Intake Characteristics of Diploid and Tetraploid Perennial Ryegrass Varieties when Grazed by Simmental x Holstein Yearling Heifers Under Rotational Stocking Management

Orr et al. (2003) measured large differences in dry matter (DM) intake rate between 15 intermediate-heading perennial ryegrass varieties when they were continuously stocked with sheep and subsequently explored the extent to which, for 5 of these varieties, these differences could be explained by chemical and morphological traits (Orr et al., 2004a) which could be targeted in grass breeding programmes. Here, four of the 15 varieties, which within ploidy had low or high intake characteristics when grazed by sheep, were rotationally stocked with cattle and intake and sward factors were measured

Shared Care, Elder and Family Member Skills Used to Manage Burden

Aim. The aim of this paper is to further develop the construct of Shared Care by comparing and contrasting it to related research, and to show how the construct can be used to guide research and practice. Background. While researchers have identified negative outcomes for family caregivers caused by providing care, less is known about positive aspects of family care for both members of a family dyad. Understanding family care relationships is important to nurses because family participation in the care of chronically ill elders is necessary to achieve optimal outcomes from nursing interventions. A previous naturalistic inquiry identified a new construct, Shared Care, which was used to describe a family care interaction that contributed to positive care outcomes. Methods. A literature review was carried out using the databases Medline, CINAHL, and Psych-info and the keywords home care, care receiver, disability, family, communication, decision-making and reciprocity. The results of the review were integrated to suggest how Shared Care could be used to study care difficulties and guide interventions. Results. The literature confirmed the importance of dyad relationships in family care. Shared Care extended previous conceptualizations of family care by capturing three critical components: communication, decision-making, and reciprocity. Shared Care provides a structure to expand the conceptualization of family care to include both members of a care dyad and account for positive and negative aspects of care. Conclusions. The extended view provided by the construct of Shared Care offers practitioners and scholars tools to use in the context of our ageing population to improve the effectiveness of family care relationships

Tryptophan metabolism in the central nervous system: medical implications

The metabolism of the amino acid L-tryptophan is a highly regulated physiological process leading to the generation of several neuroactive compounds within the central nervous system. These include the aminergic neurotransmitter serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine, 5-HT), products of the kynurenine pathway of tryptophan metabolism (including 3-hydroxykynurenine, 3-hydroxyanthranilic acid, quinolinic acid and kynurenic acid), the neurohormone melatonin, several neuroactive kynuramine metabolites of melatonin, and the trace amine tryptamine. The integral role of central serotonergic systems in the modulation of physiology and behaviour has been well documented since the first description of serotonergic neurons in the brain some 40 years ago. However, while the significance of the peripheral kynurenine pathway of tryptophan metabolism has also been recognised for several decades, it has only recently been appreciated that the synthesis of kynurenines within the central nervous system has important consequences for physiology and behaviour. Altered kynurenine metabolism has been implicated in the pathophysiology of conditions such as acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS)-related dementia, Huntington's disease and Alzheimer's disease. In this review we discuss the molecular mechanisms involved in regulating the metabolism of tryptophan and consider the medical implications associated with dysregulation of both serotonergic and kynurenine pathways of tryptophan metabolism

Native Birdlife in Hawke’s Bay: application of the river values assessment system (RiVAS and RiVAS+)

This report presents an application of the River Values Assessment System for existing value (RiVAS) and for potential value (RiVAS+) to native birdlife in the Hawkes Bay Region. A workshop was held in Napier on 3rd October 2011 to apply the method. This Hawkes Bay Region bird report needs to be read in conjunction with the method and with the first native bird application reports (see Hughey et al. 2010 and Gaze et al. 2010).Ministry of Science and Information, and Hawkes Bay Regional Counci

The DiskMass Survey. IV. The Dark-Matter-Dominated Galaxy UGC 463

We present a detailed and unique mass budget for the high-surface-brightness galaxy UGC 463, showing it is dominated by dark matter (DM) at radii beyond one scale length (h_R) and has a baryonic-to-DM mass ratio of approximately 1:3 within 4.2 h_R. Assuming a constant scale height (h_z, calculated via an empirical oblateness relation), we calculate dynamical disk mass surface densities from stellar kinematics, which provide vertical velocity dispersions after correcting for the shape of the stellar velocity ellipsoid (measured to have sigma_theta/sigma_R=1.04 +/- 0.22 and sigma_z/sigma_R=0.48 +/- 0.09). We isolate the stellar mass surface density by accounting for all gas mass components and find an average K-band mass-to-light ratio of 0.22 +/- 0.09 (ran) ^{+0.16}_{-0.15} (sys) M_{sun}/L_{sun}^{K}; Zibetti et al. and Bell et al. predict, respectively, 0.56 and 3.6 times our dynamical value based on stellar-population-synthesis modeling. The baryonic matter is submaximal by a factor of ~3 in mass and the baryonic-to-total circular-speed ratio is 0.61^{+0.07}_{-0.09} (ran) ^{+0.12}_{-0.18} (sys) at 2.2 h_R; however, the disk is globally stable with a multi-component stability that decreases asymptotically with radius to Q~2. We directly calculate the circular speed of the DM halo by subtracting the baryonic contribution to the total circular speed; the result is equally well described by either a Navarro-Frenk-White halo or a pseudo-isothermal sphere. The volume density is dominated by DM at heights of |z|>1.6 h_z for radii of R > h_R. As is shown in follow-up papers, UGC 463 is just one example among nearly all galaxies we have observed that contradict the hypothesis that high-surface-brightness spiral galaxies have maximal disks.Comment: accepted for publication in ApJ (36 pages, 20 figures, 9 tables

The seasonality of tuberculosis, sunlight, vitamin D, and household crowding.

BACKGROUND: Unlike other respiratory infections, tuberculosis diagnoses increase in summer. We performed an ecological analysis of this paradoxical seasonality in a Peruvian shantytown over 4 years. METHODS: Tuberculosis symptom-onset and diagnosis dates were recorded for 852 patients. Their tuberculosis-exposed cohabitants were tested for tuberculosis infection with the tuberculin skin test (n = 1389) and QuantiFERON assay (n = 576) and vitamin D concentrations (n = 195) quantified from randomly selected cohabitants. Crowding was calculated for all tuberculosis-affected households and daily sunlight records obtained. RESULTS: Fifty-seven percent of vitamin D measurements revealed deficiency (<50 nmol/L). Risk of deficiency was increased 2.0-fold by female sex (P < .001) and 1.4-fold by winter (P < .05). During the weeks following peak crowding and trough sunlight, there was a midwinter peak in vitamin D deficiency (P < .02). Peak vitamin D deficiency was followed 6 weeks later by a late-winter peak in tuberculin skin test positivity and 12 weeks after that by an early-summer peak in QuantiFERON positivity (both P < .04). Twelve weeks after peak QuantiFERON positivity, there was a midsummer peak in tuberculosis symptom onset (P < .05) followed after 3 weeks by a late-summer peak in tuberculosis diagnoses (P < .001). CONCLUSIONS: The intervals from midwinter peak crowding and trough sunlight to sequential peaks in vitamin D deficiency, tuberculosis infection, symptom onset, and diagnosis may explain the enigmatic late-summer peak in tuberculosis