Inorganic elements in the livers of Eurasian otters, Lutra lutra, from England and Wales in 2007 & 2008: a Predatory Bird Monitoring Scheme (PBMS) report

This is a report on the initial findings of a collaborative study between the Predatory Bird Monitoring Scheme (PBMS) and the Cardiff University Otter Project (CUOP). The study analysed the concentrations of 16 metals and semi-metals in the livers of 107 Eurasian otters (Lutra lutra) that had been found dead in 2007 and 2008 and collected by the CUOP. This aim of this work was to determine the current concentrations of inorganic elements accumulated by otters and whether exposure to heavy metals (lead, mercury, cadmium) in particular is likely to be associated with adverse effects. This is the first study of inorganic elements in otter livers from Europe for nearly 10 years. The otters that were analysed were from England and Wales and included adult and subadult males and females. Liver tissue was analysed using Inductively Coupled Plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) techniques. The concentrations of inorganic elements measured in the present study were within the range previously reported for Eurasian otters in Britain and elsewhere in Europe. Concentrations varied with age and/or sex for some elements. For the heavy metals mercury and cadmium, liver concentrations generally increased with age whereas for lead, juveniles generally had higher liver lead concentrations than adults although for lead these difference were not statistically significant. Aluminium and chromium were the only elements that varied significantly in concentrations between years. It is unclear whether the inter-year variation in aluminium and chromium represent significant inter-year changes in exposure and/or accumulation or may simply reflect local-scale variation in the provenance of otters and their associated exposure. The liver concentrations of heavy metals (mercury, cadmium and lead) in all the otters analysed were below those associated with toxic effects in mammals, although liver lead concentrations in a small number of otters were close to the level of concern

Differences in intestinal size, structure, and function contributing to feed efficiency in broiler chickens reared at geographically distant locations

The contribution of the intestinal tract to differences in residual feed intake (RFI) has been inconclusively studied in chickens so far. It is also not clear if RFI-related differences in intestinal function are similar in chickens raised in different environments. The objective was to investigate differences in nutrient retention, visceral organ size, intestinal morphology, jejunal permeability and expression of genes related to barrier function, and innate immune response in chickens of diverging RFI raised at 2 locations (L1: Austria; L2: UK). The experimental protocol was similar, and the same dietary formulation was fed at the 2 locations. Individual BW and feed intake (FI) of chickens (Cobb 500FF) were recorded from d 7 of life. At 5 wk of life, chickens (L1, n = 157; L2 = 192) were ranked according to their RFI, and low, medium, and high RFI chickens were selected (n = 9/RFI group, sex, and location). RFI values were similar between locations within the same RFI group and increased by 446 and 464 g from low to high RFI in females and males, respectively. Location, but not RFI rank, affected growth, nutrient retention, size of the intestine, and jejunal disaccharidase activity. Chickens from L2 had lower total body weight gain and mucosal enzyme activity but higher nutrient retention and longer intestines than chickens at L1. Parameters determined only at L1 showed increased crypt depth in the duodenum and jejunum and enhanced paracellular permeability in low vs. high RFI females. Jejunal expression of IL1B was lower in low vs. high RFI females at L2, whereas that of TLR4 at L1 and MCT1 at both locations was higher in low vs. high RFI males. Correlation analysis between intestinal parameters and feed efficiency metrics indicated that feed conversion ratio was more correlated to intestinal size and function than was RFI. In conclusion, the rearing environment greatly affected intestinal size and function, thereby contributing to the variation in chicken RFI observed across locations

The effect of milk on recovery from repeat-sprint cycling in female team-sport athletes

The consumption of milk post-eccentric exercise attenuates the effects of muscle damage in team-sport athletes. However, participation in team sport involves both concentric-eccentric loading and metabolic stress. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the effects of post-exercise milk consumption on recovery from a cycling protocol designed to simulate the metabolic demands of team sport. Ten female team-sport athletes participated in a randomised cross-over investigation. Upon completion of the protocol participants consumed 500ml of milk (MILK) or 500ml of an energy-matched carbohydrate (CHO) drink. Muscle function (peak torque, rate of force development (RFD), countermovement jump (CMJ), 20m sprint, muscle soreness and tiredness, serum creatine kinase (CK), (high-sensitivity C reactive protein (hsCRP) and measures of oxidative stress (protein carbonyls (PC) and GSH:GSSG (oxidized glutathione:reduced glutathione) ratio) were determined pre-, 24h, 48h and 72h post-exercise. MILK had a possible beneficial effect in attenuating losses in peak torque (180 s) from baseline to 24h (3.2±7.8% v -6.2±7.5%, MILK v CHO) and a possible beneficial effect in minimising soreness (baseline-48h; baseline-72h) and tiredness (baseline-24h; baseline-72h). There was no change in oxidative stress following the exercise protocol, though a likely benefit of milk was observed for GSH:GSSH ratio at baseline-24h (0.369 x/÷ 1.89, 1.103 x/÷ 3.96, MILK v CHO). MILK had an unclear effect on all other variables. Consumption of 500ml milk post-repeat sprint cycling had little to no benefit in minimising losses in peak torque, or minimising increases in soreness and tiredness and had no effect on serum markers of muscle damage and inflammation

Application of Real-time AMDF Pitch Detection in a Voice Gender Normalisation System

Traditionally the interest in voice gender conversion was of a more theoretical nature rather than founded in real-life applications. However, with the increase in mobile communication and the resulting limitation in transmission bandwidth new approaches to minimising data rates have to be developed. Here voice gender normalisation (VGN) presents an efficient method of achieving higher compression rates by using the VGN algorithm to remove gender specific components of a speech signal and thus enhancing the information content to be transmitted. A second application for VGN is in the field of speech controlled systems, where current speech recognition algorithms have to deal with the voice characteristics of a speaker as well as the information content. Here again the use of VGN can remove the speaker's voice gender characteristics and thus enhance the message contents. Therefore, such a system would be capable of achieving higher recognition rates while being independent of the speaker. This paper presents the theory of a VGN system and furthermore, outlines an efficient real-time hardware implementation for the use in portable communications equipment

Use of soil moisture information in yield models

There are no author-identified significant results in this report

Concert overture (Creative work)

Thesis (M.A.)--Boston Universit

Annotated Checklist of Mammals of the Yucatán Peninsula, México. II. Rodentia

The Yucatán Peninsula, as encompassed in this series of papers, includes the Mexican states of Campeche and Yucatán, and the Federal Territory of Quintana Roo. This region is a low-lying plain that rises gently in elevation from north to south. It is surrounded on three sides by water and bounded on the south by British Honduras (i.e. Belize), Guatemala, and the Mexican state of Tabasco. The vegetation of the peninsula increases in height from north to south and from the coast inland. Generally, forest to the north is xerophilic, but that of the southern part of the peninsula is tall, quasi rainforest. Although the mammalian fauna of the Yucatán Peninsula is unique in many ways, there has been no comprehensive account of mammals of the region since Gaumer\u27s (1917) Monografía de los mamíferos de Yucatán. In an earlier paper of this series (Jones, et al., 1973), the chiropteran fauna of the peninsular region was treated. The present report deals exclusively with rodents, 20 native species of which (and two that have been introduced) presently are known from the Yucatán Peninsula. These 22 species represent 16 genera of seven families as follows: Sciuridae, two; Geomyidae, one; Heteromyidae, two; Cricetidae, 12; Muridae, two (introduced); Dasyproctidae, two; and Erethizontidae, one. One genus (Otonyctomys) is endemic to the peninsula, as are four species (Sciurus yucatanicus, Heteromys gaumeri, Peromyscus yucatanicus, and Reithrodontomys spectabilisi and a number of subspecies. This report is based principally upon material housed in the Museum of Natural History at the University of Kansas. In the summer of 1962, two field parties from Kansas visited the region, one consisting of W.E. Duellman and six students enrolled in a field course in vertebrate zoology, and the other including the senior author and four students working on a survey of terrestrial vertebrates and their ectoparasites under the aegis of a contract (DA-49-193MD- 2215) from the U.S. Army Research and Development Command. Also, Percy L. Clifton, field representative of the Museum of Natural History, collected mammals on the peninsula from mid-December 1962 until June 1963. Collections from which specimens were examined are: Museum of Natural History at The University of Kansas, the American Museum of Natural History, the British Museum (Natural History), the University of Michigan Museum of Zoology, the Museum, Texas Tech University, and the National Museum of Natural History. Most localities mentioned in text are plotted in a map. Ectoparasites obtained from our material from the Yucatán Peninsula have been reported by Emerson (1971), Genoways (1973), Lawlor (1965, 1969), Loomis (1969), and Price and Emerson (1971)

Salmonella in Irish pig farms; prevalence, antibiotic resistance and molecular epidemiology

The objective was to examine the prevalence of Salmonella in manure from 30 Irish pig farms and to characterize any recovered isolates in order to assess potential risks and epidemiological relationships. Salmonella was detected in the manure from finisher pigs in 50% of the herds investigated. S. Typhimurium was the predominant serotype recovered and the most common phage types were DT104 and DT104b. Nineteen of the 29 Salmonella isolates recovered were resistant to one or more antibiotics and 15 of these (all Typhimurium) were multi-resistant

Editorial: immunomodulation of innate immune cells

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