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ABSTRACT: One of the largest animal welfare problems in modern pig production is tail biting. This abnormal behaviour compromises the well-being of the animals, can seriously impair animal health and can cause considerable economic losses. Tail biting has a multifactorial origin and occurs mainly in fattening pigs. High stocking densities, poor environment and bad air quality are seen as important factors. However, it is presumed that a plurality of internal and external motivators in intensive pig production can trigger this behaviour which is not reported in sounders of wild boars. The aim of this review is to summarize the causes and the effects of tail biting in pigs and present management strategies that are likely to reduce its incidence. In particular, management strategies by applying Precision Livestock Farming (PLF) technologies to monitor and control the behaviour of the pigs may be suitable to detect the outbreaks of tail biting at an early stage so that counter measures can be taken in time.
Berliner und Münchener tierärztliche Wochenschrift 03/2013; 126(3-4):104-12. · 0.82 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Automatic image analysis algorithms are in general dedicated quantification tools used for very specific types of microscopic cell images, but are not robust enough to accurately quantify cell number and distribution in the wide variety for fluorescence images that exist in the field of tissue engineering today, where cell-material (scaffold) interactions are being evaluated more and more. In this study a semi-automatic algorithm was developed that allows the user to manually count a limited part of a TE scaffold image and then automatically counts the cells of the full image based on that calibration dataset. The algorithm was validated on images of cells on a 2D titanium substrate, in a 3D titanium scaffold and in a fibrin hydrogel by comparison with manual cell counting and with an indirect cell counting using metabolic assay. The average relative error between this semi-automatic and the manual approach was 3.4 % for the 2D titanium substrates, 5.9 % for the 3D titanium scaffolds and 14.1% for the fibrin hydrogels. Hereby a proof of concept was delivered that could lead to an increased use of automated cell imaging as a reliable 2D and 3D quantitative tool for both basic biological research and process control of clinical TE products.
Tissue Engineering Part C Methods 01/2013; · 4.64 Impact Factor
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Acta Veterinaria Brno 01/2013; · 0.43 Impact Factor
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Gunel Ismayilova,
Maciej Oczak,
Annamaria Costa,
Lilia Thays Sonoda,
Stefano Viazzi,
Michaela Fels,
Erik Vranken,
Jörg Hartung,
Claudia Bahr, Daniel Berckmans,
Marcella Guarino
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ABSTRACT: The aim of this study was to identify, quantify, and describe pre-signs of aggression in pigs and the early stages of aggressive interactions. The experiment was carried out at a commercial farm on a group of 11 male pigs weighing on average 23 kg and kept in a pen of4 m x 2.5 m. In total 8 hours were videorecorded during the first 3 days after mixing. As a result, 177 aggressive interactions were identified and labelled to find pre-sign body positions before aggressive interactions, attack positions and aggressive acts performed from these positions. A total of 12 positions were classified as pre-signs (P1-P12) and 7 of them were identified immediately at the start of aggressive interactions (P6-P12). Most common pre-sign positions were P3-pigs approaching and facing each other (24%) and P2-initiator pigs approaching from the lateral side (18%). In 80% of the cases the duration of pre-signs was 1-2 sec 72% of all aggressive interactions were short (1 to 10 sec). The most frequent attack positions were P12-inverse parallel (39.5%), P7-nose to nose, 90 degrees (19.77%) and P9-nose to head (13.5%). The most frequent aggressive acts from attack positions were head knocking (34.4%), pressing (34.4%) and biting of different body parts (29.4%). Head knocking was mostly observed in relation to P7 and P2 positions and biting was common in the P7 position. In conclusion, pigs adopt specific pre-signs and body positions before the escalation of aggressive interactions. This could be used as potential sign to identify a beginning aggression.
Berliner und Münchener tierärztliche Wochenschrift 01/2013; 126(3-4):113-20. · 0.82 Impact Factor
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Sara Amirpour Haredasht,
Miguel Barrios,
Jamshid Farifteh,
Piet Maes,
Jan Clement,
Willem W Verstraeten,
Katrien Tersago,
Marc Van Ranst,
Pol Coppin, Daniel Berckmans,
Jean-Marie Aerts
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ABSTRACT: The bank vole (Myodes glareolus) is the natural host of Puumala virus (PUUV) in vast areas of Europe. PUUV is one of the hantaviruses which are transmitted to humans by infected rodents. PUUV causes a general mild form of hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) called nephropathia epidemica (NE). Vector-borne and zoonotic diseases generally display clear spatial patterns due to different space-dependent factors. Land cover influences disease transmission by controlling both the spatial distribution of vectors or hosts, as well as by facilitating the human contact with them. In this study the use of ecological niche modelling (ENM) for predicting the geographical distribution of bank vole population on the basis of spatial climate information is tested. The Genetic Algorithm for Rule-set Prediction (GARP) is used to model the ecological niche of bank voles in Western Europe. The meteorological data, land cover types and geo-referenced points representing the locations of the bank voles (latitude/longitude) in the study area are used as the primary model input value. The predictive accuracy of the bank vole ecologic niche model was significant (training accuracy of 86%). The output of the GARP models based on the 50% subsets of points used for testing the model showed an accuracy of 75%. Compared with random models, the probability of such high predictivity was low (χ2 tests, p < 10-6). As such, the GARP models were predictive and the used ecologic niche model indeed indicates the ecologic requirements of bank voles. This approach successfully identified the areas of infection risk across the study area. The result suggests that the niche modelling approach can be implemented in a next step towards the development of new tools for monitoring the bank vole's population.
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 01/2013; 10(2):499-514. · 1.61 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Recent advances have started to uncover the underlying mechanisms of metabotropic glutamate receptor (mGluR)-dependent long-term depression (LTD). However, it is not completely clear how these mechanisms are linked, and it is believed that several crucial mechanisms remain to be revealed. In this study, we investigated whether system identification (SI) methods can be used to gain insight into the mechanisms of synaptic plasticity. SI methods have been shown to be an objective and powerful approach for describing how sensory neurons encode information about stimuli. However, to our knowledge, it is the first time that SI methods have been applied to electrophysiological brain slice recordings of synaptic plasticity responses. The results indicate that the SI approach is a valuable tool for reverse-engineering of mGluR-LTD responses. We suggest that such SI methods can aid in unraveling the complexities of synaptic function.
Neural Computation 12/2012; · 1.88 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: It is well known that when unacquainted pigs are mixed, they will fight to establish a social hierarchy. This is a natural process which occurs among pigs of different ages and it has been described under natural, semi-natural as well as in intensive farming conditions. However, in intensive production systems, group compositions change frequently and a larger number of animals is confined in a limited space, giving less chance for escaping from fights. Fighting can cause not only economic losses but also serious welfare problems by injuries and the limitation of resources can aggravate the problem. In order to avoid or reduce aggressive actions, several measures were tried, such as odour masking agents, sedatives, regrouping pigs in darkness or equipping the pen with a hiding place. Most of these methods led only to a postponement of aggressive behaviour after mixing, without reducing it significantly. A promising approach to reduce aggression among pregnant sows after mixing is the use of arenas, where weaned sows are pre-grouped before single housing for insemination, being reunited afterwards. Recently, a diet supplementation with high levels of tryptophan has shown to reduce aggressive behaviour in pigs. This nutritional management can be applied about seven days before the animals are weaned, without compromising the health and growth performance. A more technological solution using the principles of Precision Livestock Farming is being developed within the EU-project “BioBusiness” in which the authors of this paper are involved. An image based automatic monitoring system, able to detect the occurrence of aggressive interactions in the initial phase, could be used as a warning system for excessive and detrimental aggressive behaviour, exceeding the expected level of ranking fights after mixing. It will be designed to enable the farmer to take countermeasures at an early stage and protect animals from suffering excessive aggression.
II PSIAnimal Conference, Lisbon; 09/2012
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ABSTRACT: It is well known that pigs raised in enriched environments express less abnormal and aggressive behaviour (such as tail biting and fighting) than pigs housed in barren pens. For this reason, environmental enrichment has been recommended on pig farms, being an important asset for animal welfare. Pig producers have both economic and practical constraints on the extent to which they can offer environmental enrichment to their animals. They have to find the balance between fulfilling the needs of the animals and productivity. For example, the provision of particulate substrates as straw is very difficult to realise in systems with slatted flooring as they can block the liquid-slurry handling-system. A new method of environmental enrichment was experimented at a research farm in Hannover, Germany, from the 26th of September to 22nd of November of 2011. Two litters of 10 suckling piglets, 2.5 weeks old and average weight of 7 kg, were trained to react to the activation of an electronic feeder every 10 minutes. The piglets had to learn the link between a sound given by the feeder and a feed reward in form of chocolate candies during a period of eight days. The analysis of one round of training revealed that most of the piglets learned the commands during eight days and the number of piglets around the feeder awaiting candies after the sound increased with consecutive training days (p<0.05). A considerable variability exits between individual animals showing that some animals learn faster than the others. We concluded that the electronic feeder system has the potential to be used as environmental enrichment for suckling piglets. Furthermore, ongoing investigations have to elucidate whether the system can be used successfully over longer periods, with more practical feed rewards, and if it can be suitable as a distracter to prevent aggressiveness among pigs.
II PSIAnimal Conference, Lisbon; 09/2012
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12/2011; , ISBN: 978-953-307-296-8
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ABSTRACT: Cognitive hyperarousal, resulting in enhanced cognitive activation, has been cited as an important contributor to the development and preservation of insomnia. To further understand this process, our study examined the effects of acutely-induced pre-sleep cognitive hyperarousal on sleep onset processes in healthy volunteers. Following an adaptation night, 15 subjects slept two nights in our sleep laboratory: one reference night and another one with cognitive arousal induction, in a counterbalanced order. In the cognitive arousal condition, subjects worked through half an hour of cognitive tasks without interference of an emotional component prior to retiring to bed. Objective sleep onset latency was significantly prolonged in the cognitive arousal condition compared to the reference condition. Significantly more high frequency activity was recorded during the first and second deep-sleep period. Moreover, differences in heart rate and proximal temperature during and after sleep onset were observed in the nights after the cognitive induction. Pre-sleep cognitive activation successfully induced a significant cognitive load and activation in our subjects to influence subsequent sleep (onset) processes.
International journal of psychophysiology: official journal of the International Organization of Psychophysiology 09/2011; 83(1):8-15. · 3.05 Impact Factor
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04/2011; , ISBN: 978-953-307-224-1
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ABSTRACT: This study combines concepts of bed design and sleep registrations to investigate how quality of spine support affects the manifestation of sleep in healthy subjects. Altogether, 17 normal sleepers (nine males, eight females; age 24.3±7.1 years) participated in an anthropometric screening, prior to the actual sleep experiments, during which personalised sleep system settings were determined according to individual body measures. Sleep systems (i.e. mattress and supporting structure) with an adjustable stiffness distribution were used. Subjects spent three nights of 8 h in bed in the sleep laboratory in a counterbalanced order (adaptation, personalised support and sagging support). During these nights, polysomnography was performed. Subjective sleep data were gathered by means of questionnaires. Results show that individual posture preferences are a determinant factor in the extent that subjects experience a negative effect while sleeping on a sagging sleep system. STATEMENT OF RELEVANCE: This study investigated how spine support affects sleep in healthy subjects, finding that the relationship between bedding and sleep quality is affected by individual anthropometry and sleep posture. In particular, results indicate that a sagging sleep system negatively affects sleep quality for people sleeping in a prone or lateral posture.
Ergonomics 02/2011; 54(2):169-78. · 1.41 Impact Factor
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IEEE Transactions on Information Technology in Biomedicine. 01/2011; 15:787-794.
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ABSTRACT: As part of a tissue engineering (TE) therapy, cell-seeded scaffolds can be cultured in perfusion bioreactors in which the flow-mediated wall shear stress and the nutrient transport are factors that influence in vitro proliferation and osteogenic differentiation of the seeded progenitor cells. In this study both computational fluid dynamics simulations on idealized boundary conditions and circumstances and microparticle image velocimetry measurements on realistic conditions were carried out to quantify the fluid dynamic microenvironment inside a bone TE construct. The results showed that differences between actual and designed geometry and time-dependent character of the fluid flow caused a 19% difference in average fluid velocity and a 27% difference in wall shear stress between simulations and measurements. The computational fluid dynamics simulation enabled higher resolution and three-dimensional fluid flow quantification that could be quantitatively compared with a microparticle image velocimetry measurement. The coupling of numerical and experimental analysis provides a reliable and high-resolution bi-modular tool for quantifying the fluid dynamics that represent the basis to determine the relation between the hydrodynamic environment and cell growth and differentiation within TE scaffolds.
Tissue Engineering Part C Methods 12/2010; 16(6):1553-64. · 4.64 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Over the recent years pen-paper observational assessment scales have proven to be useful to monitor behaviour and responses of humans and animals. Observational assessment tools are typically applied for subjects who are not able to communicate directly. For on-site observational assessment however it is hard to record and evaluate timing patterns of observed events using pen-paper scales. Although timing information is in many cases assumed highly valuable, only (videotaped) laboratory scales are able to benefit from this knowledge. In the work described in this paper we digitize pen-paper assessment scales resulting in new functionalities capable to improve assessment scores. A study of on-site pain and discomfort assessment of severely demented elderly is presented. The resulting system is a mobile electronic device with a graphical user interface (GUI) on a touch screen. Moreover digital information is stored in a database improving administration, providing immediate feedback and allowing applications like: visualisation, statistical analysis and scientific research like data mining. The device allows easily registering and automatically interpreting complex timing patterns of behaviours and responses, on-site. This feature could be employed in the development of new more accurate observational assessment instruments.
Computer methods and programs in biomedicine 07/2010; 99(1):34-42. · 1.14 Impact Factor
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José Miguel Barrios,
Willem W Verstraeten,
Piet Maes,
Jan Clement,
Jean-Marie Aerts,
Sara Amirpour Haredasht,
Julie Wambacq,
Katrien Lagrou,
Geneviève Ducoffre,
Marc Van Ranst, Daniel Berckmans,
Pol Coppin
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ABSTRACT: The connection between nephropathia epidemica (NE) and vegetation dynamics has been emphasized in recent studies. Changing climate has been suggested as a triggering factor of recently observed epidemiologic peaks in reported NE cases. We have investigated whether there is a connection between the NE occurrence pattern in Belgium and specific trends in remotely sensed phenology parameters of broad-leaved forests. The analysis of time series of the MODIS Enhanced Vegetation Index revealed that changes in forest phenology, considered in literature as an effect of climate change, may affect the mechanics of NE transmission.
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 06/2010; 7(6):2486-500. · 1.61 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Sleep fragmentation is a cause of impaired daytime performance. We have developed an algorithm for detection of nighttime awakenings based on heart rate. As much as 15 healthy normal sleepers, 23 +/- 3 years, participated in this study. The dataset contains 33 nights of polysomnographic (PSG) and electrocardiographic (ECG) measurements. After a habituation night, the subjects underwent a reference night without interventions, followed by some nights with interventions. These included noise, light, physical and cognitive interventions. Nighttime awakenings were subdivided in to awakenings (>15 s) and short awakenings (<15 s). The overall number of awakenings was 18.5 (+/-10.5) and short awakenings 13.2 (+/-10.5). The number of nighttime awakenings did not differ significantly between the reference and intervention nights; a repeated measures ANOVA resulted in a p value of 0.66 for awakenings and 0.57 for short awakenings. As much as 5 reference nights were used as training set, 28 as validation set. The algorithm detects the awakening periods with a sensitivity of 80.5% (confidence interval 77.9-82.9%). Heart rate is an adequate measure that allows for detection of nighttime awakenings and hence sleep quality.
Arbeitsphysiologie 05/2010; 109(2):317-22. · 2.15 Impact Factor
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International Conference on Body Sensor Networks, BSN 2010, Singapore, 7-9 June, 2010; 01/2010
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J. Medical Systems. 01/2010; 34:229-239.
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ABSTRACT: The presence of decoupling, i.e. the absence of coupling between fundamental frequency variation and energy envelope during phonetic crying, and its extent, reflects the degree of maturation of the central nervous system.
We hereby wanted to assess the existence and extent of decoupling in term neonates (neurodevelopmental relevance) and whether an association between decoupling and clinical pain expression could be unveiled (clinical relevance).
To assess decoupling in healthy term neonates during procedural pain, newborns were videotaped and crying was recorded during venous blood sampling. Besides acoustic analysis, pain expression was quantified based on the Modified Behavioral Pain Scale (MBPS).
47 healthy term neonates underwent venous blood puncture at the 3rd day of life.
Beside the MBPS score, the correlation coefficients were calculated between the fundamental frequency variation and energy envelope of the cries.
Based on data collected in 47 healthy term neonates, correlation coefficients varied between 0.20 and 0.68. The degree of decoupling displayed extensive variability between the neonates and also in different cry bouts in a crying sequence within an individual neonate. A negative association was found between MBPS value and decoupling (r(2)=-0.12), the same as for the intra-subject variability although less extensive (r(2)=-0.02).
Decoupling only relates weakly with the amount of distress in 3day old newborns, even though a great intra-subject variability is present. This study suggests that there is no evidence of extensive decoupling as the newborn still has to fully develop the control of larynx and abdominal muscles.
Early human development 01/2010; 86(1):35-40. · 2.12 Impact Factor
