Cattle show several responses to heat load, including spending more time standing. Little is known about what benefit this may provide for the animals. Data from 3 separate cooling management trials were analyzed to investigate the relationship between behavioral patterns in lactating dairy cows experiencing mild to moderate heat stress and their body temperature. Cows (n=157) were each fitted with a leg data logger that measured position and an intravaginal data logger that measures core body temperature (CBT). Ambient conditions were also collected. All data were standardized to 5-min intervals, and information was divided into several categories: when standing and lying bouts were initiated and the continuance of each bout (7,963 lying and 6,276 standing bouts). In one location, cows were continuously subjected to heat-stress levels according to temperature-humidity index (THI) range (THI≥72). The THI range for the other 2 locations was below and above a heat-stress threshold of 72 THI. Overall and regardless of period of day, cows stood up at greater CBT compared with continuing to stand or switching to a lying position. In contrast, cows lay down at lower CBT compared with continuing to lie or switching to a standing position, and lying bouts lasted longer when cows had lower CBT. Standing bouts also lasted longer when cattle had greater CBT, and they were less likely to lie down (less than 50% of lying bouts initiated) when their body temperature was over 38.8°C. Also, cow standing behavior was affected once THI reached 68. Increasing CBT decreased lying duration and increased standing duration. A CBT of 38.93°C marked a 50% likelihood a cow would be standing. This is the first physiological evidence that standing may help cool cows and provides insight into a communally observed behavioral response to heat.

Human liver fluke, Opisthorchis viverrini, a food-borne trematode is a significant public health problem in Southeast Asia, particularly in Thailand. Despite a long history of control programs in Thailand and a nationwide reduction, O. viverrini infection prevalence remains high in the Northeastern Provinces. Therefore, a new strategy for controlling the liver fluke infection using the EcoHealth/One Health approach was introduced into the Lawa Lake area in Khon Kaen province where the liver fluke is endemic. A program has been carried using anthelminthic treatment, novel intensive health education methods both in the communities and in schools, ecosystem monitoring and active community participation. As a result, the infection rate in the more than 10 villages surrounding the Lake has declined to approximate one third of the average of 50% as estimated by a baseline survey. Strikingly, the Cyprinoid fish species in the Lake, which are the intermediate host, now showed less than 1% prevalence compared to a maximum of 70% at baseline. This liver fluke control program, named “Lawa model,” is now recognized nationally and internationally, and being expanding to other parts of Thailand and neighboring Mekong countries. Challenges to O. viverrini disease control, and lessons learned in developing an integrative control program using a community-based, ecosystem approach, and scaling-up regionally based on Lawa as a model are described.

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When people with disabilities, ethnic minorities, older adults, women, and others lack power, they usually experience adverse conditions disproportionate to other members of society. Empowerment--the process by which people gain some control over valued events, outcomes, and resources--is an important construct for understanding and improving the lives of people of marginal status. This manuscript presents a contextual-behavioral model of empowerment and its application in collaborative research with people with physical disabilities. The eight case studies illustrate 18 tactics for promoting empowerment that flow from the model. The case studies show the use of different combinations of empowerment tactics in a variety of contexts: (a) setting improvement agendas from the perspective of people with disabilities, (b) enforcing ordinances that preserve access to parking spaces designated for people with disabilities, (c) enabling access to homes through housing modifications, (d) enhancing support available through mutual-aid groups, (e) developing skills for recruiting mentors, (f) promoting self-directed behavior change with personal and health concerns, (g) enhancing skills for personal self-advocacy, and (h) building the capacities of groups of people with disabilities for systems advocacy. Finally, we discuss issues that may contribute to research and action related to empowerment.

Our objective was to determine if a timed artificial insemination (AI) protocol (Ovsynch) might produce greater pregnancy rates than AI after a synchronized, detected estrus during summer. Lactating Holstein cows (n = 425) were grouped into breeding clusters and then assigned randomly to each of two protocols for AI between 50 and 70 days in milk. All cows were treated with GnRH followed 7 d later by PGF2alpha. Ovsynch cows then were treated with a second injection of GnRH 48 h after PGF2alpha and inseminated 16 to 19 h later. Controls received no further treatment after PGF2alpha and were inseminated after detected estrus. Pregnancy was diagnosed once by transrectal ultrasonography (27 to 30 d after AI) and again by palpation (40 to 50 d). Based on concentrations of progesterone in blood collected before each hormonal injection, only 85.4% of 425 cows were considered to be cycling. Although conception rates were not different between protocols at d 27 to 30, AI submission rates and pregnancy rates were greater after Ovsynch (timed AI) than after detected estrus. A temperature-humidity index > or = 72 was associated with fewer controls detected in estrus with lower conception than for controls detected in estrus when index values were < 72, whereas the reverse was true for cows after the Ovsynch protocol. We concluded that a timed AI protocol increased pregnancy rates at d 27 to 30 because its success was independent of either expression or detection of estrus. However, because of poorer embryonic survival in Ovsynch cows during heat stress only (39.5 vs. 69.2% survival for Ovsynch and control, respectively), pregnancy rates were not different by d 40 to 50 after timed AI.