Providing straw to allow exploratory behaviour in a pig experimental system does not modify putative indicators of positive welfare: peripheral oxytocin and serotonin

Numerous studies have shown that providing straw to pigs can reduce undesirable behaviours such as aggression, tail biting and stereotypy. The measurement of various neuromodulators can be helpful in assessing the development of positive behaviours and overall animal welfare. The oxytocin release is frequently linked to positive emotions and positive welfare. It has been suggested that oxytocin modulates the serotoninergic system. This study aims to investigate the potential effect of straw provision in pigs on peripheral levels of oxytocin and serotonin. In total, 18 mini-pigs were involved in an exploratory study conducted in two parallel groups, Enriched (n=10) and Control (n=8) groups. Pigs were divided by group and housed in pens of two individuals. Straw was provided continuously only in Enriched group and renewed each day for 2 weeks. Two blood samples were drawn from each animal 5 to 10 min before providing the straw, and 15 min after providing straw, during the 1^st week, to analyse peripheral changes in oxytocin and serotonin before and after straw provision, and determine the existence of a putative short-term effect. The same procedure was carried out for Control group, without straw provision. Long-term effects of straw provision were also examined using blood samples drawn at the same hour from each animal in the 2^nd and 3^rd weeks. During this time, animals had the permanent possibility to explore the straw in Enriched group but not in Control group. At the end of each week, one animal-keeper completed two visual analogue scales for each mini-pig regarding the difficulty/ease to work with and handle it and its trust in humans. Results showed peripheral oxytocin increases in both groups after 2 weeks (P=0.02). Results did not demonstrate any effect of providing straw to allow exploratory behaviour on peripheral serotonin. Other results were not significant. This preliminary study explored the relationship between peripheral oxytocin and serotonin and the presence of straw that allow pigs to perform exploratory behaviour, suggesting that there was no relationship between them. Some future studies may include crossing oxytocin and serotonin with other parameters, such as behavioural measures, to obtain more information about the true state of the animal and any possible relationship with pig welfare.     

Effects of light-emitting diode light v. fluorescent light on growing performance,activity levels and well-being of non-beak-trimmed W-36 pullets

More energy-efficient, readily dimmable, long-lasting and more affordable light-emitting diode (LED) lights are increasingly finding applications in poultry production facilities. Despite anecdotal evidence about the benefits of such lighting on bird performance and behavior, concrete research data were lacking. In this study, a commercial poultry-specific LED light (dim-to-blue, controllable correlated color temperature (CCT) from 4500 to 5300 K) and a typical compact fluorescent light (CFL) (soft white, CCT=2700 K) were compared with regards to their effects on growing performance, activity levels, and feather and comb conditions of non-beak-trimmed W-36 pullets during a 14-week rearing period. A total of 1280-day-old pullets in two successive batches, 640 birds each, were used in the study. For each batch, pullets were randomly assigned to four identical litter-floor rooms equipped with perches, two rooms per light regimen, 160 birds per room. Body weight, BW uniformity (BWU), BW gain (BWG) and cumulative mortality rate (CMR) of the pullets were determined every 2 weeks from day-old to 14 weeks of age (WOA). Activity levels of the pullets at 5 to 14 WOA were delineated by movement index. Results revealed that pullets under the LED and CFL lights had comparable BW (1140±5 g v. 1135±5 g, P=0.41), BWU (90.8±1.0% v. 91.9±1.0%, P=0.48) and CMR (1.3±0.6% v. 2.7±0.6%, P=0.18) at 14 WOA despite some varying BWG during the rearing. Circadian activity levels of the pullets were higher under the LED light than under the CFL light, possibly resulting from differences in spectrum and/or perceived light intensity between the two lights. No feather damage or comb wound was apparent in either light regimen at the end of the rearing period. The results contribute to understanding the impact of emerging LED lights on pullets rearing which is a critical component of egg production.     

The Importance of Hydrodynamics for Protected and Endangered Biodiversity of Lowland Rivers

This paper examines the relationship between protected and endangered riverine species (target species) and hydrodynamics in river-floodplain ecosystems, combining ecological and policy-legal aspects of biodiversity conservation in river management. The importance of different hydrodynamic conditions along a lateral gradient was quantified for various taxonomic groups. Our results show that (i) target species require ecotopes along the entire hydrodynamic gradient; (ii) different parts of the hydrodynamic gradient are important to different species, belonging to different taxonomic groups; (iii) in particular low-dynamic parts are important for many species and (iv) species differ in their specificity for hydrodynamic conditions. Many species of higher plants, fish and butterflies have a narrow range for hydrodynamics and many species of birds and mammals use ecotopes along the entire gradient. Even when focussing only on target species, the entire natural hydrodynamic gradient is important. This means that the riverine species assemblage as a whole can benefit from measures focussing on target species only. River reconstruction and management should aim at re-establishing the entire hydrodynamic gradient, increasing the spatial heterogeneity of hydrodynamic conditions.     

Short-chain fatty acids and polyamines in the pathogenesis of necrotizing enterocolitis: Kinetics aspects in gnotobiotic quails

Despite years of investigation, pathogenesis of necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) remains elusive. Bacterial metabolites were implicated by several authors but their roles remain controversial. The aim of our study was to investigate the role of SCFAs and polyamines through a kinetic study of histological and macroscopical digestive lesions in monobiotic quails. Germ-free quails, inoculated with a Clostridium butyricum strain involved in a NEC case, were fed or not with a diet including lactose (7%). Quails were sacrificed at various times between D7 and D24 after bacterial inoculation. NEC-like lesions, i.e. thickening, pneumatosis, and hemorrhages, occurred only in lactose-fed quails and increased with time. The main histological characteristics were infiltrates of mononuclear cells, then heterophilic cells, then gas cyst and necrosis. The first event observed, before histological and macroscopical lesions, is a high production of butyric acid, which precedes an increase of iNOS gene expression. No difference in polyamines contents depending on the diet was observed. These results show the major role of butyric acid produced by commensal bacteria in the onset of the digestive lesions.     

Wild chamomile (Matricaria recutita L.) mouthwashes in methotrexate-induced oral mucositis

Oral mucositis is a known complication of methotrexate (MTX) therapy, but a single efficacious intervention or agent for prophylaxis or management of this side effect has not yet been identified. We report a case of MTX-induced oral mucositis in a patient with rheumatoid arthritis, who was successfully treated with Wild chamomile mouthwashes.     

Climate change and cereal aphids: the relative effects of increasing CO2 and temperature on aphid population dynamics

Experimental evidence regarding the responses of cereal aphids to rising atmospheric CO₂ has been ambiguous. Some studies suggest increased population sizes under future CO₂ levels, others suggest decreased population sizes, and still others suggest little or no difference. Recently, Newman et al. (2003) constructed a general mathematical model of the aphid–grass interaction to investigate whether or not we should, in fact, expect a general aphid response to rising CO₂. They concluded that aphid populations are likely to be larger under future CO₂ concentrations if soil N levels are high, the aphid species' nitrogen requirement is low and the aphid species' density‐dependent response in winged morph production is weak. In that model, and in field experiments, CO₂ concentration influences aphid population dynamics through the effect it has on plant quality. However, future CO₂ concentrations are also likely to be accompanied by higher ambient temperatures, a combination that has received little focus to date. In the present paper, the Newman et al. model is used to consider the combined effects of increased CO₂ concentrations and temperature on aphid population sizes. It is concluded that, when both factors are elevated, aphid population dynamics will be more similar to current ambient conditions than expected from the results of experiments studying either factor alone. This result has important implications for future experimentation.     

The biological roots of morality

The question whether ethical behavior is biologically determined may refer either to thecapacity for ethics (e.i., the proclivity to judge human actions as either right or wrong), or to the moralnorms accepted by human beings for guiding their actions. My theses are: (1) that the capacity for ethics is a necessary attribute of human nature; and (2) that moral norms are products of cultural evolution, not of biological evolution.Humans exhibits ethical behavior by nature because their biological makeup determines the presence of the three necessary, and jointly sufficient, conditions for ethical behavior: (i) the ability to anticipate the consequences of one's own actions; (ii) the ability to make value judgements; and (iii) the ability to choose between alternative courses of action. Ethical behavior came about in evolution not because it is adaptive in itself, but as a necessary consequece of man's eminent intellectual abilities, which are an attribute directly promoted by natural selection.Since Darwin's time there have been evolutionists proposing that the norms of morality are derived from biological evolution. Sociobiologists represent the most recent and most subtle version of that proposal. The sociobiologists' argument is that human ethical norms are sociocultural correlates of behaviors fostered by biological evolution. I argue that such proposals are misguided and do not escape the naturalistic fallacy. The isomorphism between the behaviors promoted by natural selection and those sanctioned by moral norms exist only with respect to the consequences of the behaviors; the underlying causations are completely disparate.This article is based on a paper presented at the International Symposium onBiological Models of Human Action, Palma de Mallorca, Spain, 16–18 December 1985.     

Evolutionary steps of ecophysiological adaptation and diversification of ruminants: a comparative view of their digestive system

Summary A review is made of the ruminant digestive system in its morphophysiological variations and adaptations relating to foraging behaviour, digestive physiology, to interactions between plants and ruminants and to geographic and climatic diversity of ruminants' ecological niches. Evidence is provided for evolutionary trends from an extreme selectivity mainly for plant cell contents and dependence upon a fractionated fore- and hindgut fermentation, to an unselective intake of bulk roughage subjected to an efficient plant cell wall fermentation, mainly in the forestomachs. The review is based on detailed comparative morphological studies of all portions of the digestive system of 65 ruminant species from four continents. Their results are related to physiological evidence and to the classification of all extant ruminants into a flexible system of three overlapping morphophysiological feeding types: concentrate selectors (40%), grass and roughage eaters (25%) and intermediate, opportunistic, mixed feeders (35%). Several examples are discussed how ruminants of different feeding types are gaining ecological advantage and it is concluded that ruminants have achieved high levels of digestive efficiency at each evolutionary stage, (including well-documented seasonal adaptations of the digestive system) and that ruminant evolution is still going on. Deductions made from the few domesticated ruminant species may have, in the past, biased scientific evaluation of the free-ranging species' ecology. The main threat to a continuous ruminant evolution and diversity appears to be man's neglect for essential ecological interactions between wild ruminants and their specific habitats, which he alters or destroys.Abbreviations bw body weight - CS concentrate selector - DFC distal fermentation chamber (distended caecocolon) - GR grass and roughage eater - IM intermediate (mixed) feeder - PFC proximal fermentation chamber (ruminoreticulum/forestomachs) - RR Ruminoreticulum - SCFA Short-chain fatty acis (acetic, butyric, propionic acid set free by rumen bacteriae) - SE Surface enlargement (of absorptive mucosa) Supported by German Research Community grant DFG Ho 273/6Dedicated to Professor Dr. Dr. h.c. Dietrich Starck on the occasion of his 80th birthday     

Small mitochondrial DNA molecules of wild abortive cytoplasm in rice are not necessarily associated with CMS

Summary Mitochondrial DNA was isolated from leaf tissue of both the cytoplasmic male sterile line of Indica rice variety V41, which carries wild abortive (WA) cytoplasm, and from the corresponding maintainer line. In addition to the main mitochondrial DNA, four small plasmid-like DNA molecules were detected in both the male sterile and fertile lines. Restriction analysis of total mitochondrial DNA from the male sterile and fertile lines showed DNA fragments unique to each. Our findings suggest that the four small mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) molecules are conserved when WA cytoplasm is transferred into different nuclear backgrounds. However, there is no simple correlation between the presence/ absence of small mitochondrial DNA molecules and the expression of WA cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS).     

Atrophy of compartments of rat lymph nodes related to an entry of lethally altered lymphocytes

Summary This paper reports the occurrence of an accumulation of lethally altered lymphocytes in the subcapsular sinus of a compartment or compartments of some lymph nodes, an unusual feature best developed in nodes of the mesenteric site in aging athymic animals. Many of these cells are rod-like. In other compartments, similar lymphocytes occurred at various depths in the nodal parenchyma. This was accompanied by the disappearance of a compartment's populations of normal lymphoid cells. The observations reveal that lymphocytes, altered in a tissue, may reach the subcapsular sinus of the draining node compartment and migrate into its parenchyma which then undergoes atrophy. The likely involvement of mast cells is discussed.This work was funded by the Medical Research Council of Canada.