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Articles 1 - 11 of 11

Full-Text Articles in Other Animal Sciences

An Analysis Of The Use Of Dogs In Predicting Human Toxicology And Drug Safety, Jarrod Bailey, Michelle Thew, Michael Balls Sep 2016

An Analysis Of The Use Of Dogs In Predicting Human Toxicology And Drug Safety, Jarrod Bailey, Michelle Thew, Michael Balls

Jarrod Bailey, PhD

Dogs remain the main non-rodent species in preclinical drug development. Despite the current dearth of new drug approvals and meagre pipelines, this continues, with little supportive evidence of its value or necessity. To estimate the evidential weight provided by canine data to the probability that a new drug may be toxic to humans, we have calculated Likelihood Ratios (LRs) for an extensive dataset of 2,366 drugs with both animal and human data, including tissue-level effects and Medical Dictionary for Regulatory Activities (MedDRA) Level 1–4 biomedical observations. The resulting LRs show that the absence of toxicity in dogs provides virtually no …


Exponential Growth, Animal Welfare, Environmental And Food Safety Impact: The Case Of China’S Livestock Production, Peter J. Li Jul 2016

Exponential Growth, Animal Welfare, Environmental And Food Safety Impact: The Case Of China’S Livestock Production, Peter J. Li

Peter J. Li, PhD

Developmental states are criticized for rapid “industrialization without enlightenment.” In the last 30 years, China’s breathtaking growth has been achieved at a high environmental and food safety cost. This article, utilizing a recent survey of China’s livestock industry, illustrates the initiating role of China’s developmental state in the exponential expansion of the country’s livestock production. The enthusiastic response of the livestock industry to the many state policy incentives has made China the world’s biggest animal farming nation. Shortage of meat and dairy supply is history. Yet, the Chinese government is facing new challenges of no less a threat to political …


China’S Bear Farming And Long-Term Solutions, Peter J. Li Jul 2016

China’S Bear Farming And Long-Term Solutions, Peter J. Li

Peter J. Li, PhD

No abstract provided.


Diversity Of Behaviour During Novel Object Tests Is Reduced In Pigs Housed In Substrate-Impoverished Conditions, Françoise Wemelsfelder, Marie Haskell, Michael T. Mendl, Sheena Calvert, Alistair B. Lawrence Jun 2016

Diversity Of Behaviour During Novel Object Tests Is Reduced In Pigs Housed In Substrate-Impoverished Conditions, Françoise Wemelsfelder, Marie Haskell, Michael T. Mendl, Sheena Calvert, Alistair B. Lawrence

Françoise Wemelsfelder, PhD

Modern intensive farming conditions lack the diversity of substrates present in more natural environments and offer young animals fewer opportunities for interaction. Evidence exists that this may affect the organization of interactive patterns of behaviour, but shifts in behavioural diversity have not been measured directly. We investigated the effect of the substrate in the home pen on the diversity of behaviour in young growing pigs, Sus scrofa. Over 5 months, 26 pigs were housed singly in either substrate-impoverished (SI) or substrate-enriched (SE) conditions. Once every month we recorded the behaviour of these pigs in detail both in the home pens …


Qualitative Assessment Of Animal Behaviour As An On-Farm Welfare-Monitoring Tool, Françoise Wemelsfelder, Alistair B. Lawrence Jun 2016

Qualitative Assessment Of Animal Behaviour As An On-Farm Welfare-Monitoring Tool, Françoise Wemelsfelder, Alistair B. Lawrence

Françoise Wemelsfelder, PhD

There is a growing need to monitor the health and welfare of farm animals, and to develop methods which do so efficiently and reliably. A crucial problem with current methods is the integration of separate measurements taken during farm visits into accurate judgements of an animal’s overall welfare state. This paper proposes that the qualitative assessment of animal behaviour may serve as an integrative methodology which could guide the interpretation of other, more detailed welfare measurements. Recent research has demonstrated qualitative behaviour assessment to be reliable and repeatable under controlled experimental conditions. The paper concludes with a discussion of ways …


Flooring And Driving Conditions During Road Transport Influence The Behavioural Expression Of Cattle, Catherine A. Stockman, Teresa Collins, Anne L. Barnes, David Miller, Sarah L. Wickham, David T. Beatty, Dominique Blache, Françoise Wemelsfelder, Patricia A. Fleming Jun 2016

Flooring And Driving Conditions During Road Transport Influence The Behavioural Expression Of Cattle, Catherine A. Stockman, Teresa Collins, Anne L. Barnes, David Miller, Sarah L. Wickham, David T. Beatty, Dominique Blache, Françoise Wemelsfelder, Patricia A. Fleming

Françoise Wemelsfelder, PhD

This study examined whether observers could distinguish between cattle that were exposed to various road transport conditions: Experiment 1 compared a manipulated flooring treatment (non-grip flooring, NG) with a control transport event (grip flooring, G) and Experiment 2 compared a manipulated driving style (stop-start driving, SS) with a control transport event of smooth, continuous (C) driving. The behavioural expression of cattle was assessed through the process of Qualitative Behavioural Assessment (QBA), and these assessments were tested for correlation with various physiological parameters. Fourteen Angus steers were assessed. Blood samples were collected immediately before and after transport, and heart rate and …


Experience In Substrate-Enriched And Substrate-Impoverished Environments Affects Behaviour Of Pigs In A T-Maze Task, Michael Mendl, Hans W. Erhard, Marie Haskell, Françoise Wemelsfelder, Alistair B. Lawrence Jun 2016

Experience In Substrate-Enriched And Substrate-Impoverished Environments Affects Behaviour Of Pigs In A T-Maze Task, Michael Mendl, Hans W. Erhard, Marie Haskell, Françoise Wemelsfelder, Alistair B. Lawrence

Françoise Wemelsfelder, PhD

Previous research showed that pigs reared in substrate-impoverished conditions performed a smaller proportion of their total behavioural repertoire in their home pens (showed lower behavioural diversity), than pigs reared in substrate-enriched conditions. This study examined whether these differences were the result of fundamental changes in behavioural organisation. A T-maze task was used to test the hypothesis that substrate-impoverished pigs are prone to develop fixed, unvarying behaviour which may underlie their reduced behavioural diversity. They were predicted to be poorer at reversing previous response patterns in the maze, and less able to alter their behaviour in response to a novel (distracting) …


Welfare Assessment: Correlations And Integration Between A Qualitative Behavioural Assessment And A Clinical/Health Protocol Applied In Veal Calves Farms, Marta Brscic, Françoise Wemelsfelder, Elena Tessitore, Flaviana Gottardo, Giulio Cozzi, Cornelis G. Van Reenen Jun 2016

Welfare Assessment: Correlations And Integration Between A Qualitative Behavioural Assessment And A Clinical/Health Protocol Applied In Veal Calves Farms, Marta Brscic, Françoise Wemelsfelder, Elena Tessitore, Flaviana Gottardo, Giulio Cozzi, Cornelis G. Van Reenen

Françoise Wemelsfelder, PhD

This study is aimed at finding correlations and possible integration among Qualitative Behavioural assessment (QBA) and a specific protocol of clinical/health evaluation. Both welfare assessment methods were based on direct animal observation and were applied in 24 Italian veal calves farms at 3 weeks (wks) of rearing. Principal component analysis (PCA) summarized 20 QBA descriptors on two main components (PC1 and PC2) with eigenvalues above 4 and explaining 29.6 and 20.3% of the variation respectively. PCA on residuals obtained after correcting for housing condition yielded highly similar results, indicating that the rearing environment of the calves was not an important …


The Effect Of Substrate-Enriched And Substrate-Impoverished Housing Environments On The Diversity Of Behaviour In Pigs, Marie Haskell, Françoise Wemelsfelder, Michael T. Mendl, Sheena Calvert, Alistair B. Lawrence Jun 2016

The Effect Of Substrate-Enriched And Substrate-Impoverished Housing Environments On The Diversity Of Behaviour In Pigs, Marie Haskell, Françoise Wemelsfelder, Michael T. Mendl, Sheena Calvert, Alistair B. Lawrence

Françoise Wemelsfelder, PhD

In intensive farming situations, growing animals are housed in relatively barren environments. The lack of opportunity to perform substrate-interactive and manipulative behaviour patterns may affect the expression and organization of these behaviours. However, making direct comparisons of the behaviour expressed in environments of differing physical complexity is difficult. In this experiment a relative diversity index was used to compare the behavioural repertoires of pigs housed in two different environments for a period of five months. One group of pigs (substrate-enriched) had straw, forest bark and branches added to the standard pens and the other group (substrate-impoverished) did not. The pigs …


Shellfish Corner, Michael Rice May 2014

Shellfish Corner, Michael Rice

Michael A Rice

After a hiatus of several years, Aquaculture Magazine has returned as a bimonthly publication serving the aquaculture industry. This article introduces the Shellfish Corner, the regular column on molluscan aquaculture.


Transgenesis In Animal Agriculture: Addressing Animal Health And Welfare Concerns, Michael Greger May 2014

Transgenesis In Animal Agriculture: Addressing Animal Health And Welfare Concerns, Michael Greger

Michael Greger, MD, FACLM

The US Food and Drug Administration’s final Guidance for Industry on the regulation of transgenesis in animal agriculture has paved the way for the commercialization of genetically engineered (GE) farm animals. The production-related diseases associated with extant breeding technologies are reviewed, as well as the predictable welfare consequences of continued emphasis on prolificacy at the potential expense of physical fitness. Areas in which biotechnology could be used to improve the welfare of animals while maintaining profitability are explored along with regulatory schema to improve agency integration in GE animal oversight.