Monitoring selected behaviors of calves by use of an ear-attached accelerometer for detecting early indicators of diarrhea.

One of the most important diseases in calves worldwide is neonatal calf diarrhea (NCD), which impairs calf welfare and leads to economic losses. The aim of this study was to test whether the activity patterns of calves can be used as early indicators to identify animals at risk for suffering from NCD, compared with physical examination. We monitored 310 healthy female Holstein-Friesian calves on a commercial dairy farm immediately after birth, equipped them with an ear tag-based accelerometer (Smartbow, Smartbow GmbH), and conducted daily physical examinations during the first 28 d of life. The Smartbow system captured acceleration data indicative of standing and lying periods and activity levels (active and inactive), shown as minutes per hour. We categorized calves as diarrheic if they showed fecal scores of ≥3 on a 4-point scale on at least 2 consecutive days. Incidence of diarrhea was 50.7% (n = 148). A mixed logistic regression model showed that lying [odds ratio (OR) = 1.19], inactive (OR = 1.14), and active (OR = 0.92) times, 1 d before clinical identification of diarrhea (d -1), were associated with the odds of diarrhea occurring on the subsequent day. Receiver operating characteristics curve showed that lying time at d -1 was a fair predictor for diarrhea on the subsequent day (area under curve = 0.69). Average lying time on d -1 was 64.8 min longer in diarrheic calves compared with their controls. Median lying and inactive times decreased, and active time increased with age over the study period. The 24-h pattern of behavior indices based on the output of the Smartbow system followed periods of resting and active times, and showed that between 2200 h and 0600 h, calves spent the greatest percentage of time lying and inactive. These results showed that the accelerometer system has the potential to detect early indicators associated with NCD. In future studies, additional data for the development and testing of calf- and event-specific algorithms (e.g., for detecting milk intake, playing behavior) should be collected, which might further improve the early detection of diarrhea in calves.

Towards an international language for incontinence-associated dermatitis (IAD): design and evaluation of psychometric properties of the Ghent Global IAD Categorization Tool (GLOBIAD) in 30 countries.

BACKGROUND: Incontinence-associated dermatitis (IAD) is a specific type of irritant contact dermatitis with different severity levels. An internationally accepted instrument to assess the severity of IAD in adults, with established diagnostic accuracy, agreement and reliability, is needed to support clinical practice and research. OBJECTIVES: To design the Ghent Global IAD Categorization Tool (GLOBIAD) and evaluate its psychometric properties. METHODS: The design was based on expert consultation using a three-round Delphi procedure with 34 experts from 13 countries. The instrument was tested using IAD photographs, which reflected different severity levels, in a sample of 823 healthcare professionals from 30 countries. Measures for diagnostic accuracy (sensitivity and specificity), agreement, interrater reliability (multirater Fleiss kappa) and intrarater reliability (Cohen's kappa) were assessed. RESULTS: The GLOBIAD consists of two categories based on the presence of persistent redness (category 1) and skin loss (category 2), both of which are subdivided based on the presence of clinical signs of infection. The agreement for differentiating between category 1 and category 2 was 0·86 [95% confidence interval (CI) 0·86-0·87], with a sensitivity of 90% and a specificity of 84%. The overall agreement was 0·55 (95% CI 0·55-0·56). The Fleiss kappa for differentiating between category 1 and category 2 was 0·65 (95% CI 0·65-0·65). The overall Fleiss kappa was 0·41 (95% CI 0·41-0·41). The Cohen's kappa for differentiating between category 1 and category 2 was 0·76 (95% CI 0·75-0·77). The overall Cohen's kappa was 0·61 (95% CI 0·59-0·62). CONCLUSIONS: The development of the GLOBIAD is a major step towards a better systematic assessment of IAD in clinical practice and research worldwide. However, further validation is needed.

Short communications: an ear-attached accelerometer detects effects of regrouping on lying, rumination, and activity times in calves.

The objective of this study was to use a sensor-based accelerometer (ACC) to identify changes in lying, rumination, and activity times in weaned calves during the moving and regrouping process. Overall, 270 healthy Holstein calves (from approximately 16 regrouping events) at the age of approximately 4 months were enrolled and equipped with an ear-attached ACC (SMARTBOW, Smartbow GmbH/ Zoetis LLC). Sensor data were recorded for 5 d before (d -5) until 4 d after moving and regrouping (d 4). The day of regrouping was defined as d 0. Acceleration data were continuously processed by specific algorithms (developed by SMARTBOW) for lying, rumination, and activity. Lying, rumination, and activity times were averaged from d -5 to d -3 to generate a baseline value for each parameter. Parameters on d 0 to d 4 after regrouping were compared to this baseline. All parameters showed significant changes compared with the baseline at d 0. Significant decreases in rumination and inactive times were seen up to d 2. Lying time was significantly lower until d 3. The study results indicate that the ACC can be used to monitor the disruptive effects of regrouping on lying and rumination behaviors. Further research is necessary to elucidate how these changes have an impact on health, performance, and welfare and to evaluate how to reduce these potentially negative effects.

Erratum to "Use of a real-time location system to detect cows in distinct functional areas within a barn" (JDS Commun. 2:217-222).

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3168/jdsc.2020-0050.].

Use of a real-time location system to detect cows in distinct functional areas within a barn.

Automated sensor-based monitoring of cows has become an important tool in herd management to improve or maintain animal health and welfare. Location systems offer the ability to locate animals within the barn for, for example, artificial insemination. Furthermore, they have the potential to measure the time cows spend in important areas of the barn, which might indicate need for improvement in the management of the herd or individuals. In this study, we tested the sensor-based real-time location system (RTLS) Smartbow (SB, Smartbow GmbH) under field conditions. The objectives of this study were (1) to determine the accuracy of the system to predict the location of the cow and the agreement between visual observations and RTLS observations for the total time spent by cows in relevant areas of the barn and (2) to compare the performance of 2 different algorithms (Alg1 and Alg2) for cow location. The study was conducted on a commercial Austrian dairy farm. In total, 35 lactating cows were video recorded for 3 consecutive days. From these recordings, approximately 1 h was selected randomly each day for every cow (3 d × 35 cows). Simultaneously, location data were collected and classified by the RTLS system as dedicated to the alley, feed bunk, or cubicle on a 1-min resolution. A total of 6,030 paired observations were derived from visual observations (VO) and the RTLS and used for the final data analysis. Substantial agreement of categorical data between VO and SB was obtained by Cohen's kappa for both algorithms (Alg1 = 0.76 and Alg2 = 0.78). Similar results were achieved by both algorithms throughout the study, with a slight improvement for Alg2. The ability of the system to locate the cows in the predefined areas was assessed, and the results from Alg2 showed sensitivity, specificity, and positive predictive value of alley (74.0, 91.2, and 76.9%), feed bunk (93.5, 86.2, and 89.1%), and cubicle (90.5, 83.3, and 95.4%) and an overall accuracy of 87.6%.The correlation coefficient (r) between VO and SB for the total time cows spent (within 1 h) in the predefined areas was good to strong (r = 0.82, 0.98, and 0.92 for alley, feed bunk, and cubicle, respectively). These results show the potential of the system to automatically assess total time spent by cows in important areas of the barn for indoor settings. Future studies should focus on evaluating 24-h periods to assess time budgets and to combine technologies such as accelerometers and location systems to improve the performance of behavior prediction in dairy cows.

Coexpression of HER-2/neu and p53 is associated with a shorter disease-free survival in node-positive breast cancer patients.

Breast cancer tissue was examined for overexpression of HER-2/neu and p53 oncogene proteins. Samples from 105 breast cancer patients were investigated by Western-blot analysis and their relationship to other established markers and clinical outcome was examined. In 21.0% of the cases HER-2/neu was overexpressed, and in 46.7% the p53 protein level was increased. Expression of these two oncogene products was closely correlated. Overexpression of both oncogenes was associated with larger tumour size and negative hormone receptor. The percentage of HER-2/neu and p53 overexpression was higher in node-positive patients, although statistical evaluation was not significant. While overexpression of HER-2/neu as well as p53 in node-positive patients was associated insignificantly with shorter disease-free survival, a significant difference could be documented when the disease-free survival of patients with overexpression of both oncogene proteins was compared to that of patients with no overexpression.

Phloretin and 6-ketocholestanol: membrane interactions studied by a phospholipid/polydiacetylene colorimetric assay and differential scanning calorimetry.

The aim of this study was to investigate membrane interactions of phloretin and 6-ketocholestanol using different methods. A previously reported colorimetric assay with phospholipid/polydiacetylene (PDA) vesicles was used to examine a possible interaction of phloretin and 6-ketocholestanol with this target. During this interaction the used aggregates of lipids and conjugated PDA undergo a visible and quantifiable blue to red color transition. A positive result is indicative for a reaction response with membrane lipids of a simplified bilayer structure instead of the complex bilayer system of the stratum corneum. Results of this test confirm previous proposed membrane interactions by skin diffusion studies. Additional differential scanning calorimetry studies with 1,2-dimyristoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DMPC) and 1,2-dipalmitoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DPPC) liposomes confirm a membrane interaction and indicates that phloretin and 6-ketocholestanol interact with the lipid layer and change structural parameters. They strongly decrease the lipid phase transition temperature of DMPC and DPPC liposomes by at least about 6.6 degrees C and maximally about 13.9 degrees C which refers to a higher fluidity of the membrane.

Increased natural killer cell activity correlates with low or negative expression of the HER-2/neu oncogene in patients with breast cancer.

BACKGROUND: Increased expression of the HER-2/neu oncogene in breast cancer correlates with decreased estrogen receptor concentration and seems to be an important prognostic factor. The authors investigated whether there is a correlation between HER-2/neu expression and immunologic parameters representing tumor defense in patients with breast cancer. METHOD: A Western blot analysis was used to investigate HER-2/neu expression, whereas a chromium-release assay using the K562 cell line as target was used to measure natural killer (NK) cell activity. RESULTS: In patients with breast cancer, NK cell activity was significantly higher compared with patients with benign tumors (P = 0.006) or healthy control subjects (P = 0.002). Moreover, 23.3% of patients with breast cancer showed an overexpression of HER-2/neu protein. Within this group of patients, NK cell activity was significantly lower (45.6 +/- 16.1%) compared with the group with no HER-2/neu overexpression (57.3 +/- 11.0%). NK cell activity did not increase in patients with HER-2/neu overexpression. Thus, there was a statistically significant correlation of cytolytic effector cell function with HER-2/neu expression of the tumor (P = 0.003), and HER-2/neu overexpression correlated with a negative estrogen receptor status (P = 0.005). CONCLUSION: These data add further evidence to previous observations from the authors' laboratory that certain tumor characteristics may be associated with reactions of the host with breast cancer.