PADI-web 3.0: A new framework for extracting and disseminating fine-grained information from the news for animal disease surveillance.

PADI-web (Platform for Automated extraction of animal Disease Information from the web) is a biosurveillance system dedicated to monitoring online news sources for the detection of emerging animal infectious diseases. PADI-web has collected more than 380,000 news articles since 2016. Compared to other existing biosurveillance tools, PADI-web focuses specifically on animal health and has a fully automated pipeline based on machine-learning methods. This paper presents the new functionalities of PADI-web based on the integration of: (i) a new fine-grained classification system, (ii) automatic methods to extract terms and named entities with text-mining approaches, (iii) semantic resources for indexing keywords and (iv) a notification system for end-users. Compared to other biosurveillance tools, PADI-web, which is integrated in the French Platform for Animal Health Surveillance (ESA Platform), offers strong coverage of the animal sector, a multilingual approach, an automated information extraction module and a notification tool configurable according to end-user needs.

Design and validation of a dynamometric horseshoe for the measurement of three-dimensional ground reaction force on a moving horse.

Properties of ground surfaces condition locomotion, and quality of track surfaces is believed to be involved in the pathogenesis of many musculoskeletal injuries in the horse. Measuring ground reaction forces (GRF) is an interesting approach to assess those interactions. Forceplates are the most commonly used but they are not well suited to compare different ground surfaces at fast gaits. Embarked equipment, fixed under the horse's hoof, would allow force measurement on any track. The objective of this work was (1) to design a device which enables the measurement of 3-D GRF on any ground, at any gait, for a given subject, (2) to determine its accuracy, and (3) to evaluate its performance and usefulness under physiological conditions. The resulting dynamometric horseshoe was composed of 4 piezoelectric sensors sandwiched between 2 aluminium plates designed at the shape of an equine shoe. The measurements, evaluated after a quasi-static calibration, revealed that the root mean square error was 1.3% in the normal direction, and 3.1% in the transversal direction. In vivo tests at the walk and trot in straight line and at the trot on circles, were conducted on 3 different ground surfaces. The results demonstrate that this dynamometric horseshoe is well suited to study the effects of different ground surfaces on GRF in the moving horse.

Web monitoring of emerging animal infectious diseases integrated in the French Animal Health Epidemic Intelligence System.

Since 2013, the French Animal Health Epidemic Intelligence System (in French: Veille Sanitaire Internationale, VSI) has been monitoring signals of the emergence of new and exotic animal infectious diseases worldwide. Once detected, the VSI team verifies the signals and issues early warning reports to French animal health authorities when potential threats to France are detected. To improve detection of signals from online news sources, we designed the Platform for Automated extraction of Disease Information from the web (PADI-web). PADI-web automatically collects, processes and extracts English-language epidemiological information from Google News. The core component of PADI-web is a combined information extraction (IE) method founded on rule-based systems and data mining techniques. The IE approach allows extraction of key information on diseases, locations, dates, hosts and the number of cases mentioned in the news. We evaluated the combined method for IE on a dataset of 352 disease-related news reports mentioning the diseases involved, locations, dates, hosts and the number of cases. The combined method for IE accurately identified (F-score) 95% of the diseases and hosts, respectively, 85% of the number of cases, 83% of dates and 80% of locations from the disease-related news. We assessed the sensitivity of PADI-web to detect primary outbreaks of four emerging animal infectious diseases notifiable to the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE). From January to June 2016, PADI-web detected signals for 64% of all primary outbreaks of African swine fever, 53% of avian influenza, 25% of bluetongue and 19% of foot-and-mouth disease. PADI-web timely detected primary outbreaks of avian influenza and foot-and-mouth disease in Asia, i.e. they were detected 8 and 3 days before immediate notification to OIE, respectively.

Equine hoof slip distance during trot at training speed: comparison between kinematic and accelerometric measurement techniques.

Longitudinal sliding of horse's hooves at the beginning of stance can affect both performance and orthopaedic health. The objective of this study was to compare two measurement methods for quantifying hoof slip distances at training trot. The right front hoof of four French Trotters was equipped with an accelerometer (10 kHz) and kinematic markers. A firm wet sand track was equipped with a 50 m calibration corridor. A high-frequency camera (600 Hz) was mounted in a vehicle following each horse trotting at about 7 m/s. One of the horses was also trotted on raw dirt and harrowed dirt tracks. Longitudinal slip distance was calculated both from kinematic data, applying 2D direct linear transformation (2D-DLT) to the markers image coordinates, and from the double integration of the accelerometer signal. For each stride, both values were compared. The angle of the hoof with respect to the track was also measured. There was 'middling/satisfactory' agreement between accelerometric and 2D-DLT measurements for total slip and 'fairly good' agreement for hoof-flat slip. The influence of hoof rotation on total slip distance represented <6% of accelerometric measures. The differences between accelerometric and kinematic measures (from -0.5 cm to 2.1cm for total slip and from -0.2 cm to 1.4 cm for hoof-flat slip) were independent of slip distance magnitude. The accelerometric method was a simple method to measure hoof slip distances at a moderate training speed trot which may be useful to compare slip distances on various track surfaces.

A method to minimise error in 2D-DLT reconstruction of non-planar markers filmed with a moving camera.

This article describes a method that allows estimating, with the 2D version of the direct linear transformation (DLT), the actual 2D coordinates of a point when the latter is not strictly in the calibration plane. Markers placed in vertical line, above, below and in the centre of a horizontal calibration plane were filmed by a moving camera. Without correction, strong errors (up to 64.5%) were noticed for markers out of the calibration plane. After correction, calculated coordinates were consistent with actual values (error < 0.55%). The method was then applied to slip distance measurement, using a marker fixed on the hoof of a horse trotting on a calibrated track while being followed with a camera. The correction effect represented 6.6% of slip distance. Combined with the 2D-DLT transformation, the proposed corrective method allows an accurate measurement of slip distances, for high-speed outdoor locomotion analysis, using a moving camera.

Kinetics of the forelimb in horses circling on different ground surfaces at the trot.

Circling increases the expression of distal forelimb lameness in the horse, depending on rein, diameter and surface properties of the circle. However, there is limited information about the kinetics of horses trotting on circles. The aim of this study was to quantify ground reaction force (GRF) and moments in the inside and outside forelimb of horses trotting on circles and to compare the results obtained on different ground surfaces. The right front hoof of six horses was equipped with a dynamometric horseshoe, allowing the measurement of 3-dimensional GRF, moments and trajectory of the centre of pressure. The horses were lunged at slow trot (3 m/s) on right and left 4 m radius circles on asphalt and on a fibre sand surface. During circling, the inside forelimb produced a smaller peak vertical force and the stance phase was longer in comparison with the outside forelimb. Both right and left circling produced a substantial transversal force directed outwards. On a soft surface (sand fibre), the peak transversal force and moments around the longitudinal and vertical axes of the hoof were significantly decreased in comparison with a hard surface (asphalt). Sinking of the lateral or medial part of the hoof in a more compliant surface enables reallocation of part of the transversal force into a proximo-distal force, aligned with the limb axis, thus limiting extrasagittal stress on the joints.

Discrimination of two equine racing surfaces based on forelimb dynamic and hoof kinematic variables at the canter.

The type and condition of sport surfaces affect performance and can also be a risk factor for injury. Combining the use a 3-dimensional dynamometric horseshoe (DHS), an accelerometer and high-speed cameras, variables reflecting hoof-ground interaction and maximal limb loading can be measured. The aim of the present study was to compare the effects of two racing surfaces, turf and all-weather waxed (AWW), on the forelimbs of five horses at the canter. Vertical hoof velocity before impact was higher on AWW. Maximal deceleration at impact (vertical impact shock) was not significantly different between the two surfaces, whereas the corresponding vertical force peak at impact measured by the DHS was higher on turf. Low frequency (0-200 Hz) vibration energy was also higher on turf; however high frequency (>400 Hz) vibration energy tended to be higher on AWW. The maximal longitudinal force during braking and the maximal vertical force at mid-stance were lower on AWW and their times of occurrence were delayed. AWW was also characterised by larger slip distances and sink distances, both during braking and at maximal sink. On a given surface, no systematic association was found between maximal vertical force at mid-stance and either sink distance or vertical impact shock. This study confirms the damping properties of AWW, which appear to be more efficient for low frequency events. Given the biomechanical changes induced by equestrian surfaces, combining dynamic and kinematic approaches is strongly recommended for a reliable assessment of hoof-ground interaction and maximal limb loading.