Plasma Concentrations of Testosterone, Luteinizing Hormone, and Estrone Sulfate in Stallions Following Hemicastration

Hemicastration is a veterinary surgical procedure in stallions and may be needed for removal of a diseased testicle. The effects of hemicastration on the neuroendocrine system and the hormonal response of the remaining testicle are unclear. In this study, blood plasma concentrations of testosterone, luteinizing hormone, and estrone sulfate were assessed following hemicastration. Miniature stallions (n=8) were used in this study and blood was drawn 7 d prior to hemicastration, and 12 h, 48 h, 14 d, 30 d, and 90 d post hemicastration. Blood samples from all stallions were drawn every 15 min (0, 15, 30, 45, 60 min) for 1 h each sampling period. Plasma was analyzed by RIA for concentrations of testosterone, luteinizing hormone, and estrone sulfate. Compared to pre-surgerical concentrations, plasma luteinizing hormone at 12 h, 48 h, 14 d and 60 d were greater (P < 0.05). Compared to 12 h, plasma testosterone values at 48 h, 14 d, and 60 d were higher (P < 0.05). Compared to pre-hemicastration values, plasma concentrations of estrone sulfate were lower (P < 0.05) at all time periods, but tended to increase up to 60 d. After 30 d, stallions were housed together rather than individually creating a harem group. Luteinizing hormone and testosterone values increased dramatically compared to previous time periods following the housing modification. These results provide insight to better understand the hormonal profiles and compensatory response of the remaining testicle following hemicastration

Effect of Sarsaponin on Rumen Fermentation and Production of Lactating Dairy Cows

Dairy Scienc

Habitat Correlates of Jaguar Kill-Sites of Cattle in Northeastern Sonora, Mexico

Predation on cattle by the endangered jaguar (Panthera onca) can be a serious ecological and economic conflict. We investigated habitat characteristics of kill sites of cattle in Sonora, Mexico, from 1999 to 2004 to see whether habitat management or cattle distribution could be used as effective nonlethal methods to limit predation. Kill-sites were positively associated with oak, semitropical thornscrub, and xeric thornscrub vegetation types, whereas they were negatively associated with upland mesquite. Sites of cattle kills were also positively associated with proximity to permanent water sources and roads. A model including these relationships fi t kill locations well (AUC = 0.933) and correctly classified 93% of all kill-site locations. Because kill-sites were associated with specific habitat attributes, management practices that alter cattle distribution, such as placement of permanent water sources in uplands, herding, and fencing riparian areas characterized by frequent depredations, can be used to minimize co-occurrence of jaguars and cattle and, thus, potentially limit predation without illegal killing of jaguars. These practices could also lead to more uniform use of pastures and, consequently, higher stocking rates, resulting in increased profitability to landowners. Managing habitat attributes that predispose cattle to predation may provide a viable alternative for maintaining both livestock enterprises and a large endangered carnivore in areas of conflict

Effective Description of the Quantum Damped Harmonic Oscillator: Revisiting the Bateman Dual System

In this work, we present a quantization scheme for the damped harmonic oscillator (QDHO) using a framework known as momentous quantum mechanics. Our method relies on a semiclassical dynamical system derived from an extended classical Hamiltonian, where the phase-space variables are given by expectation values of observables and quantum dispersions. The significance of our study lies in its potential to serve as a foundational basis for the effective description of open quantum systems (OQS), and the description of dissipation in quantum mechanics. By employing the Bateman's dual model as the initial classical framework, and undergoing quantization, we demonstrate that our description aligns exceptionally well with the well-established Lindblad master equation. Furthermore, our approach exhibits robustness and broad applicability in the context of OQS, rendering it a versatile and powerful tool for studying various phenomena. We intend to contribute to the advancement of quantum physics by providing an effective means of quantizing the damped harmonic oscillator and shedding light on the behavior of open quantum systems.Comment: 18 pages, 3 figure

Generación de un grafo de conocimiento de periódicos antiguos del Ecuador a través de procesos OCR.

La historia nos revela la existencia de una multitud de eventos que se desarrollan en el mundo día a día, dejando una huella en el tiempo. Antiguamente, la transmisión de ese conocimiento se realizaba de manera oral y se mantenía vivo a través de generaciones. No obstante, el avance de la tecnología ha revolucionado la forma en que accedemos a la información y nos ha permitido explorar registros históricos en una escala sin precedentes. En este contexto, surge un desafío, gran parte de esa información yace dormida en periódicos antiguos, los cuales se encuentran en un estado de deterioro y son difíciles de tratar. Estos periódicos contienen relatos de eventos de la historia del Ecuador en los siglos XIX y XX, pero acceder a esa información de manera rápida y eficiente es un desafío. Para abordar este problema, en este trabajo de titulación, se propone una solución basada en la digitalización de texto, el procesamiento texto y las tecnologías de la web semántica. El objetivo principal es extraer la información de los periódicos antiguos, organizarla de manera estructurada y generar un grafo de conocimiento que represente los eventos ocurridos en Ecuador durante ese período histórico. La solución propuesta implica la automatización de cada uno de los pasos del proceso. Para lograrlo, se han construido varios widgets en Orange, que permite realizar tareas específicas en cada etapa del proceso. Estos widgets trabajan en conjunto para extraer la información, identificar entidades y relaciones, obtener Word Embendings y generar un grafo de conocimiento.History reveals to us the existence of a multitude of events that unfold in the world day by day, leaving a footprint in time. In the past, the transmission of this knowledge was done orally and kept alive through generations. However, the advancement of technology has revolutionized the way we access information and has allowed us to explore historical records on an unprecedented scale. In this context, a challenge arises: a large portion of this valuable information lies dormant in old newspapers, which are in a state of deterioration and are difficult to handle. These newspapers contain detailed accounts of events that marked Ecuador’s history in the 19th and 20th centuries, but accessing that information quickly and efficiently has become a challenge. To address this problem, this thesis proposes a solution based on text digitization, text processing, and semantic web technologies. The main objective is to extract information from old newspapers, organize it in a structured manner, and generate a knowledge graph that represents the events that occurred in Ecuador during that historical period. As part of this solution, a prototype search engine has also been developed that utilizes the generated knowledge graph. This search engine is one of the many ways to exploit the graph and allows users to make specific queries and searches related to historical events, people, places, and topics in the context of old newspapers. The proposed solution involves the automation of each step of the process. To achieve this, several widgets have been built in Orange, a visual data analysis platform, that allows for specific tasks to be performed at each stage of the process. These widgets include text digitization tools, text processing techniques, and semantic web algorithms that work together to extract relevant information, identify entities and relationships, obtain Word Embeddings, and generate a knowledge graph enriched with historical events.0000-0002-2438-922

Animal behavior informed by history: Was the Asiatic cheetah an obligate gazelle hunter?

Understanding key ecological adaptations, such as foraging, when a predator is almost extinct is complex. Nonetheless, that information is vital for the recovery of the persisting individuals. Therefore, reviewing historical, ethnobiological and recent records can assist in exploring the species behavioral ecology. We applied this approach to Asiatic cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus venaticus), which once roamed most west and central Asian countries but now is confined to a few dozens in Iran, at historical (pre-1970) and recent (post-1970) scales. We addressed a widely popular perception that Asiatic cheetahs were subjected to prey shifts from gazelles (Gazella spp.) in open plains areas to urial (Ovis vignei) in mountains because of gazelle populations declines due to anthropogenic influences. We also quantified recent prey choice of Asiatic cheetahs and their behavioral plasticity in foraging different prey species types. Although ethnobiological and historical records suggested that gazelle species were the main prey for cheetahs across their Asian range. However, urial were also commonly reported to be hunted by cheetahs across their historical Asian range, showing that the predation on mountain ungulates is not an emerging hunting behavior in Asiatic cheetahs. We found spatiotemporal plasticity in recent hunting behavior of cheetahs with selective predation on adult urial males. There was temporal overlap in hunting times for plains dwelling versus mountain ungulates, albeit with some minor differences with morning mostly for gazelles while the predation on mountain ungulates was predominantly post-midday. We provided three management implications for the recovery and restoration of cheetahs in Asia. Our work highlighted the importance of historical studies in informing the behavioral ecology of rare species

Physicochemical composition and microbiological quality of goat milk produced in Santiago del Estero Province (Argentine)

The largest caprine milk shed of Argentina is located in Santiago del Estero province, but little information is available about the quality of the milk produced there. The present study consisted of two phases and had the objective of analyzing the physical-chemical composition and microbiological quality of the goat’s milk of this milk shed. In the first phase, milk from 30 small producer operations without defined animal breeds were analyzed with the following mean results: fat, 5.37%; protein, 3.39%; lactose, 4.32%; solids/not/fat (SNF), 8.30%; total solids (TS) 13.66%; acid degree value, 17.61ºD; pH, 6.76; density, 1.031 g/mL; total aerobic mesophiles, 4.96 log cfu/mL and proportion of samples positive for fecal coliforms, 72%. The second phase of the study involved three goat farms with different breeds and production levels exceeding the average of the zone. The milk from these farms did not differ much from the physical-chemical composition cited above, but two of them (T2 and T3) had outstanding contents of fat (5.59 and 5.52%) and TS (14.13 and 13.84%), resulting from their use of the Anglo Nubian breed and feeding based on grazing of natural pastures and supplementation with cereals. The farm T1, that employs the Saanen breed, had the highest mean milk production (1.44 kg/day) and the lowest acid degree value (16.49ºD), resulting from better management of the operation and more efficient cooling of the milk after milking. It is concluded that, eventhough better hygienic/sanitary management of the crude milk is needed, milk from this milk shed is well suited for cheese making

Self perception of body attractiveness in two cultures: Mexican and Argentine

In order to describe the level of physical attractiveness that mexican and argentine consider having, we worked with an intentional non-probabilistic sample composed of 272 university students shared equally by nationality and gender from the cities of Toluca (Mexico) and Mendoza (Argentina). The instrument used was physical attractiveness assessment, which evaluates the attractiveness of the visible body parts from 0 to 100%. The research findings by nationality show that mexican people value more their body parts compared with argentinean. Sex differences indicate that mexican men tend to consider more attractive their body parts than mexican women. However, argentinean people show no difference in the number of body parts evaluated as attractive. In both nationalities, there is a tendency to put a higher value on body parts considered masculine by men and feminine by women. In general, it appears that the body is and will remain an important mean of expression and the value that it is given will establish the degree of security that people has to relate to their particular psychological, sociological and cultural context

Rutile from Cordón Centenario, Southern Puna, Salta: mineralogy and origin

El hallazgo de rutilo niobífero en el Cordón Centenario, Puna Austral, permitió estudiar sus características mineralógicas y discutir su origen. El rutilo se halla incluido en un único bloque de cuarzo con escaso transporte aluvial. Los cristales (rutilo I) miden entre 0,5 y 3 cm, son negros con brillo metálico, manifiestan hábito prismático con caras estriadas, algunos maclados en “rodilla o codo”. Son características las inclusiones de menos de 1 mm de agregados pseudomórficos de rutilo II-chamosita-cuarzo-sericita-illita-leucoxeno- hematita-dolomita que representarían el reemplazo de cristales idiomorfos más tempranos de ilmenita I (niobífera) + biotita. El rutilo I muestra una intrincada zonación en dominios acuñados y exsoluciones micrométricas de ilmenita II en intercrecimiento tipo widmanstätten; vía microfracturas, se halla parcialmente reemplazado por una generación tardía de ilmenita III. Los elementos Nb-Fe-V-Ta-W-Hf reemplazan diferencialmente al Ti generando zonas más claras en imágenes de electrones retrodispersados. Los contenidos de Nb2O5 alcanzan ~ 3 % en peso. Durante el estadio de reemplazo hidrotermal de las inclusiones de ilmenita I-biotita, los óxidos de titanio secundarios (leucoxeno) se habrían enriquecido en Nb (hasta 9,8 % en peso Nb2O5), Fe y V, bajo condiciones de mayor fugacidad de O2. Tres posibilidades genéticas fueron evaluadas a partir del contexto geológico aflorante: 1- metamórfica (segregación), 2- pegmatítica, o 3- hidrotermal. La asociación mineral primaria, textura y composición química favorecen un origen hidrotermal (vena mineralizada), aunque la mineraloquímica también podría representar otros orígenes. Cualquiera fuera el origen del rutilo, su potencial hallazgo in situ abriría nuevas posibilidades de estudio en el basamento de la Puna Austral.Finding of rutile in Cordón Centenario, Southern Puna, allowed to study its mineralogical features and to discuss its origin. Rutile is included in a solitary-, alluvial, poorly-transported quartz block. Prismatic crystals (rutile I) range in size from 0.5 to 3 cm, are black with metallic luster, most show striated faces and some show “elbow” twinning. Less than 1 mm-sized pseudomorphic aggregates of rutile II-chamosite-quartz-sericite-illite-leucoxene-hematite-dolomite are included in rutile; these represent the replacement of earlier euhedral Nb-bearing ilmenite I + biotite crystals. Rutile I shows an intricate zonation in wedge-shaped domains and micrometric exsolutions of ilmenite II in a widmanstätten type intergrowth; a late-stage generation of ilmenite III partially replaces rutile along microfractures. The elements Nb-Fe-V-Ta-W-Hf, that differentially substitute for Ti, produce lighter zones in backscattered electron images. The Nb2O5 contents are ~ 3 wt%. During the hydrothermal replacement stage of ilmenite I-biotite inclusions, secondary Ti-oxides (leucoxene) would be enriched in Nb (up to 9.8 wt% Nb2O5), Fe and V, under higher O2 fugacity conditions. Three genetic possibilities were evaluated regarding the outcropping geological environment: 1- metamorphic (segregation), 2- pegmatitic, or 3- hydrothermal. The primary mineral assemblage, texture and mineral chemistry favor a hydrothermal origin, though mineral chemistry could also represent other sources. Independently of its origin, the future potential finding of rutile in situ would open new study possibilities within the Southern Puna basement.Fil: Lira, Raul. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Museo de Mineralogía y Geología "Dr. A. Stelzner"; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Biglia, Marco Esteban. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Museo de Mineralogía y Geología "Dr. A. Stelzner"; ArgentinaFil: Guereschi, Alina Beatriz. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Centro de Investigaciones en Ciencias de la Tierra. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Centro de Investigaciones en Ciencias de la Tierra; ArgentinaFil: Bulatovich, Stefani. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Museo de Mineralogía y Geología "Dr. A. Stelzner"; ArgentinaFil: Valdez, Mario Alberto. Mineral Vector Services; Argentin

Phenology, productivity, and chemical characterization of Jatropha curcas L. as tool for selecting non-toxic elite germplasm

A phenological, physical and chemical descriptive study was carried out on six germplasms of Jatropha curcas L. collected from different areas of Mexico. From these six germplasms, elite germplasms that are better adaptable, with high seed, oil and protein yield, and low levels of phorbol esters were identified. The thermal constant (2570 ± 9) and seed weight (0.695 ± 0.065 g) were similar in all the six germplasms. The average plant height was 1.47 ± 0.25 m after one year of evaluation. Variation in the number of inflorescences (0 to 22) and seed yield (27.35 ± 22.65 g) per plant, and fruit per cluster (2.9 ± 2.2) was considerable. Kernel oil and crude protein contents were 57 ± 3% and 26 ± 2%, respectively. Germplasms India and Isla (Veracruz) had the highest levels of phorbol esters (5.982 and 2.070 mg·g-1, respectively). The reproductive stage and phorbol esters content were critical in selecting elite germplasms. Based on our results, we were able to select three elite germplasms.Key words: Jatropha curcas, elite germplasm, accumulated degree days (ADD), yield, oil, protein, phorbol esters