High Elevation Grasslands as a Crucial Resource to Ranchers of Northern New Mexico

High-elevation grasslands of northern New Mexico (NM), located at the southern tip of the Rocky Mountains in the western United States, are a crucial resource for small-scale, family-owned ranches. Due to evolution of land acquisition in northern New Mexico, many of these lands are in public ownership, and ranchers must now rely upon government-managed grazing allotments for pasturing their livestock. Regulations and management decisions governing these lands, along with competition for use (e.g. recreation), can significantly affect the viability and survival of ranching throughout the area (Raish & McSweeney, 2003)

The roles and values of wild foods in agricultural systems

Almost every ecosystem has been amended so that plants and animals can be used as food, fibre, fodder, medicines, traps and weapons. Historically, wild plants and animals were sole dietary components for hunter–gatherer and forager cultures. Today, they remain key to many agricultural communities. The mean use of wild foods by agricultural and forager communities in 22 countries of Asia and Africa (36 studies) is 90–100 species per location. Aggregate country estimates can reach 300–800 species (e.g. India, Ethiopia, Kenya). The mean use of wild species is 120 per community for indigenous communities in both industrialized and developing countries. Many of these wild foods are actively managed, suggesting there is a false dichotomy around ideas of the agricultural and the wild: hunter–gatherers and foragers farm and manage their environments, and cultivators use many wild plants and animals. Yet, provision of and access to these sources of food may be declining as natural habitats come under increasing pressure from development, conservation-exclusions and agricultural expansion. Despite their value, wild foods are excluded from official statistics on economic values of natural resources. It is clear that wild plants and animals continue to form a significant proportion of the global food basket, and while a variety of social and ecological drivers are acting to reduce wild food use, their importance may be set to grow as pressures on agricultural productivity increase.</jats:p

Nutrition support in cancer patients: a brief review and suggestion for standard indications criteria

The indications of nutrition support in cancer patients have been subject to controversy. Most studies address the effects of the method in increasing the survival or the tumor response rate. Few studies have focused on the effects in improving quality of life. After a brief review, we described the results of a study, which evaluated the effects of protein-caloric supplementation on the quality of life parameters in a group of head and neck cancer patients submitted to radiotherapy. The results support the suggestion of creating standard criteria to indicate nutrition support in cancer patients. Based on our findings, nutrition support should be indicated for cancer patients considering the potential effects to improve the quality of life

Influenza Infectious Dose May Explain the High Mortality of the Second and Third Wave of 1918–1919 Influenza Pandemic

BACKGROUND: It is widely accepted that the shift in case-fatality rate between waves during the 1918 influenza pandemic was due to a genetic change in the virus. In animal models, the infectious dose of influenza A virus was associated to the severity of disease which lead us to propose a new hypothesis. We propose that the increase in the case-fatality rate can be explained by the dynamics of disease and by a dose-dependent response mediated by the number of simultaneous contacts a susceptible person has with infectious ones. METHODS: We used a compartment model with seasonality, waning of immunity and a Holling type II function, to model simultaneous contacts between a susceptible person and infectious ones. In the model, infected persons having mild or severe illness depend both on the proportion of infectious persons in the population and on the level of simultaneous contacts between a susceptible and infectious persons. We further allowed for a high or low rate of waning immunity and volunteer isolation at different times of the epidemic. RESULTS: In all scenarios, case-fatality rate was low during the first wave (Spring) due to a decrease in the effective reproduction number. The case-fatality rate in the second wave (Autumn) depended on the ratio between the number of severe cases to the number of mild cases since, for each 1000 mild infections only 4 deaths occurred whereas for 1000 severe infections there were 20 deaths. A third wave (late Winter) was dependent on the rate for waning immunity or on the introduction of new susceptible persons in the community. If a group of persons became voluntarily isolated and returned to the community some days latter, new waves occurred. For a fixed number of infected persons the overall case-fatality rate decreased as the number of waves increased. This is explained by the lower proportion of infectious individuals in each wave that prevented an increase in the number of severe infections and thus of the case-fatality rate. CONCLUSION: The increase on the proportion of infectious persons as a proxy for the increase of the infectious dose a susceptible person is exposed, as the epidemic develops, can explain the shift in case-fatality rate between waves during the 1918 influenza pandemic.TD acknowledges the support of the Faculdade de Ciencias e Tecnologia through grant PPCDT/AMB/55701/2004. The funders had no role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript

Genetic relationship between a new feeding pattern trait and performance traits

Pigs adapt their feeding patterns to the level of feed restriction by modifying their feed intake in the early hours of the day (McSweeny et al, 2003). This observation led to the investigation of a new feeding-pattern trait, defined as the percentage of the total daily feed intake eaten between midnight and 0600 h (P6AM). This trait (μ=35%) is specific to the feeding system studied and may provide additional information for genetic improvement of performance traits. The aim of this experiment was to estimate genetic correlations between P6AM and economically important traits

Factors causing a reduction in individual feed intake data of group-housed pigs recorded with electronic feeders

Individual feed intake data were recorded using electronic feeders for 278 animals in a commercial group-housed environment. A reduction in feed intake compared to the expected was observed. Factors influencing this reduction in feed intake are described. Recommendations are made for using these factors in the operation of electronic feeders to minimise the reduction in feed intake

Effects of feeding regime on feeding patterns of group-housed pigs

Diurnal feeding patterns have been described for wild foraging pigs (Signoret et al. 1975) as well as commercial 'ad libitum' fed pigs (Hall, 1997). Restricted feeding is used in some breeding programs for selection of lean meat growth. In this experiment, we investigated whether feeding regime affects the feeding patterns of pigs