Advances in electrochemical biosensor design for the detection of the stress biomarker cortisol.

The monitoring of stress levels in humans has become increasingly relevant, given the recent incline of stress-related mental health disorders, lifestyle impacts, and chronic physiological diseases. Long-term exposure to stress can induce anxiety and depression, heart disease, and risky behaviors, such as drug and alcohol abuse. Biomarker molecules can be quantified in biological fluids to study human stress.

and biofilm dispersal from microplastics influenced by simulated human environment.

Growing concerns exist regarding human ingestion of contaminated seafood that contains biofilms on microplastics (MPs). One of the mechanisms enhancing biofilm related infections in humans is due to biofilm dispersion, a process that triggers release of bacteria from biofilms into the surrounding environment, such as the gastrointestinal tract of human hosts. Dispersal of cells from biofilms can occur in response to environmental conditions such as sudden changes in temperature, pH and nutrient conditions, as the bacteria leave the biofilm to find a more stable environment to colonize.

Associations among computed tomographic measures of bone and muscle quality and biomechanical measures of tibiotarsal bone quality in laying hens.

Objective: The objectives of the current study were to quantify laying hen sternal carina (keel) and tibiotarsal bone and muscle quality using clinical CT, tissue level, and biomechanical measures; test associations among muscle transverse sectional area, bone mineral density, and biomechanical measures of bone quality; and determine whether CT measures of bone and muscle quality would be predictive of biomechanical measures of tibiotarsal bone quality.

Animals: 60 40-week-old Hy-Line brown laying hens were used.

Methods: Associations among CT imaging, tissue level, and biomechanical measures of tibiotarsal and keel bone and muscle quality were tested using multivariate correlational analyses.

Impact of Body-worn Sensors on Broiler Chicken Behavior and Agonistic Interactions.

Technology, like body-worn sensors, enables data collection from similar-looking individuals in large groups but may alter behavior. We aimed to evaluate the impact of body-worn sensors on broiler behavior. Broilers were housed in 8 pens (10 birds/m).

and colonization on plastics influenced by temperature and strain variability.

Marine bacteria often exist in biofilms as communities attached to surfaces, like plastic. Growing concerns exist regarding marine plastics acting as potential vectors of pathogenic , especially in a changing climate. It has been generalized that and often attach to plastic surfaces.

Animal welfare assessment of on-farm euthanasia methods for individual, heavy turkeys.

On-farm euthanasia of poultry, including turkeys, may not be possible for most people as birds gain weight; thus alternative mechanical methods have been developed. Our objective was to compare mechanical cervical dislocation with the Koechner Euthanizing Device (KED), captive bolt euthanasia with the Turkey Euthanasia Device (TED), head-only CO euthanasia (CO), and electric euthanasia as potential humane methods for euthanizing individual, heavy turkeys. We assessed their impact on loss of brain stem reflexes, acute distress (corticosterone, CORT), kill success, torn skin, and blood loss.