Wounds in working donkeys are a common and preventable welfare problem in many countries. Mutilations, iatrogenic injuries carried out by owners, are a particularly distressing welfare issue. ...However, little is known about their nature and prevalence. The project aim was to assess the general health and establish the prevalence, nature and severity of mutilations and other skin wounds in donkeys from several communities in Tamil Nadu, India, that were part of a donkey welfare initiative run by the Worldwide Veterinary Service charity. Five hundred and eighty-two donkeys were examined from five locations and data collected using a predesigned, smartphone app between October 2016 and July 2017. The study revealed that 298 wounds were present in a total of 227 donkeys (39.0 per cent of the population). Mutilations, comprising nose-splitting, ear-splitting and branding, were the most common type of skin wound, comprising 62.8 per cent of all wounds. Poorly fitting harnesses and hobbles were also a common cause of injury. These data can be used to design future-targeted and focused, educational interventions to reduce mutilation practices which are a common and important welfare issue. Further outreach initiatives are urgently needed to improve welfare of donkeys in these regions.
Scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and scanning tunneling spectroscopy (STS) are powerful techniques for investigating the electronic and topographic properties of carbon nanotubes. The growing ...availability of STM data allows the accurate study of perfect tubules. Today, the identification of topological and non-topological modifications of the hexagonal lattice of a carbon nanotube is experimentally challenging. Our recently proposed approach to interpret and predict STM and STS observations on a routine basis is used to simulate the topographic and spectroscopic signatures of pentagons and heptagons and contribute to their identification.
Surgical sterilisation to manage free‐roaming dog populations is widely used in many countries. However, few studies have examined optimal postoperative pain management regimens at low‐resource, ...high‐throughput veterinary clinics. The aim of this study was to examine the efficacy of two intravenous analgesic regimens, preoperative administration of meloxicam and tramadol, or meloxicam alone, in free‐roaming dogs undergoing sterilisation. A total of 125 dogs were included, with 64 dogs in the meloxicam‐tramadol arm and 61 dogs in the meloxicam‐only arm in a non‐inferiority study design. Pain levels in sterilisation surgery patients were assessed at four time points after surgery using the Colorado State University Canine Acute Pain Scale, a Visual Analogue Scale and a modified version of the Glasgow Composite Measure Pain Scale – Short Form. Non‐inferiority was supported for each of the main scoring outcomes using non‐inferiority margins of 0.5, 5 and 0.8, respectively. One dog from the meloxicam‐tramadol group and four dogs in the meloxicam‐only arm required rescue analgesia, with no difference between groups (P=0.21).The study demonstrated that meloxicam was effective in controlling postoperative pain in a high proportion of dogs. The addition of tramadol alongside meloxicam treatment was not found to be of clinical benefit.
The gastrointestinal tract remains the most popular and acceptable route of administration for drugs. It offers the great advantage of convenience and many compounds are well absorbed and thereby ...provide acceptable plasma concentration-time profiles. Currently there is considerable interest from the pharmaceutical industry in development of cell culture systems that would mimic the intestinal mucosa in order to evaluate strategies for investigating and/or enhancing drug absorption. The intestinal epithelial cells of primary interest, from the standpoint of drug absorption and metabolism, are the villus cells, which are fully differentiated cells. An in vitro cell culture system consisting of a monolayer of viable, polarized and fully differentiated villus cells, similar to that found in the small intestine, would be a valuable tool in the study of drug and nutrient transport and metabolism. The Caco-2 cell line, which exhibits a well-differentiated brush border on the apical surface and tight junctions, and expresses typical small-intestinal microvillus hydrolases and nutrient transporters, has proven to be the most popular in vitro model (a) to rapidly assess the cellular permeability of potential drug candidates, (b) to elucidate pathways of drug transport (e.g., passive versus carrier mediated), (c) to assess formulation strategies designed to enhance membrane permeability, (d) to determine the optimal physicochemical characteristics for passive diffusion of drugs, and (e) to assess potential toxic effects of drug candidates or formulation components on this biological barrier. Since differentiated Caco-2 cells express various cytochrome P450 isoforms and phase II enzymes such as UDP-glucuronosyltransferases, sulfotransferases and glutathione-S-transferases, this model could also allow the study of presystemic drug metabolism.
Driven by the continuous search for improving performances, understanding the phenomena at the electrode/electrolyte interfaces has become an overriding factor for the success of sustainable and ...efficient battery technologies for mobile and stationary applications. Toward this goal, rapid advances have been made regarding simulations/modeling techniques and characterization approaches, including high‐throughput electrochemical measurements coupled with spectroscopies. Focusing on Li‐ion batteries, current developments are analyzed in the field as well as future challenges in order to gain a full description of interfacial processes across multiple length/timescales; from charge transfer to migration/diffusion properties and interphases formation, up to and including their stability over the entire battery lifetime. For such complex and interrelated phenomena, developing a unified workflow intimately combining the ensemble of these techniques will be critical to unlocking their full investigative potential. For this paradigm shift in battery design to become reality, it necessitates the implementation of research standards and protocols, underlining the importance of a concerted approach across the community. With this in mind, major collaborative initiatives gathering complementary strengths and skills will be fundamental if societal and environmental imperatives in this domain are to be met.
Mastering battery interfaces is at the heart of the development of the next generation of Li‐ion batteries. However, novel tools and approaches are urgently needed to uncover their complexity and dynamics. This perspective describes approaches regarding electrochemical characterizations, physical and chemical characterization techniques as well as simulations and modeling that will become increasingly important for studying battery interfaces.
Plant-based milk alternatives are gaining increasing relevance in the food industry, but the influence of plant proteins and fibers on the specific product properties has not yet been explored. In ...this study, the influence of soy protein isolate and the oat fiber β-glucan on the emulsion and powder properties of plant milk alternatives is analyzed. The components exhibit different behavior at the oil-water interface after homogenization, thereby affecting droplet size distribution, dynamic viscosity and emulsion stability in terms of electrostatic repulsion. To determine the interactions of the components at the interface, the individual raw materials soy protein isolate and oat bran as well as mixtures of both were investigated. The measurements highlight variations between the fiber component and the plant protein source at the interface. The identified differences in emulsion characteristics also manifest in spray drying with different particle sizes and lipid encapsulation efficiencies.
•Plant-based milk alternative emulsion and powder characteristics are influenced by the addition of plant proteins and fibers.•Fiber component significantly determined the drop break-up during homogenization and the stability of the O/W interface.•Spray-dried plant-based milk alternative powder is impacted by emulsion properties.•Soy protein isolate in formulation resulted in particle structure with high lipid encapsulation efficiency.
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