Oxytocin is today widely spoken of as a "feel good" hormone. Recent research has increased interest in the hormone and its role in social and sexual interactions, as well as its importance for complex behavioral patterns. There is evidence that oxytocin is released during physical contact and is said to suppress anxiety and stress. In Animals and humans, oxytocin, which is a neuropeptide and likewise a hormone, is necessary for parturition and lactation. Synthesis of oxytocin occurs in brain neurons and in specific organs involved in reproduction.

This study aims to analyze the risks with building new households between railroads and shore, the focus of the study lays on Öbacka strand in Umeå municipality. The study also investigate if a land use conflict has taken place and how it was handled.The paper is based on different documents that was central for the work of planning the households and some interviews with operators that was highly involved with the planning of the area.The results shows that there is several risks with establishing new household between railroads and shores. Mainly because of the exposure of noise from the railways, though the risk for impact on the living environment for Animals were low in this case there is a generally risk that it could get negative effects. It also a very important that the availability to the shore is secured. Planning in this type of area involves a great number of operators can easily cause a conflict due to the different perspectives on how the land should be used in the future, and also because of protecting different interests.

Två experiment undersökte om en människa och ett djur som far lika illa väcker olika mycket empati. I Experiment 1 fick 108 personer läsa en berättelse där antingen en man, kvinna, hund eller katt farit illa och därefter skatta sin empati. Män hade låg empati för såväl människor som för djur. Kvinnor hade (1) mer empati än män oavsett offer, (2) mer empati för djur än för människor, samt (3) något mer empati för hund än för katt. I Experiment 2 fick 69 kvinnor läsa en berättelse där antingen ett barn eller en hundvalp farit illa.

The Swedish Welfare Act § 4 says that "Animals must be kept and cared for in a good environment for Animals and in such a way that promotes their health and allow them to behave naturally." Pigs in the wild spend 80% of their waking hours walking around and rooting for food, eating and exploring their environment with its snout. Fattening pigs in commercial farms spend 80% lying doing nothing. A lactating sow is lying down most of her day, and only 10-20% of the body surface is in contact with the floor, so the pressure is high on these spots. Piglets lie down and paddle with their legs, with high liquid content in the tissues, several times an hour, to stimulate and massage the sow's udder. In the existing system, these individuals are held more often on floors that are anything but inviting to sleep on.

An inflammatory reaction is induced after release of proinflammatory mediators such asinterleukin 1 and 6 and tumour necrosis factor ?. These mediators stimulate the liver tosuppress the syntheses of albumin and endure the syntheses of acute phase protein forinstance C-reactive protein. The aim of this paper was to perform a method validation on animmune turbidimetric assay to quantify C-reactive protein in canine serum at the laboratory atSkara Animals Hospital, Skara, Sweden. The validation involved evaluation of the assaylinearity, precision, stability and recovery.The method was proved to be linear for both TruLab control and Medinor control.

As the population of senior citizens increase, various housing options are required for an increasing competitive environment within elderly care. This study addresses the concept of profile housing for the elderly by outlining its definition and providing options for the different kinds of housing options available within the municipalities of Stockholm and Solna. The study reveals that these locations have different definitions of what constitutes a profile home. Based on this, should one assume there are further definitions to cover additional municipalities?     This study also touches upon how a group of senior citizens would perceive their living conditions if relocated into such housing. Members of the group have also expressed that they would like to go about their daily activities as they have prior to being relocated. They want health professionals to enable and encourage participation in various daily activities..

Through interviews with children of ages 4-5 years old and by observing children children at play at three preschools with different types of outdoor surroundings, I have investigated if the preschools outdoor surroundings have any influences on the children´ choice of play. The hypothesis was that natural surroundings can entice children´s interest in nature being in it and play. I have also investigated if the children know why it is important to be outdoors and if they know it has a positive influence on their health.The result of my investigation is that the children play about the same games at the three different preschool gardens, but at the preschool with more natural surroundings, the children have more contact with plants and Animals, and could learn of the different phenomena of nature by the preschool teacher answering their questions. Most of the children in the interviews know it´s useful to be outdoors and be on the move and get fresh air, but many of them thought it was most important to play. By being outdoors the children get exercise, fresh air, play and at the same time they establish an understanding of the nature and a healthier life..

Göbekli Tepe is an 11000 year old religious center where Totem has been exercised. It was raised by megalithic hunters and collectors that still during the construction lived in small-scaled mobile groups in order to find food and therefore should not have had time to raised costly stone monuments. The religious center consists of four enclosures with two T-pillars decorated with pictures of different Animals and birds. Any dwellings have not been found. The place has been constructed by a well-organized elitist organization that has been capable of raising constructions in order to exercise their religion in a way we did not thought was possible such a long time ago. Analysis and findings from the near east existing from this time shows however that social changes happen in the communities around the region. Can archeological finding from the excavations on the religious center give any answer or clue regarding how man came to develop from hunter and collector to farmer? Do the findings reveal that the religion has changed Mans way to think and organize so that she was prepared to introduce the agriculture that occurs? The aim of thesis is to clarify whether Göbekli Tepe has played any role in the complex origin of agriculture..

American bison (Bison bison bison) is a new species in Sweden and was introduced in the year 2000. In this study the result of an interview and a field investigation is presented. The aim was to investigate the health and parasite status in Swedish bison herds. The most common reason to begin with bison breeding was meat production and/or sale of breeding Animals and tourism. The Swedish breeder?s experience of bison is that they in general are healthy.

A cattle producer that buys calves that are younger than six months to the herd should have a starter stable to prevent infection spreading in the herd. According to the Swedish animal welfare regulation there has to be a starter stable if more than 50 calves that are younger than four months are bought in yearly to the herd. The aim of the study was to improve the knowledge about bovine buildings and management of starter stables to obtain optimal weight gain and health of the calves. The hypothesis 1) The younger the calves are when purchased, the higher the calf mortality and 2) Purchasing calves from a high number of herds involves a higher risk of calf health problems and calf mortality were tested in the study. The objective of the study was to give advices by way of presenting ideal solutions of how a starter stable should be constructed and managed. A field study was done during June to September 2008 to collect knowledge and experience from existing starter stables.

Opioids are considered the "golden standard" in pain management for both humans and small Animals, but is used less often in equine medicine - probably for fear of side effects. Are there any studies that suggest that side effects are a major problem, or is it lack of experience which is the greatest obstacle to use? As early as 1937 it was shown that morphine and morphine derivatives provide analgesia in horses. For species other than horses used opioids often both pre-, intra-and postoperatively. They relieve pain effectively and are often included in the anesthesia protocol.

Swedish farmers have the possibility to be subsidized by EU rural development programme for grazing Animals on pastures to promote the biodiversity of flora and fauna. The environmental remedy sometimes does not allow supplementary feed and at the same time the Swedish Animal Welfare Act and the Swedish Agricultural Board?s regulations for animal welfare and protection states that Animals, in this case horses, shall be fed with food of good quality and adapted for the species. The regulations also state that they should have an individual feeding regime that enables them to maintain a normal body condition. The aim with this master thesis has been to investigate if it is possible to keep Gotland ponies on extensive pastures, during late spring and summer and still maintain animal welfare. The horses were assessed every fourth week using a welfare assessment protocol developed in line with the Welfare Quality® project (submitted, Viksten et al) where physical, behavioural and resourcebased parameters were observed. Twelve one-year old stallions of the breed Gotland ponies purchased from different breeders were used in the study.

The lions at Kolmårdens zoo are vaccinated against Feline Panleukopenivirus (FPV). In 1994 there was an outbreak among the lions at the zoo of FPV disease. A retrospective study has been made to measure the antibodytiters in vaccinated lions and lions that lived during the outbreak. An ImmunoPeroxidase Monolayer Assay (IPMA) was used to analyze the titers in the sera from the lions. Lions were divided into five groups. Group 1, 2 and 3 contained lions vaccinated one, two and three times respectively (a total of 40 Animals). The lions of Group 4 were born in 2004 (six lioncubs) and were vaccinated according to different regimes and the changes in antibodytiters were followed as respose to vaccination during the spring 2005.

Animals in zoos live in more barren environments than their conspecifics in nature. In nature, elephants spend more than 75 % of the day foraging and have been observed lying down two hours during night. Stereotypies are common in many different species in zoos. Stereotypic behaviors may constitute up to 50 % of the daily activity budget of zoo elephants. Modern zoos try to reduce stereotypic behaviors by means of environmental enrichment.

Infection with the bovine lungworm - Dictyocaulus viviparus - is occasionally a problem in Swedish cattle herds. The infection could act in synergism with other infections such as Corona virus to create a poorer welfare and productivity in cattle. Studies have shown that a diagnosis can be made with both the Baermann method and with an ELISA. In Norway diagnosis of BVDV on a herd level is attained through pooled serum samples. The question was raised whether pooled serum samples could be used in a similar fashion to attain status on a herd level for lungworm.