Risk factors for the incursion of highly pathogenic avian influenza virus into poultry and other captive bird holdings in Denmark from 2020 to 2023: A case-control study.

Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) is a major concern in terms of animal and human health. Between October 2020 and September 2023, there were 36 HPAI outbreaks detected in poultry and other captive birds in Denmark. However, it is often not possible to determine the exact route of introduction.

Cellular milk production: Proteins and minerals in secretomes from cultivated bovine milk-derived mammary cells.

This study explores the feasibility of utilizing in vitro cultivated milk-derived bovine mammary epithelial cells (bMECs) for the production of milk constituents. BMECs were isolated from milk and treated with various lactogenic agents in 3D transwell systems. By proteomics, >900 proteins were identified and quantified in the secretomes, including >100 milk-related proteins such as caseins and enzymes.

Long-term employment and health effects of active labor market programs.

Active labor market programs (ALMPs) are widely used to speed up return to work among the unemployed. We examine their long-run effects on employment- and health-related outcomes for different target groups, arguing that ALMPs are associated with heterogeneous effects for different target groups and may even detrimentally influence the mental health for the most disadvantaged groups. To this end, we use evidence from randomized controlled trials conducted in Denmark in 2005-2008, in which treatment groups were exposed to intensified active labor market policies in the form of more frequent compulsory meetings with case workers and/or early activation and estimate effects over a period of 10 y.

Purification of mitochondria from skeletal muscle tissue for transcriptomic analyses reveals localization of nuclear-encoded noncoding RNAs.

Mitochondria are central to cellular function, particularly in metabolically active tissues such as skeletal muscle. Nuclear-encoded RNAs typically localize within the nucleus and cytosol but a small population may also translocate to subcellular compartments such as mitochondria. We aimed to investigate the nuclear-encoded RNAs that localize within the mitochondria of skeletal muscle cells and tissue.

Lifetime health care costs for dogs based on data from seven veterinary clinics in Denmark.

Reports indicate that owners believe the health care costs for their dogs are too high, yet few studies report on the actual costs. Most studies are based on surveys of owners, and there have been no studies carried out in Europe. The objective of our study was therefore to provide estimates of lifetime health care costs for dogs based on billed costs taken from records from veterinary clinics in Denmark.

Immunohistochemical Expression of SATB2 in Malignant Melanomas.

Accurate diagnosis of cancer of unknown primary (CUP) poses a significant daily challenge for pathologists, necessitating reliable immunohistochemical (IHC) markers. SATB2 is a transcription factor primarily expressed in colorectal neoplasms. This study investigates the IHC expression of SATB2 in malignant melanomas (MM).

In vivo dosimetry with an inorganic scintillation detector during multi-channel vaginal cylinder pulsed dose-rate brachytherapy: Dosimetry for pulsed dose-rate brachytherapy.

Background And Purpose: In vivo dosimetry is not standard in brachytherapy and some errors go undetected. The aim of this study was to evaluate the accuracy of multi-channel vaginal cylinder pulsed dose-rate brachytherapy using in vivo dosimetry.

Materials And Methods: In vivo dosimetry data was collected during the years 2019-2022 for 22 patients (32 fractions) receiving multi-channel cylinder pulsed dose-rate brachytherapy.

Comparable glucagon-stimulated amino acid suppression in individuals with and without hepatic steatosis or steatohepatitis.

Hepatic amino acid (AA) metabolism and glucagon secretion are linked in a feedback cycle in which circulating AAs stimulate glucagon secretion and alpha-cell proliferation, whereas glucagon stimulates hepatic AA catabolism. It has been proposed that metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) leads to hepatic glucagon resistance, which may result in hyperaminoacidemia and hyperglucagonemia. We tested the glucagon effect on AA metabolism in subjects with obesity; 11 with steatohepatitis (MASH), 10 with steatosis (MAS), and 7 subjects [control (CON)] without steatosis.

Insight into protein crosslinking and casein polymerization in pre- and posthydrolyzed lactose-free ultra-high-temperature milk during long-term storage.

During processing and storage of both conventional and lactose-hydrolyzed UHT milk (LHM), aggregation of milk proteins occurs. Protein aggregation can inter alia occur via nonreducible covalent cross-links derived from either Maillard or dehydroalanine (DHA) pathways. To study this further in relation to processing method and lactase enzyme purity, LHM was produced using 3 different lactase preparations, with lactase enzymes added in a dairy setting either before (prehydrolysis) or after (posthydrolysis) UHT treatment.

A registry-based comparative analysis of antibiotic usage reporting for adult cattle on Danish dairy farms.

Background: Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a significant global health concern, necessitating the monitoring of antimicrobial usage (AMU). However, there is a lack of consensus on the standardized collection and reporting of AMU data in the veterinary field. In Denmark, the Danish Cattle Database (DCDB) contains treatment information on animal level, which allows counting of number of treatments carried out, used daily doses (UDD).

Probabilistic PARAFAC2.

The Parallel Factor Analysis 2 (PARAFAC2) is a multimodal factor analysis model suitable for analyzing multi-way data when one of the modes has incomparable observation units, for example, because of differences in signal sampling or batch sizes. A fully probabilistic treatment of the PARAFAC2 is desirable to improve robustness to noise and provide a principled approach for determining the number of factors, but challenging because direct model fitting requires that factor loadings be decomposed into a shared matrix specifying how the components are consistently co-expressed across samples and sample-specific orthogonality-constrained component profiles. We develop two probabilistic formulations of the PARAFAC2 model along with variational Bayesian procedures for inference: In the first approach, the mean values of the factor loadings are orthogonal leading to closed form variational updates, and in the second, the factor loadings themselves are orthogonal using a matrix Von Mises-Fisher distribution.

Glycerol Handling in Paired Visceral and Subcutaneous Adipose Tissues in Women with Normal Weight and Upper-Body Obesity.

In adipose tissue, reduced expression of the glycerol channel aquaporin 7 (AQP7) has been associated with increased accumulation of triglyceride. The present study determines the relative protein abundances of lipolytic enzymes, AQP7, and cytosolic phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PEPCK-C) in paired mesenteric and omental visceral adipose tissue (VAT) and abdominal and femoral subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) in women with either normal weight or upper-body obesity. No differences in the expression of hormone-sensitive lipase (HSL) or AQP7 were found between the two groups in the four depots.

Outcome prediction based on [18F]FDG PET/CT in patients with pleural mesothelioma treated with ipilimumab and nivolumab +/- UV1 telomerase vaccine.

Purpose: The introduction of immunotherapy in pleural mesothelioma (PM) has highlighted the need for effective outcome predictors. This study explores the role of [18F]FDG PET/CT in predicting outcomes in PM treated with immunotherapy.

Methods: Patients from the NIPU trial, receiving ipilimumab and nivolumab +/- telomerase vaccine in second-line, were included.

The use of high expansion foam for stunning and killing pigs and poultry.

The EFSA Panel on Animal Health and Welfare (AHAW) was asked to deliver a scientific opinion on the use of high-expansion foam for stunning and killing pigs and poultry. A dossier was provided by the applicant as the basis for an assessment of the extent to which the method is able to provide a level of animal welfare at least equivalent to that ensured by the currently allowed methods for pigs and poultry. According to legislation, to be approved in the EU, new stunning methods must ensure (1) the absence of pain, distress or suffering until the onset of unconsciousness, and (2) that the animal remains unconscious until death.

Scientific Committee guidance on appraising and integrating evidence from epidemiological studies for use in EFSA's scientific assessments.

EFSA requested its Scientific Committee to prepare a guidance document on appraising and integrating evidence from epidemiological studies for use in EFSA's scientific assessments. The guidance document provides an introduction to epidemiological studies and illustrates the typical biases, which may be present in different epidemiological study designs. It then describes key epidemiological concepts relevant for evidence appraisal.

Major Cardiac Events in Patients and Relatives With Hereditary Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy.

Background: Little evidence is available on the disease expression in relatives of index patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). This information has important implications for family screening programs, genetic counseling, and management of affected families.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate the disease expression and penetrance in relatives of index patients carrying pathogenic/likely pathogenic (P/LP) variants in recognized HCM genes.

Welfare of sheep and goats during killing for purposes other than slaughter.

Sheep and goats of different ages may have to be killed on-farm for purposes other than slaughter (where slaughter is defined as killing for human consumption) either individually (i.e. on-farm killing of unproductive, injured or terminally ill animals) or on a large scale (i.

Similar insulin regulation of splanchnic FFA and VLDL-TG in men with nonalcoholic hepatic steatosis and steatohepatitis.

This study aimed to determine whether obese men with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) display differences between those with simple steatosis versus steatohepatitis (NASH) in splanchnic and hepatic FFA and VLDL-triglycerides (VLDL-TG) balances. The study involved 17 obese men with biopsy-proven NAFLD (9 with NASH and 8 with simple steatosis). We used hepatic vein catheterization in combination with [H]palmitate and [C]VLDL-TG tracers to measure splanchnic palmitate and VLDL-TG uptake and release rates during basal and hyperinsulinemic conditions.

The novel adrenergic agonist ATR-127 targets skeletal muscle and brown adipose tissue to tackle diabesity and steatohepatitis.

Objective: Simultaneous activation of β2- and β3-adrenoceptors (ARs) improves whole-body metabolism via beneficial effects in skeletal muscle and brown adipose tissue (BAT). Nevertheless, high-efficacy agonists simultaneously targeting these receptors whilst limiting activation of β1-ARs - and thus inducing cardiovascular complications - are currently non-existent. Therefore, we here developed and evaluated the therapeutic potential of a novel β2-and β3-AR, named ATR-127, for the treatment of obesity and its associated metabolic perturbations in preclinical models.

Prevalence and characterisation of band-shaped tail lesions in Holstein cows.

The aim of the study was to characterise and determine the prevalence of band-shaped tail lesions in Holstein cows. Lesions were present either as wounds or by epithelised granulation/connective tissue formations. Both types were characterised by a median localisation 7 cm from the tip of the tail, and they occurred on the dorsal aspect of the tail.

A novel proteomic approach for the identification and relative quantification of disulfide-bridges in the human milk proteome.

This study explores the disulfide bridges present in the human milk proteome by a novel approach permitting both positional identification and relative quantification of the disulfide bridges. Human milk from six donors was subjected to trypsin digestion without reduction. The digested human milk proteins were analyzed by nanoLC-timsTOF Pro combined with data analysis using xiSEARCH.

Neonatal Gut and Immune Responses to β-Casein Enriched Formula in Piglets.

Background: β-casein is the main casein constituent in human milk (HM) and a source of bioactive peptides for the developing gastrointestinal tract and immune system. Infant formulas contain less β-casein than HM, but whether different concentrations of β-casein affect tolerability and gut and immune maturation in newborns is unknown.

Objectives: Using near-term piglets as a model for newborn infants, we investigated whether increasing the β-casein fraction in bovine-based formula is clinically safe and may improve gut and immune maturation.