Hay preferences in horses versus selection by their owners

The objective of the present study was to evaluate the differences in the selection behaviour by horses and by their owners given a choice of three hay types differing in chemical and nutritional composition. Horse groups included 12 French mountain (FM) stallions, 12 Icelandic (IS) and 12 warmblood horses (WB), with the latter groups consisting of mares and geldings. Hays were offered in a free choice experiment over a period of six consecutive days (baseline choice on day 1, adaption period from day 2-5 and a final preference test on day 6). Additionally, the owners of the horses selected among the three hay types, the one which they assumed would best meet their horse’s assumed nutritional requirements. Hay types (A, B and C) showed distinct characteristics based on colour, texture morphology and odour and nutrient contents. The latter were analysed with near-infrared spectroscopy. Most horses (69%) preferred hay type B and 31% preferred hay type C, while horses completely avoided hay type A. The group of FM horses exclusively preferred hay B on both test days, the groups of IS and WB horses also showed a preference for hay B, but less pronounced than FM horses choosing both between hay B and C, respectively. Horses did not choose randomly among the hays offered (P < 0.05). In addition, the horses hay preference was influenced by their group assignment (P < 0.05) which, however, cannot be generalized to breed or gender (mares, stallions or geldings). The content of crude protein (r=0.68), and leaves (r=0.48) of the hay was positively correlated with the preference of the horses for that particular hay type, although correlations were moderate. Among the owners, 42% chose hay type A, which was completely avoided by the horses, while approximately 30 % of the owners chose either hay type B or C, which were richer in energy and protein as the best hay quality for their horses assumed nutritional requirements. Therefore, no significant correlation could be observed between the choice preference of the horses and the selection by the owners. The distinct preference for energy- and protein-rich hay of horses underlines the importance for owners to carefully adjust the hay quality to the horse’s activity level and requirements. For horses with lower energy requirements, omission of concentrate feeds, while providing roughage only diets by mixing different hays qualities, appears suitable

Influence de trois différents systèmes de ventilation sur le climat d’écurie

Cette étude visait à comparer la qualité de l’air d’une écurie à boxes intérieurs dans quatre conditions de ventilation différentes: ventilation naturelle (V0), ventilateurs de plafond (V1), ventilateurs axiaux (V2) et ventilation par tube (V3). La température, l’humidité relative, la vitesse de l’air, l’ammoniac (NH³) et le dioxyde de carbone (CO²) ont été relevés à l’intérieur de trois boxes. L’activité des chevaux et du personnel a également été enregistrée. Les résultats ont montré que la température et l’humidité relative ont un effet significatif (p > 0,001) sur le micro-climat. L’évolution des teneurs en CO² a révélé que le cheval est la principale source de ce gaz dans l’écurie et que son activité influence le niveau de ses émissions. Les systèmes V2 et V3 ont permis de réduire significativement le niveau de CO² (ppm; valeur modélisée en tenant compte de l’activité des chevaux) par rapport à V0 (V0 = 867,7; V2 = 511,9; V3 = 595,7). Seul V3 a présenté une différence significative indépendamment de l’activité des chevaux. En revanche, V1 n’a apporté aucune différence significative (V1 = 755,1 ppm; V0 = 867,7 ppm). En raison des températures basses durant l’essai (moyenne < 16 °C) et des faibles valeurs de NH³ mesurées (moyenne = 0,2 ppm), aucune différence n’a été constatée entre les 4 systèmes. Les ventilateurs axiaux et la ventilation par tube permettent donc d’améliorer la qualité du climat d’écurie, même quand la ventilation naturelle est déjà bonne

The MAPT H1 Haplotype Is a Risk Factor for Alzheimer's Disease in APOE E4 Non-carriers

An ancestral inversion of 900 kb on chromosome 17q21, which includes the microtubule-associated protein tau (MAPT) gene, defines two haplotype clades in Caucasians (H1 and H2). The H1 haplotype has been linked inconsistently with AD. In a previous study, we showed that an SNP tagging this haplotype (rs1800547) was associated with AD risk in a large population from the Dementia Genetics Spanish Consortium (DEGESCO) including 4435 cases and 6147 controls. The association was mainly driven by individuals that were non-carriers of the APOE ?4 allele. Our aim was to replicate our previous findings in an independent sample of 4124 AD cases and 3290 controls from Spain (GR@ACE project) and to analyze the effect of the H1 sub-haplotype structure on the risk of AD. The H1 haplotype was associated with AD risk (OR = 1.12; p = 0.0025). Stratification analysis showed that this association was mainly driven by the APOE ?4 non-carriers (OR = 1.15; p = 0.0022). Pooled analysis of both Spanish datasets (n = 17,996) showed that the highest AD risk related to the MAPT H1/H2 haplotype was in those individuals that were the oldest [third tertile (>77 years)] and did not carry APOE ?4 allele (p = 0.001). We did not find a significant association between H1 sub-haplotypes and AD. H1c was nominally associated but lost statistical significance after adjusting by population sub-structure. Our results are consistent with the hypothesis that genetic variants linked to the MAPT H1/H2 are tracking a genuine risk allele for AD. The fact that this association is stronger in APOE ?4 non-carriers partially explains previous controversial results and might be related to a slower alternative causal pathway less dependent on brain amyloid load.ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: The Genome Research at Fundacio ACE/Dementia Genetics Spanish Consortium (GR@ACE/DEGESCO) would like to thank patients and controls who participated in this project. GR@ACE/DEGESCO GWAS program was funded by Grifols SA, Fundacion Bancaria “La Caixa,” and Fundació ACE, Institut Català de Neurociències Aplicades. PS-J and AR have also received support by grant PI16/01861. Accion Estrategica en Salud integrated in the Spanish National ICDCi Plan and financed by Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII) – Subdireccion General de Evaluacion and the Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER – “Una Manera de Hacer Europa”). PS-J was supported by IDIVAL, Instituto de Salud Carlos III [Fondo de Investigacion Sanitario, PI08/0139, PI12/02288, PI16/01652, JPND (DEMTEST PI11/03028)], and the CIBERNED program. We thank Biobanco Valdecilla for their support. LM was supported by Consejería de Salud de la Junta de Andalucía (Grant PI-0001/2017). DEGESCO was also sponsored by the Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red sobre Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas (CIBERNED, Spain). Control samples and data from patients included in this study were provided in part by the National DNA Bank Carlos III (www.bancoadn.org, University of Salamanca, Spain) and Hospital Universitario Virgen de Valme (Sevilla, Spain) and they were processed following standard operating procedures with the appropriate approval of the Ethical and Scientific Committee. The genotyping service to generate GR@ACE/DEGESCO GWAS data was carried out at CEGEN-PRB3-ISCIII; it was supported by grant PT17/0019, of the PE ICDCi 2013–2016, funded by ISCIII and ERDF. GR@ACE/DEGESCO consortia would also like to thank to all researchers contributing to this project

TURBOMOLE: Today and Tomorrow

TURBOMOLE is a highly optimized software suite for large-scale quantum-chemical and materials science simulations of molecules, clusters, extended systems, and periodic solids. TURBOMOLE uses Gaussian basis sets and has been designed with robust and fast quantum-chemical applications in mind, ranging from homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis to inorganic and organic chemistry and various types of spectroscopy, light–matter interactions, and biochemistry. This Perspective briefly surveys TURBOMOLE’s functionality and highlights recent developments that have taken place between 2020 and 2023, comprising new electronic structure methods for molecules and solids, previously unavailable molecular properties, embedding, and molecular dynamics approaches. Select features under development are reviewed to illustrate the continuous growth of the program suite, including nuclear electronic orbital methods, Hartree–Fock-based adiabatic connection models, simplified time-dependent density functional theory, relativistic effects and magnetic properties, and multiscale modeling of optical properties

Adult ADHD: a study on evaluation and treatment pathways in Italian Mental Health Services. A black hole in the National System and the European Health System

Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that often persists into adult-hood. The Italian situation regarding the clinical management of childhood ADHD shows some criticalities, despite the high preva-lence rate: diagnostic assessments are often inaccurate, protocols for transition from childcare services are almost non-existent and theItalian National Registry for ADHD in childhood was drawn up only in 2007, hence the first specialized services were created laterthan the rest of Europe. On the basis of these issues, we investigated the Italian situation with regard to disorders in adulthood, com-paring the different European operational models, assuming that these critical issues are reflected in the clinical management of thedisorder in adulthood. In fact, unlike other European countries, there are no official guidelines governing the clinical management ofthe disorder in adulthood and evidence-based pharmacotherapies, available in most European countries, are off-label or not allowedin Italy. The aim of the study is to evaluate the current state of knowledge and working method in relation to adult ADHD in the Ital-ian background and to identify the main evaluation and treatment pathways in Italian Mental Health Services. The study is also an at-tempt to clarify which services are operational on the Italian territory, with the aim of improving the quality of interventions for theclinical population. Three hundred thirty-eight services have been identified in all Italian Regions and Autonomous Provinces, includ-ing Mental Health Centres (CSM), Pathological Addition Services (SERD), Psychiatric Diagnosis and Treatment Services (SPDC). Anad-hoc survey with closed-ended questions was administered by telephone to each selected centre and the results were compared withthe European literature

Desenhos e vozes no ensino de geografia: a pluralidade das favelas pelos olhares das crianças

A ciência geográfica prioriza como objeto de estudo as relações entre sociedade e natureza. No entanto, é preciso refletir sobre a possibilidade de escuta no ensino da geografia escolar, em diálogo com sua epistemologia. O recorte escolhido para ilustrar a potencialidade dessa perspectiva se deu na busca por compreender a leitura de mundo a partir da favela, considerando-se a pluralidade presente nas produções de sentidos e significados dos sujeitos que a observam. Em tais produções, existem as experiências mediadas e aquelas diretas com as/nas favelas. Quais noções, entretanto, orientam a concepção de favelas construídas pelos alunos? Compreender como os alunos percebem as favelas e criam sentidos e significados ao conceberem suas noções foi uma importante aproximação entre os saberes escolares e não escolares no processo educativo e na aprendizagem espacial. A pesquisa desenvolvida aponta a geografia humanista como uma possibilidade de compreensão do universo investigativo na contemporaneidade, ao permitir deslocar diferentes sentidos - no caso, do espaço urbano e de suas relações com o ensino - para escorar ações de formação de professores. Repensar noções como espaço e lugar propicia a reflexão sobre a apropriação de diferentes sentidos e saberes na escola e fora dela. O espaço urbano está repleto de práticas sociais que revelam diversas temporalidades e experiências espaciais. Pensá-lo no interior da escola significa dar visibilidade aos diferentes sujeitos e às suas territorialidades. Para alcançar esse objetivo, utilizou-se o desenho infantil como um instrumento de interlocução com os sujeitos