Dietary supplementation with n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids: Effects on reproductive and productive performance and meat quality in rabbit breeding

Rabbit breeding has many critical aspects related to reproduction, production, and animal welfare, which reduce its profitability as well as consumer attractiveness. Dietary supplementation with n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) seems to be a good nutritional strategy to improve several aspects of rabbit breeding, enhance animal welfare and produce a new functional food considered healthy for human consumption. For this reason, the main available scientific research regarding the physiological effects of n-3 PUFA rich products supplemented to the rabbit diet will be reviewed. In particular, consequences on the reproductive performances of both doe and buck, the productive parameters, and the meat quality will be analysed

Flow Cytometric Characterization of S-phase Fraction and Ploidy in Lymph Node Aspirates from Dogs with Lymphoma

Canine lymphoma is a multifaceted disease encompassing numerous entities with different prognosis. Objective assessment of the proliferation rate is of importance from the pathological and clinical perspectives. Different methods have been described in the literature to assess proliferation rate, including evaluation of Ki67 expression in fresh lymph node (LN) aspirates measured by flow cytometry (FC). This test has a high accuracy in discriminating between low- and high-grade lymphomas, and provides prognostic information among highgrade B-cell lymphomas. DNA content analysis is less expensive and suitable for well-preserved samples. We describe DNA-content analysis using LN aspirates from 112 dogs with lymphoma. S-phase fraction (SPF) accurately discriminated between low- and high-grade lymphomas, with 3.15% being the best discriminating cut-off value. SPF values strongly correlated with Ki67 expression as assessed by FC. Survival analyses were restricted to 33 dogs with high-grade B-cell lymphoma receiving standardized multi-agent chemotherapy, but no significant result was obtained for SPF. We also describe a subset of aneuploid cases and their respective follow-up. We conclude that DNA content analysis may be combined with morphological examination of LN aspirates to improve the objectivity in lymphoma subtype classification in dogs. Further studies are needed to assess the possible prognostic role of SPF and ploidy status within specific lymphoma subtypes in dogs

PELATIHAN PEMBUATAN GERABAH SEMPE-BALANGA DI NEGERI OUW, KABUPATEN MALUKU TENGAH

Sempe-balanga is a traditional craft that has existed long ago in Ouw and has become a culture in this country.   The pottery craftsmen made many changes so that this pottery became   more and more known.  the lack of interest in women in the country to develop pottery crafts is one of the limiting factors.  The purpose of this training is to increase the interest and participation of women to pursue these skills to make these products a source of family income.  The training method used is collection through interviews, while the craft development strategy is literature study, observation, and interview. The results of the training showed that many women in this country were interested in learning the culture of sempe-belanga, porna and kenda/plat, and tajela.  In addition, there are variations of pottery craft products such as flower pots, wall hangings, angglong, and so on, also given during the trainin

Technical-economic feasibility of a small scale plant for olive by-products direct combustion

All agricultural activity and related land use lead directly to other non-agricultural functions ranging over social, environmental, economic and cultural goods and services. Following a positive approach to the "multifunctional character" of agriculture one of the emerging and central elements is the production of energy. In the last decade there has been a renewed interest toward the use of biomass for energy production, both at the political and user level, in developed as well as in developing and transition countries. The present work investigates the potential economic and technical impact of a biomass supply chain in Albania, a country that in the past decade suffered of energy shocks that have negatively affected production activities and increased the dependency on foreign energy sources. In this framework Albanian energy production is not diversified and it is guaranteed for the most by oil, hydroelectric energy and natural gas. Despite the fact that in the country just a few experiences exist related to renewable energies, they represent a strategic sector. More in particular this paper represents the first phase of a work aimed to analyse the economic and technical feasibility of the realization of a small scale pilot plant for the direct combustion of biomass made up by agricultural by-products such as olive marc (olives and olive oil are traditional Albanian productions). Besides this approach also intends to offer a contribution in developing a sustainable, adaptable (referring to the regional peculiarities) and hence, replicable model. The expected final results of this work include the analysis and characterization of olive by-products; the estimation of the quantity and the potential of biomass as an energy resource, both in their economic and energetic aspects; and the evaluation of the socio-economic impact of the creation of a biomass supply chain on local communities. The present paper aims to illustrate the preliminary results of the research

Identification of a suitable internal control for fluorescence analysis on canine peripheral blood samples

Reliable detection of fluorescence intensity (FI) by flow cytometry (FC) is fundamental. FI depends on instrument settings and sample processing procedures: thus, measurements should be done using internal controls with known FI. Commercially available beads-based standards are expensive, thus reducing their usability in the veterinary practice. Cell subsets with stable mean FI (MFI) within the population have been proposed as acceptable surrogates in human medicine. In veterinary medicine, no data exist about stability of antigen expression among different subjects or upon sample storage. The aim of the present study was to evaluate MFI variability of main lymphocytes antigens among the lymphoid cells within each subject, among different subjects, and upon 24-h storage, in order to identify the antigen most suitable as stable internal control in MFI analyses.Peripheral blood samples from 18 healthy dogs were analysed by FC within 3 h from sampling to assess the expression of CD3, CD5, CD4, CD8, CD21 and cyCD79b using conjugated monoclonal antibodies. Analyses were restricted to the lymphoid population. Fluorescent microbeads were added to each tube, and antigen MFI was calculated as Relative Fluorescence Intensity RFI (CD/beads). Fluorescence histogram CV (fhCV) for each CD was regarded as an index of the variability of expression among lymphocytes within each subject (cell-to-cell variability); whereas the CV of RFI was regarded as an index of inter-subjects variability (dog-to-dog variability). In 11 cases, FC analyses were repeated after 24 h storage at 4 \ub0C and RFI and CVs of fresh and stored samples were compared to assess variability linked to storage. CD4 was identified as the best antigen to be used as an internal control for MFI analyses in canine peripheral blood samples because of low cell-to-cell and dog-to-dog variability, and optimal stability upon 24-h storage. Blood samples from a second group of 21 healthy dogs were labelled only with CD4, in order to assess the influence of breed, sex and age on the expression of CD4 in a larger case series. Based on univariate GLMs, none of these variables influenced CD4 RFI.Normalizing fluorescence data using lymphoid CD4 MFI as a reference would improve the comparison of results obtained by different laboratories, patients or times in diagnostic and research analyses of FI. Further studies are needed to confirm our results with different FC approaches

Ligand-functionalized Pt nanoparticles as asymmetric heterogeneous catalysts: Molecular reaction control by ligand-reactant interactions

The asymmetric hydrogenation of β-keto esters over platinum nanoparticles (NPs) functionalized with different α-amino acids was explored. By systematic variation of the structural complexity of the functionalizing ligands, we determined structure-selectivity relationships and further improved our understanding of ligand-reactant interactions. We identified attractive interactions between the lipophilic substituents of ligands and reactants as one of the major contributing factors governing the mutual orientation of ligands and reactants and, thus, the stereoselectivity of the catalytic reaction. For the first time, an enantiomeric excess (ee) above 80% is reported for supported ligand-functionalized NPs, which demonstrates the potential of these materials as a novel type of asymmetric heterogeneous catalyst. Our results reveal that the molecular principles employed in homogeneous catalysis can be utilized to achieve stereoselective catalytic reactions even on rather non-uniform surfaces like small NPs. This opens up yet unexplored possibilities for manipulating reactions on catalytic surfaces to control selectivity