A cohort study of the associations between udder conformation, milk somatic cell count, and lamb weight in suckler ewes

A cohort study of 67 suckler ewes from 1 farm was carried out from January to May 2010 to investigate associations between udder conformation, udder half milk somatic cell count (SCC), and lamb weight. Ewes and lambs were observed at lambing. Ewe health and teat condition and lamb health and weight were recorded on 4 to 5 further occasions at 14-d intervals. At each observation, a milk sample was collected from each udder half for somatic cell counting. Two weeks after lambing, ewe udder conformation and teat placement were scored. Low lamb weight was associated with ewe SCC >400,000 cells/mL (−0.73kg), a new teat lesion 14 d previously (−0.91kg), suboptimal teat position (−1.38kg), rearing in a multiple litter (−1.45kg), presence of diarrhea at the examination (−1.19kg), and rearing by a 9-yr-old ewe compared with a 6-yr-old ewe (−2.36kg). High lamb weight was associated with increasing lamb age (0.21kg/d), increasing birth weight (1.65kg/kg at birth), and increasing number of days the ewe was given supplementary feed before lambing (0.06kg/d). High udder half SCC was associated with pendulous udders (9.6% increase in SCC/cm of drop) and greater total cross-sectional area of the teats (7.2% increase of SCC/cm2). Low SCC were associated with a heavier mean litter weight (6.7% decrease in SCC/kg). Linear, quadratic, and cubic terms for days in lactation were also significant. We conclude that poor udder and teat conformation are associated with high levels of intramammary infection, as indicated by increased SCC and that both physical attributes of the udder and SCC are linked to lamb growth, suggesting that selection of suckler ewes with better udder and teat conformation would reduce intramammary infection and increase lamb growth rate

Robust Multi-Image HDR Reconstruction for the Modulo Camera

Photographing scenes with high dynamic range (HDR) poses great challenges to consumer cameras with their limited sensor bit depth. To address this, Zhao et al. recently proposed a novel sensor concept - the modulo camera - which captures the least significant bits of the recorded scene instead of going into saturation. Similar to conventional pipelines, HDR images can be reconstructed from multiple exposures, but significantly fewer images are needed than with a typical saturating sensor. While the concept is appealing, we show that the original reconstruction approach assumes noise-free measurements and quickly breaks down otherwise. To address this, we propose a novel reconstruction algorithm that is robust to image noise and produces significantly fewer artifacts. We theoretically analyze correctness as well as limitations, and show that our approach significantly outperforms the baseline on real data.Comment: to appear at the 39th German Conference on Pattern Recognition (GCPR) 201

Dirty Black Holes and Hairy Black Holes

An approach based on considerations of the non-classical energy momentum tensor outside the event horizon of a black hole provides additional physical insight into the nature of discrete quantum hair on black holes and its effect on black hole temperature. Our analysis both extends previous work based on the Euclidean action techniques, and corrects an omission in that work. We also raise several issues related to the effects of instantons on black hole thermodynamics and the relation between these effects and results in two dimensional quantum field theory.Comment: 13 pages, Latex, submitted to Physical Review Letter

Evaluation of the Dietary Effect of Hallabong Peel Oil on Growth, Hematological, and Immune Gene Expression in Rock Bream, Oplegnathus fasciatus Challenged with Edwardsiella tarda

In the present study we evaluated the dietary effect of Hallabong peel oil (HPO) on growth, disease resistance, and immune gene expression of rock bream, Oplegnathus fasciatus challenged with Edwardsiella tarda after a 4 week feeding trial with 5 treatments: control-C, probiotic–P, HPO (0.1%), HPO (0.5%), and P+HPO, diets. All fish groups were assessed for growth performance, innate immune parameters, serum biochemical profile, and immune gene expression in head kidney on 2nd, and 4th week, and 1st, 3rd and 7th day post infection with Edwardsiella tarda. Fish fed the HPO enriched diets showed increased growth performance with significantly decreased (P>0.05) mortality compared with the control and probiotic diet groups. The positive effects of HPO enriched diet were also found in all assessed innate immune and biochemical parameters which included increased respiratory burst and lysozyme activity, with significantly increased erythrocyte and leukocytes counts, increased serum protein, decreased glucose, triglycerides, cholesterol level in serum compared with control diet fed fish. Moreover, the probiotic bacterial count in the intestine of fish was enhanced with the HPO diet and the P+HPO diet compared to fish fed the probiotic diet. The head kidney of HPO enriched diet fed fish showed up-regulated expression of inflammatory cytokines genes such as TNFα, IL-1β, and FST, after 4th week of feeding trial which was increased ~2 to 3 times on 1dpi and 3 dpi. These results indicate that limonene rich (91.26%), HPO enriched diets enhance growth and immunity and enhance disease resistance of Oplegnathus fasciatus challenged against E. tarda

Pathogenicity and Immune Response of Starry Flounder, Platichthys stellatus, Infected with Vibrio anguillarum

Vibrio anguillarum is the aetiological agent of vibriosis, a disease affecting many marine fish species. The occurrence of vibriosis in starry flounder, Platichthys stellatus, grown in an aquaculture farm has demonstrated the urgent need for information on pathogenic infection and immune response for efficient disease management. This is the first study to report Vibrio anguillarum isolation and infection in starry flounder. We evaluated immune responses, serum biochemical parameters, and cumulative mortality of the fish by experimentally challenging healthy fish. The expression levels of five immune genes (TNF, TNFR, IL-6, MHCII, and CXC) were measured by real-time quantitative PCR. The transcriptional levels of the genes encoding tumor necrosis factor (TNF), TNF receptor (TNFR), interleukin-6 (IL-6), the major histocompatibility complex (MHC-II), and a chemokine (CXC) in the head-kidney of V. anguillarum infected fish were significantly upregulated compared with control fish and biochemical indices including the alanine aminotransferase, total serum protein, and glucose levels of infected fish differed significantly from those of control. Additionally, Starry flounder infected with V. anguillarum at 1.67 × 106 and 1.67 × 108CFU/mL showed 53%, and 100% mortality, respectively. This study furthers our understanding of the immune and serum biochemical alterations, and mortality induced by bacterial infections, depending on pathogen concentration. This may advance strategies for control of V. anguillarum in cultured starry flounde

Chemical Accident Hazard Assessment by Spatial Analysis of Chemical Factories and Accident Records in South Korea

This study identified the potential chemical accident occurrence in Korea by analyzing the spatial distribution of chemical factories and accidents. The number of chemical factories and accidents in 25-km2 grids were used as the attribute value for spatial analysis. First, semi-variograms were conducted to examine spatial distribution patterns and to identify spatial autocorrelation of chemical factories and accidents. Semi-variograms explained that the spatial distribution of chemical factories and accidents were spatially autocorrelated. Second, the results of the semi-variograms were used in Ordinary Kriging to estimate chemical hazard levels. The level values were extracted from the Ordinary Kriging result and their spatial similarity was examined by juxtaposing the two values with respect to their location. Six peaks were identified in both the factory hazard and accident hazard estimation result, and the peaks correlated with major cities in Korea. Third, the estimated two hazard levels were classified with geometrical interval and could be classified into four quadrants: Low Factory and Low Accident (LFLA), High Factory and Low Accident (HFLA), Low Factory and High Accident(LFHA), and High Factory and High Accident (HFHA). The 4 groups identified different chemical safety management issues in Korea; safe LFLA group, many chemical reseller factories were found in HFLA group, chemical transportation accidents were in the LFHA group, and an abundance of factories and accidents were in the HFHA group. Each quadrant represented different safety management obstacles in Korea, and studying spatial differences can support the establishment of an efficient risk management plan

Morphological changes of injected calcium phosphate cement in osteoporotic compressed vertebral bodies

SUMMARY: This study was undertaken to investigate the radiologic and clinical outcomes of vertebroplasty with calcium phosphate (CaP) cement in patients with osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures. The morphological changes of injected CaP cement in osteoporotic compressed vertebral bodies were variable and unpredictable. We suggest that the practice of vertebroplasty using CaP should be reconsidered. INTRODUCTION: Recently, CaP, an osteoconductive filler material, has been used in the treatment of osteoporotic compression fractures. However, the clinical results of CaP-cement-augmented vertebrae are still not well established. The purpose of this study is to assess the clinical results of vertebroplasty with CaP by evaluating the morphological changes of CaP cement in compressed vertebral bodies. METHODS: Fourteen patients have been followed for more than 2 years after vertebroplasty. The following parameters were reviewed: age, sex, T score, compliance with osteoporosis medications, visual analog scale score, compression ratio, subsequent compression fractures, and any morphological changes in the filler material. RESULTS: The morphological changes of injected CaP included reabsorption, condensation, bone formation (osteogenesis), fracture of the CaP solid hump, and heterotopic ossification. Out of 14 patients, 11 (78.6%) developed progression of the compression of the CaP-augmented vertebral bodies after vertebroplasty. CONCLUSIONS: The morphological changes of the injected CaP cement in the vertebral bodies were variable and unpredictable. The compression of the CaP-augmented vertebrae progressed continuously for 2 years or more. The findings of this study suggest that vertebroplasty using CaP cement should be reconsidered.ope