Whole-lactation feed intake, milk yield, and energy balance of Holstein and Swedish Red dairy cows fed grass-clover silage and 2 levels of byproduct-based concentrate

Ruminants can produce meat and milk from fibrous feed and byproducts not suitable for human consumption. However, high-yielding dairy cows are generally fed a high proportion of cereal grain and pulses, which could be consumed directly by humans. If high production of dairy cows could be maintained with ingredients of low human interest, the sustainability of dairy production would improve. In the present study, 37 multiparous [Holstein (n = 13) and Swedish Red (n = 24)] dairy cows were followed over a whole lactation. A low-concentrate diet of up to 6 kg concentrate per day (6kgConc) was fed to 27 cows, whereas 10 cows were fed a high-concentrate diet of up to 12 kg concentrate per day (12kgConc). The concentrate was mainly based on byproducts (sugar beet pulp, wheat bran, rapeseed meal, distiller's grain). Grass-clover silage of high digestibility was offered ad libitum. Over the whole lactation, cows on the 6kgConc diet had lower dry matter intake and higher forage intake than cows on the 12kgConc diet. Milk yield and energy balance were not influenced by dietary treatment. However, the cows on the 6kgConc diet numerically produced 2.4 kg less energy-corrected milk than cows on 12kgConc diet. The study lacked the statistical power to identify treatment effects on daily yield below 2.8 kg of milk due to low number of animals per treatment. Feed efficiency (as energy-corrected milk yield/dry matter intake or residual feed intake), body weight change, body condition change, milk fatty acid concentration in total milk fatty acids, plasma nonesterified fatty acids, glucose, beta-hydroxybutyrate, and fertility measurements were not affected by diet, supporting the energy balance results. However, higher plasma concentrations o f insulin-like growth factor-1 and insulin were observed in cows fed he 12kgConc diet. These findings show that cows can adapt to a high-forage diet virtually without humangrade ingredients, without compromising feed efficiency or energy balance, thereby contributing to sustainable food production

Feed intake, milk yield and metabolic status of early-lactation Swedish Holstein and Swedish Red dairy cows of different parities fed grass silage and two levels of byproduct-based concentrate

Dairy cows can produce highly nutritive food products (milk, meat etc.) from fibrous feed e.g. grass and different byproducts from the food and fuel industry, that cannot be consumed directly by humans. However, as there are limited amounts of byproducts available, decreasing the amount of byproduct-based concentrate in the diet could be a strategy for improving sustainability within dairy production if high milk production should be maintained. In this study, 26 multiparous (n = 14) and primiparous (n = 12) dairy cows of the breeds Swedish Red (n = 14) and Swedish Holstein (n = 12) were followed between lactation weeks 1 and 6. They were fed either a low-concentrate (n = 13; LC) or high-concentrate (n = 13; HC) byproduct-based (sugar beet pulp, rapeseed meal, distiller's grain, wheat bran) ration, in combination with highly digestible grass-clover silage ad libitum. To achieve similar concentrate intake per kg body weight in primiparous and multiparous cows, multiparous cows were offered 5 kg concentrate on the LC diet and 15 kg concentrate on the HC diet, while primiparous cows were offered 4 kg concentrate on the LC diet and 14 kg concentrate on the HC diet as target concentrate rations. We found no overall differences in dry matter intake, energy-corrected milk yield, energy balance, blood plasma metabolites, blood hormones or milk fatty acids between cows on the LC and HC diets. However, HC cows had a higher yield of ECM in lactation week 6 and gained body weight compared with LC cows. As expected, multiparous cows had higher dry matter intake and energy-corrected milk yield, but we found no difference in energy balance between parities. However, multiparous cows lost more body condition and had higher blood plasma concentrations of non-esterified fatty acids, indicating that they used more body tissue to support milk production. In conclusion, both multiparous and primiparous Swedish Red and Swedish Holstein dairy cows seem able to adapt to low-concentrate diets in early lactation when the diets are based on byproducts and grass-clover silage, providing the potential to increase sustainability in dairy production

Näringsförsök i ettårig odling av substratodlade long cane-hallon

Long cane-hallon som bärkultur, odlat i substrat och i tunnel under en säsong, är idag ett modernt och mycket framgångsrikt sätt att odla på. Denna odlingsteknik för hallon skiljer sig från andra genom att det är en kultur där man endast tar skörd på plantorna under en säsong och sedan byter ut plantorna. När vi sökte fakta på området i en tidigare kurs kunde vi inte finna någon gödslingsrekommendation som specifikt var riktat mot substratodlade long cane-hallon. Det gjorde att vi ville ta reda på mer kring ämnet och själva göra ett försök med näring i long cane-hallon. Kväve är en viktig del av de näringsämnen som hallon (Rubus idaeus L.) behöver. Men hur påverkar kvävemängden skörden i en kultur där man endast tar skörd på plantorna under en säsong och sedan slänger plantorna? För att bestämma huruvida skördemängden och skördekvaliteten påverkas av kväve genomfördes ett odlingsförsök. Ett försök sattes upp med tre behandlingar vardera innehållande 6x5 plantor. Försöket bestod av en kontrollbehandling samt en lägre och en högre kvävebehandling. Hypotesen var att se om den totala avkastningen skiljde sig mellan de tre kvävebehandlingarna. Vi undersökte också bärvikt och hållbarhet i konsumentkyl. Resultatet visade att det inte var någon skillnad mellan de tre gödslingsnivåerna på någon av de mätbara variablerna. Vi har, genom vårt försök, fått indikationer på att odlare skulle kunna minska kvävemängden i substratodlade long cane-hallon i tunnel.Protected cultivation of potted long cane raspberries fertilized during one season is a modern and efficient way to grow raspberries. This type of raspberries differ from others in that the plants are only cultured during one season whereafter the plants are replaced. Recommendations of amounts of fertilization was searched for, without results. This is why we wanted to learn more about this subject, and also to make an experiment with different levels of fertigation in long cane raspberries. Nitrogen is an important part of the essential nutrients for raspberries (Rubus idaeus L.). The question asked is in what way the amount of nitrogen influences the yield in such a culture. In order to determine in what way the harvest of raspberries as well as the quality of the berries is influenced by the amount of nitrogen, the following experiment were set up. The experiment contained three levels of fertigation: one lower, one with the recommend level and one with a higher level. Each group consisted of six replicates each with five plants. The results did not show any differences between the three levels of fertigation on the total weight of the harvest, the mean weight of individual raspberries and how well the raspberries it is preserved in an ordinary fridge. The conclusion of the results indicates that it could be possible to reduce the amount of nitrogen without loss of fruit yield when cultivating long cane raspberries

För regionen i tiden - regionalpolitikens nya förutsättningar och den interregionala konkurrensen

Med införandet av den gemensamma marknaden i EU ändrades förutsättningarna för regionalpolitiken. I den här undersökningen är syftet att synliggöra dessa förändringar genom att fokusera på två fenomen: regional samverkan och sub-nationell representation. I två fallstudier - E20-projektet i Västra Götaland och Region Skånes representationskontor i Bryssel - genomförs en textanalys baserad på teorier om nyregionalism och interregional konkurrens för att förklara dessa fenomen. I undersökningen går det att utläsa hur regioner fått ett större ansvar för att själva skapa förutsättningar för utveckling och tillväxt. De två fenomen som vi undersökt framstår efter studien som regionernas sätt att anpassa sig till de nya förutsättningarna. Slutsatsen är att det vi valt att kalla den interregionala konkurrensen framträder som drivkraften bakom anpassningarna och kan förklara fenomenen. Efter studien framträder en bild av regionen som en aktör på en konkurrensutsatt politisk arena där en anpassning till de nya förutsättningarna är nödvändig

DISCRIMINATION – A THREAT TO PUBLIC HEALTH Final report – Health and Discrimination Project

Discrimination – a threat to public health is the final report of the “Health and Discrimination” (HD) project conducted jointly from 2004 to 2006 by the National Institute of Public Health (FHI), the Office of the Ombudsman against Ethnic Discrimination (DO), the Office of the Disability Ombudsman (HO) and the Office of the Ombudsman against Discrimination on grounds of Sexual Orientation (HomO). The principal aims of the HD project have been to develop methods for measuring health and discrimination, to shed light on the correlations between health and discrimination, to develop indicators for discrimination, and subsequently to disseminate the results at the national, regional and local levels. HD has employed reports of self-reported discrimination at the individual level to quantify the incidence of discrimination and clarify the correlation with health issues. Posing questions on experiences of discrimination in population surveys makes it possible to relate such experiences with other measures of health based on person experience. HD considers that self-reported discrimination is a good indicator for monitoring the development and prevalence of discrimination since the sum total of such experiences reveals structures in society related to gender, age, ethnic background, religion, disabilities and sexual orientation.http://www.fhi.s

Spatial immunophenotyping of the tumour microenvironment in non–small cell lung cancer

Checkpoint therapy; Lung cancer; Tumour microenvironmentTerapia de puntos de control; Cáncer de pulmón; Microambiente tumoralTeràpia de punts de control; Càncer de pulmó; Microambient tumoralIntroduction: Immune cells in the tumour microenvironment are associated with prognosis and response to therapy. We aimed to comprehensively characterise the spatial immune phenotypes in the mutational and clinicopathological background of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Methods: We established a multiplexed fluorescence imaging pipeline to spatially quantify 13 immune cell subsets in 359 NSCLC cases: CD4 effector cells (CD4-Eff), CD4 regulatory cells (CD4-Treg), CD8 effector cells (CD8-Eff), CD8 regulatory cells (CD8-Treg), B-cells, natural killer cells, natural killer T-cells, M1 macrophages (M1), CD163+ myeloid cells (CD163), M2 macrophages (M2), immature dendritic cells (iDCs), mature dendritic cells (mDCs) and plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs). Results: CD4-Eff cells, CD8-Eff cells and M1 macrophages were the most abundant immune cells invading the tumour cell compartment and indicated a patient group with a favourable prognosis in the cluster analysis. Likewise, single densities of lymphocytic subsets (CD4-Eff, CD4-Treg, CD8-Treg, B-cells and pDCs) were independently associated with longer survival. However, when these immune cells were located close to CD8-Treg cells, the favourable impact was attenuated. In the multivariable Cox regression model, including cell densities and distances, the densities of M1 and CD163 cells and distances between cells (CD8-Treg-B-cells, CD8-Eff-cancer cells and B-cells-CD4-Treg) demonstrated positive prognostic impact, whereas short M2-M1 distances were prognostically unfavourable. Conclusion: We present a unique spatial profile of the in situ immune cell landscape in NSCLC as a publicly available data set. Cell densities and cell distances contribute independently to prognostic information on clinical outcomes, suggesting that spatial information is crucial for diagnostic use.This study was partly supported by Swedish Cancer Society, The Lions Cancer Foundation Uppsala, Sweden, Selanders Foundation and The Sjöberg Foundation, Sweden

Phenotypic spectrum and clinical course of single large-scale mitochondrial DNA deletion disease in the paediatric population : a multicentre study

Background Large-scale mitochondrial DNA deletions (LMD) are a common genetic cause of mitochondrial disease and give rise to a wide range of clinical features. Lack of longitudinal data means the natural history remains unclear. This study was undertaken to describe the clinical spectrum in a large cohort of patients with paediatric disease onset. Methods A retrospective multicentre study was performed in patients with clinical onsetPeer reviewe

Renal Phenotype in Mitochondrial Diseases : A Multicenter Study

Aims: This study aimed to investigate associations between renal and extrarenal manifestations of mitochondrial diseases and their natural history as well as predictors of renal disease severity and overall disease outcome. The secondary aim was to generate a protocol of presymptomatic assessment and monitoring of renal function in patients with a defined mitochondrial disease. Methods: A multicenter, retrospective cohort study was performed by the Mitochondrial Clinical and Research Network (MCRN). Patients of any age with renal manifestations associated with a genetically verified mitochondrial disease were included from 8 expert European centers specializing in mitochondrial diseases: Gothenburg, Oulu, Copenhagen, Bergen, Helsinki, Stockholm, Rotterdam, and Barcelona. Results: Of the 36 patients included, two-thirds had mitochondrial DNA-associated disease. Renal manifestations were the first sign of mitochondrial disease in 19%, and renal involvement was first identified by laboratory tests in 57% of patients. Acute kidney injury occurred in 19% of patients and was the first sign of renal disease in the majority of these. The most common renal manifestation was chronic kidney disease (75% with stage 2 or greater), followed by tubulopathy (44.4%), the latter seen mostly among patients with single large-scale mitochondrial DNA deletions. Acute kidney injury and tubulopathy correlated with worse survival outcome. The most common findings on renal imaging were increased echogenicity and renal dysplasia/hypoplasia. Renal histology revealed focal segmental glomerulosclerosis, nephrocalcinosis, and nephronophthisis. Conclusion: Acute kidney injury is a distinct renal phenotype in patients with mitochondrial disease. Our results highlight the importance to recognize renal disease as a sign of an underlying mitochondrial disease. Acute kidney injury and tubulopathy are 2 distinct indicators of poor survival in patients with mitochondrial diseases.Peer reviewe

Comprehensive mapping of the effects of azacitidine on DNA methylation, repressive/permissive histone marks and gene expression in primary cells from patients with MDS and MDS-related disease

Azacitidine (Aza) is first-line treatment for patients with high-risk myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), although its precise mechanism of action is unknown. We performed the first study to globally evaluate the epigenetic effects of Aza on MDS bone marrow progenitor cells assessing gene expression (RNA seq), DNA methylation (Illumina 450k) and the histone modifications H3K18ac and H3K9me3 (ChIP seq). Aza induced a general increase in gene expression with 924 significantly upregulated genes but this increase showed no correlation with changes in DNA methylation or H3K18ac, and only a weak association with changes in H3K9me3. Interestingly, we observed activation of transcripts containing 15 endogenous retroviruses (ERVs) confirming previous cell line studies. DNA methylation decreased moderately in 99% of all genes, with a median beta-value reduction of 0.018; the most pronounced effects seen in heterochromatin. Aza-induced hypomethylation correlated significantly with change in H3K9me3. The pattern of H3K18ac and H3K9me3 displayed large differences between patients and healthy controls without any consistent pattern induced by Aza. We conclude that the marked induction of gene expression only partly could be explained by epigenetic changes, and propose that activation of ERVs may contribute to the clinical effects of Aza in MDS.Peer reviewe