Veterinary Sciences

It is predicted that by the year 2050, majority of Africans will living in urban area. In Cameroon, urbanization rate radically evolved from 37.8 % in 1987 to 52.0 % in 2010 and projections for 2030 show that 2 out of 3 Cameroonians will live in urban areas. Such a situation will outstrip job creation and the capacity of Africans governments to control and provide essential infrastructure. It will also an increase of unemployment as well as underemployment, poverty, food insecurity and health risks among those living in and around cities. Urban and peri-urban agriculture appear to be a better response to these challenges, as observed in the case of Bamenda, where local productions around the town (rural urban continuum) remain essential to feeding citizens. However, environmental impacts studies have not been carried out to examine qualitative and quantitative positive impacts of these activities centered on crop production, mainly production of leafy traditional vegetables around the cities. The actual context of sustainable development requires a better understanding between the vegetable gardening and the environment, which was the main focus of research. An environmental impact assessment based on gardeners' inputs was conducted along the rural-urban continuum of Bamenda in the Northwest Region Cameroon. A survey questionnaire was administered among 150 growers divided equally in rural and peri-urban areas. The survey strongly insisted on the determination of active composition, families and chemical classes using the Phytosanitary Index ACTA, as well as the list of Cameroon registered pesticides. Data on environmental impacts were processed and analyzed through the Leopold and Fecteau matrices. Two variables were used for this: original impacts factorial (crop management) and production systems. The main results show that the majority of gardeners were young (34.67 %) of 30 to 40 years age group. Most of the gardeners in urban areas (88%) grow vegetables in home gardens of smaller size (less than 0.05 ha) while in peri-urban area, 76 % of respondents have farms measuring between 0.1 to 0.25ha located near their homes. In rural areas, the majority of growers (48 %), operating away from their habitat, owned farms larger or equal to 0.25 ha. Among the chemical used in production systems on the continuum were Carbonates and Thiocarbonates (35 %) followed by organophosphate (21 %), unidentified Pyrethroids synthetic components (17 %) and Organochlorines (4 %). The threshold of environmental impacts criticality is established and appears greater or equal to the average value of 16 in the rating scale. The results of this survey confirmed that there was an uncontrolled use of chemical fertilizers on vegetables throughout the rural-urban continuum of Bamenda. The study identified lack of training and gardeners' sensitization as well as the non-compliance to the legal texts relating to the safe use of chemical fertilizers and chemicals, as the aggravating factors and causes of environmental damage around rural-urban Bamenda. (2) World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) Côte d'Ivoire, 01 BP 2024 San Pedro / Tel: +225 07 05 86 90 (3) Département de géographie de l'université de Yaoundé 1. / Tel: +237 99 85 59 26/ +237 22 00 81 78 (4) AVRDC -The World Vegetable Center, Liaison Office Cameroon, C/o IITA -Cameroon, PO Box 2008, Messa, Yaoundé, Cameroun / Tel: +237 22 10 84 48//+237 97 90 00 95, (5) Department of Physical Geography, University of Freiburg, +49 761 203 3513 (Office) +49 761 203 3596 (Fax.) Résumé Il est prévu que d'ici 2050, la majorité des Africains vivront en milieu urbain. Au Cameroun, le taux d'urbanisation a radicalement évolué, passant de 37,8% en 1987 à 52,0% en 2010 et les projections pour 2030 montrent que 2 Camerounais sur 3 vivront dans des zones urbaines. Une telle situation sera supérieure à la création d'emplois et à la capacité des gouvernements africains à contrôler et à fournir l'infrastructure essentielle. On assistera également à une augmentation du chômage ainsi que du sous-emploi, l'accentuation de la pauvreté, l'insécurité alimentaire et des risques de

Empathy can be defined as the ability to understand and connect with the emotional state and frame of mind of another. Establishing connections with others is a crucial skill for veterinarians who must earn the trust and compliance of their clients to provide quality care for their patients. This is a longitudinal study using the Davis Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) to assess changes in veterinary students' self-reported empathy as they progressed through the didactic portion of the DVM program at Colorado State University. The IRI consists of four subscales that measure cognitive and affective components of empathy: Perspective Taking, Fantasy, Emphatic Concern, and Personal Distress. Data were collected at three time points, corresponding to the start of the first year, the fourth semester (second year), and the fifth semester (third year). Results showed an overall decline in Perspective Taking scores, with a significant decrease between first and second year. There was...

Across all equestrian disciplines, the single largest reason for wastage is musculoskeletal injury. It is, therefore, of importance that management and competition structures are in place to optimize the development of the equine musculoskeletal system to minimize wastage.

According to the principles of negative reinforcement, when an aid has been given to an animal, it should be released as soon as the desired response has been achieved, and, if performed well, may be associated with fewer conflict behaviors than otherwise. In riding, pressure in the horse’s mouth from the bit is used to give signals to the horse,

This article presents the theory and method informing an ongoing study of environmental change and human distress in the Upper Hunter Valley of New South Wales (NSW), Australia. The nature of environmental change in the Upper Hunter landscape over the past two centuries is first described, followed by the preliminary results of a long-term study that aims to investigate the nature of residents' understanding of, and responses to, environmental change. Data from in-depth interviews found that the transformation of the environment from mining and power station activities was associated with significant expressions of distress linked to negative changes to interviewees' sense of place, well-being, and control. A new concept, ''solastalgia,'' is introduced to help explain the relationship between ecosystem health, human health, and powerlessness. We claim that solastalgia, as opposed to nostalgia, is a type of homesickness (distress) that one gets when one is still ''at home.'' Future research will aim to validate a questionnaire to test the hypothesis that environmental distress is associated with levels of depression, quality of life, and rates of stress-related disease, as well as activism and environmental rehabilitation.

Italy counts several sheep breeds, arisen over centuries as a consequence of ancient and recent genetic and demographic events. To finely reconstruct genetic structure and relationships between Italian sheep, 496 subjects from 19 breeds were typed at 50K single nucleotide polymorphism loci. A subset of foreign breeds from the Sheep HapMap dataset was also included in the analyses. Genetic distances (as visualized either in a network or in a multidimensional scaling analysis of identical by state distances) closely reflected geographic proximity between breeds, with a clear north-south gradient, likely because of high levels of past gene flow and admixture all along the peninsula. Sardinian breeds diverged more from other breeds, a probable consequence of the combined effect of ancient sporadic introgression of feral mouflon and long-lasting genetic isolation from continental sheep populations. The study allowed the detection of previously undocumented episodes of recent introgression (Delle Langhe into the endangered Altamurana breed) as well as signatures of known, or claimed, historical introgression (Merino into Sopravissana and Gentile di Puglia; Bergamasca into Fabrianese, Appenninica and, to a lesser extent, Leccese). Arguments that would question, from a genomic point of view, the current breed classification of Bergamasca and Biellese into two separate breeds are presented. Finally, a role for traditional transhumance practices in shaping the genetic makeup of Alpine sheep breeds is proposed. The study represents the first exhaustive analysis of Italian sheep diversity in an European context, and it bridges the gap in the previous HapMap panel between Western Mediterranean and Swiss breeds.