Ezra Pound: The Genius in the Bughouse: Review of \u3ci\u3e I Cease Not to Yowl : Ezra Pound\u27s Letters to Olivia Rossetti Agresti\u3ci\u3e, ed. Demetres P. Tryphonopoulos and Leon Surette.

I mention this personal encounter because in this volume of letters from Pound to Olivia Rossetti Agresti, mostly written from St. Elizabeths, there is not a single mention of the. conditions under which he was living. He had been confined to the hospital in January 1946 after being adjudged by psychiatrists eccentric, querulous, and egocentric, and unfit to stand trial for treason as a consequence of broadcasting over Rome radio during the war. For a year, he was housed in a barred cell in the criminal ward, then released to a general ward, and finally, toward the end of his imprisonment in 1958 allowed a pnvate room and the freedom of the hospital garden. Pound endured this incarceration with a stoicism and serenity little short of miraculous. He was allowed access to writing materials and books and, later on, unlimited visitors, and he maintained a voluminous correspondence. His visits were like impromptu seminars or, more often, monologues, during which he kept up a ceaseless flow of ideas and homilies

Differentially expressed genes for aggressive pecking behaviour in laying hens

BACKGROUND: Aggressive behaviour is an important aspect in the daily lives of animals living in groups. Aggressive animals have advantages, such as better access to food or territories, and they produce more offspring than low ranking animals. The social hierarchy in chickens is measured using the 'pecking order' concept, which counts the number of aggressive pecks given and received. To date, little is known about the underlying genetics of the 'pecking order'. RESULTS: A total of 60 hens from a high feather pecking selection line were divided into three groups: only receivers (R), only peckers (P) and mixed peckers and receivers (P&R). In comparing the R and P groups, we observed that there were 40 differentially expressed genes [false discovery rate (FDR) P < 0.10]. It was not fully clear how the 40 genes regulated aggressive behaviour; however, gene set analysis detected a number of GO identifiers, which were potentially involved in aggressive behavioural processes. These genes code for synaptosomes (GO:0019797), and proteins involved in the regulation of the excitatory postsynaptic membrane potential (GO:0060079), the regulation of the membrane potential (GO:0042391), and glutamate receptor binding (GO:0035254). CONCLUSION: In conclusion, our study provides new insights into which genes are involved in aggressive behaviours in chickens. Pecking and receiving hens exhibited different gene expression profiles in their brains. Following confirmation, the identification of differentially expressed genes may elucidate how the pecking order forms in laying hens at a molecular level

Detailed milk fatty acid profiling of the Danish dairy cattle population

Abstract Milk fatty acid (FA) composition can be manipulated through feeding, and especially effects of grazing have been shown to promote a healthier milk FA profile due to increasing contents of beneficial FAs, like conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) and α-linolenic acid (C18:3, the main n3 FA in milk). In addition to diet-based manipulations, selective breeding for specific FA could also be a strategy for altering the FA profile as milk FA display low to moderate heritabilites (0.07-0.34 in Danish Holstein). Since 2015, milk samples from all Danish dairy cows under yield control have been analyzed using mid infrared spectroscopy. The FOSS Application Note 64 has subsequently been used to predict content of seven FA groups (short-chain FA (SCFA), medium-chain FA (MCFA), long-chain FA (LCFA), saturated FA (SFA), mono-unsaturated FA (MUFA), poly-unsaturated FA (PUFA), and trans FA (TFA)) together with four individual FA (myristic acid (C14:0), palmitic acid (C16:0), stearic acid (C18:0), oleic acid (C18:1)). This access to millions of FA profiles in milk enables large-scale in depth analyses of factors affecting FA profile of milk and accurate genetic parameter estimation. Initially, more than 3.5 million milk samples from three Danish dairy breeds (Holstein, Jersey, Red) and crossbred cows have been analyzed from May 2015 to October 2016. The results showed significant (P ≤ 0.05) effects of cow breed. As reported earlier, Jersey cows have a higher de novo synthesis, resulting in higher proportions of SFA, MCFA, SCFA and C16:0 compared to the other breeds. For parity (only checked in Holstein), the proportion of SFA and SCFA increased with increasing lactation number, whereas the proportion of MUFA and C16:0 decreased. PUFA had the lowest proportion in 2nd parity and the highest in 1st parity. Also, significant effects of production system (organic vs. conventional) was found, as organic dairy cows due to legislation have to be on pasture during summer. In months, where cows were fed fresh grass, the proportion of unsaturated FA increased, whereas the proportion of saturated FA decreased. This was seen in both organic, and to a lesser extent, in conventional milk. A healthier FA profile can be obtained by increasing MUFA and PUFA in milk. However, health aspects in relation to SFA are more complex, but there seems to be a general agreement that most SFA have neutral or even slightly positive effects, whereas palmitic acid exerts a negative effect on human health due to its role in increased LDL cholesterol. Thus from a consumers perspective, our results suggest that organic summer milk from 1st parity Holstein or Red cows are preferred during the grass season, whereas conventional milk may have a healthier FA profile during winter. To explore specific seasonal effect in relation to pasture-based diets in more details, milk samples from 160 cows from eight herds are collected to investigate whether bulls with extreme SFA% breeding values are reflected in the FA milk profile from their daughters. The collected milk samples will be analyzed by AN64 MIR, as well as by gas chromatography, to provide additional information e.g. in relation to CLA and C18:3 and the n3/n6 ratio. So far, milk samples have been collected prior to summer grazing and will be collected again in June 2017, where most cows in the experiment will be on pasture. In conclusion, this study has shown that the choice of breed, parity, lactation stage, season, production system and genetics affect the FA composition of milk. Different strategies may therefore be applied to alter the FA profile, but generally, which could be exploited for product differentiation for e.g. new healthier innovative dairy products

Fedtsyreprofilen i mælk fra malkekøer – Potentiale og perspektiver

Projektet SOBcows har i samarbejde med RYK gennem 16 måneder i 2015/16 analyseret for indholdet af 11 fedtsyrer/fedtsyregrupper i kontrolmælken fra alle ydelseskontrollerede køer i Danmark. Dataanalyser af godt 3,5 mio. mælkeprøver viser, at det er muligt at påvirke sammensætning af mælkefedtet gennem avl. En foreløbig beregning af arvbarheden hen over laktationen viser, at alle fedtsyrekategorier har en genetisk variation og enkeltfedtsyrerne har arvbarheder på højde med den samlede fedtydelse. Det betyder arvbarheder i intervallet 0,25-0,44 afhængig af race og paritet. De genetiske sammenhænge varierer betydeligt gennem laktationen og er påvirket af den øgede kropsmobilisering i de første måneder efter kælvning. En anvendelse af fedtstyrebestemmelserne i avlen vil derfor kræve en opdeling af laktationen i mindst to perioder. Samlet kan det konkluderes, at der er et betydeligt avlsmæssigt potentiale, og hvis der kommer et dansk marked for mælkeprodukter med særlige egenskaber, vil det være oplagt at ændre genetikken i gunstig retning og samtidigt udnytte de fodringsmæssige muligheder for at producere mælk med en sundhedsfremmende fedtsyreprofil. Datamaterialet her og fedtsyremåling af samtlige mælkeprøver i ydelseskontrollen giver en unik position i forhold til det

Radiation Hardness of dSiPM Sensors in a Proton Therapy Radiation Environment

In vivo verification of dose delivery in proton therapy by means of positron emission tomography (PET) or prompt gamma imaging is mostly based on fast scintillation detectors. The digital silicon photomultiplier (dSiPM) allows excellent scintillation detector timing properties and is thus being considered for such verification methods. We present here the results of the first investigation of radiation damage to dSiPM sensors in a proton therapy radiation environment. Radiation hardness experiments were performed at the AGOR cyclotron facility at the KVI-Center for Advanced Radiation Technology, University of Groningen. A 150-MeV proton beam was fully stopped in a water target. In the first experiment, bare dSiPM sensors were placed at 25 cm from the Bragg peak, perpendicular to the beam direction, a geometry typical for an in situ implementation of a PET or prompt gamma imaging device. In the second experiment, dSiPM-based PET detectors containing lutetium yttrium orthosilicate scintillator crystal arrays were placed at 2 and 4 m from the Bragg peak, perpendicular to the beam direction; resembling an in-room PET implementation. Furthermore, the experimental setup was simulated with a Geant4-based Monte Carlo code in order to determine the angular and energy distributions of the neutrons and to determine the 1-MeV equivalent neutron fluences delivered to the dSiPM sensors. A noticeable increase in dark count rate (DCR) after an irradiation with about 108 1-MeV equivalent neutrons/cm2 agrees with observations by others for analog SiPMs, indicating that the radiation damage occurs in the single photon avalanche diodes and not in the electronics integrated on the sensor chip. It was found that in the in situ location, the DCR becomes too large for successful operation after the equivalent of a few weeks of use in a proton therapy treatment room (about 5× 103 protons). For PET detectors in an in-room setup, detector performance was unchanged even after an irradiation equivalent to three years of use in a treatment room (3× 1015 protons)

Improving the resilience‐enabling capacity of the Common Agricultural Policy: policy recommendations for more resilient EU farming systems

One of the aims of the post‐2020 Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is to improve the resilience of Europe's farming systems. The CAP of the budget period 2014–2020, however, has insufficiently supported the resilience of farming systems. The ongoing CAP reform process offers an appropriate opportunity to integrate a broader perspective on resilience in the CAP. We therefore propose a set of policy recommendations on how to improve the capability of the CAP to support more fully the resilience (i.e. robustness, adaptability and transformability) of farming systems in the EU. The policy recommendations are based on a comparative analysis of six national co‐design workshops with stakeholders and a final EU‐level workshop with Brussels‐based experts. We concluded three key lessons about the CAP's influence on resilience: (1) resilience challenges, needs and policy effects are context‐specific; (2) resilience capacities are complementary, but trade‐offs between robustness, adaptability and transformability occur at the level of policies and due to budget competition; (3) there is a need for a coordinated long‐term vision for Europe's agriculture, which is difficult to achieve through the bargaining processes associated with a CAP reform. We propose specific policy recommendations that could contribute to a better balance between policies that support robustness, adaptability and transformability of Europe's farming systems

Policies and Farming System Resilience

The EU’s Common Agricultural Policy appears essential for farming systems’ resilience, but its resilience-enabling effects in practice remain underexplored. We assessed how farming system actors perceive the CAP’s effects on resilience. The CAP contains a robustness-oriented approach, which actors expect to buffer stress and shocks, while adaptation receives less support and transformation is neglected. Policies need to a take a broader, integrated approach towards farming systems’ resilience