OBJECTIVES: To gather information on producers' perceptions and management strategies towards the detection, alleviation of pain and management of sick, injured and heat‐stressed pigs. METHODS: A ...total of 16 Victorian pig farmers completed a face‐to‐face questionnaire consisting of 9 open and 26 closed questions regarding their detection and management of sick, injured and heat‐stressed pigs and their perceptions of pigs' tolerance to pain. RESULTS: We identified 15 behavioural and physiological indicators of pain and heat stress. Treatment records were kept more often for weaned progeny and lactating sows than for piglets and mated sows. Most producers felt that pigs suffered little pain from routine husbandry procedures and that pain relief was not warranted in those situations. Castration at 10 days of age was the only procedure considered by producers to be very painful. There were inconsistencies in approaches to treating pigs in three case studies of animals with sickness or injury of varying severity. Meloxicam was stated as the most common anti‐inflammatory drug used on‐farm. A small proportion of farmers incorrectly identified antibiotics as anti‐inflammatory drugs. All producers had at least one cooling system in place for preventing heat stress in pigs. CONCLUSIONS: The farmers in this survey group generally relied on behavioural changes in pigs to signal pain and heat stress. Although producers kept treatment records and used hospital pens for compromised pigs, our results suggest that the monitoring of pigs' recovery could be improved. Producers generally have a good understanding of the use of anti‐inflammatory drugs to aid recovery of pigs.
OBJECTIVE: To investigate risk factors and potential infectious aetiologies of an increased mummification rate (>2%) identified over time on a 1200‐sow farrow‐to‐finish farm in Australia. METHODS: ...Association of potential non‐infectious risk factors and the mummification rate was investigated using 15 years of breeding herd data (40,940 litters) and logistic regression analysis. Samples from a limited number of mummified fetuses were taken to identify potential infectious aetiologies (porcine parvovirus, Leptospira pomona, porcine circovirus type 2, Bungowannah virus and enterovirus). RESULTS: Logistic regression analysis suggested that the mummification rate was significantly associated with sow breed and parity, year and total born and stillborn piglets per litter. The mummification rate was lower (P < 0.001) in Landrace (3.4%) and Large White (2.6%) sows than in Duroc sows (4.9%). Gilts (2.9%) had a lower (P < 0.001) mummification rate than older sows. The mummification rate increased with total born litter size and decreased with the number of stillborn piglets (P < 0.001). A clustering effect within individual sows was identified, indicating that some sows with mummified fetuses in a litter were more likely to have repeated mummifications in subsequent litters. No infectious agents were identified in the samples taken. CONCLUSION: Results from this study suggest that the increased mummification rate identified over time on this farm is likely to be a non‐infectious multifactorial problem predisposing the occurrence of mummification. Further research is required to better understand the pathophysiology of mummification and the role that different non‐infectious factors play in the occurrence of mummified fetuses.
Studies of young children with early unilateral brain injury have suggested that while hemispheric differences in visuospatial processing appear to be present early in development, the young brain is ...better able to compensate for injury than when the injury occurs later, after networks have been established. The aim of this study was to determine if this pattern continues later in development when these children are given a challenging task: the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure. Experiment 1 included longitudinal data from ten children with early left hemisphere (LH) injury and nine children with early right hemisphere (RH) injury. Injury was presumed to be due to a prenatal or perinatal stroke. Compared with typically developing children, both groups were poorer in copying the figure. With development, these children produced reasonably accurate drawings but continued to use the most immature and piecemeal strategy. In Experiment 2, copy and immediate memory drawings from the 19 children with early unilateral brain injury were collected at a single age (11–14 years). Eight of the ten children with LH injury organized their memory reproductions around the core rectangle but included relatively few additional details. In contrast, only two of the nine children with RH injury organized their memory reproductions around the core rectangle and all but one produced the figure in a piecemeal manner. The results from both studies demonstrate the continuation of subtle deficits in visuospatial analysis with development but also the continued capacity for compensation.
A new tetracyclic antidepressant drug, maprotiline hydrochloride was found to be the agent of death in a 23-year-old subject following massive injestion (4.5-6.0 g). The case may be the first ...reported maprotiline death (sole cause) in the United States. Analytical parameters were studies and various chromatographic and spectrophotometric systems are reported. Quantitation was performed by gas-liquid chromatography using a nitrogen-phosphorous detector. Concentrations of the compound in biological fluids and tissues are also reported.
This was an investigation of the vocational behavior of male college graduates during their early work experiences. The career patterns of two alumni groups were identified and the influence of 41 ...factors on their vocational development were investigated and analyzed. The results of the pattern analysis reveal the following occupational trends: (a) 70 per cent of male college alumni remain in their initial occupational fields; (b) 25 per cent of the alumni have one or more exploratory jobs and then establish themselves in an occupational field in which they remain for three or more years; and (c) 5 per cent of the graduates never settle down into one occupational field. Correlations between the observed career patterns and the 41 variables are statistically significant in only a few cases. The study suggests that many of the factors will be important only at particular reference points in the careers of the college alumni.
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