No abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate the production and physiological responses of dairy cows to the substitution of fava bean for rapeseed meal at 2 protein supplementation levels in grass silage-based diets. We used 6 primiparous and 6 multiparous Finnish Ayrshire cows in a cyclic changeover trial with a 2×3 factorial arrangement of treatments. The experimental diets consisted of formic acid-treated timothy-meadow fescue silage and 3 isonitrogenous concentrates containing either rapeseed meal, fava bean, or a 1:1 mixture of rapeseed meal and fava bean at low and high inclusion rates, resulting in concentrate crude protein (CP) levels of 15.4 and 19.0% in dry matter. Silage dry matter intake decreased linearly when rapeseed meal was replaced with fava bean, the negative effect being more distinct at the high CP level than the low (-2.3 vs. -0.9kg/d, respectively). Similarly, milk and milk protein yields decreased linearly with fava bean, the change tending to be greater at the high CP level than the low. Yield of milk fat was lower for fava bean compared with rapeseed meal, the difference showing no interaction with CP level. Especially at the high CP level, milk urea concentration was higher with fava bean compared with rapeseed meal indicating better utilization of protein from the rapeseed meal. The apparent total-tract organic matter digestibility did not differ between treatments at the low CP level, but digestibility was higher for fava bean than for rapeseed meal at the high CP level. Plasma concentrations of essential amino acids, including methionine and lysine, were lower for fava bean than for rapeseed meal. Compared with rapeseed meal, the use of fava bean in dairy cow diets as the sole protein supplement decreased silage intake and milk production in highly digestible formic acid-treated grass silage-based diets.

The prevalence of cCMV was low, and outcomes at 18 months of age did not differ between the infected infants and healthy control infants. With such a low burden in Finland, universal newborn screening for cCMV seems unwarranted.

Maternal herpesvirus infections during pregnancy may cause fetal and neonatal infections. We investigated the seroprevalence of five herpesviruses: cytomegalovirus (CMV), herpes simplex virus (HSV) 1 and 2, varicella zoster virus (VZV) and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) in randomly selected samples from pregnant Finnish women from the years 1992, 2002 and 2012. Over 20 years, the seroprevalences decreased significantly for CMV from 84.5% to 71.5% (p = 0.007) and HSV-1 from 69.5% to 45% (p < 0.001). The decrease in seroprevalence for HSV-2 (from 17.5% to 11%) was not statistically significant. The seroprevalence remained unchanged for VZV and EBV. The proportion of mothers with no antibodies to either HSV-1 or HSV-2 increased from 25.5% to 48% (p < 0.001). The seroprevalences for HSV-1 and HSV-2 increased in relation to age, which shows that women of childbearing age do contract primary HSV infections. Our findings indicate that a considerable proportion of women (48%) are at risk for primary HSV infection during pregnancy.