Optimization of the Performance Test Length for theSella ItalianoStallion

The Sella Italiano stallions are selected by 100-day perfomance test, but many breeders organisations use station test of shorter length. In twelve editions, 17,394 ten-point scores both for character and gaits, and 6291 scores for jumping were assigned to 314 candidate stallions. By means of the comparison of univariate EBVs, calculated from the complete dataset or from the reduced subsets, a dataset lasting only from 33rd day to 78th day of the training period was selected: it included less than 70% of the original data. The subset was validated by 3-trait AM BLUP: there were no evident effects on the estimates of variance component or ratio, and the aggregated selection index for the three traits showed a 99% rank correlation with the official index. These findings demonstrate that the training period could be reduced without affecting the genetic progress in the Sella Italiano breed

Analysis of founders and performance test effects on an autochthonous horse population through pedigree analysis: structure, genetic variability and inbreeding.

The Maremmano is an autochthonous Italian horse breed, which probably descended from the native horses of the Etruscans (VI century B.C.); the Studbook was acknowledged in 1980, and it includes 12 368 horses born from that year up to 2015. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of the selection program on the genetic variability of the Maremmano population; the analysis was performed using both the 'Endog v 4.8' program available at http://webs.ucm.es/info/prodanim/html/JP_Web.htm and in-house software on official pedigree data. Four Reference Populations were considered, and the most important one was the population of the 12 368 Maremmano horses officially registered in the National Studbook. The pedigree completeness of this population was very good because it was more than 90% at the third parental generation and more than 70% at the fifth generation; the pedigree traced back to a maximum of 10.50 generations with an average of 3.30 complete generations and 5.70 equivalent complete generations. The average generation interval was 10.65±4.72 years, with stallions used for longer periods than mares. The intervals ranged from 10.15±4.45 (mother-daughter) to 10.99±4.93 (father-daughter). The effective number of founders (f e) was 74 and the effective number of ancestors (f a) was 30 so that the ratio f e/f a was 2.47. The founder genome equivalents (f g) was 13.72 with a ratio f g/f e equal to 0.18. The mean of the genetic conservation index was 5.55±3.37, and it ranged from 0.81 to 21.32. The average inbreeding coefficient was 2.94%, with an increase of 0.1%/year, and the average relatedness coefficient was 5.52%. The effective population size (N e) computed by an individual increase in inbreeding was 68.1±13.00; the N e on equivalent generations was 42.00, and this value slightly increased to 42.20 when computed by Log regression on equivalent generations. The analysis confirmed the presence of seven traditional male lines. The percentage of Thoroughbred blood in the foals born in 2015 was 20.30% and has increased 0.21%/year since 1980; in particular, it increased more than twice (0.51%/year) until 1993 and afterwards slightly fluctuated. The pedigree analysis confirmed the completeness of genealogical information and the traditional importance that breeders gave to the male lines; although the genetic diversity of Maremmano seemed to be not endangered by the selection program, some effects on the population structure were found and a more scientific approach to genetic conservation should be incorporated in the selection plans

Genetic characterization of Appenninica sheep breed by microsatellites

The conservation of genetic variability is one of the main objectives in the field of genetics applied to domestic livestock. A strong input in that direction was made by molecular biology techniques. Among molecular markers nowadays available, microsatellites are particularly appreciated and widely utilized for the study of animal genome. In this study, a genetic characterization of Appenninica sheep breed was carried out with thirty microsatellite markers; the genetic relationships between Appenninica and three Italian merinos-derived breeds were also investigated. The results show a good genetic variability of Appenninica and all the other studied breeds. At the same time, the genetic identity of each breed is confirmed. These molecular data can be utilized to improve the present selection schemes and the plans to preserve the genetic diversit

Suitability of linear scoring in meat sheep: the practical case of Merinizzata Italiana breed

Linear scoring is widely applied in domestic animal species, mainly in cattle and horses. There are only few cases of linear scoring in sheep, probably because the small body size and the narrow range of the classes make difficult to correctly evaluate the measures. In this paper the results of a linear scoring test carried out on Merinizzata Italiana sheep breed in order to verify the feasibility of this method in sheep, are reported. Twenty untrained people, with three different levels of scoring experience in meat sheep morphology, evaluated 52 pluriparous ewes for body length, chest circumference, chest width, rump height, rump width, and withers height; to check for misclassification, their scores were compared with a reference score, previously obtained measuring the same animals by the suitable tools (measuring tape and a Lydtin stick). The percentage of correct scoring ranged from 44.4% for body length to 61.8% for withers height, and was not affected by the experience of the judge. In all characters, the distance of the class from the trait mean had a significant effect in increasing the intensity of misclassifications; the judge's experience showed a positive effect in reducing the intensity of the misclassification for body length, that was the hardest trait to score. These results encourage to further verifying in practice the linear scoring in the Merinizzata Italiana sheep and in other meat breeds

The O2-scavenging Flavodiiron Protein in the Human Parasite Giardia intestinalis

The flavodiiron proteins (FDP) are widespread among strict or facultative anaerobic prokaryotes, where they are involved in the response to nitrosative and/or oxidative stress. Unexpectedly, FDPs were fairly recently identified in a restricted group of microaerobic protozoa, including Giardia intestinalis, the causative agent of the human infectious disease giardiasis. The FDP from Giardia was expressed, purified, and extensively characterized by x-ray crystallography, stopped-flow spectroscopy, respirometry, and NO amperometry. Contrary to flavorubredoxin, the FDP from Escherichia coli, the enzyme from Giardia has high O(2)-reductase activity (>40 s(-1)), but very low NO-reductase activity (approximately 0.2 s(-1)); O(2) reacts with the reduced protein quite rapidly (milliseconds) and with high affinity (K(m) < or = 2 microM), producing H(2)O. The three-dimensional structure of the oxidized protein determined at 1.9A resolution shows remarkable similarities with prokaryotic FDPs. Consistent with HPLC analysis, the enzyme is a dimer of dimers with FMN and the non-heme di-iron site topologically close at the monomer-monomer interface. Unlike the FDP from Desulfovibrio gigas, the residue His-90 is a ligand of the di-iron site, in contrast with the proposal that ligation of this histidine is crucial for a preferential specificity for NO. We propose that in G. intestinalis the primary function of FDP is to efficiently scavenge O(2), allowing this microaerobic parasite to survive in the human small intestine, thus promoting its pathogenicity

Genetic diversity of Cornigliese sheep breed using STR markers

To preserve sheep biodiversity is an important issue as the most productive breeds are becoming dependent on intensive management and breeders are abandoning the traditional breeds. The Cornigliese sheep is a local breed from Parma Apennine. In the last centuries it was crossed with Merino and Bergamasca breeds. The aim of this work is to investigate the genetic variability in the Cornigliese breed using 27 microsatellite markers. A total of 144 individual blood samples were randomly collected from the following breeds: Cornigliese, Bergamasca, Appenninica and Spanish Merino. The Palmera breed was used as out-group. A total of 344 alleles were detected. The average expected heterozygosity ranged from a maximum of 0.77 in Appenninica to a minimum of 0.68 in Bergamasca. In general,Cornigliese showed heterozygosity estimates less than expected. The Reynolds weighted genetic distance among the breeds highlighted a clear cluster, including Cornigliese and Bergamasca. As expected, they appeared in close neighbourhood in the tree because of the historic crossbreeding practices between these two breeds. Results of STRUCTURE analyses show that the four studied breeds were discriminated into separate clusters, even if Cornigliese has some individual related to Bergamasca and Spanish Merino. This work confirmed the historical information about the origin of Cornigliese breed which reports gene flow among these breeds. The genetic parameters show a moderate value of inbreeding in Cornigliese and therefore this breed should be monitored due the low number of individuals that compose it

A microsatellites-based survey on the genetic structure of two Italian local chicken breeds

The biodiversity safeguard is an important goal of poultry production in every developed country. Nowadays, the high chicken meat demand from the world market has been leading to a large spread of strongly producing commercial chicken lines. The creation of these standard types is causing a progressive loss of genetic variability. Ancona and Livorno are two Italian autochthonous chicken breeds which represent a great resource in terms of specific genetic richness. Aim of this study is to investigate the genetic diversity of these breeds as potential valuable genetic variability source. In fact, in spite of their endangered status, these chicken breeds are very appreciated for their ability to adapt themselves to extensive organic rearing systems. Blood samples from 131 individuals were collected and genotyped through a thirty microsatellites-based analysis. All the observed descriptive statistical indexes suggested a heterozygosity deficiency and an inbreeding level (mean observed heterozygosity = 0.46, mean expected heterozygosity = 0.53, Fis in Ancona and Livorno = 0.251 and 0.086). The tree from inter-individual DAS distance using Neighbour-Joining algorithm and the FCA analysis showed a higher internal variability in Livorno than in Ancona. STRUCTURE analysis showed the genetic uniqueness of the breeds and the presence of sub-groups in Ancona originating from a possible genetic isolation. This research could be a suitable starting point to set up improved selection schemes and a potential preliminary genotypic test for all the cocks to be used in the selection

Ki67 and PR in Patients Treated with CDK4/6 Inhibitors: A Real-World Experience

CDK4/6 inhibitors (CDK4/6i) are recommended in patients with estrogen receptor (ER)-positive, HER2-negative advanced breast cancer (ABC). Up to now, no prognostic biomarkers have been identified in this setting. We retrospectively analyzed the expression of progesterone receptor (PR) and Ki67, assessed by immunohistochemistry, in 71 ABC patients treated with CDK4/6i and analyzed the impact of these markers on progression-free survival (PFS). The majority of patients 63/71 (88.7%) received palbociclib, 4 (5.6%) received ribociclib, and 4 (5.6%) received abemaciclib. A higher median value of Ki67 was observed in cases undergoing second-line treatment (p= 0.047), whereas the luminal B subtype was more prevalent (p= 0.005). In the univariate analysis of the first-line setting, luminal A subtype showed a trend towards a correlation with a longer PFS (p= 0.053). A higher continuous Ki67 value led to a significantly shorter PFS. When the interaction between pathological characteristics and line of treatment was considered, luminal B subtype showed a significantly (p= 0.043) worse outcome (Hazard Ratio (HR) 2.84; 1.03-7.82 95% Confidence Interval (CI)). PFS in patients undergoing endocrine therapy plus CDK4/6i was inversely correlated with Ki67 expression but not with PR, suggesting that tumor proliferation has a greater impact on cell cycle inhibitors combined with endocrine therapy than PR expression

IgE-mediated fish allergy in children

Abstract: Fish allergy constitutes a severe problem worldwide. Its prevalence has been calculated as high as 7% in paediatric populations, and in many cases, it persists into adulthood with life-threatening signs and symptoms. The following review focuses on the epidemiology of Immunoglobulin E (IgE)-mediated fish allergy, its pathogenesis, clinical manifestations, and a thorough approach to diagnosis and management in the paediatric population. The traditional approach for managing fish allergy is avoidance and rescue medication for accidental exposures. Food avoidance poses many obstacles and is not easily maintained. In the specific case of fish, food is also not the only source of allergens; aerosolisation of fish proteins when cooking is a common source of highly allergenic parvalbumin, and elimination diets cannot prevent these contacts. Novel management approaches based on immunomodulation are a promising strategy for the future of these patients