1,721,066 research outputs found
Farm Animals Are Long Away from Natural Behavior: Open Questions and Operative Consequences on Animal Welfare
No full textThe concept of welfare applied to farm animals has undergone a remarkable evolution. The growing awareness of citizens pushes farmers to guarantee the highest possible level of welfare to their animals. New perspectives could be opened for animal welfare reasoning around the concept of domestic, especially farm, animals as partial human artifacts. Therefore, it is important to understand how much a particular behavior of a farm animal is far from the natural one of its ancestors. This paper is a contribution to better understand the role of genetics of the farm animals on their behavior. This means that the naïve approach to animal welfare regarding returning animals to their natural state should be challenged and that welfare assessment should be considered
CO2 laser in the treatment of T1A and T1B glottic cancers
No full textObiettivo. La laser chirurgia ha profondamente influenzato e diviso i laringologi dal momento che i più «entusiasti» hanno forse eccessivamente esteso le sue applicazioni nell’ambito della patologia maligna laringea, laddove i più critici hanno probabilmente un atteggiamento di eccessiva chiusura. Gli Autori ritengono di appartenere alla schiera di coloro che ritengono il laser un utilissimo strumento terapeutico, che assicura i migliori risultati solo se utilizzato dopo un’accurata selezione dei casi; in particolare nel caso dei tumori glottici T1a e T1b a partenza cordale ed interessamento commissurale secondario il laser CO2 consente di accoppiare ottimi risultati sia dal punto di vista oncologico che funzionale, offrendo il quadro di una tecnica chirurgica che attualmente si propone come trattamento di elezione per le neoplasie della sede e dello stadio appena citati.
Metodi. Nel periodo 1990-1993 sono stati trattati con laser CO2 50 pazienti di età compresa tra 34 e 83 anni, stadiati clinicamente mediante videolaringoscopia a fibre ottiche e videolaringostroboscopia, valutando così T1aN0 35 soggetti (70%), e T1bN0 15 (30%). I pazienti sono stati sottoposti a trattamenti che andavano, in base alla stadiazione, dalla cordectomia sottoligamentosa o di tipo 2 sec. Remacle di alcuni T1a alla cordectomia allargata tipo 5 sec. Remacle dei 15 T1b. II follow-up, che è stato per tutti i pazienti di almeno 5 anni, ha previsto controlli mensili nel primo anno, bimestrali nel 2o, trimestrali nel 3o, ed ogni 4 e 5 mesi rispettivamente nel 4o e 5o anno. Sono state valutate la percentuale di complicanze postoperatorie, di esiti anatomici non corretti e la sopravvivenza globale, calcolata a partire dal giorno dell’intervento fino alla eventuale data di morte.
Risultati. Segnaliamo tre casi di granuloma (6%) in casi stadiati pT1a, cinque sinechie commissurali (10%), a carico di soggetti stadiati pT1b. Non abbiamo mai riscontrato enfisema sottocutaneo, emorragie, diminuzione della motilità laringea o casi in cui fosse necessaria la tracheotomia. La degenza media e risultata pari a 2,34 giorni.
Conclusioni. La casistica conferma che nel caso di T1a e T1b del piano glottico, l’exeresi condotta in microlaringoscopia e l’ausilio del laser CO2 deve considerarsi il trattamento d’elezione
Heritability of Residual Feed Intake measured on young performance tested bulls belonging to Italian dual-purpose breeds.
No full textGenome-based analysis for the identification of candidate genes associated with skin-photosensitization tolerance in sheep
Full text linkIn ruminant livestock, skin photosensitization, caused by the ingestion of toxic plants, is relatively common and affects animal production. In this study, genotyping data from the Illumina OvineSNP50 BeadChip from two Italian local sheep breeds (Leccese and Altamurana) were used to identify putative genomic regions associated with response to skin photosensitization. We identified four genomic regions harbouring several candidate genes related to dermatitis, immune response, and coat color, that could be potentially involved in modulating photosensitization in sheep. These findings enhance our understanding of the genetic mechanisms underlying skin photosensitization in sheep and provide valuable insights into livestock adaptation to local environmental pressure
Phenotypic and genetic characterization of the occurrence of noncoagulating milk in dairy sheep
No full textMilk coagulation ability is of central importance for the sheep dairy industry because almost all sheep milk is destined for cheese processing. The occurrence of milk with impaired coagulation properties is an obstacle to cheese processing and, in turn, to the profitability of the dairy companies. In this work, we investigated the causes of noncoagulation of sheep milk; specifically, we studied the effect of milk physicochemical properties on milk coagulation status [coagulating and noncoagulating (NC) milk samples, which do or do not coagulate within 30 min, respectively], and whether mid-infrared spectroscopy (MIR) could be used to assess variability in coagulation status. We also investigated the genetic background of milk coagulation ability. Individual milk samples were collected from 996 Sarda ewes farmed in 47 flocks located in Sardinia (Italy). Considered traits were daily milk yield, milk composition traits, and milk coagulation properties (rennet coagulation time, curd firming time, and curd firmness), and MIR spectra were acquired. About 9% of samples did not coagulate within 30 min. A logistic regression approach was used to test the effect of milk-related traits on milk coagulation status. A principal component (PC) analysis was carried out on the milk MIR spectra, and PC scores were then used as covariates in a logistic regression model to assess their relationship with milk coagulation status. Results of the present work demonstrated that the probability of having NC samples increases as milk contents of proteins and chlorides and somatic cell score increase. The analysis of PC extracted from milk spectra that influenced coagulation status highlighted key regions associated with lactose and protein concentrations, and others not associated with routinely collected milk composition traits. These results suggest that the occurrence of NC is mostly related to damage of the epithelium secretory mammary cells, which occurs with the advancement of a lactation or due to unhealthy mammary gland status. Genetic analysis of milk coagulation status and of the extracted PC confirmed the genetic background of the milk coagulability of sheep milk
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Use of threshold and linear models to estimate variance components and breeding values for disease resistance in Italian heavy pigs
No full textThe Italian National Pig Breeders Association (ANAS) manages the breeding programs of the Italian Large White (ILW), Landrace (IL), and Duroc (ID) breeds, mainly oriented to the production of PDO hams. ANAS evaluates the inclusion of genetic resistance in its breeding scheme. This study aimed to estimate variance components and breeding values (EBV) using threshold (TM) and linear (LM) models. During the sib test performed at the genetic station of ANAS from 1997 to 2021, 9,595 (respiratory diseases) and 12,046 (enteritis) diagnoses were collected by the veterinary. The trait was recorded as a dichotomous variable: affected animals with 1, whereas healthy with 2. A multi-breed model was applied with the breed, sex, and farm sector as fixed effects and litter, animal, and residual as random effects. The same model was also applied within each breed, removing the breed effect. The limited data size within single breed did not allow to estimate accurate variance components. With the multi-breed model, low heritabilities were estimated for respiratory (0.09) and enteritis (0.15), with TM and LM leading to the same values. The multibreed model led to more precise variance components estimation and to EBV very close to the ones from the single breed analyses. Pearson and Spearman rank correlations between EBV estimated with TM and LM in the multibreed scenario were ≥0.97. Results of this study demonstrated the feasibility of including disease resistance among the breeding goals of ANAS and that both TM and LM could be used to reach this objective.Highlights Genetic selection for disease resistance in heavy pigs is possible Low heritabilities estimated for enteritis and respiratory disorders Threshold and linear models gave similar result
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