Effect of starch level and roughage intake on animal perfomance, rumen wall characteristics and liver abscesses in intensively fed Frisian bulls

Organic dairy cows in Denmark has a higher frequency of liver abscesses, which is probably due to higher starch levels in the feed rations to high yielding cows compaired to conventional cows. Following abstract is based on experiments on young bulls and demonstrates whether replacing high-starch feeds with low-starch feed, such as dried grass pellets and sugar beet pulp, can reduce the problems with liver abscessation without reducing the performance level. The low-starch feed would be relevant to organic dairy production. In total, 41 Danish Friesian bulls (154±20 kg LW) were allocated into four treatment groups in a 2x2 factorial design fed either a high starch (N) or a high fibrous concentrate (F) and either chopped barley straw (S) or a mixture of 75% chopped barley straw and 25% sugar beet molasses (Sm). In the F ration, 25% of the wheat from N was replaced by dried sugar beet pulp and grass pellets giving a starch level of 24.3% and 39.1% (wt) and an energy content of 0.99 and 1.04 Scandinavian Feed Units/kg feed, respectively. The ad libitum fed bulls were slaughtered at 11.5±0.2 mo. weighing 429±41 kg LW on average. Feed intake was higher for F than N (p=0.005) (7.1 vs. 6.4 kg/d), whereas the addition of molasses increased straw intake from 0.5 to 0.9 kg/d (p<0.001). The higher intake of Sm compared with S reduced concentrate intake (p<0.05), but did not affect total net energy intake. The average daily gain (1370 g/d) did not differ between groups. The rumen wall was more severely damaged with N compared with F (p<0.05) and with S compared with Sm (p<0.003). The higher straw intake prevented rumen wall damage, but did not reduce the number of animals with liver abscesses, like the lower starch level did (1 vs. 9 animals, p<0.005)

Diversity and taxonomy of Chaetomium and chaetomium-like fungi from indoor environments

During a study of indoor fungi, 145 isolates belonging to Chaetomiaceae were cultured from air, swab and dust samples from 19 countries. Based on the phylogenetic analyses of DNA-directed RNA polymerase II second largest subunit (rpb2), β-tubulin (tub2), ITS and 28S large subunit (LSU) nrDNA sequences, together with morphological comparisons with related genera and species, 30 indoor taxa are recognised, of which 22 represent known species, seven are described as new, and one remains to be identified to species level. In our collection, 69 % of the indoor isolates with six species cluster with members of the Chaetomium globosum species complex, representing Chaetomium sensu stricto. The other indoor species fall into nine lineages that are separated from each other with several known chaetomiaceous genera occurring among them. No generic names are available for five of those lineages, and the following new genera are introduced here: Amesia with three indoor species, Arcopilus with one indoor species, Collariella with four indoor species, Dichotomopilus with seven indoor species and Ovatospora with two indoor species. The generic concept of Botryotrichum is expanded to include Emilmuelleria and the chaetomium-like species B. muromum (= Ch. murorum) in which two indoor species are included. The generic concept of Subramaniula is expanded to include several chaetomium-like taxa as well as one indoor species. Humicola is recognised as a distinct genus including two indoor taxa. According to this study, Ch. globosum is the most abundant Chaetomiaceae indoor species (74/145), followed by Ch. cochliodes (17/145), Ch. elatum (6/145) and B. piluliferum (5/145). The morphological diversity of indoor Chaetomiaceae as well as the morphological characteristics of the new genera are described and illustrated. This taxonomic study redefines the generic concept of Chaetomium and provides new insight into the phylogenetic relationships among different genera within Chaetomiaceae

Almost-Euclidean subspaces of ℓ1N\ell_1^N via tensor products: a simple approach to randomness reduction

It has been known since 1970's that the N-dimensional $\ell_1$-space contains nearly Euclidean subspaces whose dimension is $\Omega(N)$. However, proofs of existence of such subspaces were probabilistic, hence non-constructive, which made the results not-quite-suitable for subsequently discovered applications to high-dimensional nearest neighbor search, error-correcting codes over the reals, compressive sensing and other computational problems. In this paper we present a "low-tech" scheme which, for any $a > 0$, allows to exhibit nearly Euclidean $\Omega(N)$-dimensional subspaces of $\ell_1^N$ while using only $N^a$ random bits. Our results extend and complement (particularly) recent work by Guruswami-Lee-Wigderson. Characteristic features of our approach include (1) simplicity (we use only tensor products) and (2) yielding "almost Euclidean" subspaces with arbitrarily small distortions.Comment: 11 pages; title change, abstract and references added, other minor change

Nye staldkoncepter for økologiske slagtesvin - Afrapportering fra arbejdspakke 3

Projektet er en del af Organic RDD 2- programmet, som koordineres af ICROFS (Internationalt Center for Forskning i Økologisk Jordbrug og Fødevaresystemer). Det har fået tilskud fra Grønt Udviklings- og Demonstrationsprogram (GUDP) under Miljø- og Fødevareministeriet

Risk assessment for epidemic spread of the quarantined potato pathogen Synchytrium endobioticum in the Republic of Georgia

Synchytrium endobioticum (causal agent of potato wart) is a devastating soilborne pathogen. Eradication is difficult and infestation can result in 100% yield loss, making this a strictly quarantined pathogen worldwide. Emerging epidemics pose a high risk to production in Georgia where potato is an essential staple, grown primarily by smallholder farmers, and yields are among the world’s lowest. S. endobioticum was first reported in Georgia in 2014 in a localized outbreak in Adjara. Because pathogen dissemination is primarily via human transport of infested tubers, understanding the local potato seed system is critical. This study was the first to systematically characterize the actors involved in seed and ware potato production and trade in Georgia. To collect this information, an expert elicitation was conducted in 2017 across a broad range of participants from the Georgian potato production sector. We present a model of the current potato seed exchange network for the most important agroecological regions. We integrated network analysis in a risk assessment for S. endobioticum spread in Georgia under 1) no intervention, 2) quarantine, 3) introduction of host plant resistance, and 4) combined quarantine and resistance deployment. Preliminary analyses suggest that under no intervention, risk of spread is high, while rapid and consistent quarantine can be effective. Methods presented here provide a general framework for future seed system risk assessments

Measurement of charm production at central rapidity in proton-proton collisions at s=2.76\sqrt{s} = 2.76 TeV

The $p_{\rm T}$-differential production cross sections of the prompt (B feed-down subtracted) charmed mesons D$^0$, D$^+$, and D$^{*+}$ in the rapidity range $|y|<0.5$, and for transverse momentum $1< p_{\rm T} <12$ GeV/$c$, were measured in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 2.76$ TeV with the ALICE detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The analysis exploited the hadronic decays D$^0 \rightarrow$K$\pi$, D$^+ \rightarrow$K$\pi\pi$, D$^{*+} \rightarrow$D$^0\pi$, and their charge conjugates, and was performed on a $L_{\rm int} = 1.1$ nb$^{-1}$ event sample collected in 2011 with a minimum-bias trigger. The total charm production cross section at $\sqrt{s} = 2.76$ TeV and at 7 TeV was evaluated by extrapolating to the full phase space the $p_{\rm T}$-differential production cross sections at $\sqrt{s} = 2.76$ TeV and our previous measurements at $\sqrt{s} = 7$ TeV. The results were compared to existing measurements and to perturbative-QCD calculations. The fraction of cdbar D mesons produced in a vector state was also determined.Comment: 20 pages, 5 captioned figures, 4 tables, authors from page 15, published version, figures at http://aliceinfo.cern.ch/ArtSubmission/node/307

Central-to-peripheral nuclear modification factors in Pb-Pb collisions at sqrt{s_NN} = 17.3 GeV

We present central-to-peripheral nuclear modification factors, R_CP, for the p_T distributions of K^0_S, Lambda, Anti-Lambda, and negatively charged particles, measured at central rapidity in Pb-Pb collisions at top SPS energy. The data cover the 55% most central fraction of the inelastic cross section. The K^0_S and Lambda R_CP(p_T) are similar in shape to those measured at sqrt{s_NN} = 200 GeV at RHIC, though they are larger in absolute value. We have compared our K^0_S R_CP data to a theoretical calculation. The prediction overestimates the data at p_T \approx 3-4 GeV/c, unless sizeable parton energy loss is included in the calculation.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures, submitted to Physics Letters

Use of SMS texts for facilitating access to online alcohol interventions: a feasibility study

A41 Use of SMS texts for facilitating access to online alcohol interventions: a feasibility study In: Addiction Science & Clinical Practice 2017, 12(Suppl 1): A4

Geographical and temporal distribution of SARS-CoV-2 clades in the WHO European Region, January to June 2020

We show the distribution of SARS-CoV-2 genetic clades over time and between countries and outline potential genomic surveillance objectives. We applied three available genomic nomenclature systems for SARS-CoV-2 to all sequence data from the WHO European Region available during the COVID-19 pandemic until 10 July 2020. We highlight the importance of real-time sequencing and data dissemination in a pandemic situation. We provide a comparison of the nomenclatures and lay a foundation for future European genomic surveillance of SARS-CoV-2.Peer reviewe