gli effetti che hanno le forze di disturbo applicate alle caviglie di un uomo mentre cammina; queste forze dovranno essere regolabili a piacere e di direzione opportuna. Per lo studio, la persona dovrà camminare su di un tappeto scorrevole in maniera che il work-space risulti limitato alla zona del tappeto. In relazione a ciò la seguente tesi si divide in due fasi, una progettuale ed una sperimentale: 1. Progettazione e realizzazione di un dispositivo per la generazione di forze. 2. Definizione dei valori massimi ammissibili di forza che il soggetto, durante il cammino, può sopportare senza modificare in maniera sensibile le abitudini motorie, tramite prove sperimentali in cui il soggetto è sottoposto a forze di disturbo variabili

Risk Factors Associated with the Alpine Multispecies Farming System in the Eradication of CAEV in South Tyrol, Italy.

South Tyrol has implemented, in 2007, a mandatory eradication program against Caprine Arthritis Encephalitis Virus (CAEV), a virus known to cause economic losses related to decreases in milk production and milk quality in goats, along with poor animal welfare and premature death. After a great initial decrease in the seroprevalence, the program has reached a tailing phase with scattered positivities. Potential risk factors associated with the multispecies farming system, a traditional approach in South Tyrol, are evaluated in this study, in order to better understand some of the potential causes leading to the tailing phenomenon. A statistically significant number of farms was selected for the present study, based on the risk factors evaluated. Even though there is no statistically significant association between the practices evaluated and the incidence of infection, the authors believe that it is important to highlight potential risks that may threaten the outcome of this eradication program

Basal levels and diurnal variations of some hormones and metabolites in blood of dairy cows treated daily with rbst in early and late lactation

The variations of basal value (before morning feeding at 3-4 days interval) and daily pattern (on 4and 18day of treat- ment with 8 blood collections within 24h) of hormones and metabolites were studied in four dairy cows; 2 in early and 2 in late lactation, which were alternatively injected daily for a period of 21 days with 26.3 mg rbST or saline. The rbST injection significantly increased the basal and daily levels of GH, IGF-I in both stages of lactation. Daily levels of NEFA were significantly increased by rbST in both stages of lactation and their variations, due to the effect of meals, were coun- teracted by the rbST; the higher level of NEFA allowed a greater sparing of glucose, the blood level of which resulted higher (P<0.05) in late lactation (mainly for less lactose yield), as well as a sparing of amino acid that resulted in a lower blood urea level (P<0.05, only in late lactation). Moreover, these metabolic changes in late lactating cows, and in par- ticular the high availability of glucose, determined a significantly higher blood level of insulin and T3, and lower level of glucagon. Despite the similar GH, IGF-I and NEFA increases observed in the cows treated in early and late lactation, other metabolic and endocrine consequences resulted more evident in late lactation. Furthermore, some of these variations were affected by the forage meals. It can be concluded, therefore, that the changes occurring in the blood subsequent to a rbST treatment are not equal to those which occur at the start of lactation; moreover, they are affected by the daily feeding pattern and perhaps by the stage of lactation

Pro-Inflammatory Cytokine Profile in Dairy Cows: Consequences for New Lactation

To verify the potential relevance of proinflammatory cytokine (PIC) with periparturient health problems and performances, the changes of plasma interleukin-1beta (IL-1β) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) have been investigated in 21 Holstein-Friesian cows from 35 d before to 28 d after parturition. The overall PIC concentration was higher during late pregnancy compared to the first month of lactation, but showed a high variability among the cows. Therefore, cows were retrospectively divided in 3 groups according to the values of area under the concentration curve of IL- 1β concentrations from -35 d before to the day of parturition and designated as up (UPIL1), intermediate (INIL1) and low (LOIL1) IL-1β group. The concentrations of IL-6 and to some extent the concentrations of albumin and reactive oxygen metabolites (ROMs) were well related to the grouping based on IL-1β concentrations. After calving the UPIL1 cows showed a more severe acute phase reaction (APR), based on the marked increase of haptoglobin and the lower plasma albumin concentrations during the first week of lactation, and the highest oxidative stress, based on the higher concentrations of ROMs. Moreover, the UPIL1 group showed higher number of mastitis, lower feed intake and milk yield compared with INIL1 and LOIL1. Our results demonstrated that cows with the highest PIC concentrations in the last month of pregnancy showed the worse health status in early lactation (clinical and subclinical problems) and a lower milk yield. Thus, these data support the utility of PIC measurement in late pregnancy as prognostic markers for a risky transition period