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Pasture allowance, duration, and stage of lactation—Effects on early and total lactation animal performance
No full textPasture availability in early spring can be limited due to climatic effects on grass production, increasing the likelihood of feed deficits in early lactation of spring-calving pasture-based systems. We hypothesized that restricting pasture allowance (PA) when animals are at peak milk production will have more negative implications on milk production compared with restricting animals before this period. A total of 105 cows were assigned to 1 of 7 grazing treatments from March 14 to October 31, 2016 (33 wk). The control treatment was offered a PA to achieve a postgrazing sward height > 3.5 cm and mean pasture allowance of 15.5 kg of dry matter per cow. The remaining treatments were offered a PA representing 60% of that offered to the control for a duration of 2 or 6 wk from March 14 (mid-March; MMx2 and MMx6), March 28 (end of March; EMx2 and EMx6), or April 11 (mid-April; MAx2 and MAx6). Within grazing treatment, animals were also assigned to 1 of 2 calving dates (early and late) based on days in milk (DIM) on March 14. Early calved (EC) cows were ≥36 DIM, while late calved (LC) were ≤35 DIM. Restricting PA for 2 and 6 wk reduced daily milk yield (−1.6 and −2.2 kg/cow, respectively), cumulative milk protein yield (−4.0 and −6.3 kg/cow, respectively), and cumulative milk solids yield (−5.8 and −9.5 kg/cow, respectively) in the first 10 wk of the experiment. Daily milk yield was similar across the treatments at the end of the 33-wk period (16.8 kg/cow, average of all treatments), as was daily milk solids yield (1.40 kg/cow). Cows in the EC group produced less milk over the first 10 wk of the experiment (20.0 kg/cow per day) compared with the LC animals (22.1 kg/cow per day). However, body weight was greater (+15 kg/cow) in the EC animals compared with the LC, while body condition score was similar (2.85). This outcome indicates that animals that are restricted later in early lactation (circa onset of peak milk production) partition a greater proportion of available energy to maintenance, resulting in greater losses in milk production. These data indicate that despite the immediate reduction in milk production, restricting intake of grazing cows to 80% of that required to achieve spring grazing targets for postgrazing sward height for up to 6 wk may be used as a method of managing short-term pasture deficits on farm with minimal effects on total lactation performance
Concepts of Objects as Involving Laws: A Kantian and Pragmatist Line of Thought
No full textThis paper traces a Kantian and pragmatist line of thinking that connects the ideas of conceptual content, object cognition, and modal constraints in the form of counterfactual sustaining causal laws. It is an idea that extends from Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason through C. I. Lewis’s Mind and the World-Order to the Kantian naturalism of Wilfrid Sellars and the analytic pragmatism of Robert Brandom. Kant put forward what I characterize as a modal conception of objectivity, which he developed as an extended argument stretching from the transcendental deduction through the analogies of experience to the regulative maxims of reason and reflective judgment. In related ways in Lewis and Sellars, the very idea of an object of knowledge (and of intentionality more generally) is connected with a certain lawfulness or modal constraint the necessary representation of which, they argue, is an achievement of conceptualization. While Sellars agreed with the spirit of Lewis’s famous pragmatic conception of the a priori, Sellars’s conception of meaning and conceptual content differed in crucial ways with important consequences for this issue. I argue furthermore that a certain phenomenalist temptation threatens to spoil this insight both among some of Kant’s interpreters and in Lewis’s thought. Finally, I point out that Brandom’s "Kant-Sellars thesis" provides new support for this line of thought. Although questions concerning idealism continue to raise controversies for neo-Kantians and pragmatists, the line of thought itself represents a distinctive and still promising approach to questions concerning intentionality and conceptual content
What to Take Away from Sellars’s Kantian Naturalism
No full textI contend that Sellars defends a uniquely Kantian naturalist outlook both in general and more particularly in relation to the nature and status of what he calls ‘epistemic principles’; and I attempt to show that this remains a plausible and distinctive position even when detached from Sellars’s quasi-Kantian transcendental idealist contention that the perceptible objects of the manifest image strictly speaking do not exist, i.e., as conceived within that common sense framework. I first explain the complex Kant-inspired sense in which Sellars did not take the latter thesis concerning the objects of the manifest image to apply, at least in certain fundamental respects, to persons. In this primary Kantian sense, I suggest, persons as thinkers and agents exist univocally across both the manifest and scientific images, and this in principle would enable an integration of persons within a multi-leveled naturalistic ontology, one that is independent of Sellars’s quasi-Kantian transcendental idealist thesis. Finally, I examine in some detail how this defensible blend of Kantian and naturalist themes turns out to be what is fundamental in Sellars’s complex and controversial views on the nature and status of epistemic principles
Eco-Health: Ecosystem Benefits of Greenspace for Health
No full textThe Eco-Health project explores the health benefits of ecosystems services as a means to supply evidence and tools for developing health promoting environments or ‘healthy places’.Environmental Protection AgencyHealth Service Executiv
Assessing the co-occurrence of professional roles in the news: A comparative study in six advanced democracies
No full textOccurrence of the interventionist, watchdog, loyal-facilitator, service, civic, and infotainment
roles. The results show three main types of role co-occurrence—interventionist-watchdog,
watchdog-civic, and interventionist-infotainment—from which intermediate roles emerge.
The findings also shed light on the influence of organizational structures, journalistic
routines, and local contexts on the interaction of different roles in professional practice
MULTIPLE DISTINCT OUTBREAKS OF PANTON-VALENTINE LEUKOCIDIN (PVL)-POSITIVE COMMUNITY-ASSOCIATED METHICILLIN-RESISTANT Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) IN IRELAND INVESTIGATED BY WHOLE-GENOME SEQUENCING
No full textBackground: Panton–Valentine leucocidin (PVL)-positive community-associated meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) is increasingly associated with infection outbreaks.
Aim: To investigate multiple suspected PVL-positive CA-MRSA outbreaks using whole-genome sequencing (WGS).
Methods: Forty-six suspected outbreak-associated isolates from 36 individuals at three separate Irish hospitals (H1–H3) and from separate incidents involving separate families associated with H2 were investigated by whole-genome multi-locus sequence typing (wgMLST).
Findings: Two clusters (CH1 and CH2) consisting of 8/10 and 6/6 PVL-positive t008 ST8-MRSA-IVa isolates from H1 and H2, respectively, were identified. Within each cluster, neighbouring isolates were separated by ≤5 allelic differences; however, ≥73 allelic differences were identified between the clusters, indicating two independent outbreaks. Isolates from the H3 maternity unit formed two clusters (CH3–SCI and CH3–SCII) composed of four PVL-negative t4667 ST5-MRSA-V and 14 PVL-positive t002 ST5-MRSA-IVc isolates, respectively. Within clusters, neighbouring isolates were separated by ≤24 allelic differences, whereas both clusters were separated by 1822 allelic differences, indicating two distinct H3 outbreaks. Eight PVL-positive t127 ST1-MRSA-V+fus and three PVL-negative t267 ST97-MRSA-V+fus isolates from two distinct H2-associated families FC1 (N = 4) and FC2 (N = 7) formed three separate clusters (FC1 (t127), FC2 (t127) and FC2 (t267)). Neighbouring isolates within clusters were closely related and exhibited ≤7 allelic differences. Intrafamilial transmission was apparent, but the detection of ≥48 allelic differences between clusters indicated no interfamilial transmission.
Conclusion: The frequent importation of PVL-positive CA-MRSA into healthcare settings, transmission and association with outbreaks is a serious ongoing concern. WGS is a highly discriminatory, informative method for deciphering such outbreaks conclusively
Measuring Protein Content in Food: An Overview of Methods
No full textIn order to determine the quantity of protein in food, it is important to have standardized
analytical methods. Several methods exist that are used in different food industries to quantify
protein content, including the Kjeldahl, Lowry, Bradford and total amino acid content methods.
The correct determination of the protein content of foods is important as, often, as is the case with
milk, it determines the economic value of the food product and it can impact the economic feasibility
of new industries for alternative protein production. This editorial provides an overview of different
protein determination methods and describes their advantages and disadvantages
Breakage of infant milk formula through three different processing methods and its influence on powder properties
No full textDairy powder breakage has always occurred during production and transportation though few studies on it have been published. This paper examines the breakage of infant formula using three different processing methods (laboratory high-speed mixing, lab-scale pneumatic conveying, and factory-scale blending) and the effect of breakage on powder properties. In both mixing and high-velocity pneumatic conveying, particles were broken into smaller entities and the particle size of samples significantly decreased. Particle breakage was accompanied by a significant decrease in porosity and increase in density and surface free fat. This in-turn decreased the rehydration properties of samples, especially for high-speed mixing, while breakage had only a small influence on powder flowability. By contrast, some agglomeration occurred during blending for short time in the blender and the particle size did not decrease (P > 0.05) even for blending at longer time, thus, there were only minor impacts on physical and functional properties of powders.Teagas
Progression of neuroanatomical abnormalities in psychotic disorder and the effect of psychotropic medication
No full textIntroduction: Schizophrenia is a particularly severe and disabling mental disorder affecting 20 million people worldwide. The vast majority of structural and diffusion neuroimaging studies on neuroanatomy and cognition have been conducted cross-sectionally and it remains unclear whether risk factors, treatments or associated illness effects are driving changes.
The overarching theme of this thesis is to longitudinally examine elements of neuroanatomical progression and its cognitive or clinical correlates in samples of patients across different phases of psychosis spanning first episode of illness and treatment refractory schizophrenia, using structural and diffusion MRI techniques. Specifically, Manuscript 1 aims to assess whether impaired executive functioning and emotional intelligence at first presentation of psychotic episode are associated with progressive prefrontal and orbitofrontal cortical thinning and whether negative symptom severity is linked to progressive prefrontal cortical thinning in the years following the first-episode of psychosis. Manuscript 2 and 3, using a unique sample of treatment-resistant clozapine-naïve schizophrenia patients, investigate whether subcortical structures, white matter microstructure and structural network organisation demonstrate any progressive changes after 6 months of clozapine treatment and whether any such changes are related to clinical variables including treatment response and amount of clozapine taken.
Method: Manuscript 1. 1.5T structural MRI images were acquired at baseline and after 3.5 years for 20 individuals with first-episode psychosis (FEP) and 18 healthy volunteers (HC). At baseline and follow-up, the longitudinal pipeline of Freesurfer was employed to parcellate prefrontal cortex and the MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery (MCCB) was used to assess executive functioning and emotional intelligence. At both timepoints the severity of negative and positive symptoms was assessed using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS). Baseline cognitive performance was compared between diagnostic groups using Multivariate Analysis of Covariance (MANCOVA). Partial correlations investigated relationships between cognition and negative symptoms at baseline and cortical thickness change over time.
Manuscript 2 & 3. Thirty-three patients with treatment-resistant schizophrenia (TRS) and 31 healthy volunteers successfully participated at both baseline, prior to clozapine initiation in patients, and 6 months follow-up clinical assessments and structural MRI scanning (Manuscript 2). Of these 64 participants, diffusion MRI data were available at both time points for 22 patients and 23 healthy controls (Manuscript 3).
The severity of positive and negative symptoms was assessed at both time points using the PANSS, the Scale for the Assessment of Positive Symptoms (SAPS) and the Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms (SANS). Social, occupational and psychological functioning was assessed using a Global Assessment of Functioning Score. In Manuscript 2 the longitudinal pipeline of Freesurfer v.5.3.0 was employed to bilaterally segment eight subcortical regions-of-interest: lateral ventricle, thalamus, hippocampus, caudate, putamen, globus pallidus, amygdala and nucleus accumbens. Two-way repeated MANCOVA was used to assess group differences in subcortical volumes over time and partial correlations to determine association with clinical variables. In Manuscript 3 the Tract-based spatial statistics approach (TBSS) was used to compare changes over time between groups in fractional anisotropy (FA). Changes in structural network organisation and subnetwork connectivity weighted by FA and number of streamlines (NOS) were assessed using graph theory and network-based statistics.
Results: In Manuscript 1 we demonstrated that patients in their first-episode of psychotic illness perform significantly worse on several tests assessing different aspects of executive functions compared to healthy controls, including category fluency, attention, working memory and reasoning & problem solving. The poorer performance at baseline in spatial working memory was a significant predictor of loss of total prefrontal cortical thickness in the initial years after illness onset. We also found that impairment of emotional intelligence at illness onset was significantly associated with a progressive reduction of orbitofrontal thickness in patients after their first-episode of psychosis. Finally, we demonstrated a correlation between neuroanatomical progression and clinical variables, specifically, worsening of negative symptoms was associated with prefrontal thickness reduction as the illness progresses.
In Manuscript 2, in treatment-resistant schizophrenia patients we showed a substantial progressive volumetric reduction of the thalamus, hippocampus, caudate, putamen and enlargement of lateral ventricles over a 6-month period compared to controls. Furthermore, patients who had the greatest symptomatic and functional improvement displayed the largest thalamo-striatal reductions. We also found that patients who were exposed to higher amounts of clozapine displayed a greater reduction of thalamus volume. In Manuscript 3, treatment-resistant schizophrenia patients showed progressive focal FA abnormalities in the white matter of key anterior tracts, such as genu and body of the corpus callosum and bilaterally in the anterior and superior corona radiata compared to controls. The brain structural network organisation was preserved in patients compared to controls. The FA reduction was independent of any clinical measures or serum level of clozapine.
Conclusion: Taken together our results indicate that at onset of psychosis working memory and emotional intelligence impairment represents a trait marker of progressive prefrontal thinning as the illness progresses, while worsening of negative symptoms is associated with prefrontal thickness reduction over time, indicating a functional consequence of anatomical progression in psychosis. In those with the chronic treatment-resistant stage of the illness, there is a consistent progressive volume reduction in several subcortical structures as well as progressive focal abnormalities in the white matter microstructure of key anterior tracts, but a preserved brain structural network. However, our findings suggest a divergence of neuroanatomical progression, where progressive atrophy in the thalamo-striatal circuits are linked to clinical and functional improvement, whereas no such association is found with longitudinal progression in lateral ventricles, hippocampus and white matter. This thesis confirms the importance of investigating the neurocognitive dimension at illness onset in order to enhance understanding of the functional consequences of illness progression as well as identifying potential markers at illness onset. It also highlights the potential role of the thalamo-striatal circuits in tracking recovery in treatment-resistant schizophrenia patients, suggesting that its investigation using large scale longitudinal design studies could significantly contribute to the identification of biomarkers in refractory schizophrenia
Managing a medieval frontier: government policy towards the Irish marches and the lands beyond them, c.1200-c.1318
No full textThis thesis explores methods employed by the Dublin administration during the long thirteenth century in its efforts to manage the colonial frontiers and to minimise their impingement on government activities and finances. Some of the measures examined were systematic in nature, while others were implemented on a more ad hoc basis in response to local circumstances. Collaboration between the king and his Irish representatives played an important role in policy formation, as did consultation and negotiation with those directly involved on the frontiers. Throughout the thesis, efforts are made to establish the location, simultaneously both geographical and hierarchical, of policy formation, as well as the actual operation of the measures examined.
Government policy towards the frontiers was situational, often short-lived, and closely tied up with magnate patronage. The Dublin government s considerable freedom of independent action within Ireland, and its influence over royal thinking and policy towards the Irish frontier, are clear. So, too, is the unreality of efforts to centralise power while simultaneously decentralising the responsibilities and expenses of frontier defence. The study affords a window onto the operation of government in Ireland, as well as the relations between the king, his Irish government, and the frontiers two layers of core and periphery