1,720,959 research outputs found
Data for "Pain in the weeks following surgical and rubber ring castration in dairy calves"
No full textMany male dairy calves are castrated when reared for beef production, but for dairy breeds the assessment of the longer-lasting pain associated with this procedure has received little scientific attention. In this study we assessed 2 methods: surgical (n = 10 calves) and rubber ring (n = 11). All calves were castrated at 28 d of age using multimodal pain control. During the 8 wk that followed, we recorded wound healing, local inflammation, body weight, milk and calf starter intake, lying time, and wound-directed behavior. Surgical wounds were fully healed on average 4 wk after the procedure, but only 1 calf in the rubber ring treatment fully healed within the 8-wk study. Inflammation was greater after rubber ring castration; skin temperature in the area around the lesion was 1.7°C (±0.35) higher than for the surgical treatment. Compared with surgically castrated calves, those castrated by rubber ring gained less weight over the study period (on average 11.9 ± 5.1 kg less), a difference due in part to lower intake of calf starter (on average 1.8 ± 0.6 kg less). Calves in the rubber ring treatment spent less time lying down (on average 4.2 ± 1.2% fewer scans per day) and licked their lesions more frequently (on average 16.0 ± 3.3 more licks per day). We conclude that the rubber ring calves experienced more pain in the weeks following the procedure and thus recommend that surgical castration be favored for preweaning dairy calves
Efficacy of pain management for cattle castration: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
No full textWhile much research has assessed methods of pain control for the castration of male cattle, a lack of consensus remains on best practice. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of studies, published before July 2024, that focused on castration, included an untreated control (i.e. castrated without pain mitigation) and included at least one treatment (i.e. castrated with a local anesthetic alone, or in combination with a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug). All three commonly used castration methods of were included: surgical, elastration, and crushing. Studies had to report at least one of the following outcomes: cortisol, change in body weight, foot stomping, wound licking, a subjective assessment of pain using a visual analogue scale, or stride length. Our search identified 383 publications, 17 of which were eligible for inclusion. Most publications focused on surgical castration (n = 14), and the most frequently outcome reported was blood cortisol (n = 13). None of the included studies were assessed as having a low risk of bias, mostly due to a lack of reporting blinding procedures and reasons for missing data. We used a three-level random effect model fitted at 1, 3, 4, 6, 12 and 24 h after castration to meta-analyze the effect of surgical castration on blood cortisol. Multimodal analgesia reduced blood cortisol concentrations in the first hour following surgical castration in comparison to the control group (-40.8 nmol/L; 95% CI: -51.4, -30.1); this effect was diminished but still evident at 3 and 4 h after castration. Too few data were available to meaningfully assess other outcomes and methods. The variability in the choice of methods and outcomes between studies, as well as the risks of bias, hinders capacity to provide science-based recommendations for best practice
Can a social partner alleviate conditioned place aversion caused by isolation and pain in dairy calves?
No full textSocial buffering occurs when the presence of a partner mitigates the stress response of an individual. In two experiments, we assessed the effects of social buffering in dairy calves, with and without a known conspecific, when either subjected to isolation from the larger group (Experiment 1; n = 12) or to recovery from the painful procedure of hot-iron disbudding (Experiment 2; n = 25). In Experiment 2, we also tested whether the level of fearfulness of each calf and the frequency of interactions between the two calves affected the degree of buffering. In both experiments the effects of buffering were assessed using a conditioned place aversion paradigm, with the prediction that calves would find experiences less aversive when exposed to the stressor with a conspecific. All calves were exposed to two conditioning treatments (i.e., exposed alone or with a ‘support’ partner), each session lasted 6 h each and were 48 h apart. Conditioned place aversion tests (with calves tested alone) occurred at 48, 72, 96 h after the second treatment. We found no evidence of social buffering for responses to either isolation from the group or the recovery from the painful experience. The number of physical interactions between the calves during treatment and the fearfulness of the calves also did not account for the individual variation observed
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Social behaviour of dairy cattle : inter-individual differences and implications for welfare
No full textMuch recent research in the field of animal welfare science includes a focus on understanding individual variation in behaviour, rather than on group averages, and a growing body of literature is now describing stable individual differences in animal behaviour, also called personality traits and coping styles. The aim of my thesis was to explore the potential relationships between social behaviour, personality and coping style in dairy cattle. In Chapter 1, I give a general introduction to the concept of animal welfare and the context of my research. In Chapter 2, I provide a narrative review of social behaviour and individual differences in cattle in which I identify gaps in the literature that I address in the subsequent experimental chapters. Chapter 3 describes a study of indoor, group-housed cattle given the opportunity to access an outdoor bedded pack, such that individual cows could choose when to leave and to return. Some cows formed preferential associations (i.e., moved in and out of the barn together) indicating that a cows’ decision to move can be affected by others in their social group. In Chapter 4, I explored whether dairy calves benefit from the presence of a social partner during recovery from a painful procedure using a conditioned place avoidance paradigm. I found no evidence that the presence of a social partner affected avoidance; the social partner did not appear to provide a buffer for this experience. Calves varied greatly in their avoidance response, but this variation was not explained by differences in fearfulness. In Chapter 5, I characterized the coping strategy used by dairy heifers when introduced into a new social group and found that some heifers engaged in more agonistic interactions (consistent with a more proactive coping style), while others avoided their new pen mates (suggesting a reactive coping style). The strategy used affected their time-budget and behavioural synchronization with the new social group. Collectively, the results of my thesis provide new insights in how dairy cattle vary in their social behaviour when faced with three management practices: when offered outdoor access, when subjected to a routine painful procedure, and when regrouped.Land and Food Systems, Faculty ofGraduat
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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