The prevalence of gastrointestinal nematode infection and their impact on cattle in Nakuru and Mukurweini districts of Kenya

A cross-sectional study was conducted in Nakuru and Mukurweini districts of Kenya to estimate the prevalence of gastrointestinal nematodes (GIN) and the financial impact of such infections among smallholder dairy farms. Parasitological examination involving feacal egg count and larval culture was employed to determine prevalence and burden of GIN. Questionnaires were administered to collect individual animal and farm management data. The impact of GIN infection on average daily milk production in lactating cows was also estimated using generalized linear regression analysis The prevalence of GIN infection was significantly different (p< 0.05) between Nakuru and Mukurweini, at 19.8% and 8.3%, respectively (13.8% overall), for a relative risk of infection of 2.3. Farm-level prevalence of infections were estimated at 28.1% (36/128) for Haemonchus, 19.5% (25/128) for Trichostrongylus and 14.8% (19/128) for Oesophagostomum. Average daily milk production in litres in the GIN-infected milking cows was 5.4 compared to 7.8 in the noninfected cows. GIN infection was associated with 1.4 litres per cow per day less milk and this difference was statistically significant (p< 0.05). The observed difference in milk production translated to a daily loss of 0.35 US dollars (USD) per cow per day at a cost of 0.25 USD per litre, which was the average farm gate price of milk at study time in the area under study.Keywords: Cattle, Gastrointestinal nematode infections, Milk production, Cross-sectional study

Asymmetrical dimethylarginine (ADMA) in critically ill patients: high plasma ADMA concentration is an independent risk factor of ICU mortality

0.001) and bilirubin (b=0.121, 95% CI: 0.031-0.212; P=0.009) concentration as markers of hepatic function. Twenty-one (40%) patients deceased during their ICU stay. In a logistic regression model, plasma ADMA ranked as the first and strongest predictor for outcome, with a 17-fold (95% CI: 3-100) increased risk for ICU death in patients who were in the highest quartile for ADMA. CONCLUSIONS: In critically ill patients, plasma ADMA concentration is a strong and independent risk factor for ICU mortality, and hepatic dysfunction is the most prominent determinant of ADMA concentration in this population

A unified approach on Springer fibers in the hook, two-row and two-column cases

We consider the Springer fiber over a nilpotent endomorphism. Fix a Jordan basis and consider the standard torus relative to this. We deal with the problem to describe the flags fixed by the torus which belong to a given component of the Springer fiber. We solve the problem in the hook, two-row and two-column cases. We provide two main characterizations which are common to the three cases, and which involve dominance relations between Young diagrams and combinatorial algorithms. Then, for these three cases, we deduce topological properties of the components and their intersections.Comment: 42 page

Aerobic Exercise during Pregnancy and Presence of Fetal-Maternal Heart Rate Synchronization

It has been shown that short-term direct interaction between maternal and fetal heart rates may take place and that this interaction is affected by the rate of maternal respiration. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of maternal aerobic exercise during pregnancy on the occurrence of fetal-maternal heart rate synchronization.In 40 pregnant women at the 36th week of gestation, 21 of whom exercised regularly, we acquired 18 min. RR interval time series obtained simultaneously in the mothers and their fetuses from magnetocardiographic recordings. The time series of the two groups were examined with respect to their heart rate variability, the maternal respiratory rate and the presence of synchronization epochs as determined on the basis of synchrograms. Surrogate data were used to assess whether the occurrence of synchronization was due to chance.In the original data, we found synchronization occurred less often in pregnancies in which the mothers had exercised regularly. These subjects also displayed higher combined fetal-maternal heart rate variability and lower maternal respiratory rates. Analysis of the surrogate data showed shorter epochs of synchronization and a lack of the phase coordination found between maternal and fetal beat timing in the original data.The results suggest that fetal-maternal heart rate coupling is present but generally weak. Maternal exercise has a damping effect on its occurrence, most likely due to an increase in beat-to-beat differences, higher vagal tone and slower breathing rates

Cortical Factor Feedback Model for Cellular Locomotion and Cytofission

Eukaryotic cells can move spontaneously without being guided by external cues. For such spontaneous movements, a variety of different modes have been observed, including the amoeboid-like locomotion with protrusion of multiple pseudopods, the keratocyte-like locomotion with a widely spread lamellipodium, cell division with two daughter cells crawling in opposite directions, and fragmentations of a cell to multiple pieces. Mutagenesis studies have revealed that cells exhibit these modes depending on which genes are deficient, suggesting that seemingly different modes are the manifestation of a common mechanism to regulate cell motion. In this paper, we propose a hypothesis that the positive feedback mechanism working through the inhomogeneous distribution of regulatory proteins underlies this variety of cell locomotion and cytofission. In this hypothesis, a set of regulatory proteins, which we call cortical factors, suppress actin polymerization. These suppressing factors are diluted at the extending front and accumulated at the retracting rear of cell, which establishes a cellular polarity and enhances the cell motility, leading to the further accumulation of cortical factors at the rear. Stochastic simulation of cell movement shows that the positive feedback mechanism of cortical factors stabilizes or destabilizes modes of movement and determines the cell migration pattern. The model predicts that the pattern is selected by changing the rate of formation of the actin-filament network or the threshold to initiate the network formation

Supervised Human-Guided Data Exploration

Peer reviewe

Stimulus-preceding negativity in ADHD

Children with ADHD often show disrupted response preparation as indicated by attenuated stimulus-preceding negativity (SPN). This study examined response preparation in a relatively short cue-stimulus interval. No differences in SPN occurred between children with ADHD and their normal peers. A strong positive relationship was found between SPN and mean reaction time in both groups. Children with ADHD are able to mentally prepare themselves for upcoming events in short cue-stimulus intervals. © 2013 Springer-Verlag Wien