In February 2001, foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) was confirmed in Great Britain. A major epidemic developed, which peaked around 50 cases a day in late March, declining to under 10 a day by May. By mid-July, 1849 cases had been detected. The main control measures employed were livestock movement restrictions and the rapid slaughter of infected and exposed livestock. The first detected case was in south-east England; infection was traced to a farm in north-east England to which all other cases were linked. The epidemic was large as a result of a combination of events, including a delay in the diagnosis of the index case, the movement of infected sheep to market before FMD was first diagnosed, and the time of year. Virus was introduced at a time when there were many sheep movements around the country and weather conditions supported survival of the virus. The consequence was multiple, effectively primary, introductions of FMD virus into major sheep-keeping areas. Subsequent local spread from these introductions accounted for the majority of cases. The largest local epidemics were in areas with dense sheep populations and livestock dealers who were active during the key period. Most affected farms kept both sheep and cattle. At the time of writing the epidemic was still ongoing; however, this paper provides a basis for scientific discussion of the first five months.

A consensus of expert opinion was used to provide both face and consensual validity to a list of potential indicators of sheep welfare. This approach was used as a first step in the identification of valid welfare indicators for sheep. The consensus methodology of the National Institute of Health, using pre-meeting consultation and focus group discussions, was used to ascertain the consensus opinion of a panel of sheep welfare experts. The Farm Animal Welfare Council's five freedoms were used as a framework to organise a list of current on-farm welfare issues for sheep. The five freedoms were also the welfare criterion used to identify potential on-farm welfare indicators for sheep. As a result, experts identified 193 welfare issues for sheep and lambs managed on farms across England and Wales. Subsequently, a combination of animal-(n 5 26), resource-(n 5 13) and management-(n 5 22) based indicators was suggested for (i) adult rams, (ii) adult ewes (male and female sheep, over 1 year old), (iii) growing lambs (male and female sheep, over 6 weeks to 1 year old) and (iv) young lambs (male and female lambs, 6 weeks old and under). The results from this study could therefore be used to inform the further development of valid methods of assessing the on-farm welfare of sheep.

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Boid Inclusion Body Disease (BIBD) is a potentially fatal disease reported in captive boid snakes worldwide that is caused by reptarenavirus infection. Although the detection of intracytoplasmic inclusion bodies (IB) in blood cells serves as the gold standard for the ante mortem diagnosis of BIBD, the mechanisms underlying IB formation and the pathogenesis of BIBD are unknown. Knowledge on the reptile immune system is sparse compared to the mammalian counterpart, and in particular the response towards reptarenavirus infection is practically unknown. Herein, we investigated a breeding collection of 70 Boa constrictor snakes for BIBD, reptarenavirus viraemia, anti-reptarenavirus IgM and IgY antibodies, and population parameters. Using NGS and RT-PCR on pooled blood samples of snakes with and without BIBD, we could identify three different reptarenavirus S segments in the collection. The examination of individual samples by RT-PCR indicated that the presence of University of Giessen virus (UGV)-like S segment strongly correlates with IB formation. We could also demonstrate a negative correlation between BIBD and the presence of anti-UGV NP IgY antibodies. Further evidence of an association between antibody response and BIBD is the finding that the level of anti-reptarenavirus antibodies measured by ELISA was lower in snakes with BIBD. Furthermore, female snakes had a significantly lower body weight when they had BIBD. Taken together our findings suggest that the detection of the UGV-/S6-like S segment and the presence of anti-reptarenavirus IgY antibodies might serve as a prognostic tool for predicting the development of BIBD.

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Qualitative Behaviour Assessment (QBA) is whole-animal methodology that assesses the expressive qualities of animal demeanour using descriptors such as 'relaxed', 'anxious' or 'content'. This study aimed to examine the inter-observer reliability of 12 fixed-list QBA descriptors for sheep that had been generated in a previous Free-Choice Profiling study by experienced animal welfare inspectors, based on the same video footage used in the current study. The 12 QBA terms were scored by two different assessor groups consisting of two veterinary science students and four veterinary surgeons (Group 1), and seven farm assurance inspectors (Group 2). The two assessor groups met and received training on different dates, and viewed the same 12 video clips of sheep showing a wide range of behavioural expressions in varying indoor and outdoor situations and housing systems. For each clip assessors scored the sheep expressions on each of the 12 QBA terms using a Visual Analogue Scale. Principal Component Analysis (covariance matrix, no rotation) was used to analyse assessor scores, both for Groups 1 and 2 separately, and together in one all-assessor group. All three analyses identified that over 70% of variance in sheep expression was described by two main components. For the all-assessor analysis the first Principal Component (PC1, 49% of variation) ranged from 'content/relaxed/bright' to 'distressed/dejected/tense', while PC2 (31%) ranged from 'agitated/responsive/anxious' to 'dull/dejected/relaxed'. The 2 Principal Components identified by Groups 1 and 2 when analysed separately, were highly similar. The level of agreement between assessors in each group was evaluated using Kendall's coefficient of concordance (W). This produced W values of 0.83 (PC 1) and 0.84 (PC 2) for the all-assessor group, values of 0.90 (PC 1) and 0.86 (PC 2) for Group 1, and of 0.78 (PC 1) and 0.91 (PC 2) for Group 2. All values were significant at P < 0.001. These results indicate that two trained assessor groups achieved high levels of inter-observer agreement using a list of 12 prefixed QBA terms developed for sheep. This study is the first to investigate QBA as a tool for assessing sheep behavioural expression, and its results support further exploration of the feasibility and validity of applying this method to the assessment of sheep welfare.

Universities are central players and important economic actors in many regions, and many of them are, in general, nationally and internationally active in respect of matters related to sustainable development. But there is a paucity of research which examines their contributions towards sustainability efforts at the local level, i.e. in the places they are situated. This paper addresses this need, by reporting on a qualitative study deploying a Matrix, which allows an analysis and reporting of regional sustainable development initiatives of a set of 22 universities in industrialised and developing countries. Recommendations to enhance their role are provided, including the importance of pursuing partnerships and joint initiatives, understanding the need of local communities, and making their know-how more widely available. The scientific value of this research is related to the understanding of how the interaction between universities and local communities happens and by shedding light to this topic, it supports universities to improve their own actions. Its implications are twofold: it demonstrates the potential of universities as local players, and outlines the range of activities they may engage with, and which may allow them to act as pillars to local sustainability initiatives.

A scientific literature review and consensus of expert opinion used the welfare definitions provided by the Farm Animal Welfare Council (FAWC) Five Freedoms as the framework for selecting a set of animal-based indicators that were sensitive to the current on-farm welfare issues of young lambs (aged <6 weeks). Ten animal-based indicators assessed by observation -demeanour, response to stimulation, shivering, standing ability, posture, abdominal fill, body condition, lameness, eye condition and salivation were tested as part of the objective of developing valid, reliable and feasible animal-based measures of lamb welfare The indicators were independently tested on 966 young lambs from 17 sheep flocks across Northwest England and Wales during December 2008 to April 2009 by four trained observers. Inter-observer reliability was assessed using Fleiss's kappa (k), and the pair-wise agreement with an experienced, observer designated as the 'test standard observer' (TSO) was examined using Cohen's k. Latent class analysis (LCA) estimated the sensitivity (Se) and specificity (Sp) of each observer without assuming a gold standard and predicted the Se and Sp of randomly selected observers who may apply the indicators in the future. Overall, good levels of inter-observer reliability, and high levels of Sp were identified for demeanour (k 5 0.54, Se > 0.70, Sp > 0. LCA predicted that randomly selected observers had Se . 0.77 (acceptable), and Sp > 0.98 (high) for assessments of demeanour, lameness, abdominal fill posture, body condition and eye condition. The diagnostic performance of some indicators was influenced by the composition of the study population, and it would be useful to test the indicators on lambs with a greater level of outcomes associated with poor welfare. The findings presented in this paper could be applied in the selection of valid, reliable and feasible indicators used for the purposes of on-farm assessments of lamb welfare.