Exogenous phytase and xylanase exhibit opposing effects on real-time gizzard pH in broiler chickens

1. The current study was conducted to evaluate the influence of high phytase doses and xylanase, individually and in combination, on performance, blood inositol and real time gastric pH in broilers fed wheat-based diets.  2. In a 42 d experiment, a total of 576 male Ross 308 broiler chicks were allocated to four dietary treatments. Treatments consisted of a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement, with 500 or 2500 FTU/kg phytase and 0 or 16000 BXU/kg xylanase, fed in two phases (starter 0–21; grower 21–42 d). Heidelberg pH capsules were administered to eight birds from each treatment group, pre and post diet phase change, with readings captured over a 5.5 h period.  3. At 21 and 42 d, birds fed 500 FTU/kg phytase without xylanase had on average 127g and 223 g lower weight gain than all other treatments, respectively (P<0.05). At 21 d, FCR was reduced (P<0.01) by 2500 FTU/kg phytase or xylanase, however, 42 d FCR was unaffected by enzyme treatment. Inositol content of plasma was twice that of the erythrocyte (P<0.001), with 2500 FTU/kg phytase tending to increase (P=0.07) inositol content in both blood fractions.  4. Across all treatments, capsule readings ranged from pH 0.54 to 4.84 in the gizzard of broilers. Addition of 2500 FTU/kg phytase to the grower diet reduced (P<0.05) average gizzard pH from 2.89 to 1.69, whilst feeding xylanase increased (P<0.001)gizzard pH from 2.04 to 2.40. In contrast, digital probe measurements showed no effect of xylanase on gizzard pH, while addition of 2500 FTU/kg phytase increased (P=0.05) pH compared to 500 FTU/kg phytase with or without xylanase.  5. These findings suggested that xylanase and high phytase doses have opposite effects on real-time gastric pH, while similarly improving performance of broilers

Exogenous phytase and xylanase exhibit opposing effects on real-time gizzard pH in broiler chickens

1. The current study was conducted to evaluate the influence of high phytase doses and xylanase, individually and in combination, on performance, blood inositol and real time gastric pH in broilers fed wheat-based diets.  2. In a 42 d experiment, a total of 576 male Ross 308 broiler chicks were allocated to four dietary treatments. Treatments consisted of a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement, with 500 or 2500 FTU/kg phytase and 0 or 16000 BXU/kg xylanase, fed in two phases (starter 0–21; grower 21–42 d). Heidelberg pH capsules were administered to eight birds from each treatment group, pre and post diet phase change, with readings captured over a 5.5 h period.  3. At 21 and 42 d, birds fed 500 FTU/kg phytase without xylanase had on average 127g and 223 g lower weight gain than all other treatments, respectively (P<0.05). At 21 d, FCR was reduced (P<0.01) by 2500 FTU/kg phytase or xylanase, however, 42 d FCR was unaffected by enzyme treatment. Inositol content of plasma was twice that of the erythrocyte (P<0.001), with 2500 FTU/kg phytase tending to increase (P=0.07) inositol content in both blood fractions.  4. Across all treatments, capsule readings ranged from pH 0.54 to 4.84 in the gizzard of broilers. Addition of 2500 FTU/kg phytase to the grower diet reduced (P<0.05) average gizzard pH from 2.89 to 1.69, whilst feeding xylanase increased (P<0.001)gizzard pH from 2.04 to 2.40. In contrast, digital probe measurements showed no effect of xylanase on gizzard pH, while addition of 2500 FTU/kg phytase increased (P=0.05) pH compared to 500 FTU/kg phytase with or without xylanase.  5. These findings suggested that xylanase and high phytase doses have opposite effects on real-time gastric pH, while similarly improving performance of broilers

The BSUIN project

Baltic Sea Underground Innovation Network (BSUIN) is an European Union funded project that extends capabilities of underground laboratories. The aim of the project is to join efforts in making the underground laboratories in the Baltic Sea Region’s more accessible for innovation, business development and science by improving the availability of information about the underground facilities, service offerings, user experience, safety and marketing.The development of standards for the characterization of underground laboratories will allow to compared them with each other. This will help you choose the best places for physical measurements such as neutrino physics or searching for dark matter. The project concerns laboratories where so far no measurements have been made, and even undergrounds where there are no organized laboratories yet.The description of the BSUIN project and the first results of characterization of natural radioactive background in underground laboratories will be presented ˙ The BSUIN Project is funded by Interreg Baltic Sea funding cooperation [2]

Towards a portable smart spatial exploration system for environment perception

International audienc

INSPEX: Make environment perception available as a portable system

International audienceObstacle avoidance systems for autonomous vehicles combine multiple sensing technologies (i.e. LiDAR, Radar, Ultrasound and Visual) to detect different types of obstacles across the full range of lighting and weather conditions. Sensor data are fused with vehicle orientation (obtained for instance from an Inertial Measurement Unit and/or compass) and navigation subsystems. Power hungry, they require powerful computational capability, which limits their use to high-end vehicles and robots. 2 INSPEX ambition The H2020 INSPEX project plans to make obstacle detection capabilities available as a personal portable multi-sensors, miniaturised, low power device. This device will detect, locate and warn of obstacles under different environmental conditions, in indoor/outdoor environments, with static and mobile obstacles. Potential applications range from safer human navigation in reduced visibility conditions (e.g. for first responders and fire brigades), small robot/drone obstacle avoidance systems to navigation for the visually and mobility impaired people. As primary demonstrator (Fig.1), we will plug the INSPEX device on a white cane (see Fig. 1) for Visually Impaired and Blind (VIB) people to detect obstacle over the whole person height, provide audio feedback about harmful obstacles, improve their mobility confidence and reduce injuries, especially at waist and head levels [1]. The device will offer a "safety cocoon" to its user

The Role of Motor Learning in Spatial Adaptation near a Tool

Some visual-tactile (bimodal) cells have visual receptive fields (vRFs) that overlap and extend moderately beyond the skin of the hand. Neurophysiological evidence suggests, however, that a vRF will grow to encompass a hand-held tool following active tool use but not after passive holding. Why does active tool use, and not passive holding, lead to spatial adaptation near a tool? We asked whether spatial adaptation could be the result of motor or visual experience with the tool, and we distinguished between these alternatives by isolating motor from visual experience with the tool. Participants learned to use a novel, weighted tool. The active training group received both motor and visual experience with the tool, the passive training group received visual experience with the tool, but no motor experience, and finally, a no-training control group received neither visual nor motor experience using the tool. After training, we used a cueing paradigm to measure how quickly participants detected targets, varying whether the tool was placed near or far from the target display. Only the active training group detected targets more quickly when the tool was placed near, rather than far, from the target display. This effect of tool location was not present for either the passive-training or control groups. These results suggest that motor learning influences how visual space around the tool is represented

A cost-utility analysis of cervical cancer vaccination in preadolescent Canadian females

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Despite the fact that approximately 70% of Canadian women undergo cervical cancer screening at least once every 3 years, approximately 1,300 women were diagnosed with cervical cancer and approximately 380 died from it in 2008. This study estimates the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of vaccinating 12-year old Canadian females with an AS04-adjuvanted cervical cancer vaccine. The indirect effect of vaccination, via herd immunity, is also estimated.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A 12-health-state 1-year-cycle Markov model was developed to estimate lifetime HPV related events for a cohort of 12-year old females. Annual transition probabilities between health-states were derived from published literature and Canadian population statistics. The model was calibrated using Canadian cancer statistics. From a healthcare perspective, the cost-effectiveness of introducing a vaccine with efficacy against HPV-16/18 and evidence of cross-protection against other oncogenic HPV types was evaluated in a population undergoing current screening practices. The base-case analysis included 70% screening coverage, 75% vaccination coverage, $135/dose for vaccine, and 3$18,672-$31,687 per QALY-gained, the lower range representing inclusion of cross-protective efficacy and herd immunity. The cost per QALY-gained was most sensitive to duration of vaccine protection, discount rate, and the correlation between probability of screening and probability of vaccination.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>In the context of current screening patterns, vaccination of 12-year old Canadian females with an ASO4-ajuvanted cervical cancer vaccine is estimated to significantly reduce cervical cancer and mortality, and is a cost-effective option. However, the economic attractiveness of vaccination is impacted by the vaccine's duration of protection and the discount rate used in the analysis.</p

Conclusions on motor control depend on the type of model used to represent the periphery

Within the field of motor control, there is no consensus on which kinematic and kinetic aspects of movements are planned or controlled. Perturbing goal-directed movements is a frequently used tool to answer this question. To be able to draw conclusions about motor control from kinematic responses to perturbations, a model of the periphery (i.e., the skeleton, muscle-tendon complexes, and spinal reflex circuitry) is required. The purpose of the present study was to determine to what extent such conclusions depend on the level of simplification with which the dynamical properties of the periphery are modeled. For this purpose, we simulated fast goal-directed single-joint movement with four existing types of models. We tested how three types of perturbations affected movement trajectory if motor commands remained unchanged. We found that the four types of models of the periphery showed different robustness to the perturbations, leading to different predictions on how accurate motor commands need to be, i.e., how accurate the knowledge of external conditions needs to be. This means that when interpreting kinematic responses obtained in perturbation experiments the level of error correction attributed to adaptation of motor commands depends on the type of model used to describe the periphery

Cost-effectiveness of human papillomavirus vaccination for prevention of cervical cancer in Taiwan

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Human papillomavirus (HPV) infection has been shown to be a major risk factor for cervical cancer. Vaccines against HPV-16 and HPV-18 are highly effective in preventing type-specific HPV infections and related cervical lesions. There is, however, limited data available describing the health and economic impacts of HPV vaccination in Taiwan. The objective of this study was to assess the cost-effectiveness of prophylactic HPV vaccination for the prevention of cervical cancer in Taiwan.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We developed a Markov model to compare the health and economic outcomes of vaccinating preadolescent girls (at the age of 12 years) for the prevention of cervical cancer with current practice, including cervical cytological screening. Data were synthesized from published papers or reports, and whenever possible, those specific to Taiwan were used. Sensitivity analyses were performed to account for important uncertainties and different vaccination scenarios.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Under the assumption that the HPV vaccine could provide lifelong protection, the massive vaccination among preadolescent girls in Taiwan would lead to reduction in 73.3% of the total incident cervical cancer cases and would result in a life expectancy gain of 4.9 days or 8.7 quality-adjusted life days at a cost of US$324 as compared to the current practice. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) was US$23,939 per life year gained or US$13,674 per quality-adjusted life year (QALY) gained given the discount rate of 3$30,000 per QALY under most conditions, even when vaccine efficacy was suboptimal or when vaccine-induced immunity required booster shots every 13 years.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Although gains in life expectancy may be modest at the individual level, the results indicate that prophylactic HPV vaccination of preadolescent girls in Taiwan would result in substantial population benefits with a favorable cost-effectiveness ratio. Nevertheless, we should not overlook the urgency to improve the compliance rate of cervical screening, particularly for older individuals.</p

INSPEX: Make environment perception available as a portable system

Obstacle avoidance systems for autonomous vehicles combine multiple sensing technologies (i.e. LiDAR, Radar, Ultrasound and Visual) to detect different types of obstacles across the full range of lighting and weather conditions. Sensor data are fused with vehicle orientation (obtained for instance from an Inertial Measurement Unit and/or compass) and navigation subsystems. Power hungry, they require powerful computational capability, which limits their use to high-end vehicles and robots