Relationship between stepping and kicking behavior and milking management in dairy cattle herds

We studied the relationship between behavior during milking with milking parlor management, measuring the occurrence of steps and kicks, and cow-related factors. We also investigated the link between stepping and kicking during milking and udder health. A total of 2,903 direct observations of milking behavior were collected in 44 dairy herds in the north of Portugal. The results showed great variability in the occurrence of stepping and kicking among herds during milking. Mixed linear and logistic regression models for factors associated with stepping and kicking were developed. Cows in tandem milking parlors took fewer steps (P < 0.003) than in herringbone ones, although in the tandem milking system, more kicking occurred than in parallel and herringbone systems. Milking room temperatures of more than 27°C led to a higher frequency of kicks among cows (P < 0.010). The practice of overmilking also produced a significantly greater frequency of cow stepping (P < 0.001). Primiparous cows stepped a third less frequently than did greater parity cows but showed a greater tendency to kick compared with the multiparous ones. Cows with somatic cell counts for more than 200,000 cells/mL at the time of the visit also showed a trend toward higher kicking frequency. The results suggest that animal welfare measures, like kicking and stepping, are suitable for epidemiologic studies. Significant interactions were observed when animals were affected by challenging health and welfare situations.All farmers participating in the study are gratefully acknowledged for their cooperation. This work was supported by the Foundation for Science and Technology (Portugal) and Instituto Politécnico de Viana do Castelo (grant number: SFRH/BD/36151/ 2007 and SFRH/PROTEC/50056/2009). We also want to thank Dr. Cecilia Pedernera for valuable comments on the article.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Finding the engram.

Many attempts have been made to localize the physical trace of a memory, or engram, in the brain. However, until recently, engrams have remained largely elusive. In this Review, we develop four defining criteria that enable us to critically assess the recent progress that has been made towards finding the engram. Recent \u27capture\u27 studies use novel approaches to tag populations of neurons that are active during memory encoding, thereby allowing these engram-associated neurons to be manipulated at later times. We propose that findings from these capture studies represent considerable progress in allowing us to observe, erase and express the engram

Dimethyl fumarate in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 (RECOVERY): a randomised, controlled, open-label, platform trial

Dimethyl fumarate (DMF) inhibits inflammasome-mediated inflammation and has been proposed as a treatment for patients hospitalised with COVID-19. This randomised, controlled, open-label platform trial (Randomised Evaluation of COVID-19 Therapy [RECOVERY]), is assessing multiple treatments in patients hospitalised for COVID-19 (NCT04381936, ISRCTN50189673). In this assessment of DMF performed at 27 UK hospitals, adults were randomly allocated (1:1) to either usual standard of care alone or usual standard of care plus DMF. The primary outcome was clinical status on day 5 measured on a seven-point ordinal scale. Secondary outcomes were time to sustained improvement in clinical status, time to discharge, day 5 peripheral blood oxygenation, day 5 C-reactive protein, and improvement in day 10 clinical status. Between 2 March 2021 and 18 November 2021, 713 patients were enroled in the DMF evaluation, of whom 356 were randomly allocated to receive usual care plus DMF, and 357 to usual care alone. 95% of patients received corticosteroids as part of routine care. There was no evidence of a beneficial effect of DMF on clinical status at day 5 (common odds ratio of unfavourable outcome 1.12; 95% CI 0.86-1.47; p = 0.40). There was no significant effect of DMF on any secondary outcome

Dimethyl fumarate in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 (RECOVERY): a randomised, controlled, open-label, platform trial

Dimethyl fumarate (DMF) inhibits inflammasome-mediated inflammation and has been proposed as a treatment for patients hospitalised with COVID-19. This randomised, controlled, open-label platform trial (Randomised Evaluation of COVID-19 Therapy [RECOVERY]), is assessing multiple treatments in patients hospitalised for COVID-19 (NCT04381936, ISRCTN50189673). In this assessment of DMF performed at 27 UK hospitals, adults were randomly allocated (1:1) to either usual standard of care alone or usual standard of care plus DMF. The primary outcome was clinical status on day 5 measured on a seven-point ordinal scale. Secondary outcomes were time to sustained improvement in clinical status, time to discharge, day 5 peripheral blood oxygenation, day 5 C-reactive protein, and improvement in day 10 clinical status. Between 2 March 2021 and 18 November 2021, 713 patients were enroled in the DMF evaluation, of whom 356 were randomly allocated to receive usual care plus DMF, and 357 to usual care alone. 95% of patients received corticosteroids as part of routine care. There was no evidence of a beneficial effect of DMF on clinical status at day 5 (common odds ratio of unfavourable outcome 1.12; 95% CI 0.86-1.47; p = 0.40). There was no significant effect of DMF on any secondary outcome

Koeborstel voor moeilijk bereikbare plekjes

Veehouders installeren koeborstels om hun koeien te helpen bij het schoonmaken van de moeilijk bereikbare plaatsen. Een IMAG onderzoek naar het gebruik, een overzicht van leveranciers en de resultaten van een enquete onder veehouder

Stoort de mestschuif de koe? A&F ondervraagt melkveehouders

Agrotechnology & Food Innovations, het voormalige IMAG, vroeg omtrent het schuifgebruik naar ervaringen van 10 melkveehouders met verschillende stalvloeren en schuiven: 3 hebben een roostervloer in de stal, 2 een sleufvloer, 4 een vlakke vloer en tenslotte 1 met een hellende vloer van het berg-en-daltype (Groen Label stal

Beter welzijn met koeien buiten

Het IMAG onderzocht een groep koeien die met een melkrobot werden gemolken en binnen een ideale ligplaats hadden. Waar voelen de koeien zich het plezerigst: binnen of buiten? De resultaten van dit onderzoe