Contactless Video-Based Heart Rate Monitoring of a Resting and an Anesthetized Pig.

Heart rate (HR) is a vital bio-signal that is relatively easy to monitor with contact sensors and is related to a living organism's state of health, stress and well-being. The objective of this study was to develop an algorithm to extract HR (in beats per minute) of an anesthetized and a resting pig from raw video data as a first step towards continuous monitoring of health and welfare of pigs. Data were obtained from two experiments, wherein the pigs were video recorded whilst wearing an electrocardiography (ECG) monitoring system as gold standard (GS).

An Approach towards Motion-Tolerant PPG-Based Algorithm for Real-Time Heart Rate Monitoring of Moving Pigs.

Animal welfare remains a very important issue in the livestock sector, but monitoring animal welfare in an objective and continuous way remains a serious challenge. Monitoring animal welfare, based upon physiological measurements instead of the audio-visual scoring of behaviour, would be a step forward. One of the obvious physiological signals related to welfare and stress is heart rate.

Analysis of fluoroquinolones in dusts from intensive livestock farming and the co-occurrence of fluoroquinolone-resistant Escherichia coli.

Fluoroquinolones are important therapeutics in human and veterinary medicine. This study aimed to retrospectively analyse sedimentation dusts from intensive-livestock-farming barns for fluoroquinolones and investigate the association between resistant Escherichia coli and the detected drugs. Sedimentation-dust samples (n = 125) collected (1980-2009) at 14 barns of unknown-treatment status were analysed by HPLC and tandem-mass spectroscopy to detect enrofloxacin, ciprofloxacin, marbofloxacin, and difloxacin.

Characterization of Methicillin-Resistant Isolated from Healthy Turkeys and Broilers Using DNA Microarrays.

Methicillin-resistant (MRSA) is a major human health problem and recently, domestic animals are described as carriers and possible reservoirs. Twenty seven isolates from five turkey farms ( = 18) and two broiler farms ( = 9) were obtained by culturing of choana and skin swabs from apparently healthy birds, identified by Taqman-based real-time duplex -A-PCR and characterized by typing as well as by a DNA microarray based assay which covered, amongst others, a considerable number of antibiotic resistance genes, species controls, and virulence markers. The antimicrobial susceptibility profiles were tested by agar diffusion assays and genotypically confirmed by the microarray.

Aspirin upregulates αB-Crystallin to protect the myocardium against heat stress in broiler chickens.

We established in vivo and in vitro models to investigate the role of αB-Crystallin (CryAB) and assess the ability of aspirin (ASA) to protect the myocardium during prolonged heat stress. Thirty-day-old chickens were divided into three groups (n = 90): heat stress (HS, 40±1 °C); ASA(-)HS(+), 1 mg/kg ASA orally 2 h before heat stress; and ASA(+)HS(-), pretreated with aspirin, no heat stress (25 °C). Hearts were excised after 0, 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 10, 15 and 24 h.

Lenti-siRNA Hsp60 promote bax in mitochondria and induces apoptosis during heat stress.

Hsp60 is a typical mitochondrial protein in eukaryotes, and is involved in facilitating the correction of misfolded protein back into the correct conformation. Previous, we identified aspirin-induced HSPs in response to heat stress [1]. To investigate whether Hsp60 can protect against death under heat stress, we used lenti-siRNA to knock down the expression of Hsp60.

Apoptosis in response to heat stress is positively associated with heat-shock protein 90 expression in chicken myocardial cells .

To determine heat-shock protein (Hsp)90 expression is connected with cellular apoptotic response to heat stress and its mechanism, chicken () primary myocardial cells were treated with the Hsp90 promoter, aspirin, and its inhibitor, geldanamycin (GA), before heat stress. Cellular viability, heat-stressed apoptosis and reactive oxygen species level under different treatments were measured, and the expression of key proteins of the signaling pathway related to Hsp90 and their colocalization with Hsp90 were detected. The results showed that aspirin treatment increased the expression of protein kinase B (Akt), the signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT)-3 and p-IKKα/β and the colocalization of Akt and STAT-3 with Hsp90 during heat stress, which was accompanied by improved viability and low apoptosis.

Prevalence, genotyping and risk factors of thermophilic Campylobacter spreading in organic turkey farms in Germany.

Background: The need for organic food of animal origin has increased rapidly in recent years. However, effects of organic animal husbandry on food safety have not been rigorously tested especially in meat turkey flocks. This study provides for the first time an overview on the prevalence and genetic diversity of Campylobacter species (spp.

The association of Hsp90 expression induced by aspirin with anti-stress damage in chicken myocardial cells.

The protective effect of aspirin during exposure to heat stress in broiler chickens was investigated. We assayed pathological damage, expression and distribution of Hsp90 protein and hsp90 mRNA expression in chicken heart tissues after oral administration of aspirin following exposure to high temperature for varying times. Heat stress induced increases in plasma aspartate aminotransferase, creatine kinase and lactate dehydrogenase activities while causing severe heart damage, which was characterized by granular and vacuolar degeneration, nuclear shrinkage and even myocardium fragmentation in cardiac muscle fibers.

Antimicrobial susceptibilities of Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli recovered from organic turkey farms in Germany.

The popularity of food produced from animals kept under an organic regimen has increased in recent years. In Germany, turkey meat consumption has increased. Despite several studies assessing the susceptibility of campylobacters to various antibiotics in poultry, no sufficient data exists regarding the antimicrobial resistance of campylobacters in organic-reared turkeys.

Air samplings in a Campylobacter jejuni positive laying hen flock.

The air in laying hen houses contains high concentrations of airborne bacteria. The numbers of these bacteria can be influenced by the efficiency of the chosen sampling method. In the presented study, AGI-30 Impingers and the Coriolis(®)µ air Sampler were compared in terms of their efficiency in sampling aerobic mesophilic bacteria in a laying hen house.

Faecal occurrence and emissions of livestock-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (laMRSA) and ESbl/AmpC-producing E. coli from animal farms in Germany.

The occurrence of laMRSA (livestock-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) and extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL) and/or plasmid-mediated AmpC beta-lactamase-producing (AmpC) Enterobacteriaceae in healthy livestock herds is known for some time.The spread of these bacteria in the environment is discussed critically.The object of this study was to determine the presence of these microorganisms in faeces of livestock as well as the discussion about a potential faecal emission.

Occurrence of MRSA in air and housing environment of pig barns.

A high prevalence of MRSA among farm animals, especially pigs, has been observed for some time. However, knowledge on transmission routes of MRSA in livestock production is still scarce. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the occurrence of MRSA in pig house air as well as in samples from pigs and their housing environment in 27 MRSA positive pig barns of different sizes and production types.

Validation of a method for the detection of virulent Yersinia enterocolitica and their distribution in slaughter pigs from conventional and alternative housing systems.

Various methods have been described in the literature for the detection of virulent Yersinia enterocolitica in pigs. The risk factors for pig herd contamination have yet to be determined. The objective of this study was to validate a sensitive method for the detection of Y.