Features of reproduction and assisted reproduction in the white (Ceratotherium simum) and black (Diceros bicornis) rhinoceros

Despite the worldwide increase of rhinoceros calf numbers, the growth of the population of white and black rhinoceros is slowing down mainly due to anthropogenic causes, such as poaching and habitat loss. Assisted reproduction is one of the methods of preserving the valuable genomes of these animals from being lost, and assists in breeding them in captivity to maintain the specie(s) numbers and provide an option for possible reintroduction into the wild. Since wild rhinoceros are difficult to handle and examine clinically, most of the current information available on their reproductive characteristics has been gained from captive rhinoceros populations. Nevertheless, very little is known about rhinoceros reproduction. Since the rhinoceros belongs to the odd-toed ungulates (Perissodactyls) group, like the horse and the tapir, the horse has been proposed as a suitable model to study reproduction and artificial reproductive techniques in the rhinoceros. In this review, the current knowledge of the reproduction of the rhinoceros is summarized

Ovarian Dynamic in Ongole Grade Cattle After GnRH Injection in Ovsynch Protocol Based on Progesterone Device

PO cattle have weaknesses to show clear estrus signs which cause difficulty in artificial insemination implementation. The present study was designed to obtain ovarian dynamic as effect of GnRH injection in ovsynch protocol based on progesterone intravaginal device. Heifers (18) and cows (n= 12) were allocated to one of three groups. Cuemate-PGF2α (CP) group inserted with a Cuemate on day 0-7 and injected with prostaglandin on day 7. Cuemate-PGF2α-GnRH (CPG) group was treated as CP group with the addition of GnRH injection on day 9. GnRH-Cuemate-PGF2α-GnRH (GCPG) group was treated as CPG group with addition of GnRH injection on day 0. Ultrasonography was performed on days 0-3, day 7 until ovulation and 7 days after ovulation. Percentage of ovulation synchronization increased significantly (P<0.01) between CP, CPG, and GCPG, respectively, both in heifers (16%, 50%, and 85%, respectively) and cows (0%, 60%, and 100%, respectively), on day 11. Preovulatory follicle diameters between CP, CPG, and GCPG treatments were not different significantly both in heifers (11.9±0.5, 11.9±0.5, and 12.1±0.6 mm, respectively) and cows (11.7±0.4, 11.8±0.7, and 11.1±0.6 mm, respectively). This study concluded that GCPG protocol increased the synchrony of ovulation rate both in cows and heifers, without affecting the follicle preovulatory and CL diameters

Polska genologia lingwistyczna : rekonesans

The author discuss the issue of inspirations of Polish linguistic genology in chronological order. The story begins with literary inspirations presented by Stefania Skwarczyńska and their linguistic effects in the works of Stanisław Gajda and Maria Wojtak. Following that Polish genology took several motifs from the pragmatic stylistics proposed by Barbara Sandig. Maria Wojtak and Jan Mazur were the first ones who fulfilled Sanding’s postulates on native ground. Genology owes a lot to Michael Bachtin’s lectures, which have been creatively used by Bożena Witosz. As unquestionably original to Polish genology the author recognizes the diachronic studies conducted by the group gathered around Danuta Ostaszewska. The contemporary Polish genology has used creatively: 1. foreign (German, Russian, French, English) fields of humanities; 2. literary studies; 3. methodologies of related disciplines

The Slavonic Literary Studies at the Crossroads: Redefining, or Preserving?

The author of the present study tries to answer the question from the title about the contemporary state and the future of Slavonic literary studies in connection with other disciplines, e.g., comparative and genre studies, their crises and shifts of methodological emphases. According to the author, the future perspectives of Slavonic studies are associated with the relatively constant entity of the subject, the Slavonic phenomenon or the Slavonic world as marking or delimiting the boundaries of Slavonic studies as an independent or autonomous discipline, and with their open or semi-open character in the philological framework, dynamicborders and transcending towards the cultural-area concept without losing their philological kernel

Conception Rates of Holstein-Friesian Cows Inseminated Artificially with Reducing Frozen Semen Doses

Conception rates of Holstein Friesian (HF) acceptors were evaluated in artificial insemination (AI) mating using three frozen semen doses of the straws per volume of 0.25 cc.  Frozen semen consisted of a standard dose by 25 x 106 sperms (L.1) and two reduced doses by 20 x 106 sperms (L.2) and 15x106 sperms (L.3).  This field study was conducted in dairy cattle area of Lembang NBMCU, from August 2011 to March 2012.  Frozen semens were obtained from two HF national progeny tested young bulls. Conception was detected by rectal palpation, around 60-90 days after AI mating. Conception rates (CR %) were calculated as a ratio between pregnant acceptors to the total AI mated cows.  Some general linear model analyzes were conducted by considering fixed variables of semen dose (3), bull (2), inseminator (6) and parity (5).  The results showed that three frozen semen doses did not significantly affect (P>0.05) on CR (%).  By decreasing semen dose to L.3 gave CR (%) similar to L2 even to L1.  It was concluded that frozen semen doses of HF bulls at the levels of 20 million to 15 million sperms per straw per volume of 0.25 cc resulted CR (%) similar to the standard one

Serum anti-Müllerian hormone concentrations before and after treatment of an ovarian granulosa cell tumour in a cat

Case summary A 15-year-old female cat was presented for investigation of progressive behavioural changes, polyuria, polydipsia and periuria. An ovarian granulosa cell tumour was identified and the cat underwent therapeutic ovariohysterectomy (OHE). The cat’s clinical signs resolved, but 6 months later it was diagnosed as having an anaplastic astrocytoma and was euthanased. Serum anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) concentration prior to OHE was increased vs a control group of entire and neutered female cats. Following OHE, serum AMH concentration decreased to <1% of the original value. Relevance and novel information Serum AMH measurement may represent a novel diagnostic and monitoring tool for functional ovarian neoplasms in cats

Genre Studies in Russian Literary Research: Achievements and Challenges

Genre has been one of the key categories for Russian literary studies ever since the late nineteenth century, creating a long tradition of artistic, critical and scientific interpretation. The present paper aims to outline major findings of Russian scholars in the field of genre studies and to account for current pitfalls, suggesting a solution. Russian scholars have contributed noticeably to both constructing the theory of genre in general and establishing the laws and genesis of many separate genres. Historical poetics, the Russian Formalists, Bakhtin’s school and structuralism worked out the principles of generic evolution and explained the nature of the genre category. Still, currently Russian genology faces a number of challenges, among which is the inability to work out a universal approach to genre nomination and attribution, which causes inconsistent and unverified results. When it comes to describing new genres, most troubling is the choice of deductive method in genre analysis and a narrow specialist approach to each genre leading to inconclusive or biased results. The paper suggests that these challenges can be overcome by turning to the heritage of the classical Russian literary science and taking advantage of comparative and inductive methods proponed by it.&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp

Generic Identity and Intertextuality

In his paper, Generic Identity and Intertextuality, Marko Juvan proposes that an anti-essentialist drive -- a characteristic of recent genology -- has led postmodern scholars to the conviction that genre is but a system of differences and that its matrix cannot be deduced from a particular set of apparently similar texts. Juvan argues that the concept of intertextuality may prove advantageous to explain genre identity in a different way: genres exist and function as far as they are embedded in social practices that frame intertextual and meta-textual links/references to prototypical texts or textual series. In Juvan\u27s view, genres are cognitive and pragmatic devices for intertextual pattern-matching and texts or textual sets become generic prototypes by virtue of intertextual and meta-textual interaction: on one side there is the working (influence) of semantic, syntactic, and pragmatic features of prototypical texts on their domestic and foreign literary offspring; on the other side we see meta-textual descriptions and intertextual derivations or references, which establish or revise retroactively the hard core of genre pattern. Any given text is, because of the generic and pragmatic component of the author\u27s communicative competence, dependent on existing genre patterns

The use of electrochemically activated saline as a uterine instillation in pony mares

Twelve pony mares were randomly assigned to either a control or a treatment group and inseminated with fresh, raw semen from a single stallion of known fertility in a cross-over trial design. Pregnancy was diagnosed by transrectal ultrasound 12-14 days post-ovulation and then terminated by administration of a luteolytic dose of cloprostenol. Treatment mares received a uterine instillation of 100 m of electrochemically activated (ECA) saline 4-12 hours post-insemination. Control mares received no treatment post-insemination. Per cycle pregnancy rate was 58.3 % in the control group and 50 % in the treatment group. There was no statistical difference (P = 1.000) in pregnancy rate between the 2 groups. The principles of ECA and applications of ECA saline are discussed