AN ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF GENETIC INFORMATION: LEPTIN GENOTYPING IN FED CATTLE

The use of genetic knowledge is widespread in crop production but is just recently being utilized in livestock production. This study investigates the economic value to feedlots of a polymorphism in the bovine leptin gene. Previous studies indicate that this polymorphism is associated with fat deposition. Since fed cattle are often priced on a grid that considers both yield and quality grades, fat deposition is an important factor in the value and profitability of fed cattle. Using data from 590 crossbred steers and heifers, we estimate growth curves for relevant biological traits, both with and without genotypic information. Using the resulting functions, we then simulate carcass traits to various days-on-feed and compute the associated profit under three price grids. Maximum profits are determined in an unconstrained profit maximization model and in a model that constrains cattle to be marketed in 45-head "potloads." Results indicate that leptin genotypic knowledge has little impact on optimal days-on-feed but may play a role in valuing feeder cattle. The differences in value of cattle varied by as much as $37 per head between genotypes.genetics, leptin genotype, beef cattle, value of information, Livestock Production/Industries,

Quality of life in Type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetic patients prior to and after pancreas and kidney transplantation in relation to organ function

Improvement of the quality of life in Type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetic patients with severe late complications is one of the main goals of pancreas and/or kidney grafting. To assess the influences of these treatment modalities on the different aspects of the quality of life a cross-sectional study in 157 patients was conducted. They were categorized into patients pre-transplant without dialysis (n=29; Group A), pre-transplant under dialysis (n=44; Group B), post-transplant with pancreas and kidney functioning (n=31; Group C), post-transplant with functioning kidney, but insulin therapy (n=29; Group D), post-transplant under dialysis and insulin therapy again (n=15; Group E) and patients after single pancreas transplantation and rejection, with good renal function, but insulin therapy (n=9; Group F). All patients answered a mailed, self-administered questionnaire (217 questions) consisting of a broad spectrum of rehabilitation criteria. The results indicate a better quality of life in Groups C and D as compared to the other groups. In general the scores are highest in C, but without any significant difference to D. Impressive significant differences between C or D and the other groups were found especially in their satisfaction with physical capacity, leisure-time activities or the overall quality of life. The satisfaction with the latter is highest in C (mean±SEM: 4.0±0.2 on a 1 to 5-rating scale; significantly different from A: 3.1±0.1, B: 2.7±0.2 and E: 2.6±0.3; p<0.01), followed by D (3.8±0.2; significantly different from B and E; p<0.01). Group F shows a mean of 3.1±0.4, which is not significantly different from C. The percentages of patients in each group, who are not working: A: 38 %, B: 64 %, C: 74 %, D: 66 %, E: 87 % and F: 78 % indicate that there is no marked improvement in the vocational situation after successful grafting

Concurrent Verbal Encouragement and Wingate Anaerobic Cycle Test Performance in Females: Athletes vs. Non-Athletes

International Journal of Exercise Science 5(3) : 239-244, 2012. To examine the effect of concurrent verbal encouragement on the performance of the WAnT in female athletes vs. female non-athletes. College-age female subjects were recruited where ten of the subjects were intercollegiate athletes (ATH, n1=10) and the nine were non-athletes (NON, n2=9). The WAnT was novel to all subjects and the subjects were blinded to the study’s purpose. Prior to the experimental trials, subjects were measured for body composition and performed a familiarity WAnT trial without verbal encouragement. Subjects then performed the WAnT twice, once with concurrent verbal encouragement (VE) and once without (NVE), in a balanced cross-over design. Peak (PP) and mean power (MP), and total work (TW) were compared between ATH and NON across VE and NVE using an ANOVA (1 between, 1 within), α=0.05. ATH and NON did not differ (p\u3e0.05) in age or body composition with the exception of fat-free mass which differed significantly (ATH=53.7±6.6, NON=46.1±5.7 kg) (p\u3c0.05). A significant (p\u3c0.05) main effect for ATH/NON was observed where ATH outperformed NON when pooled across VE/NVE trials for PP (ATH=13.0±1.4, NON=11.3±1.7 W·kg-1), MP (ATH=7.7±1.1, NON=6.7±0.9 W·kg-1) and TW (ATH=232±35, NON=201±26 J·kg-1). When pooled across all subjects (ATH and NON), the VE/NVE trials did not differ (p\u3e0.05) for PP (VE=12.4±1.7, NVE=12.0±1.9 W·kg-1), MP (VE=7.3±1.1, NVE=7.2±1.2 W·kg-1) and TW (VE=219±33, NVE=215±35 J·kg-1). The ATH/NON interaction with VE/NVE was not significant (p\u3e0.05). Concurrent verbal encouragement does not affect performance on the WAnT in females, nor does it affect WAnT performance in female athletes and non-athletes differently

Concurrent Verbal Encouragement and Wingate Anaerobic Cycle Test Performance in Females: Athletes vs. Non-Athletes

Previous research has shown that concurrent verbal encouragement improves performance on the Wingate Anaerobic Cycle Test (WACT), a 30-s supramaximal exercise protocol, in male non-athletes. This effect has not previously been examined in athletes or females. Consistently, athletes and females display a more self-determined motivational profile than non-athletes and males, suggesting verbal encouragement to be of lesser consequence to athletes and females. PURPOSE: To examine the effect of concurrent verbal encouragement on the performance of the WACT in female athletes vs. female non-athletes. METHODS: Nineteen college-age female subjects were recruited where ten of the subjects were active intercollegiate athletes (ATH, n1=10) and the remainder were non-athletes (NON, n2=9). The WACT was novel to all subjects and the subjects were blinded to the purpose of the study. Prior to participation in the experimental trials, subjects were measured for body composition and performed a familiarity WACT trial without verbal encouragement. Subjects then performed the WACT twice, once with concurrent verbal encouragement (VE) and once without (NVE), in a balanced cross-over design. All WACT trials were performed at least one week apart. Peak power (PP), mean power (MP), and total work (TW) were compared between ATH and NON across VE and NVE using an ANOVA (1 between, 1 within), α=0.05. RESULTS: ATH and NON did not differ significantly (p\u3e0.05) with regard to age or body composition with the exception of fat-free mass which differed significantly (ATH=53.7±6.6, NON=46.1±5.7 kg)(p\u3c0.05). As expected, a significant (p\u3c0.05) main effect for ATH/NON was observed where ATH outperformed NON when pooled across VE/NVE trials for PP (ATH=13.0±1.4, NON=11.3±1.7 W·kg-1), MP (ATH=7.7±1.1, NON=6.7±0.9 W·kg-1) and TW (ATH=232±35, NON=201±26 J·kg-1). However, when pooled across all subjects (ATH and NON), the VE/NVE trials did not differ significantly (p\u3e0.05) for PP (VE=12.4±1.7, NVE=12.0±1.9 W·kg-1), MP (VE=7.3±1.1, NVE=7.2±1.2 W·kg-1) and TW (VE=219±33, NVE=215±35 J·kg-1). Additionally, the ATH/NON interaction with VE/NVE was not significant (p\u3e0.05). CONCLUSION: Concurrent verbal encouragement does not affect performance on the WACT in females, nor does it affect WACT performance in female athletes and non-athletes differently

Spatio-temporal heterogeneity of riparian soil morphology in a restored floodplain

Floodplains have been intensively altered in industrialized countries, but are now increasingly being restored. It is therefore important to assess the effect of these restoration projects on the aquatic and terrestrial components of ecosystems. However, despite being functionally crucial components of terrestrial ecosystems, soils are generally overlooked in floodplain restoration assessments. We studied the spatio-temporal heterogeneity of soil morphology in a restored (riverbed widening) river reach along the River Thur (Switzerland) using three criteria (soil diversity, dynamism and typicality) and their associated indicators. We hypothesized that these criteria would correctly discriminate the post-restoration changes in soil morphology, and that these changes correspond to patterns of vascular plant diversity. <br><br> Soil diversity and dynamism increased 5 yr after the restoration, but some typical soils of braided rivers were still missing. Soil typicality and dynamism were correlated to vegetation changes. These results suggest a limited success of the project, in agreement with evaluations carried out at the same site using other, more resource-demanding, methods (e.g., soil fauna, fish diversity, ecosystem functioning). <br><br> Soil morphology provides structural and functional information on floodplain ecosystems. The spatio-temporal heterogeneity of soil morphology represents a cost-efficient ecological indicator that could easily be integrated into rapid assessment protocols of floodplain and river restoration projects. <br><br> The follow-up assessment after several major floods (≥ HQ20) should take place to allow for testing the longer-term validity of our conclusion for the River Thur site. More generally, it would be useful to apply the soil morphology indicator approach in different settings to test its broader applicability

Welfare Guarantees in Schelling Segregation

Schelling’s model is an influential model that reveals how individual perceptions and incentives can lead to residential segregation. Inspired by a recent stream of work, we study welfare guarantees and complexity in this model with respect to several welfare measures. First, we show that while maximizing the social welfare is NP-hard, computing an assignment of agents to the nodes of any topology graph with approximately half of the maximum welfare can be done in polynomial time. We then consider Pareto optimality, introduce two new optimality notions based on it, and establish mostly tight bounds on the worst-case welfare loss for assignments satisfying these notions as well as the complexity of computing such assignments. In addition, we show that for tree topologies, it is possible to decide whether there exists an assignment that gives every agent a positive utility in polynomial time; moreover, when every node in the topology has degree at least 2, such an assignment always exists and can be found efficiently

A Performance-Based Scenario Methodology to Assess Collaborative Networks Business Model Dynamicity

[EN] In today's business marketplace many enterprises collaborate forming a collaborative network (CN) in order to achieve competitive and sustainable advantages. In this context, CNs should have not only well-defined business models but also mechanisms and tools that help them out to assess such business models as well as other CN operations at their early stages. Due to shorter life-cycles and to the current fierce competition such an evaluation should be made as quickly as possible and analyzing real data rather than based on opinions and subjective judgments. This paper presents the application of a methodology that allows such an assessment as well as the generation of business scenarios based on the performance of the CN. Then, it first defines the appropriate CN key performance indicators (KPIs), gathering data for a certain time-period; then, it applies multivariate techniques to this data, identifying relationships between the KPIs, and being able to build the timely evolution of the CN based on this data; next, it is able to design a business scenario based on the timely evolution that the CN should have according to its business models and operations results achieved so far. With all this additional information decision-makers could decide whether the CN's business models succeeded or not so far and what actions to take in order to achieve the future desirable scenario.This work has been developed within the research project called “Design of business scenarios to improve the efficiency and management of industrial supply chain” (reference GV/2013/045).Rodríguez Rodríguez, R.; Alfaro Saiz, JJ.; Verdecho Sáez, MJ. (2015). A Performance-Based Scenario Methodology to Assess Collaborative Networks Business Model Dynamicity. IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology. 463:511-517. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-24141-8_47S511517463Achtenhagen, L., Melin, L., Naldi, L.: Dynamics of business models – strategizing, critical capabilities and activities for sustained value creation. Long Range Plann. 46, 427–442 (2013)Chesbrough, H.: Business model innovation: opportunities and barriers. Long Range Plann. 43, 354–363 (2010)Chermack, T.J.: Studying scenario planning: theory, research, suggestions, and hypotheses. Technol. Forecast. Soc. Change 72, 59–73 (2005)Harries, C.: Correspondence to what? Coherence to what? What is good scenario-based decision making? Technol. Forecast. Soc. Change 70, 797–817 (2003)Gunasekaran, A., Patel, C., Tirtiroglu, E.: Performance measures and metrics in a supply chain environment. Int. J. Oper. Prod. Manage. 21, 71–87 (2001)Bullinger, H.J., Kühner, M., Hoof, A.V.: Analysing supply chain performance using a balanced measurement method. Int. J. Prod. Res. 40, 3533–3543 (2002)Folan, P., Browne, J.: Development of an extended enterprise performance measurement system. Prod. Plann. Control 16, 531–544 (2005)Fink, A., Marr, B., Siebe, A., Khule, J.-P.: The future scorecard: combining external and internal scenarios to create strategic foresight. Manage. Decis. 43, 360–381 (2005)Othman, R.: Enhancing the effectiveness of the balanced scorecard with scenario planning. Int. J. Prod. Perform. Manage. 57, 259–266 (2008)Rodriguez-Rodriguez, R., Saiz, J.J.A., Bas, A.O., Carot, J.M., Jabaloyes, J.M.: Building internal business scenarios based on real data from a performance measurement system. Technol. Forecast. Soc. Change 77, 50–62 (2010

Opioid Treatment Programs Can Reduce Opioid-Related Emergency Department Visits and Foster Care Placements

The U.S. opioid epidemic has led not only to unprecedented increases in opioid overdoses, functional impairment, and deaths among adults but also harmed children. After lifting a long-standing moratorium on drug treatment programs and increasing the number of medication-assisted opioid treatment programs (OTPs), Indiana saw a decrease in emergency overdose treatments and foster care placements. This brief explores the positive effects of medication-assisted treatments on children and their caregivers and the cost savings for foster care agencies

Refining AML treatment: the role of genetics in response and resistance evaluation to new agents

The number of treatment options for acute myeloid leukemia (AML) has greatly increased since 2017. This development is paralleled by the broad implantation of genetic profiling as an integral part of clinical studies, enabling us to characterize mutation–response, mutation–non-response, or mutation–relapse patterns. The aim of this review is to provide a concise overview of the current state of knowledge with respect to newly approved AML treatment options and the association of response, relapse and resistance with genetic alterations. Specifically, we will highlight current genetic data regarding FLT3 inhibitors, IDH inhibitors, hypomethylating agents (HMA), the BCL-2 inhibitor venetoclax (VEN), the anti-CD33 antibody conjugate gemtuzumab ozogamicin (GO) and the liposomal dual drug CPX-351