Public health advice tells us to buy local. Can Canada’s food system keep up? · doi/link
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University of Calgary · Veterinary Medicine
This week in research.
20 Jul – 27 July 2026 From the archive
08Publications
08UCVM authors
06Journals & venues
The weekly brief
Research highlights
Here are the new works published between 2026-07-20 and 2026-07-27, with cohort authors named and journals/venues identified. Each item includes up to three concise findings (or note when data are missing), followed by a final “By the numbers” section.
1) Public health advice tells us to buy local. Can Canada’s food system keep up?
Journal: Unknown
Date: 2026-07-26
Cohort authors: Guillaume Lhermie
Findings: Abstract snippet not provided; no empirical findings are extractable from the available text.
2) First observed cranial pathology in the early Permian synapsid Dimetrodon limbatus
Journal: Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology
Date: 2026-07-23
Cohort authors: Jason S. Anderson
Findings: First cranial pathology described in Dimetrodon limbatus; lesion on the dentary near the largest canine with a filigree texture; lesion likely result of an accidental self-caused injury during prey processing rather than intraspecific combat.
3) EUPAHW - SOA17 - Sustainability aspects of animal welfare-promoting livestock systems - Task 1.2 standard operating procedure (SOP) for literature reviews
Journal: Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Date: 2026-07-23
Cohort authors: Maria Camila Ceballos
Findings: Provides a standardized approach for literature reviews on sustainability interrelationships of welfare measures across livestock species; aimed at improving reproducibility of welfare assessments.
4) A nerve and mast cell sentinel system releases extracellular condensates to induce macrophage repair
Journal: Open Access CRIS of the University of Bern
Date: 2026-07-23
Cohort authors: Nathan C. Peters; Johnathan Canton
Findings: Describes a nerve–mast cell sentinel system emitting membraneless condensates that recruit large peritoneal macrophages and trigger a repair-like macrophage phenotype; condensates carry many proteins and rely on cytoneme-mediated transfer and MARCO receptor function for rapid injury-site repair.
5) Supplemental Materials: Qualitative behavioral assessment of non-replacement dairy calves: associations between affective states and calf conditions on commercial calf raising farms
Journal: Figshare
Date: 2026-07-22
Cohort authors: Maria Camila Ceballos
Findings: Demonstrates qualitative behavioral assessment as a tool to gauge affective states in dairy calves on real-world farms; includes an accompanying dataset describing average behavioral scores by farm.
6) Supplemental Materials: Qualitative behavioral assessment of non-replacement dairy calves: associations between affective states and calf conditions on commercial calf raising farms
Journal: Figshare
Date: 2026-07-22
Cohort authors: Maria Camila Ceballos
Findings: Duplicate upload of the same qualitative behavioral assessment materials; supports context for welfare-emotion evaluation in calves.
7) Relationship between the siring capacity of beef bulls and their pre-breeding behavior measured by remote monitoring technologies
Journal: Frontiers in Animal Science
Date: 2026-07-22
Cohort authors: Mathieu Pruvot; Jennifer M. Pearson
Findings: Bulls that were more active, more social, and had diverse interactions pre-breeding showed higher siring capacity; younger bulls also tended to perform better; activity metrics derived from remote monitoring (accelerometers, proximity sensors) showed moderate day-to-day repeatability.
8) Evaluating the internal structure validity of admissions measures: do they capture distinct attributes?
Journal: Frontiers in Veterinary Science
Date: 2026-07-22
Cohort authors: Kent G. Hecker
Findings: Three-factor structure (Academic Ability, Social–Emotional Skills, Contextual Factors) accounted for 53.36% of variance; correlations among measures were small to moderate, supporting distinct constructs in veterinary admissions.
By the numbers
- Total works: 8
- Journals/venues and counts:
- Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology: 1
- Zenodo: 1
- Open Access CRIS of the University of Bern: 1
- Figshare: 2
- Frontiers in Animal Science: 1
- Frontiers in Veterinary Science: 1
- Journal with unspecified journal field: 1
A closer look
Publications this week
First observed cranial pathology in the early Permian synapsid <i>Dimetrodon limbatus</i> · doi/link
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Dimetrodon is an early non-mammalian synapsid from the early Permian of Europe and North America best known for its elongated neural spines, which in life formed an interconnected sail, and an early occurrence of heterodonty in the fossil record. Previous literature has identified multiple pathologies in the genus, including fractured and healed neural spines and fractured and calloused limb bone midshafts, but no cranial pathologies have been described. We describe the first occurrence of cranial pathology in the genus in a specimen of Dimetrodon limbatus (AMNH FARB 4081) and hypothesize its causation. The pathology is a lesion on the anterior lateral surface of the right dentary directly ventral to the largest caniniform tooth that exhibits a filigree texture and margins of raised cortical surface anteriorly, posteriorly, and ventrally. The absence of a dorsal margin, other abscesses or puncture marks on the specimen characteristic of inter- or intraspecific combat, and the lesion’s location directly ventral to the upper caniniform tooth suggest that the lesion is the result of an accidental self-caused injury, perhaps during prey processing or hunting, in which the upper caniniform punctured the dentary.
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EUPAHW - SOA17 - Sustainability aspects of animal welfare-promoting livestock systems - Task 1.2 standard operating procedure (SOP) for literature reviews · doi/link
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The document describes the common approach for reviewing literature on the sustainability interrelationships of measures for improving the welfare of various livestock species.
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A nerve and mast cell sentinel system releases extracellular condensates to induce macrophage repair. · doi/link
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There is a higher density of immune cells in peritoneal fluid than is found in blood. Thus, any perturbations, from sterile injury to endometriosis to ovarian cancer, require immune cells to recognize and nucleate to these sites. Using peritoneal injuries as a prototype, we saw a massive recruitment of large peritoneal macrophages (LPMs) interspersed with mast cells. The mast cells were activated by sensory neurons to mobilize their 1-μm granules to the cell surface. Lattice light sheet microscopy unveiled a new step in the mast cell degranulation. After granules fused with the plasma membrane, cytonemes (very thin long filopodia) grabbed the granules from the mast cell surface and deposited them on neighboring LPMs. The granules were membraneless biomolecular condensates and harbored more than 200 different proteins, including MARCO, which mediated rapid LPM aggregation to the injury nidus. The condensates also induced a repair-like phenotype in the macrophages that helped heal the injury site.
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Supplemental Materials: Qualitative behavioral assessment of non-replacement dairy calves: associations between affective states and calf conditions on commercial calf raising farms · doi/link
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Qualitative behavioral assessment is a tool to measure emotional expression, an important component of animal welfare, that was implemented in this study to capture emotions of non-replacement dairy calves at calf raisers across the Midwestern United States. This supplemental file contains the average score for each behavioral descriptor by farm from Qualitative Behavioral Assessment performed on 19 calf-raising farms in the Midwestern United States.
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Supplemental Materials: Qualitative behavioral assessment of non-replacement dairy calves: associations between affective states and calf conditions on commercial calf raising farms · doi/link
Read abstract
Qualitative behavioral assessment is a tool to measure emotional expression, an important component of animal welfare, that was implemented in this study to capture emotions of non-replacement dairy calves at calf raisers across the Midwestern United States. This supplemental file contains the average score for each behavioral descriptor by farm from Qualitative Behavioral Assessment performed on 19 calf-raising farms in the Midwestern United States.
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Relationship between the siring capacity of beef bulls and their pre-breeding behavior measured by remote monitoring technologies · doi/link
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Introduction The objective of this study was to investigate whether the activity and social interaction of beef bulls, measured by remote monitoring technologies (RMT) during the pre-breeding period, were associated with their siring capacity. Methods Bulls considered satisfactory at the time of their breeding soundness evaluation were enrolled in the study. Thirteen bulls in 2020 and twelve bulls in 2021 were monitored using RMT (collars equipped with accelerometers and proximity sensors) while housed in dry-lot pens for 2 weeks before the breeding season. Bulls were exposed to cows in multi-sire groups for 2 months. DNA samples were collected from bulls and calves to calculate the siring capacity (number of calves sired per bull adjusted for days breeding, SR). Daily active time (AC) was estimated from accelerometer data using machine learning models. Daily social networks were created using proximity data, and eigenvector centrality (EC), relative strength (RS), and edge weight coefficient of variation (CV) were estimated daily for each bull. The association of behaviors and significant covariates with SR and the year-to-year repeatability of daily behaviors were tested using mixed-effects models. Results Bulls that were more active (higher AC, P &lt; 0.001), more social (higher EC and RS, P ≤ 0.019), with more diverse interactions (lower CV, P ≤ 0.025), and were younger (P ≤ 0.001) presented significantly higher SR. The repeatability of daily AC, EC, and RS was moderate (R ≥ 0.28), but low for CV (R = 0.05). Discussion This study demonstrates that the pre-breeding behavior of beef bulls is associated with SR, and could be used as a management strategy to compose and select bulls for breeding groups.
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Evaluating the internal structure validity of admissions measures: do they capture distinct attributes? · doi/link
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Introduction Veterinary admissions committees aim to select applicants who will successfully complete a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) program and contribute effectively to the profession. Although traditional admission procedures emphasize academic indicators such as undergraduate grade point average (uGPA) and standardized test scores, increasing attention has been placed on assessing social–emotional skills and school-specific contextual attributes. Given the high-stakes nature of admissions and the claim that multiple attributes are assessed at the time of selection, internal structure validity evidence is required to support the use of scores from admissions measures in the selection process. This study examines whether commonly used admissions measures reflect distinct academic, social–emotional, and contextual factors. Methods Participants included 338 applicants (78.17% female) in a retrospective cohort study from the 2022–2024 admissions cycles at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Calgary, Canada. Admissions measures included uGPA, Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT) total and subscores, Multiple Mini-Interview (MMI) scores, Computer-based Assessment for Sampling Personal Characteristics (Casper) situational judgement scores, standardized essay ratings, and structured file review scores. Bivariate correlation and Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) were used to explore the relationships and internal structure between the scores from these admissions measures. Results Correlations among admissions variables showed small to moderate associations, with expected clustering among academic indicators. EFA produced a three-factor solution accounting for 53.36% of the variance which were labeled: (1) Academic Ability (uGPA; MCAT academic subscores), (2) social– emotional skills (essay, Casper, MCAT social emotional sub score; partial MMI loading), and (3) contextual factors (file review; partial MMI loading). Discussion Findings provide internal structure validity evidence supporting the claim that admissions measures capture multiple attributes and these measures should be considered collectively as a system of assessment. Notably, the MMI contributed to both social–emotional and contextual factors, highlighting its multifaceted nature. These findings provide a foundation for longitudinal research examining the predictive validity of academic, social–emotional, and contextual factors for performance throughout veterinary training.
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