THE IMPACTS OF DAIRY CATTLE OWNERSHIP ON THE NUTRITIONAL STATUS OF PRE-SCHOOL CHILDREN IN COASTAL KENYA

Anthropometric measurements for children and household characteristics were collected form 198 households in coastal Kenya to examine the impacts of dairy technology adoption on nutritional status. Random effects models indicate that dairy technology adoption positively influences chronic malnutrition, but that dairy consumption has a larger impact than adoption per se.Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Livestock Production/Industries,

Anti Microbial Resistance Profile of E. coli isolates From Tropical Free Range Chickens

Normal intestinal flora of humans and animals constitute enormous reservoir of resistance genes for potentially pathogenic bacteria and may serve as major indictors of selection pressure exerted by anti-microbial use in a given population. A study was conducted in September 2003 at 3 purposively selected peri-urban sites spread across 3 senatorial zones of Imo state, Nigeria to determines the anti-microbial resistance profile of commensal E. coli isolated from free range chickens. The isolates were screened for anti-microbial resistance profile against 10 antibiotics using the disc diffusion method. E. coli strains from local fowls, recorded 100 and 78.9% resistances against ampicillin and cotrimoxazole respectively, while resistance rates against ciprofloxacin, gentamycin and norfloxacin were 0.0, 5.3 and 5.3% respectively. Isolates from free-range cockerels recorded 100% resistance against norfloxacin, cotrimoxazole and ampicillin and 83.3% against nitrofurantoin. Similarly, isolates from old layers, recorded 100% resistance against nitrofurantoin, cotrimoxazole, tetracycline, chloramphenicol and ampicillin and 80% against nalidixic acid. Similar resistance trends were observed in E. coli isolates from free-range turkeys and broiler roosters against the inexpensive broad-spectrum first line antibiotics (ampicillin, nalidixic acid, cotrimoxazole, nitrofurantoin and chloramphenicol), although values varied slightly across poultry types. Resistances against gentamycin were consistently low in isolates from the different types of poultry. Twenty-nine resistance patterns were observed in the E. coli isolates with predominant patterns being distributed widely across poultry types indicating a striking diversity of resistance patterns in the areas

Testing Alternative Theories of the Property Price-Trading Volume Correlation

This article examines the correlation between the real housing price and trading volume. Contrary to the predictions of standard rational expectation models, a robust positive correlation between the two variables is identified. While no clear lead-lag relationship is found in the raw data, which is more consistent with the downpayment effect model, the medium-run component of the trading volume tends to lead (and Granger cause) the corresponding component of the property price, which is more consistent with the search theoretic model. An explanation for this difference in behavior is suggested and several future research directions are provided.

X-ray Dust Scattering at Small Angles: The Complete Halo around GX13+1

The exquisite angular resolution available with Chandra should allow precision measurements of faint diffuse emission surrounding bright sources, such as the X-ray scattering halos created by interstellar dust. However, the ACIS CCDs suffer from pileup when observing bright sources, and this creates difficulties when trying to extract the scattered halo near the source. The initial study of the X-ray halo around GX13+1 using only the ACIS-I detector done by Smith, Edgar & Shafer (2002) suffered from a lack of sensitivity within 50'' of the source, limiting what conclusions could be drawn. To address this problem, observations of GX13+1 were obtained with the Chandra HRC-I and simultaneously with the RXTE PCA. Combined with the existing ACIS-I data, this allowed measurements of the X-ray halo between 2-1000''. After considering a range of dust models, each assumed to be smoothly distributed with or without a dense cloud along the line of sight, the results show that there is no evidence in this data for a dense cloud near the source, as suggested by Xiang et al. (2005). Finally, although no model leads to formally acceptable results, the Weingartner & Draine (2001) and nearly all of the composite grain models from Zubko, Dwek & Arendt (2004) give poor fits.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in Ap

Aerobic stability of heat and orchardgrass round-bale silage

In Arkansas, silage is typically stored as balage in long rows of round bales wrapped in plastic film. It is important to evaluate the aerobic stability of this fermented forage when it is exposed to air, especially during the winter months when most of it is fed to livestock or sold as a cash crop. Two types of forage, orchardgrass (Dactylis glomerata) and wheat (Triticum aestivum), were harvested in May 2002 and stored as balage. Twenty-one bales of each balage type were unwrapped and exposed to air on 10 Dec. 2002 for 0, 2, 4, 8, 16, 24, or 32 d to evaluate aerobic stability. For both orchardgrass and wheat balage, final bale weight, dry matter (DM) content, and pH were not affected (P \u3e 0.05) by exposure time. Across both balage types, DM recoveries were ≥97% for all bales, indicating that both types of balage were very stable when exposed to air. Concentrations of neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and 48-h ruminal in situ digestibility were not affected (P \u3e 0.05) by exposure time for either balage type. Concentrations of N were greater (P = 0.045) for orchardgrass balage exposed to air for 16 d or longer compared to balage sampled at exposure (d 0), but this response was not observed (P \u3e 0.05) for wheat balage. These results suggest that the balage evaluated in this trial was very stable after exposure to air for up to 32 d. This should allow for considerable flexibility with respect to feeding, transport, and marketing of balage during winter months without significant aerobic deterioration

Configurations and relative efficiencies of shrimp trawls employed in southeastern United States waters

Common shrimp trawl designs employed in the southeastern United States shrimp fishery are the flat, balloon, semiballoon, jib, and super X-3. Recent innovations in trawl design and rigging, including the twin trawl rigging and tongue trawl design, have improved the efficiency of shrimp trawling gear. A description of the construction techniques for the different designs indicate differences which affect gear performance. Measurements of horizontal spread and vertical opening for 76 trawl configurations indicate the relative efficiencies of the different designs. Maximum horizontal spreading efficiency was achieved by the "twin" and "tongue" trawl designs followed by the super X-3, jib, balloon, and semiballoon designs. Designs having the greatest vertical openings were the tongue and flat trawl designs followed by the semiballoon. Maximum total gape dimension was demonstrated by the "Mongoose" tongue trawl. Comparison of trawl spreading efficiency and door area to headrope length ratio indicates that a range of 70-80 in square (per door) of door area is required for each foot of trawl headrope length for maximum efficiency with conventional trawl designs and 66-75 in square per foot of headrope for tongue trawl designs. (PDF file contains 18 pages.

Dairy Cow Ownership and Child Nutritional Status in Kenya

This study examines the hypothesis that dairy cow ownership improves child nutritional status. Using household data from coastal and highland Kenya, three econometric model formulations are estimated. Positive impacts on chronic malnutrition are observed for coastal Kenya. No negative effects on acute or chronic malnutrition are found for either region.Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Livestock Production/Industries,

Alterations in T1 of normal and reperfused infarcted myocardium after Gd-BOPTA versus GD-DTPA on inversion recovery EPI.

This study tested whether Gd-BOPTA/Dimeg or Gd-DTPA exerts greater relaxation enhancement for blood and reperfused infarcted myocardium. Relaxivity of Gd-BOPTA is increased by weak binding to serum albumin. Thirty-six rats were subjected to reperfused infarction before contrast (doses = 0.05, 0.1, and 0.2 mmol/kg). delta R1 was repeatedly measured over 30 min. Gd-BOPTA caused greater delta R1 for blood and myocardium than did Gd-DTPA; clearance of both agents from normal- and infarcted myocardium was similar to blood clearance; plots of delta R1 myocardium/delta R1 blood showed equilibrium phase contrast distribution. Fractional contrast agent distribution volumes were approximately 0.24 for both agents in normal myocardium, 0.98 and 1.6 for Gd-DTPA and Gd-BOPTA, respectively, in reperfused infarction. The high value for Gd-BOPTPA was ascribed to greater relaxivity in infarction versus blood. It was concluded that Gd-BOPTA/Dimeg causes a greater delta R1 than Gd-DTPA in regions which contain serum albumin

IMPACTS OF THE NORTHEAST INTERSTATE DAIRY COMPACT ON THE WIC PROGRAM: EVIDENCE FROM BOSTON AND HARTFORD

This paper examines the impacts of the Northeast Interstate Dairy Compact (Compact) on the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program using an autoregressive-moving average (ARMA) model and data from Boston and Hartford. While the results for Boston indicate that the difference between the net fluid milk price paid by WIC program and the forecasted fluid milk price with no Compact in effect was not significant over the period of July 1997 to June 1998, the results for Hartford suggest that the net price paid by WIC was significantly greater than the forecasted price with no Compact in effect over the same period. A similar analysis of the changes in markups suggests that the increase in the net fluid milk price paid by the WIC program in Hartford was largely due to increased markups.Food Security and Poverty,