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Background: Lameness is a painful disease, which negatively impacts dairy cow production and welfare. The aim of this observational study was to determine herd lameness prevalence, describe current lameness management practices and identify the presence of established risk factors for lameness on Irish pasture-based dairy farms. Farms were visited once during grazing (99 farms) and again during housing (85 farms). Lameness scoring was carried out at each visit (AHDB 0-3 scale); cows were classified as lame if they scored two or three. Farm management practices and infrastructure characteristics were evaluated via farmer questionnaires and direct measurements of farm infrastructure. Results: Median herd-level lameness prevalence was 7.9% (interquartile range = 5.6 - 13.0) during grazing and 9.1% (interquartile range = 4.9 - 12.0) during housing; 10.9% of cows were lame at a single visit and 3.5% were lame at both visits (chronically lame or had a repeat episode of lameness). Fifty-seven percent of farmers were not familiar with lameness scoring and only one farm carried out lameness scoring. Only 22% of farmers kept records of lame cows detected, and 15% had a lameness herd health plan. Twenty-eight percent of farmers waited more than 48 h to treat a lame cow, and 21% waited for more than one cow to be identified as lame before treating. Six percent of farmers carried out routine trimming and 31% regularly footbathed (> 12 times per year). Twelve percent put severely lame cows in a closer paddock and 8% stated that they used pain relief to treat severely lame cows. Over 50% of farms had at least one cow track measurement that was classified as rough or very rough, and cow tracks were commonly narrow for the herd size. On 6% of farms, all cubicle beds were bare concrete (no matting or bedding) and on a further 6% of farms, there was a combination of cubicles with and without matting or bedding. On 56% of farms, all pens contained less than 1.1 cubicles per cow and on 28% of farms, a proportion of pens contained less than 1.1 cubicles per cow. Conclusions: Overall, this study identified infrastructure and management practices which could be improved upon. The comparatively low lameness prevalence demonstrated, compared to fully housed systems, also highlights the benefits of a pasture-based system for animal welfare; however, there remains scope for improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this work was to establish national Irish diagnostic reference levels (DRLs) for a clinically representative and comprehensive list of clinical indications, anatomical regions, and common procedures for fluoroscopy and fluoroscopically guided interventions and compare these, where possible, to other DRLs established at a national level., Method: A list of clinical indications, anatomical regions and common procedures was established. A national database of service providers was used to identify all medical radiological facilities providing fluoroscopy and fluoroscopically guided intervention services. These facilities were issued with an online survey. National Pka DRLs were set as the 75th percentile of the distribution of median values obtained. A national median dose was also established which is the 50th percentile of the median doses provided by facilities for the same patients and conditions as the national DRL value. The broad categorisation of equipment type was also considered. Where statistically significant differences were found between different detector types, detector specific national DRLs were established (flat panel detector and image intensifier specific DRLs)., Results: National Pka DRLs were established for 52 fluoroscopy and fluoroscopically guided intervention clinical indications, anatomical regions, and procedures. In addition, equipment specific (flat panel detector and image intensifier based systems) adult DRLs were established for the EVAR and lumbar puncture under fluoroscopy procedures. Paediatric DRLs were established for two fluoroscopy and fluoroscopically guided intervention clinical indications, anatomical regions, and procedures across various weight categories. Comparisons with other nationally set DRLs and other relevant literature suggest that Irish DRLs are typically lower than those established elsewhere., Conclusions: This work provided a unique opportunity to establish national DRLs based on census data for a wide range of clinical indications, anatomical regions, and procedures across adult and paediatric fluoroscopy and fluoroscopically guided interventions. Where comparisons with other nationally established work was possible Irish values are largely below other DRLs., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Long-distance transport and associated fasting of unweaned calves have the potential to compromise the animals' welfare. This observational study aimed to determine how transport and fasting durations impacted the physiology and health of 115 transported calves in three transport groups; IRE (n = 20, mean age 29.8d; short road transport (~ 29 h incl. resting time) and short feed deprivation (~ 11 h)), INT (n = 65, mean age 24.9d; long road/ferry transport (~ 79 h incl. resting times) and long feed deprivation (~ 28 h and 25 h)), and NLD (n = 30, mean age 17.7d; short road transport (~ 28 h incl. resting time) and long feed deprivation (> 18 h)). All calves travelled through an assembly centre. Each calf was blood sampled (arrival at destination farm, 1-week and 3-weeks post-arrival), health scored (arrival, 1, 3, 7, 8, 20d post-arrival) and weighed (farm/mart of origin [IRE and INT only], arrival, and 3-weeks post-arrival). (Generalised) linear mixed models were used to analyse differences in blood variables, weight, and health scores on arrival and during recovery (all other timepoints). Despite differing transport durations, both INT and NLD calves exhibited glucose, beta-hydroxy-butyrate, non-esterified-fatty-acids and sodium levels outside reference limits upon arrival, which were different from values observed in IRE calves (p < 0.05). Lactate and potassium were above reference range for INT calves on arrival, and higher than in IRE and NLD groups (p < 0.05). One- and three-weeks post arrival, most variables returned to within reference ranges, and differences between groups were minimal and not clearly associated with either transport duration or fasting during transport. Health scores did not differ between transport groups at arrival, and differences were minimal during the three-week recovery period. INT calves lost more weight during the journey than IRE calves (p < 0.01), while INT and NLD calves gained similar weight in the 3-weeks post-arrival, but less than IRE calves (both p < 0.01). Overall, changes in the physiological status of calves post transport appeared to relate more to the duration of feed deprivation than to the duration of transport, except for potassium and lactate (muscle fatigue), which were impacted more for INT calves. Most variables showed clear signs of recovery to within reference levels for all groups within three weeks. Minimizing the duration of feed deprivation during transport should be a key consideration for the dairy industry to reduce the impact of transport on calf welfare., Competing Interests: Declarations. Ethics approval: The experiment was approved by the Teagasc Animal Ethics Committee (Fermoy, Ireland, Approval number: TAEC2021-326), and the Health Products Regulatory Authority (Dublin, Ireland, Approval number: AE19132/P154). Consent for publication: Not applicable. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2025. The Author(s).)

Background: A significant proportion of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients fail to respond to advanced therapies. Combining advanced therapies may improve treatment outcome. This study aimed to assess the effectiveness, adverse events, and costs associated with combining advanced therapies in IBD patients., Methods: Combination advanced therapy was defined as the concurrent use of two biological agents or one biological agent with a small molecule therapy. Clinical data, including disease characteristics, treatment regimens, and adverse events, were collected from electronic patient records. Clinical response rates, biochemical markers, and treatment costs were evaluated., Results: The study included 109 IBD patients receiving combination advanced therapies from 9 academic centers in Ireland. Corticosteroid-free clinical response rates at 12 weeks and 52 weeks were 39 % and 38 %, respectively. Adverse events occurred in 26 % of therapeutic trials, with disease-related events being the most common. Notably, there were 3 cases of non-melanomatous skin cancer and 10 infectious complications. The annual cost of maintenance therapy for combination advanced therapies ranged from €17,560 to €30,724 per patient., Conclusion: Combination advanced therapies demonstrated effectiveness and acceptable safety profiles in a cohort of treatment-refractory IBD patients. Further large, prospective trials are required to definitively evaluate the role of combination advanced therapies in IBD., Competing Interests: Conflicts of interest There are no conflicts of interest pertaining to this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Editrice Gastroenterologica Italiana S.r.l. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: Patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in clinical and endoscopic remission may still experience disease relapse. Therefore, there is a need to identify outcome predictors. Recently, the role of neutrophils in predicting outcomes in ulcerative colitis (UC) has been highlighted. Furthermore, the impairment of intestinal barrier plays a key role in forecasting disease outcomes in IBD., Objective: This observational study aimed to assess the predictive role of neutrophils according to tissue localization and intestinal barrier protein expression in IBD., Methods: IBD patients in clinical remission who underwent colonoscopy between January 2020 and June 2022 at two tertiary referral centres were enrolled. Patients with Mayo Endoscopic Score ≤1 (UC) and Simple Endoscopic Score ≤6 (Crohn's disease) were included. Histological activity was assessed using validated scores. Experienced pathologists evaluated neutrophil localization in the epithelium and lamina propria and immunohistochemical expression of Claudin-2 and junctional adhesion molecule A (JAM-A)., Results: Of 60 UC and 76 CD patients, 59.7% had histological activity. 25.8% of patients developed an adverse outcome within 12 months. Neutrophils in the epithelium predicted adverse outcomes for UC (hazard ratio [HR] 5.198, p = 0.01) and CD (HR 4.377, p = 0.03) patients in endoscopic remission. Claudin-2 expression correlated with endoscopic and histological activity and predicted outcomes in UC. Similar results were found for JAM-A in CD despite this protein showing less specificity as a barrier predictor of outcome., Conclusion: This study highlights the potential role of epithelial neutrophil localization and Claudin-2 'leaky gut' expression as tools for predicting IBD outcomes and guiding further patient-tailored therapy., (© 2024 The Author(s). United European Gastroenterology Journal published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of United European Gastroenterology.)

Despite the fact that pneumonia remains a leading cause of mortality and morbidity in pre-weaned calves, relatively little is known regarding the effects of the concurrent administration of intranasal pneumonia virus vaccines, particularly in calves with high levels of maternally derived antibodies. The objective of this study was to use a cohort of 40 dairy and dairy-beef female and male calves (27 females and 13 males) to determine serological responses to concurrent administration at 3 weeks of age (22 ± 4.85 days) of two commercially available intranasal (IN) vaccines for the viruses: bovine respiratory syncytial virus (BRSV), bovine herpes virus 1 (BoHV-1), and parainfluenza-3-virus (PI3-V). The study groups were as follows: (i) Bovilis IBR Marker Live only® (IO), (ii) Bovilis INtranasal RSP Live® only (RPO), (iii) Concurrent vaccination with Bovilis IBR Marker Live® & Bovilis Intranasal RSP Live® (CV), and (iv) a control group of non-vaccinated calves (CONT). The calves' serological response post-IN vaccination, clinical health scores, rectal temperatures, and weights were measured. Data were analyzed in SAS using mixed models and logistic regression. The CV calves had an average daily weight gain (ADG) of 0.74 (±0.02) kg, which was similar to CONT (0.77 ± 0.02 kg). Despite no significant differences in the antibody levels between study groups 3 weeks post-IN vaccination, following the administration of subsequent parenteral injections in the form of Bovilis Bovipast RSP®(antigens; inactivated BRSV, inactivated PI3-V, inactivated Mannheimia haemolytica ) and Bovilis IBR Marker Live®, the antibody levels of the BRSV and PI3-V increased in both the CV and RPO study groups. Concurrent vaccination resulted in no increase in fever and no difference in health scores when compared to CONT., Competing Interests: Co-authors include employees of MSD Animal Health, the company that markets the vaccines that were used in the study reported herein. They had no role in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data. They assisted in the design of the study, the randomization of the animals, and with the review of the manuscript. The individuals who were responsible for data collection were blinded as to the treatment groups during the data collection phase of the experiment., (Copyright © 2024 Flynn, McAloon, Sugrue, Fitzgerald, Sheridan, Cowley, McAloon and Kennedy.)

Objectives: The aim of this work was to establish national diagnostic reference levels (DRLs) in Ireland and compare these to existing European DRLs where available. This work surveyed all radiological facilities providing radiography, mammography, and dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) services in Ireland., Methods: A list of common procedures and clinical tasks was established. A national database of service providers was used to identify the appropriate medical radiological facilities providing these services. These facilities were issued with an online survey. National DRLs were set as the 75th percentile of the distribution of median values obtained. A national median dose was also established. The broad categorisation of equipment type was also considered. Where differences between DRLs established using different detector types were deemed statistically significant, equipment-specific national DRLs were established., Results: National DRLs were established for 12 adult radiography projections. Equipment-specific (computed radiography and digital radiography) adult DRLs were established for four radiography projections. Paediatric DRLs were established for 11 radiography projections, including two based on clinical indications, for a range of paediatric weight categories. National DRLs were established for unilateral two-view mammography and breast tomosynthesis as well as for four DXA clinical indications and projections. All but one Irish DRL figure was found to be below or equal to European data., Conclusions: This work provided a unique opportunity to establish national DRLs based on census data for a range of procedures and clinical tasks across radiography, mammography and DXA and compare these with European levels., Clinical Relevance Statement: This work established national diagnostic reference levels (DRLs) based on census data for a range of procedures and clinical tasks across radiography, mammography and dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry. The establishment of national DRLs is an essential component in the optimisation of patient radiation dose., Key Points: • Diagnostic reference levels are easily measured quantities intended for use as an aid to optimise patient dose and to identify when levels of patient dose are unusually high. • Data from all medical radiological facilities in Ireland was obtained to establish national diagnostic reference level (DRL) values and national median dose values in radiography, x-ray breast imaging and dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) scanning and these were compared to existing European DRLs where available. • National DRL values were established for the first time in breast tomosynthesis, DXA scanning, and paediatric radiography., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to European Society of Radiology.)

Globally, the majority of dairy cows are milked twice a day (TAD); however, in pasture-based production systems, such as in Ireland, the idea of milking once a day (OAD) is being considered for reasons such as improved work-life balance. The immediate effects within a lactation, as well as the multilactation consequences of OAD, compared with TAD milking, require understanding. The objective of this randomized experiment was to compare OAD and TAD milking, over a 3-yr period, by examining the differences in milk production and composition, body weight (BW), body condition score (BCS), dry matter intake (DMI), udder characteristics, locomotion score, and milking time. Over the 3-yr period, 83 cows were enrolled in the experiment; 32, 44, and 48 cows in yr 1, 2, and 3 of the experiment, respectively. Each year, 23% of the herds were primiparous animals, while the remainder were second lactation or greater in parity. All cows were milked in the morning at 0700 h; only cows milked TAD were milked a second time each day at 1600 h. Cows rotationally grazed pastures for the duration of the lactating period and were housed during the nonlactating period. Milking cows OAD reduced cumulative milk yield by 26%, and milk solids yield (kg of fat + kg of protein) by 21%, across the 3 yr of the experiment when compared with cows milked TAD which produced 4,126 and 365 kg/cow, respectively. A contributory factor to the reduced production was a shorter lactation length (9.7 d) of the cows milked OAD compared with TAD (294 d). Milk fat percent of cows milked TAD was similar for all 3 yr of the study (5.05%), whereas milk fat percent of the cows milked OAD increased year on year, with each year being greater than the previous year (5.02%, 5.32%, and 5.70% for yr 1, 2, and 3; respectively). Milk protein percent was greater (+0.19%) for cows milked OAD compared with TAD which was 3.78%. Compared with cows milked TAD, total DMI for cows milked OAD was 22% less at the start of lactation (<167 d), but as the lactation progressed (>167 d) we observed no difference in DMI between treatments. Similar to the literature, milking cows OAD significantly increased average somatic cell score, both during (+16%) and at the end of lactation (+19%), compared with milking cows TAD which were 4.69 and 4.79, respectively. We detected positive aspects associated with OAD milking such as greater BW, BCS, and fertility performance. Milking OAD reduced both milking time per cow per day (reductions ranged from 34% in the first 4 mo of lactation to 43% during mo 5-9 of lactation) and milking time per liter of milk (-3.5 s/L) throughout lactation, leading to less labor inputs on-farm which can have positive implications for farmer work-life balance. The significant time saving and potential savings in costs (e.g., electricity) need to be considered in conjunction with the milk production reduction when considering OAD milking for the entire lactation., (© 2023, The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. and Fass Inc. on behalf of the American Dairy Science Association®. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).)

This study aimed to establish baseline variables for calves transported by road and ferry from Ireland to the Netherlands and to investigate the effect of journey [two comparable journeys in April (J1) and May (J2) 2022] and source [source farm or mart (SF/MA)] on these variables. A total of 66 calves from the SF/MA were transported from Ireland to commercial veal farms in the Netherlands. Blood samples were collected at the SF/MA, assembly center (Ireland), lairage (France), and on arrival on the veal farm (Netherlands). They were analyzed for indicator variables related to energy balance, hydration/electrolytes, physical/muscular stress, immunity, and inflammation [glucose, beta-hydroxybutyrate (BHB), non-esterified fatty acids (NEFA), potassium, sodium, magnesium, chloride, urea, haematocrit, total protein, creatine kinase, L-lactate, cortisol, white blood cell, neutrophil, lymphocyte and monocyte counts, serum amyloid-A, and haptoglobin]. Health variables eye and nose discharge, skin tent (a measure of dehydration), and navel inflammation were scored by a trained observer, and calves were weighed at every blood-sampling time point. All blood variables and body weight changed significantly ( P < 0.05) during transport, most notably between the assembly center and lairage. Reference ranges were available for 18 variables; 11 of these variables exceeded the reference ranges at the lairage, whilst 10 variables exceeded the reference ranges on arrival at the veal farm. However, health variables did not change during transport. A journey-to-journey comparison indicated much variation; 18 out of 25 variables differed significantly on at least one time point. In total, J1 calves experienced a more severe change in BHB, potassium, strong-ion-difference, L-lactate, and eye and nose discharge than J2 calves. The source of calves also affected their physiology; 12 out of 25 variables studied differed significantly, all of which were confined to the first time point. Specifically, MA calves had elevated levels of NEFA, urea, haematocrit, L-lactate, cortisol, white blood cell, neutrophil, and monocyte counts and lower levels of corrected chloride and lymphocyte count. Overall, calves in this study showed a generalized physiological disturbance beyond reference limits during long-distance transport, but no animal died during transport or for 3 weeks post-arrival., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 van Dijk, Siegmann, Field, Sugrue, van Reenen, Bokkers, Sayers and Conneely.)

The aim of this research paper was to evaluate the effect of a slow-release milk replacer on health and behaviour of neonatal dairy calves. This was done with the potential benefits to welfare during transport in mind. A total of 15 calves were randomly divided into three groups of 5, namely, a control group fed twice in 24 h with 3 l of a conventional milk replacer, a slow-release group fed once in 24 h with 2 l of conventional milk replacer and 1 litre of a specialised micro-encapsulated feed and an enriched-replacer group fed once in 24 h with 3 l of milk replacer enriched with micellar casein. Blood samples were taken before feeding and 6, 12, 18 and 24 h after and analysed for acid-base parameters, electrolytes, glucose, haemoglobin, cortisol, insulin, cholecystokinin and adiponectin. Calf behaviour was recorded between 6 and 14 h after feeding. There was a significant increase in blood pH 6 h after feeding in all groups, but the glucose, HCO 3 - and base excess increased significantly in the slow-release group only, whereas sodium increased significantly in the enriched group only. Glucose levels remained significantly higher in the slow-release group, relative to the control, at 6, 12, and 18 h after feeding. Insulin levels changed significantly over time in the enriched and control group but remained constant in the slow-release group. Insulin levels were significantly higher in the control group when compared to the slow-release group after feeding. Adiponectin changed significantly over time after feeding in the control group only, but no significant changes were observed between the feeding groups. Behavioural patterns were similar in control and slow release groups but less favourable (less lying time, more vocalisations) in the enriched group. In conclusion, once-daily feeding of slow-release milk replacer demonstrated favourable patterns of blood variables related to satiety and hunger as well as behavioural patterns that did not differ from conventional twice-daily feeding.

The 2021 National report from IBD UK included responses from over 10 000 patients with inflammatory bowel disease, over 70% of whom reported having at least one flare in the last 12 months. As the first-line treatment for patients with mild and moderate ulcerative colitis, the action and delivery mechanisms of mesalazine are crucial for successful management of the disease. The choice of the most appropriate formulation of mesalazine and securing patient concordance and adherence to treatment remains a challenge for healthcare professionals. This article details the outcome of a roundtable discussion involving a group of gastroenterology consultants and specialist nurses which considered the importance of ensuring that patients have individualised mesalazine therapy before escalation to other treatments and gives recommendations for the management of patients with mild or moderate ulcerative colitis.

The different periods characterizing spring-calving, pasture-based dairy systems common in Ireland have seldom been the focus of large-scale dairy cow welfare research. Thus, the aim of this study was to devise and conduct an animal-based welfare assessment during both the grazing and housing periods on spring-calving, pasture-based dairy farms, to identify areas for improvement and establish benchmarks for indicators of good welfare. Assessment of seven animal-based welfare indicators was conducted during two visits (one each at grazing and housing) to 82 commercial dairy farms in southern Ireland. Herd-level descriptive statistics were performed for all welfare indicators at each visit, and differences between visits were analyzed using paired t-tests and Wilcoxon signed-rank tests. A mean of 9% and 10% clinically lame cows (mobility scores 2 and 3) were observed at housing and grazing, respectively. Recommended body condition scores (BCS) were not met for a mean of 13% of cows at grazing and 23% at housing, with more over-conditioned cows present at housing than grazing (P < 0.001). Ocular discharge was uncommon in both periods. Prevalence of moderate and severe nasal discharge combined was lower during housing (5%) than grazing (7%). In both periods, similar mean levels of tail injury were observed: 2% to 3% of cows with tail lacerations, 9% with broken tails, and 8% (measured at housing only) with docked tails. Integument alterations involved primarily hair loss and were most prevalent on the hindquarters (26%) during grazing and on the head-neck-back (66%) and the hindquarter (32%) regions during housing. Cows displayed an avoidance distance of >1 m (indicative of a fearful response) from an approaching human in an average of 82% of grazing cows and 42% to 75% of housed cows, dependent on test location. Opportunities to improve welfare in this system were identified in the areas of tail injury prevention, nasal health, and the management of indoor housing and feeding. The performance of the top 20% of farms for each welfare indicator was used to establish benchmarks of: 0% to 5% clinical lameness, 0% to 12% of cows outside recommended BCS, 0% to 27% ocular discharge, 2% to 16% nasal discharge, 0% tail lacerations and docked tails, 0% to 3% tail breaks, 0% to 14% integument alterations, and 4% to 74% for avoidance distance of >1 m. These represent attainable targets for spring-calving pasture-based farms to promote good dairy cow welfare., (© The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Society of Animal Science. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Pelvic schwannomas are rare; it is even more rare for a pelvic schwannoma to occur concurrently with a colon cancer. The authors report the case of a 62-year-old woman with a cecal mass that was surgically removed and the histopathologic diagnosis was adenocarcinoma of the colon. Meanwhile, aretroperitonealpelvic nodalmasswas detected as questionable metastasis of the primary tumor. A subsequent computed tomography-guided fine-needle biopsy was carried out to establish the tumor stage. Surprisingly, the fine-needle biopsy revealed a benign schwannoma. This unusual case posed a dilemma in postoperative staging of the colon cancer.

Prior research using the Deese-Roediger-McDermott paradigm has shown that participants are more likely to report the critical lures when long lists are presented. In this experiment, we evaluated two potential explanations for this list-length effect. Ten-year-old children and adults studied 7- or 14-word lists. After recalling each list, participants were then asked to report any other words that they had thought about, but had not reported, during the recall phase. We found that long lists were more likely to activate the critical lure and that short lists did not facilitate source monitoring. On the basis of our findings, we conclude that, for both age groups, the list-length effect was due primarily to list-related differences in activation of the critical lure.