100,380 research outputs found
What is the optimum age for processing neonatal pigs?
No full textTorrey, S.; Devillers, N.; Lessard, M.; Farmer, C.; Widowski, T.. (2007). What is the optimum age for processing neonatal pigs?. Retrieved from the University Digital Conservancy, https://hdl.handle.net/11299/141391
Letter, [Author unclear] to Paulina T. Merritt
No full textHandwritten letter to Paulina Merritt from an unknown author, October 1, 1876.
Fundamentals of animal welfare in meat animals and consumer attitudes to animal welfare
No full textThe science of animal welfare has made significant advances in understanding the feelings of animals in production and proposing a variety of novel practices to create a fair balance between animal needs, production costs and consumers’ requirements. Nowadays consumers base their buying decisions on their personal perceptions of value, resulting from a balance between price and quality and differences in social, cultural and educational status. The lack of knowledge about livestock production practices and their impact on animal welfare and meat quality also explains the poor consciousness in large part of meat consumers worldwide. The numerous iniatitives of the food supply chain in response to the consumer requirements for improved animal welfare are having the most visible influence on their purchase behaviour. However, they are also creating them some confusion due to lack of transparency and completeness of information through specific product labelling at the retail level
Thermographic techniques to assess welfare during teeth grinding in piglets
No full textTeeth resection of piglets within 24 hours of birth is a practice commonly applied in commercial farms to avoid facial injuries of littermates during establishment of teat orders and long term damage to the sow's udder. Opinion about resection and techniques is not unanimous among researchers and the debate is very heated. A preliminary study was implemented to ascertain whether novel thermographic techniques could be used to determine temperatures reached by the teeth and mouth of piglets during resection by grinding. As the area under investigation is small it is also important to test whether the thermographic techniques applied are able to provide data usable in this application. The procedure was performed by an experienced operator using an electric grind stone on twelve piglets 16 hours after birth. Infrared thermographic video was taken at 30 frames per second with thermal imaging camera model TVS500; different distances and camera angles from the mouth of piglets were checked.
It was demonstrated that if resection of teeth by grinding is correctly performed the temperature rise is confined to the teeth themselves and does not extend to any other part of the mouth. The average baseline temperature of the mouths is 37°C. The teeth grinding procedure took on average 50 seconds per piglet to accomplish. The time grinders were applied to each tooth was less than 2 seconds. Immediately on application of the grinder the average tooth temperature reached was 50°C remaining virtually constant during the 2 seconds. The peak temperature of a tooth reached was 88°C for a sub-second interval. Teeth took 2 seconds on average to cool back to baseline temperature.
It is actually possible to record a thermographic video during the grinding of the teeth of piglets without interfering with the procedure and collect valuable useable data. However, it is imperative to use a camera with spatial resolution at least equal to that of the TVS500, to ensure the accuracy of the temperature values obtained on small objects such as teeth. The distance of 0.4m between camera and subject has proved to be the optimal one and the frequency of 30 frame per second appropriate.
It would seem that, with proper handling, grinding of teeth does not cause heating to the softer tissues of the mouth and only effects the tooth for a very short period of time. Further behavioural and physiological examinations would need to be carried out in a larger study to assess the overall effect of grinding on the welfare of the piglet and to further investigate the debate on the most suitable procedure for tooth resection of piglets. This is a very new and unique measure which supplies great detail and could be pivotal in understanding the true effects of such procedures on piglets
The effect of water sprinkling on behavior and core body temperature of market hogs transported during summer
No full textHogs are often transported to slaughter under conditions exceeding their thermo-neutral zones, which can lead to reduced welfare and increased in-transit loss. Water sprinkling during lairage decreases micro-climate and hog body temperatures and improves welfare, but there is no clear evidence of these effects during transport. The aim of
this study was to observe if sprinkling hogs in stationary trailers before and after transport decreased signs of heat stress. In each of 12 weeks from May to September 2011, 2 pot-belly trailers with 208 hogs per trailer were transported 2h to slaughter. One was outfitted with a custom made sprinkler system that ran for 5min (~125 L) immediately before departure from the farm and immediately before unloading at the plant.
In each trailer, 4 test compartments (1 on the top deck, 2 on the middle deck, and 1 on the bottom deck) were outfitted with cameras, and the core body temperature (CBT) of 4 randomly chosen hogs (n = 384) in each were recorded using orally administered iButtons. Trailer and deck loading order were randomized. Behaviors during transport, unloading
and during lairage were recorded from video or live observations. Data were analyzed through ANOVA with ambient temperature external to the truck (AmbT) as a co-variant. AmbT averaged 19.5°C ± 3.8°C (range: 14–26°C). At AmbT > 23°C, there was no effect of sprinkling on behavior on-truck (standing, sitting or lying), but at AmbT 23°C (P < 0.05). Therefore, sprinkling hogs when ambient temperature exceeds 23°C can help to alleviate transport-related heat stress without detrimental effects on unloading
Handwritten biographical information on Paulina T. McClung Merritt
No full textA handwritten biography of Paulina T. McClung Merritt by an unknown author, 1892.
Heterogeneous and tissue-specific regulation of effector T cell responses by IFN-gamma during Plasmodium berghei ANKA infection.
Get PDFIFN-γ and T cells are both required for the development of experimental cerebral malaria during Plasmodium berghei ANKA infection. Surprisingly, however, the role of IFN-γ in shaping the effector CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cell response during this infection has not been examined in detail. To address this, we have compared the effector T cell responses in wild-type and IFN-γ(-/-) mice during P. berghei ANKA infection. The expansion of splenic CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cells during P. berghei ANKA infection was unaffected by the absence of IFN-γ, but the contraction phase of the T cell response was significantly attenuated. Splenic T cell activation and effector function were essentially normal in IFN-γ(-/-) mice; however, the migration to, and accumulation of, effector CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cells in the lung, liver, and brain was altered in IFN-γ(-/-) mice. Interestingly, activation and accumulation of T cells in various nonlymphoid organs was differently affected by lack of IFN-γ, suggesting that IFN-γ influences T cell effector function to varying levels in different anatomical locations. Importantly, control of splenic T cell numbers during P. berghei ANKA infection depended on active IFN-γ-dependent environmental signals--leading to T cell apoptosis--rather than upon intrinsic alterations in T cell programming. To our knowledge, this is the first study to fully investigate the role of IFN-γ in modulating T cell function during P. berghei ANKA infection and reveals that IFN-γ is required for efficient contraction of the pool of activated T cells
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Get PDFWe 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
Water sprinkling market pigs in a stationary trailer. 1. Effects on pig behaviour, gastrointestinal tract temperature and trailer micro-climate
No full textPigs are often transported to slaughter under conditions outside their thermo-neutral zones, which can lead to reduced welfare and increased losses. Water sprinkling in barns is used to control microclimate resulting in pig body temperature reduction and improved welfare; however there is no clear evidence of these effects during transport. The aim of this study was to observe the effect of sprinkling pigs in trailers on behaviour and body temperature during transport and lairage, as well as to observe the effects on trailer microclimate e. In each of 12 weeks, 2 pot-belly trailers with 208 pigs each (n=4,992) were transported from the same farm on the same day 2 h to slaughter. One trailer was equipped with sprinklers that ran for 5 min (∼125 L) before departure and before unloading, the other trailer served as the control. In each trailer, 4 compartments were outfitted with cameras, ammonia detectors and temperature/humidity data loggers. The gastrointestinal tract temperature (GTT; °C) of 4 randomly chosen pigs (n=384) in each test compartment was recorded using orally administered data loggers. Trailer and deck loading order were randomized. Behaviour during transport, unloading and lairage was recorded from video or live observations. Data were analyzed through ANOVA with ambient temperature external to the trailer (AmbT) as a covariate. AmbT averaged 19.5 °C±3.8 °C (range: 13.6 to 25.8 °C). Sprinkled trailers showed lower (P=0.002) increases in internal compartment temperature from loading to unloading, smaller (P23 °C, there was no effect of sprinkling on behaviour on the trailer, but at AmbT24 °C (P=0.08). These data suggest that sprinkling pigs in a stationary vehicle when AmbT exceeds 23 °C has the potential to prevent increases in body temperature during short duration transport without detrimental effects on ammonia levels or behaviour during unloading
The effect of water sprinkling on blood lactate and meat quality of market hogs transported during summer
No full textThe objective of this study was to assess the efficiency of water sprinkling (WS) hogs inside a stationary trailer in summer, in terms of stress response and pork quality variation. In each of 12 weeks between May and September, 2011, two pot-belly trailers with 208 hogs were transported to the slaughter plant (2 h transport). One of the two trailers was equipped with a water sprinkling system (WS vs. control, C). Blood lactate levels and meat quality traits were assessed on a sub-sample of randomly selected hogs (n=384/576). Exsanguination lactate levels decreased (P=0.02) and pH1 value of the longissimus dorsi (LD) muscle increased (P=0.009) in WS hogs compared to C, regardless of temperature. WS reduced exsanguination lactate levels in pigs transported in the middle front (C5) and rear (C8) compartments at 15°C (P=0.03) and 18°C (P=0.009). In C5, the pH1 value in the LD muscle of WS hogs was higher at 18°C (P=0.002), and 22°C (P<0.001), and drip loss was lower at 22°C (P=0.01), and at 25°C (P=0.02). The results of this study showed that sprinkling hogs in a stationary vehicle at ambient temperatures greater than 20°C can increase animal welfare and improve pork quality
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