Mathematical models describing disappearance of Lucerne hay in the rumen using the nylon bag technique

It is essential to study the dynamics of rumen degradation of feeds before their potential use in formulating diets for ruminants. Various mathematical models have been developed to describe this degradation. The non-lagged exponential model (Model I), the lagged exponential model (Model II), the Gompertz model (Model III), and the generalized Mitscherlich model (Model IV) were examined using two alternative software (SAS and MATLAB) to determine their efficacy in accounting for variation in ruminal disappearance of dry matter (DM) and crude protein (CP) of lucerne hay from three cuttings. All models described DM degradability well (R2 >0.98). Only Models I and II converged when fitted to CP degradability data (R2 >0.98). It was concluded that any of these models could be used to describe the degradation of DM, whereas only Models I and II could be used to describe the degradation of CP from three cuttings of Lucerne hay. All the models that were fitted to the DM degradation data performed reasonably well, with only minor differences in goodness of fit. However, these models differed in values of the parameter estimates. Additionally, SAS failed to converge in the analyses of CP with Models III and IV, and MATLAB converged to nonsensical values with Model III. Model I might be recommended because it fitted the data well and required estimates of the fewest parameters Keywords: alfalfa hay, in situ digestion, model selection, nonlinear regressio

Sedation and Analgesia in Intensive Care: A Comparison of Fentanyl and Remifentanil

Optimal sedation and analgesia are of key importance in intensive care. The aim of this study was to assess the quality of sedoanalgesia and outcome parameters in regimens containing midazolam and either fentanyl or remifentanil. A prospective, randomized, open-label, controlled trial was carried out in the ICU unit of a large teaching hospital in Istanbul over a 9-month period. Thirty-four patients were randomly allocated to receive either a remifentanil-midazolam regimen (R group, n = 17) or a fentanyl-midazolam regimen (F group, n = 17). A strong correlation between Riker Sedation-Agitation Scale (SAS) and Ramsey Scale (RS) measurements was observed. Comparatively, remifentanil provided significantly more potent and rapid analgesia based on Behavioral-Physiological Scale (BPS) measurements and a statistically nonsignificantly shorter time to discharge. On the other hand, remifentanil also caused a significantly sharper fall in heart rate within the first six hours of treatment

Effects of different raising systems on colour and quality characteristics of Turkish Pekin duck meats

The current trial was conducted to determine the influence of different raising systems on the meat quality properties of male Turkish Pekin ducks. Ninety male ducklings were randomly allocated to three experimental groups: an animal-fish integrated farming group (IG), a non-animal-fish integrated farming group (NIG) and a poultry house group (PHG). All ducklings were fed a starter diet from weeks 2 to 6 and a finisher diet from weeks 6 to 10. Feed and water were offered ad libitum. At the end of the trial all ducks were slaughtered and the carcasses were stored at 3 °C for 24 hours, after which L*, a* and b* values of the carcass skins were measured. After standard dissection of carcasses, pectoralis muscles were obtained on which pH, colour (L*, a*, b*, C and H), total aerobic mesophilic, total aerobic psychrotrophic, lactic acid bacteria, Micrococcus/Staphylococcus, yeast-mould and Enterobacteriaceae counts were determined. The different raising systems of the ducks had significant effects on the pH, total aerobic mesophilic, Enterobacteriaceae, and L* and b* values of the pectoralis muscle. The lowest pH, total aerobic mesophilic and Enterobacteriaceae counts were found in the PHG group. The lowest L* values for the pectoralis muscle were found in the IG group while the highest a* value was recorded in the IG group. Significant differences in skin colour were observed between the experimental groups. For all production groups, all microbial counts were found to be within acceptable ranges. However, pH, total aerobic mesophilic and Enterobacteriaceae results were found to be lower in the PHG group than in the other groups. Different raising systems were thus found to affect the meat and skin colour of ducks, which may influence the preference of consumers. Keywords: Pekin duck, integrated farming, carcass and meat colour, microbial propertiesSouth African Journal of Animal Science Vol. 38 (3) 2008: pp. 217-22

Effect of Government Expenditure on GDP in the Turkish Economy

The objective of this article is to investigate the effect of government expenditure on GDP in Turkey from 2000Q1-2015Q4 by the superexogeneity test. As a consequence of satisfying both conditions of weak exogeneity and structural invariance, government expenditure is super exogenous to GDP which implies that the policy regime shift for the period of the Global Financial Crisis in Turkey did not cause structural variance in government expenditure. Indeed, the Lucas Critique which indicates that policy regime shifts cause structural breaks, appears to be refuted

TECHNICAL AND ECONOMIC EFFICIENCY ANALYSES OF THE PRODUCTIVE PERFORMANCE AND EGG QUALITY PARAMETERS IN LAYING HENS FED BY DIETS CONTAINING RAW AND TREATED COMMON VETCH SEED AT DIFFERENT LEVELS

ABSTRACT The aim of the study was to determine the technical and economic optimum levels of raw and treated common vetch seed (CVS) on the productive performance and egg quality traits in laying hens. One hundred and sixty-eight White (Lohmann) layers, 30 weeks of age were randomly assigned to seven groups, each with six replicate cages of four hens. Control diet (C) and basal diets supplemented with 12.5 and 25% raw CVS (%12.5 Raw Common Vetch Seed: RCVSI and %25 Raw Common Vetch Seed: RCVSII), 12.5% and 25% soaking CVS (%12.5 Soaking Common Vetch Seed: SCVSI and %25 Soaking Common Vetch Seed: SCVSII) and 12.5% and 25% autoclaving CVS (%12.5 Autoclaving Common Vetch Seed: ACVSI and %25 Autoclaving Common Vetch Seed: ACVSII) were offered for 18 wks. Production elasticity (E p ) and the equation of marginal value of physical product (MVPP) and marginal resources cost (MRC) were used to determine technical and economic production levels, respectively. The most effective technical and economic optimum with 60.17 and 63.54 g EW (egg weight) in laying hens were obtained from 117.29 and 106.68 g SCVSI feed intakes, respectively. On the other hand, the highest technical optimum levels were obtained by 2.51 kg cm -2 SS (shell strength) and 89.56 HU (Haugh unit) per 90.91 g ACVSII and 103.97 g RCVSII feed intakes, respectively. The growers could reach to the highest technical and economic optimum levels in laying hens by preferring dietary CVS supplementation vs. C, and thus could provide a major benefit with the effective usage of the scarce source

Effects of slaughter age and muscle type on meat quality characteristics of Eastern Anatolian Red bulls

The effects of slaughter age and muscle type on meat quality properties of Eastern Anatolian Red (EAR) bulls (n=46) were investigated in the present study. Forty-six EAR bulls were slaughtered at 15, 17, 19, 25 and 27 months. Meat samples were taken from longissimus dorsi (LD) and gluteus medius (GM) muscles obtained from the carcasses at 24&thinsp;h post-mortem. Meat color parameters were significantly affected by slaughter age. Older animals (19, 25 and 27 months of age) possessed higher L*, a* and H values than those of younger animals (15 and 17 months of age). LD muscle had higher L* and a* values than those of GM muscles. The influences of slaughter age and muscle type on the proportions of dry matter, ether extract, crude ash and crude protein were not significant in the present study. The influence of slaughter age on the tenderness, acceptability, juiciness, number of chews and Warner–Bratzler shear (WBS) values were found to be significant. Tenderness, juiciness, flavor intensity and acceptability increased until 19 months of age, and then increase in age resulted in lower tenderness, flavor intensity and acceptability scores. Cooking yield significantly increased depending on the increase of age. WBS and cooking yield values from the LD were higher than that of the GM muscle. Textural characteristics such as hardness, springiness, cohesiveness, gumminess, chewiness and resilience were not affected by slaughter age, but muscles had a significant influence on hardness, gumminess, chewiness and resilience. In conclusion, most eating quality characteristics and color parameters were positively influenced by slaughter age.</p

Protective efficiacy of taurine against pulmonary edema progression: experimental study

Re-expansion pulmonary edema (RPE) is an acute, rare and potentially lethal complication [1,2]. Its beginning is sudden and dramatic. The mechanism is not yet fully understood [1]. Some authors suggest that it may occur after rapid re-inflation of a collapsed lung [1]. It was reported by other authors that it may relate to surfactant depletion or may result from hypoxic capillary damage, leading to increased capillary permeability [1,3]. In RPE, unilateral lung injury is initiated by cytotoxic oxygen metabolites and temporally associated with an influx of polymorphonuclear neutrophils [1]. These toxic oxygen products are the results of re-oxygenation of a collapsed lung. Treatment of re-expansion pulmonary edema is basically preventive [4]

Protective efficiacy of taurine against pulmonary edema progression: experimental study

Re-expansion pulmonary edema (RPE) is an acute, rare and potentially lethal complication [1,2]. Its beginning is sudden and dramatic. The mechanism is not yet fully understood [1]. Some authors suggest that it may occur after rapid re-inflation of a collapsed lung [1]. It was reported by other authors that it may relate to surfactant depletion or may result from hypoxic capillary damage, leading to increased capillary permeability [1,3]. In RPE, unilateral lung injury is initiated by cytotoxic oxygen metabolites and temporally associated with an influx of polymorphonuclear neutrophils [1]. These toxic oxygen products are the results of re-oxygenation of a collapsed lung. Treatment of re-expansion pulmonary edema is basically preventive [4]