Water bucket colour preferences in horses

There is a general agreement that horses have dichromatic colour vision with similar capabilities to those of human beings with red-green colour deficiencies. However, whether colour perception has an impact on equine preference for drinking water and how pronounced the colour stimulus might be for horses is still unknown. This study aimed to investigate the preference of horses for different coloured buckets (red, light green, yellow, green, light blue, turquoise) with different tones, in terms of lightness and darkness, measured by the amount of water consumed from each of them in an outdoor arena. Three Thoroughbred and 3 Haflinger horses were used in the study, and data were collected between 09:00 - 16:00 h. The results showed that the average water consumption during this period can reach up to 25.74 L (at an average environmental temperature of 27.35 °C), and significantly more water had been consumed from the turquoise-coloured bucket than from the other colours. It was also observed that the light toned colours (turquoise, light blue) were preferred to dark ones (green, yellow, red). It is suggested to use water buckets that are turquoise and light blue. Further studies are needed to better understand the relationship between water consumption and colour vision

Magnetic Levitation Based Applications in Bioscience

Contactless manipulation of small objects, such as micro−/nanoparticles, biological entities, and even cells is required in varied applications in biosciences. Magnetic levitation (MagLev) is a new-generation methodology to achieve contactless magnetic manipulation of objects. Lately, magnetic levitation methodology has been utilized in several applications in bioscience, such as biosensors, diagnostics and tissue engineering. Magnetic levitation enables separation or positioning of objects in three-dimensional (3D) space based on their density features. Therefore, density-based separation assays utilizing magnetic levitation for biosensing or diagnostic purposes are developed recently. Specific particles or cells, which are markers of any disease, could be detected by sorting them based on density differences through magnetic levitation. On the other hand, tissue engineering studies and production of self-assembled 3D cell culture structures are carried out by magnetic levitation, where cells are magnetically positioned while allowing cell-cell interaction resulting in 3D cell culture formation. Lately, magnetic levitation methodologies received more interest in the field of bioscience due to advantages about the efficiency and cost. This contribution broadly summarizes recent efforts in magnetic levitation techniques that are mainly applied in diagnostics and tissue engineering

The effect of L-Carnitine on the recovery of achilles tendon injury in postmenopausal rats

Background: Use of surgery for the treatment of achilles tendon rupture has its limitations. Therefore, additional treatment modalities are required during recovery of these ruptures. The present study investigated the effect of L-Carnitine (Carnitene®) on the recovery of injured achilles tendons in postmenopausal rats. Methods: This experimental study was conducted in 60 mature female Sprague-Dawney rats. Ovariectomy was performed for postmenopausal period. Carnitene® was administered in two doses as 100 mg/kg at low dose and 200 mg/kg at high dose using insulin injectors under sterile conditions. Inflammation score, Visual Analogue Score (VAS), and cartilaginous metaplasia were evaluated. Results: In rats with ovariectomy and tendon incision there was no difference in the effect of Carnitene® administration on the inflammation score (p=0.36), VAS score (p=0.26), cartilaginous metaplasia (p=0.44), and fibrosis development (p=0.44). Conclusion: There was no difference in the effect of the drug on postmenopausal tendon recovery. We recommend the use of Carnitene® for tendon recovery as a non-toxic and biocompatible agent

Development of a Neural Network Algorithm for Estimating the Makespan in Jobshop Production Scheduling

Since production scheduling is considered a short-term plan for future production planning, the advantages of effective scheduling and control and their contribution to the production process are numerous. Efficient use of resources improves productivity and ensures that customer orders are met on time. Even the simplest scheduling system has a complex solution structure. Long lead times also make it difficult to estimate the demand accurately. Therefore, it is important to solve scheduling problems effectively for such difficult-to-manage production processes. Job shop scheduling (JSS) problems are among the combinatorial problems in the NP-hard problems class. As constraints increase in such problems, the solution space starts to go to infinity, making it increasingly difficult to find the exact optimum solution. For this reason, metaheuristic algorithms have been used to solve such problems in recent years. This study aims to develop an artificial neural network (ANN)-based application to produce an optimal or near-optimal solution for JSS. Using the job shop type production data of Taillard comparison problems, the total processing time (i.e., makespan) has been calculated with the proposed ANN application. The results have been compared with the results of related studies in the literature, and the algorithm\u27s efficiency has been evaluated in detail

Facial Nerve Palsy: An Unusual Presenting Feature of Small Cell Lung Cancer

Lung cancer is the second most common type of cancer in the world and is the most common cause of cancer-related death in men and women; it is responsible for 1.3 million deaths annually worldwide. It can metastasize to any organ. The most common site of metastasis in the head and neck region is the brain; however, it can also metastasize to the oral cavity, gingiva, tongue, parotid gland and lymph nodes. This article reports a case of small cell lung cancer presenting with metastasis to the facial nerve

Conventional and organic foods: A comparison focused on animal products

AbstractThe term "organic" denotes a product of a food production system that is socially, ecologically, and economically sustainable. The organic food market is growing in response to an ever increasing demand for organic products. They are often considered more nutritious, healthier, and free from pesticides than conventional foods. However, the results of scientific studies do not show that organic products are more nutritious and safer than conventional foods. In this work a comparison between conventional and organic foods is made, the focus is on animal products. The data available in the existing literature is often conflicting, even if the differences are often associated with breeds suited to organic vs. conventional production systems. In order to have a clear understanding of the role that "organic effect" plays on animal foods, further research is necessary

Olfactory Neuroblastomas: An Experience of 24 Years

Objective. The aim of this study was to evaluate clinicopathological findings and the efficacy of the treatment modalities used in patients with olfactory neuroblastomas. Study Design. Retrospective record review. Setting. Istanbul University, Cerrahpasa Medical Faculty, medical oncology outpatient clinic. Subjects and Methods. There were 3 stage A tumors, 5 stage B and 11 stage C according to the Kadish staging system. There were 5 grade I/II and 12 grade III/IV according to the Hyams' histopathologic system. Involvement to orbita was detected in eight patients at the time of diagnosis. Results. The median follow-up period was 23.7 months. The 5-year survival rate for the whole group was 26%. The stage A/B groups exhibited a better survival rate than the C group with 2-year survival rates being 25 versus 71% respectively (P = .008). The grade I/II groups exhibited a better survival rate than the grade III/IV groups with 2-year survival rates being 50 versus 16% respectively (P = .001). The group who had orbital involvement exhibited a poor survival rate than the group of patients who had no involvement of the orbital. Conclusion. In our study, tumor stage, histopathologic grading, involvement of the orbita, brain and bone marow metastases were the statistically significant prognostic factors

The relationship between functional capacity and ultrasonic tissue characterization in patients with idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy

Background: Ultrasonic tissue characterization (UTC) has been widely used to investigate left ventricular (LV) dysfunction in various cardiac disorders. The aim of this study was to investigate the correlation between functional capacity and UTC in patients with idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy (IDCM).Methods and Results: Treadmill test according to modified-Bruce protocol was performed in 48 patients with IDCM to assess their functional capacity. Baseline clinical and echocardiographic variables were obtained and UTC was performed on images obtained from septum and posterior wall (PW). Cyclic variation (CV) index of mean gray level (MGL) was calculated according to the formula: [(MGLdiastole − MGLsystole) ÷ MGLdiastole] × 100.PW and septum CV indices were correlated with exercise duration (r = 0.63, p = 0.001 and r = 0.67, p = 0.0001, respectively) and “MET” level (r = 0.80, p = 0.0001 and r = 0.83,p = 0.0001, respectively). The ROC curve analysis revealed that the PW CV index was a strong indicator of good exercise capacity (> 8 METs) with an AUC of 0.97 (95% CI0.90–1.0), as the interventricular septum (IVS) CV index (AUC = 0.97, 95% CI 0.89–1.0). Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value to identify good exercise capacity for IVS CV index were 90%, 88%, 82%, and 94%, respectively and for the PW CV index, 90%, 88%, 82%, and 94%, respectively.Conclusions: In this particular study, we found out that in patients with severe LV dysfunction good exercise capacity was related to septum and PW CV indices measured by UTC, and these indices may be used as an indirect prognostic marker in heart failure