177,266 research outputs found
Chronic nasal obstruction secondary to perinatal listeriosis
No full textPerinatal listeriosis has not been reported previously as a cause of chronic nasal obstruction. We describe a preterm infant with early-onset neonatal listeriosis in whom the suppurative inflammation of the nasal cavities was complicated by total and irreversible airway obstruction
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
No full textWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Unveiling factors prompting physical engagement with human handlers in trained and untrained Holstein dairy heifers
No full textABSTRACT
Fearful and agitated animals represent a risk in cattle farming, while training techniques have been reported to boost heifers’ confidence making their handling easier and reducing stress. We investigated the impact of training aimed at desensitising animals to handling on heifers’ behaviour, focusing on physical interactions with human handlers, such as rubbing, licking and pushing, which can be considered undesirable by farmers. Sixty Holstein heifers of two age classes and three categories of Responsiveness to Humans (RTH), assessed through an Avoidance Distance Test (ADT) were studied. Half of the animals were trained and half not. Faecal cortisol metabolites, heart rate parameters and behaviour during handling were determined and a Physical Animal-Human Contact Behaviour Test (PAHCBT) was performed to detect behaviours which involve physical contact. The number of approaches and Physical Animal- Human Contact Behaviour events (PACHB) were recorded. During the PAHCBT (11 replicates), individual heifers exhibited an average number of 4.3 approaches (range: 0–18) and 8.2 PAHCBs (0–75). Older class heifers exhibited a higher number of approaches (5.31 vs. 3.22, p=0.04). 13 heifers (21.7%) were considered highly physical contact driven (PCDs) showing more than 5 PAHCBs and more than 1 PAHCB per approach. Among predictors, training (p=0.031) and high initial ADT values (p=0.078) acted as a protective factor against being PCDs, whereas the presence of kicking during handling was a proxy for PCDs (p=0.034). The results show that training, besides facilitating handling, helps preventing heifers from being considered PCDs
Which ratio should be adopted to evaluate the urinary excretion of testosterone and epitestosterone in veal calves?
No full text- Control of the illicit use of endogenous hormones in meat producing animals requires a detailed knowledge of both the metabolism of endogenous hormones and their physiological profiles in each species. Nowadays current approaches in cattle do not involve the determination of the absolute urinary concentration of endogenous hormones because no validated physiological levels are recognised; the same is true when the ratio between metabolites is considered, as applied for testosterone (T) and epitestosterone (E) in athletes (1). In man, urinary epitestosterone has attracted the attention as a reference substance in the doping control of testosterone abuse. The nearly constant urinary ratio of T to E (T/E) in adults became the basis of the method of detection of exogenously administered testosterone, since in humans epitestosterone does not originate from exogenous testosterone in significant amounts (2). Data from literature (2,3,4) reported that in cattle epitestosterone is a metabolite of testosterone probably produced in liver and blood by hydroxysteroid-oxido-reductase enzymes via androstenedione. Aim of the study was a preliminary approach to assess physiological concentrations of T and E in urine of veal calves, and to evaluate which urinary ratio could be useful to indicate hormone treatments in calves.
- The results reported showed that, despite the large variations of T and E concentrations in urine collected from veal calves, the physiological excretion of E was about ten times greater than T, and E excretion tends to decrease with increased age, as reported in young and adult men (2). Since in men urine concentrations of E and T are quite similar, and the excretion of E remained rather constant when exogenous T was administered; a cut-off value for T/E in urine was established for doping control (5). In a previous paper we applied the T/E ratio approach to urine of veal calves, but the influence of treatment was masked and no significant difference were observed between treated and control calves (6). Now, our recent data, confirmed that repeated treatments with natural hormone could cause a time-course reduction of urinary E as already reported (3, 7); applying the E/T ratio, the reduction of E urinary excretion was confirmed in Testosterone treated (A) but not in Boldenone treated calves (B and C)
Effetto della stagione e dell'intensità di sfruttamento sul comportamento sessuale e sulle caratteristiche del seme di stalloni impiegati in programmi di inseminazione strumentale.
No full textIndagine sui fattori influenti la valutazione morfologica lineare di cavalli agricoli italiani da TPR
No full text"Closing the R&D Gap, Evaluating the Sources of R&D Spending"
No full textBoth spending and tax policies have been implemented in the United States with the goal of stimulating private sector research and development (R&D). Karier questions whether current R&D policy, especially the research and experimentation tax credit, can contribute to closing the gap between nondefense expenditures on R&D in the United States and such expenditures in other countries, such as Japan and Germany. He also explores possible changes to our current R&D policy to make it more effective.
Characterisation of giant fibres in skeletal muscles of rabbit. Effect of type of muscle, diet, age and sire strain.
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