Structural features of condensed tannins affect in vitro ruminal methane production and fermentation characteristics

An in vitro study was conducted to investigate the effects of condensed tannins (CT) structural properties, i.e. average polymer size (or mean degree of polymerization); percentage of cis flavan-3-ols and percentage of prodelphinidins in CT extracts on methane production (CH4) and fermentation characteristics. CT were extracted from eight plants in order to obtain different CT types: black currant leaves, goat willow leaves, goat willow twigs, pine bark, red currant leaves, sainfoin plants, weeping willow catkins and white clover flowers. They were analysed for CT content and CT composition by thiolytic degradation, followed by HPLC analysis. Grass silage was used as a control substrate. Condensed tannins were added to the substrate at a concentration of 40 g/kg, with or without polyethylene glycol (+ or −PEG 6000 treatment) to inactivate tannins, and then incubated for 72 h in mixed buffered rumen fluid from three different lactating dairy cows per run. Total cumulative gas production (GP) was measured by an automated gas production system. During the incubation, 12 gas samples (10 μl) were collected from each bottle headspace at 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 12, 24, 30, 36, 48, 56 and 72 h of incubation and analyzed for CH4. A modified Michaelis–Menten model was fitted to the CH4 concentration patterns and model estimates were used to calculate total cumulative CH4 production (GPCH4). Total cumulative gas production and GPCH4 curves were fitted using biphasic and monophasic modified Michaelis-Menten models, respectively. Addition of PEG increased GP, GPCH4, and CH4 concentration compared to the −PEG treatment. All CT types reduced GPCH4 and CH4 concentration. All CT increased the half time of GP and GPCH4. Moreover, all CT decreased the maximum rate of fermentation for GPCH4 and rate of substrate degradation. The correlation between CT structure and GPCH4 and fermentation characteristics showed that the proportion of prodelphinidins within CT had the largest effect on fermentation characteristics, followed by average 27 polymer size and percentage of cis-flavan-3-ols

One Spin Trace Formalism for BK B_K

It has been known for some time that there are two methods to calculate $B_K$ with staggered fermions: one is the two spin trace formalism and the other is the one spin trace formalism. Until now, the two spin trace formalism has been exclusively used for weak matrix element calculations with staggered fermions. Here, the one spin trace formalism to calculate $B_K$ with staggered fermions is explained. It is shown that the one spin trace operators require additional chiral partner operators in order to keep the continuum chiral behavior. The renormalization of the one spin trace operators is described and compared with the two spin trace formalism.Comment: 47 pages, latex, 4 figures are available on reques

Partial Flavor Symmetry Restoration for Chiral Staggered Fermions

We study the leading discretization errors for staggered fermions by first constructing the continuum effective Lagrangian including terms of O(a^2), and then constructing the corresponding effective chiral Lagrangian. The terms of O(a^2) in the continuum effective Lagrangian completely break the SU(4) flavor symmetry down to the discrete subgroup respected by the lattice theory. We find, however, that the O(a^2) terms in the potential of the chiral Lagrangian maintain an SO(4) subgroup of SU(4). It follows that the leading discretization errors in the pion masses are SO(4) symmetric, implying three degeneracies within the seven lattice irreducible representations. These predictions hold also for perturbatively improved versions of the action. These degeneracies are observed, to a surprising degree of accuracy, in existing data. We argue that the SO(4) symmetry does not extend to the masses and interactions of other hadrons (vector mesons, baryons, etc), nor to higher order in a^2. We show how it is possible that, for physical quark masses of O(a^2), the new SO(4) symmetry can be spontaneously broken, leading to a staggered analogue of the Aoki-phase of Wilson fermions. This does not, however, appear to happen for presently studied versions of the staggered action.Comment: 26 pages, 2 figures (using psfig). Version to appear in PRD (clarifications added to introduction and section 6; typos corrected; references updated

Automorphism Modular Invariants of Current Algebras

We consider those two-dimensional rational conformal field theories (RCFTs) whose chiral algebras, when maximally extended, are isomorphic to the current algebra formed from some affine non-twisted Kac--Moody algebra at fixed level. In this case the partition function is specified by an automorphism of the fusion ring and corresponding symmetry of the Kac--Peterson modular matrices. We classify all such partition functions when the underlying finite-dimensional Lie algebra is simple. This gives all possible spectra for this class of RCFTs. While accomplishing this, we also find the primary fields with second smallest quantum dimension.Comment: 32 pages, plain Te

Randomized Clinical-Trial of Manipulative Therapy and Physiotherapy for Persistent Back and Neck Complaints - Results of One Year Follow-Up

Objective - To compare the effectiveness of manipulative therapy, physiotherapy, treatment by the general practitioner, and placebo therapy in patients with persistent non-specific back and neck complaints. Design - Randomised clinical trial. Setting-Primary health care in the Netherlands. Patients-256 patients with non-specific back and neck complaints of at least six weeks' duration who had not received physiotherapy or manipulative therapy in the past two years. Interventions - At the discretion of the manipulative therapists, physiotherapists, and general practitioners. Physiotherapy consisted of exercises, massage, and physical therapy (heat, electrotherapy, ultrasound, shortwave diathermy). Manipulative therapy consisted of manipulation and mobilisation of the spine. Treatment by general practitioners consisted of drugs (for example, analgesics), advice about posture, home exercises, and (bed)rest. Placebo treatment consisted of detuned shortwave diathermy (10 minutes) and detuned ultrasound (10 minutes). Main outcome measures - Changes in severity of the main complaint and limitation of physical functioning measured on 10 point scales by a blinded research assistant and global perceived effect measured on a 6 point scale by the patients. Results - Many patients in the general practitioner and placebo groups received other treatment during follow up. Improvement in the main complaint was larger with manipulative therapy (4·5) than with physiotherapy (3·8) after 12 months' follow up (difference 0·9; 95% confidence interval 0·1 to 1·7). Manipulative therapy also gave larger improvements in physical functioning (difference 0·6; -0·1 to 1·3). The global perceived effect after six and 12 months' follow up was similar for both treatments. Conclusions - Manipulative therapy and physiotherapy are better than general practitioner and placebo treatment. Furthermore, manipulative therapy is slightly better than physiotherapy after 12 months

Severity of oEsophageal Anastomotic Leak in patients after oesophagectomy: the SEAL score

\ua9 The Author(s) 2022. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of BJS Society Ltd. BACKGROUND: Anastomotic leak (AL) is a common but severe complication after oesophagectomy. It is unknown how to determine the severity of AL objectively at diagnosis. Determining leak severity may guide treatment decisions and improve future research. This study aimed to identify leak-related prognostic factors for mortality, and to develop a Severity of oEsophageal Anastomotic Leak (SEAL) score. METHODS: This international, retrospective cohort study in 71 centres worldwide included patients with AL after oesophagectomy between 2011 and 2019. The primary endpoint was 90-day mortality. Leak-related prognostic factors were identified after adjusting for confounders and were included in multivariable logistic regression to develop the SEAL score. Four classes of leak severity (mild, moderate, severe, and critical) were defined based on the risk of 90-day mortality, and the score was validated internally. RESULTS: Some 1509 patients with AL were included and the 90-day mortality rate was 11.7 per cent. Twelve leak-related prognostic factors were included in the SEAL score. The score showed good calibration and discrimination (c-index 0.77, 95 per cent c.i. 0.73 to 0.81). Higher classes of leak severity graded by the SEAL score were associated with a significant increase in duration of ICU stay, healing time, Comprehensive Complication Index score, and Esophagectomy Complications Consensus Group classification. CONCLUSION: The SEAL score grades leak severity into four classes by combining 12 leak-related predictors and can be used to the assess severity of AL after oesophagectomy

Long-term evidence for ecological intensification as a pathway to sustainable agriculture

Ecological intensification (EI) could help return agriculture into a ‘safe operating space’ for humanity. Using a novel application of meta-analysis to data from 30 long-term experiments from Europe and Africa (comprising 25,565 yield records), we investigated how field-scale EI practices interact with each other, and with N fertilizer and tillage, in their effects on long-term crop yields. Here we confirmed that EI practices (specifically, increasing crop diversity and adding fertility crops and organic matter) have generally positive effects on the yield of staple crops. However, we show that EI practices have a largely substitutive interaction with N fertilizer, so that EI practices substantially increase yield at low N fertilizer doses but have minimal or no effect on yield at high N fertilizer doses. EI practices had comparable effects across different tillage intensities, and reducing tillage did not strongly affect yields

Major flaws in conflict prevention policies towards Africa : the conceptual deficits of international actors’ approaches and how to overcome them

Current thinking on African conflicts suffers from misinterpretations oversimplification, lack of focus, lack of conceptual clarity, state-centrism and lack of vision). The paper analyses a variety of the dominant explanations of major international actors and donors, showing how these frequently do not distinguish with sufficient clarity between the ‘root causes’ of a conflict, its aggravating factors and its triggers. Specifically, a correct assessment of conflict prolonging (or sustaining) factors is of vital importance in Africa’s lingering confrontations. Broader approaches (e.g. “structural stability”) offer a better analytical framework than familiar one-dimensional explanations. Moreover, for explaining and dealing with violent conflicts a shift of attention from the nation-state towards the local and sub-regional level is needed.Aktuelle Analysen afrikanischer Gewaltkonflikte sind häufig voller Fehlinterpretationen (Mangel an Differenzierung, Genauigkeit und konzeptioneller Klarheit, Staatszentriertheit, fehlende mittelfristige Zielvorstellungen). Breitere Ansätze (z. B. das Modell der Strukturellen Stabilität) könnten die Grundlage für bessere Analyseraster und Politiken sein als eindimensionale Erklärungen. häufig differenzieren Erklärungsansätze nicht mit ausreichender Klarheit zwischen Ursachen, verschärfenden und auslösenden Faktoren. Insbesondere die richtige Einordnung konfliktverlängernder Faktoren ist in den jahrzehntelangen gewaltsamen Auseinandersetzungen in Afrika von zentraler Bedeutung. Das Diskussionspapier stellt die große Variationsbreite dominanter Erklärungsmuster der wichtigsten internationalen Geber und Akteure gegenüber und fordert einen Perspektivenwechsel zum Einbezug der lokalen und der subregionalen Ebene für die Erklärung und Bearbeitung gewaltsamer Konflikte

Long-Term Adult Feline Liver Organoid Cultures for Disease Modeling of Hepatic Steatosis.

Hepatic steatosis is a highly prevalent liver disease, yet research is hampered by the lack of tractable cellular and animal models. Steatosis also occurs in cats, where it can cause severe hepatic failure. Previous studies demonstrate the potential of liver organoids for modeling genetic diseases. To examine the possibility of using organoids to model steatosis, we established a long-term feline liver organoid culture with adult liver stem cell characteristics and differentiation potential toward hepatocyte-like cells. Next, organoids from mouse, human, dog, and cat liver were provided with fatty acids. Lipid accumulation was observed in all organoids and interestingly, feline liver organoids accumulated more lipid droplets than human organoids. Finally, we demonstrate effects of interference with β-oxidation on lipid accumulation in feline liver organoids. In conclusion, feline liver organoids can be successfully cultured and display a predisposition for lipid accumulation, making them an interesting model in hepatic steatosis research