Search Results (5,950)

Organic dairy farming has expanded rapidly over the past three decades, driven by regulatory reforms, consumer demand, and growing recognition of its environmental, animal welfare, and potential human health benefits. Despite this growth, evidence comparing organic and conventional dairy systems remains fragmented across genetics, phenomics, animal health, and human health outcomes. This review synthesizes current knowledge through the lens of genotype × environment interactions, integrating evidence from four complementary domains: (1) genomic architecture and breeding strategies; (2) phenotypic performance, including milk production and composition, meat quality, nutrition, and reproductive traits; (3) animal health, disease resistance, antimicrobial use, and welfare; and (4) implications for human health. Holstein–Friesian cattle remain the predominant breed in both systems; however, organic production favors animals with greater robustness, longevity, grazing efficiency, and disease resilience. Genetic studies further demonstrate that highly heritable production traits share similar genetic architecture across production systems, whereas health, fertility, longevity, and other low-heritability functional traits exhibit stronger genotype × environment interactions and more system-specific genomic signatures. These findings suggest that breeding strategies developed for high-input conventional systems are unlikely to maximize performance under organic management. Collectively, the evidence supports a shift from selection focused primarily on milk yield toward genomic improvement of robustness, disease resistance, reproductive resilience, grazing adaptation, and lifetime productivity. We propose Genomically Optimized Organic Dairy (GOOD) as an emerging framework that integrates genomic selection, precision phenotyping, health monitoring, and environmental adaptation to develop dairy cattle better suited to organic production. Full article

Continuous, non-invasive fish monitoring supports aquatic animal management, biodiversity assessment, and sustainable aquaculture, but embedded deployment requires a careful balance among accuracy, speed, memory, and computation under visually degraded underwater conditions. We developed ULFD-YOLO, an ultra-lightweight detector derived from YOLOv11n through coordinated redesign of the backbone, neck, and detection head. The model combines a custom convolutional MobileNetV4-tiny backbone, a hypergraph-based multi-scale fusion neck, and a lightweight MBConv head with channel attention. Experiments were conducted on Fish-BJ, an in-house dataset of 3402 images covering 21 species-informed aquarium-fish detection categories, and on a deliberately difficult 1180-image WildFish subset after dataset-specific training. On Fish-BJ, ULFD-YOLO achieved 0.960 mAP@0.5 and 0.732 mAP@0.5:0.95 with 1.3 M parameters, 2.6 GFLOPs, and a 3.0 MB model file, reducing parameters and computation by 50.0% and 58.7% relative to YOLOv11n. Bootstrap resampling yielded 95% confidence intervals of 0.946–0.973 and 0.638–0.821 for the two metrics, respectively. The model achieved 0.803 mAP@0.5 on WildFish and 19–24 FPS at 448 × 640 on a Jetson Orin Nano under its 15 W nvpmodel power mode. These results establish a practical accuracy–efficiency trade-off for embedded fish monitoring rather than peak localization accuracy. Full article

Bovine tuberculosis (bTB) remains endemic in southern Italy, particularly in Sicily, posing challenges for disease control and eradication. This study evaluated the diagnostic agreement between the intradermal tuberculin test (IDT), interferon-gamma release assay (IFN-γ), and post-mortem lesion detection in 1801 cattle from 44 herds in the province of Palermo during 2024–2025. Diagnostic agreement between IDT and IFN-γ was substantial in 2024 (κ = 0.731; 95% CI: 0.64–0.82; n = 991) and decreased to moderate in 2025 (κ = 0.453; 95% CI: 0.33–0.57; n = 572), reflecting a higher proportion of IFN-γ positive and inconclusive animals. An increase in inconclusive results for IFN-γ was observed in 2025, but the available data did not allow investigation of the factors underlying this difference. Agreement between ante-mortem tests and post-mortem lesion detection was poor in a selected subgroup of slaughtered animals, potentially subject to verification bias, highlighting the limitations of single diagnostic tools and the need for a complementary approach combining immunological and pathological methods. These findings support the interpretation of the complementary roles of IDT and IFN-γ within herd-level bTB surveillance, highlight the need for standardized protocols to manage inconclusive IFN-γ results, and underline the complementary contribution of post-mortem inspection within integrated surveillance strategies in endemic settings. Official confirmation of bovine tuberculosis relies on an integrated evaluation combining diagnostic results, post-mortem findings, and epidemiological investigations. Given the absence of a validated gold standard applicable to all animals in this observational dataset, the study was designed as a diagnostic agreement study rather than a formal accuracy assessment. Full article

Peri-implantitis is characterized by progressive tissue destruction accompanied by dysregulated innate and adaptive immune responses. This study evaluated whether systemic treatment with 2-deoxy-D-glucose (2-DG) could attenuate experimental peri-implantitis and alter inflammatory markers associated with macrophage- and T-cell-mediated responses in a rat model. Experimental peri-implantitis was induced in Sprague–Dawley rats by Porphyromonas gingivalis-inoculated silk ligation around the implant neck. After disease induction, animals received intraperitoneal injections of 2-DG or normal saline for six weeks while ligature-associated challenge was maintained. Peri-implant tissues were assessed by micro-computed tomography (micro-CT), hematoxylin and eosin staining, immunohistochemistry (IHC), and reverse transcription-quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR). 2-DG treatment significantly reduced peri-implant bone resorption and was associated with less pronounced bone-resorptive morphology. RT-qPCR showed lower expression of M1-associated genes (CD86, iNOS, TNF-α, IL-6, and IL-18) and the Th17-associated genes IL-17 and RORγT, whereas IL-21, M2-associated genes, and the Treg-associated gene FOXP3 were not significantly changed. IHC showed qualitative trends toward lower iNOS- and IL-17-positive signals. These findings provide proof-of-concept evidence that 2-DG treatment reduces peri-implant bone loss and is associated with attenuated inflammatory changes and lower expression of M1- and Th17-associated inflammatory markers in experimental peri-implantitis. This study supports further investigation of 2-DG as a potential immunometabolic adjunct for peri-implantitis management. Full article

A parasitological survey was conducted during May 2026 on captive Aldabra giant tortoises (Aldabrachelys gigantea) housed at three zoological facilities on Zanzibar Island, Tanzania: the Prison Island Giant Tortoise Sanctuary (Changuu Island), Zanzibar Park, and Zanzibar Nungwi Zoo. This study investigated the occurrence of gastrointestinal parasite stages in faecal samples from captive Aldabra giant tortoises and compared the proportion of positive samples among the three zoological facilities. A total of 84 fresh faecal samples were examined using Fülleborn’s flotation and sedimentation techniques. Because individual tortoises could not always be reliably identified during sampling, repeated sampling of the same animal cannot be excluded. Therefore, the reported values represent sample-level proportions rather than individual-level prevalence. Oxyurid-type nematode eggs were detected only in samples collected from tortoises housed at Zanzibar Nungwi Zoo, whereas no gastrointestinal helminth eggs or larvae were detected using the applied coprological methods in samples from the Prison Island Giant Tortoise Sanctuary and Zanzibar Park. The overall proportion of positive faecal samples was 13.1% (11/84; 95% CI: 6.7–22.2%), while 42.3% (11/26; 95% CI: 23.4–63.1%) of samples from Zanzibar Nungwi Zoo were positive. Differences in the proportion of positive faecal samples were observed among the three zoological facilities. These findings provide baseline data on gastrointestinal parasites in captive Aldabra giant tortoises on Zanzibar Island and support future parasite surveillance, health monitoring, and management in zoological collections. Full article

Persistent Müllerian duct syndrome (PMDS) is a rare disorder of sex development characterized by the persistence of Müllerian duct derivatives in genetically and phenotypically male animals. This report describes the clinical presentation, diagnostic work-up, surgical management, histopathological findings, and cytogenetic characterization of a 9-year-old intact male Schnauzer dog presented with a 3-day history of progressively worsening vomiting, diarrhea, unilateral testicular enlargement, oliguria, and dysuria. Diagnostic evaluation included abdominal radiography, ultrasonography, exploratory laparotomy, histopathology, and cytogenetic analysis using R-replicative banding after bromodeoxyuridine incorporation. Imaging and surgical exploration revealed cryptorchidism, persistent Müllerian duct derivatives, including uterine horn-like structures, and an abnormal gonadal structure. Histopathological examination confirmed severe seminiferous tubular atrophy, persistence of Müllerian-derived tissues, and a unilateral Sertoli cell tumor. Cytogenetic analysis demonstrated a normal male karyotype (78,XY) without evidence of chromosomal mosaicism or structural abnormalities, supporting the diagnosis of a 78,XY disorder of sex development and excluding major chromosomal defects. This case highlights the importance of integrating clinical evaluation, diagnostic imaging, histopathology, and cytogenetic analysis to identify findings compatible with PMDS and emphasizes that this condition should be considered in the differential diagnosis of cryptorchid male dogs presenting with reproductive tract abnormalities or associated testicular neoplasia. Full article

Background/Objectives: Achondroplasia is the most common genetic skeletal dysplasia associated with disproportionate short stature and is primarily caused by gain-of-function variants in the fibroblast growth factor receptor 3 (FGFR3) gene. Constitutive FGFR3 activation disrupts growth plate homeostasis and endochondral ossification through complex alterations in chondrocyte proliferation, differentiation, hypertrophy, extracellular matrix organization, and intracellular signaling. The increasing understanding of these mechanisms has enabled the transition from exclusively supportive management toward disease-modifying and precision-based therapeutic strategies. This narrative review aimed to critically synthesize current evidence on the genetic basis, molecular pathogenesis, growth plate abnormalities, and current and emerging targeted therapies in achondroplasia. Methods: A narrative literature review was conducted using PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus, and Web of Science Core Collection, with Google Scholar used as a supplementary source, together with manual screening of the reference lists of relevant original studies, clinical trials, reviews, consensus documents, and clinical guidelines. The principal literature search covered publications from January 2010 to March 2026, while selected seminal primary studies published before 2010 were included when necessary to document the original identification of pathogenic FGFR3 variants and foundational mechanisms of FGFR3-mediated growth plate regulation. Particular emphasis was placed on FGFR3 variants, receptor activation mechanisms, growth plate dysfunction, intracellular signaling pathways, vosoritide, C-type natriuretic peptide-based therapies, FGFR3 inhibitors, ligand–receptor blockade, drug repurposing, Wnt/β-catenin modulation, and gene-based therapeutic approaches. Results: Achondroplasia is characterized by marked molecular homogeneity, with the recurrent p.Gly380Arg substitution accounting for most cases. Mutant FGFR3 displays sustained activity through partial ligand independence, enhanced receptor dimerization and kinase activation, increased receptor stability, and reduced degradation. Excessive signaling through MAPK/ERK, STAT, PI3K/AKT, IHH/PTHrP, and related pathways impairs chondrocyte proliferation and hypertrophic differentiation, alters extracellular matrix turnover, disrupts primary cilium function, and reduces longitudinal bone growth. Vosoritide provides clinical proof that pharmacological modulation of FGFR3-related signaling can improve growth velocity. Additional therapeutic strategies under clinical or preclinical investigation include long-acting CNP analogues, selective FGFR inhibitors, decoy receptors, RNA aptamers, repurposed drugs, Wnt/DKK1 pathway modulation, and gene- or enhancer-targeted interventions. Conclusions: Achondroplasia is increasingly understood as a disorder of dysregulated growth plate signaling rather than solely a condition of reduced stature. Although vosoritide has established the feasibility of disease-modifying treatment, substantial uncertainty remains regarding final adult height, skeletal proportionality, cranio-spinal development, orthopedic outcomes, and long-term safety. Future progress will depend on mechanistically informed therapeutic combinations, improved biomarkers, advanced cellular and animal models, and long-term clinical and real-world evidence. Full article

Background/Objectives: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a highly prevalent sleep-related breathing disorder caused by recurrent upper-airway collapse during sleep, leading to intermittent hypoxia, sleep fragmentation, and excessive daytime sleepiness. Although continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) remains the first-line therapy, long-term adherence is often suboptimal, underscoring the need for more tolerable and flexible treatment options. This review aims to summarize the pathophysiological rationale for pharmacotherapy in OSA and to discuss recent developments in drug-based interventions. Methods: We conducted a narrative review of the literature on pharmacological interventions for OSA, with a systematic search of PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, and ClinicalTrials.gov up to 4 August 2026. We included randomised controlled trials, observational studies, meta-analyses, and mechanistic human or animal studies that reported relevant sleep and respiratory outcomes, and graded evidence according to the principles of GRADE framework. Results: Several drug classes have shown promise: agents that increase upper-airway dilator muscle activity, respiratory stabilizers that reduce loop gain, medications that raise the arousal threshold, topical anti-inflammatory drugs for mucosal edema, and systemic metabolic modulators such as glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists and dual incretin receptor agonists. Emerging strategies, including gene therapy directed at the hypoglossal motor system, are also under investigation at the preclinical stage. Moreover, combining pharmacotherapy with CPAP or other devices can produce synergistic benefits, enabling lower device pressures and enhanced patient comfort. Conclusions: Pharmacotherapy for OSA is progressively moving from exploratory research towards targeted, phenotype-driven personalized treatment. Future studies should focus on robust patient phenotyping, multi-mechanistic combination regimens, and long-term clinical outcome evaluations to facilitate the integration of drug-based therapies into routine OSA management, particularly in specific subgroups such as those with COMISA. Full article

A standardized extract of cultured Lentinula edodes mycelia (ECLM), commercially known as AHCC^®, shows anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory, and organ-protective properties. Experimental studies have indicated that ECLM modulates innate and adaptive immunity, including natural killer (NK) cell activity, antigen-presenting cell function, T-cell responses, and cytokine balance. These effects are particularly relevant in oncology because surgical stress and ischemia–reperfusion injury (IRI) generate a transient perioperative environment characterized by immune suppression, inflammation, and conditions favorable for metastatic progression. Recent animal studies have demonstrated the protective effects of ECLM in intestinal and hepatic IRI models, providing a potential mechanistic rationale for improving the perioperative host microenvironment. Clinical studies on hepatocellular carcinoma, pancreatic cancer, and gynecological malignancies suggest that ECLM may offer potential benefits in immune preservation, nutritional support, symptom management, and recurrence prevention, although most studies are small and hypothesis-generating. Emerging evidence from patient-derived xenograft and spontaneous carcinogenesis models further suggests that ECLM may influence tumor biology beyond host immune activation, although the underlying mechanisms require elucidation. This review summarizes the mechanistic, preclinical, translational, and clinical evidence supporting the use of ECLM as a candidate for perioperative immunonutritional strategies. We propose the hypothesis that ECLM may function as a perioperative microenvironmental stabilizer that integrates immune preservation and intestinal barrier protection. Full article

Cattle producers must balance animal welfare with productivity, but regular observation of animals in extensively managed operations is often impractical. Artificial intelligence (AI) integrated with computer vision offers an automated alternative, but few studies compare object detection architectures within the same dataset or focus on pastured cattle. Groups (n = 2–7) of heterogeneous beef cattle were recorded on pasture with nine solar trail cameras. Footage (~132 h) was curated in VideoLAN; annotated in Computer Vision Annotation Tool (CVAT) with bounding boxes and behavioral classes; and split 62/21/17% into training (24,508 frames), validation (8231 frames), and testing (6625 frames) sets. Four architectures were trained: Faster R-CNN (ResNet-50 FPN), Single Shot MultiBox Detector (SSD300, VGG-16), RetinaNet (ResNet-50 FPN with focal loss), and YOLOv8 nano (Ultralytics). With validation at 0.50 confidence and 0.50 IoU, Faster R-CNN achieved the highest overall F1 (0.79) and best per-class balance; RetinaNet was intermediate (peak F1 = 0.72); SSD300 saturated at F1 = 0.40; and YOLOv8 nano achieved some minority class recall at lower confidence. Each model detected the classes “grazing” and “hay feeding” accurately but confused cattle with the visually similar “normal” class. Datasets, checkpoints, and analysis scripts are provided to support further refinement of AI-enabled monitoring of extensive cattle systems. Full article

Parturient paresis remains a major economic challenge in global ruminant production, causing acute periparturient hypocalcemia and predisposing high-yielding animals to a cluster of secondary pathologies. Traditional narratives often treat regulatory pathways in isolation, whereas this review synthesizes multi-organ endocrine networks to address the kinetic dysynchrony between mammary calcium drain and homeostatic recruitment velocity. Beyond the classical parathyroid hormone–vitamin D axis, we integrate the mammary–gut–bone axis into a unified endocrine model, highlighting the critical role of the serotonin–parathyroid hormone-related protein rheostat for skeletal mineral mobilization and the fibroblast growth factor 23–Klotho axis in prepartum phosphorus-induced feedback suppression. We evaluate the molecular mechanisms underlying target-organ receptor resistance, driven by vitamin D receptor downregulation and epigenetic aging, which precipitate homeostatic feedback failure. Regarding clinical management, this synthesis contrasts reactive parenteral interventions with proactive nutritional priming strategies, such as negative dietary cation–anion difference acidification, zeolite-based gastrointestinal binders, and exogenous vitamin D or 5-hydroxytryptophan supplementation. Additionally, the role of microbiota-derived short-chain fatty acids in gut-bone communication and the potential of genomic selection to breed livestock with heritable metabolic resilience are explored. Ultimately, this comprehensive framework emphasizes a paradigm shift from emergency treatment to precision nutritional and genetic prophylaxis to mitigate PP across diverse ruminant species. Full article

Tick-borne pathogens remain insufficiently investigated in donkeys, particularly in southeastern Europe. This study investigated the occurrence of piroplasms, Anaplasmataceae, and hemotropic Mycoplasma spp. in donkeys from Croatia and assessed the genetic diversity of detected Theileria equi. Blood samples from 135 apparently healthy donkeys originating from 15 herds in six Croatian counties were examined using PCR. Positive T. equi samples were further characterized by sequencing, haplotype determination, and phylogenetic analysis. Theileria equi DNA was detected in 31/135 animals (22.96%; 95% CI: 15.99–29.94%), whereas no Anaplasmataceae or hemotropic Mycoplasma spp. DNA was detected. Infection showed marked geographical and herd-level variation. The highest prevalence was recorded in Šibensko-Kninska County (17/34; 50.0%), while all positive animals originated from three herds in the Croatian littoral region. Prevalence differed significantly among herd-size categories (p = 0.012), with no positive animals detected in small herds. Sequence analysis identified three T. equi haplotypes: D was predominant (22/31; 70.97%), followed by A (8/31; 25.81%) and E (1/31; 3.23%). Phylogenetic analysis confirmed all Croatian sequences as T. equi and indicated the presence of multiple genetic lineages within the sampled donkey population. These findings provide new molecular epidemiological data on T. equi in Croatian donkeys and demonstrate a heterogeneous distribution of infection among the investigated regions and herds. Among the selected tick-borne pathogens investigated, T. equi was the only pathogen detected. Further studies integrating larger and longitudinal datasets with detailed management, environmental, and tick-vector data are needed to better understand the factors underlying the observed epidemiological patterns. Full article

Skeletal disorders, including osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, and osteonecrosis of the femoral head, are common chronic conditions that substantially affect health and quality of life. Ferroptosis, a form of regulated cell death driven by iron-dependent lipid peroxidation, has increasingly been implicated in abnormal bone remodeling, cartilage degeneration, synovial pathology, and impaired skeletal homeostasis. Aerobic exercise is an important non-pharmacological approach for maintaining skeletal health, but the role of ferroptosis in its protective effects remains incompletely understood. Previous reviews have mainly discussed ferroptosis in skeletal disorders or the beneficial effects of exercise on skeletal health as separate topics. In contrast, this review places aerobic exercise, ferroptosis, and skeletal disorders within a unified framework and summarizes current evidence across osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, and osteonecrosis of the femoral head. We further discuss how aerobic exercise may influence ferroptosis through the regulation of iron homeostasis, lipid peroxidation, antioxidant defense, and inflammatory responses, with attention to recently emerging molecular evidence and to the distinction between direct findings from bone- and joint-related tissues and supportive evidence from non-skeletal systems. Current direct evidence is concentrated mainly in osteoblast-related bone loss and osteoarthritis and is derived predominantly from animal and cellular studies, whereas direct clinical evidence in humans remains limited. Overall, available evidence supports ferroptosis as a potential mechanistic link between aerobic exercise and skeletal protection, but its role in mediating exercise-induced benefits in humans has yet to be established. Further clinical validation of this relationship may help clarify the biological basis of aerobic exercise interventions and support the development of more targeted exercise strategies for the prevention and management of skeletal disorders. Full article

Body measurements provide a non-invasive basis for estimating live weight, yet their predictive value and age-related variation remain poorly characterized in female Jiangyue donkeys. Body weight (BW) and 11 morphometric traits were recorded in 484 females: withers height (WH), body length (BL), chest circumference (CC), cannon circumference (CAC), head length (HL), neck length (NL), chest width (CW), chest depth (CD), rump height (RH), rump length (RL), and rump width (RW). Descriptive statistics, correlation analyses, and regression analyses were performed using SPSS 27.0; stepwise regression was then applied to derive and validate BW prediction equations. Additionally, four nonlinear functions—Logistic, Gompertz, Brody, and von Bertalanffy—were fitted to cross-sectional BW data from 241 females sampled at different ages to characterize the population-level relationship between age and weight. BW was positively correlated with all morphometric traits (p < 0.01), with CC showing the strongest association. The optimal equations explained 91.8% and 84.4% of the variation in BW among growing and adult donkeys, respectively (both p < 0.01). Of the four nonlinear functions evaluated, the Brody model provided the closest fit (R² = 0.99960) and yielded an estimated asymptotic mature weight of 191.049 kg. Because the age–weight analysis was based on cross-sectional observations, the resulting curve represents population-level variation rather than within-animal growth trajectories. Collectively, these models offer quantitative tools for live-weight estimation, growth assessment, and herd management in female Jiangyue donkeys. Full article

Risk assessment is critical for managing health threats at the human–animal–environment interface, yet sector-specific approaches can result in fragmented actions. To address this gap, the Joint Risk Assessment Operational Tool (JRA OT), an operational tool of the Tripartite Zoonoses Guide, was developed by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the World Health Organization, and the World Organization for Animal Health. The JRA OT provides a structured framework for joint qualitative risk assessments that integrate multisectoral expertise to identify risk pathways, assess likelihood and impact, and develop consensus-based risk management and communication options. Surveillance systems play a critical role in this process by providing the multisectoral data needed to inform risk assessments, while the JRA process helps identify information gaps and guide the strengthening of integrated One Health surveillance. Implemented in at least 52 countries, the JRA OT has informed national mandates in Indonesia, Viet Nam, and Tanzania, regional strategies in West Africa, and adaptations in Canada. Cascade training has been used to build subnational capacity to facilitate roll out. Sustained leadership commitment, multisectoral coordination, routine applications, local adaptation, and capacity building remain essential for global implementation. Full article