and control in Great britain demonstrated that the majority of herd outbreaks are caused by multiple transmissions routes--including failed cattle infection tests cattle movement and reinfection from environmental reservoirs (infected pastures and wildlife).
The study suggests that improved testing vaccination of cattle and culling all cattle on infected farms would be the most effective strategies for controlling the disease.
Based on a study of cattle and the causes of btb in Great britain the model sought to ascertain how
and why the epidemic has grown over the past 15 years. Using Animal health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency
Our model offers a dispassionate unbiased view of the spread of btb through the cattle industry of Great Britain says model co-author Professor Matthew Keeling from Warwick's School of Life sciences and Department of mathematics.
The model is recorded based on the pattern of positive and negative tests and uses the known movement of cattle around the country.
By using the most recent data our model predicts that it is most likely both cattle movements
Imperfect cattle skin tests contribute to the spread by delaying the time until infected herds are detected for the first time
more frequent or more accurate testing vaccination of cattle and culling all cattle on infected farms.
The control measures the researchers investigated were designed to be idealized'control options to understand what measures in theory could stop the increasing epidemic.
The method has been tested successfully in the context of cow milk allergy. Food allergies are becoming widespread in the Western world today affecting around 6-8%of children and about 3%of adults.
Cow milk allergy is common among children preventing them from breast feeding and drinking milk although some outgrow the allergy by six years of age.
#A sheeps early life experiences can shape behavior in later lifenew research has found that a sheep's experiences soon after birth can shape its later behaviour and also that of its offspring.
The research team found that female sheep that had docked their tails or experienced a mild simulated infection shortly after they were born showed more pain-related behaviour
but can cause disease in some breeds of poultry according to research published in mbioâ the online open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology.
which includes using degraded pastures for a combination of reforestation expansion of biofuel and food crops and intensification of cattle production.
The disease affects sheep and cattle and is spread by biting midges. In sheep the bluetongue virus can cause abortion congenital abnormalities
and death though mild cases completely recover. In cattle bluetongue does not generally cause death.
The basic reproduction number for a disease is deï ned as the expected number of secondary cases produced by a single infection in a susceptible population.
As in many infectious disease models uniform disease persistence of bluetongue occurs if the basic reproduction number for the whole system exceeds one.
But an additional factor influences the disease state in the case of this disease which is that it affects sheep much more severely than cattle.
If the disease reproduction number for the cattle-midge-bluetongue system with or without sheep is greater than one bluetongue persists in cattle
and midges even though it may eradicate the sheep relying on cattle as a reservoir. In the second situation where the reproduction number of all host and vector species coexisting is greater than one
while the reproduction number for the cattle-midge-bluetongue system (without sheep) is less than one bluetongue
and bluetongue does not eradicate sheep because it cannot persist on midges and cattle alone.
The authors use different approaches of dynamical systems persistence theory to analyze the two situations. Story Source:
and wheat along with such livestock products as ruminant (animals like cattle goats and sheep that subsist on plant matter) pork and poultry.
The Durham team studied the impacts of climate on the Alpine Chamois a species of mountain goat
and the effects that domestic sheep had on the goats'movements. Observing the goats in the Italian Alps during the summer the researchers found that Chamois tended to move to higher altitudes where it is cooler on hotter days
and in the middle of the day but moved much higher--about 100m higher--when sheep were present.
They say their research published in the journal Global Change Biology provides a valuable insight into how managing the interaction of different species could influence changes in animal distributions predicted under climate change.
which Chamois occurred at times when sheep were either present or absent. To their surprise they discovered that competition with sheep had a far greater effect on Chamois than the predicted effects of future climate change.
Study co-author Dr Stephen Willis in Durham University's Department of Biological and Biomedical sciences said:
As the global climate warms many animals are moving to higher latitudes and altitudes where it is cooler.
The presence of flocks of sheep--which compete with Chamois for food--disturbed the normal behavioural patterns of Chamois forcing them to much higher elevations than they would normally use.
In the case of Chamois in The alps this could involve restricting sheep from higher elevations in some areas added Dr Mason who is based now at Laval University Canada.
The study funded by The Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) also revealed that Chamois can alter their behaviour in the face of warmer temperatures seeking shelter during hot periods rather than moving to higher altitudes.
The report identifies important secure habitats and landscape connections for five species--bull trout westslope cutthroat trout grizzly bears wolverines and mountain goats.
Not a true apple this relative of the eggplant smothers native grasses with its thorny stalks while its striking yellow fruit provides a deadly temptation to sheep and cattle.
however that certain wild African animals particularly elephants could be a boon to human-raised livestock because of their voracious appetite for the Sodom apple.
and impalas among other wild animals can not only safely gorge themselves on the plant but can efficiently regulate its otherwise explosive growth according to a report in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B. Without elephants ripping the plant from the ground
or impalas devouring dozens of its fruits at a time the shrub easily conquers the landscape. Just as the governments of nations such as Kenya prepare to pour millions into eradicating the plant the findings present a method for controlling the Sodom apple that is cost-effective for humans
Similarly Princeton researchers published two studies in 2011 that showed that allowing livestock to graze with wild animals such as zebras greatly improved the quality of the domesticated animals'diet.
whose main interest is cattle to say'Maybe I do want elephants on my land.'
Elephants and impalas can withstand S. campylacanthum's poison because they belong to a class of herbivores known as browsers that subsist on woody plants and shrubs many species
On the other hand grazers such as cows sheep and zebras primarily eat grass which is rarely poisonous. These animals easily succumb to the Sodom apple.
A 2011 study on sheep published in the journal Kenya Veterinarian showed that the plant caused emphysema pneumonia bleeding ulcers brain swelling and death among other effects.
As more African savanna is converted into pasture the proliferation of the Sodom apple may only get worse Pringle said which means that the presence of elephants to eat it may become more vital to the ecosystem and livestock.
Typically people will overload the land with more cattle than it can support. Then they remove the animals that eat the plant.
and impalas could potentially increase the food available to cattle. This is a departure from the conventional view in Africa that livestock
and wild animals compete for the same scarce resources he said. There is enough quantitative information in this paper that they can probably model this effect in a meaningful way Holdo said.
so they're actually promoting a higher biomass of high-quality habitat for livestock. So it's a win-win in the sense that you're creating a situation in
which you can both have livestock and wild animals and probably actually increase your yield for livestock.
The researchers report that they have presented one of the first studies to examine functional redundancy in land animals.
In this case the effect of large mammals such as elephants and impalas on the Sodom apple population--and perhaps the populations of other plants--is unlikely to be duplicated by another animal species the researchers found.
Elephants impalas and a taste for Solanumpringle was roughly three years into a study about the effects of elephants on plant diversity
one in which elephants and impalas were excluded; and another off limits to all animals. It was in the sites that excluded elephants
and impala that the Sodom apple particularly flourished Pringle said which defied everything he knew about the plant.
The researchers specifically observed the foraging activity of elephants impalas small-dog-sized antelopes known as dik-diks and rodents.
When both impala and elephants were kept away the average jumped to around 50 fruits per plant
There is a catch to the elephants'and impalas'appetite for the Sodom apple: When fruit goes in one end seeds come out the other.
Impalas on the other hand can have a positive overall effect on the plants the researchers found. Impalas ate the majority of the fruit consumed--one impala ate 18 fruit in just a few minutes.
But they do not severely damage the parent plant while feeding and also spread a lot of seeds in their dung.
Of the seeds eaten by an impala only 60 percent would need to survive and those seeds would have to be a mere three times more likely to sprout than a seed that simply fell from its parent.
#Pig whipworm genome may aid to treat autoimmune diseasesan international team composed of 11 institutions from six countries including BGI presented the whole-genome sequence of Trichuris suis a parasitic worm in pig.
Understanding the genetics mechanisms underlying the pig parasite may aid to modify the human immune response that could result in better treatments for autoimmune diseases including inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and multiple sclerosis.
In contrast the pig whipworm causes disease and losses in livestock but it does not cause disease in humans.
It's reported that pig whipworm infection could even prevent inflammatory disease in humans and has been used to treat inflammatory bowel disease and multiple sclerosis.
In this study researchers sequenced the genomes of single adult female and male pig whipworm at about 140-fold coverage producing draft assemblies of 76 Mb and 81 Mb respectively.
It was reported previously that the XX and XY karyotypes for female and male whipworm respectively but in this study researchers found no evidence for A y chromosome among the male-specific scaffolds suggesting that the sex chromosomes were the smallest chromosomal pair
When investigating how pig whipworm regulates the host immune response researchers explored the stage-sex-and tissue-specific transcription of mrnas and small noncoding RNAS.
The secretory proteins showed high representation in transcriptome of pig whipworm. The peptidases particularly the secreted peptidases upregulated during larval development
Li Hu Project Manager from BGI said The constructed pig whipworm genome sequence provides us a genetic resource for deeply investigating the mechanisms underlying human autoimmune diseases.
Meanwhile the pig whipworm-host interactions will shed new light on the control of helminth and other immunopathological diseases in human.
and Turkey. According to one of the authors Dr Piers Mitchell at the University of Cambridge UK the discovery might be among the oldest evidence of human-made technology inadvertently causing disease outbreaks.
#Genetic control mechanism for major livestock pest developedresearchers from North carolina State university have developed a technique to control populations of the Australian sheep blowfly--a major livestock pest in Australia
Dr. Max Scott professor of entomology at NC State and his research team genetically modified lines of female Australian sheep blowflies (Lucilia cuprina) so that they required doses of tetracycline in order to live.
Male larval offspring however would still be dangerous to livestock. In the study the researchers showed that the tetracycline gene construct also works in Drosophila the fruit fly lab rat of the insect world that is a distant cousin of the sheep blowfly.
This holds promise that the genetic system will function in the New world and Old world screwworm two major livestock pests that are close relatives of the sheep blowfly.
Scott is working with the U s. Department of agriculture to make male-only strains of the New world screwworm (Cochliomyia hominivorax.
The New world screwworm is a devastating pest of livestock that was eradicated from North and Central america by releasing sterilized male and female flies Scott says.
Why cattle, pigs are even-toedduring evolutionary diversification of vertebrate limbs the number of toes in even-toed ungulates such as cattle
and pigs was reduced and transformed into paired hooves. Scientists at the University of Basel have identified a gene regulatory switch that was key to evolutionary adaption of limbs in ungulates.
During their evolution the basic limb skeletal structure was modified significantly such that today's hippopotami have four toes while the second and fifth toe face backwards in pigs.
In cattle the distal skeleton consists of two rudimentary dew claws and two symmetrical and elongated middle digits that form the cloven hoof
To this aim they compared the activity of genes in mouse and cattle embryos which control the development of fingers and toes during embryonic development.
In contrast their distribution becomes symmetrical from early stages onward in limb buds of cattle embryos:
We think this early loss of molecular asymmetry triggered the evolutionary changes that ultimately resulted in development of cloven-hoofed distal limb skeleton in cattle
They discovered that the gene expression in limb buds of cattle embryos is altered such that the cells giving rise to the distal skeleton fail to express the Hedgehog receptor called Patched1.
The researchers could establish that the altered genomic region--a so-called cis-regulatory module--is linked to the observed loss of Patched1 receptors and digit asymmetry in cattle embryos.
We assume that it is the result of progressive evolution as this switch degenerated in cattle
#Livestock gut microbes contributing to greenhouse gas emissionsincreased to levels unprecedented is how the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) described the rise of carbon dioxide methane and nitrous oxide emissions in their report on the physical science basis
The EPA attributes one-fifth of methane emissions to livestock such as cattle sheep and other ruminants.
In fact ruminant livestock are the single largest source of methane emissions and in a country like New zealand (NZ) where the sheep outnumber people 7 to 1 that's a big deal.
However not all ruminants are equal when it comes to greenhouse gas emissions. It turns out that the amount of methane produced varies substantially across individual animals of the same ruminant species. To find out why this is
and specialized analysis techniques to explore the contents of the rumens of sheep in collaboration with NZ's Agresearch Limited to see what role ruminant microbiomes (the microbes living in the rumen) play in this process.
The study was published online June 6 2014 in Genome Research We wanted to understand why some sheep produce a lot
To learn why the amount of methane that ruminants produce varies the researchers took advantage of a large sheep screening
The team measured the methane yields from a cohort of 22 sheep and from this group they selected four sheep with the lowest methane emissions four sheep with the highest emissions and two sheep with intermediate emission levels.
Rumen metagenome DNA samples collected on two occasions from the 10 sheep were sequenced at the DOE JGI generating 50 billion bases of data each.
The deep sequencing study contributes to this breeding program by defining the microbial contribution to the methane trait which can be used
if there was a correlation between the proportions of methanogens in the eight sheep with the highest and lowest recorded methane emissions.
In sheep with low methane emissions they found elevated levels of one particular species of methanogen (Methanosphaera)
while sheep with high methane emissions had elevated levels of another group of methanogens (Methanobrevibacter gottschalkii).
and methanogen abundance across sheep were rather subtle the team reported that the expression levels of genes involved in methane production varied more substantially across sheep suggesting differential gene regulation perhaps controlled by hydrogen concentration in the rumen
Screening and breeding for low-methane producing sheep is still underway and importantly low-methane lines then need to be tested for stability of the trait as well as the absence of any impacts on fertility or meat or wool production.
and for there to be slow but incremental changes to the sheep industry in subsequent years.
Researchers from the Universitã Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) Oxford university and the Chinese Center of Disease Control and Prevention analyzed new data
showing the distribution and density of live poultry markets in China and of poultry production overall in the country.
and does not appear related to China's growing number of intensive commercial poultry operations. They have pinpointed areas elsewhere in Asia with similar conditions (places with a high density of live bird markets) that could allow H7n9--which has infected 429 people thus far
and that knowledge could help guide efforts to limit transmission said Marius Gilbert an expert in the epidemiology of livestock diseases at ULB and the paper's lead author.
which means it could move stealthily into poultry populations long before people get sick. The obvious use for such maps in the immediate future is to help target surveillance to areas most at risk
and allow authorities to move quickly to contain it said Tim Robinson a scientist with ILRI's Livestock Systems
and spread of H7n9 are dense clusters of live poultry markets which aggregate birds from large geographical areas located near or just outside densely populated urban areas.
and intensive poultry operations proliferating in China that raise a larger number of birds. In fact the study notes that H7n9 has thus far been absent from live poultry markets in Northeastern China a region that is home to many of the country's commercial-scale poultry operations.
The study notes that there is evidence that certain factors within live poultry markets such as the amount of time the birds are there the rigor of sanitation measures
and rest days that can influence the spread of the disease suggesting potential options for reducing risks of further transmission of H7n9.
despite remarkably strict control efforts the virus has continued to slowly expand to new areas--evidence that H7n9 is difficult to contain along poultry market chains
Managing Livestock Risks via Better Mapsmany of the insights in the report have been possible because of a new set maps that are allowing researchers to observe down to the square kilometer the global distribution
and density of the billions of poultry cattle pigs goats and other livestock that exist in the world today.
Robinson said that mapping livestock populations is particularly important in the developing world --and especially in Asia--where soaring demand for animal-source foods is driving production growth in
what has been termed a livestock revolution. For example in the avian influenza study the maps helped researchers rule out intensive poultry operations in Northeastern China as a source of H7n9
and thus possibly avert a costly and likely futile intervention aimed at indiscriminately culling poultry.
The more we can annotate our maps with additional data on the modes of production
and things like how many live bird markets are located in a particular area the more successful we can be at reducing risks associated with intensifying livestock production in developing countries Robinson said.
while the rising demand for livestock products is presenting a number of challenges livestock are essential to meeting the basic nutritional needs and providing income for several hundred million poor people around the world today.
They are freely accessible through a Livestock Geo-Wiki a site maintained by collaborators at the International Institute for Applied Systems analysis (IIASA.
#In wild yak society, moms are the real climbersa new study led by the Wildlife Conservation Society says that in wild yak societies it's the mothers that are the real climbers.
Wild yaks are endangered an species occurring only on the Tibetan Plateau and closely related to North american bison.
The study reported that wild yak females are found on mountainous slopes averaging 15994 feet
Wild yaks are the largest grazer north of the tropics; while weights are known rarely they are larger than bison.
Domestic yaks were bred once with bison in northern Canada in the 1920's in an attempt to make for more cold-hearty animals.
The authors of the study say that the remoteness of the wild yak's habitat gives conservationists an opportunity to study a species that has not been impacted largely by humans.
Bison on the other hand have been impacted greatly by human activity and habitat fragmentation. Their ability to range in higher elevations has been lost largely
although skulls have been found in the Rocky mountains above 12000 feet in Utah Colorado and Wyoming.
Neither habitat destruction nor fragmentation are issues in the yak's home in far western China
#Better methods to detect E coli developedkansas State university diagnosticians are helping the cattle industry save millions of dollars each year by developing earlier and accurate detection of E coli.
The researchers are part of a College of Veterinary medicine team studying preharvest food safety in beef cattle. Noll has developed
and can help with quality control in cattle facilities. The novelty of this test is that it targets four genes Nagaraja said.
and more sensitive ways to detect these pathogens of E coli in cattle feces. To develop the diagnostic test Noll
Beef cattle production is a major industry in Kansas and Kansas State university has a rich tradition in the research of beef cattle production
and beef safety Noll said. As a graduate student in veterinary biomedical sciences I am proud to be a member of a multidisciplinary team in the College of Veterinary medicine that aims to make beef a safe product for the consumers.
#Conserving remnants of West african tropical forestthe Upper Guinean forests once covered more than 103 million acres from southern Guinea into Sierra leone through Liberia and southern CÃ'te d'Ivoire
To reduce dingo predation in the livestock industry Australia also maintains the world's longest fence which runs for 5500 kilometers (3400 miles) in an attempt to exclude dingoes from almost a quarter of the continent.
As coyotes have expanded in North america they have become a major cause of concern for the livestock industry.
In the United states in 2004 researchers estimated annual losses due to coyote predation on sheep and cattle at $40 million.
The leaf-tailed gecko is a large nocturnal gecko from Madagascar threatened with extensive habitat loss from cattle grazing logging agriculture and collection for the pet trade.
Three loggerhead shrike chicks hatched in Mid-may at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute In front Royal Va. Loggerhead shrikes also called butcher birds are songbirds that hunt small animals by impaling them on thorns or barbed wire.
Extinct in the wild a rare scimitar-horned oryx was born May 15. It was the 164th scimitar-horned oryx calf to be born at SCBI.
Scimitar-horned oryx once lived in the arid plains and deserts of northern African countries of Egypt Senegal and Chad.
Reintroduction efforts have begun in Tunisia. A red panda gave birth to two surviving cubs May 27 at SCBI.
Sarcocystis thermostable PCR detection kit developedconsumption of undercooked cyst-laden meat from cattle sheep and goats may cause infection in humans.
Researchers from Universiti Teknologi MARA have invented successfully a PCR kit which provides a suitable and feasible means of screening detection and identification with high sensitivity and specificity of the parasite.
Sarcosytis spp are intracellular protozoan parasites acquired upon consumption of undercooked cyst-laden meat from cattle sheep and goats.
and S. suihominis after ingesting raw meat from cattle and pigs respectively. Cases of human infection have been documented.
Livestock suffer acute debilitating infections resulting in abortion and death or chronic infections with failure to grow
Goats eat it deer eat it and birds eat the seeds all to no ill effects.
Splitting the cow's milk proteins in a formula doesn't prevent the start-up of the disease process of type 1 diabetes in predisposed children shows a large international study.
Previous studies have indicated that early exposure to complex foreign proteins such as cow's milk proteins increases the risk of type 1 diabetes in predisposed individuals.
either to a special formula where the cow's milk proteins were split into small peptides or to a conventional infant formula with the regular cow's milk proteins.
poultry included chicken and turkey; fish included tuna salmon mackerel sardines; legumes included beans lentils and peas;
In contrast estimates showed a lower risk of breast cancer in postmenopausal women with higher consumption of poultry.
Substituting one serving per day of poultry for one serving per day of red meat--in the statistical model--was associated with a 17%lower risk of breast cancer overall and a 24%lower risk of postmenopausal breast cancer.
Furthermore substituting one serving per day of combined legumes nuts poultry and fish for one serving per day of red meat was associated with a 14%lower risk of breast cancer overall and premenopausal breast cancer.
and replacing red meat with a combination of legumes poultry nuts and fish may reduce the risk of breast cancer.
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