Bovine respiratory disease complex (BRD) causes considerable economic loss and biosecurity cost to the beef industry globally and also results in significant degradation to the welfare of affected animals. The successful treatment of this disease depends on the early, timely and cost effective identification of affected animals. The objective of the present study was to investigate the use of an automated, RFID driven, noninvasive infrared thermography technology to determine BRD in cattle. Sixty-five calves averaging 220 kg were exposed to standard industry practices of transport and auction. The animals were monitored for BRD using conventional biometric signs for clinical scores, core temperatures, haematology, serum cortisol and infrared thermal values over 3 weeks. The data collected demonstrated that true positive animals for BRD based on a gold standard including core temperature, clinical score, white blood cell number and neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio displayed higher peak infrared thermal values of 35.7±0.35 °C compared to true negative animals 34.9±0.22 °C (P<0.01). The study also demonstrated that such biometric data can be non-invasively and automatically collected based on a system developed around the animal's water station. It is concluded that the deployment of such systems in the cattle industry would aid animal managers and practitioners in the identification and management of BRD in cattle populations.

Early detection and prediction of infection using infrared thermography. Can. J. Anim. Sci. 84: 73-80. Early detection and/or prediction of disease in an animal is the first step towards its successful treatment. The objective of this study was to investigate the capability of infrared thermography as a non-invasive, early detection method for identifying animals with a systemic infection. A viral infection model was adopted using 15 seronegative calves whose body weight averaged 172 kg. Ten of these calves were inoculated with Type 2 bovine viral diarrhoea virus (strain 24515) and five were separately housed and served as uninfected controls. A simultaneous comparison of infrared characteristics in both infected and control animals was conducted over approximately 15 d. In addition, measures of blood and saliva cortisol, immunoglobulin A, blood haptoglobin and clinical scores were obtained. Infrared temperatures, especially for facial scans, increased by 1.5°C to over 4°C (P < 0.01) several days to 1 wk before clinical scores or serum concentrations of acute phase protein indicated illness in the infected calves. The data suggest that infrared thermal measurements can be used in developing an early prediction index for infection in calves. Le dépistage ou la prévision rapide de la maladie chez un animal est la première étape vers la guérison. La présente étude devait vérifier l'utilité de la thermographie infrarouge comme méthode de dépistage précoce non invasive en vue de l'identification des animaux atteints d'une infection systémique. Pour cela, les auteurs ont recouru à un modèle d'infection virale constitué de 15 veaux séronégatifs de 172 kg en moyenne. Ils ont inoculé le virus de type 2 de la diarrhée des bovins (souche 24515) à dix veaux et gardé les cinq autres à part comme témoins. Ensuite, ils ont simultanément comparé les paramètres infrarouges des sujets infectés et sains pendant une quinzaine de jours. Parallèlement, ils ont dosé le cortisol dans le sang et la salive, l'immunoglobine A, l'haptoglobine sérique et noté les signes cliniques. La température infrarouge, de la face surtout, passe de 1,5°C à plus de 4°C (P < 0.01) plusieurs jours à une semaine avant qu'apparaissent les signes cliniques ou que les concentrations sériques attribuables à la phase aiguë de production des protéines virales n'indiquent l'existence de la maladie chez les veaux infectés. Les résultats donnent à penser qu'on pourrait se servir des relevés thermiques infrarouges pour mettre au point un indice de prévision rapide de l'infection chez les veaux.

Bovine respiratory disease (BRD) complex causes considerable distress to domestic livestock and economic hardship to the beef industry. Furthermore, the resulting extensive use of antimicrobial treatments is a growing concern from the perspective of facilitating antibiotic resistant microbes. The earlier detection of BRD would enable an earlier, more targeted treatment regime and earlier isolation of infected individuals. The objective of the present study was to investigate the use of non-invasive infrared thermography in the early detection of BRD in cattle. Studies were conducted on 133 head of weaned calves. Data demonstrated that infrared thermography was able to identify animals at early stages of illness, often several days to over one week before clinical signs were manifest. Data indicated that 4-6 days prior to the onset of clinical symptoms of BRD, greater positive and negative predictive values and test efficiency for infrared thermography (80%, 65% and 71%, respectively) compared to the industry standard practice of clinical scoring (70%, 45% and 55%, respectively).

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Conventional immunoassay procedures' for steroid hormones in blood, measure the "total" hormone concentrations, i.e., "bound" plus "free" fractions in blood' Unconjugated steroid molecules are secreted in saliva by passive iiffttion of the molecule into the salivary gland, and concentrations are unaffected by salivary flow rate' As

Early identification of sick cattle increases treatment success and decreases mortality. Continuous automated records of behavior can be used to identify sick cattle early in the disease process. The objective was to evaluate accuracy of an ear-attached accelerometer (SensOor) that quantified ear movements and estimated feeding and rumination time through a proprietary algorithm. Accelerometers were attached to the ear tag of 18 steers with an initial mean BW of 326 ± 46 kg. The manufacturer's proprietary software was used to determine time spent "feeding," "ruminating," "active," and "resting." Direct visual observation was used to validate the accelerometer. Sensitivity, specificity, and predictive values were calculated for rumination and feeding separately. Repeated measures were accounted for using mixed model logistic regression. Single minutes of either feeding or rumination in a run of other behavior minutes were changed to the preceding behavior. Accuracy and precision of hourly recorded feeding and rumination times were assessed using the concordance correlation coefficient adjusted for repeated measurements. Sensitivity and specificity were 95 and 76% for feeding and 49 and 96% for rumination, respectively. Concordance correlation between observations and the sensor were 0.79 (95% CI: 0.61 to 0.85) and 0.44 (95% CI: 0.23 to 0.60) for feeding and rumination, respectively. There was large variability among steers, with concordance correlations ranging from 0.09 to 0.98 for rumination time and from 0.58 to 0.96 for feeding time. We conclude that the accelerometer is a promising monitoring system for feeding behavior.

Several complex Cu-Pb-Bi, Cu-Pb-Bi-Sb and Ag-Pb-Bi sulphosalt minerals have been identified in samples from hydrothermal vein mineralisation associated with the Toroiaga sub-volcanic body in the Baia Borşa area of Maramureş County, northwest Romania. This is the first chemically-documented report of Bi-sulphosalts in the Neogene metallogenic province around Baia Mare. The investigated samples contain abundant amounts of matildite solid solution within galena, the Cu-Pb/Bi sulphosalts aikinite, friedrichite, krupkaite, hammarite, lindströmite and gladite as well as nuffieldite and berryite. Within the Ag-Pb/Bi group, the majority of analysed grains can be regarded as members of the lillianite homologous series. Three distinct lillianite homologues were identified, which correspond to (i) phases along the lillianite-gustavite solid solution join (Pb3Bi2S6-AgPbBi3S6), (ii) phases within solid solution field of heyrovskyite, and (iii) compositions which best correspond to ‘schirmerite’, sensu Makovicky and Karup-Møller (1977b), but may represent disordered gustavite, vikingite or eskimoite. Some of the analysed lillianite homologues contain excess Cu, which may occupy interstitial sites. Furthermore, a large proportion of the lillianite homologues display significant substitution of Sb for Bi within the limits predicted by experimental investigations. Cosalite, also showing a range of compositions including Sb-rich varieties is recognised. Izoklakeite, Cu2Pb22(Sb,Bi)22S57, is an abundant phase throughout the analysed samples, its composition is in good agreement with previously published analyses, except for excess Cu and Fe beyond the limits previously reported. The description of several minerals from this new occurrence and compositional data on them, including the Sb-bearing varieties, provides valuable additional information on compositional limits in natural samples.

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