Wenn Milchkühe ihre Kälber säugen - freier vs. Halbtagskontakt

The influence of three calf rearing systems on milk yield, milk composition, udder 18:00, n=11) and no damtheir dam after birth. In the 10th week of life contact dams and calves were physicallyseparated and had only visual contact. They were trained to drink from nipple buckets. In the 11th week of life thcontact. All calves were gradually weaned from milk until the 13th- cows and those gave less milk than-indicating disturbed milk ejection. Udder health was not affected. Nursed calves grew ut after separation there was a growth check. However, two weeks after weaning live weights of dam reared calves were still significantly higher Hence, our results suggest that half-day mother-calfcontact helps to decrease milk losses while calf development is still improved

Benchmarking of CFD Modelling Closures for Two-Phase Turbulent Bubbly Flows

Eulerian-Eulerian computational fluid dynamic models are used in the prediction of multiphase gas-liquid flows in nuclear reactor thermal hydraulics and in many other chemical and process engineering applications. The modelling approach, based on the concept of interpenetrating continua, allows the calculation of complex and large-scale industrial flows with a relatively limited computational load. However, interfacial transfer processes need to be entirely modelled through numerous closure relations. A large number of different optimized closure sets are available, each often showing remarkable accuracy, but generally only over a few experimental data sets. This specificity makes it difficult to compare the overall accuracy of the models and obstructs the development of more general and robust approaches. In this paper, the bubbly flow models developed at the University of Leeds and the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden - Rossendorf are benchmarked against relevant experiments. These two research groups follow a similar modelling approach, aimed at identifying a single universal set of widely applicable closures. The models, implemented respectively in Star-CCM+ and CFX, are applied to a large selection of bubbly flows in different geometries. The main focus is on the momentum transfer, mainly responsible for the lateral bubble distribution in any flow, and on turbulence closures. Therefore, monodispersed bubbly flows that can be effectively characterized with a single average bubble diameter are selected. Overall, the models are found to be generally reliable and robust, and additional developments towards further improved accuracy, increased generality and the definition of a common unified set of model closures are identified. In future, additional benchmark exercises of this kind will be performed, and potentially the definition of proven sets of reference experiments will be recommended

Many-body interactions and melting of colloidal crystals

We study the melting behavior of charged colloidal crystals, using a simulation technique that combines a continuous mean-field Poisson-Boltzmann description for the microscopic electrolyte ions with a Brownian-dynamics simulation for the mesoscopic colloids. This technique ensures that many-body interactions between the colloids are fully taken into account, and thus allows us to investigate how many-body interactions affect the solid-liquid phase behavior of charged colloids. Using the Lindemann criterion, we determine the melting line in a phase-diagram spanned by the colloidal charge and the salt concentration. We compare our results to predictions based on the established description of colloidal suspensions in terms of pairwise additive Yukawa potentials, and find good agreement at high-salt, but not at low-salt concentration. Analyzing the effective pair-interaction between two colloids in a crystalline environment, we demonstrate that the difference in the melting behavior observed at low salt is due to many-body interactions

Distinguishing Asthma Phenotypes Using Machine Learning Approaches.

Asthma is not a single disease, but an umbrella term for a number of distinct diseases, each of which are caused by a distinct underlying pathophysiological mechanism. These discrete disease entities are often labelled as asthma endotypes. The discovery of different asthma subtypes has moved from subjective approaches in which putative phenotypes are assigned by experts to data-driven ones which incorporate machine learning. This review focuses on the methodological developments of one such machine learning technique-latent class analysis-and how it has contributed to distinguishing asthma and wheezing subtypes in childhood. It also gives a clinical perspective, presenting the findings of studies from the past 5 years that used this approach. The identification of true asthma endotypes may be a crucial step towards understanding their distinct pathophysiological mechanisms, which could ultimately lead to more precise prevention strategies, identification of novel therapeutic targets and the development of effective personalized therapies

New Physics at the LHC. A Les Houches Report: Physics at TeV Colliders 2009 - New Physics Working Group

We present a collection of signatures for physics beyond the standard model that need to be explored at the LHC. First, are presented various tools developed to measure new particle masses in scenarios where all decays include an unobservable particle. Second, various aspects of supersymmetric models are discussed. Third, some signatures of models of strong electroweak symmetry are discussed. In the fourth part, a special attention is devoted to high mass resonances, as the ones appearing in models with warped extra dimensions. Finally, prospects for models with a hidden sector/valley are presented. Our report, which includes brief experimental and theoretical reviews as well as original results, summarizes the activities of the "New Physics" working group for the "Physics at TeV Colliders" workshop (Les Houches, France, 8-26 June, 2009).Comment: 189 page

FADS1 FADS2 Gene Cluster, PUFA Intake and Blood Lipids in Children: Results from the GINIplus and LISAplus Studies

BACKGROUND: Elevated cholesterol levels in children can be a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases in later life. In adults, it has been shown that blood lipid levels are strongly influenced by polymorphisms in the fatty acid desaturase (FADS) gene cluster in addition to nutritional and other exogenous and endogenous determinants. Our aim was to investigate whether lipid levels are determined by the FADS genotype already in children and whether this association interacts with dietary intake of n-3 fatty acids. METHODS: The analysis was based on data of 2006 children from two German prospective birth cohort studies. Total cholesterol, HDL, LDL and triglycerides were measured at 10 years of age. Six single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the FADS gene cluster were genotyped. Dietary n-3 fatty acid intake was assessed by food frequency questionnaire. Linear regression modeling was used to assess the association between lipid levels, n-3 fatty acid intake and FADS genotype. RESULTS: Individuals carrying the homozygous minor allele had lower levels of total cholesterol [means ratio (MR) ranging from 0.96 (p = 0.0093) to 0.98 (p = 0.2949), depending on SNPs] and LDL [MR between 0.94 (p = 0.0179) and 0.97 (p = 0.2963)] compared to homozygous major allele carriers. Carriers of the heterozygous allele showed lower HDL levels [β between -0.04 (p = 0.0074) to -0.01 (p = 0.3318)] and higher triglyceride levels [MR ranging from 1.06 (p = 0.0065) to 1.07 (p = 0.0028)] compared to homozygous major allele carriers. A higher n-3 PUFA intake was associated with higher concentrations of total cholesterol, LDL, HDL and lower triglyceride levels, but these associations did not interact with the FADS1 FADS2 genotype. CONCLUSION: Total cholesterol, HDL, LDL and triglyceride concentrations may be influenced by the FADS1 FADS2 genotype already in 10 year old children. Genetically determined blood lipid levels during childhood might differentially predispose individuals to the development of cardiovascular diseases later in life

Genome-Wide Association Study of Plasma Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids in the InCHIANTI Study

Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) have a role in many physiological processes, including energy production, modulation of inflammation, and maintenance of cell membrane integrity. High plasma PUFA concentrations have been shown to have beneficial effects on cardiovascular disease and mortality. To identify genetic contributors of plasma PUFA concentrations, we conducted a genome-wide association study of plasma levels of six omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids in 1,075 participants in the InCHIANTI study on aging. The strongest evidence for association was observed in a region of chromosome 11 that encodes three fatty acid desaturases (FADS1, FADS2, FADS3). The SNP with the most significant association was rs174537 near FADS1 in the analysis of arachidonic acid (AA; p = 5.95×10−46). Minor allele homozygotes had lower AA compared to the major allele homozygotes and rs174537 accounted for 18.6% of the additive variance in AA concentrations. This SNP was also associated with levels of eicosadienoic acid (EDA; p = 6.78×10−9) and eicosapentanoic acid (EPA; p = 1.07×10−14). Participants carrying the allele associated with higher AA, EDA, and EPA also had higher low-density lipoprotein (LDL-C) and total cholesterol levels. Outside the FADS gene cluster, the strongest region of association mapped to chromosome 6 in the region encoding an elongase of very long fatty acids 2 (ELOVL2). In this region, association was observed with EPA (rs953413; p = 1.1×10−6). The effects of rs174537 were confirmed in an independent sample of 1,076 subjects participating in the GOLDN study. The ELOVL2 SNP was associated with docosapentanoic and DHA but not with EPA in GOLDN. These findings show that polymorphisms of genes encoding enzymes in the metabolism of PUFA contribute to plasma concentrations of fatty acids

New Physics at the LHC. A Les Houches Report: Physics at TeV Colliders 2009 - New Physics Working Group

We present a collection of signatures for physics beyond the standard model that need to be explored at the LHC. First, are presented various tools developed to measure new particle masses in scenarios where all decays include an unobservable particle. Second, various aspects of supersymmetric models are discussed. Third, some signatures of models of strong electroweak symmetry are discussed. In the fourth part, a special attention is devoted to high mass resonances, as the ones appearing in models with warped extra dimensions. Finally, prospects for models with a hidden sector/valley are presented. Our report, which includes brief experimental and theoretical reviews as well as original results, summarizes the activities of the "New Physics" working group for the "Physics at TeV Colliders" workshop (Les Houches, France, 8-26 June, 2009)

A Systems Genetics Approach Implicates USF1, FADS3, and Other Causal Candidate Genes for Familial Combined Hyperlipidemia

We hypothesized that a common SNP in the 3' untranslated region of the upstream transcription factor 1 (USF1), rs3737787, may affect lipid traits by influencing gene expression levels, and we investigated this possibility utilizing the Mexican population, which has a high predisposition to dyslipidemia. We first associated rs3737787 genotypes in Mexican Familial Combined Hyperlipidemia (FCHL) case/control fat biopsies, with global expression patterns. To identify sets of co-expressed genes co-regulated by similar factors such as transcription factors, genetic variants, or environmental effects, we utilized weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA). Through WGCNA in the Mexican FCHL fat biopsies we identified two significant Triglyceride (TG)-associated co-expression modules. One of these modules was also associated with FCHL, the other FCHL component traits, and rs3737787 genotypes. This USF1-regulated FCHL-associated (URFA) module was enriched for genes involved in lipid metabolic processes. Using systems genetics procedures we identified 18 causal candidate genes in the URFA module. The FCHL causal candidate gene fatty acid desaturase 3 (FADS3) was associated with TGs in a recent Caucasian genome-wide significant association study and we replicated this association in Mexican FCHL families. Based on a USF1-regulated FCHL-associated co-expression module and SNP rs3737787, we identify a set of causal candidate genes for FCHL-related traits. We then provide evidence from two independent datasets supporting FADS3 as a causal gene for FCHL and elevated TGs in Mexicans