Temperament assessment at young horse test of horses bred for jumping or dressage : an evaluation of a temperament protocol of Swedish Warmblood horses

Evaluation of temperament protocol at SWB’s young horse test Equestrian sport is considered one of the largest sports in Sweden with approximately 500 000 active participants. The three major disciplines are show jumping, dressage and eventing and the Swedish Warmblood is the most common breed. The goal of the Swedish Warmblood Association (SWB) is to produce horses that are internationally competitive. One of the main factors that determines a horse’s potential to perform on a high level is its temperament. Depending on the horse’s area of use, the temperament also must be suitable. For example, an inexperienced rider may need a less reactive horse in order to be able to handle upcoming situations caused by the horse’s escape instincts. The temperament of SWB horses was not described until recently. In year 2019, SWB developed a temperament protocol in order to do a linear description of the temperament of young horses during the voluntary riding test at young horse test. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the temperament protocols collected in the year 2019. The primary aim was to investigate if differences exist in temperament traits between horses bred for show jumping and horses bred for dressage. The secondary aim was to see how the judges used the protocol scale The temperament protocols were received from the SWB and included 16 traits described on a nine-point linear scale from A to I between two extremes, and two traits assessed in three classes. Protocols of 603 horses assessed by twelve judges were used in the study. The horses were manually divided into disciplines, there were a total of 306 horses bred for show jumping and 297 horses bred for dressage. The description scale A – I was translated from to 1 – 9 in order to perform quantitative statistics. The statistics analyses, Chi-square test, F- and T-test, were made in Excel. The results showed significant differences between horses bred for show jumping and for dressage. Horses bred for showjumping were described as more calm and less reactive before mounting than horses bred for dressage. On the other hand, horses bred for dressage were described to show higher acceptance for the bit, more willingness to perform and they were more self-confident under rider. The judges had used the scale differently, from only using three grades to using eight grades on the nine-point scale. However, the majority of the judges had used letter E the most, that should represent the normal horse. In conclusion, this study showed that there were differences in temperament traits between horses bred for show jumping and horses bred for dressage with dressage horses being more tense in the start of assessment. The difference in the use of scale between judges suggest that the traits need to be better defined and that judges should be more harmonized in their assessments. Further research needs to be done in order to determine whether the linear description of temperament traits can be used in selection of breeding animals

Aportaciones al problema del sinhogarismo en Castilla y León: modelo Housing First

En este estudio sobre el modelo actual y el modelo Housing First como formas de abordar el problema del sinhogarismo e intervenir con personas sin hogar, se pretende ampliar el conocimiento sobre las dos perspectivas. Asimismo, se realiza una encuesta a los profesionales de las provincias de Castilla y León que trabajan con personas sin hogar, con el fin de conocer su opinión sobre la situación actual del sinhogarismo, el modelo actual de intervención con sus posibles ventajas y carencias, así como de las características básicas del modelo Housing First. Posteriormente se analizan los resultados obtenidos de la encuesta, contrastándolos con las experiencias del modelo Housing First en otros países europeos, mediante la recopilación bibliográfica.Grado en Trabajo Socia

Screening of hydrogen bonds in modified cellulose acetates with alkyl chain substitutions

This study aimed to elucidate how the glass transition temperature and water interactions in cellulose esters are affected by the structures of their side chains. Cellulose acetate, cellulose acetate propionate and cellulose acetate butyrate with three fractions of butyrates, all having the same total degree of substitution, were selected, and hot-melt pressed. The degree of substitution, structural properties, and water interactions were determined. The Hansen solubility parameters were calculated and showed that the dispersive energy dominates the total cohesive energy, followed by hydrogen bonding and polar energy. The glass transition temperature (Tg) decreased, counter-intuitively, with an increased total cohesive energy, which can be explained by the short-range hydrogen bonds being screened by the increased length of the substituents. The solubility and penetration of water in the cellulose esters decreased with increased side chain length, although the hydrogen bonding energies for all the esters were approximately constant

Enabling modular dosage form concepts for individualized multidrug therapy: Expanding the design window for poorly water-soluble drugs

Multidrug dosage forms (aka combination dosage forms, polypills, etc.) create value for patients through reduced pill burdens and simplified administration to improve adherence to therapy. Enhanced flexibility of multidrug dosage forms would provide further opportunities to better match emerging needs for individualized therapy. Through modular dosage form concepts, one approach to satisfy these needs is to adapt multidrug dosage forms to a wider variety of drugs, each with a variety of doses and release profiles. This study investigates and technically explores design requirements for extending the capability of modular multidrug dosage form concepts towards individualization. This builds on our recent demonstration of independent tailoring of dose and drug release, which is here extended towards poorly water-soluble drugs. The challenging design requirement of carrying higher drug loads in smaller volumes to accommodate multiple drugs at their clinical dose is here met regarding dose and release performance. With a modular concept, we demonstrate high precision (<5% RSD) in dose and release performance of individual modules containing felodipine or naproxen in Kollidon VA64 at both a wide drug loading range (5% w/w and 50% w/w drug) and a small module size (3.6 mg). In a forward-looking design-based discussion, further requirements are addressed, emphasizing that reproducible individual module performance is predictive of dosage form performance, provided the modules are designed to act independently. Therefore, efforts to incorporate progressively higher drug loads within progressively smaller module volumes will be crucial to extend the design window further towards full flexibility of future dosage forms for individualized multidrug therapy

Predictability of thermal fluctuations influences functional traits of a cosmopolitan marine diatom

Evolutionary theory predicts that organismal plasticity should evolve in environments that fluctuate regularly. However, in environments that fluctuate less predictably, plasticity may be constrained because environmental cues become less reliable for expressing the optimum phenotype. Here, we examine how the predictability of +5°C temperature fluctuations impacts the phenotype of the marine diatom Thalassiosira pseudonana. Thermal regimes were informed by temperatures experienced by microbes in an ocean simulation and featured regular or irregular temporal sequences of fluctuations that induced mild physiological stress. Physiological traits (growth, cell size, complexity and pigmentation) were quantified at the individual cell level using flow cytometry. Changes in cellular complexity emerged as the first impact of predictability after only 8–11 days, followed by deleterious impacts on growth on days 13–16. Specifically, cells with a history of irregular fluctuation exposure exhibited a 50% reduction in growth compared with the stable reference environment, while growth was 3–18 times higher when fluctuations were regular. We observed no evidence of heat hardening (increasingly positive growth) with recurrent fluctuations. This study demonstrates that unpredictable temperature fluctuations impact this cosmopolitan diatom under ecologically relevant time frames, suggesting shifts in environmental stochasticity under a changing climate could have widespread consequences among ocean primary producers

Mucospheres produced by a mixotrophic protist impact ocean carbon cycling

Mixotrophic protists (unicellular eukaryotes) that engage in both phototrophy (photosynthesis) and phago-heterotrophy (engulfment of particles)-are predicted to contribute substantially to energy fluxes and marine biogeochemical cycles. However, their impact remains largely unquantified. Here we describe the sophisticated foraging strategy of a widespread mixotrophic dinoflagellate, involving the production of carbon-rich 'mucospheres' that attract, capture, and immobilise microbial prey facilitating their consumption. We provide a detailed characterisation of this previously undescribed behaviour and reveal that it represents an overlooked, yet quantitatively significant mechanism for oceanic carbon fluxes. Following feeding, the mucospheres laden with surplus prey are discarded and sink, contributing an estimated 0.17-1.24 mg m-2 d-1 of particulate organic carbon, or 0.02-0.15 Gt to the biological pump annually, which represents 0.1-0.7% of the estimated total export from the euphotic zone. These findings demonstrate how the complex foraging behaviour of a single species of mixotrophic protist can disproportionally contribute to the vertical flux of carbon in the ocean

Comparison of Machine Learning Techniques for Mortality Prediction in a Prospective Cohort of Older Adults

As global demographics change, ageing is a global phenomenon which is increasingly of interest in our modern and rapidly changing society. Thus, the application of proper prognostic indices in clinical decisions regarding mortality prediction has assumed a significant importance for personalized risk management (i.e., identifying patients who are at high or low risk of death) and to help ensure effective healthcare services to patients. Consequently, prognostic modelling expressed as all‐cause mortality prediction is an important step for effective patient management. Machine learning has the potential to transform prognostic modelling. In this paper, results on the development of machine learning models for all‐cause mortality prediction in a cohort of healthy older adults are reported. The models are based on features covering anthropometric variables, physical and lab examinations, questionnaires, and lifestyles, as well as wearable data collected in free‐living settings, obtained for the “Healthy Ageing Initiative” study conducted on 2291 recruited participants. Several machine learning techniques including feature engineering, feature selection, data augmentation and resampling were investigated for this purpose. A detailed empirical comparison of the impact of the different techniques is presented and discussed. The achieved performances were also compared with a standard epidemiological model. This investigation showed that, for the dataset under consideration, the best results were achieved with Random Under‐ Sampling in conjunction with Random Forest (either with or without probability calibration). However, while including probability calibration slightly reduced the average performance, it increased the model robustness, as indicated by the lower 95% confidence intervals. The analysis showed that machine learning models could provide comparable results to standard epidemiological models while being completely data‐driven and disease‐agnostic, thus demonstrating the opportunity for building machine learning models on health records data for research and clinical practice. However, further testing is required to significantly improve the model performance and its robustness

Effects of High Flavanol Dark Chocolate on Cardiovascular Function and Platelet Aggregation.

Regular consumption of chocolate and cocoa products has been linked to reduced cardiovascular mortality. This study compared the effects of high flavanol dark chocolate (HFDC; 1064mg flavanols/day for 6 weeks) and low flavanol dark chocolate (LFDC; 88mg flavanols/day for 6 weeks) on blood pressure, heart rate, vascular function and platelet aggregation in men with pre-hypertension or mild hypertension. Vascular function was assessed by pulse wave analysis using radial artery applanation tonometry in combination with inhaled salbutamol (0.4 mg) to assess changes due to endothelium-dependent vasodilatation. HFDC did not significantly reduce blood pressure compared to baseline or LFDC. Heart rate was increased by LFDC compared to baseline, but not by HFDC. Vascular responses to salbutamol tended to be greater after HFDC. Platelet aggregation induced by collagen or the thromboxane analogue U46619 was unchanged after LFDC or HFDC, whereas both chocolates reduced responses to ADP and the thrombin receptor activator peptide, SFLLRNamide (TRAP6), relative to baseline. Pre-incubation of platelets with theobromine also attenuated platelet aggregation induced by ADP or TRAP6. We conclude that consumption of HFDC confers modest improvements in cardiovascular function. Platelet aggregation is modulated by a flavanol-independent mechanism that is likely due to theobromine.This study was supported by a grant (to R. Corder) from Barry Callebaut Belgium N

Multiscale X-ray imaging and characterisation of pharmaceutical dosage forms

A correlative, multiscale imaging methodology for visualising and quantifying the morphology of solid dosage forms by combining ptychographic X-ray computed nanotomography (PXCT) and scanning small- and wide-angle X-ray scattering (S/WAXS) is presented. The methodology presents a workflow for multiscale analysis, where structures are characterised from the nanometre to millimetre regime. Here, the method is demonstrated by characterising a hot-melt extruded, partly crystalline, solid dispersion of carbamazepine in ethyl cellulose. Characterisation of the morphology and solid-state phase of the drug in solid dosage forms is central as this affects the performance of the final formulation. The 3D morphology was visualised at a resolution of 80 nm over an extended volume through PXCT, revealing an oriented structure of crystalline drug domains aligned in the direction of extrusion. Scanning S/WAXS showed that the nanostructure is similar over the cross section of the extruded filament, with minor radial changes in domain sizes and degree of orientation. The polymorphic forms of carbamazepine were qualified with WAXS, showing a heterogeneous distribution of the metastable forms I and II. This demonstrates the methodology for multiscale structural characterization and imaging to enable a better understanding of the relationships between morphology, performance, and processing conditions of solid dosage forms

Characterization of the Aquaporin-9 Inhibitor RG100204 In Vitro and in db/db Mice

Aquaporin-9 (AQP9) is a facilitator of glycerol and other small neutral solute transmembrane diffusion. Identification of specific inhibitors for aquaporin family proteins has been difficult, due to high sequence similarity between the 13 human isoforms, and due to the limited channel surface areas that permit inhibitor binding. The few AQP9 inhibitor molecules described to date were not suitable for in vivo experiments. We now describe the characterization of a new small molecule AQP9 inhibitor, RG100204 in cell-based calcein-quenching assays, and by stopped-flow light-scattering recordings of AQP9 permeability in proteoliposomes. Moreover, we investigated the effects of RG100204 on glycerol metabolism in mice. In cell-based assays, RG100204 blocked AQP9 water permeability and glycerol permeability with similar, high potency (~5 × 10-8 M). AQP9 channel blocking by RG100204 was confirmed in proteoliposomes. After oral gavage of db/db mice with RG100204, a dose-dependent elevation of plasma glycerol was observed. A blood glucose-lowering effect was not statistically significant. These experiments establish RG100204 as a direct blocker of the AQP9 channel, and suggest its use as an experimental tool for in vivo experiments on AQP9 function