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This document provides highlights of recent clinically relevant papers in the field of equine veterinary education. The first study examines the associations between insulin responses to oral sugars and insulin dysregulation in nonlaminitic ponies. The second study compares the effects of firocoxib and flunixin meglumine on colonic inflammation in healthy horses. The third study develops and validates a scoring system for trigeminal-mediated headshaking in horses. The fourth study presents guidelines for diagnosing anthelmintic resistance using the faecal egg count reduction test in ruminants, horses, and swine. The final study investigates the heredity of juvenile idiopathic epilepsy in Arabian horses. [Extracted from the article]

Simple Summary: This article discusses how to plan the transport of fattened pigs from farms to the abattoir efficiently when the farms are coordinated with the abattoir operation. In contrast to the papers published to date that have been concerned with the farmer's profit, this paper adopts the slaughterhouse perspective. Coordination with growers should help to better plan the collection of pigs by establishing the best routes for the trucks to ensure the optimal functioning of the abattoir. Starting from a real scenario, the study delves into a complex Team Orienteering Problem, taking into account factors such as stochastic production and maximum truck workload. The paper adopts the PJS heuristic and compares it with exact methods, revealing the computational infeasibility of the latter. Through scenario analysis, the study unveils insights into practical solutions, highlighting a positive relationship between the exploration of alternative routes, the number of trips, transport costs, and maximum reward. In particular, greater variability in the number of pigs to be collected presents opportunities for a more efficient mix of loads, especially if one truck can visit at least one more farm. These results offer valuable insights for optimizing the pig transport logistics, potentially improving the profitability and sustainability. In the context of pig farming, this paper addresses the optimization problem of collecting fattened pigs from farms to deliver them to the abattoir. Assuming that the pig sector is organized as a competitive supply chain with narrow profit margins, our aim is to apply analytics to cope with the uncertainty in production costs and revenues. Motivated by a real-life case, the paper analyzes a rich Team Orienteering Problem (TOP) with a homogeneous fleet, stochastic demands, and maximum workload. After describing the problem and reviewing the related literature, we introduce the PJS heuristic. Our approach is first compared with exact methods, which are revealed as computationally unfeasible. Later, a scenario analysis based on a real instance was performed to gain insight into the practical aspects. Our findings demonstrate a positive correlation between the number of alternative routes explored, the number of trips, the transportation cost, and the maximum reward. Regarding the variability in the number of pigs to collect, when a truck can visit more than one farm, better solutions can be found with higher variability since the load can be combined more efficiently. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Predicting emissions from livestock housing is crucial for helping farmers understand how various factors impact emissions at the pig house level. This knowledge empowers decision-makers and the farmers to make informed choices that encourage emission reduction and improve air quality in pig houses. To create innovative, low-emission pig housing systems, the development of a prediction model appears to be a straightforward solution. This paper introduces such a model for predicting methane and ammonia emissions from two commercial pig houses with two manure management systems: one with long storage in deep pits and the other with short storage, through daily flushing of a shallow pit with sloped walls (a reduced emitting surface) and partial manure dilution. This simulation model, which considers factors like animal weight, age, feed, and pen dimensions as input data, calculates manure quantity and quality, as well as methane and ammonia emissions over the growing period. In this model, the calculation of ammonia emission involves aggregating emissions from various sources identifiable within pig houses. These sources include manure channels, slatted floors, and solid floors, encompassing fouled areas, pigs, and pen partitions. This model successfully predicts the development of methane and ammonia emissions based on animal and farm characteristics. This paper describes a model for the prediction of methane and ammonia emissions from fattening pig houses. This model was validated with continuous and discrete measurements using a reference method from two manure management systems (MMS): long storage (LS) in deep pits and short storage (SS) by daily flushing of a shallow pit with sloped walls and partial manure dilution. The average calculated methane and ammonia emissions corresponded well with the measured values. Based on the calculated and measured results, the average calculated CH4 emission (18.5 and 4.3 kg yr−1 per pig place) was in between the means from the continuous data from sensors (15.9 and 5.6 kg yr−1 per pig place) and the means from the discrete measurements using the reference method (22.0 and 3.1 kg yr−1 per pig place) for the LS and SS systems, respectively. The average calculated NH3 emission (2.6 and 1.4 kg yr−1 per pig place) corresponded well with the continuous data (2.6 and 1.2 kg yr−1 per pig place) and the discrete measurements using the reference method (2.7 and 1.0 kg yr−1 per pig place) from LS and SS, respectively. This model was able to predict the reduction potential for methane and ammonia emissions by the application of mitigation options. Furthermore, this model can be utilized as a predictive tool, enabling timely actions to be taken based on the emission prediction. The upgraded model with robust calculation rules, extensive validations, and a simplified interface can be a useful tool to assess the current situation and the impact of mitigation measures at the farm level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: The African Swine Fever Virus (ASFV) is a DNA virus belonging to the Asfivirus genus and Asfarviridae family. In recent years, ASF has grown to be a significant concern for the pig industry worldwide. The ever-growing handling of ASFV pathological material in laboratories, for either diagnostic or research activities, requires particular caution to avoid accidental virus release from laboratories with consequent detrimental economic and environmental effects. This paper aims to describe the Italian National Reference Laboratory (NRL) efforts to develop a biological containment tool for ASF laboratories and animal facilities. The easy-to-apply recommendations focusing on the risk assessment system and internal audits used for enhancing Italian biosafety and biosecurity measures are reported. The African Swine Fever Virus (ASFV) is a DNA virus of the Asfarviridae family, Asfivirus genus. It is responsible for massive losses in pig populations and drastic direct and indirect economic impacts. The ever-growing handling of ASFV pathological material in laboratories, necessary for either diagnostic or research activities, requires particular attention to avoid accidental virus release from laboratories and its detrimental economic and environmental effects. Recently, the Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/689 of 17 December 2019 repealed the Commission Decision of 26 May 2003 reporting an ASF diagnostic manual (2003/422/EC) with the minimum and supplementary requirements for ASF laboratories. This decision generated a regulatory gap that has not been addressed yet. This paper aims to describe the Italian National Reference Laboratory (NRL) efforts to develop an effective and reliable biological containment tool for ASF laboratories and animal facilities. The tool consists of comprehensive and harmonized structural and procedural requirements for ASF laboratories and animal facilities that have been developed based on both current and repealed legislation, further entailing a risk assessment and internal audit as indispensable tools to design, adjust, and improve biological containment measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The topic of keeping livestock is very well suited to addressing the ecological, social, and economic aspects of the sustainable production of our food in school lessons. However, the production of animal-based foods is mainly outside the personal experience of children and young people. To derive relevant implications for teaching, this paper explores the following research question: 'What conceptions do elementary school students have about keeping fattening pigs and dairy cows on farms?' In more detail, this study examines students' conceptions of stock sizes, husbandry practices, and feeding of fattening pigs and dairy cows and how these differ between urban and farm students. For this purpose, six elementary school students (MAge = 8.8 years, SD = 0.4 ; 83% female) from Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia were interviewed. Three of the subjects were growing up on a conventional farm with fattening pigs. The study is informed by the Model of Educational Reconstruction. To elicit students' conceptions, we used semi-structured guided interviews, during which students made a drawing of a farm that they described in detail. The data were evaluated with the help of qualitative content analysis. The study results show a wide range of conceptions, ranging from naive and unbiased conceptions to clear conceptions of modern, conventional livestock farming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Simple Summary: Pig tracking provides strong support for refined management in pig farms and can assist in realizing customized, automated, and intellectualized management. However, there are many complex factors in actual production that result in pigs not being tracked consistently over time. To address this issue, we proposed a long-term video tracking method for group-housed pigs based on improved StrongSORT. The experimental results proved that our study demonstrates high practicality, catering to the needs of practical production. It improved the efficiency of farming personnel and lays the foundation for the automated monitoring of pigs. Additionally, it is worth mentioning that we have also released a dataset specifically designed for long-term pig tracking in this paper. Pig tracking provides strong support for refined management in pig farms. However, long and continuous multi-pig tracking is still extremely challenging due to occlusion, distortion, and motion blurring in real farming scenarios. This study proposes a long-term video tracking method for group-housed pigs based on improved StrongSORT, which can significantly improve the performance of pig tracking in production scenarios. In addition, this research constructs a 24 h pig tracking video dataset, providing a basis for exploring the effectiveness of long-term tracking algorithms. For object detection, a lightweight pig detection network, YOLO v7-tiny_Pig, improved based on YOLO v7-tiny, is proposed to reduce model parameters and improve detection speed. To address the target association problem, the trajectory management method of StrongSORT is optimized according to the characteristics of the pig tracking task to reduce the tracking identity (ID) switching and improve the stability of the algorithm. The experimental results show that YOLO v7-tiny_Pig ensures detection applicability while reducing parameters by 36.7% compared to YOLO v7-tiny and achieving an average video detection speed of 435 frames per second. In terms of pig tracking, Higher-Order Tracking Accuracy (HOTA), Multi-Object Tracking Accuracy (MOTP), and Identification F1 (IDF1) scores reach 83.16%, 97.6%, and 91.42%, respectively. Compared with the original StrongSORT algorithm, HOTA and IDF1 are improved by 6.19% and 10.89%, respectively, and Identity Switch (IDSW) is reduced by 69%. Our algorithm can achieve the continuous tracking of pigs in real scenarios for up to 24 h. This method provides technical support for non-contact pig automatic monitoring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To ensure the safety of the hogs in large-scale pig farming, the hog transfer truck needs to be cleaned and disinfected at high temperatures. This paper proposes a model of the transfer truck drying room based on spherical air outlets, using RC-4HC temperature and humidity measuring instruments, electronic scale, and other devices to measure the drying process of the transfer trucks at different outdoor ambient temperatures, different deck placement techniques, and different degrees of preheating, and explores the problem of excessive energy consumption in the transfer truck drying room. The outcome demonstrates that the transfer truck drying chamber has the fastest drying time—3137 s. The drying room's energy use is also significantly influenced by the transfer truck leaching effect, deck positioning, which has the second-highest impact, and the outdoor ambient temperature, which has a negligible effect. The fuel consumption of the drying room is decreased by 5.19% and 25.78%, respectively, when the second truck is preheated for 600 s and 1500 s utilizing the leftover heat from the drying of the first truck. The resultant energy savings are astounding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Seabuckthorn is rich in polysaccharides, flavonoids, tannins, terpenoids, fatty acids, vitamins, and other active components. It has biological functions such as antioxidant, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, anti-tumor, liver-protecting, and cholagogic, which can enhance the immunity and antioxidant function of livestock and poultry, improve growth performance, and improve the quality of livestock and poultry products. Adding seabuckthorn residue, seeds, leaves or extracts to diet can promote the production of pigs, sheep, dairy cows and broilers to varying degrees, reduce feed costs and improve the economic benefits of breeding, but the active components and molecular mechanisms of seabuckthorn promoting livestock and poultry production are unclear. In this paper, the active components, biological functions, and application of seabuckthorn in livestock and poultry production were summarized, which provided a reference for the mechanism research, production application and development of seabuckthorn promoting livestock and poultry production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Streptococcus suis (S. suis) infections in weaned pigs are common and responsible for a high consumption of antimicrobials, and their presence is assumed to be multi-factorial. A specific evidence-based veterinary guideline to support the control of S. suis in weaned pigs was developed for veterinary practitioners in the Netherlands in 2014. Adherence to the S. suis clinical practice guideline helps veterinary practitioners to prevent and control the disease in a systematical approach and thereby improve antimicrobial stewardship and contribute to the prevention of antimicrobial resistance in animals and humans. The impact of such a clinical practice guideline on (animal) disease management depends not only on its content, but also largely on the extent to which practitioners adhere to the clinical guideline in practice. When the S. suis guideline was published, no specific activities were undertaken to support veterinarians' uptake and implementation, thereby contributing to suboptimal adherence in clinical practice. As the S. suis guideline was comprehensively written by veterinary experts following an evidence-based approach, our aim was not to judge the (scientific) quality of the guideline but to study the possibility to improve the currently low adherence of this guideline in veterinary practice. This paper describes the systematic development, using Implementation Mapping, of a theory-based intervention program to support swine veterinarians' adherence to the S. suis guideline. The knowledge, skills, beliefs about capabilities, and beliefs about consequences domains are addressed in the program, which includes seven evidence-based methods (modelling, tailoring, feedback, discussion, persuasive communication, active learning, and self-monitoring) for use in program activities such as a peer-learning meeting and an e-learning module. The intervention program has been developed for practicing swine veterinarians, lasts eight months, and is evaluated through a stepped-wedge design. The Implementation Mapping approach ensured that all relevant adopters and implementers were involved, and that outcomes, determinants (influencing factors), and objectives were systematically discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Pigs are exposed to various stressors, which can disrupt their internal balance and compromise their well-being. Stress can adversely affect animal performance, fertility, and immunity, leading to economic losses for farmers. Incorporating antioxidants in pig breeding can counteract those changes. This review presents studies investigating the impact of additional vitamin supplementation on stress reduction in pigs. It highlights the potential benefits of these dietary antioxidants in maintaining pig health. Good practices in farm animal care are crucial for upholding animal well-being, efficiency, and health. Pigs, like other farm animals, are exposed to various stressors, including environmental, nutritional, chemical, psychological, physiological, and metabolic stressors, which can disrupt their internal balance and compromise their well-being. Oxidative stress can adversely affect animal performance, fertility, and immunity, leading to economic losses for farmers. Dietary considerations are hugely important in attaining these objectives. This paper reviews studies investigating the impact of additional vitamin supplementation on stress reduction in pigs. Vitamin A can be beneficial in counteracting viral and parasitic threats. Vitamin B can be a potential solution for reproductive issues, but it might also be beneficial in reducing the effects of inappropriate nutrition. Vitamin C plays a vital role in reducing the effects of heat stress or exposure to toxins in pigs. Vitamin D proves to be beneficial in addressing stress induced mostly by infections and weaning, while vitamin E has been shown to mitigate the effects of toxins, heat stress, or transport stress. This review highlights the potential benefits of these dietary antioxidants in maintaining pig health, enhancing productivity, and counteracting the adverse effects of various stressors. Understanding the role of vitamins in pig nutrition and stress management is vital for optimising farm animal welfare and production efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the prohibition of antibiotics in feed, natural plant components as feed additives instead of antibiotics have gradually attracted wide attention and research. Resveratrol, as a natural polyphenol compound with various biological activities, which mainly exists in grapes, Polygonum cuspidatum and other plants, and has antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial and anticancer properties. Adding resveratrol to feed can improve the intestinal health of pigs, promote the balance and growth of intestinal microorganisms, and enhance the immunity and disease resistance of pigs. In addition, resveratrol can also improve mitochondrial function and antioxidant capacity of pigs, improve energy metabolism and utilization efficiency of pigs, and improve the growth performance and reproductive performance of pigs. This paper summarizes the application status of resveratrol in pig production, and discusses its potential mechanism, so as to better understand its application effect and potential in pig production and provide reference for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Computer vision methods for non-contact detection of herd pigs could help detect early disease and reduce mortality rates by analyzing pig behavior. Due to the limitation of breeding space and cost, the unit breeding area is relatively dense, making it difficult to detect all pigs for a long time without interruption. In order to improve the detection performance, this paper proposes an end-to-end efficient and accurate herd pig detection framework based on YOLOv7 target detection model, which is named Ghost-YOLOv7-SIoU. In this framework, the feature extraction backbone network consists of a series of directly connected efficient layer aggregation networks (ELAN) and downsampling modules. The neck network contains a feature pyramid network and path aggregation network. Ghost convolution is adopted to replace the 3 × 3 standard convolution of the ELAN module in backbone network and the scaled-up ELAN module in neck network to obtain rich features while reducing the parameter number and computational effort. Furthermore, to speed up the model convergence and improve the model robustness and accuracy, SIoU loss is used for bounding box regression in the training stage. On the VOC2012 dataset, the number of parameters and floating-point operations decreased by 13.4% and 15.7% compared to YOLOv7, with comparable detection accuracy. Additionally, the number of parameters and floating-point operations decreased by 13.7% and 16.1% on our pig dataset. Ghost-YOLOv7-SIoU is superior to YOLOV4-CSP and YOLOR-CSP in accuracy. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method in improving the efficiency of model detection while ensuring detection accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: The analysis of pig saliva, which is easily available and rich in bioactive ingredients, has been widely studied, showing potential in disease diagnosis and treatment for pig production management. Studies have shown that porcine saliva analytes have important application potential in disease detection and can be used as disease biomarkers and therapeutic monitoring indicators, as well as for prognostic evaluation. Through the changes in specific proteins, metabolites, and microbial composition in porcine saliva, porcine saliva analytes can provide a new strategy for early diagnosis, prognosis assessment, and treatment of diseases. This review introduces the composition and function of analytes in porcine saliva. Different analytes in porcine saliva are widely employed in diseases. As an indicator of pig health, saliva can be used as a noninvasive sample for disease detection and monitoring. Saliva is an important exocrine fluid that is easy to collect and is a complex mixture of proteins and other molecules from multiple sources from which considerable biological information can be mined. Pig saliva, as an easily available biological liquid rich in bioactive ingredients, is rich in nucleic acid analytes, such as eggs, enzymes, amino acids, sugars, etc. The expression levels of these components in different diseases have received extensive attention, and the analysis of specific proteins, metabolites, and biological compositions in pig saliva has become a new direction for disease diagnosis and treatment. The study of the changes in analytes in pig saliva can provide a new strategy for early diagnosis, prognosis assessment, and treatment of diseases. In this paper, the detection methods and research progress of porcine salivary analytes are reviewed, the application and research progress of porcine salivary analytes in diseases are discussed, and the future application prospect is presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Judaic law famously bans pigs. For millennia, scholars have wondered why. This paper uses the economics of property rights to resolve the puzzle. We argue that the Judaic pig ban was an instrument for internalizing swine externalities. Free ranging pigs in search of sustenance trespass on agricultural landowners' property, wreaking destruction. Activities that foster such pigs thus create negative externalities that can cripple agricultural economies. When the expected cost of swine externalities becomes large, internalization becomes worthwhile: lawmakers with a vested interest in the agricultural economy ban activities that foster free ranging pigs. That is what transpired in ancient Judah, where lawmakers were priests whose livelihoods depended on agriculture, where all swine ranged freely, and where the expected cost of swine externalities surged during the late Iron Age. Lawmakers invoked God to enjoin involvement with pigs because a supernatural injunction was cheaper to enforce than a natural one: in a land of faithful Hebrews, Yahweh's swine prohibition enforced itself. The Judaic pig ban's features are consistent with pig bans recently adopted by US states such as Montana, which everyone agrees are instruments for internalizing swine externalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the training effect evaluation of swimmers, this paper proposes an infrared image detection method based on HOG feature extraction and infrared image detection technology. Since optical images are easily affected by illumination and other factors in complex environments, infrared images are chosen as the object of training effect evaluation in this study. Infrared images have the advantages of illumination insensitivity, through fog and so on, which can better reflect the posture and action of swimmers. The infrared image detection method based on HOG feature extraction is described in detail, and the feature vector of swimmers is obtained. By detecting the infrared images of the training set and the test set, the evaluation results of the training effect of the swimmers are obtained. The experimental results show that this method can accurately detect the swimmer's posture and movement, and provides an effective means for evaluating the training effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many researchers consider gut microbiota (trillions of microorganisms) an endogenous organ of its animal host, which confers a vast genetic diversity in providing the host with essential biological functions. Particularly, the gut microbiota regulates not only gut tissue structure but also gut health and gut functionality. This paper first summarized those common bacterial species (dominated by the Firmicutes, Bacteroidota, and Proteobacteria phyla) in swine gut and then briefly discussed their roles in swine nutrition and health, which include roles in nutrient metabolism, pathogen exclusion, and immunity modulation. Secondly, the current knowledge on how dietary nutrients and feed additives affect the gut bacterial composition and nutrient metabolism in pigs was discussed. Finally, how dietary amino acids affect the relative abundances and metabolism of bacteria in the swine gut was reviewed. Tryptophan supplementation promotes the growth of beneficial bacteria and suppresses pathogens, while arginine metabolism affects nitrogen recycling, impacting gut immune response and health. Glutamate and glutamine supplementations elevate the levels of beneficial bacteria and mitigate pathogenic ones. It was concluded that nutritional strategies to manipulate gut microbial ecosystems are useful measures to optimize gut health and gut functions. For example, providing pigs with nutrients that promote the growth of Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium can lead to better gut health and growth performance, especially when dietary protein is limited. Further research to establish the mechanistic cause-and-effect relationships between amino acids and the dynamics of gut microbiota will allow swine producers to reap the greatest return on their feed investment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: The arrival of the African swine fever (ASF) epizootic in the European continent has pushed public veterinary authorities to act immediately in order to contain its spread by applying the regulatory guidance of the current Animal Health Law of the European Union (Regulations EU 2016/429). Control and surveillance measures, in accordance with Regulations 2020/687 and 2023/594, have been implemented. Moreover, protection and surveillance areas have been created around the infected holdings and the wild boar cases. This paper analyzes the advantages and critical points of the legal framework for the control of ASF in wild boar, focusing on the role of official veterinary services in European Union Member States (EU MS). Recently, the African swine fever (ASF) epizootic has been reported in domestic pigs and wild boars in several European Union Member States (EU MS) and epidemiological evidence has accumulated which indicates that wild boar play a key role in maintaining and spreading the disease. Thanks to the experience gained when managing ASF outbreaks in Sardinia (Italy) and Eastern Europe, Directive 2002/60 CE was issued. This directive represented an important step forward in controlling the disease, particularly the risk of spreading the virus to wild animals. Since 2021, according to Regulation (EU) 2016/429, which is also called "Animal Health Law—AHL", when the MS competent authority suspects or confirms ASF (a cat. A listed disease) in wild animals, it is mandatory to conduct surveillance in the wild boar population and implement the necessary control measures. Within AHL, Regulations (EU) 2020/687 and 2023/594 established special ASF control measures in kept and wild porcine animals, and their products and by-products, focusing on and underlying old and new responsibilities that vets (both public and private ones) have to accomplish under the new regulations. The new change in the legal framework deals with specific measures to be applied in the wild and represents a great challenge for MS veterinary services. Some of these measures have been well established in the last two decades, particularly those related to application in the farming system, while other measures are still new to veterinary health management and require a holistic approach in terms of intensity, considering all geographical, ecological, productive, cultural and social features of the involved EU MS. In this contribution, the authors intend to focus on specific measures which have been issued in order to limit or stop the spread of ASF in a wild, "boundless" ecosystem. These measures expand the field of competence of the official veterinary service to wild areas in addition to farm activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research in many forensic science fields commonly uses domestic pigs (Sus spp.) as proxies for human remains, due to their physiological and anatomical similarities, as well as being more readily available. Unfortunately, previous research, especially that which compares the decompositional process, has shown that pigs are not appropriate proxies for humans. To date, there has not been any published research that specifically addresses whether domestic pigs are adequate human proxies for the geophysical detection of clandestine graves. As such, the aim of this paper was to compare the geophysical responses of pig cadavers and human donor graves, in order to determine if pigs can indeed be used as adequate human proxies. To accomplish this, ground penetrating radar (GPR) and electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) responses on single and multiple pig cadaver graves were compared to single and multiple human donor graves, all of which are in known locations within the same geological environment. The results showed that under field conditions, both GPR and ERT were successful at observing human and pig burials, with no obvious differences between the detected geophysical responses. The results also showed that there were no differences in the geophysical responses of those who were clothed and unclothed. The similarity of the responses may reflect that the geophysical techniques can detect graves despite what their contents are. The study implications suggest that experimental studies in other soil and climate conditions can be easily replicated, benefiting law enforcement with missing persons cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Japanese encephalitis virus is a mosquito-borne member of the Flaviviridae family. JEV is the leading cause of viral encephalitis in Asia and is characterized by encephalitis, high lethality, and neurological sequelae in survivors. The virus also causes severe disease in swine, which are an amplifying host in the transmission cycle, and in horses. US agricultural authorities have recently recognized the threat to the swine industry and initiated preparedness activities. Other mosquito-borne viruses exotic to the Western Hemisphere have been introduced and established in recent years, including West Nile, Zika, and chikungunya viruses, and JEV has recently invaded continental Australia for the first time. These events amply illustrate the potential threat of JEV to US health security. Susceptible indigenous mosquito vectors, birds, feral and domestic pigs, and possibly bats, constitute the receptive ecological ingredients for the spread of JEV in the US. Fortunately, unlike the other virus invaders mentioned above, an inactivated whole virus JE vaccine (IXIARO®) has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for human use in advance of a public health emergency, but there is no veterinary vaccine. This paper describes the risks and potential consequences of the introduction of JEV into the US, the need to integrate planning for such an event in public health policy, and the requirement for additional countermeasures, including antiviral drugs and an improved single dose vaccine that elicits durable immunity in both humans and livestock. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For patients who had testicular tissue cryopreserved before receiving gonadotoxic therapies, transplantation of testicular tissues and cells has been recommended as a potential therapeutic option. There are no studies that indicate the generation of sperm after human immature testicular tissue (ITT) or spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs) transplantation. The use of releasing scaffolds and localized drug delivery systems as well as the optimizing transplantation site can play an effective role in increasing the efficiency and improving the quality of testicular tissue and cell transplantation in animal models. Current research is focused on optimizing ITT and cell transplantation, the use of releasing scaffolds, and the selection of the right transplantation site that might restore sperm production or male infertility treatment. By searching the PubMed and Google Scholar databases, original and review papers were collected. Search terms were relevant for SSCs and tissue transplantation. In this review, we'll focus on the potential advantages of using scaffolds and choosing the right transplantation site to improve transplantation outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gene editing (GnEd) involves using a site-directed nuclease to introduce a double-strand break (DSB) at a targeted location in the genome. A literature search was performed on the use of GnEd in animals for agricultural applications. Data was extracted from 212 peer-reviewed articles that described the production of at least one living animal employing GnEd technologies for agricultural purposes. The most common GnEd system reported was CRISPR/Cas9, and the most frequent type of edit was the unguided insertion or deletion resulting from the repair of the targeted DSB leading to a knock-out (KO) mutation. Animal groups included in the reviewed papers were ruminants (cattle, sheep, goats, n =63); monogastrics (pigs and rabbits, n =60); avian (chicken, duck, quail, n =17); aquatic (many species, n =65), and insects (honeybee, silkworm, n =7). Yield (32%), followed by reproduction (21%) and disease resistance (17%) were the most commonly targeted traits. Over half of the reviewed papers had Chinese first-authorship. Several countries, including Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Colombia and Japan, have adopted a regulatory policy that considers KO mutations introduced following GnEd DSB repair as akin to natural genetic variation, and therefore treat these GnEd animals analogously to those produced using conventional breeding. This approach has resulted in a non-GMO determination for a small number of GnEd food animal applications, including three species of GnEd KO fast-growing fish, (red sea bream, olive flounder and tiger pufferfish in Japan), KO fish and cattle in Argentina and Brazil, and porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) virus disease-resistant KO pigs in Colombia. • Gene editing (GnEd) can introduce useful genetic alterations in food animals • A total of 212 papers using GnEd in animals for agriculture were identified • Yield, reproduction, and disease resistance were the most commonly targeted traits • CRISPR/Cas9 was by far the most prevalent GnEd system used to edit animal genomes • Three species of GnEd fast-growing finfish have already been commercialized in Japan [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We established primary porcine nasal, tracheal, and bronchial epithelial cells that recapitulate the physical and functional properties of the respiratory tract and have the ability to fully differentiate. Trans-well cultures demonstrated increased transepithelial electrical resistance over time the presence of tight junctions as demonstrated by immunohistochemistry. The nasal, tracheal, and bronchial epithelial cells developed cilia, secreted mucus, and expressed sialic acids on surface glycoproteins, the latter which are required for influenza A virus infection. Swine influenza viruses were shown to replicate efficiently in the primary epithelial cell cultures, supporting the use of these culture models to assess swine influenza and other virus infection. Primary porcine nasal, tracheal, and bronchial epithelial cell culture models enable assessment of emerging and novel influenza viruses for pandemic potential as well as mechanistic studies to understand mechanisms of infection, reassortment, and generation of novel virus. As swine are susceptible to infection with multiple viral and bacterial respiratory pathogens, these primary airway cell models may enable study of the cellular response to infection by pathogens associated with Porcine Respiratory Disease Complex. • The paper describes, in detail, the isolation and culture of swine primary respiratory epithelial cells. • This paper demonstrates the differentiation of the primary swine respiratory epithelial cells. • This paper demonstrates the utility of these primary cells to assess infection and replication of swine influenza viruses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The scale of pig breeding in China is the largest in the world, and the pollution problem of breeding wastewater is serious. Supercritical water gasification (SCWG) process is a clean and efficient treatment technology for breeding wastewater. This paper involved constructing the molecular model of the primary organic components in pig breeding wastewater. The effects of time, temperature and mass concentration, and the interactions of different components on the SCWG characteristics of pig breeding wastewater were studied by molecular dynamics (MD) simulation, and the decomposition process of lignin and lipid molecules in the SCWG process were analyzed, and the possible intermediates were explored. The results showed that the effect of parameters on carbon gasification efficiency (CE) and H 2 production follows the order of temperature > time > mass concentration. During the gasification of lignin and lipid molecules, the C–O–C bond was broken first, and the gasification rate of lignin molecules was slow due to the benzene ring. Interactions among different organic decompositions hindered the gasification process. This paper will provide theoretical guidance for the selection of operation parameters and the control of products in the actual pig breeding wastewater treatment process. • The MD model of wastewater containing complex organics was established. • The effects of key parameters on SCWG of pig breeding wastewater were studied. • The detailed SCWG mechanisms of pig breeding wastewater were analyzed. • The intermediate products from SCWG of pig breeding wastewater were explored. • The interaction mechanisms of different organics during SCWG were analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effects of dietary protein content on health and productivity were studied in 41 weaned Danube white breed pigs growing from 9 to 25 kg live weight. The duration of the experiment was 41 days. The compound feeds for the two groups had the same component composition and were calculated to match the needs of the animals, but differed in the amount of crude protein. Animals were offered two diets providing 190.2 and 160.2 g crude protein per kg and 9.3 g lysine per kg, respectively. When reducing dietary protein, it is important to pay attention to lysine, as it is key to growth and general animal health. The equalisation of the lysine content in the compound feeds was done by synthetic lysine. Pigs were fed ad libitum equal rations. In conclusion: Reduced protein levels did not significantly affect the growth of weaned pigs (386 g/d and 380 g/d) when the compound feeds were equalised for lysine content. Pigs fed low protein levels had better utilisation of crude protein (p<0.001) and poor utilisation of crude fat (p=0.045). Reduced protein levels have a statistically significant positive effect on haematological and biochemical blood parameters associated with health status in weaned pigs. The results can be used to practically solve some health problems when weaning pigs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Standardized ear tag data via transformation and cleaning. • Conducted time series analysis on daily pig data. • Analyzed seasonal trends in pig population data. • Classified ear tag data using six methods. The behavioral and physiological patterns of pigs are key indicators for assessing their health status. This study aims to explore the differences in activity level and body temperature variation patterns between normal and abnormal pigs. In view of the characteristics of pig ear tag data, such as high volatility, unclear features and strong randomness, we adopted various processing and analysis methods. The main work of this paper includes: (1) Preprocessing and integrating pig ear tag data to improve data quality; (2) Performing similarity and time series analysis on the daily data of each pig to identify the change patterns of activity level and body temperature; (3) Performing seasonal feature analysis and trend change analysis on the data of the pig population, finding the gap between abnormal pigs and the population pattern, and classifying abnormal and normal pigs. The main results and conclusions of this paper are as follows: (1) Pigs are most active in two time periods: 5:00 to 10:00 in the morning and 14:00 to 18:00 in the afternoon; (2) The activity duration of lame pigs is significantly lower than that of normal pigs, while the activity duration of pigs under other abnormal conditions is not much different; (3) Although the ear tag temperature data is affected by the pig's behavior, abnormal pigs can be found by the characteristic of low temperature trend within a day. (4) Random forest algorithm can effectively classify normal and abnormal pigs, with an accuracy of 0.879. The research results of this paper have important significance and value for realizing the refined management of pigs, improving the breeding efficiency, and ensuring the health and production safety of pigs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metastrongylidosis or pulmonary strongylidosis of pigs is a disease caused by several species of nematodes from the genus Metastrongylus. Metastrongylides belong to biohelminths whose causative agents use transitional hosts for their development and maintenance of the biological cycle, in this case numerous species of lumbricides (earthworms). The larvae acquire infectivity only when they eat by earthworms - intermedial host. The seasonal variation of microclimate conditions in the soil has a large part in the life of earthworms, and the inhibitory factors in their seasonal dynamics are directly related to the spread of metastrongylidosis. Overview of research conducted in the five-year period in the area of Belgrade it was established that the dominant species of earthworms which are intermediate hosts to lungworm: Eisenia foetida, Eisenia rosea, Dandreobena rubida, Allopbophora caliginosa, Allopbophora jassyensis, Lubricus terrestris and Lubricus rubbelus. Also, species occur as transitional hosts of metastrongylidosis was Eisenia veneta, Eisenella tetraedra, Allopbophora longa, Octolasium complanatuum, Octolasium lacteum, Octolasium rebeli, Dendrobaena octaedra, Dendrobaena subrubicunda, Dendrobaena mariupoliensis, Bimastus tenius and less often species from the genus Heledrillus spp. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the article, the intensity of growth and preservation of surgically and immunologically castrated boars of the PIC-337 line of English breeding, their fattening qualities, consumption of feed and its cost during their rearing and fattening, and the economic efficiency of using immunological castration. It was established that when piglets were immunocastrated compared to their surgical castration under liquid feeding, average daily gains increased by 1.41% during rearing, and by 9.95%, during fattening and improved feed conversion during rearing by 13.0%, fattening by 3.15% and by 4.90% from birth to slaughter. Immunological castration contributed to the growth of absolute gains during fattening by 9.68% and by 7.70% of the live weight of animals at the end of fattening. At the same time, immunocastrated animals consumed 4.52% more feed during their lifetime, the cost of which was 5.38% higher compared to surgically castrated animals, and taking into account the cost of vaccination, it was 9.04% higher. At the same time, the cost of fodder and vaccine per 1 kg of gain turned out to be higher by only 1.17%. The cost per head of immunocastrated male pigs was 8.30% lower in the growing period, but 10.16% higher in the fattening period and 5.5% in the results of these two periods. As a result, at the end of fattening, the cost of one head was 7.44% higher, and the sales price without VAT was 7.70% higher compared to surgically castrated animals, which made it possible to get 8.00% more income from the sale of one head of animals of this group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article investigated the influence of systems for creating a microclimate with uniform pressure and geothermal negative pressure in combination with liquid and dry feeding systems on the parameters of the microclimatic environment in the piglet rearing room and the intensity of their growth. For this purpose, four groups of 150 pigs each were formed, two of which were kept with a uniform pressure ventilation system and two with negative pressure geothermal ventilation. For each ventilation system, one group was fed dry granulated compound feed, and two groups were fed liquid mixtures based on the same compound feed with an addition of 2.7 liters of water per kilogram of feed. The pigs were kept under the same conditions and were fed a diet that was equivalent in composition and nutritional value. Group I included piglets that received dry feed and were raised in a room with uniform pressure ventilation. The animals in the group II were kept in the same room, but consumed liquid feeds. Pigs in the III and IV groups were kept in rooms with geothermal ventilation. Piglets in the III group were fed dry feed, while piglets in the IV group were fed liquid feed. The results of the study showed that the ventilation system has an influence of 76.48% on relative humidity, 76.96% on ammonia content, 65.77% on carbon dioxide content and 65.07% on hydrogen sulfide content. The feeding system only affects the hydrogen sulfide content with a strength of 5.79%. Better microclimate parameters were provided by uniform pressure ventilation. Higher average daily gains, higher feed consumption, better feed conversion and lower cost per 1 kg gain were found in groups of pigs fed liquid feed and kept with geothermal ventilation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In today's increasingly complex traffic environment, pedestrian detection has become increasingly important. The Histogram of Oriented Gradients (HOG) algorithm has been proven to be highly efficient in pedestrian detection. This paper proposes a low-resource consumption, high-speed hardware implementation for HOG algorithm. In the case of a slight sacrifice in accuracy, it increases computational speed and reduces resource consumption. Experimental results demonstrate that the implementation achieves a speed of 0.933 pixels per clock cycle and consumes 4117 look-up tables and 4.5 Kbits of block RAMs while its accuracy decreases by 1.2% on the INRIA dataset and by 0.11% on the MIT dataset. • The design determines the bin number by comparison to avoid complex calculations. • The design calculates the magnitude by approximation to avoid complex calculations. • This design improves computational speed and reduces resource consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microwave hydrothermal treatment is a promising technology for the environmentally friendly disposal and resource utilization of dead pigs. However, the hydrothermal transformation mechanism of animal-based biomass is unclear, impeding the regulated conversion of target products. To address this, bovine serum albumin, glycerol-oleic acid, and glucose were selected as model compounds for protein (P), lipid (L), and carbohydrate (C), respectively. In this paper, the product distribution and related properties of single, binary, and ternary model compounds at different microwave hydrothermal temperatures (120–240 °C) were investigated, and the essential reaction pathway of the dead pig model compounds during microwave hydrothermal treatment was proposed. The results showed that lipids dominated the formation of bio-oil. L&C and L&P showed a slight synergistic effect on bio-oil yield at 240 ℃, while exhibited antagonistic effects at other temperatures. L&P&C showed antagonistic effects on bio-oil yield at all temperatures. The participation of glucose was more conducive to the formation of carbonized solid products. The model compounds of dead pigs underwent a series of reactions such as dehydration, decarboxylation, deamination and condensation during microwave hydrothermal treatment. To a certain extent, lipids promoted the Maillard reaction of protein and carbohydrate, while glucose promoted the esterification reaction of fatty acids. [Display omitted] • The microwave hydrothermal was selected to transform typical animal-based biomass. • The model compounds were used for learning the conversion mechanism of dead pig. • The interactions of model compounds for product distribution were investigated. • Exploration of reaction pathways of dead pig during microwave hydrothermal process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to investigate the flexural performance of a prefabricated steel–ultra-high-performance concrete (UHPC) composite deck (PSUCD) consisting of an orthotropic steel deck (OSD) and a reinforced UHPC layer under transverse hogging moment. Ten full-scale steel–UHPC composite slab specimens were subjected to four-point flexural tests, which varied shear connectors, steel reinforcement, and wet joint interfaces. The results showed that all specimens exhibited typical flexural failure with excessive opening of critical cracks in the UHPC layer. The specimens utilizing notched perfobond strip connectors (NPBLs) with perforating rebars had higher nominal cracking strength (maximum crack width of 0.05 mm) and ultimate capacity by 15% and 27%, respectively, compared to those using studs. The perforating rebars in NPBLs improved post-cracking performance, increasing nominal cracking strength and ultimate capacity by 14% and 16%, respectively. The lateral interfaces of rectangular-tooth-shaped wet joints resulted in a local weak link in PSUCDs, leading to a 17% decrease in nominal cracking strength, and as much as 26% if interfacial roughening was omitted. Increasing the diameter of surficial reinforcement from 10 mm to 12 mm improved nominal cracking strength and ultimate capacity by 20% and 17%, respectively. Considering the influence of wet joint interfaces, prediction models for maximum crack width, nominal cracking strength, and ultimate capacity were developed and validated for the performance design of PSUCDs under transverse hogging moment. • Flexural tests were performed on ten local full-scale composite slab specimens to elaborate the flexural behavior of a prefabricated steel–UHPC composite deck under transverse hogging moment. • The influences of shear connector types, presence of wet joint interfaces, and distributed reinforcement diameter on the flexural performance were experimentally identified. • Considering the impact of wet joint interfaces, simplified prediction equations for tensioned reinforcement stress, maximum surficial crack width, nominal cracking strength, and ultimate capacity were developed and verified by the test results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Enterocytozoon bieneusi (E. bieneusi), which is one of the most common microsporidia, has been identified as an important obligate intracellular pathogen that commonly colonizes in a variety of animal species and humans worldwide, including humans. In this study, the statistical analyses of E. bieneusi infection and prevalence were performed to clarify the relationship between different genotypes in different countries. The databases Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), VIP Chinese Journal Database, Wanfang Data, PubMed, Web of Science and ScienceDirect were used for data collection. The research data were subjected to subgroup, univariate regression, and correlation, to reveal factors related to the high prevalence of E. bieneusi. A total of, 34 of the 498 articles published before April 2022 met the inclusion criteria. The global prevalence of E. bieneusi in pigs was 37.69% (5175/12672). The prevalence of E. bieneusi in nursery pigs was 58.87% (588/946). In developing countries and Asia, the highest prevalence of E. bieneusi in pigs were 37.62% (4752/11645) and 40.14% (4715/11345), respectively. Moreover, humans and pigs have been found to be infected with the same genotype of E. bieneusi in some cases, as evidenced by the consolidation of genotype information. The results showed that pigs are susceptible to E. bieneusi during the nursery period. The prevalence of E. bieneusi is high in developing countries, and its genotype prevalence varies in each country. Thus, it is essential to strengthen the health inspection of vulnerable groups and customs quarantine inspection. • A total of 34 papers containing 12672 pigs from 12 countries were analyzed, and the prevalence was 37.69%. • The prevalence of E. bieneusi pigs in developing countries is higher than that in developed countries. • Higher positive rates were observed in pigs raised in scale farms. • A total of 265 ITS genotypes of E. bieneusi were found in investigated pigs • Pig is one of the important potential sources of E. bieneusi infection in humans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the structural behaviour of timber precast concrete composite (TCC) beam-to-column subassemblies subjected to hogging bending moments is investigated. Full-scale testing and analytical modelling are undertaken on timber precast concrete composite joints and beams. The composite actions were transferred via coach (lag) screw shear connectors embedded in the small grout pockets. The laboratory tests were designed to determine the influence of the size and type of timber beams (i.e., laminated veneer lumber (LVL) or glued laminated timber (GLT)), size of screw shear connectors and amount of reinforcement (in the slabs) on the structural behaviour (i.e., load-displacement, stiffness, capacity, and ductility) of the TCC beam-to-column connections. The hogging moment capacity and stiffness of the TCC floors with nominal slab thickness of 80 mm and reinforcing ratio (in the range of 0.9–1.8%) were up to 24% and 17% higher than that of the bare timber beam, respectively. The size of coach screw shear connectors (in the range of 8–16 mm) had less than 13% effect on the capacity and stiffness. An analytical model for calculating the peak load and stiffness of the TCC beams under hogging bending moment is developed. The model is shown to perform well when compared to the collected test data. • Behaviour of TCC beam-to-column connections under hogging moment is studied. • Slab reinforcing ratio had less than 24% effect on the hogging moment capacity. • Slab reinforcing ratio had less than 17% effect on the stiffness of the TCC beam. • A model for estimating stiffness & strength of TCC under hogging moment is proposed. • Full composite action increased the capacity & stiffness of the TCC by 56% and 38%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Withdrawal periods are used to avoid animals being delivered to slaughter before the concentration of the antimicrobial has declined to values below the maximum residue limit (MRL). This paper characterises the withdrawal periods in force for oxytetracycline 100 mg/ml for intramuscular use in pigs. We investigated the variation in duration of the withdrawal period between 68 oxytetracycline products from 29 countries in- and outside the European Union. More specifically, we tested whether there is a regional difference, a difference between major and minor pig meat exporting countries, whether the product is long-acting or not, and whether year of market authorisation correlated with the withdrawal period. The results showed a large variation in duration of the withdrawal periods, ranging from 5 to 40 days. Variation was observed both between and within countries. Moreover, major exporting countries were associated with a longer withdrawal period than minor exporting countries (P = 0.00099). There were no regional differences, and the year of market authorisation had no impact, but long-acting products had a shorter withdrawal period than short-acting products (P = 0.048). The variation in withdrawal periods observed questions the utility of using compliance with the withdrawal period as a means of assessing whether the meat is safe for consumption. This is particularly relevant when a pig producer unintentionally delivers pigs for slaughter before the withdrawal period has expired and, aware of this, informs the abattoir. The findings call for further harmonisation in determining the withdrawal periods for all veterinary medicinal products (VMP). Until this happens, if animals are prematurely sent to slaughter, we suggest that the concentration of the VMP at the time of slaughter is calculated and compared with the MRL to determine meat safety. • Duration of withdrawal period after oxytetracycline treatment varied from 5 to 40 days. • Volume of national pig meat exported correlated to a longer withdrawal period. • Old veterinary medicinal products should have their withdrawal period re-evaluated. • Maximum Residue Limit should be used in risk-based calculations of food safety risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Food chain information (FCI) refers to information that is gathered along the food chain for animals intended for slaughter and is exchanged between the stakeholders at the different stages of production. FCI includes, for example, information on veterinary medicinal products or other treatments administered to the animals within a relevant period (RP) and with a withdrawal period greater than 0 days according to Regulation (EC) No 853/2004. Since the EU regulation does not specify which exact data should be collected, there are different definitions of the RP and different forms for collecting FCI across Europe. As a consequence, the information content of FCI has become heterogenous. Our study aimed to gather FCI report forms and the definitions of RPs from 35 European countries via an expert survey. Our research showed that the time frame for the RPs ranges from 0 days to the entire fattening period for all three species across Europe. For pigs and bovines, there is no clear consensus on a meaningful time frame for the RP. However, for broilers, in most European countries the RP covers the entire fattening period. Thus, harmonising the RP to the entire fattening period for broilers should be considered across the EU. Further research is necessary to determine appropriate RPs for pigs and bovines. In the case of bovines, RPs should vary depending on production types. Establishing an animal health database and transitioning from paper-based to electronic FCI transmission could standardise RPs and bring data harmonisation. Currently, the various FCI forms have different structures and request differing information. While our study did not aim to identify the optimal parameters, we advise against using forms that only require a signature stating that there is no data that could affect meat safety. Instead, farmers should provide relevant data or answer yes-no-questions. Additionally, improving and modernising FCI should also include educating and training those who work with it daily. Reporting meaningful information and subsequent action at the abattoir are crucial to achieving the intended purpose of FCI as part of risk-based meat safety assurance systems. • Unspecific EU Regulation led to different content of FCI in Europe. • There are various FCI forms across Europe; either species-specific or covering all. • Type and amount of information reported via FCI are dissimilar between countries. • For broilers, the relevant period mostly covers the entire fattening period. • The defined relevant periods for pigs and bovines are very inconsistent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]