Animals最新文献

{"title":"Supplementation with Lentinan Improves the Colostrum Quality of Holstein Dairy Cows and the Immunity and Antioxidant Capacity of Newborn Calves.","authors":"Yinghao Huang, Yapeng Hu, Longfei Lv, Dian Wang, Xiao Li, Sijia Liu, Zhao Zhuo, Caiyun Fan, Jianbo Cheng","doi":"10.3390/ani15060835","DOIUrl":"10.3390/ani15060835","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of lentinan (LNT) on the quality of colostrum produced by perinatal dairy cows and the health status of their newborn calves. A total of 40 expectant Holstein cows, matched for parity and expected date of delivery, were selected and randomly divided into four groups: a control group fed a total mixed diet (TMR); a low LNT group (10 g/d, LLNT); a medium LNT group (20 g/d, MLNT); and a high LNT group (40 g/d, HLNT). The study commenced 21 days prior to parturition and continued for three weeks. Colostrum was collected from the cows immediately after delivery and subsequently fed to the newborn calves. The results indicated that colostrum milk protein production and IgG production in the MLNT group were significantly increased (<i>p</i> < 0.05). Following colostrum gavage, serum SOD and IgG in both the MLNT and HLNT groups showed significant increases (<i>p</i> < 0.05), while MDA and IL-1β levels were significantly decreased (<i>p</i> < 0.05). Moreover, calves in the MLNT and HLNT groups experienced lower incidences of diarrhea, pneumonia, and overall morbidity compared to those in the control group. In conclusion, LNT enhanced the quality of colostrum in perinatal cows and contributed to the health of newborn calves through colostrum. This study offers new research avenues for improving the health of newborn calves and provides a theoretical foundation for the development of LNT as a novel feed additive.</p>","PeriodicalId":7955,"journal":{"name":"Animals","volume":"15 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-03-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11939786/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143727599","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Advances in Nutritional Manipulation of Rumen Fermentation.","authors":"Lizhi Wang","doi":"10.3390/ani15060833","DOIUrl":"10.3390/ani15060833","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Rumen, a complex and dynamic ecosystem, plays a pivotal role in the digestion and nutrient utilization of ruminant animals [...].</p>","PeriodicalId":7955,"journal":{"name":"Animals","volume":"15 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-03-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11939214/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143727399","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The Influence of Aspiration Pressure, Follicle Flushing Method and Needle Rotation During Single-Operator OPU Technique on Oocyte Recovery and Embryo Production in the Mare.","authors":"Juan Cuervo-Arango, Laura Sala-Ayala, Adrián Márquez-Moya, Rebeca Martínez-Boví","doi":"10.3390/ani15060832","DOIUrl":"10.3390/ani15060832","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The objective of this study was to determine the effect of two aspiration pressures (75 vs. 150 mmHg), the follicle flushing method (injection pump controlled by a foot pedal vs. a plastic syringe) and the twisting of the OPU needle on oocyte recovery and in vitro embryo production. OPU data from a total of 104 warmblood sport mares belonging to a commercial OPU-ICSI program were collected as part of a prospective study split into three experiments. Each mare was used only once for OPU. In Experiment 1, the mares' follicles were aspirated using either a high aspiration pressure (flow rate of 1.33 mL/s; <i>n</i> = 18) or low aspiration pressure (0.75 mL/s; <i>n</i> = 18); in Experiment 2, follicles were flushed using either a manual method (plastic syringe, <i>n</i> = 18) or an automatic method (injection pump controlled by a foot pedal, <i>n</i> = 18); and in Experiment 3, the follicles were aspirated by scraping the follicle wall with needle rotation (needle twisting, <i>n</i> = 16) or without needle rotation (control, <i>n</i> = 16). In all the experiments, the same OPU operator and technician searching oocytes were used, and the allocation of each mare to the different treatment groups was randomized. The overall mean oocyte recovery rate of the study was 54.2 ± 17.1%, and the mean number of embryos per OPU-ICSI session was 1.9 ± 1.6. The oocyte recovery rate was not influenced by any of the parameters investigated (<i>p</i> > 0.05). However, high aspiration pressure (150 mmHg) tended to yield oocytes with lower maturation (51.6%; <i>p</i> = 0.09) and blastocyst rates (20.6%; <i>p</i> = 0.08) following IVM and ICSI, respectively, compared with the low aspiration group (64.4% MII rate and 31.4% blastocyst rate). In conclusion, increasing aspiration pressure does not increase oocyte recovery. Furthermore, when a single operator performs the OPU (holding the ovary and handling the needle simultaneously), needle rotation to scrape the follicle wall does not improve oocyte recovery.</p>","PeriodicalId":7955,"journal":{"name":"Animals","volume":"15 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-03-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11939359/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143727607","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The Influence of Region, Sex, and Age on the Prevalence of Gastrointestinal Parasites in Alpacas (<i>Vicugna pacos</i>) in Poland.","authors":"Bogumiła Pilarczyk, Renata Pilarczyk, Marta Juszczak-Czasnojć, Małgorzata Bąkowska, Agnieszka Tomza-Marciniak, Beata Seremak, Paulius Matusevičius, Ramutė Mišeikienė","doi":"10.3390/ani15060841","DOIUrl":"10.3390/ani15060841","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The aim of the study was to determine the extent and intensity of gastrointestinal parasite infections in alpacas (<i>Vicugna pacos</i>) in Poland, considering factors such as region, gender, age, and season. The research was conducted on 29 herds located throughout Poland. Faecal samples from 512 alpacas were collected in autumn 2023 and spring 2024. Examination was performed using the direct flotation and McMaster methods. The average prevalence of gastrointestinal parasitic infections was 74.4%; 68.8% of alpacas were infected with nematodes and 34.8% with protists of the genus <i>Eimeria</i>. The most commonly detected parasites were <i>Nematodirus</i> spp. (38.5%) and <i>Eimeria punoensis</i> (18.2%). The analysis revealed significant differences in the intensity of gastrointestinal parasitic infections depending on region, age, gender, and season, suggesting the need to tailor deworming programs to the specific requirements of different groups of alpacas. Furthermore, regional differences in the prevalence of <i>Strongyloides</i> sp. and <i>Strongylida</i> infections were observed, indicating a significant impact of local environmental conditions and husbandry practices on the risk of infection. Seasonal variations in the intensity of <i>Eimeria</i> infections, particularly in autumn, were also noted. Parasitic infections in alpacas in Poland are common and generally asymptomatic. These results highlight the need for the implementation of a comprehensive preventive program for controlling parasitic infection, including regular diagnostics, pasture management optimization, maintenance of hygiene, and selective use of antiparasitic drugs in alpacas.</p>","PeriodicalId":7955,"journal":{"name":"Animals","volume":"15 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-03-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11939324/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143727610","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Transcriptomics Reveals the Differences in mRNA Expression Patterns in Yak Uterus of Follicular, Luteal, and Pregnant Phases.","authors":"Shaohui Beng, Daoliang Lan, Yueyue Li, Deping Li, Yuehuan Zhang, Zelang Ma, Jianbo Zhu, Shunyang Liu, Kechao Chen, Jian Li, Peng Wang, Wei Fu","doi":"10.3390/ani15060837","DOIUrl":"10.3390/ani15060837","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The yak, an important livestock mostly living in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau region, has attracted massive attention due to its reproductive specificity. However, the molecular mechanism regulating yak uterine functions remains to be explored. This study utilized transcriptomics to identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in yaks across uteruses undergoing the follicular phase (UFP) (<i>n</i> = 3/group), luteal phase (ULP) (<i>n</i> = 3/group), and pregnant phase (UPP) (<i>n</i> = 3/group), aiming to depict and compare their transcriptomic characteristics. For the UFP and ULP groups, 495 DEGs were identified, including 329 upregulated and 166 downregulated DEGs in group ULP compared to UFP. Advanced analysis indicated that these DEGs between UFP and ULP were primary participants in GO items, such as adhesion, cell differentiation, and development, and were significantly enriched in KEGG signaling pathways like arachidonic acid metabolism, retinol metabolism, and cAMP signaling pathways. For the UFP and UPP groups, 353 DEGs were obtained, comprising 198 upregulated and 155 downregulated DEGs in group UPP compared to UFP. Advanced analysis showed that these DEGs between UFP and UPP were mainly related to GO items such as adhesion, binding, and the extracellular region, and were prominently enriched in KEGG signaling pathways like ECM-receptor interaction, the relaxing signaling pathway, and focal adhesion. For the groups ULP and UPP, 1303 DEGs were identified, encompassing 709 upregulated and 594 downregulated DEGs in group UPP compared to ULP. Advanced analysis indicated that these DEGs between ULP and UPP were associated with GO items such as multicellular organismal processes, cell differentiation, and the extracellular region, and mainly gathered in KEGG signaling pathways like signal transduction, cell differentiation, metabolism, and autophagy. These results provide valuable insights into the key biomarkers observable via dynamic changes in the yak uterus and offer a theoretical basis for further studies on yak reproductive mechanisms and improving production performance.</p>","PeriodicalId":7955,"journal":{"name":"Animals","volume":"15 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-03-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11939727/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143727619","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Enhancing Landmark Point Detection in <i>Eriocheir Sinensis</i> Carapace with Differentiable End-to-End Networks.","authors":"Chong Wu, Shuxian Wang, Shengmao Zhang, Hanfeng Zheng, Wei Wang, Shenglong Yang","doi":"10.3390/ani15060836","DOIUrl":"10.3390/ani15060836","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This research proposes using a neural network to detect and identify the landmark points of the carapace of the Chinese mitten crab, with the aim of improving efficiency in observation, measurement, and statistics in breeding and sales. A 37-point localization framework was developed for the carapace, with the dataset augmented through random distortions, rotations, and occlusions to enhance generalization capability. Three types of convolutional neural network models were used to compare detection accuracy, generalization ability, and model power consumption, with different loss functions compared. The results showed that the Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) model based on the Differentiable Spatial to Numerical Transform (DSNT) module had the highest R² value of 0.9906 on the test set, followed by the CNN model based on the Gaussian heatmap at 0.9846. The DSNT-based CNN model exhibited optimal computational efficiency, particularly in power consumption metrics. This research demonstrates that the CNN model based on the DSNT module has great potential in detecting landmark points for the Chinese mitten crab, reducing manual workload in breeding observation and quality inspection, and improving efficiency.</p>","PeriodicalId":7955,"journal":{"name":"Animals","volume":"15 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-03-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11939479/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143727689","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Vaccination Status of Horses in Poland Based on an Internet Survey of the Horse Owners.","authors":"Marta Rykala, Marcin Jasiak, Artur Niedzwiedz","doi":"10.3390/ani15060834","DOIUrl":"10.3390/ani15060834","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Preventing the spread of infectious diseases in horses requires breaking the chain of infection through appropriate prophylaxis. In Poland, where the horse population reached 273,006 in 2023, vaccinations are voluntary and primarily the responsibility of horse owners, with mandatory influenza vaccinations limited to sport horses. This study aimed to evaluate the vaccination status of Polish horses against infectious diseases through a survey of 980 horse owners and an analysis of 123 horse passports from slaughterhouses. Survey participants represented all provinces, predominantly owning warmblood horses (86%), but also 10% coldblood and 4% ponies or unidentified. Nearly half engaged in equestrian competitions. While over 90% of sport and pleasure horses were vaccinated against key diseases such as equine influenza and tetanus, only 2.4% of slaughter horses had similar prophylaxis. Cold-blooded horses were underrepresented in the survey (10.4%) but made up 68.3% of the analyzed slaughterhouse sample. The findings highlight a significant disparity in vaccination practices, primarily influenced by the horse's intended use, with sport and leisure horses receiving better preventive care than slaughter horses. These results underscore the need for targeted educational efforts and policy interventions to improve the epizootiological status of Poland's horse population and ensure a more uniform approach to disease prevention. A limitation of this study is the accuracy of vaccination records in horse passports, as some owners may not have them during vaccination, leading to discrepancies.</p>","PeriodicalId":7955,"journal":{"name":"Animals","volume":"15 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-03-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11939541/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143727627","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Effects of Climate and Land Use on the Population Dynamics of the Bank Vole (<i>Clethrionomys glareolus</i>) in the Southernmost Part of Its Range.","authors":"Lucía de la Huerta-Schliemann, Marc Vilella, Lídia Freixas, Ignasi Torre","doi":"10.3390/ani15060839","DOIUrl":"10.3390/ani15060839","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This study investigated the effects of habitat structure and climatic variables on populations of bank voles (<i>Clethrionomys glareolus</i>), a northern species with adaptations to cooler climate, at the southern end of their range in Western Europe over a 16-year period. This is the first long-term analysis of its kind in this region. The study aims to understand how these variables influence the population dynamics and occupancy of bank voles. The results suggested that warmer years and extreme precipitation events lead to a reduction in bank vole abundance. Although changes in land use were minimal in the plots studied, changes in forest composition, particularly the expansion of coniferous forests at the expense of deciduous forests, were also related to lower bank vole abundance. Occupancy models, taking into account detectability, indicated stable occupancy in all regions. Our results suggest that climate change and habitat alterations, such as changes in forest composition, could pose threats to bank vole populations in these regions.</p>","PeriodicalId":7955,"journal":{"name":"Animals","volume":"15 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-03-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11939536/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143727348","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Renal Biomarkers in Companion Animals-A Review.","authors":"Ana Filipa Pereira, Catarina Jota Baptista, Ana Faustino-Rocha, Paula A Oliveira, Ana Cláudia Coelho","doi":"10.3390/ani15060818","DOIUrl":"10.3390/ani15060818","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Recent advancements in molecular biology have led to the discovery of potential biomarkers for the diagnosis of acute kidney disease (AKD) and chronic kidney disease (CKD). The use of multiple biomarkers in the diagnosis of kidney disease has the potential to enhance both specificity and sensitivity, enabling early detection and intervention that could ultimately reduce morbidity and mortality rates. This review provides an overview of studies on urine and blood biomarkers and examines their utility and significance in various clinical settings. Further and continuous research is needed to support the application of these biomarkers in clinical practice to facilitate early diagnosis, guidance for different interventions, and the monitoring of disease progression.</p>","PeriodicalId":7955,"journal":{"name":"Animals","volume":"15 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-03-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11939308/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143727578","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Chinese Named Entity Recognition for Dairy Cow Diseases by Fusion of Multi-Semantic Features Using Self-Attention-Based Deep Learning.","authors":"Yongjun Lou, Meng Gao, Shuo Zhang, Hongjun Yang, Sicong Wang, Yongqiang He, Jing Yang, Wenxia Yang, Haitao Du, Weizheng Shen","doi":"10.3390/ani15060822","DOIUrl":"10.3390/ani15060822","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Named entity recognition (NER) is the basic task of constructing a high-quality knowledge graph, which can provide reliable knowledge in the auxiliary diagnosis of dairy cow disease, thus alleviating problems of missed diagnosis and misdiagnosis due to the lack of professional veterinarians in China. Targeting the characteristics of the Chinese dairy cow diseases corpus, we propose an ensemble Chinese NER model incorporating character-level, pinyin-level, glyph-level, and lexical-level features of Chinese characters. These multi-level features were concatenated and fed into the bidirectional long short-term memory (Bi-LSTM) network based on the multi-head self-attention mechanism to learn long-distance dependencies while focusing on important features. Finally, the globally optimal label sequence was obtained by the conditional random field (CRF) model. Experimental results showed that our proposed model outperformed baselines and related works with an F1 score of 92.18%, which is suitable and effective for named entity recognition for the dairy cow disease corpus.</p>","PeriodicalId":7955,"journal":{"name":"Animals","volume":"15 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-03-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11939194/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143727535","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}