Analysis of the influences on plumage condition in laying hens: How suitable is a whole body plumage score as an outcome?

An important indicator of the health and behavior of laying hens is their plumage condition. Various scoring systems are used, and various risk factors for feather damage have been described. Often, a summarized score of different body parts is used to describe the overall condition of the plumage of a bird. However, it has not yet been assessed whether such a whole body plumage score is a suitable outcome variable when analyzing the risk factors for plumage deterioration. Data collected within a German project on farms keeping laying hens in aviaries were analyzed to investigate whether and the extent to which information is lost when summarizing the scores of the separate body parts. Two models were fitted using multiblock redundancy analysis, in which the first model included the whole body score as one outcome variable, while the second model included the scores of the individual body parts as multiple outcome variables. Although basically similar influences could be discovered with both models, the investigation of the individual body parts allowed for consideration of the influences on each body part separately and for the identification of additional influences. Furthermore, ambivalent influences (a factor differently associated with 2 different outcomes) could be detected with this approach, and possible dilutive effects were avoided. We conclude that influences might be underestimated or even missed when modeling their explanatory power for an overall score only. Therefore, multivariate methods that allow for the consideration of individual body parts are an interesting option when investigating influences on plumage condition.

Statistical tools to improve assessing agreement between several observers.

In the context of assessing the impact of management and environmental factors on animal health, behaviour or performance it has become increasingly important to conduct (epidemiological) studies in the field. Hence, the number of investigated farms per study is considerably high so that numerous observers are needed for investigation. In order to maintain the quality and validity of study results calibration meetings where observers are trained and the current level of agreement is assessed have to be conducted to minimise the observer effect. When study animals were rated independently by the same observers by a categorical variable the exclusion test can be performed to identify disagreeing observers. This statistical test compares for each variable and each observer the observer-specific agreement with the overall agreement among all observers based on kappa coefficients. It accounts for two major challenges, namely the absence of a gold-standard observer and different data type comprising ordinal, nominal and binary data. The presented methods are applied on a reliability study to assess the agreement among eight observers rating welfare parameters of laying hens. The degree to which the observers agreed depended on the investigated item (global weighted kappa coefficients: 0.37 to 0.94). The proposed method and graphical description served to assess the direction and degree to which an observer deviates from the others. It is suggested to further improve studies with numerous observers by conducting calibration meetings and accounting for observer bias.

Night vision goggles, human factors aspects--a questionnaire survey of helicopter aircrew.

Night vision goggles have become an essential component of military aviation. They provide superior visual capability over unaided night vision, but there are several inherent limitations associated with human factors and systems limitations. This study used a questionnaire survey of Army helicopter aircrew to investigate the incidence of human factors problems which continued after NVG use, with particular reference to visual problems and neck discomfort. It also looked at hardware interaction problems, such as cockpit lighting, and other aspects of NVG use, such as training and aircrew concerns. The issues are described and analysed, and areas of concern, which may have bearings on operational effectiveness and/or safety, have been highlighted.

The LUNAR project: A description of the population of individuals who seek health care at emergency departments.

INTRODUCTION: Although little information exists about the consumers of emergency services and their illness behaviors, such information is essential for decision making by providers, administrators, and policy makers. The purpose of the LUNAR Project was to describe the population of individuals who seek health care at emergency departments. METHODS: After they attended a training course, 90 emergency nurses served as site coordinators in 89 emergency departments in 35 states. A standardized protocol was used to collect data retrospectively from 140 randomly selected patient records at each site. The final sample included 12,422 ED patients. RESULTS: Overall, 52% of the patient visits were for nonurgent care, 40% were for urgent care, and 8% were for emergent care. Most visits occurred between 10 AM and 8 PM and peaked at 6 PM. Children and younger adults were the largest consumers of services, primarily for nonurgent care. The most frequent reasons for visits were fever, chest pain, and abdominal pain, and the most common discharge diagnoses were middle ear infection, chest pain, and acute upper respiratory infection. DISCUSSION: The profile of ED patients showed a need for new types of services to provide nonurgent care and new interventions for preventing illnesses and injuries commonly treated in the emergency department.

Data elements for emergency department systems, release 1.0 (DEEDS): a summary report. DEEDS Writing Committee.

Variations in the way that data are entered in ED record systems impede the use of ED records for direct patient care and deter their reuse for many other legitimate purposes. To foster more uniform ED data, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) National Center for Injury Prevention and Control is coordinating a public-private partnership that has developed recommended specifications for many observations, actions, instructions, conclusions, and identifiers that are entered in ED records. The partnership's initial product. Data Elements for Emergency Department Systems, Release 1.0 (DEEDS), is intended for use by individuals and organizations responsible for ED record systems. If the recommended specifications are widely adopted, then problems--such as data incompatibility and high costs of collecting, linking, and using data--can be substantially reduced. The collaborative effort that led to DEEDS, Release 1.0 sets a precedent for future review and revision of the initial recommendations.

Data elements for emergency department systems, release 1.0 (DEEDS): a summary report. DEEDS Writing Committee.

Variations in the way that data are entered in emergency department record systems impede the use of ED records for direct patient care and deter their reuse for many other legitimate purposes. To foster more uniform ED data, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Injury Prevention and Control is coordinating a public-private partnership that has developed recommended specifications for many observations, actions, instructions, conclusions, and identifiers that are entered in ED records. The partnership's initial product, Data Elements for Emergency Department Systems, Release 1.0 (DEEDS), is intended for use by individuals and organizations responsible for ED record systems. If the recommended specifications are widely adopted, then problems--such as data incompatibility and high costs of collecting, linking, and using data--can be substantially reduced. The collaborative effort that led to DEEDS, Release 1.0 sets a precedent for future review and revision of the initial recommendations.

An assessment of the ANV 20/20 focusing aid for night vision devices.

Night vision goggles (NVGs) are becoming an increasingly important tool in military aviation. They provide superior visual capability over unaided night vision, but any reduction in goggle performance can have a serious effect on flight safety and operational effectiveness. This study shows that the use of the ANV 20/20 focusing aid provides an effective method for aircrew to obtain a better visual capability than is currently obtained by focusing on distant features of the landscape or distant lights. Visual acuities using the current and proposed focusing methods were compared in 50 aircrew. The visual acuity showed an average improvement of 18% with the proposed method compared with the current method. This was found to be statistically significant (p < 0.01). Using the current method of focusing there was a significant (p < 0.01) difference in the visual acuity achieved between the right and left tubes/eyes. Using the ANV 20/20 there was no difference between tubes/eyes. ANV 20/20 was found to improve visual acuity when using NVG as well as enabling the user to achieve equal visual acuities with both eyes.

An assessment of a proposed method for adjusting and focusing ANVIS night vision goggles.

Night vision goggles are becoming an increasingly important tool in military aviation. They provide superior visual capability over unaided night vision, but any reduction in goggle performance can have a serious effect on flight safety and operational effectiveness. This study shows that the use of a standard adjustment procedure in a night vision goggle (NVG) test lane, with a resolution chart, provides an effective method for aircrew to obtain better visual capability than is currently obtained by focusing on distant features of the landscape. Visual acuity (VA) was measured for 20 aircrew representing all crew positions, after using both the current adjustment method and the proposed method for adjusting ANVIS NVGs. The average visual acuity showed an improvement from 6/19 (s.d. = 3.9) with the current method to 6/13 (s.d. = 2.8) with the proposed method. However, NVG test lanes cannot be used with goggles which have fixed infinity objective lenses eg Nite.