Effects of the feeding system on performance and myopathy occurrence in two broiler chicken genotypes

To evaluate whether performance and myopathy occurrence differed according to genotype (Cobb 500 vs. Ross 308) and feeding system (AL: ad libitum vs. ER: early restricted from 13 to 23 d of age, vs. LR: late restricted from 27 to 37 d; restriction rate: 80% of ad libitum), 828 day- old male chicks were assigned to 6 groups (2 x 3 arrangement), housed in 36 pens, and controlled for: individual live weight (weekly) and pen feed intake (daily) until slaughter (48 d); white striping and wooden breast occurrence at slaughter. Individual data were analysed by PROC MIXED of SAS (fixed effects: feeding system, genotype, and interaction; random effect: pen); pen feed intake and myopathy occurrence were analysed by PROC GLM and CATMOD, respectively. The feeding system affected performance: at the end of the first period (1-22 d), ER chickens showed lower weight gain (40.5 g/d vs. 47.8 g/d and 48.0 g/d), feed intake (50.8 g/d vs 61.0 g/d and 60.2 g/d) and weight (903 g vs 1056 g and 1059 g) than AL and LR broilers (P<0.001); at the end of the second period (23-48 d), ER chickens showed higher weight gain (98.3 g/d vs 93.6 g/d and 90.2 g/d) and feed intake (182 g/d vs. 177 g/d and 171 g/d) compared to AL and LR chickens (P<0.001). Final live weight was the highest in AL group, intermediate in ER group, and the lowest in the LR one (3482 g, 3454 g, and 3399 g; P<0.01). Feed conversion in the whole period did not change with the feeding system. At gross examination, white striping occurrence changed from 77.8% to 67.1%, and 81.7% in AL, ER and LR broilers (p<0.10). Differences between genotypes were evident from the first day and, at the end of the trial, weight gain (74.3 g/d vs 70.1 g/d), feed intake (126 g/d vs 114 g/d), feed conversion (1.69 vs 1.64), and live weight (3548 g vs. 3342 g) were higher in the Ross than in the Cobb chickens (P<0.001). At slaughter, the rate of white-striped breasts was similar (on average 75.5%), but the occurrence of severely white-striped breasts was higher in the Ross than in the Cobb chickens (25.9% vs. 7.41%; P<0.001). Wooden breast occurrence (on average 5.1%) did not change with the feeding system or the genotype. In conclusion, under our conditions, a late feed restriction did not permit to recover performance at the end of the trial nor to control white striping occurrence. Moreover, the genotype affected growth rate and white striping degree: the highest the growth rate, the highest the severity of white striping

A Radio Determination of the Time of the New Moon

The detection of the New Moon at sunset is of importance to communities based on the lunar calendar. This is traditionally undertaken with visual observations. We propose a radio method which allows a higher visibility of the Moon relative to the Sun and consequently gives us the ability to detect the Moon much closer to the Sun than is the case of visual observation. We first compare the relative brightness of the Moon and Sun over a range of possible frequencies and find the range 5--100\,GHz to be suitable. The next consideration is the atmospheric absorption/emission due to water vapour and oxygen as a function of frequency. This is particularly important since the relevant observations are near the horizon. We show that a frequency of $\sim 10$ GHz is optimal for this programme. We have designed and constructed a telescope with a FWHM resolution of 0$^\circ{}\!\!$.6 and low sidelobes to demonstrate the potential of this approach. At the time of the 21 May 2012 New Moon the Sun/Moon brightness temperature ratio was $72.7 \pm 2.2$ in agreement with predictions from the literature when combined with the observed sunspot numbers for the day. The Moon would have been readily detectable at $\sim 2^{\circ}$ from the Sun. Our observations at 16\,hr\,36\,min UT indicated that the Moon would have been at closest approach to the Sun 16\,hr\,25\,min earlier; this was the annular solar eclipse of 00\,hr\,00\,min\,UT on 21 May 2012.Comment: 11 pages, 15 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

Cars Diagnostic on a PhotochemicalReactor for IR Laser Induced Production of Si and Si3N4 Powders

In a flow reactor a low power (up to 50 W) CW CO2 laser tuned at 944,19 cm−1 has been focussed in order to produce Si and Si3N4 ultrafine powders from SiH4 and SiH4/NH3 mixtures.Among possible on-line optical diagnostics, two different CARS techniques have been used to monitor the excitation process and to measure average reaction temperatures in collinear geometry. In broad-band CARS at low resolution (≈6.0 cm−1) the reactant temperature is measured from the attenuation of the corresponding integrated peak intensity below and at the dissociation threshold. In narrow-band experiments the temperature reached by the dissociating reactants below and above the threshold is inferred from the spectral shape (measured with 0.2 cm−1 resolution) of the envelope of rovibrational CARS transitions involved.Results obtained at the threshold for SiH4 dissociation are in agreement with previous data on gas-phase pyrolysis in a thermal process. For the SiH4/NH3 reaction the difficulty in obtaining stoichiometric Si3N4 has been related to the cooling effect of large NH3 addition to the SiH4 warmed up in the laser absorption

Sclerochronology of deep-sea bamboo corals from the northwest Atlantic: Acanella arbuscula and Keratoisis spp.

Deep-sea corals provide habitat for invertebrates and fish, have high longevities, and slow growth rates, making them vulnerable to anthropogenic disturbances. The bamboo corals Acanella arbuscula and Keratoisis flexibilis have been observed in the NW Atlantic, but growth rates and ages have not been heavily studied. Growth ring counts at the proteinaceous nodes of the coral skeletons were used for aging. Both species exhibited major and minor growth rings, but major rings represent annual growth in A. arbuscula and minor rings represent annual growth in K. flexibilis, determined by comparing age estimates from ring counts to radiometrically validated specimens of each species. Ages, radial, and axial growth rates ranged from 8-29 years, 0.025 – 0.160 mm/yr, and 1.87 – 16.1 mm/yr for A. arbuscula, and 89-168 years, 0.007-0.027 mm/yr, and 1.5-5.3 mm/yr for K. flexibilis. Geographic variations in A. arbuscula growth rates were observed, with the SE Baffin Shelf specimens growing the fastest because these specimens were youngest, and ontogenetic influence on growth rates was observed, causing younger colonies to grow faster. K. flexibilis growth rates were slower than K. grayi, and this inter-specific difference can be attributed to temperature, as the K. flexibilis samples were collected in colder waters

Detection of pathological lesions in slaughtered rabbits

The slaughterhouse is considered an important control point for the monitoring of rabbit diseases. In our study, 59,440 rabbit carcasses were examined, but only 1% of pathological lesions were recorded at postmortem inspection. Mainly affected were tegumentary, digestive and urinary systems. The most consistent lesion was the subcutaneous abscess; nephritis, probably caused by Encephalitozoon cuniculi, was also frequent. Pathological alterations of the liver, classified as "necrotizing hepatitis" and localized at the caudate lobe, were observed for the first time

Enantioselective HF loss promoted by resonant two photon ionization of supersonically expanded (R)-1-phenyl-2,2,2-trifluoroethanol clusters.

(R)-1-Phenyl-2,2,2-trifluoroethanol and its hydrogen bonded adducts with achiral (water, tetrahydrofuran) and chiral solvent mols. ((R)- and (S)-butan-2-ol, (R)- and (S)-3-hydroxy-tetrahydrofuran) have been ionized by resonant two-photon absorption. The presence of photofragments, attributable to the occurrence of a hydrogen fluoride loss reaction, has been interpreted with the aid of theor. predictions at the DFT level of theory with the inclusion of dispersive terms. The HF elimination process takes place by a mechanism involving the preliminary C.alpha.-H hydrogen transfer to an hydroxyl oxygen assisted by the solvent mol. which is followed by extrusion of the HF mol. The calcd. energy barriers depend on the type of solvent as well as on its configuration and are consistent with the obsd. fragmentation ratios

Detection of Zak phases and topological invariants in a chiral quantum walk of twisted photons

Topological insulators are fascinating states of matter exhibiting protected edge states and robust quantized features in their bulk. Here, we propose and validate experimentally a method to detect topological properties in the bulk of one-dimensional chiral systems. We first introduce the mean chiral displacement, and we show that it rapidly approaches a multiple of the Zak phase in the long time limit. Then we measure the Zak phase in a photonic quantum walk, by direct observation of the mean chiral displacement in its bulk. Next, we measure the Zak phase in an alternative, inequivalent timeframe, and combine the two windings to characterize the full phase diagram of this Floquet system. Finally, we prove the robustness of the measure by introducing dynamical disorder in the system. This detection method is extremely general, as it can be applied to all one-dimensional platforms simulating static or Floquet chiral systems.Comment: 10 pages, 7 color figures (incl. appendices) Close to the published versio

SARS-CoV-2 spread in northern Italy. what about the pollution role

The recent epidemic of the new SARS-CoV-2 in the northern regions of Italy is putting the organization of the Italian health system under serious attack. The current emergency requires all possible efforts to stem the spread of the virus. In this context, it is clear that we have the urgent need to rely upon etiopathogenetic data, in order to do all possible efforts to block the epidemic. However, observing the trend of the infections in China and the geographic areas of the main outbreaks, it could be hypothesized that air pollution plays a role. In particular, it has been previously demonstrated, in specific populations, a role of particulate matter in worsening clinical presentation of virus infection in airways. Without prejudice to the ascertained virus spread by air droplets or contaminated surfaces, the factors that could have favored its spread remain to be investigated. Moreover, if these observations were to be confirmed, when the health emergency is resolved, it will be mandatory to redesign an economic-productive model in balance with the environment

Molecular and supramolecular chirality: R2PI spectroscopy as a tool for the gas-phase recognition of chiral systems of biological interest.

A review. In life sciences, diastereomeric chiral mol./chiral receptor complexes are held together by a different combination of intermol. forces and are therefore endowed with different stability and reactivity. Detn. of these forces, which are normally affected in the condensed phase by solvent and supramol. interactions, can be accomplished through the generation of diastereomeric complexes in the isolated state and their spectroscopic investigation. This review presents a detailed discussion of the mass resolved Resonant Two Photon Ionization (R2PI-TOF) technique in supersonic beams and introduces an overview of various other technologies currently available for the spectroscopic study of gas phase chiral mols. and supramol. systems. It reports case studies primarily from the authors' recent work using R2PI-TOF methodol. for chiral recognition in clusters contg. mols. of biol. interest. The measurement of absorption spectra, ionization and fragmentation thresholds of diastereomeric clusters by this technique allow the detn. of the nature of the intrinsic interactions, which control their formation and which affect their stability and reactivity