Abstract: The dominance hierarchy of a herd of 10 Thoroughbred mares was determined twice, at an interval of 18 months, using paired feeding tests. Each mare's rank was correlated significantly between the 2 tests. This indicated that the hierarchy within the herd was stable. The offspring of dominant and subordinate mares were also tested for dominance in their own age groups. The offspring of dominant mares tended to be near the top of the hierarchy while those of middle and low ranking mares were not consistently found in the middle or bottom of their own hierarchies. Paired feeding tests were carried out on 8 ponies. During tests the time that each pony spent eating and the ponies' aggressive interactions were recorded. Two situations were used. Each pony-pair was tested when both ponies were in the same paddock and also when they were separated by a rail fence. The subordinate ponies spent significantly more time eating and the domonant pony was significantly less aggressive, when the pony-pair was separated by a fence than when they were in one paddock. It was concluded that the dominance hierarchies of adult horse groups changed very little over time and that the foals of dominant mares will tend to be dominant in their own age groups. Management practices can be used to reduce aggression and consequent injury that may arise in group feeding situations.

Abstract: Nitric oxide (NO) production increases with age in the lupus-prone MRL/lpr mouse, paralleling disease activity. One mechanism for excess NO production in MRL/lpr mice may be a defect in down-regulatory mechanisms of the iNOS pathway. A potential modulator of NO is the nuclear hormone receptor peroxisome proliferation activated receptor gamma (PPARgamma). We demonstrate that renal PPARgamma protein expression was altered as disease progressed in MRL/lpr mice, which paralleled increased iNOS protein expression. Additionally, MRL/lpr-derived primary mesangial cells expressed less PPARgamma than BALB/c mesangial cells and produced more NO in response to LPS and IFNgamma. Furthermore, PPARgamma activity was reduced in mesangial cells following exposure to inflammatory mediators. This activity was restored with the addition of a NOS enzyme inhibitor. These results indicate that the activation of inflammatory pathways may lead to reduced activity and expression of PPARgamma, further exacerbating the disease state.

Abstract: Nineteen young horses that had recently started to perform the stereotypy of crib-biting were compared with 16 non-stereotypic horses for 14 weeks. After initial observations of their behaviour and an endoscopic examination of the condition of their stomachs, the horses were randomly allocated to a control or an antacid diet At the start of the trial, the stomachs of the crib-biting foals were significantly more ulcerated and inflamed than the stomachs of the normal foals. In addition, the faecal pH of the crib-biting foals (6.05) was significantly lower than that of the normal foals (6.58). The antacid diet resulted in a significant improvement in the condition of the horses' stomachs. The crib-biting behaviour declined in most of the foals, regardless of their diet, but tended to decline to a greater extent in the foals on the antacid diet.

Abstract: The requirement for assessing the effects of stressor combinations in improving the welfare of animals has not been widely recognised. Knowledge of the effects of concurrent stressors is needed to improve environments such as transport, where animals are presented with many simultaneous challenges. However, no method for measuring the effects of different stressors with a common unit is currently available. A locomotor passive avoidance method was developed as a common currency measure of the aversion of domestic fowl to concurrent stressors, using vibrational and thermal stressors as an exemplar. Juvenile fowl, fasted overnight, were trained to run a raceway into a goal-box for small food rewards (FR1). When running consistently, the reinforcement schedule was superimposed with a FR5 treatment schedule (60 min confinement in the goal-box with either a control of no other stressors [N] or concurrent vibration and thermal stressors [VT]). Subsequent latency to return to the goal-box was recorded as a measure of aversion. The factors affecting bird response were addressed in a series of experiments to optimise the method and clarify interpretation of results. Pre-feeding (20% ration 2 h prior to testing) did not affect response, but increasing the number of treatment presentations facilitated learning and increased method sensitivity. Treatment responses were consistent across experiments; overall VT was avoided (P<0.001), but N was not. However, there was large individual variation in response to VT. A final experiment indicated that, given a visual discriminatory cue, birds were capable of learning the required association between entering the goal-box and receiving the treatment, suggesting that the delay responses were due to aversion rather than the immediate impact of treatment on ability to respond. Further work is required to test the singular stressors, but the method retains common currency potential for assessing aversion to multiple stressors.

Abstract: Abstract
An isolated right metatarsal III from an adult small monodactyl equid was recovered in situ from the middle of Bed II at Evelyn Fuchs-Hans Reck Korongo, Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania in 1963. Interosseous contacts for splint metatarsals II and IV are less evident than in any modern comparative Equus metapodials in Leiden, Holland, London, England or in the field in Africa: horses (E. caballus), zebras (E. burchellii, E. grevyi, E. quagga) and asses (E. a. asinus, E. a. africanus), of which the horses and asses were domesticates. The specimen is provisionally assigned to Equus (Asinus) asinus. The estimated height at the shoulders is less than a meter for the animal in life, comparable to a small donkey.