scholarly journals Euthanasia Through Cervical Dislocation or CO2 Might Affect Keel Bone Fracture Prevalence in 30-Week-Old Laying Hens

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christina Rufener ◽  
Allison N. Pullin ◽  
Richard A. Blatchford

Laying hens are susceptible to keel bone fractures due to continuous endogenous calcium resorption for eggshell formation. Although it is assumed that external trauma to the keel bone, e.g., due to collisions, is the main cause for fractures, accumulated forces or asymmetric load on a weakened bone might contribute to the high keel bone fracture prevalence found in commercial laying hens. The objective of this study was to investigate whether forces applied to the keel due to involuntary convulsions and uncontrolled wing flapping during euthanasia have the potential to cause keel bone fractures. Two hundred and seventy Dekalb White laying hens were euthanized at 30 weeks of age using cervical dislocation (n = 60) or CO2 (n = 210). All hens were radiographed immediately before and after euthanasia. Radiographs were compared side by side to detect new fractures. Four out of the 270 hens (1.5%) obtained a fracture during euthanasia. Specifically, 0.95% of hens euthanized with CO2 (2 out of 210) and 3.3% of hens euthanized through cervical dislocation (2 out of 60) obtained a euthanasia-induced fracture. All four hens with a euthanasia-induced fracture had signs of damage to the keel before euthanasia, indicating that pre-existing fractures could affect fracture susceptibility. Based on our results, we cannot rule out that convulsions during euthanasia can cause keel bone fractures in laying hens. In studies investigating keel bone integrity in birds euthanized with CO2 or cervical dislocation, fracture prevalence might be overestimated. Future research is needed to assess whether euthanasia might be more likely to cause keel bone fractures in older birds and to quantify the frequency and strength of convulsions as a potential cause of fractures.

Author(s):  
Ajay Kumar ◽  
Rajesh Ghosh

This paper comprehensively reviews the various experimental and numerical techniques, which were considered to determine the fracture characteristics of the cortical bone. This study also provides some recommendations along with the critical review, which would be beneficial for future research of fracture analysis of cortical bone. Cortical bone fractures due to sports activities, climbing, running, and engagement in transport or industrial accidents. Individuals having different diseases are also at high risk of cortical bone fracture. It has been observed that osteon orientation influences cortical bone fracture toughness and fracture mechanisms. Apart from this, recent studies indicate that fracture parameters of cortical bone also depend on many factors such as age, sex, temperature, osteoporosis, orientation, location, loading condition, strain rate, and storage facility, etc. The cortical bone regains its fracture toughness due to various toughening mechanisms. Owing to these factors, several experimental, clinical, and numerical investigations have been carried out to determine the fracture parameters of the cortical bone. Cortical bone is the dense outer surface of the bone and contributes to 80%–82% of the skeleton mass. Cortical bone experiences load far exceeding body weight due to muscle contraction and the dynamics of motion. It is very important to know the fracture pattern, direction of fracture, location of the fracture, and toughening mechanism of cortical bone. A basic understanding of the different factors that affect the fracture parameters and fracture mechanisms of the cortical bone is necessary to prevent the failure and fracture of cortical bone. This review has summarized the advancement considered in the various experimental techniques and numerical methods to get complete information about the fracture mechanisms of cortical bone.


PLoS ONE ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. e0229735 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ida Thøfner ◽  
Hans Petter Hougen ◽  
Chiara Villa ◽  
Niels Lynnerup ◽  
Jens Peter Christensen

2020 ◽  
Vol 40 (Supplement 2) ◽  
pp. S1-S12
Author(s):  
Cobus J. Venter ◽  
Jacobus G. Maree

The purpose of this study was to explore and assess the feasibility of counselling based on life-design principles in enhancing the career resilience of children who are exposed to family violence. The research project involved a QUALITATIVE–quantitative mode of inquiry with 6 participants chosen based on certain characteristics. Life-design-related intervention strategies, together with various (postmodern) qualitative and quantitative techniques, were used to gather data, while data analysis was done using thematic content analysis. Quantitative data were collected from parents as well as the participants before and after the intervention. Certain themes, sub-themes and sub-sub-themes that all contributed to participants’ career resilience were identified. Following the intervention, findings obtained from a qualitative perspective indicated that the outcomes of the life-design-related counselling intervention were substantial. The findings showed that various narrative techniques could be used to enhance the career resilience of children exposed to family violence. Future research could assess the value of life-design counselling in enhancing the career resilience of survivors of family violence in diverse group contexts. A greater focus could be placed on the (unforeseen) external trauma that had an impact on participants’ ability to (re-)construct their career-life narratives to enhance their future selves and careers.


PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (8) ◽  
pp. e0256105
Author(s):  
Ida C. N. Thøfner ◽  
Jan Dahl ◽  
Jens Peter Christensen

Keel bone fractures (KBF) in commercial poultry production systems are a major welfare problem with possible economic consequences for the poultry industry. Recent investigations suggest that the overall situation may be worsening. Depending on the housing system, fracture prevalences exceeding 80% have been reported from different countries. No specific causes have yet been identified and this has consequently hampered risk factor identification. The objective of the current study was to investigate the prevalence of KBF in Danish layer hens and to identify risk factors in relation to KBF in all major productions systems, including parent stock production. For risk factor identification, production data from the included flocks was used. In total, 4794 birds from 40 flocks were investigated at end-of-lay. All birds were euthanized on farm and underwent inspection and palpation followed by necropsy. All observations were recorded and subsequently analysed using the SAS statistical software package. In flocks from non-caged systems, fracture prevalence in the range 53%-100%, was observed whereas the prevalence in flocks from enriched cages ranged between 50–98%. Furthermore, often multiple fractures (≥4) were observed in individual birds (range 5–81% of the birds with fractures) depending on the flock. The localization of the fractures at the distal end of the keel bone is highly consistent in all flocks (>96%). Macroscopically the fractures varied morphologically from an appearance with an almost total absence of callus, most frequently observed in caged birds, to large callus formations in and around the fracture lines, which was a typical finding in non-caged birds. Despite being housed under cage-free conditions, parent birds had significantly fewer fractures (all flocks were 60 weeks old) per bird, than other birds from cage-free systems. The body weight at end-of-lay had an effect on the risk of having fractures, heavy hens have significantly fewer fractures at end-of-lay. The older the hens were at onset of lay, the lower was the flock prevalence at end-of-lay. Additionally, the daily egg size at onset of lay was of importance for the risk of developing fractures, the production of heavier eggs initially, resulted in higher fracture prevalence at depopulation. The odds ratio of body weight, (+100 g) was 0.97, age at onset of lay (+1 week) was 0.87 and daily egg weight at onset (+1 gram) was 1.03. In conclusion, the study demonstrated a very high prevalence of KBF in hens from all production systems and identified hen size, age at onset of lay and daily egg weight at onset of lay to be major risk factors for development of KBF in the modern laying hen. Further research regarding this is warranted to strengthen the longevity and enhance the welfare of laying hens.


Author(s):  
Kylie Litaker ◽  
Christopher B. Mayhorn

People regularly interact with automation to make decisions. Research shows that reliance on recommendations can depend on user trust in the decision support system (DSS), the source of information (i.e. human or automation), and situational stress. This study explored how information source and stress affect trust and reliance on a DSS used in a baggage scanning task. A preliminary sample of sixty-one participants were given descriptions for a DSS and reported trust before and after interaction. The DSS gave explicit recommendations when activated and participants could choose to rely or reject the choice. Results revealed a bias towards self-reliance and a negative influence of stress on trust, particularly for participants receiving help from automation. Controlling for perceived reliability may have eliminated trust biases prior to interaction, while stress may have influenced trust during the task. Future research should address potential differences in task motivation and include physiological measures of stress.


2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 79-113
Author(s):  
Farrah Neumann ◽  
Matthew Kanwit

AbstractSince many linguistic structures are variable (i. e. conveyed by multiple forms), building a second-language grammar critically involves developing sociolinguistic competence (Canale and Swain. 1980. Theoretical bases of communicative approaches to second language teaching and testing. Applied Linguistics 1(1). 1–47), including knowledge of contexts in which to use one form over another (Bayley and Langman. 2004. Variation in the group and the individual: Evidence from second language acquisition. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching 42(4). 303–318). Consequently, researchers interested in such competence have increasingly analyzed the study-abroad context to gauge learners’ ability to approximate local norms following a stay abroad, due to the quality and quantity of input to which learners may gain access (Lafford. 2006. The effects of study abroad vs. classroom contexts on Spanish SLA: Old assumptions, new insights and future research directions. In Carol Klee & Timothy Face (eds.), Selected proceedings of the 7th conference on the acquisition of Spanish and Portuguese as first and second languages, 1–25. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project). Nevertheless, the present study is the first to examine native or learner variation between imperative (e. g. ven ‘come’) and optative Spanish commands (e. g. que vengas ‘come’). We first performed a corpus analysis to determine the linguistic factors to manipulate in a contextualized task, which elicited commands from learners before and after four weeks abroad in Alcalá de Henares, Spain. Their overall rates of selection and predictive factors were compared to local native speakers (NSs) and a control group of at-home learners.Results revealed that the abroad learners more closely approached NS rates of selection following the stay abroad. Nonetheless, for both learner groups conditioning by independent variables only partially approximated the NS system, which was more complex than previously suggested.


2021 ◽  
pp. 095679762097056
Author(s):  
Morgana Lizzio-Wilson ◽  
Emma F. Thomas ◽  
Winnifred R. Louis ◽  
Brittany Wilcockson ◽  
Catherine E. Amiot ◽  
...  

Extensive research has identified factors influencing collective-action participation. However, less is known about how collective-action outcomes (i.e., success and failure) shape engagement in social movements over time. Using data collected before and after the 2017 marriage-equality debate in Australia, we conducted a latent profile analysis that indicated that success unified supporters of change ( n = 420), whereas failure created subgroups among opponents ( n = 419), reflecting four divergent responses: disengagement (resigned acceptors), moderate disengagement and continued investment (moderates), and renewed commitment to the cause using similar strategies (stay-the-course opponents) or new strategies (innovators). Resigned acceptors were least inclined to act following failure, whereas innovators were generally more likely to engage in conventional action and justify using radical action relative to the other profiles. These divergent reactions were predicted by differing baseline levels of social identification, group efficacy, and anger. Collective-action outcomes dynamically shape participation in social movements; this is an important direction for future research.


Author(s):  
Zaky Machmuddah ◽  
St. Dwiarso Utomo ◽  
Entot Suhartono ◽  
Shujahat Ali ◽  
Wajahat Ali Ghulam

The coronavirus pandemic has spread all over the world, affecting both the health and economic sectors. The aim of this research was to observe stock prices of customer goods before and after the COVID-19 pandemic using event study and the comparison test. The sample included data of daily closing stock prices and volume of stock trade during the three months before (−90 days) and after (+90 days) the occurrence of the COVID-19 pandemic ongoing, totaling 2670 observation data both before and after the COVID-19 pandemic, for a total of 5340. The research findings indicate a significant difference between the daily closing stock price and volume of stock trade before and after the COVID-19 pandemic. The current research has both theoretical and practical implications: the findings strengthen the efficient market hypothesis, which states that the more complete the provided information, the more efficient the market. The practical implication is that investors should be careful when choosing to invest. Investors should choose customer goods sector companies that provide products that are much needed by customers, for example, pharmacy, food, beverages, etc. Future research is needed to investigate the long-term impact of the pandemic on the economy.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (11) ◽  
pp. 6039
Author(s):  
Justine Meunier ◽  
Rocio-Nur Villar-Quiles ◽  
Isabelle Duband-Goulet ◽  
Ana Ferreiro

Defects in transcriptional and cell cycle regulation have emerged as novel pathophysiological mechanisms in congenital neuromuscular disease with the recent identification of mutations in the TRIP4 and ASCC1 genes, encoding, respectively, ASC-1 and ASCC1, two subunits of the ASC-1 (Activating Signal Cointegrator-1) complex. This complex is a poorly known transcriptional coregulator involved in transcriptional, post-transcriptional or translational activities. Inherited defects in components of the ASC-1 complex have been associated with several autosomal recessive phenotypes, including severe and mild forms of striated muscle disease (congenital myopathy with or without myocardial involvement), but also cases diagnosed of motor neuron disease (spinal muscular atrophy). Additionally, antenatal bone fractures were present in the reported patients with ASCC1 mutations. Functional studies revealed that the ASC-1 subunit is a novel regulator of cell cycle, proliferation and growth in muscle and non-muscular cells. In this review, we summarize and discuss the available data on the clinical and histopathological phenotypes associated with inherited defects of the ASC-1 complex proteins, the known genotype–phenotype correlations, the ASC-1 pathophysiological role, the puzzling question of motoneuron versus primary muscle involvement and potential future research avenues, illustrating the study of rare monogenic disorders as an interesting model paradigm to understand major physiological processes.


2011 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 151-158 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jamie M. Clem ◽  
Thomas E. Smith ◽  
Kristin V. Richards

Substance abuse researchers identify self-efficacy and group cohesion as important components in alcohol and other drug-dependency treatment. Objectives: The purpose of this single-group, pretest–posttest study is to explore the therapeutic value of a challenge course intervention on the self-efficacy and group cohesion of nine chemically dependent, adult females. Methods: Data were collected using two validated outcome measures administered before and after the intervention. Focus groups provided insight into the experiences of participants and were examined using manifest and latent theme analysis. Results: Findings indicate statistically significant improvements on both outcome measures with medium to large effect sizes. Several themes were identified including group unity, trust, interpersonal growth, and self-confidence. Conclusions: Suggestions for practice and future research are provided.


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