The BIOEXPLOIT Project

The EU Framework 6 Integrated Project BIOEXPLOIT concerns the exploitation of natural plant biodiversity for the pesticide-free production of food. It focuses on the pathogens Phytophthora infestans, Septoria tritici, Blumeria graminis, Puccinia spp. and Fusarium spp. and on the crops wheat, barley, tomato and potato. The project commenced in October 2005, comprises 45 laboratories in 12 countries, and is carried out by partners from research institutes, universities, private companies and small-medium enterprises. The project has four strategic objectives covered in eight sub-projects. These objectives relate to (i) understanding the molecular components involved in durable disease resistance, (ii) exploring and exploiting the natural biodiversity in disease resistance, (iii) accelerating the introduction of marker-assisted breeding and genetic engineering in the EU plant breeding industry, and (iv) coordinating and integrating resistance breeding research, providing training in new technologies, disseminating the results, and transferring knowledge and technologies to the industry

Alteration of gene expression in mammary gland tissue of dairy cows in response to dietary unsaturated fatty acids

The aim of this study was to determine the effects of supplementing unprotected dietary unsaturated fatty acids (UFAs) from different plant oils on gene expression in the mammary gland of grazing dairy cows. A total of 28 Holstein–Friesian dairy cows in mid-lactation were blocked according to parity, days in milk, milk yield and fat percentage. The cows were then randomly assigned to four UFA sources based on rapeseed, soybean, linseed or a mixture of the three oils for 23 days, after which, all 28 cows were switched to a control diet for an additional 28 days. On the last day of both periods, mammary gland biopsies were taken to study genome-wide differences in gene expression on Affymetrix GeneChip® Bovine Genome Arrays (no. 900493) by ServiceXS (Leiden, The Netherlands). Supplementation with UFAs resulted in increased milk yield but decreased milk fat and protein percentages. Furthermore, the proportion of de novo fatty acids (FAs) in the milk was reduced, whereas that of long-chain FAs increased. Applying a statistical cut-off of false discovery rate of q-value

Dietary unsaturated fatty acids affect the mammary gland integrity and health in lactating dairy cows

Background Information about the effects of unsaturated fatty acids (UFA) supplementation on the health and integrity of the mammary gland in lactating dairy cows is lacking. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the effects of unprotected dietary UFA on the global expression pattern of genes in the mammary gland tissue of grazing dairy cows, and to translate this information into relevant biological knowledge. Methods Twenty-eight Holstein-Friesian dairy cows were randomly assigned to 4 different concentrated UFA-sources for 23 days after which all cows were switched to a non-UFA-supplemented concentrate for an additional 28 days. On the last day of both periods, mammary gland biopsies were taken to study genome-wide differences in gene expression on Bovine Genome Arrays. Results Supplementation with UFA reduced the concentration of short chain fatty acids (FA), C16 FA and saturated FA in the milk, whereas that of trans-FA increased. One major finding was that canonical pathways associated with remodelling and immune functions of the mammary gland were predominantly down-regulated during UFA supplementation and negatively correlated with the concentration of milk trans-FA. Conclusions Supplementing grazing dairy cows with unprotected dietary UFA can affect the remodelling and immune functions of the mammary gland with potential consequences for its integrity and health, as well as milk quality

Theoretical He I Emissivities in the Case B Approximation

We calculate the He I case B recombination cascade spectrum using improved radiative and collisional data. We present new emissivities over a range of electron temperatures and densities. The differences between our results and the current standard are large enough to have a significant effect not only on the interpretation of observed spectra of a wide variety of objects but also on determinations of the primordial helium abundance.Comment: Accepted to ApJ

Contributions of biotechnology to the control and prevention of brucellosis in Africa

Zoonotic diseases such as brucellosis have a major impact on the health and economic prosperity of the developing world. Recent advances in our understanding of brucellosis and new developments in diagnostics and vaccine technology provide unique opportunities for biotechnology companies in developing countries to make an essential contribution to the control of this disease. Key Words: Brucellosis, biotechnology, zoonosis, livestock, public health, diagnostics, vaccine. African Journal of Biotechnology Vol.3(12) 2004: 631-63

Neutron Radiation Damage In Silicon Transistors

In the investigation of base and collector current as a function of the emitter-to-base voltage, previous studies have shown that neutron-induced base current has components originating in the emitter space charge region as well as the neutral base region. This study shows that while the low injection level neutron-induced base current is dominated by the space charge component, the high injection behavior appears to be controlled by recombination in the neutral base region. Additional experiments performed in special tetrode transistors and van der Pauw-type samples indicate that changes in collector current are dominated by recombination in the neutral base, while changes in base doping and mobility have only a secondary effect. These conclusions are reached from experiments on transistors with a ring emitter, on tetrode-type test transistors, and on special Hall-effect devices, and by a detailed analysis of the emission crowding characteristics of a ring-dot geometry device. Copyright © 1968 by The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc

Zacht ligbed favoriet bij vleesstieren

Een volledig roostervloer zonder zacht ligbed is uit oogpunt van welzijn ongewenst. Vleesstieren gaan hier vaker op een abnormale manier staan en liggen dan in een hok met meer ruimte en een zacht ligbed van stro of rubber. Zo'n zacht ligbed bevordertduidelijk het welzijn

Supra-oscillatory critical temperature dependence of Nb-Ho bilayers

We investigate the critical temperature Tc of a thin s-wave superconductor (Nb) proximity coupled to a helical rare earth ferromagnet (Ho). As a function of the Ho layer thickness, we observe multiple oscillations of Tc superimposed on a slow decay, that we attribute to the influence of the Ho on the Nb proximity effect. Because of Ho inhomogeneous magnetization, singlet and triplet pair correlations are present in the bilayers. We take both into consideration when solving the self consistent Bogoliubov-de Gennes equations, and we observe a reasonable agreement. We also observe non-trivial transitions into the superconducting state, the zero resistance state being attained after two successive transitions which appear to be associated with the magnetic structure of Ho.Comment: Main article: 5 pages, 4 figures; Supplementary materials: 4 pages, 5 figure

Flow in a Commercial Steel Pipe

Fully-developed turbulent flow in a commercial steel pipe is studied using single component hot-wire probes in both oneand two-point experiments. The streamwise turbulence component was measured over a Reynolds number range from 7.6× 104 to 8.3×106, covering the smooth to fully rough regimes. The experiments were conducted in the Princeton/ONR Superpipe facility that uses compressed air at pressures up to 200 atm as the working fluid. For Reynolds numbers less than about 8 ×105 the surface was hydraulically-smooth, and the results agreed closely with the smooth-wall turbulence intensity and spectral data obtained by Morrison et al. [10] and Zhao & Smits [14]. An assessment was performed of probe resolution and results indicate that the turbulence statistics of the large-scale motions were unaffected by the sensing wire length even at high Reynolds numbers. Transitionally-rough and fully-rough data showed deviation from the smooth-wall data as roughness effects became more prominent. In particular, the outer peak in the turbulence intensity observed at high Reynolds numbers in smooth pipe flow decreased in magnitude or stayed constant for transitionally rough and fully rough flow. The two-point azimuthal correlations were found to be consistent with the presence of very large scale coherent regions of low-wavenumber, low-momentum fluid observed in previous studies of wall-bounded flows. The correlations indicated that the azimuthal scale of these regions is Reynolds number independent