Epitaxial growth of "infinite layer” thin films and multilayers by rf magnetron sputtering

We report on the preparation and characterization of epitaxial ACuO2 (A = Sr, Ca, Ba) thin films and multilayers with the so- called infinite layer (IL) structure, by rf magnetron sputtering. Films and multilayers without Ba have a remarkable crystal quality, whereas those containing this large ion are often multiphased and unstable. In spite of the excellent crystalline quality of these samples, obtaining thin films having both IL structure and displaying superconducting properties has not succeeded; our pure IL samples display semiconducting behavior, and the different procedures tried in order to dope them—annealings, introduction of disorder or cation vacancies, artificial layering—have failed. These results support that the pure IL structure ACuO2 (A = alkaline earth) cannot superconduc

Effect of leg conformation of Duroc sow longevity

Ponencia publicada en ITEA, vol.104Caracteres morfológicos como la conformación de los aplomos pueden tener un papel clave en la longevidad de las cerdas. Dentro de este contexto, se evaluó el efecto de los aplomos sobre la longevidad de 587 cerdas Duroc, analizándose tanto la supervivencia global de las cerdas (SG) como la supervivencia bajo tres causas de fallida distintas (competing risk): muerte (BM), baja productividad (BP) y baja fertilidad (BF). La conformación global de los aplomos influyó (p < 0,001) la longevidad de las cerdas en los análisis SG, BP y BF, aumentado el riesgo de fallida a medida que empeoraban los aplomos. El crecimiento anormal de las pezuñas (p < 0,001) y la presencia de golpes o bultos en las patas (p < 0,05) incrementaba el riesgo de fallida en los análisis SG, BP y BF. Las cerdas plantígradas tenían un riesgo mayor de fallida en los análisis SG (p < 0,001) y BP (p < 0,05), las cerdas con hiperextensión de las patas tenían un riesgo mayor en el análisis BF (p < 0,05), mientras que la presencia de pies abiertos aumentaba el riesgo de fallida en el análisis SG (p < 0,05). Las estimaciones de heredabilidad para la longevidad de las cerdas fueron de 0,07 (análisis SG), 0,02 (análisis BP) y 0,08 (análisis BF).Morphologic traits such as leg conformation can play a key role on sow longevity. Within this context, the effect of leg conformation was evaluated on longevity data from 587 Duroc sows, longevity being characterized as overall longevity (OS) or sow failure due to death (DE), low productivity (LP) or low fertility (LF; competing risk analyses). Overall leg conformation score influenced (P < 0.001) sow longevity in OS, LP and LF analyses, impairing sow longevity when leg conformation got worse. Abnormal hoof growth (P < 0.001) and presence of bumps or injuries in legs (P < 0.001) increased the risk of failure in OS, LP and LF analyses. Plantigrade sows showed a higher culling risk in OS (P < 0.001) and LP (P < 0.05) analysis, sows with sickle-hooked leg had a higher culling risk in the LF analysis (P < 0.05), whereas splayed feet increased sow failure in the OS analysis (P < 0.05). Estimates of heritability for sow longevity were 0.07 (GS analysis), 0.02 (LP analysis) and 0.08 (LF analysis)

The effect of a high monounsaturated fat diet on body weight, backfat and loin muscle growth in high and medium-lean pig genotypes

The objective of this study was to evaluate whether the use of a diet rich in oleic acid could have an effect on daily weight gain, backfat and loin muscle (Longissimus thoracis) depth. One hundred and ninety-two barrows and gilts, from two genotypes were fed a grain and soy diet (CONTROL with 28% C18:1) or a similar diet enriched with oleic acid (HO with 43% C18:1, Greedy-Grass OLIVA®). The pigs were housed in 16 pens in groups of 12 according to their sex, diet and genotype. From 75 days of age every three weeks, the pigs were weighed and the backfat and loin muscle depth were ultrasonically recorded (PIGLOG®). The inclusion of the dietary fat had no significant effect on the growth variables nor on the backfat and loin muscle depth measurements taken. However, the barrows resulted in higher live weight and backfat compared to the gilts at the end of the trial. Conversely, the gilts showed higher loin depth. Moreover, York-sired pigs were heavier than Pietrain-sired pigs during the whole trial and showed higher backfat at the last two measurements. Pietrain-sired pigs had higher loin muscle depth at the last measurements. The results of the present study suggest that the addition of a dietary fat into diets aiming at modifying the meat fatty acid profile has no detrimental effects on performance variables, or on backfat and loin muscle growth and thus, no negative economic impact for producers.The study was funded by the Spanish Government within the CDTI program (IDI 2004-683). Many thanks for the technical support of IRTA and UPB España, S.A. technicians. The authors would specially like to acknowledge the contribution of Mr. Rafa Roca, who unfortunately passed away during the final writing of this paper.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Effects of a high-fat-diet supplemented with probiotics and ω3-fatty acids on appetite regulatory neuropeptides and neurotransmitters in a pig model

The pig is a valuable animal model to study obesity in humans due to the physiological similarity between humans and pigs in terms of digestive and associated metabolic processes. The dietary use of vegetal protein, probiotics and omega-3 fatty acids is recommended to control weight gain and to fight obesity-associated metabolic disorders. Likewise, there are recent reports on their beneficial effects on brain functions. The hypothalamus is the central part of the brain that regulates food intake by means of the production of food intake-regulatory hypothalamic neuropeptides, as neuropeptide Y (NPY), orexin A and pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC), and neurotransmitters, such as dopamine and serotonin. Other mesolimbic areas, such as the hippocampus, are also involved in the control of food intake. In this study, the effect of a high fat diet (HFD) alone or supplemented with these additives on brain neuropeptides and neurotransmitters was assessed in forty-three young pigs fed for 10 weeks with a control diet (T1), a high fat diet (HFD, T2), and HFD with vegetal protein supplemented with Bifidobacterium breve CECT8242 alone (T3) or in combination with omega-3 fatty acids (T4). A HFD provoked changes in regulatory neuropeptides and 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid (DOPAC) in the hypothalamus and alterations mostly in the dopaminergic system in the ventral hippocampus. Supplementation of the HFD with B. breve CECT8242, especially in combination with omega-3 fatty acids, was able to partially reverse the effects of HFD. Correlations between productive and neurochemical parameters supported these findings. These results confirm that pigs are an appropriate animal model alternative to rodents for the study of the effects of HFD on weight gain and obesity. Furthermore, they indicate the potential benefits of probiotics and omega-3 fatty acids on brain function.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Kinematic analysis of the Large Magellanic Cloud using Gaia DR3

Context: The high quality of the Gaia mission data is allowing to study the internal kinematics of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) in unprecedented detail, providing insights on the non-axisymmetric structure of its disc. Aims: To define and validate an improved selection strategy to distinguish the LMC stars from the Milky Way foreground. To check the possible biases that assumed parameters or sample contamination from the Milky Way can introduce in the analysis of the internal kinematics of the LMC using Gaia data. Methods: Our selection is based on a supervised Neural Network classifier using as much as of the Gaia DR3 data as possible. We select three samples of candidate LMC stars with different degrees of completeness and purity; we validate them using different test samples and we compare them with the Gaia Collaboration paper sample. We analyse the resulting velocity profiles and maps, and we check how these results change when using also the line-of-sight velocities, available for a subset of stars. Results: The contamination in the samples from Milky Way stars affects basically the results for the outskirts of the LMC, and the absence of line-of-sight velocities does not bias the results for the kinematics in the inner disc. For the first time, we perform a kinematic analysis of the LMC using samples with the full three dimensional velocity information from Gaia DR3. Conclusions: The dynamics in the inner disc is mainly bar dominated; the kinematics on the spiral arm over-density seem to be dominated by an inward motion and a rotation faster than that of the disc in the piece of the arm attached to the bar; contamination of MW stars seem to dominate the outer parts of the disc and mainly affects old evolutionary phases; uncertainties in the assumed disc morphological parameters and line-of-sight velocity of the LMC can in some cases have significant effects. [ABRIDGED

Effect of animal mixing as a stressor on biomarkers of autophagy and oxidative stress during pig muscle maturation

The objective of this work was to study the postmortem evolution of potential biomarkers of autophagy (Beclin 1, LC3-II/LC3-I ratio) and oxidative stress (total antioxidant activity, TAA; superoxide dismutase activity, SOD and catalase activity, CAT) in the Longissimus dorsi muscle of entire male ((Large White × Landrace) × Duroc) pigs subjected to different management treatments that may promote stress, such as mixing unfamiliar animals at the farm and/or during transport and lairage before slaughter. During the rearing period at the farm, five animals were never mixed after the initial formation of the experimental groups (unmixed group at the farm, UF), whereas 10 animals were subjected to a common routine of being mixed with unfamiliar animals (mixed group at the farm, MF). Furthermore, two different treatments were used during the transport and lairage before slaughter: 10 pigs were not mixed (unmixed group during transport and lairage, UTL), whereas five pigs were mixed with unfamiliar animals on the lorry and during lairage (mixed group during transport and lairage, MTL). These mixing treatments were then combined into three pre-slaughter treatments – namely, UF-UTL, MF-UTL and MF-MTL. The results show that MF-UTL and MF-MTL increased significantly the muscle antioxidant defense (TAA, SOD and CAT) at short postmortem times (4 and 8 h; P < 0.001), followed by an earlier depletion of the antioxidant activity at 24 h postmortem (P < 0.05). We also found that mixing unfamiliar animals, both at the farm and during transport and lairage, triggers postmortem muscle autophagy, which showed an earlier activation (higher expression of Beclin 1 and LC3-II/LC3-I ratio at 4 h postmortem followed by a decreasing pattern of this ratio along first 24 h postmortem) in the muscle tissues of animals from the MF-UTL and MF-MTL groups, as an adaptive strategy of the muscle cells for counteracting induced stress. From these results, we propose that monitoring the evolution of the main biomarkers of autophagy (Beclin 1, LC3-II/LC3-I ratio) and muscle antioxidant defense (TAA, SOD, CAT) in the muscle tissue within the first 24 h postmortem may help the detection of animal stress and its potential effect on the postmortem muscle metabolism.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The effect of mixing entire male pigs prior to transport to slaughter on behaviour, welfare and carcass lesions

peer-reviewedData set for article is also provided.Research is needed to validate lesions recorded at meat inspection as indicators of pig welfare on farm. The aims were to determine the influence of mixing pigs on carcass lesions and to establish whether such lesions correlate with pig behaviour and lesions scored on farm. Aggressive and mounting behaviour of pigs in three single sex pens was recorded on Day −5, −2, and −1 relative to slaughter (Day 0). On Day 0 pigs were randomly allocated to 3 treatments (n = 20/group) over 5 replicates: males mixed with females (MF), males mixed with males (MM), and males unmixed (MUM). Aggressive and mounting behaviours were recorded on Day 0 at holding on farm and lairage. Skin/tail lesions were scored according to severity at the farm (Day −1), lairage, and on the carcass (Day 0). Effect of treatment and time on behaviour and lesions were analysed by mixed models. Spearman rank correlations between behaviour and lesion scores and between scores recorded at different stages were determined. In general, MM performed more aggressive behaviour (50.4 ± 10.72) than MUM (20.3 ± 9.55, P < 0.05) and more mounting (30.9 ± 9.99) than MF (11.4 ± 3.76) and MUM (9.8 ± 3.74, P < 0.05). Skin lesion scores increased between farm (Day −1) and lairage (P < 0.001), but this tended to be significant only for MF and MM (P = 0.08). There was no effect of treatment on carcass lesions and no associations were found with fighting/mounting. Mixing entire males prior to slaughter stimulated mounting and aggressive behaviour but did not influence carcass lesion scores. Carcass skin/tail lesions scores were correlated with scores recorded on farm (rskin = 0.21 and rtail = 0.18, P < 0.01) suggesting that information recorded at meat inspection could be used as indicators of pig welfare on farm.This study was part of the PIGWELFIND project funded by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM), Ireland

Fuzzy approach for risk assessment of brominated flame retardants in aquatic ecosystems

Brominated flame retardants (BFR) are pollutants that represent a threat to both human health and environment due to their industrial use, their persistence and their ability to bioaccumulate and biomagnify in food chains, especially in the aquatic one. For the last ten years contamination levels for this type of compounds have been reported for European, North American and Asian human tissue, sediments and biota samples [1-3]. However, monitoring efforts into the assessment of BFRs contamination levels in Latin America are scarce. In this study, a model for the evaluation of the environmental risk of BFRs in the aquatic ecosystems has been developed. It has been based on a technical application of the Fuzzy Theory [4]. In particular, three interconnected Fuzzy Inference Systems (FIS) have been created through the use of the Fuzzy Toolbox in Matlab. In order to improve and make the model scientifically robust, several international experts have been questioned about different information required to build the fuzzy system. Information from 38 questionnaires have been collected and statistically treated.Preprin

Proximity induced metal/insulator transition in YBa2Cu3O7/La2/3Ca1/3MnO3Y Ba_2 Cu_3 O_7 / La_{2/3} Ca_{1/3} Mn O_3 superlattices

The far-infrared dielectric response of superlattices (SL) composed of superconducting YBa$_{2}$Cu$_{3}$O$_{7}$ (YBCO) and ferromagnetic La$_{0.67}$% Ca$_{0.33}$MnO$_{3}$ (LCMO) has been investigated by ellipsometry. A drastic decrease of the free carrier response is observed which involves an unusually large length scale of d$^{crit}\approx$20 nm in YBCO and d$^{crit}\approx$10 nm in LCMO. A corresponding suppression of metallicity is not observed in SLs where LCMO is replaced by the paramagnetic metal LaNiO$_{3}$. Our data suggest that either a long range charge transfer from the YBCO to the LCMO layers or alternatively a strong coupling of the charge carriers to the different and competitive kind of magnetic correlations in the LCMO and YBCO layers are at the heart of the observed metal/insulator transition. The low free carrier response observed in the far-infrared dielectric response of the magnetic superconductor RuSr$_{2}$GdCu$_{2}$O$_{8}$ is possibly related to this effect