Maternal behaviour in the ewe: consistency in the expression of maternal behaviour during lactation and the effect of variation in dam and sire breed on the development of offspring

Consistency in the expression of maternal care over a single lactation period was investigated using two breeds of ewe, Scottish Blackface and Suffolk. The two breeds showed differences in their initial maternal behaviour with Blackface ewes showing more affiliative and less negative behaviour towards their newborn lambs than Suffolk ewes. These differences in maternal behaviour continued throughout lactation. Whilst both breeds were able to recognise their lambs at three days post­partum, Blackface ewes were more motivated to associate with their lambs in a maternal choice test, suggesting that they had a stronger ewe-lamb bond than Suffolk ewes. During the rest of lactation Blackface ewes had a closer spatial relationship with their lambs, accepted a higher proportion of suck attempts from their lambs and showed more communication with them via the head-up posture, compared to Suffolk ewes. Blackface ewes actively interacted with their lambs, using the head-up posture to control sucking interactions and to encourage their lambs to remain in close proximity. In contrast Suffolk ewes were not proactive in their relationship with their lambs and appeared to react to the behaviour of their lambs, rather than actively communicating with them.A factor analysis showed that three dimensions, the willingness of the ewe to interact with her lamb throughout lactation, her response to her lamb’s attempts to interact with her and their ewe-lamb bond during later lactation, can be used to describe variation in ovine maternal behaviour. The willingness of the ewe to interact with her lamb accounted for most of the variation between the two breeds, with Blackface ewes showing mostly affiliative behaviour and Suffolk ewes showing more negative behaviour. Within the two breeds variation was mainly due to behaviours associated with the ewe’s response to her lamb’s attempts to interact with her. Individual Blackface ewes showed consistency in their expression of maternal behaviour throughout lactation, but Suffolk ewes did not. This is likely to result in a stable ewe- lamb relationship in Blackface ewes but an unstable relationship in Suffolk ewe.The different maternal styles were then used to assess the effect of variation in dam and sire breed on the development of offspring. The lambs’ stress response during three tests (social separation, restraint and novel object) and their ability to learn a spatial memory task were assessed. In addition, the ability of day old lambs to recognise their dam, lamb growth rate during lactation and the lambs’ own maternal behaviour was examined to assess traits relevant to sheep production. Lambs raised by Blackface ewes showed an active behavioural response during the stress response tests and were quicker to learn the spatial memory task than lambs raised by Suffolk ewes. Suffolk-raised lambs showed a passive response during the stress response tests. Blackface lambs were better able to recognise their dams at 24 hours old than Suffolk lambs. The willingness of the ewe to interact with her lamb throughout lactation showed a positive association with lamb growth. Ewes and their dams were also found to show similarities in their initial maternal behaviour. Therefore, although it was not possible to rule out the possibility of a genetic influence, maternal behaviour in the ewe appears to have the potential to influence offspring development in a variety of ways.A study on the early maternal behaviour of mares was also conducted to assess the potential for the sheep study findings to be applied to other domestic species. Compared to the ewes, mares showed much less interaction with their young, in particular grooming, during the immediate post-partum period, but also showed much less negative behaviour. However there did appear to be potential for the findings of the sheep study to be applied to the horse

Emergency supply of prescription-only medicines to patients by community pharmacists: a mixed methods evaluation incorporating patient, pharmacist and GP perspectives

Objective To evaluate and inform emergency supply of prescription-only medicines by community pharmacists (CPs), including how the service could form an integral component of established healthcare provision to maximise adherence. Design Mixed methods. 4 phases: prospective audit of emergency supply requests for prescribed medicines (October–November 2012 and April 2013); interviews with CPs (February–April 2013); follow-up interviews with patients (April–May 2013); interactive feedback sessions with general practice teams (October–November 2013). Setting 22 community pharmacies and 6 general practices in Northwest England. Participants 27 CPs with experience of dealing with requests for emergency supplies; 25 patients who received an emergency supply of a prescribed medicine; 58 staff at 6 general practices. Results Clinical audit in 22 pharmacies over two 4-week periods reported that 526 medicines were requested by 450 patients. Requests peaked over a bank holiday and around weekends. A significant number of supplies were made during practice opening hours. Most requests were for older patients and for medicines used in long-term conditions. Difficulty in renewing repeat medication (forgetting to order, or prescription delays) was the major reason for requests. The majority of medicines were ‘loaned’ in advance of a National Health Service (NHS) prescription. Interviews with CPs and patients indicated that continuous supply had a positive impact on medicines adherence, removing the need to access urgent care. General practice staff were surprised and concerned by the extent of emergency supply episodes. Conclusions CPs regularly provide emergency supplies to patients who run out of their repeat medication, including during practice opening hours. This may aid adherence. There is currently no feedback loop, however, to general practice. Patient care and interprofessional communication may be better served by the introduction of a formally structured and funded NHS emergency supply service from community pharmacies, with ongoing optimisation of repeat prescribing

Effect of silver content on the structure and antibacterial activity of silver-doped phosphate-based glasses

Staphylococcus aureus can cause a range of diseases, such as osteomyelitis, as well as colonize implanted medical devices. In most instances the organism forms biofilms that not only are resistant to the body's defense mechanisms but also display decreased susceptibilities to antibiotics. In the present study, we have examined the effect of increasing silver contents in phosphate-based glasses to prevent the formation of S. aureus biofilms. Silver was found to be an effective bactericidal agent against S. aureus biofilms, and the rate of silver ion release (0.42 to 1.22 µg·mm–2·h–1) from phosphate-based glass was found to account for the variation in its bactericidal effect. Analysis of biofilms by confocal microscopy indicated that they consisted of an upper layer of viable bacteria together with a layer (20 µm) of nonviable cells on the glass surface. Our results showed that regardless of the silver contents in these glasses (10, 15, or 20 mol%) the silver exists in its +1 oxidation state, which is known to be a highly effective bactericidal agent compared to that of silver in other oxidation states (+2 or +3). Analysis of the glasses by 31P nuclear magnetic resonance imaging and high-energy X-ray diffraction showed that it is the structural rearrangement of the phosphate network that is responsible for the variation in silver ion release and the associated bactericidal effectiveness. Thus, an understanding of the glass structure is important in interpreting the in vitro data and also has important clinical implications for the potential use of the phosphate-based glasses in orthopedic applications to deliver silver ions to combat S. aureus biofilm infections

Improved Lattice Spectroscopy of Minimal Walking Technicolor

We present a numerical study of spectroscopic observables in the SU(2) gauge theory with two adjoint fermions using improved source and sink operators. We compare in detail our improved results with previous determinations of masses that used point sources and sinks and we investigate possible systematic effects in both cases. Such comparison enables us to clearly assess the impact of a short temporal extent on the physical picture, and to investigate some effects due to the finite spatial box. While confirming the IR-conformal behaviour of the theory, our investigation shows that in order to make firm quantitative predictions, a better handle on finite size effects is needed.Comment: 33 pages, 30 figures, 18 table

α5β1-Integrin promotes tension-dependent mammary epithelial cell invasion by engaging the fibronectin synergy site.

Tumors are fibrotic and characterized by abundant, remodeled, and cross-linked collagen that stiffens the extracellular matrix stroma. The stiffened collagenous stroma fosters malignant transformation of the tissue by increasing tumor cell tension to promote focal adhesion formation and potentiate growth factor receptor signaling through kinase. Importantly, collagen cross-linking requires fibronectin (FN). Fibrotic tumors contain abundant FN, and tumor cells frequently up-regulate the FN receptor α5β1 integrin. Using transgenic and xenograft models and tunable two- and three-dimensional substrates, we show that FN-bound α5β1 integrin promotes tension-dependent malignant transformation through engagement of the synergy site that enhances integrin adhesion force. We determined that ligation of the synergy site of FN permits tumor cells to engage a zyxin-stabilized, vinculin-linked scaffold that facilitates nucleation of phosphatidylinositol (3,4,5)-triphosphate at the plasma membrane to enhance phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)-dependent tumor cell invasion. The data explain why rigid collagen fibrils potentiate PI3K activation to promote malignancy and offer a perspective regarding the consistent up-regulation of α5β1 integrin and FN in many tumors and their correlation with cancer aggression

A Hidden Twelve-Dimensional SuperPoincare Symmetry In Eleven Dimensions

First, we review a result in our previous paper, of how a ten-dimensional superparticle, taken off-shell, has a hidden eleven-dimensional superPoincare symmetry. Then, we show that the physical sector is defined by three first-class constraints which preserve the full eleven-dimensional symmetry. Applying the same concepts to the eleven dimensional superparticle, taken off-shell, we discover a hidden twelve dimensional superPoincare symmetry that governs the theory.Comment: 13 page

Preparation, structural characterisation and antibacterial properties of Ga-doped sol-gel phosphate-based glass

A sol-gel preparation of Ga-doped phosphate-based glass with potential application in antimicrobial devices has been developed. Samples of composition (CaO)(0.30)(Na2O)(0.20-x) (Ga2O3) (x) (P2O5)(0.50) where x = 0 and 0.03 were prepared, and the structure and properties of the gallium-doped sample compared with those of the sample containing no gallium. Analysis of the P-31 MAS NMR data demonstrated that addition of gallium to the sol-gel reaction increases the connectivity of the phosphate network at the expense of hydroxyl groups. This premise is supported by the results of the elemental analysis, which showed that the gallium-free sample contains significantly more hydrogen and by FTIR spectroscopy, which revealed a higher concentration of -OH groups in that sample. Ga K-edge extended X-ray absorption fine structure and X-ray absorption near-edge structure data revealed that the gallium ions are coordinated by six oxygen atoms. In agreement with the X-ray absorption data, the high-energy XRD results also suggest that the Ga3+ ions are octahedrally coordinated with respect to oxygen. Antimicrobial studies demonstrated that the sample containing Ga3+ ions had significant activity against Staphylococcus aureus compared to the control