Insights into Hemoglobin Polymorphism and Related Functional Effects on Hematological Pattern in Mediterranean Cattle, Goat and Sheep

This report is a review of some of the results obtained over the course of 20 years spent investigating hemoglobin phenotypes and the related functional effects on hematological patterns in ruminant breeds. Tests included qualitative and quantitative analyses of hemoglobins and qualitative and quantitative analyses of α and β globins, as well as hemochromocytometric analysis. Understanding the adaptive significance of the hemoglobin variants was the goal of most of these investigations. The advances presented in this review and the previously unpublished findings included here provide evidence that Mediterranean breeds exhibit a fair number of positively charged variants, whose possible adaptive significance is discussed

Effects of Coteaching Instruction Between a Speech Pathologist and First Grade Teachers

The effects of coteaching instruction used by speech language pathologists (SLP) and 1st grade teachers on students\u27 early literacy skills have not been widely examined in current literature. This lack of research may hinder the efforts of SLPs to provide support services for students with and without disabilities who struggle with early literacy skills. Guided by the ecological systems theory, this quasi-experimental study examined the impact of coteaching instruction on students\u27 literacy skills by comparing scores of 2 groups, experimental group who received coteaching and control group who did not receive coteaching instruction. The scores were measured by the final Test of Early Literacy Nonsense Word Fluency Subtest (TELNWFS). A purposeful sampling method was used to select 166 1st grade students as participants. The SLP and 1st grade classroom teachers\u27 use of coteaching instruction served as the treatment or independent variable. The covariate was the scores of the initial TELNWF scores, which was used to control for preexisting reading skills of the participants. The dependent variable was the scores of the final TELNWF. The results of ANCOVA test revealed that there was no significant difference between TELNWF scores of experimental and control group. Implications for positive social change include modifying or reevaluating the use of coteaching instruction between the SLP and 1st grade classroom teachers. This study will help the faculty at the treatment school make informed decisions about instructional models that should or should not be used to address early literacy skills of 1st grade students within the treatment school

Contextual Evidence: A Collection of Vignettes

The perfect curve of a circle, gently overlapping the curve of another. Two primary shapes, intersecting to form an almond of sorts. Segregating. Separating the things that are just so dissimilar that they cannot share space. Good and bad, black and white, rich and poor: the dichotomies that fuel the human condition. These things seem absolute. It is one or the other. Yet sometimes, you get the almond. The commonalities. The proportionately smaller region of the diagram. Those rare spaces that illustrate two diverging concepts on common ground. Those grey, ambiguous areas that eclipse the two circles entirely

The relationship between the presence of extra α-globin genes and blood cell traits in Altamurana sheep

Additional α-globin genes in sheep might produce extra α-globin chains and, consequently, the subject carrying triplicated (ααα) or quadruplicated (αααα) haplotypes may exhibit different hematological phenotypes when compared to the normal duplicated (αα) homozygotes (NN). Both ααα and αααα heterozygous (ND) and ααα and αααα homozygous (DD) individuals were obtained by selection and inbreeding. Chromatographic RP-HPLC analyses of the globin chains of 65 subjects (15 DD, 20 ND and 30 NN) were performed. A highly significant linear regression (r2 = 0.967) of the α/β ratio on the number of α-globin genes was found, and the α/β ratio ranged on average from 1.0 in NN individuals to 1.2 in the ND and 1.6 in the DD subjects. Values for blood fell within the range of normality but were rather peculiar as a whole. When the erythrocytes of individuals carrying normal arrangements were compared with those of subjects with extra α-genes, the latter had fewer erythrocytes that were bigger in size and had a higher Hb content and a greater osmotic fragility. This hematological picture is consistent with the existence of an unbalanced α/β ratio

Reversible switch from hemoglobin A to C in sheep and recovery from anemia following experimental infection with Anaplasma ovis

Anemia causes a change in the type of circulating hemoglobin (Hb) in sheep carrying the βA-globin haplotype, where the Hb A is replaced with Hb C, unlike Hb B. The effect of the substitution of Hb A with Hb C on the recovery from anemia was investigated by comparing the hematological picture of sheep, following experimental infection with Anaplasma ovis. The blood values were obtained from 3 AB and 3 BB Hb sheep after the development of the disease where anemia is a pathognomonic symptom. The expression of the silent gene encoding for Hb C was detected by isoelectric focusing and quantified by high performance liquid chromatography. Both Hb AB genotype and Hb C occurrence were involved in the lower recovery from anemia in the trial

Genetic study of Murgese horse from genealogical data and microsatellites

The black or rarely roan Murgese is a mesomorph horse, mainly reared in Apulia, recently selected for the saddle. Thefirst official registry of Murgese was established in 1926. All the existing Murgese horses can be traced back to a smallnumber of founders (46 founder mares and 9 stallions). This work aims to monitor the genetic structure of the actualpopulation by analysing the available genealogical information from 2708 animals and a data-set containing 563 typingrecords of twelve microsatellites. Inbreeding coefficients were estimated for the whole sample and for the animals bornfrom 1992 to 1999. A total of 23 generations were found. The average inbreeding coefficient was 0.0165 for the last threegenerations, whereas inbreeding was below 2% in animals born in the 92-99 period. The contribution of founders wasunbalanced. The overall FIS coefficient estimation was 0.025 and suggests that mating is generally at random in the population.However, some statistics obtained from this study, i.e. the inbreeding coefficient higher than 0.015 in the 70 animalsof the 19th, 20th, and 21st generations, should induce breeders to more attention in planning mating

Recent Land Abandonment Drivers in the Agro-Pastoral Areas of Apulia

Apulia is one of the most important agricultural regions in Italy, and its primary sector is the repository of important historic and cultural heritage. However, at present, in particular in the inner agro pastoral areas of the Murgia upland and the Gargano promontory, two serious threats risk to generate irreversible damages to local population, ecosystems and economic sector. The first one concerns the spread of paratubercolosis in semi-extensive dairy sheep and goat farms, with a positivity in the flocks of 60.5% and a seroprevalence of 3.0% for sheep and 14.5% for goats, with peaks of 50%. In economic terms, the uninfected farms had a mean profit efficiency of 84%, which dropped to 64% in the presence of this bacterium that reduces the productivity of feeding, veterinary services and labour. The second problem concerns the wine sector in the northern Apulia, and regards the greater profitability of non-autochthone varieties in comparison with typical ones, in intensive and semiextensive cultivation systems. This phenomenon is causing an intensification of wine growing also in the areas next to the agro-pastoral and inner territories of the Murgia highland, with significant pressure on its fragile ecosystems. These recent findings should be properly considered by decision makers in order to plan strategies for the restoration of more sustainable dairy and wine-growing sectors in these areas, so helping to increase farmers' profits, improve environmental conditions for the community and ensure higher food quality, security and safety for consumers