The effect of granite grit on broiler chickens performance and gizzard development

For å undersøke effekten kråsstein på slaktekyllingens ytelse og kråsutvikling, ble en omfattende studie utført ved Senter for Husdyrforsøk, ved Norges Miljø- og Biovitenskapelige Universitet i Ås, Norge. 252 dag gamle hannskaltekyllinger ble oppfostret på kuttflis i fire forskjellige bur. De fikk tilgang til kommersielt startfôr, og hadde fri tilgang til både fôr og vann under hele forsøket (med unntak av to sulteperioder). På dag 5, ble 192 fugler fordelt i grupper på fire i 48 vaktelbur som ble i tillegg delt in i fire behandlinger; kontroll, zeolitt kråsstein, granitt kråsstein og marmor kråsstein. De tre kråssteingruppene fikk tilgang på 9.5 gram kråsstein/fugl fra dag 5 til dag 11. På dag 11, ble startfôret byttet over til kommersielt vekstfôr. Startfôr med kråssteinrester ble spart for å beregne kråssteinkonsum. På dag 13, 18, 21 og 22 ble en fugl fra hvert bur drept med et kranialt slag etterfulgt av et cervikal dislokasjon. Kråsen ble veid både full og tom, og kråsinnholdet ble fryst umiddelbart. Tarmene ble også dissekert ut og fryst. Hele kroa ble kun dissekert ut og fryst på dag 21 og 22. På dag 18 fikk fuglene en diet som bestod av 15% startfôr og 85% hel hvete, og fikk i tillegg 1 gram kråsstein/fugl på dag 18, 19 og 20. På dag 20 og 21 fastet fuglene i 10 timer før de fikk tilgang på fôr igjen for å undersøke passasjehastighet. Ekskrementer ble samlet sammen for dag 5-11, 11-13, 13-18 og 18-21, samt ble vektøkning og fôrkonsum også registrert for disse periodene. Partikkelfordeling av ekskrementer og kråsstein funnet i ekskrementer for disse periodene ble kalkulert. Mengde kråsstein tilbakehold i kråsen og dens partikkelfordeling ble kalkulert for alle dissekeringsdagene. Denne masteroppgaven fokuserer på granittbehandlingen. Det ble ikke funnet noen signifikant effekt av granitt sammenlignet med kontrollen for noen ytelsesparameterne. Det var signifikante forskjeller for passasje og partikkelfordeling i fordøyelsessystemet mellom granitt kråssteinen og de andre kråssteinbehandlingene. En signifikant høyere mengde granitt ble tilbakeholdt i kråsen sammenlignet med de andre kråssteinbehandlingene. Det var ingen signifikante forskjeller for kråsutvikling mellom granitt og kontroll, med unntak av tom kråsvekt ved dag 13 som var tyngre for granitt. Generelt var konklusjonen at granitt kråsstein verken forbedret eller forverret ytelsesparametere eller kråsutvikling for slaktekylling i denne studien.To investigate the effect of grit on broiler chickens performance and gizzard development, a comprehensive study was performed at the Animal Production Experimental Centre, at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU), Ås, Norway. 252 day old male broiler chickens were raised on wood shavings in groups of four in different pens. They were given commercial starter feed, and had ad libitum access to both feed and water for the entire experiment (with two starvation periods). At day 5, 192 birds were divided into 48 quail cages with 4 birds in each cage, the quail cages were further divided into four treatments; control, zeolite grit, granite grit and marble grit. The three grit groups were given a total of 9.5 grams grit/bird to their respective treatment from day 5 to 11. On day 11, the starter feed was changed to commercial grower feed. Stater feed residues with potential grit residues were saved to calculate grit consumption. On day 13, 18, 21 and 22, one bird from each cage was killed with a cranial blow followed by a cervical dislocation. The birds’ gizzards were weighed full and empty, and gizzard content was immediately frozen. Small intestines were also dissected out and immediately frozen. The entire crop was only dissected out on day 20 and 21. On day 18, the birds got access to a diet consisting of 15% whole wheat and 85% starter feed, and were given 1 gram grit/bird on day 18, 19 and 20. On day 21 and 22 the birds were starved for 10 hours before getting access to feed again to investigate passage rate. Excreta were collected and pooled together for day 5-11, 11-13, 13-18 and 18-21. Weight gain and feed consumption were also registered for these periods. Particle distribution of faeces and grit recovered in faeces were calculated for the different collection periods. For all the dissections days, grit retention in gizzard and particle size distribution of grit in retained in gizzard were calculated. This master thesis focused on the granite treatment. There were found no significant effect of granite grit compared to the control on any performance parameters. There were significant differences between granite passage and distribution in the digestive tract other grit treatments. A significantly higher amount of granite were retained in the gizzard compared to the other treatments. There were no significant differences on gizzard characteristics between the granite treatment and control, except for a higher empty gizzard weight at day 13. Overall, the conclusion were that amount of given granite grit did not have any significant effects on broiler performance or gizzard development in this study. Granite did neither improve nor impair performance or gizzard development in broiler chickens.M-H

Mining metadata from unidentified ITS sequences in GenBank: A case study in Inocybe (Basidiomycota)

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The lack of reference sequences from well-identified mycorrhizal fungi often poses a challenge to the inference of taxonomic affiliation of sequences from environmental samples, and many environmental sequences are thus left unidentified. Such unidentified sequences belonging to the widely distributed ectomycorrhizal fungal genus <it>Inocybe </it>(<it>Basidiomycota</it>) were retrieved from GenBank and divided into species that were identified in a phylogenetic context using a reference dataset from an ongoing study of the genus. The sequence metadata of the unidentified <it>Inocybe </it>sequences stored in GenBank, as well as data from the corresponding original papers, were compiled and used to explore the ecology and distribution of the genus. In addition, the relative occurrence of <it>Inocybe </it>was contrasted to that of other mycorrhizal genera.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Most species of <it>Inocybe </it>were found to have less than 3% intraspecific variability in the ITS2 region of the nuclear ribosomal DNA. This cut-off value was used jointly with phylogenetic analysis to delimit and identify unidentified <it>Inocybe </it>sequences to species level. A total of 177 unidentified <it>Inocybe </it>ITS sequences corresponding to 98 species were recovered, 32% of which were successfully identified to species level in this study. These sequences account for an unexpectedly large proportion of the publicly available unidentified fungal ITS sequences when compared with other mycorrhizal genera. Eight <it>Inocybe </it>species were reported from multiple hosts and some even from hosts forming arbutoid or orchid mycorrhizae. Furthermore, <it>Inocybe </it>sequences have been reported from four continents and in climate zones ranging from cold temperate to equatorial climate. Out of the 19 species found in more than one study, six were found in both Europe and North America and one was found in both Europe and Japan, indicating that at least many north temperate species have a wide distribution.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Although DNA-based species identification and circumscription are associated with practical and conceptual difficulties, they also offer new possibilities and avenues for research. Metadata assembly holds great potential to synthesize valuable information from community studies for use in a species and taxonomy-oriented framework.</p

Preadmission antidepressant use and bladder cancer: a population-based cohort study of stage at diagnosis, time to surgery, and surgical outcomes

BACKGROUND: Among cancer patients, prior antidepressant use has been associated with impaired survival. This could be due to differences in stage at diagnosis, in receipt of treatment, or in treatment complications. The purpose of this study was, therefore, to examine if preadmission antidepressant use in patients with bladder cancer is associated with tumor stage at diagnosis, rate of cystectomy, and surgical outcomes, including survival. METHODS: We performed a registry-based cohort study including all patients with incident invasive bladder cancer in Denmark 2005-2015. Exposure was defined as redemption of two or more antidepressant prescriptions one year before cancer diagnosis. We compared tumor stage using logistic regression, postsurgical inpatient length of stay using linear regression, and other outcomes using Cox regression. All results were adjusted for age, sex, comorbidity, and marital status. RESULTS: Among 10,427 bladder cancer patients, 10% were antidepressant users. At diagnosis, 51% of users and 52% of non-users had muscle-invasive disease. However, upon adjustment for age, sex, comorbidity, and marital status, users had lower odds of muscle-invasive disease (adjusted odds ratio 0.86 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.74-0.99)). Among patients with muscle-invasive disease, fewer users than non-users had surgery within three months (15% vs. 24%, adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) 0.75 (95% CI 0.59-0.95)). Of 2532 patients undergoing surgery, 6% were antidepressant users. Postsurgical inpatient length of stay did not differ between users and non-users. The 30-day cumulative incidence of readmission was higher for users (41% vs. 33%, aHR 1.33 (95% CI 1.05-1.67)), while the 90-day incidence of postoperative procedures was 44% for users and 38% for non-users (aHR 1.18 (95% CI 0.93-1.51)). One-year mortality was comparable in users (15%) and non-users (14%). CONCLUSIONS: Antidepressant use in bladder cancer patients was associated with less advanced stage at diagnosis and lower rate of cystectomy. After cystectomy, users had higher rate of readmission and postoperative procedures than non-users, but we found no difference in length of stay or one-year mortality. The results point to the importance of differentiated clinical care according to individual patient characteristics

Incorporating molecular data in fungal systematics: a guide for aspiring researchers

The last twenty years have witnessed molecular data emerge as a primary research instrument in most branches of mycology. Fungal systematics, taxonomy, and ecology have all seen tremendous progress and have undergone rapid, far-reaching changes as disciplines in the wake of continual improvement in DNA sequencing technology. A taxonomic study that draws from molecular data involves a long series of steps, ranging from taxon sampling through the various laboratory procedures and data analysis to the publication process. All steps are important and influence the results and the way they are perceived by the scientific community. The present paper provides a reflective overview of all major steps in such a project with the purpose to assist research students about to begin their first study using DNA-based methods. We also take the opportunity to discuss the role of taxonomy in biology and the life sciences in general in the light of molecular data. While the best way to learn molecular methods is to work side by side with someone experienced, we hope that the present paper will serve to lower the learning threshold for the reader.Comment: Submitted to Current Research in Environmental and Applied Mycology - comments most welcom

Longitudinal Stability of Genetic and Environmental Influences on Irritability: From Childhood to Young Adulthood.

OBJECTIVE: Little is known about genetic influences on juvenile irritability and whether such influences are developmentally stable and/or dynamic. This study examined the temporal pattern of genetic and environmental effects on irritability using data from a prospective, four-wave longitudinal twin study. METHOD: Parents and their twin children (N=2,620 children) from the Swedish Twin Study of Child and Adolescent Development reported on the children's irritability, defined using a previously identified scale from the Child Behavior Checklist. RESULTS: Genetic effects differed across the sexes, with males exhibiting increasing heritability from early childhood through young adulthood and females exhibiting decreasing heritability. Genetic innovation was also more prominent in males than in females, with new genetic risk factors affecting irritability in early and late adolescence for males. Shared environment was not a primary influence on irritability for males or females. Unique, nonshared environmental factors suggested strong effects early for males followed by an attenuating influence, whereas unique environmental factors were relatively stable for females. CONCLUSIONS: Genetic effects on irritability are developmentally dynamic from middle childhood through young adulthood, with males and females displaying differing patterns. As males age, genetic influences on irritability increase while nonshared environmental influences weaken. Genetic contributions are quite strong in females early in life but decline in importance with age. In girls, nonshared environmental influences are fairly stable throughout development.The National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Mental HealthPublishe

Solving the taxonomic identity of Pseudotomentella tristis s.l. (Thelephorales, Basidiomycota) – a multi-gene phylogeny and taxonomic review, integrating ecological and geographical data

P. tristis is an ectomycorrhizal, corticioid fungus whose name is frequently assigned to collections of basidiomata as well as root tip and soil samples from a wide range of habitats and hosts across the northern hemisphere. Despite this, its identity is unclear; eight heterotypic taxa have in major reviews of the species been considered synonymous with or morphologically similar to P. tristis, but no sequence data from type specimens have been available. With the aim to clarify the taxonomy, systematics, morphology, ecology and geographical distribution of P. tristis and its morphologically similar species, we studied their type specimens as well as 147 basidiomata collections of mostly North European material. We used gene trees generated in BEAST 2 and PhyML and species trees estimated in STACEY and ASTRAL to delimit species based on the ITS, LSU, Tef1α and mtSSU regions. We enriched our sampling with environmental ITS sequences from the UNITE database. We found the P. tristis group to contain 13 molecularly and morphologically distinct species. Three of these, P. tristis, P. umbrina and P. atrofusca, are already known to science, while ten species are here described as new: P. sciastra sp. nov., P. tristoides sp. nov., P. umbrinascens sp. nov., P. pinophila sp. nov., P. alnophila sp. nov., P. alobata sp. nov., P. pluriloba sp. nov., P. abundiloba sp. nov., P. rotundispora sp. nov. and P. media sp. nov. We discovered P. rhizopunctata and P. atrofusca to form a sister clade to all other species in P. tristis s.l. These two species, unlike all other species in the P. tristis complex, are dimitic. In this study, we designate epitypes for P. tristis, P. umbrina and Hypochnopsis fuscata and lectotypes for Auricularia phylacteris and Thelephora biennis. We show that the holotype of Hypochnus sitnensis and the lectotype of Hypochnopsis fuscata are conspecific with P. tristis, but in the absence of molecular information we regard Pseudotomentella longisterigmata and Hypochnus rhacodium as doubtful taxa due to their aberrant morphology. We confirm A. phylacteris, Tomentella biennis and Septobasidium arachnoideum as excluded taxa, since their morphology clearly show that they belong to other genera. A key to the species of the P. tristis group is provided. We found P. umbrina to be a common species with a wide, Holarctic distribution, forming ectomycorrhiza with a large number of host species in habitats ranging from tropical forests to the Arctic tundra. The other species in the P. tristis group were found to be less common and have narrower ecological niches

Family carers' preferences for support when caring for a family member at the end of life at home: protocol for an integrative literature review.

The aim of this integrative review is to explore the evidence base of family carers' preferences for support during end of life care in their own home. To investigate what preferences for support family carers have during end of life care in their own home, what help family carers requires to cope during end of life care in their own home and how the organisation of end of life care at home effects the family carers

Introducing ribosomal tandem repeat barcoding for fungi

Sequence comparison and analysis of the various ribosomal genetic markers are the dominant molecular methods for identification and description of fungi. However, new environmental fungal lineages known only from DNA data reveal significant gaps in our sampling of the fungal kingdom in terms of both taxonomy and marker coverage in the reference sequence databases. To facilitate the integration of reference data from all of the ribosomal markers, we present three sets of general primers that allow for amplification of the complete ribosomal operon from the ribosomal tandem repeats. The primers cover all ribosomal markers: ETS, SSU, ITS1, 5.8S, ITS2, LSU and IGS. We coupled these primers successfully with third-generation sequencing (PacBio and Nanopore sequencing) to showcase our approach on authentic fungal herbarium specimens (Basidiomycota), aquatic chytrids (Chytridiomycota) and a poorly understood lineage of early diverging fungi (Nephridiophagidae). In particular, we were able to generate high-quality reference data with Nanopore sequencing in a high-throughput manner, showing that the generation of reference data can be achieved on a regular desktop computer without the involvement of any large-scale sequencing facility. The quality of the Nanopore generated sequences was 99.85%, which is comparable with the 99.78% accuracy described for Sanger sequencing. With this work, we hope to stimulate the generation of a new comprehensive standard of ribosomal reference data with the ultimate aim to close the huge gaps in our reference datasets

Refugee and Migrant Women's Views of Antenatal Ultrasound on the Thai Burmese Border: A Mixed Methods Study

Antenatal ultrasound suits developing countries by virtue of its versatility, relatively low cost and safety, but little is known about women's or local provider's perspectives of this upcoming technology in such settings. This study was undertaken to better understand how routine obstetric ultrasound is experienced in a displaced Burmese population and identify barriers to its acceptance by local patients and providers.Qualitative (30 observations, 19 interviews, seven focus group discussions) and quantitative methods (questionnaire survey with 644 pregnant women) were used to provide a comprehensive understanding along four major themes: safety, emotions, information and communication, and unintended consequences of antenatal ultrasound in refugee and migrant clinics on the Thai Burmese border. One of the main concerns expressed by women was the danger of childbirth which they mainly attributed to fetal malposition. Both providers and patients recognized ultrasound as a technology improving the safety of pregnancy and delivery. A minority of patients experienced transitory shyness or anxiety before the ultrasound, but reported that these feelings could be ameliorated with improved patient information and staff communication. Unintended consequences of overuse and gender selective abortions in this population were not common.The results of this study are being used to improve local practice and allow development of explanatory materials for this population with low literacy. We strongly encourage facilities introducing new technology in resource poor settings to assess acceptability through similar inquiry