Measuring behaviour in hens using an ethogram to assess analgesia during further refinement of a high welfare, on-hen, poultry red mite feeding device.

Background: To refine an on-hen mite feeding device, an ethogram was employed to measure the reactions of hens during a routine experimental procedure (feather plucking) and to assess effects of analgesic cream on those reactions. Methods: Three experimental groups were used; one treated with EMLA 5% before plucking ("EMLA group"); one with aqueous cream ("placebo group") and a "no treatment" group. Behaviours were measured and compared on three days: 'dummy handling day' i.e. no plucking; 'plucking day', plucking the left thigh; and 'treatment day' i.e with right thighs plucked post-treatment. Poultry red mite feeding assays were performed to examine effect of creams on mite feeding rates, mortality and fecundity. All data were analysed using generalised linear (mixed) modelling approaches. Results: Use of the ethogram demonstrated no significant difference in hen behaviours in the EMLA group between dummy handling day and treatment day (p = 0.949) alongside a significant reduction in measured behaviours between plucking day and treatment day in the same group (p = 0.028). There was a statistically significant increase in measured behaviours from the dummy handling day to the plucking day in both placebo (p = 0.011) and no treatment group (p < 0.001). Effect sizes and directions were similar between dummy handling and treatment days in the 'placebo' and 'no treatment' groups, though not statistically significant (placebo, p = 0.064; no treatment p = 0.069). Mite feeding in the EMLA group was significantly lower than in the no treatment group in feeding assay 1 (p = 0.029) only. Mite mortality and fertility were unaffected. Conclusions: The ethogram successfully measured changes in observed behaviours between the dummy handling session and procedures. No adverse effects of EMLA cream on hens were demonstrated at 3mg/kg in hens. Use of analgesia for this routine procedure improves hens' experiences during experimental trials.

Modelling the effect of temperature on the seasonal population dynamics of temperate mosquitoes.

Mosquito-borne diseases cause substantial mortality and morbidity worldwide. These impacts are widely predicted to increase as temperatures warm and extreme precipitation events become more frequent, since mosquito biology and disease ecology are strongly linked to environmental conditions. However, direct evidence linking environmental change to changes in mosquito-borne disease is rare, and the ecological mechanisms that may underpin such changes are poorly understood. Environmental drivers, such as temperature, can have non-linear, opposing impacts on the demographic rates of different mosquito life cycle stages. As such, model frameworks that can deal with fluctuations in temperature explicitly are required to predict seasonal mosquito abundance, on which the intensity and persistence of disease transmission under different environmental scenarios depends. We present a novel, temperature-dependent, delay-differential equation model, which incorporates diapause and the differential effects of temperature on the duration and mortality of each life stage and demonstrates the sensitivity of seasonal abundance patterns to inter- and intra-annual changes in temperature. Likely changes in seasonal abundance and exposure to mosquitoes under projected changes in UK temperatures are presented, showing an increase in peak vector abundance with warming that potentially increases the risk of disease outbreaks.

Sacralization of epidural block with repeated doses of 0.25% bupivacaine during labor.

A descriptive analysis of the progression of epidural block with repeated doses of 0.25% bupivacaine was performed, assessing pain relief (visual analog scoring), dermatomal spread of sensory and motor block, and the associated management and outcome of labor. The influence of epinephrine 1:200,000 on these observations was also assessed by the random assignment of study patients into two groups, one receiving 10 ml of 0.25% bupivacaine plain (n = 28) and another group receiving 10 ml of 0.25% bupivacaine with commercially added epinephrine 1:200,000 (n = 27). Only primigravid patients were studied. Data comparisons were considered significant at p less than 0.05. With repeated doses of 0.25% bupivacaine, administered within fixed dosing intervals of 60-90 minutes, there was an increasing spread of sensory block toward sacral dermatomes while the upper level of sensory block did not change. Sacral sensory analgesia was present in only 3.5% of patients after the first dose of bupivacaine but was evident in 63.2% of patients following the fourth epidural injection. A similar increase in the number of patients with significant motor weakness was also seen as the number of top-up doses increased. A comparison of patients receiving plain solutions and epinephrine containing bupivacaine showed similar demographic profiles between the groups. Both groups received a similar dose of bupivacaine and experienced comparable management and outcome of labor. Epinephrine in a 1:200,000 concentration did not influence the changing characteristics of the epidural block over time. The duration of labor was not significantly different between groups (10.3 +/- 5.2 hours for the plain group and 11.0 +/- 4.7 hours for the epinephrine group).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)