Physiological and thermographic response to heat stress in zebu cattle

AbstractThe objective of this study was to evaluate the heat tolerance of five zebu breeds using physical, physiological and hematological traits as well as thermographic responses. Forty cows of the Gir, Girolando, Nelore, Sindhi and Indubrasil breeds (eight cows each), approximately three years of age, were evaluated. Body weight, withers and hump heights as well as thoracic circumference were recorded. The density and length of the hair was obtained by collecting one square centimeter in the rump region and skin color using the CIELAB system. Rectal temperature, heart and respiratory rates were evaluated during the morning at 4:30h, and in the afternoon, at 14:30h, with six repetitions. Blood samples were collected for hematological evaluation. The surface temperature was obtained using an infrared camera FLIR® T400. Two images were taken from each animal, one laterally of the whole body and the other of the head region. Air temperature, wind speed, relative humidity were obtained from a mobile weather station. The statistics analysis included an analyzes of variance, principal factors, as well as cluster, discriminant and canonical analyzes, logistic regression and calculation of odds ratio. There were significant differences in the rectal temperature, heart and respiratory rates between breeds. Gir and Indubrasil breeds had the highest rectal temperatures. Breed was significant for surface temperatures and showed that physical and physiological factors affected breeds in different ways. Eye and brain surface temperatures were the most affected by environmental parameters. Also, environmental parameters affected packed cell volume and red cell number. Odds ratio test showed that the Gir breed was three times more likely to have higher rectal temperature compared with Sindhi as confirmed by the logistic regression. When the black globe temperature approached 35°C, the probability of the Gir animals having rectal temperatures above normal was approximately 70%. Gir was the breed least adapted to climate conditions of the experiment while the Sindhi and Girolando breeds showed the best physiological response to thermal stress

Lessons From The Epidemiological Surveillance Program, During The Influenza A (h1n1) Virus Epidemic, In A Reference University Hospital Of Southeastern Brazil [lições Aprendidas Pelo Programa De Vigilância Epidemiológica, Durante A Epidemia Pelo Vírus Da Influenza A (h1n1), Em Um Hospital Universitário Na Região Sudeste Do Brasil]

Introduction: The case definition of influenza-like illness (ILI) is a powerful epidemiological tool during influenza epidemics. Methods: A prospective cohort study was conducted to evaluate the impact of two definitions used as epidemiological tools, in adults and children, during the influenza A H1N1 epidemic. Patients were included if they had upper respiratory samples tested for influenza by real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction during two periods, using the ILI definition (coughing + temperature ≥ 38°C) in period 1, and the definition of severe acute respiratory infection (ARS) (coughing + temperature ≥ 38°C and dyspnoea) in period 2. Results: The study included 366 adults and 147 children, covering 243 cases of ILI and 270 cases of ARS. Laboratory confirmed cases of influenza were higher in adults (50%) than in children (21.6%) (p < 0.0001) and influenza infection was more prevalent in the ILI definition (53%) than ARS (24.4%) (p < 0.0001). Adults reported more chills and myalgia than children (p = 0.0001). Oseltamivir was administered in 58% and 46% of adults and children with influenza A H1N1, respectively. The influenza A H1N1 case fatality rate was 7% in adults and 8.3% in children. The mean time from onset of illness until antiviral administration was 4 days. Conclusions: The modification of ILI to ARS definition resulted in less accuracy in influenza diagnosis and did not improve the appropriate time and use of antiviral medication.444405411Dawood, F.S., Jain, S., Finelli, L., Shaw, M.W., Lindstrom, S., Emergence of a novel swineorigin influenza A (H1N1) virus in humans (2009) N Engl J Med, 360, pp. 2605-2615. , Novel swine-origin influenza A (H1N1) virus investigation team, et alPeiris, J.S., Poon, L.L., Guan, Y., Emergence of a novel swine-origin influenza A virus (S-OIV) H1N1 virus in humans (2009) J Clin Virol, 45, pp. 169-173Antigenic and genetic characteristics of swine-origin 2009 A (H1N1) influenza viruses circulating in humans (2009) Science, 325, pp. 197-201. , WHO Collaborating Center for Influenza, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, et alSmith, G.J.D., Vijaykrishna, D., Bahl, J., Lycett, S.J., Worobey, M., Pybus, O.G., Origins and evolutionary genomics of the 2009 swine-origin H1N1 influenza A epidemic (2009) Nature, 450, pp. 1122-1126Oliveira, W.K., Penna, G., Kuchenbecker, R., Santos, H., Araujo, W., (2009) Pandemic H1N1 Influenza in Brazil: Analysis of the First 34,506 Notified Cases of Influenza-like Illness with Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI), , http://www.eurosurveillance.org/viewarticle.aspx?articleid=19362/, Surveillance Team for the pandemic influenza A(H1N1) 2009 in the Ministry of Health, et al, Euro Surveill, Available fromBerts, R.F., Flu virus (1995) Principles and Practice of Infectious Diseases, pp. 1546-1567. , In: Mandell GL, Bennett JE, Dolin R, editors, 4th ed. New York: Churchill LivingstoneBoivin, G., Hardy, I., Tellier, G., Maziade, J., Predicting flu infections during epidemics with the use of a clinical definition (2000) Clin Infect Dis, 31, pp. 1166-1169Monto, A.S., Gravenstein, S., Elliott, M., Colopy, M., Schweinle, J., Clinical signs and symptoms predicting influenza infection (2000) Arch Int Med, 160, pp. 3243-3247Ong, A.K., Chen, M.I., Lin, L., Tan, A.S., Nwe, N.W., Barkham, T., A comparative analysis of new influenza A (H1N1) cases (2009) PlosONE, 4, pp. e8453. , Improving the clinical diagnosis of influenzaChan, M.C., Chan, R.W., Yu, W.C., Ho, C.C., Yuen, K.M., Fong, J.H., Tropism and innate host responses of the 2009 pandemic H1N1 influenza virus in ex vivo and in vitro cultures of human conjunctiva and respiratory tract (2010) Am J Pathol, 176, pp. 1828-1840O'Riordan, S., Barton, M., Yau, Y., Read, S.E., Allen, U., Tran, D., Risk factors and outcomes among children admitted to hospital with pandemic H1N1 influenza (2010) CMAJ, 182, pp. 39-44Babcock, H.M., Merz, L.R., Fraser, V.J., Is influenza an influenza-like illness? Clinical presentation of influenza in hospitalized patients (2006) Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol, 27, pp. 266-270Kelly, H., Birch, C., The causes and diagnosis of influenza-like illness (2004) Aust Family Physician, 33, pp. 305-309Clinical aspects of pandemic 2009 influenza A (H1N1) virus infection (2010) N Engl J Med, 362, pp. 1708-1719. , Writing Committee of the WHO consultation on Clinical Aspects of Pandemic (H1N1) 2009 InfluenzaPresanis, A.M., de Angelis, D., Hagy, A., Reed, C., Riley, S., The severity of pandemic H1N1 influenza in the United States from April to July 2009: A Bayesian analysis (2009) PLoS Med, 6, pp. e1000207. , New York City Swine Flu Investigation TeamDonaldson, L.J., Rutter, P.D., Ellis, B.M., Greaves, F.E., Mytton, O.T., Pebody, R.G., Mortality from pandemic A/H1N1 2009 influenza in England: Public health surveillance study (2009) BMJ, 339, pp. b5213(2010), http://portal.salud.gov.mx/contenidos/noticias/influenza/estadisticas.html/, Secretaria de Salud Mexico. Estadísticas [Internet]. Assessed in October, [cited 2011 Feb 15]. Available fromEchavarría, M., Querci, M., Marcone, D., Videla, C., Martinez, A., Bonvehi, P., Pandemic (H1N1) 2009 cases, Buenos Aires, Argentina (2010) Emerg Infect Dis, 16, pp. 311-313Uyeki, T., Diagnostic testing for 2009 pandemic influenza A (H1N1) virus infection in hospitalized patients (2009) N Engl J Med, 361, pp. e114Blyth, C.C., Iredell, J.R., Dwyer, D.E., Rapid-test sensitivity for novel swine-origin influenza A (H1N1) virus in humans (2009) N Engl J Med, 361, p. 25Lee, N., Chan, P.K., Hui, D.S., Rainer, T.H., Wong, E., Choi, K.W., Viral loads and duration of viral shedding in adult patients hospitalized with influenza (2009) J Infect Dis, 200, pp. 492-500Chang, Y.S., van Hal, S.J., Spencer, P.M., Gosbell, I.B., Collett, P.W., Comparison of adult patients hospitalized with pandemic (H1N1) 2009 influenza and seasonal influenza during the "PROJECT" phase of the pandemic response (2010) Med J Aust, 192, pp. 90-93Shieh, W., Blau, D.M., Denison, A.M., Deleon-Carnes, M., Adem, P., Bhatnagar, J., 2009 pandemic influenza A (H1N1): Pathology and pathogenesis of 100 fatal cases in the United States (2010) Am J Pathol, 177, pp. 166-17

How does the replacement of rice flour with flours of higher nutritional quality impact the texture and sensory profile and acceptance of gluten-free chocolate cakes?

Gluten-free bakery products usually use rice flour as substitute for wheat flour. This paper aims to evaluate whether and how the substitution of rice flour for sorghum and teff flour changes the overall acceptance, texture and sensory profile of gluten-free chocolate cakes. An experimental design composed of three factors (rice, sorghum and teff flours) was developed, and formulations were analysed by acceptance test and fibre content. Four formulations were submitted to sensory descriptive analysis. The formulations did not show significant differences in the overall acceptance although the sensory profile has changed. The texture was affected by the type of flour, being the optimised formulation the softer among the samples. From these data, it can be concluded that it is possible to replace rice flour with sorghum and teff flour in chocolate cake formulations, since the change in the sensory profile did not affect the acceptance of the products.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

COMPACTAÇÃO DE SOLOS EM LABORATÓRIO: EFEITO DO DIÂMETRO E DO NÚMERO DE CAMADAS DO CORPO DE PROVA

RESUMONeste trabalho, estudou-se a influência do diâmetro e do número de camadas do corpo de prova nas curvas de compactação de laboratório e na resistência mecânica de dois solos residuais de gnaisse da Zona da Mata Norte de Minas Gerais, respectivamente, de texturas argilo-areno-siltosa (Solo 1) e areno-silto-argilosa (Solo 2), com vistas à construção de estradas florestais. Além dos resultados dos ensaios de compactação, determinou-se a resistência à compressão não confinada dos solos empregando corpos de prova compactados na umidade ótima (wot) e nos teores de umidade 3% abaixo e 2% acima, considerando como referência a energia de compactação do ensaio Proctor normal e empregando corpos de prova compactados em uma, duas e três camadas, bem como nos diâmetros de 35 mm, 73 mm e 100 mm, com nove repetições. Para fins práticos de engenharia e com base em análise estatística aplicada aos parâmetros massa específica aparente seca e resistência à compressão não confinada, pode-se concluir que: (i) há diferenças significativas entre as compactações realizadas em uma e em três camadas, não ocorrendo o mesmo nas compactações realizadas em duas e em três camadas, para ambos os solos; e (ii) há diferenças significativas entre a compactação de corpos de prova de diâmetro 100 mm e os demais de 73 mm e 35 mm, para o solo 1 (argiloso), bem como há também diferenças apenas no ramo seco da curva de compactação, para o solo 2 (arenoso)

Thermostatistics of deformed bosons and fermions

Based on the q-deformed oscillator algebra, we study the behavior of the mean occupation number and its analogies with intermediate statistics and we obtain an expression in terms of an infinite continued fraction, thus clarifying successive approximations. In this framework, we study the thermostatistics of q-deformed bosons and fermions and show that thermodynamics can be built on the formalism of q-calculus. The entire structure of thermodynamics is preserved if ordinary derivatives are replaced by the use of an appropriate Jackson derivative and q-integral. Moreover, we derive the most important thermodynamic functions and we study the q-boson and q-fermion ideal gas in the thermodynamic limit.Comment: 14 pages, 2 figure

Einstein@Home DISCOVERY of A PALFA MILLISECOND PULSAR in AN ECCENTRIC BINARY ORBIT

We report the discovery of the millisecond pulsar (MSP) PSR J1950+2414 (P = 4.3 ms) in a binary system with an eccentric (e = 0.08) 22 day orbit in Pulsar Arecibo L-band Feed Array survey observations with the Arecibo telescope. Its companion star has a median mass of 0.3 Mo and is most likely a white dwarf (WD). Fully recycled MSPs like this one are thought to be old neutron stars spun-up by mass transfer from a companion star. This process should circularize the orbit, as is observed for the vast majority of binary MSPs, which predominantly have orbital eccentricities e \u3c 0.001. However, four recently discovered binary MSPs have orbits with 0. 027 \u3c e \u3c 0.44; PSR J1950+2414 is the fifth such system to be discovered. The upper limits for its intrinsic spin period derivative and inferred surface magnetic field strength are comparable to those of the general MSP population. The large eccentricities are incompatible with the predictions of the standard recycling scenario: something unusual happened during their evolution. Proposed scenarios are (a) initial evolution of the pulsar in a triple system which became dynamically unstable, (b) origin in an exchange encounter in an environment with high stellar density, (c) rotationally delayed accretion-induced collapse of a super-Chandrasekhar WD, and (d) dynamical interaction of the binary with a circumbinary disk. We compare the properties of all five known eccentric MSPs with the predictions of these formation channels. Future measurements of the masses and proper motion might allow us to firmly exclude some of the proposed formation scenarios