Boar taint in very small organic entire male pigs - preliminary results

Very small entire male pigs can be part of a new concept of organic seasonal production of pigs. The concept includes outdoor production of small entire male pigs, very large female pigs and sows slaughtered after first litter. The entire males and the sows are slaughtered in the summer and the female pigs gilts in December. The purpose of the very small entire male pigs is to avoid castration and boar taint at the same time. In order to make the concept special regarding product quality and image, different crossbreeds are considered including a traditional Danish breed. Two seasons (2007 and 2008) are planned. Results of the 2007 season are presented

Kødkvalitet for sæson 2007 og 2008

Kødkvaliteten for sæsonproducerede økologiske små hangrise (ca. 25 kg slagtevægt), store sogrise (ca. 100, 90 og 70 kg) og søer slagtet efter første læg (ca. 130 kg) er undersøgt for to sotyper (Landrace x Yorkshire = LY og ren Sortbroget Dansk Landrace = SB) og tre krydsninger af han- og sogrise (LY x Duroc = LY-D, SB-D og SB-SB). De sortbrogede grise og i lidt mindre grad SB-D har rødere og mørkere kød end LY / LY-D grisene og kødfarven er mørkere end hos konventionelle og økologiske slagtesvin ved normal slagtevægt. De sortbrogede grise har lidt mindre mørt kød (undtagen for søernes skinkesteg). De sortbrogede grise har en speciel smag i fedtet karakteriseret som nøddeagtig og sød. Der er ikke konstateret specielt høj eller lav pH i kødet. De sortbrogede små hangrise ser ud til at have et højere indhold af skatol i spækket men har ikke mere hangriselugt og –smag eller griselugt og –smag end LY-D krydsningen. Der skal dog en væsentlig større stikprøve til at sige noget sikkert om forekomsten / frekvensen af hangriselugt for de enkelte krydsninger. Androstenon har også betydning for hangriselugt men er ikke analyseret i denne undersøgelse

Økologiske sæsongrise - kødkvalitet for sæson 2007

Kødkvaliteten for sæsonproducerede økologiske små hangrise (ca. 30 kg slagtevægt), store sogrise (100, 90 og 70 kg) og søer slagtet efter første læg (120 og 80 kg) er undersøgt for to sotyper (Landrace x Yorkshire = LY og Sortbroget Dansk Landrace = SB) og tre krydsninger af han- og sogrise (LYxDuroc = LYxD, SBxD og SBxSB). De sortbrogede grise og i lidt mindre grad SBxD har mørkere kød end LY / LYxD grisene og kødfarven er mørkere end hos konventionelle og økologiske slagtesvin ved normal slagtevægt. De sortbrogede grise har måske lidt mindre mørt kød, men forsøgets stikprøve er for lille til at sige noget sikkert. De sortbrogede grise har en speciel smag i fedtet karakteriseret som nøddeagtig og sød. Der er ikke konstateret specielt høj eller lav pH i kødet. De sortbrogede små hangrise har for nogle produkter noget stærkere griselugt og –smag (måske også hangriselugt og –smag) end LYxD krydsningen. Det kan hænge sammen med et højere indhold af skatol i fedtet. Der skal dog en væsentlig større stikprøve til at sige noget sikkert om forekomsten / frekvensen af hangriselugt for de enkelte krydsninger. Androstenon har også betydning for hangriselugt men er ikke analyseret i denne undersøgelse

Effect of organic pig production systems on performance and meat quality

The present study was carried out to establish knowledge of consequence for setting up guidelines of importance for production of competitive organic pork of high quality. Performance and meat quality characteristics were compared between three organic pig production systems based on indoor housing with access to an outdoor area and a Danish conventional indoor system including 100% concentrate during the finishing feeding stage. The three organic systems used the following three feeding regimes: 100% organic concentrate according to Danish recommendations, 70% organic concentrate (restricted) plus ad libitum organic barley/pea silage and 70% organic concentrate (restricted) plus ad libitum organic clover grass silage, respectively. With exception of a slightly lower daily gain in organic pigs fed 100% concentrate, no significant difference was found in performance and meat quality characteristics compared with results obtained in the conventional system. In contrast and independent of roughage used, organic pigs raised on 70% concentrate had a significant reduction in daily gain (P < 0.001) compared with pigs raised on 100% concentrate, despite the fact that no difference in feed conversion rate was seen between the tested production systems. However, the percentage of leanness increased significantly in meat from organic pigs raised on 70% concentrate plus roughage compared with meat from pigs given 100% concentrate. This was reflected in higher yield (weight) of lean cuts and lower yield of cuts with high fat content from pigs fed 70% concentrate plus roughage. In general, organic feeding resulted in a significantly higher content of polyunsaturated fatty acids in the back fat (1.8%), which increased further when restricted feeding plus roughage (4%) was used. Restricted concentrate feeding gave rise to a decrease in tenderness compared with pork from pigs fed 100% concentrate

A diversified organic pork production – presentation of a concept based on seasonal outdoor rearing of very small entire males

The risk of boar taint in entire males is supposed to increase with increased age and weight. Thus, a method to reduce this risk may be to slaughter the pigs at a low age and weight. This strategy is investigated as part of a new concept for organic pig production. It is hypothesised that organic pork has to differ markedly from conventional in order to overcome the heavy price competition. A seasonal outdoor rearing system based on production of small entire males, large female pigs and sows slaughtered after their first litter is believed to be a feasible strategy for producing organic pork with high credibility and superior eating quality. The study included a traditional breed, the Danish Black-Spotted. 17 gilts farrowed in April. Within the first week after birth all male pigs, except 2 male pigs per litter, were castrated. The piglets were weaned at 10 weeks of age in June/July but stayed in the paddocks with access to the farrowing hut. The entire male pigs were slaughtered in July at approximately 40 kg live weight. The female pigs were slaughtered in the beginning of November. hvad med Preliminary results showed e.g. a higher daily gain for entire males compared to castrated (390 vs. 332 g per day) and indicated higher content of skatole in the traditional breed compared to a more modern breed

The influence of spatial pattern on visual short-term memory for contrast

Several psychophysical studies of visual short-term memory (VSTM) have shown high-fidelity storage capacity for many properties of visual stimuli. On judgments of the spatial frequency of gratings, for example, discrimination performance does not decrease significantly, even for memory intervals of up to 30 s. For other properties, such as stimulus orientation and contrast, however, such “perfect storage” behavior is not found, although the reasons for this difference remain unresolved. Here, we report two experiments in which we investigated the nature of the representation of stimulus contrast in VSTM using spatially complex, two-dimensional random-noise stimuli. We addressed whether information about contrast per se is retained during the memory interval by using a test stimulus with the same spatial structure but either the same or the opposite local contrast polarity, with respect to the comparison (i.e., remembered) stimulus. We found that discrimination thresholds got steadily worse with increasing duration of the memory interval. Furthermore, performance was better when the test and comparison stimuli had the same local contrast polarity than when they were contrast-reversed. Finally, when a noise mask was introduced during the memory interval, its disruptive effect was maximal when the spatial configuration of its constituent elements was uncorrelated with those of the comparison and test stimuli. These results suggest that VSTMfor contrast is closely tied to the spatial configuration of stimuli and is not transformed into a more abstract representation

Who approves/pays for additional monitoring?

Major considerations in the provision of healthcare are availability, affordability, accessibility, and appropriateness, especially in the setting of heart failure where disease burden is growing, developments have been rapid and newer biomarkers, diagnostic and imaging techniques, monitoring systems, devices, procedures, and drugs have all been developed in a relatively short period of time. Many monitoring and diagnostic systems have been developed but the disproportionate cost of conducting trials of their effectiveness has limited their uptake. There are added complexities, in that the utilization of doctors for the supervision of the monitoring results may be optimal in one setting and not in another because of differences in the characteristics of organization of healthcare provision, making even interpretation of the trials we have had, still difficult to interpret. New technologies are continuously changing the approach to healthcare and will reshape the structure of the healthcare systems in the future. Mobile technologies can empower patients and carers by giving them more control over their health and social care needs and reducing their dependence on healthcare professionals for monitoring their health, but a significant problem is the integration of the multitude of monitored parameters with clinical data and the recognition of intervention thresholds. Digital technology can help, but we need to prove its cost/efficacy and how it will be paid for. Governments in many European countries and worldwide are trying to establish frameworks that promote the convergence of standards and regulations for telemedicine solutions and yet simultaneously health authorities are closely scrutinizing healthcare spending, with the objective of reducing and optimizing expenditure in the provision of health services. There are multiple factors to be considered for the reimbursement models associated with the implementation of physiological monitoring yet it remains a challenge in cash-strapped health systems

Surface Screening Charge and Effective Charge

The charge on an atom at a metallic surface in an electric field is defined as the field-derivative of the force on the atom, and this is consistent with definitions of effective charge and screening charge. This charge can be found from the shift in the potential outside the surface when the atoms are moved. This is used to study forces and screening on surface atoms of Ag(001) c$(2\times 2)$ -- Xe as a function of external field. It is found that at low positive (outward) fields, the Xe with a negative effective charge of -0.093 $|{e}|$ is pushed into the surface. At a field of 2.3 V \AA$^{-1}$ the charge changes sign, and for fields greater than 4.1 V \AA$^{-1}$ the Xe experiences an outward force. Field desorption and the Eigler switch are discussed in terms of these results.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, RevTex (accepted by PRL

The Association of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus with Cerebral Gray Matter Volume Is Independent of Retinal Vascular Architecture and Retinopathy.

It is uncertain whether small vessel disease underlies the relationship between Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) and brain atrophy. We aimed to study whether retinal vascular architecture, as a proxy for cerebral small vessel disease, may modify or mediate the associations of T2DM with brain volumes. In this cross-sectional study using Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scans and retinal photographs in 451 people with and without T2DM, we measured brain volumes, geometric measures of retinal vascular architecture, clinical retinopathy, and MRI cerebrovascular lesions. There were 270 people with (mean age 67.3 years) and 181 without T2DM (mean age 72.9 years). T2DM was associated with lower gray matter volume (p = 0.008). T2DM was associated with greater arteriolar diameter (p = 0.03) and optimality ratio (p = 0.04), but these associations were attenuated by adjustments for age and sex. Only optimality ratio was associated with lower gray matter volume (p = 0.03). The inclusion of retinal measures in regression models did not attenuate the association of T2DM with gray matter volume. The association of T2DM with lower gray matter volume was independent of retinal vascular architecture and clinical retinopathy. Retinal vascular measures or retinopathy may not be sufficiently sensitive to confirm a microvascular basis for T2DM-related brain atrophy