Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Relative performance and immune response in white leghorn layers fed liquid DL-methionine hydroxy analogue and DL-methionine

The relative performance and immune response was evaluated in White Leghorn layers fed liquid DL-methionine hydroxyl analogue-free acid (MHA-FA) relative to dry DL-methionine (DLM) in maize-soybean-sunflower based diets. Three graded levels of methionine (Met) from DLM or MHA-FA were added to the basal diet containing 0.27% Met on an equimolar basis to achieve 0.30, 0.36 and 0.42% Met in the diet. Each diet was fed ad libitum to 25 replicates of one bird (individual feeding) each, from 24 to 40 weeks of age. A regime of 16 h light was provided and all the layers were kept under uniform management throughout the experimental period. None of the parameters studied were influenced by the interaction between source and level of Met in diets. Similarly, the majority of parameters, except for daily feed consumption and immune response (influenced by level) and egg specific gravity and shell thickness (influenced by source), were not affected by either source or level of Met in the diets. Feed consumption was significantly lower in the birds fed a diet containing 0.42% Met compared to those fed lower levels of Met. The cutaneous basophilic hypersensitivity response to PHA-P and antibody titre (32 and 40 wk) to inoculation of sheep red blood cells increased significantly by increasing the concentration of Met in the diet from 0.30 to 0.36%. Thus, the Met requirement for immune competence was higher than for optimum production. The source of Met significantly influenced the egg specific gravity and shell thickness. The specific gravity and shell thickness of eggs increased significantly when MHA-FA was used as the source of Met in the diet compared to DLM. From the study it is concluded that Met requirement for immune competence (360 mg/b/d) is higher than for optimum production (300 mg/b/d). MHA-FA was comparable with DLM as a source of Met for production performance and immunity, when the bioavailability of MHA-FA was considered as 88% of DLM. Further, MHA-FA improved egg shell quality compared to DLM.
Fetal Endocrine Maturation and Perinatal Renal Function

The transition from fetal to neonatal life encom passes a complex series of renal, cardiovascular, pulmonary, and metabolic adaptations. 1-3 Cardio vascular system changes include loss of the placen tal circulation, altered cardiac function, and multiple vascular resistance and blood flow changes. Pul monary changes, in addition to increased pulmon ary blood flow, include lung fluid reabsorption, ventilation
Effect of temperament and behavioural reactions to the presence of a human during the pre-mating period on reproductive performance in farmed mink (Mustela vison)

The present study sought to evaluate the relationship between temperament, pre-mating behaviour and reproductive performance in farmed female mink (Mustela vison). Temperament was measured by using a stick test and behavioural reactions to the presence of a human during pre-mating period by a walking test. The experimental animals comprised 100 confident and 100 fearful scanblack female mink. In each temperament group, 58% of female mink were primiparous and 42% were multiparous. The length and timing of mating periods and the length of the gestation period were similar in all groups. Pooled data showed that the length of the gestation period correlated negatively with litter size (r = -0.17, P = 0.03). The whelping proportions for confident and fearful primiparous female mink were 81% and 74% (P = 0.37), respectively, and for multiparous females 83% and 81% (P = 0.78), respectively. The number of kits per mated and whelped female at parturition (P < 0.01 and P = 0.04, respectively) and at weaning (P < 0.
Biomass, growth and production of the amphipod Corophium insidiosum crawford, and preliminary notes on Corophium volutator (Pallas)

Abstract Abundance and length distributions of Corophium insidiosum and Corophium volutator were investigated along littoral transects in Holbsek Fjord, Zealand, Denmark. Corophium uolutator predominate in the innermost and Corophium insidiosum in the outermost part of the transects. A maximum abundance of Corophium insidiosum of 140 000/m2 was recorded in early August. A method of measuring the growth of ‘cohorts’ of Corophium insidiosum established in situ in growth cages was developed. Maximum length and maturity are reached within one month and the generation time is about 4-5 weeks in early summer. During the summer maturity is progressively reached at a smaller size and the maximum length is reduced. The production is calculated as the sum of size classes, and the specific growth rates of Corophium insidiosum are derived from the growth of the cohorts in the growth cages. Preliminary growth rates of Corophium uolutator are based on the growth ofnatural populations. The production of Corophium insidi.
Environmental Impacts to Residual Stand Damage due to Logging Operations in Hyrcanian Forest

The development of harvesting systems aims to provide physically feasible, economically viable, and environmentally sound solutions. Residual stand-damage data have been collected from a mixed broadleaved stand in Kheyrud area in Hyrcanian forest in the northern of Iran. After the harvesting operations, for all trees, damage to the bole, roots, extent of the damage, wounding patterns, size and distribution was assessed using stratified systematic sampling with a random start and fixed area plots. Results show that wounding occurred on 16.4% of the remaining trees, but the severity of wounding varied significantly by species. Forty-six percent of wounding for all species combined was considered as small size. The greatest average amount of damage, to a bole, occurred along the first 1m up from the ground and also within 3m of the skid trail centerline (86.4%). Gouges were present on 79% of all scars. The stratification of the study unit would effectively improve accuracy of stand damage surveys. Selection of the appropriate method for damage reduction to trees adjacent skid trails was crucial. According to the results, skidding damage cannot be completely avoided in practice. We suggest that the education and the entertainment of the foresters and workers in forest would be enhanced and the injuries could be explained before the harvesting to the workers. In such a way the damages would be less in the future.
SEASONAL EFFECTS ON THE REPRODUCTIVE PERFORMANCE OF GILTS AND SOWS

Although the domestic pig is not a true seasonal breeder, a seasonal effect on reproductive performance exists. A reduction in reproductive performance during some periods of the year is most pronounced in primiparous sows and is manifested in various ways such as, delayed puberty, prolonged weaning-to-first-service interval (WSI), increased number of sows returning to oestrus after mating, decreased conception rate, decreased farrowing rate (FR), decreased litter size and an increased incidence of abortion. Both high ambient temperatures and/or changes in photoperiod have been reported to be the cause of these problems. The pig is considered to be a short-day seasonal breeder and variations in day-length have been demonstrated to be an important factor that controls the pattern of seasonal reproduction in pigs. Pigs are susceptible to heat stress because of their limited ability to decrease body temperature, through either evaporation or sweating. A number of additional factors such as parity, housing and ventilation, feed intake and boar effects have been shown to contribute to seasonal variations in sow reproductive performance. A number of management practices are suggested to reduce seasonal effects on sow reproductive performance.
Efficacy and Physiological Responses of Grass Carp to Different Sedation Techniques: I. Effects of Various Chemicals on Sedation and Blood Chemistry

Abstract Grass carp Ctenopharyngodon idella are commonly used as a low cost, biological control for aquatic vegetation in aquaculture ponds and other private and public waters. In order to minimize the risk of establishing self-sustaining populations in U.S. waters, many states now require grass carp be certified as triploid prior to sale and stocking. To facilitate ploidy testing, grass carp are typically sedated before collecting blood samples. Chemical sedatives such as tricaine methanesulfonate (MS-222) and carbon dioxide (CO2) are most commonly used to sedate fish, but there is increasing interest in other chemical sedatives such as benzocaine and eugenol. We evaluated time to induction to Stage IV sedation and recovery, survival, and postsedation blood chemistry of grass carp (301 ± 8 g, mean ± SE) sedated with MS-222 (150 mg/L), benzocaine (150 mg/L), eugenol (60 mg/L), or CO2 (∼400 mg/L). Induction times for all sedatives excluding CO2 (14.9 min) were less than 2.4 min (range, 1.5–2.4 min). Averag.
Reaction of Some Olive Cultivars to Verticillium dahliae Isolates Agent of Vascular Wilt : A Comparative Study

Verticillium dahliae Kleb. the causal agent of vascular wilt is an important pathogen of olive trees in growing areas of the world. To evaluate the reaction of the susceptibility of different commercial olive cultivars to the pathogen, nine monthsold of nine commercial olive cultivars including Bladi, Kalamon, Koroneiki, Konservalea, Manzanilla, Mission, Rooghany, Sevillana and Zard cultivars and wild olive were root-dip inoculated. Ninemonth-old nursery olive plants were inoculated with a non-defoliating (VCG4B, ND) or a defoliating (VCG1, D) isolate of V. dahliae. Resistance was evaluated by assessing symptom severity using a 0-4 rating scale and estimating the area under disease progress curves. Interaction between isolates of V. dahliae with different pathotypes and olive cultivars show that the defoliate pathotype cause higher disease severity index and stem colonization (p< 0.01). The percentage of plants killed and of those which recovered from the disease and stem colonization Index were used as additional parameters for including a particular cultivar into a defined category. One cultivar, ‘Bladi’, were susceptible or extremely susceptible to both pathotypes of V. dahliae. A second group showed differences of resistance depending on the pathotype used. They were susceptible or extremely susceptible to the D pathotype but resistant or moderately susceptible to the ND one. Finally, ‘Kalamon’ and ‘Koroneiki’ were resistant to both pathotypes of the pathogen. The resistance of these cultivars was evident by the plant ability to recover from infection with either isolates.
The Behavior of Some Petunias Varieties for Improvement the Romanian Assortment

Petunias are one of the most popular plants grown in pots or outdoors for summer design. The main goal of the present study was to introduce new Petunia varieties imported from Hungary that could improve the Romanian floral assortment. Lately many private flower growers from our country are looking to improve the range of new varieties of petunias in order to obtain additional income, thus justifying objectives taken to study. The trial was conducted at the University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Cluj-Napoca during 2012-2013. The objectives were to evaluate the main biological and morfo-decorative characteristics of seven new petunias varieties (flower color, length flower stems, number of flowers per branch, plant circumference and diameter, and the diameter of the corolla). The data were processed by statistical analysis of variance (LSD test) and the best Petunia varieties will be promoted in our country. The results reveals the decorative potential of new Petunia varieties 'Hot red', Â 'White' and 'Purple' for improving the Romanian floral assortment for landscape design.
River and wetland food webs in Australia's wet–dry tropics: general principles and implications for management

The tropical rivers of northern Australia have received international and national recognition for their high ecological and cultural values. Unlike many tropical systems elsewhere in the world and their temperate Australian counterparts, they have largely unmodified flow regimes and are comparatively free from the impacts associated with intensive land use. However, there is growing demand for agricultural development and existing pressures, such as invasive plants and feral animals, threaten their ecological integrity. Using the international literature to provide a conceptual framework and drawing on limited published and unpublished data on rivers in northern Australia, we have derived five general principles about food webs and related ecosystem processes that both characterise tropical rivers of northern Australia and have important implications for their management. These are: (1) the seasonal hydrology is a strong driver of ecosystem processes and food-web structure; (2) hydrological connectivity is largely intact and underpins important terrestrial–aquatic food-web subsidies; (3) river and wetland food webs are strongly dependent on algal production; (4) a few common macroconsumer species have a strong influence on benthic food webs; and (5) omnivory is widespread and food chains are short. The implications of these ecosystem attributes for the management and protection of tropical rivers and wetlands of northern Australian are discussed in relation to known threats. These principles provide a framework for the formation of testable hypotheses in future research programmes.
The bold and the variable: fish with high heterozygosity act recklessly in the vicinity of predators

Variation in the innate behavioral response to predation threat is often assumed to reflect genetic differences among the prey individuals. To date, no published results, however, exist that would offer explanation for the origin of this behavioral variation within populations. Using microsatellites as markers, we estimated the genetic variability of juvenile brown trout (Salmo trutta) individuals whose behavior had been individually recorded in a trade-off situation where both predator chemical cues and food were present. Mean overall heterozygosity and the internal relatedness of fish associated significantly with their activity and foraging, so that the genetically more variable individuals showed more risk-prone behavior under predation risk. No association between genetic variability and behavior was found in trials where predator odors were not present. These results were consistent over the three study populations of brown trout with different backgrounds, suggesting that the phenomenon is of general nature in this species. Of the possible mechanisms suggested to enable the existence of the positive association between neutral microsatellite variation and fitness-related trait, the local effect hypothesis gained more support from our data than the general effect hypothesis.
Mortality and reproductive effects of avermectin B1 fed to German cockroaches

Newly emerged adult female German cockroaches, Blattella germanica (L.) (Dictyoptera: Blattellidae) fed avermectin B1 at concentrations of 6.5 ppm and higher in the food exhibited high mortality at 10 days. Survivors of these dosages failed to reproduce. Lower dosages produced some mortality and inhibited mating and reproduction. Those individuals that did reproduce had normal‐sized oothecae and the percent hatch was normal. The higher concentrations produced a marked inhibition of feeding which appeared to be related to toxicity rather than to unpalatability or repellency. When nymphs were fed avermectin B1 for short periods, higher dosages were required to produce mortality. Young nymphs were the most susceptible. Feeding inhibition also occurred in these short‐term studies, but the survivors reproduced normally as did the progeny from the females fed avermectin continuously. The possible use of avermectin B1 in baits for cockroach control is discussed.
Phytoplankton taxonomic composition and temporal changes in a tropical reservoir

Phytoplankton assemblages of the Barra Bonita Reservoir (Sao Paulo State, Brazil) were studied monthly between April 2002 and January 2004. Samples were taken at six depths (0 m, 1 m, 3 m, 5 m, 10 m and bottom) at a single station located 3 km upstream of the reservoir dam. The vertical distribution of environmental and biological variables was homogeneous (p > 0.05) during most of the period, possibly due to wind action and the rainfall regimes. Significant variability was found only on the temporal scale (p < 0.05). Generally, the highest values of species richness and diversity were recorded during the dry period. Taxonomic analysis of the phytoplankton assemblages revealed 139 distributed over nine groups: Chlorophyceae (44), Bacillariophyceae (40), Cyanophyceae (28), Conjugatophyceae (10), Euglenophyceae (8), Xanthophyceae (5), Chrysophyceae (2), Dinophyceae (1) and Cryptophyceae (1). The relative abundance of Cyanophyceae (colonies of Microcystis aeruginosa and free cells of Microcystis sp.) and Bacillariophyceae (Aulacoseira granulata filaments) was notably greater than that of other groups during dry and rainy seasons. The dynamics of phytoplankton assemblages in Barra Bonita Reservoir was mainly driven by physical factors, particularly vertical mixing and residence time. The coexistence of R strategists (diatoms) and S strategists (cyanobacteria) recorded in the first year, and the continuous dominance of cyanobacteria in the second year revealed a pattern of inter-annual variability mainly driven by changes in z mix /z eu ratios and continued eutrophication.
Quantitative Comparisons on the Intrinsic Features of Foreign Exchange Rates between the 1920s and the 2010s: Case of the USD-GDP Exchange Rate

This paper quantitatively compares the intrinsic features of the daily USD-GBP exchange rates in two different periods, the 1920s and the 2010s, under the same freely floating exchange rate system. Even though the foreign exchange markets in the 1920s seem to be much less organized and developed than in the 2010s, this paper finds that both the long memory volatility property and the structural break appear to be the common intrigue features of the exchange rates in the two periods by using the FIGARCH model. In particular, the long memory volatility properties in the two periods are found to be upward biased and overstated because of the structural breaks in the exchange markets. Thus this paper applies the Adaptive-FIGARCH model to consider the long memory volatility property and the structural breaks jointly. The main finding is that the structural breaks in the exchange markets affect the long memory volatility property significantly in the two periods but the degree of the long memory volatility property in the 1920s is reduced more remarkably than in the 2010s after the structural breaks are accounted for; thus implying that the structural breaks in the foreign exchange markets in the 1920s seem to be more significant.
Feeding preferences of the willow sawfl y Nematus oligospilus (Hymenoptera: Tenthredinidae) for commercial Salix clones

 RESUMEN. Nematus oligospilus Forster (Hymenoptera: Tenthredinidae), o la avispa sierra de los sauces, es nativa del Hemisferio Norte y se ha convertido en un serio defoliador en plantaciones de sauces (Salix spp.) del Hemisferio Sur, despues de su introduccion a principios de 1980. Los estudios sobre las preferencias de hospedador aportan informacion util para el desarrollo de estrategias, donde la avispa sierra puede producir dano a los arboles y perdidas economicas. Se evaluo la preferencia alimentaria de las larvas de N. oligospilus, mediante ensayos de laboratorio; se ofrecieron en forma simultanea hojas de cuatro clones de sauce, usados comunmente en plantaciones comerciales en Argentina (Salix babylonica var sacramenta Hortus, Salix nigra Marsch., S. babylonica L. x Salix alba L. 131-27 and Salix matsudana Koidz. x S. alba L. 13-44). Las larvas de N. oligospilus se alimentaron de las hojas de los cuatro clones. Sin embargo, consumieron una proporcion significativamente mayor de las hojas de S. babylonica var sacramenta. Estos resultados indican que todos los clones utilizados en los ensayos fueron palatables para el insecto y que S. babylonica var sacramenta es el hospedador preferido para la herbivoria de las larvas. PALABRAS CLAVE. Defoliacion. Herbivoria. Salicaceae. Avispa sierra.
Differential Distribution of Voltage‐Gated Sodium Channel a‐ and b‐Subunits in Human Brain

euronal voltage-gated sodium channels generate and propagate action potentials in the central nervous system (CNS). They are heteromultimeric proteins consisting of a heavily glycosylated α-subunit (Mr 260 kDa), which is both ion selective and voltage sensitive. The α-subunit is noncovalently linked to a β1(Mr 36 kDa) and to a β2 subunit (Mr 33 kDa) via a disulfide linkage. Multiple brain-specific isoforms have been isolated and cloned from rat tissues. These include α-subunit subtypes: I and II, IIA, III, and VI, and two β-subunits, β1 and β2. As with other ion channels, these isoforms are products of a multigene family. Sodium channel α-subunits show a defined temporal and spatial distribution in the CNS of the rat, as revealed by Northern blot, in situ mRNA hybridization, and immunoprecipitation experiments. Such heterogeneous expression indicates that each channel may perform a unique functional role in neuronal excitability. Distribution studies provide an insight into putative functional requirements, leading to an understanding of the mechanisms controlling neuronal excitability. To this end we have carried out the first detailed study of sodium channel αand β-subunit distribution in human hippocampus, medial frontal gyrus, and cerebellum by in situ mRNA hybridization. Our results indicate that sodium channel αand β-subunits show distinct regional expression patterns in human CNS.
Distinct response of Medicago suspension cultures and roots to Nod factors and chitin oligomers in the elicitation of defense‐related responses

The induction of plant defense-related responses by chitin oligomers and the Rhizobium meliloti lipo-chito-oligosaccharide nodulation signals (Nod factors) in Medicago cell cultures and roots was investigated by following the expression of genes encoding enzymes of the isoflavonoid biosynthetic pathway, such as chalcone synthase, chalcone reductase, isoflavone reductase, as well as genes encoding a pathogenesis-related protein and a peroxidase. In suspension-cultured cells, all genes except the peroxidase gene were induced by both the R. meliloti Nod factor NodRm-IV(C16:2,S) and chitin oligomers with a minimum of three sugar residues. However, activation of these genes was not elicited by the symbiotically inactive, desulfated NodRm-IV(C16:2). Moreover, the cells were more sensitive to the chitin oligosaccharides than to the Nod factor. Analysis of flavonoids in Medicago microcallus cultures revealed differences between cells treated with N-acetylchitotetraose and those treated with Nod factor and demonstrated increased production of the phytoalexin medicarpin in the presence of Nod factor. In Medicago roots, none of the tested genes was activated by the N-acetylchitotetraose, whereas the Nod factor at micromolar concentration enhanced transient expression of the isoflavonoid biosynthetic genes. The differential responses to Nod factors and chitin oligomers suggest that Medicago cells possess distinct perception systems for these related molecules.