8,662 research outputs found

    Development of Fetal Yawn Compared with Non-Yawn Mouth Openings from 24-36 Weeks Gestation

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    Background: Although some research suggests that fetuses yawn, others disagree arguing that is it simple mouth opening. Furthermore there is no developmental account of fetal yawning compared with simple mouth opening. The aim of the present study was to establish in a repeated measures design the development of fetal yawning compared with simple mouth opening. Methodology/Findings: Video recordings were made of the fetal face and upper torso visualized by means of 4D full frontal or facial profile ultrasound recordings. Fifteen healthy fetuses were scanned four times at 24, 28, 32 and 36 weeks gestation. Yawning was distinguished from non-yawning in terms of the length of time it took to reach the apex of the mouth stretch, with yawns being defined as more than 50% of the total time observed. To assess changes in frequency, a Poisson mixed effects model was fitted to the count of number of yawn and simple mouth opening events with age and gender as fixed effects, and person as a random effect. For both yawns and simple mouth openings a smooth varying age effect was significant. The number of yawns observed declined with age from 28 weeks gestation, whereas simple mouth openings were less frequent and the decline was observed from 24 weeks. Gender was not significant either for yawn and simple mouth openings Conclusions/Significance: Yawning can be reliably distinguished from other forms of mouth opening with the potential of using yawning as an index of fetal healthy development

    Yeast metabolism in fresh and frozen dough : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Food Technology at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand

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    Author also known as SM LovedayFresh bakery products have a very short shelf life, which limits the extent to which manufacturing can be centralised. Frozen doughs are relatively stable and can be manufactured in large volumes, distributed and baked on-demand at the point of sale or consumption. With appropriate formulation and processing a shelf life of several months can be achieved.Shelf life is limited by a decline in proofing rate after thawing, which is attributed to a) the dough losing its ability to retain gas and b) insufficient gas production, i.e. yeast activity. The loss of shelf life is accelerated by delays between mixing and freezing, which allow yeast cells the chance to ferment carbohydrates.This work examined the reasons for insufficient gas production after thawing frozen dough and the effect of pre-freezing fermentation on shelf life. Literature data on yeast metabolite dynamics in fermenting dough were incomplete. In particular there were few data on the accumulation of ethanol, a major fermentation end product which can be injurious to yeast.Doughs were prepared in a domestic breadmaker using compressed yeast from a local manufacturer and analysed for glucose, fructose, sucrose, maltose and ethanol. Gas production after thawing declined within 48 hours of frozen storage. This was accelerated by 30 or 90 minutes of fermentation at 30;C prior to freezing.Sucrose was rapidly hydrolysed and yeast consumed glucose in preference to fructose. Maltose was not consumed while other sugars remained. Ethanol, accumulated from consumption of glucose and fructose, was produced in approximately equal amounts to CO2, indicating that yeast cells metabolised reductively.Glucose uptake in fermenting dough followed simple hyperbolic kinetics and fructose uptake was competitively inhibited by glucose. Mathematical modelling indicated that diffusion of sugars and ethanol in dough occurred quickly enough to eliminate solute gradients brought about by yeast metabolism

    Increasing weaning age of piglets from 4 to 7 weeks reduces stress, increases post-weaning feed intake but does not improve intestinal functionality

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    This study tested the hypothesis that late weaning and the availability of creep feed during the suckling period compared with early weaning, improves feed intake, decreases stress and improves the integrity of the intestinal tract. In this study with 160 piglets of 16 litters, late weaning at 7 weeks of age was compared with early weaning at 4 weeks, with or without creep feeding during the suckling period, on post-weaning feed intake, plasma cortisol (as an indicator of stress) and plasma intestinal fatty acid binding protein (I-FABP; a marker for mild intestinal injury) concentrations, intestinal morphology, intestinal (macro)molecular permeability and intestinal fluid absorption as indicators of small intestinal integrity. Post-weaning feed intake was similar in piglets weaned at 4 weeks and offered creep feed or not, but higher (P <0.001) in piglets weaned at 7 weeks with a higher (P <0.05) intake for piglets offered creep feed compared with piglets from whom creep feed was witheld. Plasma cortisol response at the day of weaning was lower in piglets weaned at 7 weeks compared with piglets weaned at 4 weeks, and creep feed did not affect cortisol concentration. Plasma I-FABP concentration was not affected by the age of weaning and creep feeding. Intestinal (macro)molecular permeability was not affected by the age of weaning and creep feeding. Both in uninfected and enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli-infected small intestinal segments net fluid absorption was not affected by the age of weaning or creep feeding. Creep feeding, but not the age of weaning, resulted in higher villi and increased crypt depth. In conclusion, weaning at 7 weeks of age in combination with creep feeding improves post-weaning feed intake and reduces weaning stress but does not improve functional characteristics of the small intestinal mucos

    Converting SrI <sub>2</sub> :Eu <sup>2+</sup> into a near infrared scintillator by Sm <sup>2+</sup> co-doping

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    The luminescence and scintillation properties of SrI 2 single crystals doped with 5% Eu 2+ and 0.05%, 0.2% and 0.5% Sm 2+ are evaluated. X-ray excited and photoluminescence measurements show energy transfer from excited Eu 2+ ions to Sm 2+ ions. At a concentration of 0.5% Sm 2+ , the luminescence consists almost entirely of 740 nm emission from Sm 2+ 5d-4f transitions. Co-doping SrI 2 :5% Eu 2+ with Sm 2+ provides a novel method to bypass the self-absorption problem encountered in large SrI 2 :Eu 2+ crystals and, at the same time, provides a unique near-infrared emitting scintillator with a light yield of approximately 40,000 photons/MeV. Accepted Author ManuscriptRST/Fundamental Aspects of Materials and EnergyRST/Luminescence Material

    'Laws 'Needefull in Later to be Abrogated': Intersex and the Sources of Christian Theology

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    This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Palgrave Macmillan via the DOI in this record

    Introduction: Troubling Bodies?

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    This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Palgrave Macmillan via the DOI in this record

    Effect of <i>Sm</i>-aPKC suppression on adult schistosomes.

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    <p>(A) <i>Sm-</i>aPKC expression in adult schistosomes 7 days after electroporation with <i>Sm-</i>aPKC long dsRNA (PKC) relative to that in untreated control worms (CTR) or worms similarly electroporated with irrelevant ds RNA (IRR). (B) Light microscope images of adult worms 2 or 8 weeks following electroporation with IRR or <i>Sm</i>-aPKC (PKC) long dsRNA (scale bars = 100μm). (C) Visual score of worm viability 3 weeks after silencing:- 3-healthy, attached; 2-healthy, not attached; 1- darkened/low motility; 0-severely damaged. Data are representative of 3 independent experiments.</p

    Infection of mice with <i>Sm-tsp</i> dsRNA treated schistosomula.

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    <p>Schistosomula were electroporated with 100 µg/ml of <i>Sm-tsp-1</i>, <i>Sm-tsp-2</i> or <i>luciferase</i> dsRNAs, washed and counted. C57BL/6 female mice were immunized intramuscularly with 2,000 dsRNA treated schistosomula and were perfused 4 weeks later to determine parasite numbers (A). Expression of <i>Sm-tsp-1 and Sm-tsp-2</i> mRNA transcript levels of parasites harvested from Experiment 1 (B). The <i>Sm-tsp-1</i> and <i>Sm-tsp-2</i> transcript levels of schistosomula that were electroporated and concurrently cultured <i>in vitro</i> for 4 weeks were also determined (C).</p
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