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Giving birth is a critical time for many species and is often the most painful event ever experienced by females. In domestic species, like the pig, pain associated with parturition represents a potential welfare concern, and the consequences of pain can cause economic losses (e.g., by indirectly contributing to piglet mortality as pain could slow post-farrowing recovery, reduce food and water intake, reducing milk let-down). This study investigated pain assessment and its management in primiparous (gilts) and multiparous (sows) breeding pigs, including the provision of a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) post-parturition. Individuals were randomly allocated to receive the NSAID ketoprofen (3 mg/kg bodyweight) (n = 11 gilts, 16 sows) or the equivalent volume of saline (n = 13 gilts, 16 sows) by intramuscular injection 1.5 h after the birth of the last piglet. Data collected included putative behavioral indicators of pain (back leg forward, tremble, back arch), salivary cortisol concentrations pre-farrowing and up to 7 days post-injection. In addition, post-partum biomarkers of inflammation, including the acute phase protein C-reactive protein (CRP) and 3 porcine cytokines [interleukin-1 β (IL1 β), interleukin-6 (IL6), and tumor necrosis factor α (TNF α)] were measured in plasma collected 6 h following the injection. Behaviors were analyzed using generalized linear mixed models, and physiological variables with linear mixed models. No difference in putative pain behaviors, salivary cortisol, CRP, or cytokines were found between individuals treated with ketoprofen or those administered the saline control. However, there were some differences between gilts and sows, as sows exhibited more putative pain behavior than gilts, had higher salivary cortisol on the day of farrowing and had higher plasma TNF α. Conversely, gilts had higher salivary cortisol than sows on day 3 post-farrowing and had higher CRP. This indicates that, like human females, multiparous sows experience more pain from uterine activity following birth than primiparas. This study provides useful information for developing management practices relating to post-farrowing care for breeding pigs.

A survey of mortality was carried out in 51 caged laying flocks between point of lay and slaughter and lasted from March 1971 to June 1973. Flocks were composed of 26 white egg strains and 25 brown egg strains. Total flock population sampled was 281,000 laying fowl. Types of holding that were sampled or sub-sampled were representative of units on which 80% of the laying fowl are maintained in England and Wales. Sampling was performed at four Veterinary Investigation Centres of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (M.A.F.F.) by obtaining a single day's mortality per fortnight and at a fifth Centre by collecting a specified day's mortality at weekly intervals. In 42 of the 49 flocks for which overall mortality figures were available, mortality did not exceed 16% (mean +/- SEM = 9.12 +/- 0.53) and the monthly mortality rate did not rise above 2.5%. The total number of specimens examined was 2,615. Primary and secondary diagnoses were recorded and of the former, kidney lesions (20%), disorders of the reproductive tract (15.1%), cannibalism and other injury (11.0%), Marek's disease (10.6%), staphylococcal infection (7.1%) and obesity, fatty liver and ruptured liver (7.7%) were the principal conditions encountered. Excluding those specimens for which the cause of death was unestablished, this group of conditions comprised 78.9% of all primary diagnoses. Significant variation in mortality during successive periods of lay was recorded in reproductive disorders, cannibalism, Marek's disease, staphylococcal infection and associated diagnoses of ruptured liver and obesity. No relation was found between flock size and mortality.

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Background: The objectives of this study were to determine the frequency of metastatic (M1) prostate cancer (PC) at presentation in different age groups, to examine the association of age with PC-specific mortality, and to calculate the relative contribution of different age groups to the pool of M1 cases and PC deaths. Methods: Records from 464,918 patients who were diagnosed with PC from 1998 to 2007 were obtained from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database. The patients were categorized according to age into groups ages < 50 years, 50 to 54 years, 55 to 59 years, 60 to 64 years, 65 to 69 years, 70 to 74 years, 75 to 79 years, 80 to 84 years, 85 to 89 years, and ≥ 90 years. The cumulative incidence of death from PC was computed using the Gray method. Results: The frequency of M1 PC at presentation was 3% for the group aged < 75 years, 5% for the group ages 75 to 79 years, 8% for the group ages 80 to 84 years, 13% for the group ages 85 to 89 years, and 17% for the group aged ≥ 90 years. The 5-year cumulative incidence of death from PC was 3% to 4% for all patients with PC in any category aged < 75 years, 7% for patients ages 75 to 79 years, 13% for patients ages 80 to 84 years, 20% for patients ages 85 to 89 years, and 30% for patients aged ≥ 90 years. Although patients aged ≥ 75 years at PC diagnosis represented just over a quarter (26%) of all PC cases, they contributed almost half (48%) of all M1 cases and more than half (53%) of all PC deaths. Conclusions: Compared with younger patients (aged < 75 years), older patients were more likely to present with very advanced disease, had a greater risk of death from PC despite higher death rates from competing causes, and contributed more than half of all PC deaths. Awareness of this issue may improve future outcomes for elderly patients with PC.