112,392 research outputs found
Genetic parameters for somatic cell score according to udder infection status in Valle del Belice dairy sheep and impact of imperfect diagnosis of infection
Full text linkAbstract Background Somatic cell score (SCS) has been promoted as a selection criterion to improve mastitis resistance. However, SCS from healthy and infected animals may be considered as separate traits. Moreover, imperfect sensitivity and specificity could influence animals' classification and impact on estimated variance components. This study was aimed at: (1) estimating the heritability of bacteria negative SCS, bacteria positive SCS, and infection status, (2) estimating phenotypic and genetic correlations between bacteria negative and bacteria positive SCS, and the genetic correlation between bacteria negative SCS and infection status, and (3) evaluating the impact of imperfect diagnosis of infection on variance component estimates. Methods Data on SCS and udder infection status for 1,120 ewes were collected from four Valle del Belice flocks. The pedigree file included 1,603 animals. The SCS dataset was split according to whether animals were infected or not at the time of sampling. A repeatability test-day animal model was used to estimate genetic parameters for SCS traits and the heritability of infection status. The genetic correlation between bacteria negative SCS and infection status was estimated using an MCMC threshold model, implemented by Gibbs Sampling. Results The heritability was 0.10 for bacteria negative SCS, 0.03 for bacteria positive SCS, and 0.09 for infection status, on the liability scale. The genetic correlation between bacteria negative and bacteria positive SCS was 0.62, suggesting that they may be genetically different traits. The genetic correlation between bacteria negative SCS and infection status was 0.51. We demonstrate that imperfect diagnosis of infection leads to underestimation of differences between bacteria negative and bacteria positive SCS, and we derive formulae to predict impacts on estimated genetic parameters. Conclusions The results suggest that bacteria negative and bacteria positive SCS are genetically different traits. A positive genetic correlation between bacteria negative SCS and liability to infection was found, suggesting that the approach of selecting animals for decreased SCS should help to reduce mastitis prevalence. However, the results show that imperfect diagnosis of infection has an impact on estimated genetic parameters, which may reduce the efficiency of selection strategies aiming at distinguishing between bacteria negative and bacteria positive SCS.</p
Analysis of the emergent climate change mitigation technologies
Full text linkA climate change mitigation refers to efforts to reduce or prevent emission of greenhouse gases. Mitigation can mean using new technologies and renewable energies, making older equipment more energy efficient, or changing management practices or consumer behavior. The mitigation technologies are able to reduce or absorb the greenhouse gases (GHG) and, in particular, the CO2 present in the atmosphere. The CO2 is a persistent atmospheric gas. It seems increasingly likely that concentrations of CO2 and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere will overshoot the 450 ppm CO2 target, widely seen as the upper limit of concentrations consistent with limiting the increase in global mean temperature from pre-industrial levels to around 2◦C. In order to stay well below to the 2◦C temperature thus compared to the pre-industrial level as required to the Paris Agreement it is necessary that in the future we will obtain a low (or better zero) emissions and it is also necessary that we will absorb a quantity of CO2 from the atmosphere, by 2070, equal to 10 Gt/y. In order to obtain this last point, so in order to absorb an amount of CO2 equal to about 10 Gt/y, it is necessary the implementation of the negative emission technologies. The negative emission technologies are technologies able to absorb the CO2 from the atmosphere. The aim of this work is to perform a detailed overview of the main mitigation technologies possibilities currently developed and, in particular, an analysis of an emergent negative emission technology: the microalgae massive cultivation for CO2 biofixation
Estimation of genetic and phenotypic parameters for bacteriological status of the udder, somatic cell score, and milk yield in dairy sheep using a threshold animal model
No full textThe objective of this study was to estimate the genetic parameters for infection status (INF), as indicator of mastitis, SCS (i.e., log-transformed SCC), and milk yield (MY), by using a Gibbs sampling algorithm. The data comprised 17,843 test-day records of 2040 ewes. The pedigree file included 2948 animals. A bivariate variance component analysis was performed using the TM software. Fixed effects considered in the analysis were litter size, parity, flock by test-day interaction, year by season of lambing interaction, and stage of lactation; whereas the animal, and the permanent environmental effect within and across lactations were considered as random as well as the error. Flat priors were used for both fixed effects and variance components. Parameters were drawn from the posterior conditional distributions. The posterior means of heritability for MY, SCS and INF were equal to 0.14, 0.09, and 0.09, respectively; whereas the repeatability within lactation was around 0.30 for the three traits, and ranged between 0.29 and 0.41 across lactations. The genetic correlation between INF and SCS was equal to 0.93, suggesting that selection for low SCS would also lead to a reduced incidence of mastitis. On the other hand, the positive and moderate genetic correlation between mastitis and milk yield (0.59) confirms the antagonistic association between udder health and milk yield. Therefore, in breeding programs that emphasize milk yield, the unfavorable genetic correlation between milk yield and mastitis, may result in an increased incidence of the latter. © 2012 Elsevier B.V
The burden of minimal hepatic encephalopathy: from diagnosis to therapeutic strategies
Full text linkMinimal hepatic encephalopathy (MHE) is the mildest form of hepatic encephalopathy (HE). It affects the performance of psychometric tests focused on attention, working memory, psychomotor speed, and visuospatial ability, as well as electrophysiological and other functional brain measures. MHE is a frequent complication of liver disease, affecting up to 80% of tested patients. By being related to falls, an impairment in fitness to drive and the development of overt HE, MHE severely affects the lives of patients and caregivers by altering their quality of life and their socioeconomic status. MHE is detected in clinically asymptomatic patients using appropriate psychometric tests and neurophysiological methods that highlight neuropsychological alterations, such as video-spatial orientation deficits, attention disorders, memory, reaction times, electroencephalogram slowing, prolongation of latency-evoked cognitive potentials, and reduction in the critical flicker frequency. Several treatments have been proposed for MHE treatment, including non-absorbable disaccharides, poorly absorbable antibiotics such as rifaximin, probiotics and branched-chain amino acids. However, because of the multiple diagnosis methods, the various endpoints of treatment trials and the variety of agents used in trials, the treatment of MHE is not currently recommended as routine, but only on a case-by-case basis
Structural and functional analysis of metal regulatory elements in the promoter region of genes encoding metallothionein isoforms in the antarctic fish Chionodraco hamatus (icefish).
No full textThe Uznadze illusion reveals similar effects of relative size on perception and action
No full textMilner and Goodale (the visual brain in action, Oxford University Press Inc., Oxford, 1995) proposed a functional dissociation between vision-for-action and vision-for-perception (i.e., the “two-visual system hypothesis”, TVSH). Supporting the TVSH, it has been claimed that visual illusions affect perception but not actions. However, at least for the Ebbinghaus illusion, numerous studies have revealed consistent illusion effects on grasping. Thus, whether illusions affect actions remains controversial. To further investigate the dissociation predicted by the TVSH, we used a visual version of the Uznadze illusion (the same stimulus will feel smaller after feeling a larger stimulus and larger after feeling a smaller stimulus). Based on kinematic recordings of finger aperture in a motor (precision grip) and a perceptual task (manual estimation), we report two main findings. First, both action and perception are strongly affected by the Uznadze illusion. Second, the illusion decreases similarly in both tasks when inducing-induced pairs had different shape and color, in comparison to the equivalent condition where these features are the same. These results are inconsistent with a perception–action dissociation as predicted by the TVSH and suggest that, at least in the present conditions, vision-for-perception and vision-for-action are similarly affected by contextual cues
Receiver-operating characteristic curves for somatic cell scores and California mastitis test in Valle del Be lice dairy sheep
No full textUsing receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve methodology this study was designed to assess the diagnostic effectiveness of somatic cell count (SCC) and the California mastitis test (CMT) in Valle del Belice sheep, and to propose and evaluate threshold values for those tests that would optimally discriminate between healthy and infected udders. Milk samples (n = 1357) were collected from 684 sheep in four flocks. The prevalence of infection, as determined by positive bacterial culture was 0.36, 87.7% of which were minor and 12.3% major pathogens. Of the culture negative samples, 83.7% had an SCC <500,000/mL and 97.4% ha
author-bios-SRD-19-0063.R1 – Supplemental material for The Network Structure of Police Misconduct
No full textSupplemental material, author-bios-SRD-19-0063.R1 for The Network Structure of Police Misconduct by George Wood, Daria Roithmayr and Andrew V. Papachristos in Socius</p
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