Postglacial colonization and parallel evolution of metal tolerance in the polyploid Cerastium alpinum

The Fennoscandian flora is characterized by a high frequency of polyploids, probably because they were more successful than diploid plants in colonizing after the last Ice Age. The first postglacial colonizers were likely poor competitors and became displaced from the lowlands as forests advanced. Consequently, many of these pioneers are currently found only above tree line. However, some have persisted within the forests on open habitats such as naturally toxic serpentine soils where succession is arrested at the pioneer stage. These populations represent relicts of former widely distributed plants. The polyploid Cerastium alpinum L. (Caryophyllaceae) grows on serpentine soils throughout Fennoscandia. C. alpinum populations on different soil types provide a model system for the study of the early postglacial colonization history of Fennoscandia. Genetic markers showed that C. alpinum populations in western Fennoscandia differ genetically from eastern populations, suggesting a two-way colonization. The two lineages meet in a hybrid zone in Northern Scandinavia where a high degree of genetic variation was found. Plants from Fennoscandia and the Western Arctic (Canada, Greenland and Iceland) shared many AFLP fragments, which suggests they originate from common refugia. The Fennoscandian populations were more distantly related to the populations in potential refugia in southern Europe. In fact, the northern populations contained AFLP fragments not found in populations in the Pyrenees and the Alps. Lack of chloroplast DNA variation indicates fast postglacial range expansions and/or a recent origin of C. alpinum. Crosses were made to establish the inheritance of enzyme markers. The results strengthen the evidence for an allopolyploid origin of C. alpinum. Adjacent serpentine and non-serpentine populations of C. alpinum provide a model system of natural replicates to test whether adaptation to serpentine is constitutive (common for all populations) or locally evolved. A growth experiment with high concentrations of nickel and magnesium, two metals that limit the fertility of serpentine soils, showed that the degree of metal tolerance reflects site-specific soil conditions. Since local adaptation was found in both the eastern and the western immigration lineages, the postglacial colonization of Fennoscandia has involved parallel evolution of metal tolerance in C. alpinum

Effects of Complex Vertebral Malformation on Fertility in Swedish Holstein Cattle

Complex vertebral malformation (CVM) is an autosomal recessive inherited defect in the Holstein breed. It causes intra-uterine mortality through the entire gestation period leading to repeat breeding and involuntary culling of cows and thereby economic losses. The defect was first reported in Denmark in 1999 and a direct DNA test for the defect has been available since February 2001. The aim of this study was to investigate if Holstein bulls heterozygous for the CVM gene had reduced reproductive performance, measured as non-return rate (NRR) and in a daughter fertility index. All genotyped Swedish Holstein bulls born between 1995 and 1999 were included. Altogether 228 bulls were analysed, of which 53 bulls, i.e. 23%, were confirmed CVM carriers. A statistically significant difference between carriers and non-carriers in the relative breeding value for NRR was observed for 168 days NRR (101.1 ± 0.9 vs. 103.1 ± 0.6, p < 0.05). There was no difference for 28 days NRR whereas the difference approached significance for 56 days NRR. No significant effect of the paternal CVM genotype on the daughter fertility index was shown probably due to the complexity of traits this index is composed of. In conclusion, the study showed that carriers of the CVM defect have an inferior NRR compared with non-carriers

Seasonality of fertility measured by physical activity traits in Holstein cows

AbstractSeasonality of female fertility traits, including the interval from calving to first high activity (CFHA), duration of high activity episode (DHA), and strength of high activity episode (SHA) of first estrus, were studied. The physical activity traits were derived from electronic activity tags for 20,794 Holstein cows in 135 commercial Holstein herds in Denmark. Data were categorized in 3 ways: (1) into 4 seasons of calving: winter (January–March), spring (April–June), summer (July–September), and fall (October–December); (2) into 2 seasons: a cold season (October–March) and a warm season (April–September); and (3) into an increasing light season (IL; January–June), where daylight hours gradually increased, and a decreasing light season (DL; July–December), where daylight hours gradually decreased. At the phenotypic level, least squares means of CFHA were highest at 55d for cows calving in December and lowest at 31d for cows calving in September. The highest least squares means of DHA and SHA were recorded for cows calving in November and lowest for cows calving in May and June. Genetic parameters for all traits were estimated using average information-REML in a bivariate animal model that treated the same trait in different calving seasons as different traits. Heritability estimates for CFHA were highest for the winter season (0.13) and low for the other seasons (0.03–0.04), whereas heritability estimates for DHA and SHA were lowest for winter and highest for fall. Heritability estimates for CFHA for the cold season (0.17) was higher than that for the warm season (0.10). Heritability estimates of CFHA for the IL season (0.12) was higher than for the DL season (0.07), but the opposite pattern was found for DHA and SHA. Genetic correlations (rA) of CFHA between winter and summer (rA=0.34±0.27), and winter and fall (rA=0.65±0.20) were significantly lower than unity. The corresponding correlations of DHA and SHA between seasons were all close to unity, except for the correlation of SHA between winter and fall (rA=0.36±0.34). When the year was split into only 2 seasons, the genetic correlation of CFHA between cold and warm seasons was only moderate (rA=0.46±0.15) but was slightly stronger between IL and DL seasons (rA=0.63±0.16); both significantly deviated from unity. These results indicate the existence of a genotype by environment interaction for CFHA regardless of calving season classification

Genetic parameters of forage dry matter intake and milk produced from forage in Swedish Red and Holstein dairy cows

High-yielding dairy cows are often fed high proportions of cereal grain and pulses. For several reasons, it would be desirable to replace these feed sources with forage, which is not suitable for human consumption. Feeding large amounts of forage to dairy cows could also make dairy production more publicly acceptable in the future. In this study, we estimated genetic parameters for total dry matter intake (DMI), DMI from forage (DMIFor), energy-corrected milk (ECM), and ECM produced from forage (ECMFor). A total of 1,177 lactations from 575 cows of Swedish Red (SR) and Holstein (HOL) dairy breeds were included in the study. Mixed linear animal random regression models were used, with fixed effect of calving season and lactation week nested within parity 1 and 2+, fixed effect of calving year, and random regression coefficients for breeding value (up to linear) and permanent environmental effect (up to quadratic) of the cow. Heritability for DMI and DMIFor was generally higher for HOL than for SR in all-parity data and in later parities; however, the opposite was true for first parity. Heritability for DMI and DMIFor during the first 8 wk averaged 0.11 and 0.15, respectively, in all-parity data for the 2 breeds. Corresponding values for ECMFor and ECM were 0.21 and 0.29, respectively. In first parity, values were 0.32, 0.36, 0.28, and 0.51, respectively. The genetic correlation between DMI and DMIFor was high, above 0.83, and fairly constant across the lactation. The genetic correlation between ECMFor and ECM was close to unity in the later part of lactation for both breeds, but was around 0.8 in the early lactation for both breeds; it decreased for HOL to 0.54 in wk 17. The genetic correlations between DMI and ECMFor and between DMIFor and ECMFor were low and negative for HOL (absolute value similar to 0.2-0.3), but changed for SR from weakly positive in early lactation to negative values and back to positive toward the end of lactation. For most traits, the correlation between wk 1 and wk 8 into the lactation was very high; the lowest value was for DMI in HOL at 0.81. The genetic correlation between parities was rather high in the first part of the lactation. During the first 8 wk, the correlation was lower for HOL than for SR, except for ECM. We found that DMIFor and ECMFor showed reasonably large heritability, and future work should explore the possibility of genomic evaluations

Occupational affiliation does not influence practical skills in cardiopulmonary resuscitation for in-hospital healthcare professionals

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>D-CPR (Defibrillator Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation) is a technique for optimal basic life support during cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). Guidelines recommend that healthcare professionals can perform CPR with competence. How CPR training and provision is organized varies between hospitals, and it is our impression that in Sweden this has generally improved during the last 15-20 years. However, some hospitals still do not have any AED (Automated External Defibrillators). The aim was to investigate potential differences in practical skills between different healthcare professions before and after training in D-CPR.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Seventy-four healthcare professionals were video recorded and evaluated for adherence to a modified Cardiff Score. A Laerdal Resusci Anne manikin in connection to PC Skill reporting System was used to evaluate CPR quality. A simulated CPR situation was accomplished during a 5-10 min scenario of ventricular fibrillation. Paired and unpaired statistical methods were used to examine differences within and between occupations with respect to the intervention.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>There were no differences in skills among the different healthcare professions, except for compressions per minute. In total, the number of compression per minute and depth improved for all groups (<it>P </it>< 0.001). In total, 41% of the participants used AED before and 96% of the participants used AED after the intervention (<it>P </it>< 0.001). Before intervention, it took a median time of 120 seconds until the AED was used; after the intervention, it took 82 seconds.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Nearly all healthcare professionals learned to use the AED. There were no differences in CPR skill performances among the different healthcare professionals.</p

“ANALISIS PENGARUH THEORY OF PLANNED BEHAVIOR, NILAI YANG DIRASAKAN, DAN KESEDIAAN UNTUK MEMBAYAR TERHADAP PERILAKU PEMBELIAN KONSUMEN MELALUI MINAT BELI KONSUMEN SEBAGAI VARIABEL INTERVENING” (STUDI PADA KONSUMEN THE BODY SHOP di CITRALAND SEMARANG)

Green consumption by the community can be an effective way to minimize negative impacts on the environment. Research related to consumer behavior in consuming environmentally friendly products in developing countries such as Indonesia is very little and rarely. Considering this, researchers in this study have tried to understand consumer behavior to buy environmentally friendly products in the context of developing countries such as Indonesia. Based on the gaps phenomenon above, this study aims to analyze what factors influence consumer purchasing behavior on environmentally friendly products. And in this study using the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) variable and then expanding the Theory of Planned Behavior using additional variables, namely perceived value and willingness to pay and consumer buying intention as intervening variables. The population used in this study were female consumers of The Body Shop who are domiciled in Semarang aged 20-60 years and purchased The Body Shop products at the Citraland Semarang for more than 3 months. The number of samples used in this study were 150 respondents. The method of data collection is done through a questionnaire. This research uses Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) analysis technique using AMOS 24.0 analysis tool. The test results using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) analysis techniques indicate that the model is not in accordance with population data. While the hypothesis testing shows that four hypotheses from six hypotheses can be accepted and proven in this study, namely attitudes, subjective norms, and willingness to pay affect consumer buying intention and consumer buying intention influence consumer buying behavior. And the two hypotheses rejected in this study are subjective norms and values that are assessed do not have an influence on consumer buying interest

Ny studie visar att SRB har lägre dräktighetsförluster än Holstein

Ny studie visar att SRB har lägre dräktighetsförlust än Holstein. De totala dräktighetsförlusterna efter inseminering var ca 54% för SRB och ca 61% för Holstein. Dessa baserades på automatiska registreringar av mjölkprogesteron. Arvbarheterna för dräktighetsförlusterna var låga men jämförbara med klassiska fruktsamhetsegenskaper. Studien ger underlag för hur man bättre ska kunna ta hänsyn till dräktighetsförluster inom avelsarbetet

Genetic parameters for reproductive losses estimated from in-line milk progesterone profiles in Swedish dairy cattle

This study assessed the extent of reproductive losses and associated genetic parameters in dairy cattle, using in-line milk progesterone records for 14 Swedish herds collected by DeLaval's Herd Navigator. A total of 330,071 progesterone samples were linked to 10,219 inseminations (AI) from 5,238 lactations in 1,457 Swedish Red and 1,847 Swedish Holstein cows. Pregnancy loss traits were defined as early embryonic loss (1–24 d after AI), late embryonic loss (25–41 d after AI), fetal loss (42 d after AI until calving), and total pregnancy loss (from d 1 after AI until calving). The following classical fertility traits were also analyzed: interval from calving to first service, interval from calving to last service, interval between first and last service, calving interval, and number of inseminations per service period. Least squares means with standard error (LSM ± SE), heritabilities, and genetic correlations were estimated in a mixed linear model. Fixed effects included breed, parity (1, 2, ≥3), estrus cycle number when the AI took place, and a linear regression on 305-d milk yield. Herd by year and season of AI, cow, and permanent environmental effect were considered random effects. Extensive (approximately 45%) early embryonic loss was found, but with no difference between the breeds. Swedish Red was superior to Swedish Holstein in the remaining pregnancy loss traits with, respectively: late embryonic loss of 6.1 ± 1.2% compared with 13.3 ± 1.1%, fetal loss of 7.0 ± 1.2% compared with 12.3 ± 1.2%, and total pregnancy loss of 54.4 ± 1.4% compared with 60.6 ± 1.4%. Swedish Red also had shorter calving to first service and calving to last service than Swedish Holstein. Estimated heritability was 0.03, 0.06, and 0.02 for early embryonic, late embryonic, and total pregnancy loss, respectively. Milk yield was moderately genetically correlated with both early and late embryonic loss (0.52 and 0.39, respectively). The pregnancy loss traits were also correlated with several classical fertility traits (−0.46 to 0.92). In conclusion, Swedish Red cows had lower reproductive loss during late embryonic stage, fetal stage, and in total, and better fertility than Swedish Holstein cows. The heritability estimates for pregnancy loss traits were of the same order of magnitude as previously reported for classical fertility traits. These findings could be valuable in work to determine genetic variation in reproductive loss and its potential usefulness as an alternative fertility trait to be considered in genetic or genomic evaluations