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The Glasgow Composite Measure Pain Scale (CMPS) has provided the first validated pain questionnaire for the rapid assessment of acute pain in dogs in surgical and clinical settings. Developed by the University of Glasgow School of Veterinary Medicine, the scale aids clinical decisions on appropriate pain relief intervention and has been freely downloaded by over 3,000 clinical users since its launch in 2008. In addition, it has been used extensively by veterinary healthcare companies to successfully obtain regulatory approval for analgesic drugs and in marketing support materials. The University of Glasgow researchers have been instrumental in developing international pain guidelines with the World Small Animal Veterinary Association, which represent more than 180,000 veterinarians worldwide, and has thereby promoted awareness of pain management in companion animals.
Impact: Policy / animal welfare. Policy implementation changed and bird welfare improved.
Significance: Our research informed welfare guidelines impacting upon housing of around 200 million laying birds in the EU. Our work has been adopted in EC regulations, and they are pushing all EU member states to ensure all their producers install aerial perches over slatted surfaces.
Beneficiaries: Laying birds, welfare organisations, egg producers, and the general public.
Attribution: Prof. Sparks, Dr. Sandilands (SRUC). Involved collaboration with Prof. Green at Heriot Watt University acting as a vision specialist.
Reach: Guidelines have been adopted in EU legislation.
Research led by Dr Holmes has identified a novel variant of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in livestock. This represents a previously unidentified reservoir of infection which has had impact on the epidemiology of MRSA and its management. This research also impacts on antibiotic use in agriculture and its role in the emergence of antibiotic resistance. As a consequence of these research findings commercial tests and testing protocols have been developed to detect the new MRSA variant, which are now used widely in clinical settings throughout Europe. The discovery has also been used to inform policy decisions at a governmental level in the USA and Europe.
Defra-funded research at the University of Bristol showed that the water bath stunning protocols commonly used in commercial processing plants resulted in paralysis rather than unconsciousness in chickens during slaughter. This finding led directly to the modification of stunning protocols in a European Union Regulation (1099/2009). Their practical application within slaughter plants has been promoted to the poultry industry in Europe and worldwide via Animal Welfare Officer (AWO) training courses that were developed in Bristol. This has ensured that since 1st January 2013 billions of birds in Europe are now adequately stunned, and therefore unconscious, before they are slaughtered.
Since its discovery in the 1980s, avian metapneumovirus (AMPV) has spread in poultry populations worldwide with major adverse health and food security implications for commercial chickens and turkeys. Research at the University of Liverpool (UoL) led to the registration of a live vaccine in 1994 which has played a global role in AMPV control, thereby safeguarding the supply of poultry meat and eggs. Recent research and development at the UoL has identified key control measures, relating to vaccine application, vaccine selection, efficacy and safety, which have had a significant impact on poultry health and consequently, poultry producers and consumers. In particular, demonstration that live AMPV vaccines can revert to virulence, that vaccine type applied influences field protection and that continuous use of a single vaccine can influence circulating field strains, has resulted in UoL leading policy making with regard to current AMPV vaccine protocols.
In High Gravity (HG) brewing the substrate (the wort§) fermented by the yeast is concentrated from a traditional value of about 12% solids to concentrations of upwards of 20%. Research (1993-2008) by Graham's Stewart's team at Heriot-Watt, into the process of brewing beer and distilling spirits in a more cost effective and quality enhanced manner led to substantial improvements in the HG brewing process, now used worldwide. This allows up to 50% more beer to be made at the same plant and reduces distillation costs. In both industries HG-wort production has allowed very substantial savings (>£555 million) in capital expansion costs.
§The substrate produced by the mashing of malt and grains — primarily consisting of fermentable sugars.
Research and knowledge dissemination led by Greenwich on biological pesticides has made a major contribution to the introduction of novel safe commercial pesticides based on insect viruses to help farmers overcome the problems of chemical resistance in major crop pests in Asia and Africa. Research at Greenwich identified effective virus strains, methods of production and formulation which were then developed and evaluated with in country research collaborators before being transferred to local SMEs to start up production in India, Thailand, Kenya and Tanzania. Greenwich advised governments on adopting suitable regulation to support the registration and sale of these novel pesticides.
The way in which UK upland hay meadows are managed and restored to conserve botanical diversity has been largely determined by research carried out at Newcastle University. Increased post-war agricultural production has converted most species-rich upland hay meadows to species- poor rye-grass grassland so that today only 1070 ha (hectares) undisturbed hay meadow remains. The Newcastle research has been used by Natural England (an executive non-departmental public body responsible for England's natural environment) to produce targeted management prescriptions for 2500 ha of farmland in northern England and has informed National Park and AONB (Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty) management on best practice for successful restoration of hay meadows. The research has ensured the successful restoration of more than half of the remaining upland hay meadows in England.
Impact: Animal Health and Welfare, Economics: The BVD vaccine associated with emergence of BNP was withdrawn from sale.
Significance: BNP cases have been reported worldwide. On affected farms, the case fatality rate is very high, with losses of up to 5% of calves in a herd being reported. Despite the vaccine being withdrawn, cases continue to be found in some calves born to dams that have been historically vaccinated. In addition, reporting has increased due to increased awareness and Zoetis subsidising post-mortem examinations. However, as an indirect measure, the number of cases being diagnosed at post-mortem at SRUC fell by 42% between 2012 and 2013.
Beneficiaries: Livestock Industry, Animal Health Company, Farmers.
Attribution: Work performed by University of Edinburgh (Penny, Morrison, Sargison, Bell) and SRUC (Hosie, Howie, Kerr, Caldow) identified BNP as a new disease entity, elucidated the cause, and developed strategies to reduce the incidence. This also involved a collaboration with the Moredun Research Institute (Willoughby)
Reach: BNP is recognised world-wide (a peak of 4500 cases in 2011) including France, Germany, United Kingdom, Ireland, Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Italy, and Spain. The disease is unknown in countries which do not vaccinate against BVD (Denmark, Austria, and Switzerland)
Impact: Economic, public policy and animal health and welfare: Selective breeding based upon identification of PRNP genotypes can eliminate animals that are susceptible to scrapie from the flock.
Significance: UK sheep meat exports are worth >£380million. Breeding for scrapie resistance protected the sheep industry from similar damage to that inflicted by BSE on cattle and the UK economy.
Beneficiaries: Farmers, animals, consumers
Attribution: Professor Hunter and Dr. Goldmann (Roslin Institute, now part of UoE) identified polymorphisms of the PrP (PRNP) gene linked to scrapie susceptibility and resistance in sheep.
Reach: International, programmes breeding for resistance to scrapie in sheep are now used in the UK, Europe and USA.