Epidemiology of bovine virus diarrhoea in cattle on communal alpine pastures in Switzerland

The goal of this study was to determine the influence of communal pasturing on the spread of bovine virus diarrhoea (BVD). The investigation involved 990 Swiss Braunvieh cattle from 149 different owners on seven communal pastures in the Swiss Alps. Prior to pasturing, blood samples were collected from all animals for examination for BVD antigen and antibodies. Serological examinations were also performed during and after pasturing to determine possible increases in seroprevalence and to determine whether seroprevalence was different on pastures with and without persistently infected cattle. At the start of pasturing, nine (0.9%) animals were persistently viraemic. On three alpine pastures, no persistently viraemic animals were detected. The prevalence of persistently infected cattle on the remaining four pastures varied from 0.3 to 3.9%. Of the 990 animals tested at the start of pasturing, 632 (63.3%) were seropositive. Seroprevalence differed among pastures and varied from 21.8 to 85.9%. During the summer, seroprevalence increased on all pastures surveyed, and at the end of the pasture season, 778 (80.1%) of the 971 cattle that were examined twice were seropositive. The incidence of seroconversion was significantly higher on pastures with persistently infected cattle compared with those without; it ranged from 32.7 to 100.0% in the former and from 6.0 to 22.2 in the latter. The results of this study suggest that communal alpine pasturing does play a role in the spread of BVD. The extent of this role depends on the presence of persistently infected animals

Comparison of sampling and culture methods for the diagnosis of Tritrichomonas foetus infection in bulls

abstract: Sampling methods for preputial secretions and culture methods for T. foetus were compared in a 2-by-2 factorial experiment. 14 bulls were confirmed as infected by repeated weekly sampling and culture on Diamond's medium over the course of 10 months. In a 6-week test of alternative methods of diagnosis, the bulls were randomly assigned to have their preputial contents sampled weekly either by washing or by scraping of the preputial membrane. The samples were cultured on Claussen's medium and in InPouch packets at 37°C in air for 7 days. The results were compared by McNemar's χ² test for symmetry. Washing yielded 69 positive cultures from 84 samples whereas scraping yielded 65 from 83. These differences were not statistically significant. InPouch culture detected 73 of 83 samples from positive bulls, whereas Claussen's medium detected 61 of 83. The difference in sensitivity between the two culture methods was highly significant, with the InPouch method 'missing' 2 positive samples that were detected by Claussen's medium and Claussen's medium missing 14 positive samples that were detected by InPouch culture

Self-assessment of Industry 4.0 Technologies in Intralogistics for SME’s

Part 5: Industry 4.0 ImplementationsInternational audienceThe 4th industrial revolution generates a high potential for smart production systems. Many manufacturing companies considering therefore the application of cyber-physical systems in the sector of intralogistics. The aim is to achieve better logistics performance or lower costs. However, small and medium sized enterprises (SME) are hesitant about introducing Industry 4.0 technologies. They fear high implementation costs, low benefits and the lack of know-how increases the reluctance of the companies.This paper presents a procedure which enables SME’s to assess the benefits of Industry 4.0 technologies by themselves. The model follows the recognized principle: First improve your processes, then automate them:Methodical basis is a process model intralogistics, which also considers self-controlling cyber-physical systems. In addition, the benefit aspects are assigned to the individual process steps.In the specific application, the company first determines the digitization potential of the individual activities and then the associated benefits of Industry 4.0 technologies.The procedure reduces on the one hand the uncertainty regarding of wrong decisions and creates on the other hand the possibility for companies to select Industry 4.0 technologies goal-oriented. The described procedure was validated with SMEs

Mental number line training in children with developmental dyscalculia

Developmental dyscalculia (DD) is a specific learning disability that affects the acquisition of mathematical skills in children with normal intelligence and age-appropriate school education (prevalence 3-6%). One essential step in the development of mathematical understanding is the formation and automated access to a spatial representation of numbers. Many children with DD show a deficient development of such a mental number line. The present study aimed to develop a computer-based training program to improve the construction and access to the mental number line. Sixteen children with DD aged 8-10 years and 16 matched control children completed the 5-week computer training. All children played the game 15 min a day for 5 days a week. The efficiency of the training was evaluated by means of neuropsychological tests and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during a number line task. In general, children with and without DD showed a benefit from the training indicated by (a) improved spatial representation of numbers and (b) the number of correctly solved arithmetical problems. Regarding group differences in brain activation, children with DD showed less activation in bilateral parietal regions, which reflects neuronal dysfunction in pivotal regions for number processing. Both groups showed reduced recruitment of relevant brain regions for number processing after the training which can be attributed to automatization of cognitive processes necessary for mathematical reasoning. Moreover, results point to a partial remediation of deficient brain activation in dyscalculics after consolidation of acquired and refined number representation. To conclude, the present study represents the first attempt to evaluate a custom-designed training program in a group of dyscalculic children and results indicate that the training leads to an improved spatial representation of the mental number line and a modulation of neural activation, which both facilitate processing of numerical tasks

Enzootic nasal adenocarcinoma in dairy sheep

International audienceIn a herd of dairy sheep several losses occurred due to a respiratory syndrome in combination with progressive wasting. Clinical and pathomorphological diagnostics of 3 sheep revealed the presence of cancerous masses in the nasal cavities. These neoplasms were identified as adenocarcinomas originating from the nasal mucosa. Etiologically, they were attributed to JRSV (Jaagsiekte Sheep Retrovirus) by detection of capsid protein 24 in western blot. The significance of the disease in Switzerland is discussed, also in the context of lung adenomatosis.Plusieurs cas de difficultés respiratoires accompagnées d’un amaigrissement progressif sont apparus en 6 mois dans un troupeau de brebis laitières d’environ 80 têtes. Par des examens cliniques et anatomopathologiques, le problème a pu être attribué chez 3 animaux à un processus prolifératif dans les fosses nasales. L’agent étiologique de ces adénocarcinomes de la muqueuse nasale a été diagnostiqué au moyen d’un western blot dans le matériel tumoral comme étant le retrovirus Jaagsiekte Sheep (JRSV). L’importance de l’apparition de cette maladie chez les moutons en Suisse et son rapport avec l’adenomatose pulmonaire sont discutés