The effect of dietary crude protein as protected soybean mean on mammary metabolism in the lactating dairy cow

Metabolism in the mammary gland was related to changes in milk output in response to changes in dietary protein intake. Three diets of grass silage and concentrate were fed to four lactating dairy cows equipped with intravascular catheters across the mammary gland. Concentrates differed in the inclusion of protected soybean meal and provided 11.3, 15.4, and 20.1% CP, respectively. Blood samples were taken to assess the effect of protein percentage on the nutrient fluxes across the gland and their relationship to milk production. Milk production, milk protein yield, and milk protein concentration were all increased as CP intake increased, although these responses were not linear. Concentrations of urea in milk reflected those in plasma and increased as dietary protein intake increased. Uptake of glucose and BHBA by the mammary gland tended to increase as milk production increased. Arterial supply of essential AA increased as the dietary protein increased. Supply and uptake of nonessential AA were unchanged by dietary treatment, and uptake was insufficient to account for output of nonessential AA residues in milk protein. The supply of essential AA was not limiting for milk protein synthesis, and some alternative mechanism must have existed for the control of milk protein yield

A Middle Palaeolithic wooden digging stick from Aranbaltza III, Spain

Aranbaltza is an archaeological complex formed by at least three open-air sites. Between 2014 and 2015 a test excavation carried out in Aranbaltza III revealed the presence of a sand and clay sedimentary sequence formed in floodplain environments, within which six sedimentary units have been identified. This sequence was formed between 137±50 ka, and includes several archaeological horizons, attesting to the long-term presence of Neanderthal communities in this area. One of these horizons, corresponding with Unit 4, yielded two wooden tools. One of these tools is a beveled pointed tool that was shaped through a complex operational sequence involving branch shaping, bark peeling, twig removal, shaping, polishing, thermal exposition and chopping. A use-wear analysis of the tool shows it to have traces related with digging soil so it has been interpreted as representing a digging stick. This is the first time such a tool has been identified in a European Late Middle Palaeolithic context; it also represents one of the first well-preserved Middle Palaeolithic wooden tool found in southern Europe. This artefact represents one of the few examples available of wooden tool preservation for the European Palaeolithic, allowing us to further explore the role wooden technologies played in Neanderthal communities