ABSTRACT
Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often experience difficulties related to communication and behaviour. However, their feeding issues are most distressing to their families and healthcare professionals as they impact on the children's adaptive function and health. In comparison to typically developing children, those with ASD experience significantly more feeding difficulties. Children with ASD may display distinctive feeding difficulties and atypical feeding behaviours that include picky eating, limited independent feeding, need for increased feeding times, and a highly restrictive food repertoire. Many of these feeding difficulties continue into childhood, persist in adolescence, and even spill over into adulthood. This proves to be a formidable challenge, as feeding is an essential component for healthy nutrition, growth, and development. This article will highlight how particular food items that are eaten and preferred by affected children may be contributing to their exhibited feeding difficulties. Next, it will be shown how the children's restrictive diets supplant more healthy food options. When this is combined with the children's noted reduced physical activity, the consequences are especially serious, as they include not only malnutrition but also give rise to childhood obesity. In sum, it will be demonstrated that feeding difficulties in young children with ASD are not well understood nor managed. The dearth of knowledge about feeding issues in this population affects both assessment choices and, specifically, management practices - aspects that will be elaborated on in this article. Conclusions will include suggested future directions for enhancing and complementing knowledge of these issues for stakeholders.
ABSTRACT
To investigate the effect of COVID-19 on beef cattle production in China, in February 2020, 263 beef cattle farms 21 provinces of China were surveyed, covering the main areas of beef cattle production. The results showed that COVID-19 had a serious impact on Chinese beef cattle industry. In forage stock, 48% of the beef cattle farms had surpluses for I month;45% had less than 2 months of forage, and 95% had run out of by-products, such as distiller's grains. In fattening production. 95% of fattening cattle farms cannot buy stocker cattle as planned. The delay to sell fattening cattle increased the consumption of feed and forage. The markets for live cattle were closed, causing the decrease of cattle prices. In reproduction, brood cows missed one or two estrus cycles. In disease prevention and control, 70% of cattle farms almost ran out of medicines, and immunities cannot be carried out as planned. To solve these prominent problems, it was suggested that beef cattle farms should seriously implement the prevention and control requirements to ensure safety;prepare alternative plans for epidemic prevention and control in advance;improve the tine feeding and management system and standardized workflow, adjust the business strategy, etc. Additionally, it was also suggested that all layers of governments should open green channels for the farms to ensure the transportation of production means and products, supply special subsidy policies, and provide loans to help farm enhance confidence and resume production.
ABSTRACT
This proceedings contains 43 papers on the behaviour, welfare, breeding, reproduction, feeding and diseases of mink, blue foxes and chinchillas, as well as the impacts of COVID 19 on fur farming.