Embryo transfer results in endangered cow breeds in Latvia

Since 2017 multiple ovulation (MO) and embryo transfer (ET) were used to save endangered cow breeds in Latvia. The aim of this work was to analyse results to establish factors influenced recipients’ pregnancy obtained up to now. Recipients age, induced (IRC) or native reproductive cycle (NRC), level of estradiol (E2) and progesterone (P4) in recipients’ blood on ET day, stage and quality of embryo, fresh or thawed embryo usage and person provided ET were taken into account. Repeated artificial insemination (AI) had been provided in 19 (22.1%) recipients before ET. Pregnancy was accepted in 23 out of 76 recipients (30.3%) until now. Higher pregnancy results were obtained using fresh embryos (19 out of 53 (35.8%)) vs thawed embryos (4 out of 23 (17.4%)), (P < 0.05). The IRC was more productive than NRC (P < 0.05). The development stage, quality of embryos, E2 level were significant factors to reach pregnancy (P < 0.05) but recipients age, P4 level and person provided ET did not influence the pregnancy rate in the present study (P > 0.05). More successful pregnancies were reached using embryos obtained from donors which had a higher glucose and cholesterol level in blood (P = 0.05). In conclusion, our newly educated MOET team should gain their experience and results could be improved using IRC in recipients, fresh embryos, and more attention could be paid to the donorcows management in order to reach more qualitative embryos. Somatic cell count in the donors’ milk could be one of the indicator to avoid unsuccessful embryo obtaining

Alliance persistence, military security, and the 2016 Brexit referendum : the case of Estonia and the United Kingdom

Published online: 21 March 2019Driedger assesses the development of military and security ties between Estonia and the United Kingdom between 2014 and 2018. Focusing on the 2016 Brexit referendum, he shows that, in contrast to previous assessments, these ties strengthened after the referendum. Driedger argues that this development is largely shaped by perceptions of increasing mutual alignment utility. He develops a new theoretical framework of security alignment strength and uses structured and focused comparison on a wide array of British, Estonian, and Russian sources, including interviews with defence officials and an analysis of key policy documents. As the case of Estonia resembles others in the region, this study yields crucial insights for assessing North-East European security, developing alliance theory and informing policy-making towards Russia in a time of populist crises