The objective of this study was to develop a validated, transient, chemically induced lameness model in sows using subjective and objective lameness detection tools. Experiment 1 determined an effective joint injection technique based on volume and placement of dye using feet collected from 9 finisher pigs and 10 multiparity cull sow carcasses. Experiment 2 confirmed the injection technique in ...

BACKGROUND Hoof lesions in sows have been associated with lameness and poor hoof horn quality. The mechanical strength and quality of hoof horn is determined by the density and diameter of horn tubules, which were recently associated with the severity of lesions on the hoof wall of sows. Histologic changes that have previously been described in cases of bovine laminitis, have also been observed...

Sampling of rice fields in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, yielded an undescribed species the non-marine ostracod genus Sarscypridopsis McKenzie, 1977. Small marginal denticles on left valve give this its name: denticulata n. sp. Most are restricted to Africa, and based morphological characters, closest congener new is native Botswana. We therefore conclude that probably not it joins six other or p...

Detailed knowledge about claw formation and growth rate is a prerequisite for the interpretation of avian claw stable isotopes, as is commonly done with feather stable isotopes to e.g. infer habitat use, dietary specialisations, and spatial occurrence. In this study, we provide basic information about claw formation and empirical evidence about the time scale of archiving isotopic information t...

We determine the distance-regular graphs with diameter at least 3 and c2 ≥ 2 but without induced K1,4-subgraphs.

Let k ≥ 4, and let H1, H2 be connected graphs with |V (Hi)| ≥ 3 for i = 1, 2. A graph G is said to be {H1, . . . , Hl}-free if none of H1, . . . , Hl is an induced subgraph of G. We prove that if there exists a positive integer n0 such that every {H1, H2}-free graph G with |V (G)| ≥ n0 and δ(G) ≥ 3 contains k vertex-disjoint claws, then {H1, H2} ∩ {K1,t | t ≥ 2} = ∅. Also, we prove that every K...