MİKRODENETLEYİCİ DESTEKLİ OTOMATİK FOTOĞRAF ÇEKİM ÜNİTESİ TASARIMI

Son yıllarda elektronik ve bilgisayar teknolojisindeki gelişmelere paralel olarak hayatımızın her alanında akıllı cihazların kullanımı da hızla artmaktadır. Özellikle ucuzlayan fiyatları ve performanslı çalışmaları ile bilgisayar yerine, daha kolay ve esnek bir kullanım imkanı sağlayan mikrodenetleyiciler ile bir cihazın kontrol edilmesi daha kolay olmaktadır. Bu çalışmada sütçü sığırların vücut ölçülerinin sayısal görüntü analiz ile tahmin edilebilmesi için bir stüdyo çekim ortamı oluşturularak, fotoğrafları çekilmiştir. Bu ortamda fotoğraf çekim işleminin otomatik yapılması amaçlanmıştır. Bu hedef için fotoğraflarının çekileceği ve ineklerin geçeceği alana, cisimden yansımalı bir sensör yerleştirilmiştir. İneklerin geçişi esnasında, hayvanı gören bu sensör aktif edilerek, tasarlanan bir elektronik donanımsal birim ile Canon EOS 400D kameraların otomatik çalışması sağlanmıştır. Elektronik devrede PIC 16F877 kullanılmış ve geliştirilen yazılım aracılığıyla senkronize bir biçimde fotoğraflar çekilmiştir. Bu sayede herhangi bir insan etkisi olmadan, hayvanlar ile etkileşime geçilmeden ve hayvanlar strese sokulmadan fotoğraflar otomatik olarak çekilerek bilgisayara kaydedilmiştir

Comparison of slaughter and carcass characteristics of Limousin, Charolais, Angus, and Hereford beef cattle in Turkey

The slaughter and carcass features of four breeds named Limousin (LI), Charolais (CH), Angus (AN), and Hereford (HE) were examined. Nine calves from each breed were slaughtered at an average age of 18.5 months. The animals were weighed before slaughter, and the slaughter weights as well as some body measurements of the animals were recorded. The dismemberment of the carcasses was performed after a resting period of 24 h at + 4 °C. The slaughter weights were 581.89, 590.72, 577.67, and 610.89 kg, respectively. Chilled carcass weights were 348.26, 346.91, 327.60, and 338.10 kg, respectively, with no significant differences among breeds. Dressing percentages were 59.89, 58.75, 56.71, and 55.33%, and the valuable meat ratios were 27.89, 27.66, 24.45, and 24.32%, respectively. Carcass bone ratios were 13.89, 14.17, 14.64, and 14.61%, respectively. The longissimus muscle areas (LMA) were 97.46, 102.29, 81.05, and 83.93 cm2, and the subcutaneous fat thickness was 0.38, 0.43, 1.00, and 1.32 cm, respectively. Significant differences were observed among breeds in terms of these characteristics. Carcass weight was highest in LI, and LI and CH breeds had higher carcass yields than the other two breeds. Although HE had the highest slaughter weight, it showed the lowest carcass yield

Enzymatic Markers of Pulmonary Inflammation in Tracheal Wash Fluid in Racehorses: Alkaline Phosphatase and Lactate Dehydrogenase

Background: Diagnosis of the lower airway diseases (LAD) in horses relies on clinical signs, endoscopic examination and cytologic evaluation of lower respiratory tract flushing fluids as well. Specific enzyme activities in respiratory tract fluids of horses could be used as useful indicators in lower airway disorders. The main goal of the study was to evaluate the diagnostic usefulness of alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) enzyme activites in tracheal wash (TW) fluids of horses with lower respiratory tract inflammation and/or damage and also in distinguishing of non-septic and septic inflammation in racehorses with LAD.Materials, Methods & Results: A cross-sectional study was conducted in racehorses. TW fluid samples were obtained from 83 racehorses (71 with lower airway diseases and 12 healthy controls) for the study. The One-Way ANOVA Test was used for the significance analysis of the differences between the groups in showing the normal distribution of blood serum ALP and LDH properties. Kruskal Wallis H Test and Tamhane T2 test were used for the significance analysis of the differences between the groups of tracheal ALP and LDH properties, which were not normally distributed.  The sampled horses were classified into 3 groups as healthy control, non septic neutrophilic inflammation (NS-LAD) and septic neutrophilic inflammation (S-LAD) according to the tracheal mucus scores determined during endoscopic examination, clinical signs, cytologic and bacteriologic examination of collected TW samples. According to cytology results normal neutrophil levels (< 20%) were determined in the heatlhy control group (14.5%). However, increased neutrophil levels (≥ 20% and ≥ 80%) were encountered in the NS-LAD (61.4%) and S-LAD (24.1%) groups respectively. Also, the signs of degenerative changes and presence of intracellular bacteria in the neutrophil cells in the S-LAD group was observed. Bacteriologic analysis of the samples revealed Streptococcus equi subsp. zooepidemicus was the most prevalent agent (85.6%) followed by Escherichia coli (4.8%), Staphylococcus aureus (4.8%) and Klebsiella pneumoniae (4.8%). ALP and LDH enzyme activities of TW fluid were found to be significantly higher in racehorses with LAD compared with healthy controls (P < 0.01). On the other hand, a significant difference was also determined for LDH levels between NS-LAD and S-LAD cases determining with cytological and bacteriological examination (P < 0.01). No statistically significant difference was found between NS-LAD and S-LAD group. Serum ALP and LDH levels of racehorses revealed no significant difference between each study groups.Discussion: Respiratory system diseases have been known to be one of the main causes of training disruption and interruption of racing events in racehorses. Specifically, LAD is the most frequently diagnosed disorder in racehorses evaluated for poor performance. In the present study established for determining the usefulness of ALP and LDH enzyme levels in the TW samples of horses with lower respiratory tract inflammatory disorders. It was concluded that ALP and LDH enzyme activities of TW fluid could be considered as indicators of pulmonary inflammation and/or damage and LDH enzyme activity is thought to be useful in distinguishing neutrophilic non-septic and septic pulmonary inflammation in racehorses with LAD. On the other hand, data obtained from the study indicated that TW fluid ALP activity was not enough statistically to differenatiate horses with non-septic and septic lower airway inflammation

Arterial stiffness and endothelial inflammation in prediabetes and newly diagnosed diabetes patients

ObjectiveThere is a growing body of data supporting the association between diabetes and microcirculatory disfunction. We aimed to study e-selectin levels, and their associations with serum markers of inflammation and arterial stiffness in prediabetes and newly diagnosed diabetes patients in this study.Subjects and methodsSixty patients (25 females) with a newly established elevated fasting serum glucose [20 impaired fasting glucose (IFG), 20 impaired glucose tolerance (IGT), 20 newly diagnosed diabetes (T2DM)] and 17 healthy controls (13 females) were included in the study. Serum e-selectin and hs-CRP levels, and arterial stiffness parameters of the patients were studied.ResultsFasting serum glucose was the most important predictor of serum e-selectin levels. Pulse wave velocity and central aortic pressures were significantly higher in IFG, IGT and T2DM groups, compared to controls (p = 0.001, < 0.001, 0.013 and 0.015, 0.002, 0.009, respectively). The mean arterial pressure did not show any significant association with serum e-selectin and hs-CRP levels (β coefficient: 0.092, p = 0.358; and β coefficient: 0.189, p = 0.362, respectively).ConclusionPrediabetes patients have increasing e-selectin levels through the diagnosis of T2DM. E-selectin is associated with serum glucose levels. Prediabetic and newly diagnosed diabetics have higher arterial stiffness measurements. Serum e-selectin may be a good marker of endothelial inflammation and dysfunction increasing in parallel with serum glucose levels, predicting future cardiovascular events