Societal concern with the welfare of egg laying hens housed in conventional cages is fostering a transition towards cage-free systems in many countries. However, although cage-free facilities enable ...hens to move freely and express natural behaviours, concerns have also been raised over the possibility that cage-free flocks experience higher mortality, potentially compromising some aspects of their welfare. To investigate this possibility, we conducted a large meta-analysis of laying hen mortality in conventional cages, furnished cages and cage-free aviaries using data from 6040 commercial flocks and 176 million hens from 16 countries. We show that except for conventional cages, mortality gradually drops as experience with each system builds up: since 2000, each year of experience with cage-free aviaries was associated with a 0.35-0.65% average drop in cumulative mortality, with no differences in mortality between caged and cage-free systems in more recent years. As management knowledge evolves and genetics are optimized, new producers transitioning to cage-free housing may experience even faster rates of decline. Our results speak against the notion that mortality is inherently higher in cage-free production and illustrate the importance of considering the degree of maturity of production systems in any investigations of farm animal health, behaviour and welfare.
Background
Influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) cause substantial mortality from respiratory and other causes in the USA, especially among people aged 65 and older.
Objectives
We estimated ...the influenza‐attributable mortality and RSV‐attributable mortality in the USA, stratified by age and risk status, using outcome definitions with different sensitivity and specificity.
Methods
Influenza‐ and RSV‐associated mortality was assessed from October 1997–March 2009 using multiple linear regression modeling on data obtained from designated government repositories.
Results
The main outcomes and measures included mortality outcome definitions—pneumonia and influenza, respiratory broad, and cardiorespiratory disease. A seasonal average of 10 682 (2287–16 363), 19 100 (4862–29 245), and 28 169 (6797–42 316) deaths was attributed to influenza for pneumonia and influenza, respiratory broad, and cardiorespiratory outcome definitions, respectively. Corresponding values for RSV were 6211 (4584–8169), 11 300 (8546–14 244), and 17 199 (13 384–21 891), respectively. A/H3N2 accounted for seasonal average of 71% influenza‐attributable deaths; influenza B accounted for most (51–95%) deaths during four seasons. Approximately 70% influenza‐attributable deaths occurred in individuals ≥75 years, with increasing mortality for influenza A/H3N2 and B, but not A/H1N1. In children aged 0–4 years, an average of 97 deaths was attributed to influenza (A/H3N2 = 49, B = 33, A/H1N1 = 15) and 165 to respiratory broad outcome definition (RSV). Influenza‐attributable mortality was 2·94‐fold higher in high‐risk individuals.
Conclusions
Influenza‐attributable mortality was highest in older and high‐risk individuals and mortality in children was higher than reported in passive Centers for Disease Control and Prevention surveillance. Influenza B‐attributable mortality was higher than A in four of 12 seasons. Our estimates represent an updated assessment of influenza‐attributable mortality in the USA.
In March 2010, 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13) replaced the seven-valent vaccine in the USA. We assessed the effect of PCV13 use on pneumococcus-related admissions to hospital 2 ...years after the vaccine was introduced, when coverage in children younger than age 5 years had reached 54%.
We used data from a private inpatient discharge record database. We extracted age-specific data for admissions to hospital per month (July 1-June 30) for all-cause pneumonia, invasive pneumococcal disease, non-invasive pneumococcal pneumonia, and empyema (all coded by International Classification of Diseases 9) for 2005-12. We also extracted data for urinary tract infection and hospital admission for any reason as control outcomes. We assessed incidences of hospital admission before and after the introduction of PCV13 and used a negative binomial multiple regression model to estimate how much of the change in hospital admissions could be attributed to the vaccine.
Our model results showed that PCV13 was associated with significant reductions in hospital admissions for all-cause pneumonia for some children (21% 95% CI 14-28 in children aged <2 years, 17% 7-27 in those aged 2-4 years) and for empyema (50% 95% CI 22-68 for children age <2 years, 46% 21-64 for 2-4 years, and 37% 13-54 for 5-17 years). All-cause pneumonia was significantly reduced in adults aged 18-39 years (12% (6-17) but not for other adult age groups. The vaccine also reduced admissions for invasive pneumococcal pneumonia and non-invasive pneumococcal or lobar pneumonia in children and adults, indicating herd protection, although the reduction was only significant in some age groups.
Only 2 years into the US programme, PCV13 significantly reduced residual invasive and non-invasive pneumococcal hospital admissions in children younger than 5 years, as well as in some adult age groups. Our study design captured the total prevented hospital burden (directly and indirectly by herd protection) and also showed a reversal of the PCV7 era increase in paediatric empyema related to strain replacement.
Pfizer.
Background: For decades, pig farmers have used gestation crates to confine pregnant sows. Gestation crates physically restrain sows for most of their life, preventing them from walking or turning ...around. Growing concern about animal welfare has been pressuring the industry for change, with recent legislation in several countries restricting the use of crates. Still, the notion that gestation crates negatively affect sow welfare has been challenged by producers in regions where crates are still used, who argue that, by facilitating health monitoring and preventing aggression, crates lead to lower sow mortality and higher piglet outputs per sow. We test whether these claims are valid by comparing these parameters across countries with different housing systems.
Methods: We use publicly available data from InterPig, a network of pig production economists in 17 countries that provides harmonized methods for meaningful comparisons of production and cost indicators. We focus on the last five years (2015-2019) of data available. Annual sow mortality and the number of pigs sold per sow were compared among (1) countries where gestation crates are the norm (CRATE), (2) countries where gestation crates are restricted to four weeks after insemination (RESTRICTED), and (3) countries where gestation crates are banned (BANNED).
Results: Sow mortality was significantly higher (F
2,85=5.03;
P=0.009), and annual pig production per sow significantly lower (F
2,85=5.99;
P=0.004), in the CRATE than in the RESTRICTED group.
Conclusions: Claims of higher mortality and reduced productivity per sow in crate-free systems are not substantiated by this industry-validated dataset. While many factors differ among the country groups (e.g., genetics, nutrition, climate), the observation that factors other than crating have a greater influence on performance challenges claims of an overall negative effect of loose housing on the parameters investigated. This evidence should be considered in policies affecting the welfare of breeding pigs.
Estimates of influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) burden must be periodically updated to inform public health strategies. We estimated seasonal influenza- and RSV-attributable ...hospitalizations in the US from 1997 to 2009 according to age and risk status (NCT01599390).
Multiple linear regression modelling was used to attribute hospitalizations to influenza or RSV using virological surveillance and hospitalization data. Hospitalization data were obtained from the US Nationwide Inpatient Sample and virology data were obtained from FluView (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). Outcomes included any mention of ICD-coded respiratory disease and cardiorespiratory disease diagnoses. We also explored a broader definition of respiratory disease that included mention of relevant respiratory sign/symptoms and viral infection ("respiratory broad").
Applying the respiratory broad outcome, our model attributed ~300,000 and ~200,000 hospitalizations to influenza and RSV, respectively. Influenza A/H3N2 was the predominant cause of influenza-related hospitalizations in most seasons, except in three seasons when influenza B was dominant; likewise, A/H3N2 caused most influenza-related hospitalizations in all age segments, except in children <18 years where the relative contribution of A/H3N2 and B was similar. Most influenza A- and B-related hospitalizations occurred in seniors while approximately one half and one third of all RSV-related events occurred in children 0-4 years and seniors 65+ years, respectively. High-risk status was associated with higher risk of both influenza- and RSV-attributable hospitalizations in adults, but not in children.
Our study assessed the burden of influenza and RSV, information that is important for both cost effectiveness studies and for prioritization of the development of antivirals and vaccines. For seniors, we found that the burdens of influenza and RSV were both substantial. Among children <18 years, about half of all influenza hospitalizations were due to influenza B, most occurring in children without noted risk conditions. RSV hospitalizations among children were confined to those 0-4 years. Our study also demonstrated the importance of the outcome used to estimate hospitalization burden. Our findings highlight the burden of influenza among children regardless of risk status and underscore the prevalence of RSV infections among both young children and older adults.
To present the Pain-Track, a novel framework for the description and analysis of the pain experience based on its temporal evolution, around which intensity and other attributes of pain (texture, ...anatomy), interventions and clinical symptoms can be registered. This time-series approach can provide valuable insight on the expected evolution of the pain typically associated with different medical conditions and on time-varying (risk) factors associated with the temporal dynamics of pain. We illustrate the use of the framework to explore hypotheses on the temporal profile of the pain associated with an acute injury (bone fracture), and the magnitude of the pain burden it represents. We also show that, by focusing on the critical dimensions of the pain experience (intensity and time), the approach can help map different conditions to a common scale directly relating to the experiences of those who endure them (time in pain), providing the basis for the quantification of the burden of pain inflicted upon individuals or populations. An electronic version for data entry and interpretation is also presented.
Influenza is rarely confirmed with laboratory testing and accurate assessment of the overall burden of influenza is difficult. We used statistical modelling methods to generate updated, granular ...estimates of the number/rate of influenza-attributable hospitalisations and deaths in the United Kingdom. Such data are needed on a continuing basis to inform on cost-benefit analyses of treatment interventions, including vaccination.
Weekly age specific data on hospital admissions (1997-2009) and on deaths (1997-2009) were obtained from national databases. Virology reports (1996-2009) of influenza and respiratory syncytial virus detections were provided by Public Health England. We used an expanded set of ICD-codes to estimate the burden of illness attributable to influenza which we refer to as 'respiratory disease broadly defined'. These codes were chosen to optimise the balance between sensitivity and specificity. A multiple linear regression model controlled for respiratory syncytial virus circulation, with stratification by age and the presence of comorbid risk status (conditions associated with severe influenza outcomes).
In the United Kingdom there were 28,516 hospitalisations and 7163 deaths estimated to be attributable to influenza respiratory disease in a mean season, with marked variability between seasons. The highest incidence rates of influenza-attributable hospitalisations and deaths were observed in adults aged 75+ years (252/100,000 and 131/100,000 population, respectively). Influenza B hospitalisations were highest among 5-17 year olds (12/100,000 population). Of all estimated influenza respiratory deaths in 75+ year olds, 50 % occurred out of hospital, and 25 % in 50-64 year olds. Rates of hospitalisations and death due to influenza-attributable respiratory disease were increased in adults identified as at-risk.
Our study points to a substantial but highly variable seasonal influenza burden in all age groups, particularly affecting 75+ year olds. Effective influenza prevention or early intervention with anti-viral treatment in this age group may substantially impact the disease burden and associated healthcare costs. The high burden of influenza B hospitalisation among 5-17 year olds supports current United Kingdom vaccine policy to extend quadrivalent seasonal influenza vaccination to this age group.
ClinicalTrial.gov, NCT01520935.
Both the Northern and the Southern Hemisphere annual WHO influenza vaccine recommendations are designed to ensure vaccine delivery before the winter-time peak of viral circulation in each hemisphere. ...However, influenza seasonal patterns are highly diverse in tropical countries and may be out of phase with the WHO recommendations for their respective hemisphere. We modelled the peak timing of influenza activity for 125 countries using laboratory-based surveillance data from the WHO's FLUNET database and compared it with the influenza hemispheric recommendations in place. Influenza vaccine recommendations for respectively 25% and 39% of the Northern and Southern Hemisphere countries were out of phase with peak influenza circulation in their corresponding hemisphere (62% and 53%, respectively, when the analysis was limited to the 52 countries in the tropical belt). These results indicate that routine influenza immunization efforts should be closely tailored to local patterns of viral circulation, rather than a country's hemispheric position.
Normative models of choice in economics and biology usually expect preferences to be consistent across contexts, or "rational" in economic language. Following a large body of literature reporting ...economically irrational behaviour in humans, breaches of rationality by animals have also been recently described. If proven systematic, these findings would challenge long-standing biological approaches to behavioural theorising, and suggest that cognitive processes similar to those claimed to cause irrationality in humans can also hinder optimality approaches to modelling animal preferences. Critical differences between human and animal experiments have not, however, been sufficiently acknowledged. While humans can be instructed conceptually about the choice problem, animals need to be trained by repeated exposure to all contingencies. This exposure often leads to differences in state between treatments, hence changing choices while preserving rationality. We report experiments with European starlings demonstrating that apparent breaches of rationality can result from state-dependence. We show that adding an inferior alternative to a choice set (a "decoy") affects choices, an effect previously interpreted as indicating irrationality. However, these effects appear and disappear depending on whether state differences between choice contexts are present or not. These results open the possibility that some expressions of maladaptive behaviour are due to oversights in the migration of ideas between economics and biology, and suggest that key differences between human and nonhuman research must be recognised if ideas are to safely travel between these fields.
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