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The use of lumpfish (Cyclopterus lumpus L.) as cleaner fish in Atlantic salmon aquaculture has emerged as a promising solution to combat the issue of sea lice infestation, as they have proven effective under the right conditions. The aquaculture industry, however, is facing challenges in ensuring the welfare and survival of lumpfish in salmon cages. Part of the welfare monitoring of lumpfish is the estimation of body condition. Previous research on standard length-weight relationships for lumpfish has primarily relied on the growth patterns of lumpfish in salmon cages, which might not align with the natural growth patterns of the fish. In this study, we argue for another perspective: using the standard weight of wild lumpfish to estimate the body condition of lumpfish in salmon cages. We assert that this approach aligns more closely with the natural growth pattern of the fish and may offer a more accurate representation of their condition. Our findings show significant differences in growth patterns between wild lumpfish, which show positive allometric growth, and those in salmon cages, which show slightly negative allometric growth. The findings underscore the importance of using appropriate length-weight relationships for lumpfish in aquaculture to ensure an accurate assessment of their body condition., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Østerø et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Ensuring lumpfish health and welfare in salmon farms is vital to reduce the high mortality rates reported and to guarantee a high delousing efficiency. Recent observations of farmed lumpfish livers have shown colours ranging from pale (colours 1 and 2), through bright orange (colours 3 and 4), to dark reddish-brown (colours 5 and 6), some of which may be related to welfare condition. To characterize the status of lumpfish deployed in four Faroese salmon farms, several welfare indicators were assessed: a weight-length relationship, scoring of external physical damage, and after dissection, stomach content and liver colour scoring. Liver samples were weighed, stored and analysed for lipid content, lipid classes, total pigments, fatty acid profile and histopathology to explain the differences between the mentioned liver colours. Bright orange livers, liver colours 3 and 4, were related to increased levels of carotenoid pigments rather than levels of lipids and appear to reflect good fish welfare. However, dark reddish-brown colours, liver colours 5 and 6, were associated with very low levels of triacyl glycerides in the liver, indicating use of lipid reserves and poor welfare condition. Histopathology confirmed that the dark reddish-brown livers, liver colours 5 and 6, formed a distinct group. Thus, liver colour was shown to be a good welfare indicator and should be monitored in farms.

Objective: Over the last decades improvements in medical therapies have delayed the progression of lung disease in cystic fibrosis (CF). However, lung disease is still the most common cause of premature death, and lung transplantation today is the only treatment for end-stage lung disease in patients with CF. We present a retrospective review of the outcome of CF patients transplanted in Denmark since start of the national lung transplantation programme in 1992., Methods: In a 10-year period, 47 patients with CF were listed for lung transplantation; 29 patients underwent transplantation and 18 patients died while waiting for donor organs. Eleven patients received en block double lung transplantation with direct bronchial artery revascularization and 18 patients received bilateral sequential lung transplantation. Median age at transplantation was 29 years (range 11-50)., Results: The perioperative mortality (< or =30 days) was 3.5% (1/29 patients). Actuarial survival of transplanted patients at 1, 3, 5 and 8 years was 89, 80, 80 and 70%, respectively. Actuarial survival of non-transplanted patients on the waiting list at 1 and 2 years was 28 and 11% (P<0.0001). Causes of death of transplanted patients were: respiratory failure on day 7 (n=1), bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome (n=2), infection (Cytomegalovirus, Aspergillus fumigatus) (n=2), bronchial anastomosis dehiscence (n=1). Pulmonary function (FEV1% predicted) improved from median 20% (range 13-31) pre-transplant to 71% (range 19-118) after 5 years (P<0.0001). Renal function (51Cr-EDTA clearance) decreased from median 97 ml/min (range 45-190) pre-transplant to 32 ml/min (range 8-84) 6 months after transplantation (P<0.001). Three patients (11%) received dialysis post-transplant of whom two underwent kidney transplantation. Immunosuppressive induction therapy with rabbit-antithymocyte-globulin compared to daclizumab resulted in fewer treatments for acute rejection within the first 3 months post-transplant (P=0.05 at 5-8 weeks). Burkholderia multivorans was present in three patients pre-transplant with satisfying long-term outcome in one patient., Conclusions: Lung transplantation is a well-established life-extending treatment for patients with CF and end-stage lung disease. The operative mortality is low and CF patients have a significant early survival benefit after lung transplantation. Satisfying long-term results can be achieved in this young and severely ill group of patients.

In a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, the value of adding clonidine to a low-dose epidural regimen for postoperative pain treatment was assessed. Twenty-four patients scheduled for hysterectomy during combined thoracic epidural (bupivacaine and morphine) and general anesthesia were studied. Postoperative analgesia consisted of epidural bupivacaine (5 mg/h) and morphine (0.1 mg/h) for 12 h. In addition, the patients randomly received clonidine (75 micrograms), followed by an infusion of 18.75 micrograms/h or saline solution (placebo) epidurally. Pain was evaluated at rest, during cough, and during mobilization every hour. Sensory level of analgesia was evaluated by pinprick. We found no significant difference in pain scores at rest between the clonidine and placebo groups but an enhanced analgesic effect by clonidine during cough and mobilization (P less than 0.05). Arterial blood pressure decreased significantly during clonidine infusion and remained lower than in the control group throughout the study. We conclude that a continuous low-dose epidural clonidine infusion enhances analgesia from a combined low-dose epidural bupivacaine and morphine regimen after hysterectomy; however, the concomitant decrease in arterial blood pressure during epidural clonidine deserves further study before such a regimen can be recommended.

We conducted a randomized, double-blind trial to compare the efficacy of preincisional and postincisional wound infiltration with 1% lidocaine (40 mL) on the postoperative pain of 37 patients scheduled for elective inguinal herniotomy. The demand for additional postoperative analgesics occurred earlier in those who received lidocaine infiltration after incision (165 min) than in those who received preincisional lidocaine (225 min, P less than 0.05). The preincisional lidocaine infiltration group also had fewer patients requiring supplemental analgesics (58%) than the postincisional group (94%) (P less than 0.05). We conclude that preincisional infiltration of the surgical wound with lidocaine is a more effective method of providing postoperative analgesia than is postincisional infiltration.