A genome-wide association study of bovine tuberculosis resistance in the Northern Ireland Holstein-Friesian dairy cattle population

The aim of this study was to determine whether herbage allowance (3000±200kg DM ha-1-high or 1800±200kg DM ha-1-low) had an influence on dairy cow preference to be indoors or at pasture. The preference of mid-late lactation Holstein dairy cows (n=16) for high/low pasture or being indoors (free-stall housing with mattresses; 1.5/cow) was tested during July-September 2011. Cows were randomly allocated into two groups of 8; each group of 8 was further divided into two groups of four, and tested during two study periods for 6 weeks each. In order to test cow motivation for access to pasture, each treatment was offered at two distances (38m-near or 254m-far). A Latin square was used to allocate each group to the order of low/high herbage and near/far distances. Cows were given 8 day training periods with access to both herbage allowances (high vs. low) followed by 5 days of measurement for each treatment. During measurements cows had free access to either being indoors or at pasture with

Treatment of chronic or relapsing COVID-19 in immunodeficiency

BACKGROUND: Patients with some types of immunodeficiency can suffer chronic or relapsing infection with SARS-CoV-2. This leads to morbidity and mortality, infection control challenges and the risk of evolution of novel viral variants. Optimal treatment for chronic COVID-19 is unknown. OBJECTIVE: To characterise a cohort of patients with chronic or relapsing COVID-19 disease and to record treatment response. METHODS: We conducted a UK physician survey to collect data on underlying diagnosis and demographics, clinical features and treatment response of immune deficient patients with chronic (at least 21 days) or relapsing (at least two episodes) of COVID-19. RESULTS: We identified 31 cases with a median age of 49 years. Underlying immune deficiency was characterised by antibody deficiency with absent or profoundly reduced peripheral B cells; prior anti-CD20 therapy and X-linked agammaglobulinemia were most common. Clinical features of COVID-19 were similar to the general population, but the median duration of symptomatic disease was 64 days (maximum 300 days) and individual patients experienced up to five episodes of illness. Remdesivir monotherapy (including when given for prolonged courses up to 20 days) was associated with sustained viral clearance in 7/23 (30.4%) clinical episodes whereas the combination of remdesivir with convalescent plasma or anti-SARS-CoV-2 monoclonal antibodies resulted in viral clearance in 13/14 (92.8%) episodes. Patients receiving no therapy did not clear SARS-CoV-2. CONCLUSIONS: COVID-19 can present as a chronic or relapsing disease in patients with antibody deficiency. Remdesivir monotherapy is frequently associated with treatment failure, but the combination of remdesivir with antibody-based therapeutics holds promise

Evidence for genetic variance in resistance to tuberculosis in Great Britain and Irish Holstein-Friesian populations

peer-reviewedBackground: Here, we jointly summarise scientific evidence for genetic variation in resistance to infection with Mycobacterium bovis, the primary agent of bovine tuberculosis (TB), provided by two recent and separate studies of Holstein-Friesian dairy cow populations in Great Britain (GB) and Ireland. Methods: The studies quantified genetic variation within archived data from field and abattoir surveillance control programmes within each country. These data included results from the single intradermal comparative tuberculin test (SICTT), abattoir inspection for TB lesions and laboratory confirmation of disease status. Threshold animal models were used to estimate variance components for responsiveness to the SICTT and abattoir confirmed M. bovis infection. The link functions between the observed 0/1 scale and the liability scale were the complementary log-log in the GB, and logit link function in the Irish population. Results and discussion: The estimated heritability of susceptibility to TB, as judged by responsiveness to the SICTT, was 0.16 (0.012) and 0.14 (0.025) in the GB and Irish populations, respectively. For abattoir or laboratory confirmation of infection, estimates were 0.18 (0.044) and 0.18 (0.041) from the GB and the Irish populations, respectively. Conclusions: Estimates were all significantly different from zero and indicate that exploitable variation exists among GB and Irish Holstein Friesian dairy cows for resistance to TB. Epidemiological analysis suggests that factors such as variation in exposure or imperfect sensitivity and specificity would have resulted in underestimation of the true values

A preliminary study of genetic factors that influence susceptibility to bovine tuberculosis in the British cattle herd

Associations between specific host genes and susceptibility to Mycobacterial infections such as tuberculosis have been reported in several species. Bovine tuberculosis (bTB) impacts greatly the UK cattle industry, yet genetic predispositions have yet to be identified. We therefore used a candidate gene approach to study 384 cattle of which 160 had reacted positively to an antigenic skin test (‘reactors’). Our approach was unusual in that it used microsatellite markers, embraced high breed diversity and focused particularly on detecting genes showing heterozygote advantage, a mode of action often overlooked in SNP-based studies. A panel of neutral markers was used to control for population substructure and using a general linear model-based approach we were also able to control for age. We found that substructure was surprisingly weak and identified two genomic regions that were strongly associated with reactor status, identified by markers INRA111 and BMS2753. In general the strength of association detected tended to vary depending on whether age was included in the model. At INRA111 a single genotype appears strongly protective with an overall odds ratio of 2.2, the effect being consistent across nine diverse breeds. Our results suggest that breeding strategies could be devised that would appreciably increase genetic resistance of cattle to bTB (strictly, reduce the frequency of incidence of reactors) with implications for the current debate concerning badger-culling

The Influence of the effect of solute on the thermodynamic driving force on grain refinement of Al alloys

Grain refinement is known to be strongly affected by the solute in cast alloys. Addition of some solute can reduce grain size considerably while others have a limited effect. This is usually attributed to the constitutional supercooling which is quantified by the growth restriction factor, Q. However, one factor that has not been considered is whether different solutes have differing effects on the thermodynamic driving force for solidification. This paper reveals that addition of solute reduces the driving force for solidification for a given undercooling, and that for a particular Q value, it is reduced more substantially when adding eutectic-forming solutes than peritectic-forming elements. Therefore, compared with the eutectic-forming solutes, addition of peritectic-forming solutes into Al alloys not only possesses a higher initial nucleation rate resulted from the larger thermodynamic driving force for solidification, but also promotes nucleation within the constitutionally supercooled zone during growth. As subsequent nucleation can occur at smaller constitutional supercoolings for peritectic-forming elements, a smaller grain size is thus produced. The very small constitutional supercooling required to trigger subsequent nucleation in alloys containing Ti is considered as a major contributor to its extraordinary grain refining efficiency in cast Al alloys even without the deliberate addition of inoculants.The Australian Research Council (ARC DP10955737)

Effects of zinc on leaf decomposition by fungi in streams : studies in microcosms

The effect of zinc on leaf decomposition by aquatic fungi was studied in microcosms. Alder leaf disks were precolonized for 15 days at the source of the Este River, and exposed to different zinc concentrations during 25 days. Leaf mass loss, fungal biomass (based on ergosterol concentration), fungal production (rates of [1-14C]acetate incorporation into ergosterol), sporulation rates and species richness of aquatic hyphomycetes were determined. At the source of the Este River decomposition of alder leaves was fast and 50% of the initial mass was lost in 25 days. A total of 18 aquatic hyphomycete species were recorded during 42 days of leaf immersion. Articulospora tetracladia was the dominant species, followed by Lunulospora curvula and two unidentified species with sigmoid conidia. Cluster analysis suggested that zinc concentration and exposure time affected the structure of aquatic hyphomycete assemblages, even though richness had not been severely affected. Both zinc concentration and exposure time significantly affected leaf mass loss, fungal production and sporulation, but not fungal biomass. Zinc exposure reduced leaf mass loss, inhibited fungal production and affected fungal reproduction by either stimulating or inhibiting sporulation rates. The results of this work suggested zinc pollution might depress leaf decomposition in streams due to changes in the structure and activity of aquatic fungi.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) – Programa Operacional “Ciência, Tecnologia, Inovação” (POCTI) - POCTI/34024/BSE/2000

Differentiation of the Lateral Compartment of the Cochlea Requires a Temporally Restricted FGF20 Signal

FGF20 signaling in mice is required specifically for the differentiation of cochlear outer hair cells, the cells most often damaged during age-related hearing loss

Sheep Updates 2005 - Part 4

This session covers twelve papers from different authors: REPRODUCTION 1. Is it worth increasing investment to increase lambing percentages? Lucy Anderton Department of Agriculture Western Australia. 2. What value is a lamb? John Young, Farming Systems Analysis Service, Kojonup, WA 3. Providing twin-bearing ewes with extra energy at lambing produces heavier lambs at marking. Rob Davidson WAMMCO International,, formerly University of Western Australia; Keith Croker, Ken Hart, Department of Agriculture Western Australia, Tim Wiese, Chuckem , Highbury, Western Australia. GENETICS 4. Underlying biological cause of trade-off between meat and wool. Part 1. Wool and muscle glycogen, BM Thomson, I Williams, University of WA, Crawley, JRBriegel, CSIRO Livestock Industries, Floreat Park WA &CRC for the Australian Sheep Industry, JC Greeff, Department of Agriculture Western Australia &CRC for the Australian Sheep Industry. 5. Underlying biological cause of trade-off between meat and wool. Part 2. Wool and fatness, NR Adams1,3, EN Bermingham1,3, JR Briegel1,3, JC Greeff2,3 1CSIRO Livestock Industries, Floreat Park WA 2Department of Agriculture Western Australia, 3CRC for the Australian Sheep Industry 6. Genetic trade-offs between lamb and wool production in Merino breeding programs, Johan Greeff, Department of Agriculture, Western Australia. 7. Clean fleece weight is no phenotypically independent of other traits. Sue Hatcherac and Gordon Refshaugebc aNSWDPI Orange Agricultural Institute, Orange NSW 2800 bUNE c/- NSWDPI Cowra AR&AS Cowra NSW 2794 cAustralian Sheep Industry CRC. 8. When you\u27re on a good thing, do it better: An economic analysis of sheep breed profitability. Emma Kopke, Ross Kingwell, Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, John Young, Farming Systems Analysis Service, Kojonup, WA. 9. Selection Demonstration Flocks: Demonstrating improvementsin productivity of merinos, K.E. Kemper, M.L. Hebart, F.D. Brien, K.S. Jaensch, R.J. Grimson, D.H. Smith South Australian Research and Development Institute 10. You are compromising yield by using Dust Penetration and GFW in breeding programs, Melanie Dowling, Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, A. (Tony) Schlink, CSIRO Livestock Industries, Wembley, Johan Greeff, Department of Agriculture Western Australia. 11. Merino Sheep can be bred for resistance to breech strike. Johan Greeff , John Karlsson, Department of Agriculture Western Australia 12. Parasite resistant sheep and hypersensitivity diarrhoea, L.J.E. Karlsson & J.C. Greeff, Department of Agriculture Western Australi

Transferring research from a university to the United Kingdom National Health Service : The implications for impact

This is an Open Access article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.The aim of this article is to inform readers of the author's reflections on the experience of transferring universitybased research into the commercial sector, and of the processes and strategies employed when preparing for impact in so doing. Concepts for the transfer are illustrated by the author's reflection on aspects that arose during the birthing and subsequent start-up of a university spin-off, Pathways2Wellbeing, a form of reflection-on-action. This is the vehicle for the adaption required to transfer research into the delivery of a specialised clinic in the United Kingdom National Health Service for people with medically unexplained, persistent, bodily symptoms such as fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue and chronic pain. It is hoped that the article will provide readers with an insight into how knowledge transfer can take place through engagement with stakeholders to create an exchange of knowledges to result in impact on health service policy for service users, despite the challenges, and the enablers that facilitated this process. The reflections on the process of knowledge transfer and the implications for impact are underpinned by relevant theory.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

Structure and mechanics of supporting cells in the guinea pig organ of Corti.

The mechanical properties of the mammalian organ of Corti determine its sensitivity to sound frequency and intensity, and the structure of supporting cells changes progressively with frequency along the cochlea. From the apex (low frequency) to the base (high frequency) of the guinea pig cochlea inner pillar cells decrease in length incrementally from 75-55 µm whilst the number of axial microtubules increases from 1,300-2,100. The respective values for outer pillar cells are 120-65 µm and 1,500-3,000. This correlates with a progressive decrease in the length of the outer hair cells from >100 µm to 20 µm. Deiters'cell bodies vary from 60-50 µm long with relatively little change in microtubule number. Their phalangeal processes reflect the lengths of outer hair cells but their microtubule numbers do not change systematically. Correlations between cell length, microtubule number and cochlear location are poor below 1 kHz. Cell stiffness was estimated from direct mechanical measurements made previously from isolated inner and outer pillar cells. We estimate that between 200 Hz and 20 kHz axial stiffness, bending stiffness and buckling limits increase, respectively,~3, 6 and 4 fold for outer pillar cells, ~2, 3 and 2.5 fold for inner pillar cells and ~7, 20 and 24 fold for the phalangeal processes of Deiters'cells. There was little change in the Deiters'cell bodies for any parameter. Compensating for effective cell length the pillar cells are likely to be considerably stiffer than Deiters'cells with buckling limits 10-40 times greater. These data show a clear relationship between cell mechanics and frequency. However, measurements from single cells alone are insufficient and they must be combined with more accurate details of how the multicellular architecture influences the mechanical properties of the whole organ