Investigating nutritional strategies during a rest period to improve health, growth, and behavioral outcomes of transported surplus dairy calves.

The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of feeding surplus dairy calves a milk replacer (MR) or one of 2 different oral rehydration solutions (ORS) during a mid-transportation rest period on metabolic and clinical health indicators, growth, and behavioral outcomes after arrival to a calf-raising facility. Surplus dairy calves (n = 128) were transported in 4 cohorts from February to July 2022 for 12 h to a holding facility, rested for 8 h, then transported for an additional 6 h to a calf-raising facility. Upon arrival to the holding facility, calves were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 treatments: MR (n = 43), a high sodium ORS developed for diarrhea (ORS-D; n = 43), or a high potassium ORS developed for transportation (ORS-T; n = 42). The exact age of calves at transportation was unknown, however all calves were under 14 d of age. Calf body weight at enrollment was 43.9 ± 5.9 kg, 43.7 ± 6.5 kg, and 45.0 ± 4.5 kg for calves fed MR, ORS-D, and ORS-T, respectively. Calves were fed 2.0 L of their treatment twice, once upon arrival and once before leaving the holding facility. At unloading and reloading at the holding facility, calves were weighed and blood sampled. Calves were also health scored at unloading at the holding facility. After arrival at the calf-raising facility, calves were weighed, health scored, and blood sampled. Blood samples were collected at 24 and 48 h and body weight (BW) was recorded at 24 h, 48 h, 72 h, 5 d, 7 d, 14 d, and at 8 wks after arrival to the calf-raising facility. Calves were also health scored daily for 14 d, which included fecal consistency scoring and evaluating the presence or absence of respiratory disease. Lying time, lying bouts, and activity index were measured during transportation and from 3 d relative to transportation using accelerometers. At arrival to the calf-raiser, calves fed ORS-D had higher concentrations of NEFA and BHB than calves fed MR. Furthermore, calves fed ORS-T had higher concentrations of BHB at arrival to the calf raiser compared with calves fed MR. In the 14 d after arrival to the calf-raiser, there was evidence that calves fed ORS-T had a higher proportion of days with diarrhea and respiratory disease compared with those fed MR. During transportation, calves fed ORS-T had a lower activity index than calves fed MR, suggesting that ORS-T calves had lower overall activity. Additionally, on the day of transportation (d 0), ORS-T and ORS-D calves had a lower activity index than calves fed MR. There were no treatment effects on growth outcomes. The results of this study suggest that feeding MR rather than an ORS during a mid-transportation rest period could minimize fat mobilization and can potentially improve diarrhea and respiratory disease but does not affect growth outcomes after arrival to calf-raisers.

Effects of transportation duration on lying behavior in young surplus dairy calves.

Surplus dairy calves are commonly transported long distances from dairy farms to calf-raising facilities and livestock auctions. Current calf transportation research mainly describes physiological changes resulting from transportation. However, few studies have described the effects of transportation on calf behavior. The main objective of this study was to determine the effects of different durations of transportation (6, 12, and 16 h) on lying time and bouts in surplus dairy calves. A secondary objective of this study was to investigate whether calf age affected lying behavior around transportation. Surplus dairy calves (n = 175) were transported in 7 cohorts from 5 commercial dairy farms in Ontario to a single veal facility. On the day of transportation (d 0), calves were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 treatment groups: (1) 6 h (n = 60), (2) 12 h (n = 58), or (3) 16 h (n = 57) of continuous transportation by road. Calf lying and standing behaviors were recorded using HOBO data loggers (Hobo Pendant G Acceleration Data Logger, Onset Computer Corporation). Daily lying time (h/d) and bouts (no./d) were assessed from -1 to 3 d relative to transportation. The total time spent lying during transportation was assessed as the percentage of time lying (min lying/total min on the trailer × 100) from the time each calf was loaded onto the trailer until the time each calf was unloaded at the veal facility (n = 167). On the day of transportation (d 0), calves transported for 12 and 16 h spent less time lying (6 h: 17.1 h/d; 12 h: 15.9 h/d; 16 h: 15.0 h/d) and had more lying bouts (6 h: 21.9 bouts/d; 12 h: 25.8 bouts/d; 16 h: 29.8 bouts/d) compared with those transported for 6 h. On the day after transportation (d 1), calves transported for 16 h spent more time lying down than calves transported for 6 h (19.9 h/d vs. 18.8 h/d, respectively). In addition, during transportation, calves transported for 12 h and 16 h spent 5.8% and 7.6% more time lying down, respectively, than calves transported for 6 h. On each day relative to transportation (d -1 to 3), younger calves (2 to 5 d of age) spent a greater amount of time lying down than older calves (6 to 19 d of age) and, overall, had a greater number of lying bouts. The results of this study suggest that longer durations of transportation influence the lying behavior of surplus dairy calves, resulting in more fatigue during and after the journey and, therefore, potentially have negative implications for calf welfare. Additionally, longer durations of transportation may have greater influence on younger calves than older calves.

The comparison of effectivity in breast cancer prevention between skin sparing and subcutaneous mastectomy - 20 years of experience.

INTRODUCTION: Breast cancer is the leading cause of neoplasm mortality among women. Several prevention strategies have been implemented to early detect and prevent the cancer occurrence. The most effective protocol includes prevention mastectomy for the high-risk patients. In our study, we have compared the efficacy of subcutaneous mastectomy (SCM) and skin sparing mastectomy (SSM) in long-term follow up. METHODS: We have included 201 female patients who have been treated at our department over the course of 20 years between 2000 and 2019. All the patients were at high risk of developing breast cancer and therefore were indicated for the prophylactic mastectomy. The main indication was the presence of the mutation in the BRCA1 or BRCA2 cluster, however, even in the lack of such mutation, the family history was sufficient for the mastectomy indication. Patients underwent either SCM, SSM or areola sparing mastectomy (ASM), and were allocated to aforementioned groups, respectively. We have collected the data regarding the reconstruction method along with age, weight, height, body mass index (BMI) and presence of predisposing genetic mutations such as BRCA positivity. RESULTS: The patients who underwent SSM compared to those who underwent SCM were of higher age, with higher BMI and body mass. The patients in SSM group had statistically significantly higher BMI than in ASM. There was no difference in efficacy between patients who underwent SSM and SCM. The majority of patients (91.5%) were positive for BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation. In our study, only four patients were tested negative for known breast cancer inducing mutation (three in SCM and one in SSM). The most common reconstruction method was an abdominal flap and breast implant. CONCLUSIONS: Prophylactic mastectomy is a reliable strategy for significantly reducing the number of breast cancer incidence in high-risk patients regardless of the selected method of mastectomy. These operations allow for the subsequent reconstruction with the whole spectrum of reconstructive options.

Factors associated with body weight of young surplus dairy calves on arrival to a calf rearing facility.

The objective of this study was to identify factors present on the source dairy farm and during transport, that are associated with low body weight of young dairy calves at arrival to a calf rearing facility. A total of 195 surplus dairy calves from five farms in southern Ontario, Canada were examined from October 2020 to June 2021. Calves were continuously enrolled at birth on participating source dairy farms for three weeks until the day of transport and followed until arrival at the calf rearing facility. Calf sex, breed, calving difficulty, and birth weight were recorded at enrollment and blood samples were collected between 24 and 48 h after birth to determine serum total protein. From the day of birth through arrival at the calf rearing facility, each calf received a daily health examination which included a fecal consistency score, respiratory score, and navel score. On the day of transport, calves were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 transport treatments: 6 h, 12 h, or 16 h of continuous transportation by road. Age on the day of transport was recorded, and body weight was measured immediately before and after transportation. Two mixed linear regression models were built to determine the effect of these variables on body weight at arrival. The mean (± SD) birth weight, body weight before transport and body weight at arrival were 45 kg (± 6.9), 51 kg (± 6.6), and 47 kg (± 5.9), respectively, and age on the day of transport ranged from 1 to 22 d. Breed, birth weight, age at transport, body weight immediately before transport, and transport duration were associated with body weight at arrival. Holstein calves had greater body weights at arrival compared to Holstein-beef calves. Additionally, calves with greater birth weights and greater body weights immediately before transport had greater body weights at arrival. Calves over 5 d of age at transport had greater body weights at arrival compared to calves transported at 5 d of age or less. Calves transported for 6 h had a greater body weight at arrival compared to 12 h or 16 h, and those transported for 12 h had a greater body weight at arrival compared to 16 h. Future studies should evaluate approaches and policies to increase body weight of surplus dairy calves at arrival as it is consistently associated with improved health and productivity at calf rearing facilities.

REPORT ON THE OBSERVER TRAINING AT BROOKE ARMY MEDICAL CENTER IN SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS, USA.

A short report describing the unique experience of visiting the famous Brooke Army Medical Center (BAMC) in San Antonio, Texas, USA and its Burn Center and Plastic Surgery Department in the period between June 27 and August 26, 2016.

Superoxide dismutase deficiency and the toxicity of the products of autooxidation of polyunsaturated fatty acids in yeast.

Mutants of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, deficient in cytosolic superoxide dismutase and catalase activities were used to study the role of various oxygen species in the process of lipid peroxidation in yeast cells. Lipid peroxidation does not occur normally in yeast, because this organism is unable to form fatty acids with more than one double bond, whereas under physiological conditions, only fatty acids with at least two double bonds undergo this process. The fatty acid content of cellular lipids was modified by growing the cells in anoxia in the presence of oleic or linolenic acid. Toxic effects of oxygen were observed almost exclusively in those cells of yeast mutants deficient in superoxide dismutase, which contain linolenic acid in cellular lipids. Hypersensitivity of the mutant cells, however, results mainly from toxic effects of the products of autooxidation of extracellular fatty acids. These facts suggest that superoxide dismutases are in some way involved in preventing toxic effects of the products of lipid peroxidation and to some extent prevent the process of lipid peroxidation.