Inflammation and apoptosis within the colon from horses with black walnut extract-induced laminitis: prognostic factors after esophageal obstruction in horses

Department Head: D. Paul Lunn.Includes bibliographical references (pages 19-25).To view the abstract, please see the full text of the document

Evaluation of a combination of alfaxalone and methadone, with or without midazolam, for premedication in healthy dogs

Introduction: The study objective was to evaluate sedative and physiologic effects of midazolam associated with a combination of methadone and alfaxalone for IM premedication in dogs. Methods: Sixteen healthy dogs of various breeds, weighing 5–12 kg, classified ASA status I-II, randomly received a combination of 0.5 mg kg−1 of methadone and 1 mg kg−1 of alfaxalone with (MMA) or without (MA) 0.5 mg kg−1 of midazolam by IM injection. Quality of sedation was assessed at 10, 15, 20 and 25 minutes post-injection, by an observer blinded to treatment. Cardiovascular, respiratory variables and additional intravenous alfaxalone required for endotracheal intubation were recorded. Data were analyzed with mixed-effect linear model on rank or Mann-Whitney rank-sum test (p≤0.05). Results: There was no significant difference over time in heart rate, respiratory rate, systolic blood pressure, SpO2 and temperature between MA and MMA premedication. Sedation increased over time (p < 0.01), however dogs premedicated with MMA appeared significantly less sedated than dogs premedicated with MA at 15 (p=0.02), 20 (p=0.02) and 25 minutes (p=0.01) post-injection. This was substantiated by the fact that dogs premedicated with MMA were almost four times more likely to show delirium than those premedicated with MA (OR 3.95, CI 0.69-7.21, p=0.02). The amount of alfaxalone needed for intubation did not differ between treatments (p=0.92). Conclusion: Results suggest that adding midazolam to an IM combination of methadone and alfaxalone does not improve sedation scores or amount of agent needed for intubation in healthy dogs

Clinical efficacy of an ultrasound-guided bilateral rectus sheath block for umbilical hernia repair in calves: A prospective randomized trial

Introduction: Surgical umbilical hernia repair is a frequent procedure in newborn calves, requiring mandatory pain management. This study aimed to develop an ultrasound-guided rectus sheath block (RSB) and to evaluate its clinical efficacy in calves undergoing umbilical herniorrhaphy under general field anesthesia. Methods: Gross and ultrasound anatomy of the ventral abdomen and the diffusion of a new methylene blue solution after injection within the rectus sheath were described in seven fresh calf cadavers. Then, fourteen calves undergoing elective herniorrhaphy were randomly assigned to receive either bilateral ultrasound-guided RSB with 0.3 mL/kg of bupivacaine 0.25% and 0.15 µg/kg of dexmedetomidine or 0.3 mL/kg of 0.9% NaCl (control). Intraoperative data included cardiopulmonary variables and anesthetic requirements. Postoperative data included pain scores, sedation scores and peri-incisional mechanical threshold assessed by force algometry at specific time points after anesthetic recovery. Treatments were compared using Wilcoxon rank-sum, Student's t-test, and Cox proportional hazard model as appropriate. Mixed effect linear models on rank, with random effect calf; fixed effects time, treatment, and their interaction were used to compare pain scores and mechanical thresholds over time. Significance was set at p = 0.05. Results and Discussion: Calves receiving RSB recorded lower pain scores between 45 – 120 minutes (p < 0.05) and at 240 min after recovery (p = 0.02). And they recorded higher mechanical thresholds between 45 and 120 min after surgery (p < 0.05). Ultrasound-guided RSB provided effective perioperative analgesia in calves undergoing herniorrhaphy under field conditions

DNA-barcoding per l'identificazione di prodotti della pesca: indagine preliminare sul mercato bulgaro.

Il comparto ittico è uno tra i settori alimentari maggiormente soggetti a frode per sostituzione di specie. A livello europeo, già a partire dai primi anni 2000, è stata evidenziata la necessità di implementare un regime di controllo di tracciabilità dei prodotti della pesca ed un sistema di etichettatura condiviso tra i vari Stati Membri per l’armonizzazione del mercato ittico e la tutela della sicurezza e degli interessi del consumatore. Relativamente ai requisiti di etichettatura, il Reg. (UE) n. 1379/2013 stabilisce l’obbligo di fornire al consumatore la denominazione commerciale e scientifica del prodotto, oltre all’area geografica e alla modalità di cattura e, a tal proposito, ciascuno Stato Membro è tenuto alla pubblicazione ed aggiornamento di liste ufficiali riportanti le denominazioni commerciali autorizzate sul proprio territorio per la vendita dei prodotti ittici. La Bulgaria, entrata a far parte della Comunità Europea, attuale Unione Europea, a partire dal 1° gennaio 2007 è tenuta all’applicazione delle disposizioni comunitarie ma, ad oggi, non sono riportati studi indirizzati alla verifica dell’effettiva applicazione della vigente normativa per l’etichettatura e la conformità dei prodotti a livello di grande distribuzione. Il settore dei prodotti della pesca a riveste un ruolo marginale nell’economia nazionale ed i consumi sono essenzialmente indirizzati al consumo di specie locali (spratto, carpa, trota) e poche specie ittiche di importazione provenienti dal mercato intra ed extra-europeo. Nonostante ciò, dati recenti riportano un lieve aumento dei consumi in relazione agli aspetti salutistici. Il presente studio, condotto in collaborazione con il Dipartimento di Igiene degli Alimenti dell’Università di Trakia, rappresenta la prima indagine di controllo di conformità dei prodotti ittici commercializzati in Bulgaria con le disposizioni comunitarie. Lo studio ha previsto l’analisi preliminare delle informazioni riportate in etichetta e la successiva analisi molecolare di DNA-Barcoding sul target mitocondriale COI per la verifica dell’identità dei prodotti posti in vendita. Contestualmente, è stata effettuata un’analisi descrittiva della lista bulgara delle denominazioni ufficiali al fine di mettere in evidenza criticità e correttezza formale delle nomenclature riportate. In totale sono stati campionati 72 prodotti della pesca dei quali 65 costituiti da pesci e 7 da molluschi cefalopodi, tutti acquistati a livello locale presso punti vendita di tre catene di grande distribuzione. L’analisi dell’etichettatura ha messo in evidenza l’assenza della denominazione scientifica nel 40,3% dei prodotti, mentre nel 19,7% era indicata con una nomenclatura obsoleta e non più valida. Inoltre, a causa del ridotto numero di denominazioni ufficiali riportate nel decreto ministeriale bulgaro in corso di validità, solo il 26,2 % delle denominazioni riportate in etichetta era presente nella lista ufficiale. L’analisi di DNA barcoding, eseguita con successo su 71/72 prodotti analizzati ha permesso il raggiungimento dell’identificazione di specie nell’87% dei prodotti. L’11,3% dei prodotti riportanti in etichetta la denominazione scientifica sono risultati mislabelled. Il dato risulta però parziale dal momento che per i restanti campioni provvisti esclusivamente della denominazione commerciale i risultati molecolari sono stati utilizzati esclusivamente per verificare la corrispondenza del prodotto alla categoria individuata dalla denominazione. Lo studio ha messo in evidenza criticità rilevanti nell’applicazione delle disposizioni comunitarie e ha evidenziato la necessità di un profondo adeguamento della normativa nazionale. Da sottolineare in particolare l’urgenza di attuare una profonda revisione della lista delle denominazioni ufficiali e di intensificare i controlli ufficiali finalizzati alla verifica delle informazioni obbligatorie dei prodotti The fish sector is one of the most susceptible to fraudulent species substitution. At the European level, since the early 2000s, the need to implement the control system on the traceability of fishery products and to set a shared labelling system among all the Member States have been highlighted, to promote the harmonization of the fish market and to protect consumers’ safety and interests. Regarding the labelling requirements, the Regulation (EU) No. 1379/2013 establishes the obligation to provide the consumer with the commercial and scientific name of the product, in addition to the geographical area and to the method of capture. Thus, each Member State is required to draw up, publish and update a list of the commercial designations accepted in their territory for the sale of fishery products. Bulgaria, which has joined European Union (earlier European Community) since the 1st January 2007, is required to full fill the European provisions, but to date no studies aimed at verifying the effective application of the current legislation on labelling and the conformity of products at retail level are reported. The fishery sector plays a marginal role in the national economy and seafood consumption is essentially addressed to local species (sprat, carp, trout) and to a few fish species imported from other European or third countries. Nevertheless, recent data show a slight increase in the consumption of these products as a result of the promotion of healthy aspects. The present study, conducted in collaboration with the Department of Food Hygiene of the University of Trakia, represents a first survey to verify the compliance of fish products marketed in Bulgaria with European provisions. The study provided for a preliminary analysis of the labelled information and the subsequent DNA-Barcoding analysis on the mitochondrial target COI for verification of the products’ identity. Simultaneously, a descriptive analysis of the Bulgarian list of official denominations was carried out in order to highlight formal correctness and critical issues of the nomenclatures reported. 72 seafood products consisting of 65 fish and 7 cephalopod products, were collected from local stores of three different large retail companies. The analysis of the commercial labels highlighted the absence of the scientific denomination in 40.3% of products and the presence of obsolete and no longer valid scientific nomenclature in 19.7% of the samples. Moreover, due to the low number of designations provided in the Bulgarian ministerial decree, only 26.2% of the commercial designation labelled on the products was present in the official list. The DNA barcoding analysis, successfully performed on 71/72 products, allowed the identification of species in 87% of the cases. 11.3% of the products were mislabelled. However, only the products reporting the scientific name were considered in this analysis, while the others were not included in this percentage. For these products, the molecular results were instead only used to assess the matching between the identified species with the seafood category reported on the label. The study highlighted major issues in the application of European provisions and highlighted the need to deeply improve the national legislation. To be stressed, in particular, the urgency of implementing a thorough review of the list of official designations and to strengthen official controls aimed at verifying the mandatory information of the products

Flow resistance of rock chutes with protruding boulders

Steep and short rough channels, such as rock chutes, are used in river restoration as grade stabilization structures. The stability of these channels can be increased using boulders placed over the base material. The boulders can be placed with different configurations such as randomly or in rows. In each case, their presence affects the geometry of the channel and modifies the hydraulic resistance. This paper shows the results of tests conducted on rough channels with or without the insertion of protruding boulders. The parameters that influence the flow resistance, such as slope, relative submergence, and blocks disposition, were systematically investigated to describe the hydraulic behavior of the structure. The aim is to define a relationship, useful for practical design, which relates the flow resistance in terms of both Darcy-Weisbach friction factor and Manning coefficient. The results were combined with available data for loose rock riprap, to determine new experimental relationships

Handoff efficiente per reti wireless mesh con nodi mobili

Il presente lavoro di tesi è incentrato sullo sviluppo di un meccanismo di handoff efficiente per reti wireless mesh in un ambiente di mobilità urbana; lo scenario ipotizzato prevede la presenza di un wireless router mobile fissato su certo numero di autobus urbani unitamente alla presenza di molteplici wireless router statici lungo il percorso che tali autobus coprono. Il problema dell'handoff riguarda quindi la transizione del nodo mobile tra i due nodi statici costituenti ciascuna coppia incontrata lungo il percorso. In particolare gli sforzi sono stati concentrati sul meccanismo decisionale che, all'interno del processo complessivo di handoff, ha il compito di stabilire in quali istanti temporali far scattare la necessità di fare la transizione. Per progettare tale meccanismo in modo efficace ed efficiente è stato preso spunto da quanto già esiste in letteratura scientifica insieme ad una sistematica analisi del canale wireless in un contesto di mobilità urbana. Tale algoritmo decisionale è stato implementato all'interno di un modulo della piattaforma Click Modular Router presente sui dispositivi disponibili nel testbed di laboratorio utilizzato. E' stata quindi eseguita una estensiva campagna di test per validare il comportamento del modulo sviluppato

An EM-Based MAP Detector for CPM Signals Transmitted over Frequency-Flat Fading Channels

In this paper the expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm for maximum a posterJori (MAP) esti- mation of a random vector is applied to the problem of symbol detection for CPM signals transmitted over timeselective Rayleigh fading channels. This results in a soft-in soft-out (SISO) detection algorithm suitable for iterative detection/decoding schemes. Simulation results show that the error performance provided by the proposed solution is very close to that of a MAP detector endowed with an ideal knowledge of the channel state

MAP Symbol Estimation on Frequency-Flat Rayleigh Fading Channels Via a Bayesan EM Algorithm

In this paper an expectation-maximization (EM) technique for maximum a posteriori (MAP) estimation is employed to devise novel soft-in soft-out (SISO) algorithms for symbol detection over frequency flat Rayleigh .fading channels. An application o.f these algorithms to iterative decoding of coded PSK signals is proposed and some perJbrmance results are illustrated