There is increasing interest in keeping horses in groups, but progress is hampered by a lack of knowledge about which horses can and should be kept together. Therefore, our objective was to investigate the effect of group composition on the occurrence of injuries among horses, the ease of removing horses from groups and horses' reactivity to a fearful stimulus. Using a matched case control design, 61 groups of horses were studied in Denmark, Norway, Finland and Sweden. They were allocated into groups of similar or different age and sex or where membership changed regularly or remained stable. Injuries were recorded before mixing the horses into treatment groups, the day after mixing and four weeks later. Reactivity of horses to a moving novel object and the behaviour of a horse being removed from its group and the reactions of other group members towards this horse and the handler were evaluated. It was hypothesized that a more socially variable group composition has beneficial effects on behaviour, ease of handling and reducing reactivity whereas frequent changes in group composition has negative consequences, resulting in more injuries. We found that differences in treatment effects were mainly related to breed, rather than group composition. Icelandic horses reacted less to the movement of the novel object (P= 0.007) and approached it more afterwards (P = 0.04). They also had fewer new injuries than warmbloods following mixing (P<0.001) and fewer than all other groups 4 weeks later (P<0.01). Most new injuries after mixing were minor and recorded on the horse's head, chest, hind legs and rump. In conclusion, variations in sex and age composition of the group had little effect on injury level, reactivity and ease of handling compared to the general effect of breed. Concerns about the risk of severe injuries associated with keeping horses in groups are probably overestimated. Thus, we propose that horses can be successfully kept in groups of different sex and age composition. (C) 2016 Published by Elsevier B.V.

Keeping horses in groups is widely recommended but limited information is available about how this is implemented in practice. The aim of this survey was to describe how horses are kept in the Nordic countries in relation to sex, age, breed, and equestrian discipline and to assess owners' attitudes toward keeping horses in groups. Horse owners in Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden were approached using a web-based questionnaire, which was translated into 4 languages and distributed online via equestrian forums, organizations, and social media. The number of respondents was 3,229, taking care of 17,248 horses. Only 8% of horses were never kept in groups, 47% were permanently grouped for 24 h/d, and 45% were stabled singly but grouped during turnout. Yearlings were most often permanently kept in groups (75%), mares and geldings more commonly during parts of the day (50 and 51%, respectively), and stallions were often kept alone (38%). Icelandic horses were more likely to be permanently kept in groups (36%) than warmbloods (16%) and ponies (15%). Twice as many competition horses (51%) were never grouped compared with horses used for breeding (20%) or leisure purposes (15%). The majority of respondents (86%) strongly agreed that group housing benefits horse welfare and that it is important for horses to have the company of conspecifics (92%). Nevertheless, not all horses were kept in groups, showing that attitudes toward group housing may not necessarily reflect current management. The risk of injury was a concern of many respondents (45%), as was introducing unfamiliar horses into already established groups (40%) and challenges in relation to feeding in groups (44%). Safety of people (23%) and difficulties handling group-kept horses (19%) were regarded as less problematic. Results suggest that the majority of horses have the possibility to freely interact with other horses, either as fulltime members of a group during 24 h/d or during turnout. Future research should address the extent to which being a part-time member of a group affects horse welfare. For permanent group housing to become more widespread, such as it is the case for most farm animals, future research could focus on solving some of the reoccurring problems perceived with keeping horses in groups. The dissemination of evidence-based information on all aspects around keeping horses in groups can ultimately stimulate further positive changes in the management of group-kept horses.

The natural behaviour of horses in response to danger is to take flight, and consequently human handlers can be injured. Reducing the flight response and general reactivity of horses is therefore likely to reduce the incidence of injuries to handlers. In this experiment we investigated the effect of handling foals in the first 2 days after birth on their subsequent response to handling, humans and novelty, and the foal-mare relationship. Standardbred foals were assigned to one of two groups, handled (H) (N = 22, 12 colts, 10 fillies) and control (C) (N = 22, 11 colts, I I fillies). Handling took place 3 times/day on days 1 and 2 after birth for 10 min/session. Individual foals were gently restrained and stroked all over their body using bare hands and then a plastic bag and each leg was lifted once. C foals received no handling.C and H foals did not differ in their reaction to freeze branding at a mean age of 14 days. The approach and leave behaviour of mare-foal pairs were observed at pasture during week 5 to evaluate their relationship. Mares of H foals were less active in keeping the pair together than mares of C foals (GLM: F(1.33) = 6.81; P < 0.05). At 6 weeks of age all colts were introduced to an arena, together with their mare, and their reaction to a novel object and an unknown human were tested. Treatment did not affect heart rate of foals or in mares. C foals initiated more suckling bouts than H when no human was present (Wilcoxon: Z = 2.44, N = 22, P < 0.05) indicating that they responded differently to the novel arena than H foals. However, there was no difference between H and C foals in their exploratory behaviour in the arena. When a human was present in the arena, H foals had a shorter flight distance than C foals (Z = -1.98. N = 22, P < 0.05) and tended to move further away from the mare (Z = - 1.80, N = 22, P = 0.07).Handling of foals in the first 2 days after birth appeared to affect the foal-mare relationship and alter their perception of humans at a later age but did not alter their response to novelty or to handling. The effects of early handling of foals on the foal-mare relationship require further investigation. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

To determine if bedding has any influence on the time horses spend recumbent, 8 horses kept on straw and 8 kept on wood shavings were observed from 10:00 PM to 5:30 AM for two successive nights. Observations were conducted using time-lapse video recordings. Lying down and rising behavior, as well as frequency and duration of bouts spent in lateral and sternal recumbency, was registered. The results showed that horses on straw were lying in lateral recumbency three times longer than horses on shavings (P < .001), whereas the time horses spent in sternal recumbency did not differ. The longest period of noninterrupted lateral recumbency was longer for horses on straw than for those on shavings. Because horses must lie down, preferably in lateral recumbency, to achieve paradoxical sleep, the reduced time spent in lateral recumbency in horses on wood shavings may affect their welfare and performance. Independent of the bedding, we further observed that, as the horses got up from recumbency, most of them made attempts to roll over before rising. This behavior appeared to be caused by some difficulty in rising, possibly due to the box size, and might have a connection with the fact that horses sometimes get stuck against the box wall.

In an experiment on the effects of social environment and training on the human–animal relationship, 20 horses were handled according to a defined schedule. Eight horses were housed singly and 12 horses were housed in four groups of 3 horses. Horses were handled three times per week in 10min sessions from an age of 6 months until 2 years of age during two winter periods. A total of 50 and 70 sessions were given in the first and second period, respectively. Five randomly allocated people performed the training. The training scheme involved leading, tying up, touching, lifting feet, etc. in 43 stages. The horse had to fulfil the performance criteria of each stage in order to get to the next stage. In the first winter period, horses were led to the stable when they had “passed” a stage or after 10min of training. In the second winter period, horses would start off at stage 1 again, and when they “passed” a stage they went on to the next stage within the same training session. Because of the change in training procedure results were analysed separately for the two winter periods. There was a significant difference between trainers in the number of times they allowed a horse to “pass” a stage within each winter period (χ32, P<0.05; χ32, P<0.001 for the first and the second winter period, respectively). Group housed horses “passed” more stages than single housed horses (17 versus 14; 27 versus 18 in the first and second winter period, respectively; P<0.05 for the interaction). Singly housed horses bit the trainer more frequently than did group housed horses (P<0.01). The responses of group housed horses to training clearly demonstrate the benefits of raising young horses in groups.

Forty Danish warmblood colts in two replicates were used to investigate the effect of housing and handling in the rearing period on the reactions to humans. The horses entered the experiment after weaning and were housed either individually (n=16) or in groups of three (n=24). Half of the horses from each housing group were handled three times per week for a period of 10min. Approach tests were performed in the home environment when the horses were 6, 9, 12, 18, 21, and 24 months old, and an Arena and Human Encounter test was performed in a novel environment when the horses were 12 and 24 months old, respectively. In the home environment, single-housed horses approached sooner and were more easily approached by a human than group-housed horses where no effect of handling was observed. Horses approached sooner and were more easily approached with increasing age. In the Arena and Human Encounter test, single-housed horses expressed less restless behaviour, more explorative behaviour, and less vocalisation than group-housed horses. Handled horses showed lower increase in heart rate during the test than non-handled horses. There was no difference between the number of times single or group-housed horses touched an unfamiliar person in the Arena and Human Encounter test but handled horses approached sooner than non-handled horses. It is concluded that the social environment affected the way horses reacted to humans when tested in the home environment but not in a novel environment. In contrast, handling affected the reactions to humans when tested in the novel environment but not in the home environment. However, handled horses also reacted less to the novel environment in general, thus indicating that handling is a mean of avoiding potential dangerous situations.

Records on milk yield, body weight, feed intake, SCC, mastitis incidence, and indicators of body composition were analysed both as repeated measures within lactations and as aggregated lactation measures. The data comprised 603 lactations on 293 dairy cows on an experimental farm in Denmark. Most genetic parameters were in agreement with similar results from the literature. Minimum body weight is reached earlier in lactation than peak yield and much before peak feed intake. Genetic selection for higher milk production will lead to cows with lower body weight gains during lactation and therefore cows that are less well prepared to meet the energy requirements of the subsequent lactation. There were positive genetic correlations between mobilisation of body reserves and SCC indicating that increased production leads to metabolic stress and a change in the immune system. Single trait selection for production will lead to increases in SCC and thereby in mastitis frequency. Cows with large fat depots had a higher milk production. However, selection for increased milk production leads to lower weight gains during lactation leaving the cow less well prepared for the next lactation. This study showed large variation in the variables attempting to describe the shape of lactation curves for milk yield, body weight, and feed intake. Therefore, encouraged continuation in recording these variables, and physiological measures to understand the fundamental biological complex of the energy balance in lactating dairy cows are needed. The variables for repeated measures within lactation may be analysed using random regression models in order to study feed forward mechanisms from records in early lactation to records in late lactation.

Domestic horses (Equus caballus) are typically kept in individual housing systems, in which they are deprived of physical contact. In order to study the effects of social restrictions on behaviour in young horses, nineteen 2-year-old stallions were housed either singly (n=7), or in groups of three (n=12) for 9 months. Subsequently, the stallions were released into two separate 2ha enclosures according to treatment, and recordings were made on social interactions and nearest neighbours during a 6-week-period, 28h per week. Previously group stabled stallions frequently had a former group mate as their nearest neighbour (P=0.001), whereas previously singly stabled stallions did not associate more with their former box neighbours, to whom physical contact was limited by bars during the previous treatment. The nearest neighbour was more frequently recorded to be within one horselength of singly stabled than of group stabled stallions (P=0.005). More aggressive behaviour was recorded in the group of previously singly stabled stallions, i.e. bite threats (P=0.032), whereas group stabled stallions tended to make more use of subtle agonistic interactions (displacements, submissive behaviour). Singly stabled stallions also responded to the 9 months of social deprivation by significantly increasing the level of social grooming (P<0.001) and play behaviour (P<0.001), when subsequently interacting freely with other horses. The increased occurrence may relate to a build-up of motivation (a rebound effect), as well as to external factors, such as playful pasture companions and the increased space allowance of the pasture. It is concluded that 2-year-old domestic stallions are sensitive to social deprivation and that stabling has long-term effects, lasting 6 weeks at least, on the social behaviour in stallions.

The past experience with the TI 800 x 800 charge-coupled device (CCD) image sensors developed for use on the space telescope has shown that a relative photometric precision of 0.2% is obtainable, provided a proper reduction procedure is used. Encouraged by this result, it was decided to embark upon the development of a CCD-camera prototype based on the GEC P8600 image sensor. This particular detector was chosen mainly because of its alleged low readout noise and high transfer efficiency. It is also of some importance that the P8600 is available in an epitaxial version having a cosmic ray response very similar to that of a thinned device. A CCD camera system has a thick front-illuminated, buried channel, frame transfer CCD, employing three-phase clocks in both the vertical and horizontal registers. It is organized into 576 rows of 385 pixels each, with a pixel size of 22 μm2 being defined by vertical channel stops and three vertical phase electrodes. The detector is available as a normal thick device or as an epitaxial device, which has a response to cosmic rays comparable to that of a thinned device.

Vitamin E-free diets containing 1.5% of the ethyl estera of linoleic and arachidonic acids, respectively, and a vitamin E-free diet containing 30% lard were fed to groups of 10 chicks from the age of 5 days through a period of maximally 35 days.

Summary Alkali salts of menadiol bisulfate are less efficient than the tetrasodium salt of menadiol biphosphate in lowering elevated prothrombin times in experimental animals and newborn infants when given parenterally. The reported lower hyper bilirubinemic effect of menadiol bisulfate in premature infants is believed to be related to its slower action on the elevated prothrombin time. Among the compounds having a fast action on the prothrombin time and no hyperbilirubinemic effect, vitamin seems to be particularly suitable for parenteral treatment of the hypoprothrombinemic premature infant.

Livers from vitamin K-deficient chicks showed increased DPNH-oxidase activity with no change in either DPNH-cytochrome c reductase or diaphorase. Dicumarol-treatment had no effect on DPNH-oxidase, aerobic or anaerobic glycolysis, aspartic-glutamic transaminase, ATP-ase, AMP-ase, G-6-P-ase, HDP-ase, xanthine oxidase, pyruvate oxidation, or oxidative phosphorylation. Oxidative phosphorylation was depressed, however, when Dicumarol was added in vitro to normal liver mitochondria in concentrations that approximate those which obtain in vivo.

Acta Obstetricia et Gynecologica ScandinavicaVolume 35, Issue 3 p. 440-444 INFLUENCE ON THE PROTHROMBIN TIME OF BREASTFED NEWBORN BABIES OF ONE SINGLE DOSE OF VITAMIN K1 OR SYNKAVIT GIVEN TO THE MOTHER WITHIN 2 HOURS AFTER BIRTH HOLGER V. DYGGVE, HOLGER V. DYGGVE Department of Obstetrics A. Rigshospitalet, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark Department of Biochemistry and Nutrition, Polytechnic Institute, Copenhagen, DenmarkSearch for more papers by this authorHENRIK DAM, HENRIK DAM Department of Obstetrics A. Rigshospitalet, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark Department of Biochemistry and Nutrition, Polytechnic Institute, Copenhagen, DenmarkSearch for more papers by this authorEBBE SØNDERGAARD, EBBE SØNDERGAARD Department of Obstetrics A. Rigshospitalet, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark Department of Biochemistry and Nutrition, Polytechnic Institute, Copenhagen, DenmarkSearch for more papers by this author HOLGER V. DYGGVE, HOLGER V. DYGGVE Department of Obstetrics A. Rigshospitalet, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark Department of Biochemistry and Nutrition, Polytechnic Institute, Copenhagen, DenmarkSearch for more papers by this authorHENRIK DAM, HENRIK DAM Department of Obstetrics A. Rigshospitalet, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark Department of Biochemistry and Nutrition, Polytechnic Institute, Copenhagen, DenmarkSearch for more papers by this authorEBBE SØNDERGAARD, EBBE SØNDERGAARD Department of Obstetrics A. Rigshospitalet, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark Department of Biochemistry and Nutrition, Polytechnic Institute, Copenhagen, DenmarkSearch for more papers by this author First published: January 1956 https://doi.org/10.3109/00016345609162034Citations: 5AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Citing Literature Volume35, Issue3January 1956Pages 440-444 RelatedInformation

Vit. K1 given intravenously in massive doses to dicumarol-treated rats and chicks did not influence the concentration of dicumarol in whole liver, the subcellular fractions (nuclei, mitochondria and supernatant) of liver, or whole blood, while the usual dicumarol-induced hypoprothrombinemia was prevented. The tissue distribution of dicumarol in the chick is like that in the rat.

Acta Obstetricia et Gynecologica ScandinavicaVolume 33, Issue 3 p. 283-288 Influence of Vitamin K1 and Synkavit Given Ante Partum on the Prothrombin Time of the Newborn Holger V. Dyggve, Holger V. Dyggve Department of Obstetrics A, Rigshospitalet, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark Department of Biochemistry and Nutrition, Polytechnic Institute, Copenhagen, DenmarkSearch for more papers by this authorHenrik Dam, Henrik Dam Department of Obstetrics A, Rigshospitalet, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark Department of Biochemistry and Nutrition, Polytechnic Institute, Copenhagen, DenmarkSearch for more papers by this authorEbbe Søndergaard, Ebbe Søndergaard Department of Obstetrics A, Rigshospitalet, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark Department of Biochemistry and Nutrition, Polytechnic Institute, Copenhagen, DenmarkSearch for more papers by this author Holger V. Dyggve, Holger V. Dyggve Department of Obstetrics A, Rigshospitalet, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark Department of Biochemistry and Nutrition, Polytechnic Institute, Copenhagen, DenmarkSearch for more papers by this authorHenrik Dam, Henrik Dam Department of Obstetrics A, Rigshospitalet, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark Department of Biochemistry and Nutrition, Polytechnic Institute, Copenhagen, DenmarkSearch for more papers by this authorEbbe Søndergaard, Ebbe Søndergaard Department of Obstetrics A, Rigshospitalet, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark Department of Biochemistry and Nutrition, Polytechnic Institute, Copenhagen, DenmarkSearch for more papers by this author First published: January 1954 https://doi.org/10.3109/00016345409157606Citations: 9AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Citing Literature Volume33, Issue3January 1954Pages 283-288 RelatedInformation