Transfer of aflatoxin from feed to milk and curd in Sarda ewes with different milk production level

Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) is a toxin produced by some strains of Aspergillus growing in feedstuffs. Dairy animals fed with diet containing AFB1 excrete aflatoxin M1 (AFM1) into the milk. The carry over ratio (AFM1 excreted in milk/ AFB1 ingested) has been found lower in sheep (Battacone et al., 2002a) than in cattle (Veldman et al., 1992). Being AFM1 linked to milk proteins, its concentration in curd is higher than in milk. The AFM1 concentration in milk resulted not influenced by milk production level in cattle, therefore the total amount of AFM1 excreted in milk and, consequently, the carry-over ratio increased with milk yield (Munksgaard et al., 1987; Veldman et al., 1992). A previous study carried out on isoproductive dairy ewes showed an increase of the AFM1 concentration both in milk and in curd as the amount of AFB1 ingested increased (Battacone et al., 2002b). Aim of the present work is to study the influence of AFB1 dose and milk production level on the transfer of AFB1 from feeds to milk and curd as AFM1 in dairy ewes

Comparison of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) content in milk of ewes and goats with the same dietary regimen

Milk fat is an important source of potential anticarcinogens named conjugated linoleic acid (CLA). The c9, t11-CLA is the major isomer and it is produced by ruminal hydrogenation of linoleic acid that leads first to vaccenic (11t-18:1) and finally to stearic acid (18:0). An alternative CLA pathway is related to the action of the mammary Δ9-desaturase enzyme on 11t-18:1. Diet is considered the main factor that influence the CLA concentration in milk fat. Differences in CLA content of sheep (Antongiovanni et al., 2002) and goats milk (Nudda et al., 2002) have been hypothesized, but results are difficult to compare due to different experimental condition in which the trials are carried out. The aim of this work is to compare the composition of milk fatty acids and CLA content in goats and sheep maintained in the same environmental condition and dietary regimen

Genetic diversity of Sardinian goat population based on microsatellites

During the last century, the selection for production traits of the main livestock species has led to a reduction in number of local populations with consequent loss of genetic variability. In Sardinia, the genetic improvement strategy has been based on selection for the local pure breed in sheep, whereas in the other species (cattle, swine and goat), an often unplanned crossbreeding with improved breeds has been applied. In this context, several studies on genetic diversity of these populations have been started with the final aim of recovering the autochthonous genetic types. The global approach involves different steps: - characterization of the farming system and typical products; - morphological and productive evaluation of the animals; - genetic characterization of the populations through molecular DNA analyses (microsatellites, AFLP, mitochondrial DNA, etc.); - creation of nucleus flocks in public farms and germoplasm banks; - organization of herd-books involving farmers interested in the safeguard of local breeds and valorisation of traditional products. A far as the goat population is concerned, Sardinia is the Italian region with the largest goat stock, (209.000 heads, about 23% of the total national stock). Farms are located in mountains, low hills and even plans (Macciotta et al., 2002) resulting in a quite large variability (Brandano and Piras, 1978) in terms of feeding and management techniques; but extensive and semi extensive systems in marginal areas prevail (Carta et al., 2001; Usai et al., 2004). The current population has been constituted by crossbreeding the autochthonous animals with other improved Mediterranean breeds,mainly Maltese goat. The aim of this paper is to study the genetic variability of this population through the analysis of 17 microsatellite markers

Using LASSO to estimate marker effects for genomic selection

Here we suggest a least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) approach to estimate the marker effects for genomic selection using the least angle regression (LARS) algorithm, modified to include a cross–validation step to define the best subset of markers to involve in the model. The LASSO-LARS was tested on simulated data which consisted of 5,865 individuals and 6,000 SNPs. The last generations of this dataset were the selection candidates. Using only animals from generations prior to the candidates, three approaches to splitting the population into training and validation sets for cross-validation were evaluated. Furthermore, different sizes of the validation sample were tested. Moreover, BLUP and Bayesian methods were carried out for comparison. The most reliable cross-validation method was the random splitting of overall population with a validation sample size of 50% of the reference population. The accuracy of the GEBVs (correlation with true breeding values) in the candidate population obtained by LASSO-LARS was 0.89 with 156 explanatory SNPs. This value was higher then those obtained by using BLUP and Bayesian methods, which were 0.75 and 0.84 respectively. It was concluded that LASSO-LARS approach is a good alternative way to estimate markers effects for genomic selection

One polymorphism at the Stearoyl CoA Desaturase (SCD) gene is associated to CLA content of sheep milk fat

On OAR 22 a highly significant QTL affecting the rate of desaturation of vaccenic acid (VA) to conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) in the mammary gland of sheep was found segregating on four dairy sheep families of a Sardinian x Lacaune back-cross population. The most likely location of the QTL was 35 cM corresponding to Stearoyl CoA Desaturase (SCD) gene location on the Australian Sheep Gene Map. The aim of this work was finding mutations along the SCD gene associated with the CLA/VA variability in sheep milk. The sequencing of a large part of the gene in the four informative sires allowed identifying one SNP in intron 4 (3295 C>T relative to Capra hircus SCD gene, GenBank Acc. no. AH011188). The sequencing of high and low phenotypic tails’ progeny from the most significant family showed a strong association of the found mutation with the CLA/VA variability

How future surgery will benefit from SARS-COV-2-related measures: a SPIGC survey conveying the perspective of Italian surgeons

COVID-19 negatively affected surgical activity, but the potential benefits resulting from adopted measures remain unclear. The aim of this study was to evaluate the change in surgical activity and potential benefit from COVID-19 measures in perspective of Italian surgeons on behalf of SPIGC. A nationwide online survey on surgical practice before, during, and after COVID-19 pandemic was conducted in March-April 2022 (NCT:05323851). Effects of COVID-19 hospital-related measures on surgical patients' management and personal professional development across surgical specialties were explored. Data on demographics, pre-operative/peri-operative/post-operative management, and professional development were collected. Outcomes were matched with the corresponding volume. Four hundred and seventy-three respondents were included in final analysis across 14 surgical specialties. Since SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, application of telematic consultations (4.1% vs. 21.6%; p < 0.0001) and diagnostic evaluations (16.4% vs. 42.2%; p < 0.0001) increased. Elective surgical activities significantly reduced and surgeons opted more frequently for conservative management with a possible indication for elective (26.3% vs. 35.7%; p < 0.0001) or urgent (20.4% vs. 38.5%; p < 0.0001) surgery. All new COVID-related measures are perceived to be maintained in the future. Surgeons' personal education online increased from 12.6% (pre-COVID) to 86.6% (post-COVID; p < 0.0001). Online educational activities are considered a beneficial effect from COVID pandemic (56.4%). COVID-19 had a great impact on surgical specialties, with significant reduction of operation volume. However, some forced changes turned out to be benefits. Isolation measures pushed the use of telemedicine and telemetric devices for outpatient practice and favored communication for educational purposes and surgeon-patient/family communication. From the Italian surgeons' perspective, COVID-related measures will continue to influence future surgical clinical practice

Differential cross section measurements for the production of a W boson in association with jets in proton–proton collisions at √s = 7 TeV

Measurements are reported of differential cross sections for the production of a W boson, which decays into a muon and a neutrino, in association with jets, as a function of several variables, including the transverse momenta (pT) and pseudorapidities of the four leading jets, the scalar sum of jet transverse momenta (HT), and the difference in azimuthal angle between the directions of each jet and the muon. The data sample of pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV was collected with the CMS detector at the LHC and corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 5.0 fb[superscript −1]. The measured cross sections are compared to predictions from Monte Carlo generators, MadGraph + pythia and sherpa, and to next-to-leading-order calculations from BlackHat + sherpa. The differential cross sections are found to be in agreement with the predictions, apart from the pT distributions of the leading jets at high pT values, the distributions of the HT at high-HT and low jet multiplicity, and the distribution of the difference in azimuthal angle between the leading jet and the muon at low values.United States. Dept. of EnergyNational Science Foundation (U.S.)Alfred P. Sloan Foundatio

Impacts of the Tropical Pacific/Indian Oceans on the Seasonal Cycle of the West African Monsoon

The current consensus is that drought has developed in the Sahel during the second half of the twentieth century as a result of remote effects of oceanic anomalies amplified by local land–atmosphere interactions. This paper focuses on the impacts of oceanic anomalies upon West African climate and specifically aims to identify those from SST anomalies in the Pacific/Indian Oceans during spring and summer seasons, when they were significant. Idealized sensitivity experiments are performed with four atmospheric general circulation models (AGCMs). The prescribed SST patterns used in the AGCMs are based on the leading mode of covariability between SST anomalies over the Pacific/Indian Oceans and summer rainfall over West Africa. The results show that such oceanic anomalies in the Pacific/Indian Ocean lead to a northward shift of an anomalous dry belt from the Gulf of Guinea to the Sahel as the season advances. In the Sahel, the magnitude of rainfall anomalies is comparable to that obtained by other authors using SST anomalies confined to the proximity of the Atlantic Ocean. The mechanism connecting the Pacific/Indian SST anomalies with West African rainfall has a strong seasonal cycle. In spring (May and June), anomalous subsidence develops over both the Maritime Continent and the equatorial Atlantic in response to the enhanced equatorial heating. Precipitation increases over continental West Africa in association with stronger zonal convergence of moisture. In addition, precipitation decreases over the Gulf of Guinea. During the monsoon peak (July and August), the SST anomalies move westward over the equatorial Pacific and the two regions where subsidence occurred earlier in the seasons merge over West Africa. The monsoon weakens and rainfall decreases over the Sahel, especially in August.Peer reviewe

Juxtaposing BTE and ATE – on the role of the European insurance industry in funding civil litigation

One of the ways in which legal services are financed, and indeed shaped, is through private insurance arrangement. Two contrasting types of legal expenses insurance contracts (LEI) seem to dominate in Europe: before the event (BTE) and after the event (ATE) legal expenses insurance. Notwithstanding institutional differences between different legal systems, BTE and ATE insurance arrangements may be instrumental if government policy is geared towards strengthening a market-oriented system of financing access to justice for individuals and business. At the same time, emphasizing the role of a private industry as a keeper of the gates to justice raises issues of accountability and transparency, not readily reconcilable with demands of competition. Moreover, multiple actors (clients, lawyers, courts, insurers) are involved, causing behavioural dynamics which are not easily predicted or influenced. Against this background, this paper looks into BTE and ATE arrangements by analysing the particularities of BTE and ATE arrangements currently available in some European jurisdictions and by painting a picture of their respective markets and legal contexts. This allows for some reflection on the performance of BTE and ATE providers as both financiers and keepers. Two issues emerge from the analysis that are worthy of some further reflection. Firstly, there is the problematic long-term sustainability of some ATE products. Secondly, the challenges faced by policymakers that would like to nudge consumers into voluntarily taking out BTE LEI

Penilaian Kinerja Keuangan Koperasi di Kabupaten Pelalawan

This paper describe development and financial performance of cooperative in District Pelalawan among 2007 - 2008. Studies on primary and secondary cooperative in 12 sub-districts. Method in this stady use performance measuring of productivity, efficiency, growth, liquidity, and solvability of cooperative. Productivity of cooperative in Pelalawan was highly but efficiency still low. Profit and income were highly, even liquidity of cooperative very high, and solvability was good