Outbreak of Salmonella Enteritidis phage type 13a infection in Sweden linked to imported dried-vegetable spice mixes, December 2014 to July 2015.

From 24 December to 24 July 2015, 174 cases were reported in a nationwide salmonellosis outbreak in Sweden: 108 cases were connected to a single restaurant. A spice mix, containing dried vegetables from the restaurant tested positive for the outbreak strain. Additional spice mixes with similar content from different suppliers also tested positive. The outbreak investigation suggests there could be a risk of contaminated products being also on the market in other countries.

Factors influencing the chance of cows being pregnant 30 days after the herd voluntary waiting period.

The objective of this study was to study factors affecting a reproductive performance indicator at the cow level adjusted for herd management strategy. Associations between the outcome variable, pregnant or not at the herd voluntary waiting period (VWP) plus 30d (pregnant at VWP+30), and the predictor variables were analyzed using a multivariable, generalized estimation equations model that adjusted for clustering of the data at the herd level. The statistical analysis was stratified on parity. In total, 132,721 cows were retained for analyses, of which 29,113 (22%) were pregnant at VWP+30d. Of the nonpregnant cows, 81,483 cows had records of artificial inseminations (AI) and 22,125 cows had no records of AI. The chance of pregnancy was higher for cows of the Swedish Red and for other/crossbreeds compared with Swedish Holstein, for cows from herds with high heat detection efficiency compared with cows from herds with medium and low heat detection efficiency, for cows from herds with long VWP (i.e., >51d) compared with cows from herds with short VWP (<51d), and for cows in freestalls compared with cows in tiestalls. The chance for pregnancy was lower for cows with severe problems at claw trimming compared with cows with no problems at trimming (only for second- and higher-parity cows), for cows that had a record of reproduction-related disease, for cows that had a record of any other disease compared with cows without record, for second- and higher-parity cows with records of dystocia compared with cows with no record of dystocia, for first-parity cows in the group with the highest milk yield compared with first-parity cows in the group with the lowest milk yield, for cows of third and higher parity in the group with the lowest milk yield compared with cows in higher yielding groups, for cows bred in summer compared with those bred in winter-spring (not significant for first-parity cows), and for cows with a twin birth had compared with cows with a single birth. We observed associations of the dose-response type, such that when the milk fat-to-protein ratio increased, the chance for pregnancy decreased, and as the somatic cell count increased, the chance for pregnancy decreased. In conclusion, factors that are known to affect reproductive efficiency also affect the chance of cows being pregnant at the herd VWP plus 30d.

Mechanistic studies of ethanol's interaction with the mesolimbic dopamine reward system.

Alcoholism is a chronic recurring brain disorder causing the afflicted a multitude of social and health problems and enormous costs to society. The psychosocial and pharmacological treatment options available have but small to moderate effect sizes, underlining the great need for new effective remedies. Alcohol like all other drugs of abuse acutely activates the mesolimbic dopamine system and, upon chronic administration, produces functional alterations of this important part of the brain reward system. Available data suggests that the mesolimbic dopamine system is involved both in the positive and negative reinforcing effects of ethanol. It hence becomes imperative to understand how ethanol interferes with this system. Increased knowledge about these mechanisms may open up for new targets for pharmacotherapies. We have investigated the tentative involvement of cys-loop ligand-gated ion-channels, which ethanol is known to interact with in relevant concentrations. Our data indicate that a neuronal circuitry involving glycine receptors in the nucleus accumbens, and, secondarily, nicotinic acetylcholine receptors in the ventral tegmental area is involved in the mesolimbic dopamine activating and reinforcing effects of ethanol. Manipulations of both these receptor populations have the potential to modulate ethanol consumption. The proposed neurocircuitry, has implications for understanding ethanol conditioned dopamine activation, chronic effects of ethanol on the mesolimbic dopamine system and the overall role/importance of dopamine and the nucleus accumbens for the reinforcing effects of ethanol. Computational neuroscience in conjunction with further emperical observations is likely to facilitate this process.

Herd and environmental determinants of reproductive performance in Swedish dairy herds, 2001-2009.

This was a retrospective cohort study of Swedish dairy herds. Summary measures of production and reproductive performance, details of soil, moss mineral concentrations, and temperature and rainfall measurements at each herd location were available for the period September 2001 to August 2009. A Bayesian mixed-effects regression model including spatial and non-spatial heterogeneity terms was developed to quantify associations between hypothesised explanatory variables and mean herd breeding interval, defined as the difference between mean calving to last service interval and mean calving to first service interval for each fiscal year. Mean herd breeding intervals were shorter in herds with greater than 80% Swedish Red Cattle, herds with lower mean age at first calving, herds comprised of older cows and in larger herds. None of the soil composition or moss mineral concentration estimates were associated with mean herd breeding interval and the effect of temperature and rainfall on mean herd breeding interval was small. We conclude that environmental conditions (soil composition, moss mineral concentrations, environmental temperature and rainfall) had relatively minor effects on dairy herd reproductive performance in Sweden between 2001 and 2009.

Associations between herd characteristics and reproductive efficiency in dairy herds.

Dairy herds worldwide are experiencing a decline in reproductive efficiency at the same time as management methods are changing. This study aimed to investigate the extent to which herd-level characteristics were associated with reproductive performance. Data from herds using artificial insemination (AI) in the Swedish Official Milk Recording Scheme that had more than 45 cows were included in the study (total of 2,728 herds). Reproductive performance was measured as the average for each herd for the calving interval, calving to first AI interval, calving to last AI interval, number of AI per animal submitted for AI, and culling attributed to reproductive problems. Herds with mainly Swedish Holstein cows had longer calving intervals, calving to first AI, and calving to last AI compared with herds with mainly Swedish Red and White cows. Large herds had shorter calving to first AI but a greater number of AI than small herds, whereas small herds had greater culling attributed to reproductive problems than large herds. Low-yielding herds had longer calving intervals, calving to first AI, and calving to last AI and had greater culling attributed to reproductive problems than high-yielding herds, whereas herds with high milk yields had a greater number of AI than low-yielding herds. Herds with automatic milking systems had shorter calving intervals, calving to first AI, and calving to last AI and had lesser odds for culling attributed to reproductive problems when compared with herds with ordinary pipeline milking systems. Herds that used Advanced Feed Advisory Services had shorter calving to first AI but a greater number of AI and greater culling attributed to reproductive problems. Herds using TMR had longer calving intervals and calving to last AI than herds that did not. Herds with tie stalls had longer calving intervals, calving to first AI, and calving to last AI, and organic herds had shorter calving intervals, calving to first AI, and calving to last AI compared with conventional herds. We found that herds with do-it-yourself inseminations had longer calving intervals and calving to first AI. Our study showed numerous associations between herd characteristics and reproductive performance. When allocating advisory service resources to improve reproductive performance, the focus should be on herd characteristics that are easy to influence, such as TMR and do-it-yourself inseminations.

Nicotine-induced behavioral disinhibition and ethanol preference correlate after repeated nicotine treatment.

This study investigated the effects of repeated daily nicotine (0.35 mg/kg; 15 days) treatment on behavioral inhibition and locomotor activity in the elevated plus-maze and on voluntary ethanol consumption. When challenged with nicotine before the test, rats pretreated with repeated nicotine spent more time on and made more entries onto the open arms of an elevated plus-maze than did vehicle-pretreated animals. The ethanol preference and intake, measured during 3 h after a nicotine injection, was also higher in the nicotine-pretreated animals. In ethanol consumption experiments, there was a positive correlation between the % time and % entries made onto open arms vs. the ethanol preference and intake. However, no correlation between the total number of entries made in the elevated plus-maze and the measures of ethanol consumption was observed. These findings suggest that the ability of repeated nicotine administration to increase ethanol consumption is related to development of a nicotine-induced reduction of inhibitory control rather than development of locomotor sensitization.