60 research outputs found
Animal Welfare Declaration regarding pig production : analysis from an animal protection point of view
In 2009 it was revealed that there were some serious shortcomings to the husbandry within pig productions in Sweden. To strengthen the protection of pigs in Sweden the Swedish Board of Agriculture (SBA) decided to implement an âAnimal Welfare Declarationâ (AWD) regarding pig production. Since 2010 the legislation regarding pharmaceuticals and the use of pharmaceuticals states that veterinarians who prescribe pharmaceuticals to an owner of pigs also has to fill out an AWD before the veterinarian can authorise a pig owner to, without supervision, give pharmaceuticals to their animals. The purpose of an AWD is to confirm that the level of animal protection and health on the pig farm is acceptable before the veterinarian can authorise unsupervised use of pharmaceuticals to treat animals on the farm. The veterinarians are obligated to establish two copies of the AWD, one for them to keep and one for the pig owner to keep. At least once a year the veterinarians are also obligated to send a copy of the latest AWD to the County Administrative Board (CAB). Another purpose of the AWD is that it is supposed to help the CAB prioritize where to aim their limited resources for animal welfare inspections when it comes to pig producers. The goals of this study was to try and verify that this AWD lives up to the goals on which it was built, to strengthen the animal protection for Swedish production pigs.
Results indicate that there are risks that the AWDs are not utilized in an optimal way, which could lead to believe that pigs in Sweden still are at risk to experience bad welfare. The SBA has yet to examine how the AWD is used in practice, even though they claimed they would do so during 2015. SBA has had conversations with the prescribing veterinarians and the CAB in which the veterinarians and the CAB claim they feel like the work regarding the AWD is in lines with the goals. This has led the SBA to the conclusion that no closer examination has been necessary.
My conclusion, on the contrary, leads to that an examination is way overdue. In my experience it is not optimal to implement a new system and then ignore to examine if the regulations are being complied with or not. From the gathered information it is hard to draw any conclusive conclusion, since how will we ever know if these AWD is as good as it seems if no one bothers to inspect the results
The use of vegetation in sustainable urban development : from VÀstra Hamnen to RosengÄrd
Den vÀrld vi kÀnner till stÄr inför stora förÀndringar. För första gÄngen i historien bor det fler mÀnniskor i stÀder Àn pÄ landsbygden. I dagslÀget förbrukar vi mer av jordens resurser Àn den klarar av. KlimatförÀndringarna kommer inom en snar framtid att pÄverka vÄrt sÀtt att leva. Allt fler mÀnniskor fÄr stressrelaterade sjukdomar och behöver ett nytt sÀtt att hitta kraft. För varje dag som gÄr försvinner arter ur vÄrt vÀxt- och djurrike. Vi ser tydliga tecken pÄ vad utanförskap och segregation kan göra mot de mest utsatta. FörÀndringar i vÄr vÀrld och i vÄrt samhÀlle gÄr inte att lösa över en natt men finns en drivkraft mot nÄgot bÀttre kan förÀndringarna istÀllet leda oss mot nÄgot positivt.
Att samhÀllsutvecklingen ska vara hÄllbar har börjat uppmÀrksammats runt om i vÀrlden allt mer och dess olika delar benÀmns som sociala, ekonomiska och ekologiska. GrönomrÄdens betydelse i vÄrt samhÀlle har gÄtt frÄn att tidigare frÀmst handla om rekreativa aspekter till att idag Àven innefatta klimatförbÀttring, biologisk mÄngfald och bidrag till en hÄllbar utveckling. Stadsdelen VÀstra Hamnen i Malmö var pÄ mÄnga sÀtt unik nÀr den planerades och byggdes. För första gÄngen fanns ett nytt fokus pÄ de gröna frÄgorna och dess viktiga betydelse för en bÀttre dagvattenhantering, den biologiska mÄngfalden och en vÀrdefull miljö för mÀnniskor. Flera nya sÀtt att hantera vegetation och grönomrÄden skapades som till exempel grönytefaktor, gröna punkter och biotoper. Genom att i denna rapport studera VÀstra Hamnens mÄl och visioner och dess uppföljning av de gröna satsningarna, stÀlldes frÄgan om den nya kunskapen kunde appliceras Àven pÄ andra delar av staden. Flera satsningar visade sig vara bÄde lyckade och nytÀnkande föregÄngsexempel medan andra inte nÄdde Ànda fram till de mÄl som satts upp.
Den hĂ„llbara utvecklingen av staden handlar i dag Ă€ven om att omvandla Ă€ldre delar och skapa samma förutsĂ€ttningar som i nybyggda omrĂ„den. En stor del av Sveriges bostadsbestĂ„nd kom till under de sĂ„ kallade miljonprogrammen. Dessa omrĂ„den fick tidigt kritik för sin utformning med stora kala utemiljöer, funktionsindelning och trafikseparering. Ăven RosengĂ„rd har debatterats under mĂ„nga Ă„r och lika lĂ€nge har omrĂ„det kantats av olika problem som Ă„tgĂ€rder har försökt rĂ„da bot pĂ„. SĂ€ttet att se pĂ„ planering och grönomrĂ„den under miljonprogrammen skiljde sig pĂ„ mĂ„nga sĂ€tt frĂ„n dagens byggande som nu strĂ€var efter den tĂ€ta, livliga staden med blandade funktioner. DĂ€remot har det alltid funnits visioner om att skapa bra bostĂ€der och utemiljöer för mĂ€nniskor Ă€ven om bakgrunden till dessa visioner har skiftat.
Att anvĂ€nda de gröna satsningarna frĂ„n VĂ€stra Hamnen i miljonprogrammens RosengĂ„rd har mĂ„nga förutsĂ€ttningar att lyckas. Viktigt Ă€r att arbetssĂ€tten anpassas till rĂ„dande projekt och att lĂ€rdomarna frĂ„n VĂ€stra Hamnen fĂ„r leda vĂ€gen. Ett helhetstĂ€nkande krĂ€vs för att alla delar av den hĂ„llbara utvecklingen ska uppnĂ„s och det Ă€r av största betydelse att de boende involveras genom processen. Ăven om en satsning pĂ„ vegetation ur ett hĂ„llbart perspektiv inte löser alla problem i ett omrĂ„de Ă€r det en viktig del. Dessutom Ă€r det en viktig pusselbit i det fortsatta arbetet mot en hĂ„llbar stadsutveckling
Calf or grass - What would the cow choose?
The growing interest for keeping dairy cows with their calves for an extended period after calving is putting pressure on the scientific community to investigate the effects of cow-calf contact systems on the animals ' welfare. The main aims of this study were to investigate the dairy cows ' motivation for accessing their calves over a fresh pasture, and to evaluate if their motivation decreased with increasing calf age. Twenty-two Swedish Red and Swedish Holstein cow-calf pairs were enrolled at calving. The dams were housed in a robotic barn with free access to outdoor pasture, where the calves were kept during pasture season. The behaviours of the dams were recorded on three separate test days occurring every two weeks, starting when the calves were on average 10 weeks old. During test days, the calves were confined to a heavily grazed area, while the dams had free access both to the calf area and to an adjacent fresh pasture. Which of the areas the dams entered first upon returning outdoors from the barn, and what behaviours they performed in which area were registered using 10-min scan sampling during 8 h per day. The dams spent more time outdoors on Test day I (76.8 +/- 3.09%; LSMeans +/- SEM) compared to Day II (60.9 +/- 3.86%; P=0.006), while Day III (66.8 +/- 4.38%) did not differ from Day I (P=0.15) or Day II (P=0.55). On Test day II, they chose the calf area 54 +/- 10.05% of the times they returned to pasture, which was significantly more often than during Day I (18.2 +/- 4.96%; P=0.01), while no difference was found between Day III (37.1 +/- 9.86%) and Day I (P=0.17) or Day II (P=0.5). There was no effect of breed on total time spent outdoors, but Holstein dams tended to spend more outdoor time in the calf area (36.4 +/- 5.28%) than Swedish Red dams (24.2 +/- 3.95%; P=0.09). Upon returning outdoors, Holstein dams also chose the calf area over fresh pasture more often (46.0 +/- 7.19%) than did Swedish Red dams (25.2 +/- 6.21%; P=0.05). Primiparous cows tended to choose the calf area over fresh pasture more often (46.9 +/- 6.11%) than multiparous cows (24.5 +/- 7.25%; P=0.06). Exploratory analyses suggest that the effects of test day were more affected by the ambient weather than by the age of the calves. The study results provide some further information about factors influencing maternal motivation to reunite with their calves on pasture. However, further research is needed so that cow-calf contact systems can be designed to enable good welfare
The G ProteinâCoupled Receptor Subset of the Chicken Genome
G proteinâcoupled receptors (GPCRs) are one of the largest families of proteins, and here we scan the recently sequenced chicken genome for GPCRs. We use a homology-based approach, utilizing comparisons with all human GPCRs, to detect and verify chicken GPCRs from translated genomic alignments and Genscan predictions. We present 557 manually curated sequences for GPCRs from the chicken genome, of which 455 were previously not annotated. More than 60% of the chicken Genscan gene predictions with a human ortholog needed curation, which drastically changed the average percentage identity between the humanâchicken orthologous pairs (from 56.3% to 72.9%). Of the non-olfactory chicken GPCRs, 79% had a one-to-one orthologous relationship to a human GPCR. The Frizzled, Secretin, and subgroups of the Rhodopsin families have high proportions of orthologous pairs, although the percentage of amino acid identity varies. Other groups show large differences, such as the Adhesion family and GPCRs that bind exogenous ligands. The chicken has only three bitter Taste 2 receptors, and it also lacks an ortholog to human TAS1R2 (one of three GPCRs in the human genome in the Taste 1 receptor family [TAS1R]), implying that the chicken's ability and mode of detecting both bitter and sweet taste may differ from the human's. The chicken genome contains at least 229 olfactory receptors, and the majority of these (218) originate from a chicken-specific expansion. To our knowledge, this dataset of chicken GPCRs is the largest curated dataset from a single gene family from a non-mammalian vertebrate. Both the updated human GPCR dataset, as well the chicken GPCR dataset, are available for download
Synaptic mechanisms underlying modulation of locomotor-related motoneuron output by premotor cholinergic interneurons
F Nascimento was supported by The Alfred Dunhill Links Foundation. G B Miles and M J Broadhead received support from Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council Grant BB/M021793/1. L Zagoraiou and E Tsape were supported by Fondation SantĂ©.Spinal motor networks are formed by diverse populations of interneurons that set the strength and rhythmicity of behaviors such as locomotion. A small cluster of cholinergic interneurons, expressing the transcription factor Pitx2, modulates the intensity of muscle activation via âC-boutonâ inputs to motoneurons. However, the synaptic mechanisms underlying this neuromodulation remain unclear. Here, we confirm in mice that Pitx2+ interneurons are active during fictive locomotion and that their chemogenetic inhibition reduces the amplitude of motor output. Furthermore, after genetic ablation of cholinergic Pitx2+ interneurons, M2 receptor-dependent regulation of the intensity of locomotor output is lost. Conversely, chemogenetic stimulation of Pitx2+ interneurons leads to activation of M2 receptors on motoneurons, regulation of Kv2.1 channels and greater motoneuron output due to an increase in the inter-spike afterhyperpolarization and a reduction in spike half-width. Our findings elucidate synaptic mechanisms by which cholinergic spinal interneurons modulate the final common pathway for motor output.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe
31st Annual Meeting and Associated Programs of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC 2016) : part two
Background
The immunological escape of tumors represents one of the main ob- stacles to the treatment of malignancies. The blockade of PD-1 or CTLA-4 receptors represented a milestone in the history of immunotherapy. However, immune checkpoint inhibitors seem to be effective in specific cohorts of patients. It has been proposed that their efficacy relies on the presence of an immunological response. Thus, we hypothesized that disruption of the PD-L1/PD-1 axis would synergize with our oncolytic vaccine platform PeptiCRAd.
Methods
We used murine B16OVA in vivo tumor models and flow cytometry analysis to investigate the immunological background.
Results
First, we found that high-burden B16OVA tumors were refractory to combination immunotherapy. However, with a more aggressive schedule, tumors with a lower burden were more susceptible to the combination of PeptiCRAd and PD-L1 blockade. The therapy signifi- cantly increased the median survival of mice (Fig. 7). Interestingly, the reduced growth of contralaterally injected B16F10 cells sug- gested the presence of a long lasting immunological memory also against non-targeted antigens. Concerning the functional state of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs), we found that all the immune therapies would enhance the percentage of activated (PD-1pos TIM- 3neg) T lymphocytes and reduce the amount of exhausted (PD-1pos TIM-3pos) cells compared to placebo. As expected, we found that PeptiCRAd monotherapy could increase the number of antigen spe- cific CD8+ T cells compared to other treatments. However, only the combination with PD-L1 blockade could significantly increase the ra- tio between activated and exhausted pentamer positive cells (p= 0.0058), suggesting that by disrupting the PD-1/PD-L1 axis we could decrease the amount of dysfunctional antigen specific T cells. We ob- served that the anatomical location deeply influenced the state of CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes. In fact, TIM-3 expression was in- creased by 2 fold on TILs compared to splenic and lymphoid T cells. In the CD8+ compartment, the expression of PD-1 on the surface seemed to be restricted to the tumor micro-environment, while CD4 + T cells had a high expression of PD-1 also in lymphoid organs. Interestingly, we found that the levels of PD-1 were significantly higher on CD8+ T cells than on CD4+ T cells into the tumor micro- environment (p < 0.0001).
Conclusions
In conclusion, we demonstrated that the efficacy of immune check- point inhibitors might be strongly enhanced by their combination with cancer vaccines. PeptiCRAd was able to increase the number of antigen-specific T cells and PD-L1 blockade prevented their exhaus- tion, resulting in long-lasting immunological memory and increased median survival
Nurse's experience of caring for patients in the prehospital setting: accident site and in the ambulance
Bakgrund: Prehospital akutsjukvÄrd innefattar den vÄrd som utförs utanför sjukhus. Prehospital akutsjukvÄrd utförs frÀmst av ambulanspersonal men kan vid större olyckor Àven inkludera organisationer som polis och rÀddningstjÀnst. Inom prehospital vÄrd Àr prioritering Àr en viktig faktor för en fungerande organisation. Sjuksköterskans roll inom prehospital vÄrd upplevs av mÄnga som komplex dÀr bemötandet Àr en förutsÀttning för god vÄrd. Syfte: Studiens syfte Àr att kartlÀgga sjuksköterskans upplevelse av att vÄrda patienter prehospitalt. Metod: En litteraturöversikt med induktiv innehÄllsanalys som innefattar elva vetenskapliga artiklar, varav tvÄ kvantitativa och nio kvalitativa. Artiklarna söktes i databaserna Cinahl, PubMed och Scopus. Resultat: Sjuksköterskorna upplevde det prehospitala arbetet som krÀvande och kÀnde en hög press utifrÄn. Sjuksköterskans roll inom prehospital vÄrd upplevdes krÀva god mental förberedelse för att fatta rÀtt beslut i de akuta situationerna. Vikten av att vara öppensinnad och inte döma en situation eller patients tillstÄnd förhastat pÄtalades. TillfredstÀllande kommunikation mellan samtliga inblandade var en viktig faktor för att optimera sjuksköterskans arbete. Ett gott samarbete mellan kollegor upplevdes ha en positiv inverkan pÄ sÄvÀl enskild insatsnivÄ som organisationsnivÄ samt inge trygghet i beslutsfattandet. Konklusion: Sjuksköterskans upplevelse av prehospital vÄrd innefattar flera betydelsefulla aspekter. Mental förberedelse och god kommunikation Àr centralt för sjuksköterskans upplevelse av den prehospitala vÄrden. Sjuksköterskorna upplevde att arbetet pÄverkade dem emotionellt sÄvÀl positivt som negativt. Patienten, anhöriga och kollegor upplevdes vara betydelsefulla i den prehospitala vÄrden
Sjuksköterskans möte med det traumatiserade flyktingbarnet : Riskfaktorer för PTSD
Sverige Àr ett land som tar emot en stor andel flyktingar varje Är, mÄnga av dessa Àr barn.
Dessa flyktingar kommer ofta frÄn krigsdrabbade omrÄden, eller Àr politiska flyktingar
och har mÄnga gÄnger upplevt traumatiska hÀndelser. För att vÄrdpersonal ska kunna ge
dessa mÀnniskor den vÄrd de Àr i behov av krÀvs kunskap och kÀnnedom om deras kultur
och problematik som hÀnger samman med de eventuella traumatiska hÀndelser de
upplevt. För att förhindra att traumatiserade barn ska fÄ framtida men Àr det viktigt att
fÄnga upp dessa barn i ett tidigt stadium. Syftet med denna litteraturstudie var att
undersöka hur sjuksköterskan kan fÄnga upp flyktingbarn med PTSD och vilka
riskfaktorer för PTSD som finns hos flyktingbarn. Artiklarna söktes pÄ Pub Med och
Cinahl och sökorden som anvÀndes var PTSD, refugee children, risk factors och war
trauma. Artiklarna söktes Àven genom manuell sökning. Sökorden fanns med i
artiklarnas titel eller sammanfattning och dess innehÄll skulle vara relevant för
litteraturstudiens syfte. Granskningen av artiklarna resulterade i tvÄ kvalitativa och nio
kvantitativa artiklar vilka utgjorde underlaget för resultatet. Resultatet av de granskade
artiklarna visade att det var sex riskfaktorer för PTSD som var Äterkommande, vilka fick
utgöra rubriker i resultatet: separationer, förÀldrarnas fysiska och mentala hÀlsa,
sociokultur och livssituation, traumatiska hÀndelser, Älder och kön. Resultatet visade att
barn med PTSD kan vara svÄrupptÀckta dÄ barn med PTSD- symtom kan vara socialt
vÀlfungerande. Att som sjuksköterska vara uppmÀrksam pÄ PTSD- symtom och dess
riskfaktorer Àr viktiga förutsÀttningar för att kunna fÄnga upp barn med PTSD. Trots att
mÄnga flyktingbarn lider av PTSD anser vi att det inte finns tillrÀckligt med forskning
inom detta Àmne. Förslag till fortsatt forskning Àr hur vÄrdpersonal kan bemöta barn med
PTSD pÄ bÀsta sÀtt
TrÀdgÄrdsterapeutiska aktiviteter för funktionsnedsatta
Trots att vi vet om att mÀnniskan pÄverkas positivt av naturen sÄ kommer vi allt lÀngre ifrÄn vÄrt ursprungsbeteende och miljö. Idag domineras vi av ett samhÀlle som krÀver att vi stÀndigt ska vara uppkopplade och aktiva. Men pÄ senare Är har trÀdgÄrdsterapi blivit allt mer uppmÀrksammat. Inom vÄrden tar man allt mer hjÀlp av naturens helande krafter.
Idag finns trÀdgÄrdsterapin frÀmst till för personer med depression och utmattningssyndrom, men det Àr minst lika viktigt att aktivera inneboenden pÄ bÄde Älderdomshem och pÄ andra vÄrdanstalter.
Genom litteraturstudier vill jag ta reda pÄ vilka positiva effekter naturen ger, vad det finns för trÀdgÄrdsterapeutiska aktiviteter och hur man ska anpassa dem till personer med funktionsnedsÀttning.
Syftet med detta arbete Ă€r att kunna framstĂ€lla en guide för Ăsterby servicehem som Ă€r ett boende för vuxna personer med olika funktionsnedsĂ€ttningar. Guiden innehĂ„ller tips pĂ„ trĂ€dgĂ„rdsterapeutiska aktiviteter och fungerar som inspiration till personalen som jobbar dĂ€r, sĂ„ att de fĂ„r idĂ©er om hur de kan aktivera de som bor pĂ„ hemmet.We have always known that nature has a lot of positive effects, still we seem to drift further apart from nature. In the society of today we are used to always be reachable and active. But lately garden therapy has become more and more noticed, especially when you look at hospitals and other healthcare institutions.
Through a literature study I am finding out what positive effects nature brings, what therapeutic activities there are and how to adjust them to people with disabilities.
The result of this thesis is a guide that Ăsterby Servicehem is getting. Ăsterby Servicehem is a resident for grown people with different disabilities like autism, downâs syndrome and other developmental disabilities. The guide will work as an inspirational source for the employees and will help them to activate the persons that live in the resident
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