Joint Models to Predict Dairy Cow Survival from Sensor Data Recorded during the First Lactation.

Early predictions of cows' probability of survival to different lactations would help farmers in making successful management and breeding decisions. For this purpose, this research explored the adoption of joint models for longitudinal and survival data in the dairy field. An algorithm jointly modelled daily first-lactation sensor data (milk yield, body weight, rumination time) and survival data (i.

An end to endemic disease on farm?

The Animal Health and Welfare Pathway, which is set to launch in 2022, aims to reduce endemic disease in livestock by creating an all-encompassing approach to health and welfare, with vets at the heart. Here, Josh Loeb speaks to Jonathan Statham and Michael Seals about how this initiative will work.

Milk losses and dynamics during perturbations in dairy cows differ with parity and lactation stage.

Milk yield dynamics during perturbations reflect how cows respond to challenges. This study investigated the characteristics of 62,406 perturbations from 16,604 lactation curves of dairy cows milked with an automated milking system at 50 Belgian, Dutch, and English farms. The unperturbed lactation curve representing the theoretical milk yield dynamics was estimated with an iterative procedure fitting a model on the daily milk yield data that was not part of a perturbation.

Productive life span and resilience rank can be predicted from on-farm first-parity sensor time series but not using a common equation across farms.

A dairy cow's lifetime resilience and her ability to recalve gain importance on dairy farms, as they affect all aspects of the sustainability of the dairy industry. Many modern farms today have milk meters and activity sensors that accurately measure yield and activity at a high frequency for monitoring purposes. We hypothesized that these same sensors can be used for precision phenotyping of complex traits such as lifetime resilience or productive life span.

Updated good practice recommendations for outpatient parenteral antimicrobial therapy (OPAT) in adults and children in the UK.

UK good practice recommendations for outpatient parenteral antimicrobial therapy (OPAT) were published in 2012 and 2015 for adult and paediatric patients, respectively. Here we update the initial good practice recommendations in a combined document based on a further review of the OPAT literature and an extensive consultation process. As with the previous good practice recommendations, these updated recommendations are intended to provide pragmatic guidance for new and established OPAT services across a range of settings and to act as a set of quality indicators for service evaluation and quality improvement.

High-throughput characterisation of bull semen motility using differential dynamic microscopy.

We report a high-throughput technique for characterising the motility of spermatozoa using differential dynamic microscopy. A movie with large field of view (∼10mm2) records thousands of cells (e.g.

Addition of meloxicam to the treatment of clinical mastitis improves subsequent reproductive performance.

A blinded, negative controlled, randomized intervention study was undertaken to test the hypothesis that addition of meloxicam, a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug, to antimicrobial treatment of mild to moderate clinical mastitis would improve fertility and reduce the risk of removal from the herd. Cows (n=509) from 61 herds in 8 regions (sites) in 6 European countries were enrolled. Following herd-owner diagnosis of mild to moderate clinical mastitis within the first 120 d of lactation in a single gland, the rectal temperature, milk appearance, and California Mastitis Test score were assessed.

Reduction in daily milk yield associated with subclinical bovine herpesvirus 1 infection.

The aim of this observational cohort study was to investigate the potential economic impact of subclinical bovine herpesvirus 1 (BoHV-1) infection in a commercial UK dairy herd in terms of milk yield depression. Infection status of cows (infected or not infected) was assigned from serology on a single occasion. A multi-level linear model was used to evaluate the impact of infection status on milk production, using milk records that were routinely collected over two years.

Cattle veterinary services in a changing world.

In the first of a series of feature articles in Veterinary Record discussing the state of different sectors of the veterinary profession in the UK and what the future might hold, Jonathan Statham and Martin Green give their perspective on developments affecting the provision of cattle veterinary services.

Making Good Decisions on Dry Cow Management to Improve Udder Health - Synthesising Evidence in a Bayesian Framework.

The dry period is now recognised as a critical time for the control of clinical and sub-clinical mastitis in dairy cattle. Infections that occur, or that are not cured, during the dry period often result in clinical mastitis or raised somatic cell counts in early lactation. There is known to be large variability between herds in the patterns of dry period intramammary infections (IMI) and yet, until recently, there has been no information on farm determinants of the risk of IMI, other than in relation to dry cow treatments.

Anatomic and functional imaging of metastatic carcinoid tumors.

Carcinoid tumors are a fascinating group of neuroendocrine neoplasms that develop either sporadically or as part of an inheritable syndrome. Many tumors arise in the bronchopulmonary or gastrointestinal tract, but a neuroendocrine tumor can arise in almost any organ. The tumors have varied malignant potential depending on the site of their origin, and the clinical manifestations often are nonspecific.

Variations in duty arrangements to respond to concerns about children's welfare.

Reception and initial contact arrangements and practices in social services play a key role in safeguarding children and providing an avenue for the public and professionals to report concerns about a child's welfare. This paper reports on findings from a small-scale study, commissioned in the wake of the Laming Inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the death of Victoria Climbié. The aim of the study was an exploration of the arrangements local authorities had in place in early 2004 to receive referrals from the public and professional sources, and to report on duty team managers' levels of satisfaction with these arrangements.

Effective services to support children in special circumstances.

Background: Children living in special circumstances, defined as those who are at risk of achieving poorer outcomes than their peers, have a particular need of good quality, accessible services to promote their health and well-being, yet may be least likely to receive them.

Aims: This review considers the evidence for effective services to support children living in five kinds of special circumstances: (1) those at risk of offending; (2) teenage parents; (3) children whose parents have drug, alcohol or mental health problems; (4) children living with domestic violence; and (5) children who have been abused or neglected. In practice, there is often considerable overlap between these groups, and many children face multiple disadvantage.

Explicit and implicit stereotype activation effects on memory: do age and awareness moderate the impact of priming?

Two studies examined the effects of implicit and explicit priming of aging stereotypes. Implicit primes had a significant effect on older adults' memory, with positive primes associated with greater recall than negative primes. With explicit primes, older adults were able to counteract the impact of negative stereotypes when the cues were relatively subtle, but blatant stereotype primes suppressed performance regardless of prime type.