Body Condition Scoring (BCS) zur Kontrolle von Fütterungsfehlern bei Milchkühen im Biolandbau im Hinblick auf Risiken für die Eutergesundheit

Body Condition Scoring (BCS) is a simple method to control the energy supply of single dairy cows as well as for the entire herd. This is very important especially for organic herds due to limited resources of energy intake. Within an udder health pro-gramme regular BCS using a 5 point scale with 0.25 pt. steps is a good tool to detect feeding problems. The impact of fattened cows during dry time and meagre cows during lactation peak on metabolic health and fertility is known, but not the correlation between BCS and udder health. Within the extension programme “pro-Q” 530 dairy cows were scored at minimum twice during one lactation. The first time was 10 days before to 5 days after calving (BCS-1), the second time was in lactation up to day 100 (once or multiple investigation depending on visit frequency) using the lowest score during that time. Additionally the difference between these scores as a measurement for lipomobilization was calculated. These scores were compared to milk recording data (yield, protein, fat, urea) and the correlation to udder health (average logarithmic somatic cell count over the first 3 months after calving 100.000 ml “elevated”). The interrelationships between routinely milk records and udder health were poor. In contrast, first lactation cows showed a significant impact on udder health. “Healthy” cows had an average BCS in dry time of 3.06 compared to 3.25 in “CC elevated” cows (p<0.05). Furthermore, the difference between both scores were -0.52 in “healthy” and -0.23 in “CC elevated” cows, respectively (p<0.01). There were no significant effects in elder cows. Results indicate that the control and balance of body condition can be an important issue in udder health management. Especially in heifers farmers should avoid fattening during late pregnancy period

Personality predicts the vibrancy of colour imagery: The case of synaesthesia

In this study we show that personality traits predict the physical qualities of mentally generated colours, using the case of synaesthesia. Developmental grapheme-colour synaesthetes have the automatic lifelong association of colours paired to letters or digits. Although these colours are internal mental constructs, they can be measured along physical dimensions such as saturation and luminance. The personality of synaesthetes can also be quantified using self-report questionnaires relating, for example, to the five major traits of Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Neuroticism, and Openness to experience. In this paper, we bring together both types of quality by examining whether the personality of individual synaesthetes predicts their synaesthetic colours. Twenty grapheme-colour synaesthetes were tested with the Big Five Inventory (BFI) personality questionnaire. Their synaesthesia was also tested in terms of consistency and average colour saturation and luminance. Two major results were found: although personality did not influence the overall robustness (i.e., consistency) of synaesthesia, it predicted the nature of synaesthetes’ colours: the trait of Openness was positively correlated with the saturation of synaesthetic colours. Our study provides evidence that personality and internal perception are intertwined, and suggests future avenues of research for investigating the associations between the two

Schwerpunkt: Rechtsextremismus und Soziale Arbeit

Das SI:SO-Heft widmet sich den folgenden Fragen: - Unter welchen Gesichtspunkten lassen sich Rechtspopulismus und Rechtsextremismus differenziert diskutieren? - Wie werden Rechtsextreme bestimmt und Rechtsextremismus identifiziert? - Inwiefern ist Soziale Arbeit von Rechtsextremismus und Rechtspopulismus betroffen? - Welche Kritiken gelten als zulässig, welche nicht und welche Auseinandersetzungen werden in der Sozialen Arbeit gemieden? - Welche politischen und zivilgesellschaftlichen Beiträge leistet Soziale Arbeit im Phänomenbereich Rechtsextremismus und Rechtspopulismus? - Welche Folgen ergeben sich für Hochschulen und Studium im Umgang mit Rechtsextremismus und Rechtspopulismus

Comparison of Organic and Conventional Beef-Suckler Farms in Germany

This study aims to compare conventional and organic farms with beef-suckler herds. Addresses were collected mainly by contacting breeding associations and farmers' magazines. 216 questionnaires were evaluated (34.1% of them organic). Beef-suckler production in Germany is an extensive production system (small farms, small herd sizes, high percentage of grassland, low soil points, etc.). 39% of farms had to fulfil special regulations for extensive grassland production and 43% carried out landscape conservation measures. Farmers specialize in beef-suckler production. 60% of them are part-time farmers. Beef production amounts to two thirds of their agricultural income. Most farmers keep only beef cattle on the farms. Other farm animals are kept in small stock sizes. This study has found only a few differences between conventional and organic farms. Organic farmers more often keep breeds of low intensity but more of them use direct marketing channels. On organic farms cows more frequently stay outside all year. Animal performances were the same in both production systems

Macrophage responses to implants: prospects for personalized medicine

Implants, transplants, and implantable biomedical devices are mainstream solutions for a wide variety of human pathologies. One of the persistent problems around nondegradable metallic and polymeric implants is failure of macrophages to resolve the inflammation and their tendency to stay in a state, named "frustrated phagocytosis." During the initial phase, proinflammatory macrophages induce acute reactions to trauma and foreign materials, whereas tolerogenic anti-inflammatory macrophages control resolution of inflammation and induce the subsequent healing stage. However, implanted materials can induce a mixed pro/anti-inflammatory phenotype, supporting chronic inflammatory reactions accompanied by microbial contamination and resulting in implant failure. Several materials based on natural polymers for improved interaction with host tissue or surfaces that release anti-inflammatory drugs/bioactive agents have been developed for implant coating to reduce implant rejection. However, no definitive, long-term solution to avoid adverse immune responses to the implanted materials is available to date. The prevention of implant-associated infections or chronic inflammation by manipulating the macrophage phenotype is a promising strategy to improve implant acceptance. The immunomodulatory properties of currently available implant coatings need to be improved to develop personalized therapeutic solutions. Human primary macrophages exposed to the implantable materials ex vivo can be used to predict the individual's reactions and allow selection of an optimal coating composition. Our review describes current understanding of the mechanisms of macrophage interactions with implantable materials and outlines the prospects for use of human primary macrophages for diagnostic and therapeutic approaches to personalized implant therapy

Macrophage responses to implants: prospects for personalized medicine

Implants, transplants, and implantable biomedical devices are mainstream solutions for a wide variety of human pathologies. One of the persistent problems around nondegradable metallic and polymeric implants is failure of macrophages to resolve the inflammation and their tendency to stay in a state, named "frustrated phagocytosis." During the initial phase, proinflammatory macrophages induce acute reactions to trauma and foreign materials, whereas tolerogenic anti-inflammatory macrophages control resolution of inflammation and induce the subsequent healing stage. However, implanted materials can induce a mixed pro/anti-inflammatory phenotype, supporting chronic inflammatory reactions accompanied by microbial contamination and resulting in implant failure. Several materials based on natural polymers for improved interaction with host tissue or surfaces that release anti-inflammatory drugs/bioactive agents have been developed for implant coating to reduce implant rejection. However, no definitive, long-term solution to avoid adverse immune responses to the implanted materials is available to date. The prevention of implant-associated infections or chronic inflammation by manipulating the macrophage phenotype is a promising strategy to improve implant acceptance. The immunomodulatory properties of currently available implant coatings need to be improved to develop personalized therapeutic solutions. Human primary macrophages exposed to the implantable materials ex vivo can be used to predict the individual's reactions and allow selection of an optimal coating composition. Our review describes current understanding of the mechanisms of macrophage interactions with implantable materials and outlines the prospects for use of human primary macrophages for diagnostic and therapeutic approaches to personalized implant therapy

Quantitative Nuclear Histomorphometry Predicts Molecular Subtype and Clinical Outcome in Medulloblastomas: Preliminary Findings

Molecular subtypes of medulloblastoma [Sonic Hedgehog (SHH), Wingless/INT (WNT), Group 3, and Group 4] are defined by common patterns of gene expression. These differential gene expression patterns appear to result in different histomorphology and prognosis. Quantitative histomorphometry is a well-known method of computer-aided pathology image analysis. The hypotheses we sought to examine in this preliminary proof of concept study were whether computer extracted nuclear morphological features of medulloblastomas from digitized tissue slide images could independently: (1) distinguish between molecularly determined subgroups and (2) identify patterns within these subgroups that correspond with clinical outcome. Our dataset was composed of 46 medulloblastoma patients: 16 SHH (5 dead, 11 survived), 3 WNT (0 dead, 3 survived), 12 Group 3 (4 dead, 8 survived), and 15 were Group 4 (5 dead, 10 survived). A watershed-based thresholding scheme was used to automatically identify individual nuclei within digitized whole slide hematoxylin and eosin tissue images. Quantitative histomorphometric features corresponding to the texture (variation in pixel intensity), shape (variations in size, roundness), and architectural rearrangement (distances between, and number of connected neighbors) of nuclei were subsequently extracted. These features were ranked using feature selection schemes and these top-ranked features were then used to train machine-learning classifiers via threefold cross-validation to separate patients based on: (1) molecular subtype and (2) disease-specific outcomes within the individual molecular subtype groups. SHH and WNT tumors were separated from Groups 3 and 4 tumors with a maximum area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) of 0.7, survival within Group 3 tumors was predicted with an AUC of 0.92, and Group 3 and 4 patients were separated into high- and low-risk groups with p = 0.002. Model prediction was quantitatively compared with age, stage, and histological subtype using univariate and multivariate Cox hazard ratio models. Age was the most statistically significant variable for predicting survival in Group 3 and 4 tumors, but model predictions had the highest hazard ratio value. Quantitative nuclear histomorphometry can be used to study medulloblastoma genetic expression phenotypes as it may distinguish meaningful features of disease pathology

Resminostat in combination with sorafenib as second-line therapy of advanced hepatocellular carcinoma - The SHELTER Study

No established therapies for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and progression on first-line sorafenib treatment currently exist. This phase I/II trial investigated safety, pharmacokinetics (PK) and potential biomarkers of the deacetylase inhibitor (HDAC) resminostat and a combination therapy with resminostat and sorafenib