Minimally invasive biomarkers to detect maternal physiological status in sow saliva and milk

In this study, we aimed to validate existing plasma assays to measure biomarkers for maternal signalling in milk and saliva of lactating sows. These biological samples are minimally invasive to the animal and could give a physiological profile of maternal qualities available to their piglets. Sows were farrowed in a zero-confinement system, and their colostrum and milk samples were manually collected during naturally occurring let-downs (i.e. not induced) over the lactation period. Saliva sampling involved sows voluntarily accepting cotton buds to chew without restraint. Commercial kits designed for blood plasma were tested, and any modifications and results are given. We successfully measured total protein, cortisol, tumour necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and oxytocin in pig milk and saliva and immunoglobulin G (IgG) in pig milk samples. We were unsuccessful at measuring relaxin and serotonin in these biological samples. We observed higher levels of biomarkers in milk than in saliva. The measurement of TNF-α in pig milk for the first time revealed increased levels with larger litters. This development will allow more detailed understanding of biomarkers in milk. There was also evidence that the minimally invasive technique of using saliva sampling did not interrupt natural oxytocin production around parturition

Nuclear fuels technologies Fiscal Year 1996 research and development test results

During fiscal year 1996, the Department of Energy`s Office of Fissile Materials Disposition (OFMD) funded Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) to investigate issues associated with the fabrication of plutonium from dismantled weapons into mixed-oxide (MOX) nuclear fuel for disposition in nuclear power reactors. These issues can be divided into two main categories: issues associated with the fact that the plutonium from dismantled weapons contains gallium, and issues associated with the unique characteristics of the PuO[sub 2] produced by the dry conversion process that OFMD is proposing to convert the weapons material. Initial descriptions of the experimental work performed in fiscal year 1996 to address these issues can be found in Nuclear Fuels Technologies Fiscal Year 1996 Research and Development Test Matrices. However, in some instances the change in programmatic emphasis towards the Parallex program either altered the manner in which some of these experiments were performed (i.e., the work was done as part of the Parallex fabrication development and not as individual separate-effects tests as originally envisioned) or delayed the experiments into Fiscal Year 1997. This report reviews the experiments that were conducted and presents the results

Evaluation of reticuloruminal pH measurements from individual cattle: sampling strategies for the assessment of herd status

The application of pH observations to clinical practice in dairy cattle is based on criteria derived primarily from single time-point observations more than 20 years ago. The aims of this study were to evaluate these criteria using data collected using continuous recording methods; to make recommendations that might improve their interpretation; and to determine the relationship between the number of devices deployed in a herd and the accuracy of the resulting estimate of the herd-mean reticuloruminal pH. The study made use of 815,475 observations of reticuloruminal pH values obtained from 75 cattle in three herds (one beef and two twice-daily milking herds) to assess sampling strategies for the diagnosis of sub-acute rumen acidosis (SARA), and to evaluate the ability of different numbers of bolus devices to accurately estimate the true herd-mean reticuloruminal pH value at any time. The traditional criteria for SARA provide low diagnostic utility, the probability of detection of animals with pH values below specified thresholds being affected by a strong effect of time of day and herd. The analysis suggests that regardless of time of feeding, sampling should be carried out in the late afternoon or evening to obtain a reasonable probability of detection of animals with pH values below the threshold level. The among-cow variation varied strongly between herds, but for a typical herd, if using reticuloruminal pH boluses to detect a predisposition to fermentation disorders while feeding a diet that is high in rapidly fermentable carbohydrates, it is recommended to use a minimum of nine boluses

Toward a geography of black internationalism: Bayard Rustin, nonviolence and the promise of Africa

This article charts the trip made by civil rights leader Bayard Rustin to West Africa in 1952, and examines the unpublished ‘Africa Program’ which he subsequently presented to leading American pacifists. I situate Rustin’s writings within the burgeoning literature on black internationalism which, despite its clear geographical registers, geographers themselves have as yet made only a modest contribution towards. The article argues that within this literature there remains a tendency to romanticize cross-cultural connections in lieu of critically interrogating their basic, and often competing, claims. I argue that closer attention to the geographies of black internationalism, however, allows us to shape a more diverse and practiced sense of internationalist encounter and exchange. The article reconstructs the multiplicity of Rustin’s black internationalist geographies which drew eclectically from a range of Pan-African, American and pacifist traditions. Though each of these was profoundly racialized, they conceptualized race in distinctive ways and thereby had differing understandings of what constituted the international as a geographical arena. By blending these forms of internationalism Rustin was able to promote a particular model of civil rights which was characteristically internationalist in outlook, nonviolent in principle and institutional in composition; a model which in selective and uneven ways continues to shape our understanding of the period

Using Basic Science to Design a Clinical Trial: Baseline Characteristics of Women Enrolled in the Kronos Early Estrogen Prevention Study (KEEPS)

Observational and epidemiological studies suggest that menopausal hormone therapy (MHT) reduces cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. However, results from prospective trials showed neutral or adverse effects most likely due to differences in participant demographics, such as age, timing of initiation of treatment, and preexisting cardiovascular disease, which reflected in part the lack of basic science information on mechanisms of action of hormones on the vasculature at the time clinical trials were designed. The Kronos Early Estrogen Replacement Study (KEEPS) is a prospective, randomized, controlled trial designed, using findings from basic science studies, to test the hypothesis that MHT when initiated early in menopause reduces progression of atherosclerosis. KEEPS participants are younger, healthier, and within 3 years of menopause thus matching more closely demographics of women in prior observational and epidemiological studies than women in the Women’s Health Initiative hormone trials. KEEPS will provide information relevant to the critical timing hypothesis for MHT use in reducing risk for CVD

Skeletal Morphology of Opius dissitus and Biosteres carbonarius (Hymenoptera: Braconidae), with a Discussion of Terminology

The Braconidae, a family of parasitic wasps, constitute a major taxonomic challenge with an estimated diversity of 40,000 to 120,000 species worldwide, only 18,000 of which have been described to date. The skeletal morphology of braconids is still not adequately understood and the terminology is partly idiosyncratic, despite the fact that anatomical features form the basis for most taxonomic work on the group. To help address this problem, we describe the external skeletal morphology of Opius dissitus Muesebeck 1963 and Biosteres carbonarius Nees 1834, two diverse representatives of one of the least known and most diverse braconid subfamilies, the Opiinae. We review the terminology used to describe skeletal features in the Ichneumonoidea in general and the Opiinae in particular, and identify a list of recommend terms, which are linked to the online Hymenoptera Anatomy Ontology. The morphology of the studied species is illustrated with SEM-micrographs, photos and line drawings. Based on the examined species, we discuss intraspecific and interspecific morphological variation in the Opiinae and point out character complexes that merit further study

Macrocheles species (Acari: Macrochelidae) associated with human corpses in Europe

The biology of macrochelid mites might offer new venues for the interpretation of the environmental conditions surrounding human death and decomposition. Three human corpses, one from Sweden and two from Spain, have been analysed for the occurrence of Macrochelidae species. Macrocheles muscaedomesticae females were associated with a corpse that was found in a popular beach area of southeast Spain. Their arrival coincides with the occurrence of one of their major carrier species, the filth fly Fannia scalaris, the activity of which peaks during mid-summer. M. glaber specimens were collected from a corpse in a shallow grave in a forest in Sweden at the end of summer, concurrent with the arrival of beetles attracted by odours from the corpse. M. perglaber adults were sampled from a corpse found indoors in the rural surroundings of Granada city, Spain. The phoretic behaviour of this species is similar to that of M. glaber, but being more specific to Scarabaeidae and Geotrupidae dung beetles, most of which favour human faeces. M. muscaedomesticae is known from urban and rural areas and poultry farms; M. glaber from outdoors, particularly the countryside; while M. perglaber from outdoor, rural, and remote, potentially mountainous locations. M. muscaedomesticae and M. perglaber are reported for the first time from the Iberian Peninsula. This is the first record of M. perglaber from human remains