Glycerol till mjölkkor

Glycerol is essential for the lipid metabolism of both plants and animals. Glycerol is formed in the rumen by hydrolysis of lipids from the feed. Glycerol is also a by-product from the production of biodiesel from rapeseed oil and other fat sources. Glycerol might be used as a dietary glucose precursor for dairy cows in similar ways as propylene glycol. Due to increased production of biodiesel more glycerol has been available to a lower price. There are different qualities of glycerol on the market representing different stages of processing. Crude glycerol also contains water, fat, minerals and methanol while refined glycerol often contains >99.5% glycerol. This study was divided in two different parts. In the first part three rumen fistulated non-lactating, nonpregnant cows were used. Fractional disappearance of glycerol from the rumen was determined by means of a combination of in vivo and in vitro methods. Furthermore the effects of glycerol on rumen fluid volatile fatty acids (VFA) concentration and osmolality were analysed. In the second part four rumen fistulated lactating cows received two different glycerol qualities or as a control no glycerol during three two week periods. The effect of the two glycerol qualities on digestibility of dry matter (DM), neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and crude protein CP) was determined. Furthermore the effect of the different glycerol qualities on rumen fluid VFA concentration and osmolality was investigated. Glycerol appeared to be readily absorbed from the rumen and while the digestion rate of glycerol in the rumen was low. The rumen micro flora apparently did not adapt to glycerol since the rate of glycerol digestion was not affected when the coes were fed glycerol for two weeks. Glycerol did not have any marked effect on the digestibility of silage DM, NDF or CP. Glycerol changed the rumen fluid VFA pattern towards more butyrate and less acetate while the effect on propionate varied. The total concentration of VFA rumen fluid was reduced by glycerol. There appeared to be no difference between the two glycerol qualities regarding rumen metabolism.Glycerol är ett livsnödvändigt ämne som behövs för att växter och djur ska kunna bilda fett. Glycerol frigörs i våmmen vid mikrobiell hydrolys av växtlipider och andra oljor och fetter som tillförts genom fodret (Paggi et al., 1999; 2004). Glycerol bildas även som restprodukt vid framställning av biodiesel och kan användas som fodertillskott till mjölkkor eller vid behandling av så kallad acetonemi. Acetonemi kan uppstå till följd av en negativ energibalans främst vid tiden efter kalvning och glycerol kan användas för behandling av detta på liknande sätt som andra glukogena substrat som exempelvis propylenglykol. (Rémond et al., 1992; DeFrain et al., 2004; Schröder et al., 1999). Den glycerol som bildas som restprodukt vid framställning av biodiesel är inte helt ren utan innehåller bland annat vatten, oljor, salter och metanol. Dessa ämnen försvinner nästan fullständigt om glycerolfraktionen raffineras. Tillskott av glycerol har visat sig kunna förändra VFA sammansättningen i våmmen genom att acetatproportionen minskar medan propionat, och butyrat ökar (Reichel et al., 2004; DeFrain et al., 2004; Rémond et al., 1992; Schröder et al., 1999). Südekum (2007) registrerade endast en minskning av acetat och en ökning av propionat. I vissa studier har man funnit att glycerol minskar foderintaget medan studier visar att glycerol inte påverkar foderintaget (Bodarski et al., 2005; Reichel et al., 2004; Ogborn et al., 2004; DeFrain et al., 2004). Glycerol kan ombildas till glukos via glukoneogenesen i levern och kan därmed öka andelen tillgänglig glukos för den högproducerande mjölkkon som annars lätt drabbas av glukosbrist (Sjaastad et al., 2003). Mitt examensarbete bestod av två delmoment. Syftet med det första delmomentet var främst att se hur stor andel glycerol som omsätts av mikroorganismerna i våmmen och hur stor del som resorberas från våmmen. Under moment två var ett av syftena att se om det finns en tillvänjning för våmmikroberna som gör det lättare för dem att efter en tid omsätta glycerol. Vidare syftade studien till att undersöka hur smältbarheten av fodrets torrsubstans, fiber- och råproteinfraktion påverkas vid tillsats av rå- respektive raffinerad glycerol. En annan målsättning var att undersöka hur glycerol, såväl rå- som raffinerad, påverkar VFA sammansättningen i våmvätskan

Outsiders and learners: Negotiating meaning in comparative European social work research practice

© 2015, © The Author(s) 2015. This paper draws on two experiences of undertaking comparative research in England, Sweden and Italy, and offers a discussion of the kinds of dilemmas raised in relation to language and meaning surfaced by these. Its primary focus is to examine the reflexive construction of meaning, both in relation generally to the workings of an international research team and, more specifically, how such construction of meaning impacts on the process of qualitative interviewing across linguistic and cultural boundaries. The article argues that a culture of reflexive research practice is helpful for approaching national differences, to facilitate understanding in internationally mixed research teams and to support and empower participants in research, in second languages and differing cultures. Overall, the paper attempts to advance some tentative ideas that other international researchers may be able to consider and deploy in relation to their own research ambitions

Being in want of control: Experiences of being on the road to, and making, a suicide attempt

Attempted suicide is a risk factor for future suicidal behaviour, but understanding suicidality from the perspective of people who have experienced attempted suicide is limited. The aim of the study was to explore the lived experience of being suicidal and having made a suicide attempt, in order to identify possible implications for health care professionals. Semi-structured individual interviews were held with 10 persons shortly after they attempted suicide and were analysed through qualitative content analysis. The participants’ experience of being suicidal and of having attempted suicide could be described as “Being on the road towards suicidal action”, which culminated in an experience of either chaos or turned off emotions, “Making sense of the suicide attempt”, and “Opening the door to possible life lines”. An overall theme, “Being in want of control”, captured their all-embracing lack of sense of control and was seen in relation to different aspects of oneself, overall life-situation, the immediate suicide attempt situation and in the outlook on the future. Being in want of control may be a relevant and general feature of being suicidal. People who have attempted suicide need more adequate help to break vicious circles before they reach a point of no return and enter an acute suicidal state of mind. Patients’ experience-based knowledge is highly important to listen to and use clinically as well as theoretically when constructing suicide prevention programs

Host-Bacterial Symbiosis in Health and Disease

All animals live in symbiosis. Shaped by eons of co-evolution, host bacterial associations have developed into prosperous relationships creating mechanisms for mutual benefits to both microbe and host. No better example exists in biology than the astounding numbers of bacteria harbored by the lower gastrointestinal tract of mammals. The mammalian gut represents a complex ecosystem consisting of an extraordinary number of resident commensal bacteria existing in homeostasis with the host’s immune system. Most impressive about this relationship may be the concept that the host not only tolerates, but has evolved to require colonization by beneficial microorganisms, known as commensals, for various aspects of immune development and function. The microbiota provides critical signals that promote maturation of immune cells and tissues, leading to protection from infections by pathogens. Gut bacteria also appear to contribute to non-infectious immune disorders such as inflammatory bowel disease and autoimmunity. How the microbiota influences host immune responses is an active area of research with important implications for human health. This review synthesizes emerging findings and concepts that describe the mutualism between the microbiota and mammals, specifically emphasizing the role of gut bacteria in shaping an immune response that mediates the balance between health and disease. Unlocking how beneficial bacteria affect the development of the immune system may lead to novel and natural therapies based on harnessing the immunomodulatory properties of the microbiota

AIDS-related mycoses: the way forward.

The contribution of fungal infections to the morbidity and mortality of HIV-infected individuals is largely unrecognized. A recent meeting highlighted several priorities that need to be urgently addressed, including improved epidemiological surveillance, increased availability of existing diagnostics and drugs, more training in the field of medical mycology, and better funding for research and provision of treatment, particularly in developing countries

Socionomkarrriärer - Om vägar genom yrkeslivet i en av välfärdsstatens nya professioner

The dissertation is about career in working life – not career solely in the sense of climbing upwards in the organizational hierarchy to management level, but career as the movement that individuals or groups make over time through working life. The focus is on social workers and their professional field. The overall aim is to describe and analyse social workers’ career patterns and careers at the individual level and the motives behind them, and thus to shed light on conditions in the social workers’ field today. Another aim is to describe and analyse how the individual social worker careers interact with gender, with efforts at professionalization at both collective and individual level, and with changes in the organizational conditions for exercising the profession. The empirical material is based on questionnaires distributed to male and female social workers who qualified from the School of Social Work in Lund during the last two decades of the twentieth century and the first years of the twenty-first century. The questionnaires for the male social workers were distributed in 2004. Responses came from 61 men, or 67 per cent of all the men who qualified in 1980–1985, and from 191 men, or 74 per cent of those who qualified in 1993–2003. Questionnaires for all female social workers who qualified from the School of Social Work in Lund in 1983, 1988, 1993, 1998, and 2003 were distributed in 2009. The 352 completed questionnaires meant a response frequency of 70 per cent. The questionnaires elicit career paths by getting the respondents to describe through different variables what they have worked with since obtaining their degree as social worker. Interviews with 18 of the men who answered the questionnaire (11 who qualified about 10 years previously and 7 who qualified 5 years previously) provided a deeper understanding of the male social worker career, of men’s career motives, and of what it is like to be a man in the profession of social worker. The women’s career motives have been studied through a questionnaire extended in relation to the one completed by the male social workers. Besides questionnaires and interviews, official statistics are used in the empirical foundation of the dissertation. The studies show that social workers have a broad field of work with flexible career paths, and that both male and female social workers take advantage of this. What characterizes social workers’ career is thus mobility. The many career opportunities also mean that men, who are a sought-after minority in the social worker profession, can refrain from the traditional management career that men who are a minority in professional life are expected to pursue, and can instead choose a horizontal career in attractive parts of the social worker profession that enjoy high status. Furthermore, the studies show that there is an informal career path in the social worker profession that both men and women follow. This means that the largest field of work for social workers – the social services, chiefly the parts that involve the exercise of authority – are an entrance and transit area. The women’s most prominent career motives are the content of the work; autonomy, independence and discretion; opportunities for personal development and the potential to influence and change. The interviewed male social workers’ career motives resemble the women’s. They want a job with freedom, independence, and personal development, where they themselves can steer without too much influence from managers and politicians, and where they also have scope to have a job and simultaneously look after their children. The motive forces in social workers’ careers are thus not those of the traditional career with externally visible attributes

Man hittar sin nisch. Om män i socionomyrket - karriär, minoritet och maskulinitet

This dissertation is about men as a minority in a female profession, that of university- trained social worker. The aim is to illuminate the relationship between work and gender on the basis of career, minority, and masculinity in the profession of social work. By means of questionnaires sent to all the men who trained as social workers in Lund 1980–1985 (the 1980s generation) and 1993–2003 (the 1990s generation) I have charted their careers. Eighteen of the 1990s generation who completed the questionnaire were interviewed to eliciting their own point of view. The results of the questionnaire study show that the men who took degrees in social work in both the educational generations to a large extent started their career in the social services but did not often continue their career there or entered this field after the first few years of their career. From the interviews it was found that the parts of the social services to which the men are most negative are those which involve the exercise of authority and the control of people. Those who qualified in the 1980s pursued a career which largely corresponds to the prevailing image of the male social worker’s career - many of these men had embarked on a vertical management career or had left the profession. The 1990s generation displayed a different career development. Whereas the traditional male social worker career goes in a vertical direction and is a matter of formal power and superiority, the modern career goes in a horizontal direction and is a matter of creating an autonomous niche. The niche is not just an expression of a new career pattern; through the niche it is also possible to preserve a traditional masculinity. At the same time, the interviewed men present an alternative masculinity through their choice of profession and their way of reasoning about it. The male social workers can thereby be seen as representatives of a masculinity in a time of change