Moral Concerns about Food Products and Production Methods among Consumers of Organic Foods: A Report of Some Preliminary Results from an On-Going Qualitative Study

The paper presents information regarding the research design and part of the theoretical framework employed in a qualitative analysis of data collected by means of focus groups undertaken among 3 sub-groups og consumers. The study compares supermarket customers with subscribers to farmer-run box schemes and customers at farmer-run market stalls in urban areas, with particular regard to their conceptions of organic products, producers and production methods. The results presented regard the use of visual data as a means of elucidating implicit consumer conceptions

Consumption of Organic Foods from a Life History Perspective: An Exploratory Study among Danish Consumers

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Temporal trends in bulk milk antibodies to Salmonella, Neospora caninum, and Leptospira interrogans serovar hardjo in Irish dairy herds

peer-reviewedBulk milk samples were collected from 309 Irish dairy herds at four time points during 2009 and tested for antibodies to Salmonella spp., N. caninum, and L. hardjo, three abortifacient agents in Irish dairy herds. Of the 312 study herds, 49% vaccinated against Salmonella and 76% vaccinated against L. hardjo. In unvaccinated herds, the overall prevalence of antibody positive herds was 49% for Salmonella, 19% for N. caninum and 86% for L. hardjo. There was no association between both testing positive for and incidence of Salmonella or L. hardjo on sample date and calving season. A significant association was found between sample date and both testing positive for [p = <0.0001 OR = 2.41 (95% CI 1.54–3.80)] and incidence [p = 0.001 OR = 3.10 (95% CI 1.72–5.57)] of N. caninum. No association with region of Ireland was found for either testing positive for or incidence of N. caninum, or L. hardjo. There was however a tendency towards a higher incidence of Salmonella in regions of Ireland with higher cattle densities

Human Dorsal Striatal Activity during Choice Discriminates Reinforcement Learning Behavior from the Gambler’s Fallacy

Reinforcement learning theory has generated substantial interest in neurobiology, particularly because of the resemblance between phasic dopamine and reward prediction errors. Actor–critic theories have been adapted to account for the functions of the striatum, with parts of the dorsal striatum equated to the actor. Here, we specifically test whether the human dorsal striatum—as predicted by an actor–critic instantiation—is used on a trial-to-trial basis at the time of choice to choose in accordance with reinforcement learning theory, as opposed to a competing strategy: the gambler's fallacy. Using a partial-brain functional magnetic resonance imaging scanning protocol focused on the striatum and other ventral brain areas, we found that the dorsal striatum is more active when choosing consistent with reinforcement learning compared with the competing strategy. Moreover, an overlapping area of dorsal striatum along with the ventral striatum was found to be correlated with reward prediction errors at the time of outcome, as predicted by the actor–critic framework. These findings suggest that the same region of dorsal striatum involved in learning stimulus–response associations may contribute to the control of behavior during choice, thereby using those learned associations. Intriguingly, neither reinforcement learning nor the gambler's fallacy conformed to the optimal choice strategy on the specific decision-making task we used. Thus, the dorsal striatum may contribute to the control of behavior according to reinforcement learning even when the prescriptions of such an algorithm are suboptimal in terms of maximizing future rewards

Effect of phosphorus level and phytase inclusion on the performance, bone mineral concentration, apparent nutrient digestibility, and on mineral and nitrogen utilisation in finisher pigs.

peer-reviewedFunding for this research was provided under the National Development Plan, through the Research Stimulus Fund, administered by the Irish Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.Two experiments were conducted to investigate the interaction between dietary P concentration and phytase (PHY) inclusion in the diet of finisher pigs. In Experiment 1, the growth performance and bone analysis experiment, pigs (6 replicate groups of 14 pigs each per treatment; initial body weight (BW) = 45.2 kg) were allocated to one of six dietary treatments (for 74 days) in a 3 × 2 factorial arrangement: T1 – available P in the diet = 1.5 g/kg; T2 = T1 with 500 units of phytase (FTU)/kg; T3 – available P = 2.0 g/kg; T4 = T3 with 500 FTU/kg; T5 – available P = 2.5 g/kg; T6 = T5 with 500 FTU/kg. Experiment 2 consisted of a digestibility and a P, Ca and N balance study, and pigs (6 per treatment; initial BW = 67.3 kg) were offered identical diets to those offered in Experiment 1. There was an interaction between dietary P level and PHY inclusion for average daily gain (ADG) and carcass weight (CW; P < 0.05) in Experiment 1. Pigs offered the low P diet supplemented with PHY had a higher ADG and CW than pigs offered the non-PHY, low P diet. However, there was no effect (P > 0.05) of PHY inclusion on ADG or CW with the medium or high P diets. Higher concentrations of ash, P and Ca in bone were noted in pigs offered the medium and high P diets (P < 0.001) and PHY (P < 0.01) diets when compared to pigs offered the low P without PHY. Pigs offered diets supplemented with PHY had lower faecal P output (P < 0.01) and a higher P digestibility (P < 0.001) and P retention (P < 0.05) than pigs offered diets without added PHY. In conclusion, supplementation of a low-P finisher diet with PHY resulted in pigs that had a similar carcass weight, but weaker bones than pigs offered a medium or high P diet.Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marin

Contributions of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex to goal-directed action selection

In this article, it will be argued that one of the key contributions of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) to goal-directed action selection lies both in retrieving the value of goals that are the putative outcomes of the decision process and in establishing a relative preference ranking for these goals by taking into account the value of each of the different goals under consideration in a given decision-making scenario. These goal-value signals are then suggested to be used as an input into the on-line computation of action values mediated by brain regions outside of the vmPFC, such as parts of the parietal cortex, supplementary motor cortex, and dorsal striatum. Collectively, these areas can be considered to be constituent elements of a multistage decision process whereby the values of different goals must first be represented and ranked before the value of different courses of action available for the pursuit of those goals can be computed

Decoding the neural substrates of reward-related decision making with functional MRI

Although previous studies have implicated a diverse set of brain regions in reward-related decision making, it is not yet known which of these regions contain information that directly reflects a decision. Here, we measured brain activity using functional MRI in a group of subjects while they performed a simple reward-based decision-making task: probabilistic reversal-learning. We recorded brain activity from nine distinct regions of interest previously implicated in decision making and separated out local spatially distributed signals in each region from global differences in signal. Using a multivariate analysis approach, we determined the extent to which global and local signals could be used to decode subjects' subsequent behavioral choice, based on their brain activity on the preceding trial. We found that subjects' decisions could be decoded to a high level of accuracy on the basis of both local and global signals even before they were required to make a choice, and even before they knew which physical action would be required. Furthermore, the combined signals from three specific brain areas (anterior cingulate cortex, medial prefrontal cortex, and ventral striatum) were found to provide all of the information sufficient to decode subjects' decisions out of all of the regions we studied. These findings implicate a specific network of regions in encoding information relevant to subsequent behavioral choice

The Decision Value Computations in the vmPFC and Striatum Use a Relative Value Code That is Guided by Visual Attention

There is a growing consensus in behavioral neuroscience that the brain makes simple choices by first assigning a value to the options under consideration and then comparing them. Two important open questions are whether the brain encodes absolute or relative value signals, and what role attention might play in these computations.Weinvestigated these questions using a human fMRI experiment with a binary choice task in which the fixations to both stimuli were exogenously manipulated to control for the role of visual attention in the valuation computation. We found that the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and the ventral striatum encoded fixation-dependent relative value signals: activity in these areas correlated with the difference in value between the attended and the unattended items. These attention-modulated relative value signals might serve as the input of a comparator system that is used to make a choice

Effect of exposure to Neospora caninum, Salmonella, and Leptospira interrogans serovar Hardjo on the economic performance of Irish dairy herds

peer-reviewedThe objective of the current study was to quantify the effects of exposure to Salmonella, Neospora caninum, and Leptospira interrogans serovar Hardjo (L. hardjo) on dairy farm profitability and to simulate the effect of vaccination for Salmonella and L. hardjo on dairy farm profitability. The production effects associated with exposure to each of these pathogens in study herds were defined under 3 categories: (1) milk production effects, (2) reproduction effects (including culling), and (3) mortality effects. The production effects associated with exposure to Salmonella, N. caninum, and L. hardjo were incorporated into the Moorepark Dairy Systems Model. In the analysis, herds negative for exposure to Salmonella, N. caninum, and L. hardjo were assumed baseline herds, with all results presented relative to this base. In simulations examining the effect of vaccination for Salmonella and L. hardjo on farm profitability, vaccinated herds (vaccination costs included) were considered as baseline herds and results were presented relative to this base. Total annual profits in unvaccinated herds were reduced by €77.31, €94.71, and €112.11 per cow at milk prices of €0.24, €0.29, and €0.34/L, respectively, as a result of exposure to Salmonella. In the current study, herds positive for exposure to Salmonella recorded a 316-kg reduction in milk yield, whereas no association was detected between exposure to N. caninum or L. hardjo and milk production. Exposure to both N. caninum and L. hardjo was associated with compromised reproductive performance. Herds positive for exposure to N. caninum and Salmonella had greater rates of adult cow mortality and calf mortality, respectively. Vaccination for both Salmonella and L. hardjo was associated with improved performance in study herds. Exposure to N. caninum resulted in a reduction in annual farm profits of €11.55, €12, and €12.44 per cow at each milk price, whereas exposure to L. hardjo resulted in a reduction in annual farm profits of €13.83, €13.78, and €13.72 per cow at each milk price. Herds that tested positive for exposure to Salmonella and L. hardjo were compared with herds vaccinated for the respective pathogens. Herds vaccinated for Salmonella generated €67.09, €84.48, and €101.89 per cow more profit at each milk price compared with herds positive for exposure. Similarly, herds vaccinated for L. hardjo generated €9.74, €9.69, and €9.63 per cow more profit compared with unvaccinated exposed herds. However, herds that tested negative for exposure to Salmonella and L. hardjo generated additional profits of €10.22 and €4.09 per cow, respectively, compared with vaccinated baseline herds