Relation Between Oxidant/Antioxidant Status and Postpartum Anestrous Conditions

The aim of the present study was to detect the relation between oxidant/antioxidant status and postpartum anestrous (PPA) conditions in dairy cows.The postpartum period is a very critical time that influenced mainly in cattle reproduction. A little information is obtainable in literature concerning antioxidant defense mechanisms during anestrus.The purpose of the following study is detection of the relation between oxidant/antioxidant status and postpartum anestrous (PPA) condition in dairy cows. Seventy five postpartum anestrous (PPA) and twenty five normal cyclic Holstein Friesian pluriparous dairy cows were selected on the basis of their reproductive history gained from farm records. Depend on the rectal findings and ultrasonography in addition to progesterone profile the studied animals were classified into three groups (each 25 animals) as inactive ovaries group, persistent corpus luteum group and silent heat group. Blood samples from anestrous and normal cyclic animals were gathered at day 0, day 10, day 21. These samples were utilized for detection of MDA, Vitamin C, Nitric Oxide and Total antioxidant capacity. Results of the present study revealed that MDA and Nitric Oxide were be significantly (plt0.05) higher in the groups of PPA than the normal cyclic group. Vitamin C (Ascorbic acid)nbsp levels were seen to be significantly (plt0.05) lower in normal cyclic animals in comparison to inactive ovaries group and persistent C.L group ,while there is no significant difference with the silent heat group . No statistically significant difference was detected in the total antioxidant capacity between the group of silent heat and the normal cyclic group, while the groups of persistent C.L and inactive ovaries were found to have statistically significant difference (plt0.05) with the normal cyclic group. It is concluded that supplementing diets with optimal levels of micronutrients with antioxidant capabilities is a good advice to farmers to avoid post-partum anestrum. Moreover, early approaches to conflict the progression of stress and to promote the antioxidant defense mechanisms of dairy cattle during times of increased metabolic demands appears to be Pertinent

Optimized superpixel and AdaBoost classifier for human thermal face recognition

Infrared spectrum-based human recognition systems offer straightforward and robust solutions for achieving an excellent performance in uncontrolled illumination. In this paper, a human thermal face recognition model is proposed. The model consists of four main steps. Firstly, the grey wolf optimization algorithm is used to find optimal superpixel parameters of the quick-shift segmentation method. Then, segmentation-based fractal texture analysis algorithm is used for extracting features and the rough set-based methods are used to select the most discriminative features. Finally, the AdaBoost classifier is employed for the classification process. For evaluating our proposed approach, thermal images from the Terravic Facial infrared dataset were used. The experimental results showed that the proposed approach achieved (1) reasonable segmentation results for the indoor and outdoor thermal images, (2) accuracy of the segmented images better than the non-segmented ones, and (3) the entropy-based feature selection method obtained the best classification accuracy. Generally, the classification accuracy of the proposed model reached to 99% which is better than some of the related work with around 5%

The utilization of sodium lignosulphonate extracted from Egyptian rice straw in leather tanning process

Massive quantities of rice straw are burned annually in Egypt and caused environmental hazards. The present study investigated the utilization of rice straw to produce sodium lignosulphonate (SLS) as a water-soluble derivative of lignin in leather tanning and evaluate its usage as a tanning or re-tanning material as well as its effect on leather quality. The results of testing SLS as a leather tanning agent were unsatisfactory due to its slight effect on shrinkage temperature of leathers, unlike its use as a re-tanning material. Four concentrations of SLS (0%, 5%, 10%, and 20%) were used in re-tanning forty of sheep wet-blues. The results showed that using SLS as a re-tanning agent with concentration till 10% from pelts weight enhances some organoleptic properties, such as fullness and general appearance together with slight improvement in physical properties of leathers. Moreover, the addition of SLS with concentration 20% led to an excessive swelling in the collagen fibers as shown from depicted scanning electron micrographs and decreased trends of physical properties

Investigation of the nanocrytalline SnO2 Synthesized by Homogeneous Precipitation

Nanocrystalline tin dioxide synthesized by the homogeneous pre cipitation method using the reaction of tin tetrachloride pentahydrate and urea solutions has been investigated. The nanocrystalline powder has been traced at different calcination temperatures (300ºC-1050ºC), and then characterized by using   Thermogravemetric analysis, differential thermal analysis and x-ray diffraction. The microstructure of the obtained nanoparticles has been examined by scanning and transmission electron microscopy. The average crystallite size, determined by x-ray diffraction, was found to be in the range of 3 –30 nm. The analysis exhibited a tetragonal phase.  Optical properties were investigated by a UV–vis absorption spectrophotometer. The calculated optical band gap lies between 4.47–3.71 eV as a result of increasing the calcination temperatures and crystallite size. Surface area and porosity of SnO2 nanoparticles are measured. Specific surface area which is related to pore volume and decreases from 155 m2/g at 100ºC to 3.3 m2/g at 1050ºC.Â

Molecular diagnosis in recessive pediatric neurogenetic disease can help reduce disease recurrence in families.

BackgroundThe causes for thousands of individually rare recessive diseases have been discovered since the adoption of next generation sequencing (NGS). Following the molecular diagnosis in older children in a family, parents could use this information to opt for fetal genotyping in subsequent pregnancies, which could inform decisions about elective termination of pregnancy. The use of NGS diagnostic sequencing in families has not been demonstrated to yield benefit in subsequent pregnancies to reduce recurrence. Here we evaluated whether genetic diagnosis in older children in families supports reduction in recurrence of recessive neurogenetic disease.MethodsRetrospective study involving families with a child with a recessive pediatric brain disease (rPBD) that underwent NGS-based molecular diagnosis. Prenatal molecular testing was offered to couples in which a molecular diagnosis was made, to help couples seeking to prevent recurrence. With this information, families made decisions about elective termination. Pregnancies that were carried to term were assessed for the health of child and mother, and compared with historic recurrence risk of recessive disease.ResultsBetween 2010 and 2016, 1172 families presented with a child a likely rPBD, 526 families received a molecular diagnosis, 91 families returned to the clinic with 101 subsequent pregnancies, and 84 opted for fetal genotyping. Sixty tested negative for recurrence for the biallelic mutation in the fetus, and all, except for one spontaneous abortion, carried to term, and were unaffected at follow-up. Of 24 that genotyped positive for the biallelic mutation, 16 were electively terminated, and 8 were carried to term and showed features of disease similar to that of the older affected sibling(s). Among the 101 pregnancies, disease recurrence in living offspring deviated from the expected 25% to the observed 12% ([95% CI 0·04 to 0·20], p = 0·011).ConclusionsMolecular diagnosis in an older child, coupled with prenatal fetal genotyping in subsequent pregnancies and genetic counselling, allows families to make informed decisions to reduce recessive neurogenetic disease recurrence

Field efficiency and selectivity effects of selected insecticides on cotton aphid, Aphis gossypii Glover (Homoptera: Aphididea) and its predators

Cotton aphid, Aphis gossypii Glover (Homoptera: Aphididae) is a key pest of cotton plants in Egypt. A two-year field study was conducted at Faculty of Agriculture, Assiut University, Egypt, during 2013 and 2014 growing seasons to determined the efficiency of acetamiprid, imidacloprid, thiamethoxam, dinotefuran, pirimicarb and  malathion on cotton aphid and selectivity effects of these insecticides on Coccinella undecimpunctata L. and Chrysoperla carnea (Stephens). The results indicated that thiamethoxam, dinotefuran, acetamiprid and imidacloprid proved to be the most effective insecticides in reducing cotton aphid population up to 21 days after treatment throughout both seasons and caused an average reduction percentage ranged from 73.58 to 96.42%%, whereas pirimicarb and malathion showed the lowest reduction with an average ranged 38.08 to 66.68 % at different exposure dates during 2013 and 2014 seasons. In addition, the selectivity effects of acetamiprid, imidacloprid, pirimicarb and malathion reduced the population of C. undecimpunctata with an average ranged from 78.05 to 96.43% and were classified as harmful. Thiamethoxam reduced the population with an average ranged from 68.72 to 69.20% and was classified as moderately harmful. Dinotefuran showed a slightly harmful effect to C. undecimpunctata with an average reduction 44.3 and 41.81% during 2013 and 2014 seasons. On the other hand, acetamiprid and dinotefuran caused a significant reduction in the population of C. carnea with an average ranged from 28.28 to 56.52% and were classified as harmless. Thiamethoxam and imidacloprid reduced the population with an average ranged from 55.53 and 64.39% and were classified as moderately harmful. By contrast, malathion and pirimicarb showed the highest reduction in the population with an average ranged from 67.15 to 96.57% and were classified as harmful during both seasons. These results suggested that, the selection of a suitable insecticide in an IPM program to control the cotton aphid not only depends on its efficiency against the aphid but also its toxicity to natural enemies (predators and parasitoids) and its persistence

The directional occurrence of the Levantine geomagnetic field anomaly: New data from Cyprus and abrupt directional changes

We present new insights on the directional occurrence of the Levantine Iron Age Anomaly (LIAA) through the analysis of new and previously published directional archaeomagnetic data from Cyprus and nearby countries. The new directions, obtained from in situ baked clay structures such as small hearths and ovens from five Cypriot archaeological sites, dated from 2000 BCE to 1400 CE, are very well defined and are added to the scant reference dataset for Cyprus. The new records together with literature data from nearby countries are used to investigate the directional variations of the geomagnetic field in the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East. The first directional palaeosecular variation curve for Middle East is calculated using a critical selection of reference data from Cyprus, Israel, Turkey and Syria. The curve covers the last four millennia and shows several periods characterized by abrupt directional changes. A maximum change in curvature is clearly observed around 900 BCE, characterized by a change rate as high as 13.2° per century. The new curve confirms that during the Levantine Iron Age Anomaly notable for extreme intensity values, the geomagnetic field was characterized by steep inclinations and important directional change too. The maximum curvature is shifted by around one century from the two distinct intensity spikes previously observed in Levant around the 10th and 8th centuries BCE. Other periods of important curvature change are also identified and deserve further investigation

Artificial Intelligence of Things (AIoT) technologies and applications

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