bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Dairy cows in the future
Authors: Simm G. , Oldham J.D. , Coffey M.P. 
Published: May 2019

AbstractIn this paper we discuss the likely future milk production scenarios and breeding and management strategies in the EU in general, and in Britain and Ireland in particular. EU markets for most dairy products are stagnant in volume terms. There is, however, scope for value growth which would emphasise quality and added value, not price. The background scenario is therefore one of sharp commercial focus heavily influenced by consumer demands for quality, not only in physical terms but also in ethical, welfare and aesthetic ones. Future systems of production will need to be in tune with future markets. Perhaps three main sectors can be identified: intensive high output, pasture based systems and niche systems (e.g. organic systems). In each of these options the same questions arise: (i) What kind of cow/breeding strategy is suitable for the sector?, and (ii) What are the management guidelines which will secure efficient, sustainable productivity? In the past, the majority of dairy cattle improvement programmes have focused primarily on improving returns by increasing milk or milk solids yields. Future breeding programmes are likely to pay much greater attention to reducing costs than they have in the past. In pasture-based systems, or niche markets, this may lead to renewed interest in cross breeding to reduce health, re-breeding and replacement costs. In all systems there is likely to be much greater emphasis on traits other than production in selection indexes. Customised indexes will help producers to tailor their selection decisions to their particular markets and production systems. If the differences between future production systems are extreme, it may be cost effective to produce bull evaluations for each of the main systems. New molecular techniques are beginning to assist conventional selection programmes. In the longer term the transfer of genes between strains, breeds or species may be used for agricultural applications. However, it is questionable whether or not this would be acceptable to consumers in the EU. Management issues which will be important in future are exactly the same as they have ever been, dealing with feeding, fertility, health, housing, milking practice, hygiene and pasture management. Nearly all of these interrelate with each other and with breeding strategy. Particular issues in future may include management of robotic milking, loose housing, deliberately extended lactations, organic production systems and extended grazing. Future ‘feeding’ challenges will include optimizing concentrate use for cows of different genetic merit, and finding alternatives to conserved grass. Direct genetic modification of grass and other forages to improve their qualities both as grazed and as conserved material would also be useful. There is also likely to be increased emphasis on feeding cows to improve control of nutrient partition, and on improved feeding of animals in the transition between lactations. Tailoring feeding and management policies to the genetic merit of cows will be a continuing challenge.
A multidisciplinary approach to dairy herd health and productivity management
Authors: Kelly J. M. , Whitaker D. A. 
Published: May 2019

AbstractThere is concern that the substantial increases in production in dairy herds that can be achieved will bring greater health and fertility problems. Despite considerable advancements in the understanding of the biology of reproduction and its control, fertility apparently continues to decline. As many factors, including health and nutrition, influence reproductive performance it is generally agreed that a multidisciplinary approach is necessary if improvement in fertility is to be achieved Herd health schemes have evolved to improve health, fertility, productivity and profitability but the uptake of such schemes in the UK has been low. The veterinary input to many farms is at best routine fertility visits, confined to examination of the reproductive tract, and at worst occasional emergency calls. The Dairy Herd Health and Productivity Service (DHHPS) provides the opportunity for veterinary surgeons to lead a multidisciplinary team which can monitor health, fertility and production and can plan, when necessary, remedial action. Over a period of twenty years it has continued to identify infertility, mastitis and lameness as the main reasons for the involuntary disposal of dairy cows, although on some farms BSE has been a major factor. The trend in the last few years has been for an increase in culling for reasons of disease rather than for age or yield. The average disease rates have remained high with over 100 treatments per 100 cows each year for conditions which may directly or indirectly influence reproduction. Blood profiling and condition scoring demonstrated that at least a third of the cows sampled were mobilising excessive fat during transition from the dry period to early lactation. Improving both health and nutrition, before and after calving, would greatly improve reproductive performance in many herds. A team approach, with farmers, veterinarians, nutritionists and other advisors working together with well defined goals and objectives, is necessary if progress is to be made in improving reproductive performance. High yield can not always be the excuse for poor fertility.
The incorporation of fertility indices in genetic improvement programmes
Authors: Pryce J.E. , Veerkamp R.F. 
Published: May 2019

AbstractIn recent years there has been considerable genetic progress in milk production. Yet, increases in yield have been accompanied by an apparent lengthening of calving intervals, days open, days to first heat and a decline in conception rates, which appears to be both at the genetic and phenotypic level. Fertility has a high relative economic value compared to production traits such as protein, making it attractive to include in a breeding programme. To do this there needs to be genetic variance in fertility. Measures of fertility calculated from service dates have a small genetic compared to phenotypic variance, hence heritability estimates are small, typically less than 5%, although coefficients of genetic variance are comparable to those of production traits. Heritabilities of commencement of luteal activity determined using progesterone profiles are generally higher, and have been reported as being from 0.16 to 0.28, which could be because of a more precise quantification of genetic variance, as management influences such as delaying insemination and heat detection rates are excluded. However, it might not be the use of progesterone profiles alone, as days to first heat observed by farm staff has a heritability of 0.15. The most efficient way to breed for improved fertility is to construct a selection index using the genetic and phenotypic parameter estimates of all traits of interest in addition to their respective economic values. Index traits for fertility could include measures such as calving interval, days open, days to first service, or days to first heat but there may also be alternative measures. Examples include traits related to energy balance, such as live weight and condition score (change), both of which have higher heritabilities than fertility measures and have genetic correlations of sufficient magnitude to make genetic progress by using them feasible. To redress the balance between fertility and production, some countries already publish genetic evaluations of fertility including: Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Israel, The Netherlands, Norway and Sweden.
Incorporating Household Spillovers in Cost Utility Analysis: A Case Study Using Behavior Change in COPD
Authors: Bhadhuri Arjun , Al-Janabi Hareth , Jowett Sue , Jolly Kate 
Published: May 2019

AbstractObjectivesIt is important to capture all health effects of interventions in cost-utility analyses conducted under a societal or healthcare perspective. However, this is rarely done. Household spillovers (health effects on patients’ other household members) may be particularly likely in the context of technologies and interventions to change behaviors that are interdependent in the household. Our objective was to prospectively collect outcome data from household members and illustrate how these can be included in a cost-utility analysis of a behavior change intervention in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).MethodsData were collected from patients’ household members (n= 153) alongside a randomized controlled trial of a COPD self-management intervention. The impact of the intervention on household members’ EQ-5D-5L scores (primary outcome), was evaluated. Analyses were then carried out to estimate household members’ quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) and assess the impact of including these QALYs on cost-effectiveness.ResultsThe intervention had a negligible spillover on household members’ EQ-5D-5L scores (−0.007;p= .75). There were also no statistically significant spillovers at the 5 percent level in household member secondary outcomes. In the base-case model, the inclusion of household member QALYs in the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) denominator marginally increased the ICER from GBP 10,271 (EUR 13,146) to GBP 10,991 (EUR 14,068) per QALY gained.ConclusionsThis study demonstrates it is feasible to prospectively collect and include household members’ outcome data in cost utility analysis, although the study highlighted several methodological issues. In this case, the intervention did not impact significantly on household members’ health or health behaviors, but inclusion of household spillovers may make a difference in other contexts.
Hydroxyl Radical Production in the Cortex and Striatum in a Rat Model of Focal Cerebral Ischemia
Authors: Ste-Marie Line , Vachon Pascal , Vachon Luc , Bémeur Chantal , Guertin Marie-Claude , Montgomery Jane 
Published: May 2019

ABSTRACT:Background:Increases in hydroxyl radical production have been used as evidence of oxidative stress in cerebral ischemia/ reperfusion. Ischemia can also induce increased dopamine release from the striatum that may contribute to hydroxyl radical formation. We have compared hydroxyl radical production in the cortex and striatum as an index of oxidative stress in a rat model of focal cerebral ischemia with cortical infarction.Methods:Using a three vessel occlusion model of focal cerebral ischemia combined with bilateral microdialysis, hydroxylation of 4-hydroxybenzoate (4HB) was continuously monitored in both hemispheres in either the lateral striatum or frontoparietal cortex. The ischemia protocol consisted of one hour equilibration, 30 min of three vessel occlusion, then release of the contralateral common carotid artery (CCA) for 2.5 h.Results:Induction of ischemia resulted in a 30-fold increase in dopamine release in the lateral striatum. Compared to the nonischemic striatum, the ratio of the hydroxylation product 3,4-dihydroxybenzoate (34DHB) to 4HB (trapping agent) in the ipsilateral striatum increased significantly 30 min after ischemia induction. In contrast, during the 30 min of three vessel occlusion there was no increase in the ratio in the cortex. Following the release of the contralateral CCA, the ratio from the ischemic cortex increased significantly compared to sham-operated animals. However, under all circumstances, the 34DHB/4HB ratio was greater in the striatum than in the cortex.Conclusion:The increase in the 34DHB/4HB ratio in the lateral striatum coincides with the increased dopamine release suggesting a role for dopamine oxidation in the increased production of hydroxyl radicals. The significant increase in the ratio from the ischemic cortex compared to that from the sham-operated animals is consistent with increased oxidative stress induced by ischemia. However, the lower 34DHB/4HB ratio in the cortex whichdoes not receive dopaminergic innervation compared to the striatum suggests a different mechanism for hydroxyl radical production. Such an alternate mechanism may represent a more toxic oxidative insult that contributes to infarction.
Intergenerational transmission of emotion dysregulation: Part I. Psychopathology, self-injury, and parasympathetic responsivity among pregnant women
Authors: Lin Betty , Kaliush Parisa R. , Conradt Elisabeth , Terrell Sarah , Neff Dylan , Allen Ashley K. , Smid Marcela C. , Monk Catherine , Crowell Sheila E. 
Published: May 2019

AbstractThe World Health Organization recently reported that maternal mental health is a major public health concern. As many as one in four women suffer from psychiatric disorders at some point during pregnancy or the first postpartum year. Furthermore, self-injurious thoughts and behaviors (SITBs) represent one of the leading causes of death among women during this time. Thus, efforts to identify women at risk for serious forms of psychopathology and especially for SITBs are of utmost importance. Despite this urgency, current single-diagnostic approaches fail to recognize a significant subset of women who are vulnerable to perinatal stress and distress. The current study was among the first to investigate emotion dysregulation—a multilevel, transdiagnostic risk factor for psychopathology—and its associations with stress, distress, and SITBs in a sample of pregnant women (26–40 weeks gestation) recruited to reflect a range of emotion dysregulation. Both self-reported emotion dysregulation and respiratory sinus arrhythmia, a biomarker of emotion dysregulation, demonstrated expected associations with measures of mental health, including depression, anxiety, borderline personality pathology, and SITBs. In addition, self-reported emotion dysregulation was associated with blunted respiratory sinus arrhythmia responsivity to an ecologically valid infant cry task. Findings add to the literature considering transdiagnostic risk during pregnancy using a multiple-levels-of-analysis approach.
Effects of growth pathway on beef quality in 18-month-old Angus and South Devon ✕ Angus pasture-fed steers
Authors: Muir P.D. , Smith N.B. , Dobbie P.M. , Smith D.R. , Bown M.D. 
Published: May 2019

AbstractThere is evidence that, in cattle, rapid compensatory growth after a period of growth restriction may increase the variability of beef quality and that variability is greater in breeds which reach larger body size at maturity. This experiment investigated the effect of compensatory growth following a period of winter growth restriction on carcass quality in steers of small and large mature size grazed on pasture. Angus (no. = 120) and South Devon ✕ Angus (SD✕ A; no. = 110) steers were allocated to non-restricted or restricted growth treatment groups and for 126 days over winter their grazing was managed to achieve mean live-weight gains of approximately 0·7 kg/day or to maintain live weight for each group respectively. Steers were slaughtered at the start (no. = 10 per breed) and end (no. = 20 per nutrition group (10 from each breed)) of the winter period for carcass evaluation. Thereafter, remaining steers were grazed together at a high pasture allowance to maximize growth and were slaughtered for carcass evaluation as they reached target live weights (Angus, 590 kg; SD✕ A, 620 kg). SD✕ A steers grew faster (P< 0·05) during both the winter and finishing periods and reached target slaughter live weights approximately 20 days earlier than Angus steers. SD✕ A steers also had leaner carcasses than Angus steers at each slaughter although there was no significant difference in meat quality between breeds. However, there was a significant effect of restriction treatment on carcass weight and meat quality. The non-restricted steers grew faster, had heavier carcasses and more tender steaks than restricted steers, although there was no significant difference in carcass fatness (adjusted for hot carcass weight). Muscle calpain activities were positively correlated with live-weight gain during the finishing period suggesting increased potential for post-mortem myofibrillar proteolysis and therefore increased meat tenderness. However, in the present experiment this was confounded by an increase in shear force with age-at-slaughter, especially in the non-restricted steers. Nevertheless, steers which were heaviest at the start of the experiment reached slaughter live weight earliest, were leaner than average and had higher calpain system activities at slaughter regardless of breed or restriction treatment. Furthermore, in the non-restricted group, high initial live weight and early slaughter was associated with lower pH and more tender meat. In conclusion, although restriction affected meat quality attributes, it appears that live weight prior to food restriction also had a considerable effect on carcass characteristics at slaughter. Therefore, the characteristics of the early growth phase prior to the finishing period may have important consequences for meat quality.
Application of SV markers developed from Dongxiang common wild rice in analysis of cultivated rice
Authors: Zhang Fantao , Luo Yuan , Ai Bin , Chen Yong , Qi Weidong , Xie Jiankun 
Published: May 2019

AbstractDongxiang common wild rice (Oryza rufipogon Griff., DXWR) is an important genetic resource for the improvement of cultivated rice. For the past three decades, great achievements have been made in the field of molecular marker development. Although structural variations (SVs) had been studied between DXWR and Nipponbare (Oryza sativa L. ssp. japonica), the development and application of SV markers in DXWR has not been reported. In this study, based on the genome-wide SV loci, we developed and synthesized a total of 195 SV markers that were evenly distributed across the 12 rice chromosomes. Then, these markers were tested for their stabilities and polymorphisms. Of these 195 markers, 147 (75.4%) were successfully amplified and displayed abundant polymorphisms between DXWR and Nipponbare. Meanwhile, through the genotyping of 20 rice varieties from 13 countries and areas, we concluded that these SV markers have a wide application prospect in the analysis of cultivated rice. Therefore, these molecular markers greatly enrich the number of markers available for DXWR, which will facilitate genomic research and molecular breeding for this important and endangered germplasm resource.
Strong Intensification of the Arabian Sea Oxygen Minimum Zone in Response to Arabian Gulf Warming
Authors: Lachkar Z. , Lévy M. , Smith K. S. 
Published: May 2019

AbstractThe highly saline, oxygen‐saturated waters of the Arabian Gulf (hereafter the Gulf) sink to intermediate depths (200–300 m) when they enter the Arabian Sea, ventilating the World's thickest oxygen minimum zone (OMZ). Here, we investigate the impacts of a warming of the Gulf consistent with climate change projections on the intensity of this OMZ. Using a series of eddy‐resolving model simulations, we show that the warming of the Gulf waters increases their buoyancy and hence limits their contribution to the ventilation of intermediate depths. This leads to an intensification of the OMZ and an increase in denitrification that depletes subsurface nitrate and limits deoxygenation at depth. The projected future concomitant increase of Gulf salinity only partially reduces the OMZ intensification. Our findings highlight the importance of the Arabian marginal seas for the biogeochemistry of the North Indian Ocean and stress the need for improving their representation in global climate models.
Exploring the Effect of the Pore Size Distribution on the Streaming Potential Generation in Saturated Porous Media, Insight From Pore Network Simulations
Authors: Jougnot Damien , Mendieta Aida , Leroy Philippe , Maineult Alexis 
Published: May 2019

AbstractUnderstanding streaming potential generation in porous media is of high interest for hydrological and reservoir studies as it allows to relate water fluxes to measurable electrical potential distributions. This streaming potential generation results from an electrokinetic coupling due to the presence of an electrical double layer developing at the interface between minerals and pore water. Therefore, the pore sizes of the porous medium are expected to play an important role in the streaming potential generation. In this work we use 2‐D pore network simulations to study the effect of the pore size distribution upon this electrokinetic mechanism. Our simulations allow a detailed study of the influence of a large range of permeabilities (from 10−16 to 10−10 m2) for different ionic concentrations (from 10−4 to 1 mol/L). We then use and compare two different approaches that have been used over the last decades to model and interpret the streaming potential generation: the classical coupling coefficient or the effective excess charge density, which has been defined recently. Our results show that the four pore size distributions tested in the present work have a restricted influence on the coupling coefficient for ionic concentration smaller than 10−3 mol/L while it completely drives the behavior of the effective excess charge density over orders of magnitude. Then, we use these simulation results to test an analytical model based on a fractal pore size distributions. This model predicts well the effective excess charge density for all pore size distributions under the thin double layer assumption.
Deglacial Thinning of the Laurentide Ice Sheet in the Adirondack Mountains, New York, USA, Revealed by 36Cl Exposure Dating
Authors: Barth Aaron M. , Marcott Shaun A. , Licciardi Joseph M. , Shakun Jeremy D. 
Published: May 2019

AbstractFuture changes in sea level will largely be dictated by changes in the world's ice sheets. Yet the magnitude and rate at which these ice sheets will respond to climate change remain uncertain, necessitating a deeper investigation into past ice sheet‐climate interactions. Numerous studies have documented the timing and pattern of Laurentide Ice Sheet margin retreat since the Last Glacial Maximum, but few studies have provided vertical constraints necessary for accurate sea level contribution estimates. Here we present 21 36Cl ages from boulder and bedrock samples along vertical transects spanning ~1,000 m of relief from multiple peaks in the Adirondack Mountains of northeastern New York, USA. Our exposure ages span the Last Glacial Maximum through the last deglaciation, with the highest‐elevation sites (~1,500 m) ranging between 25 and 19 ka, and the lower elevation sites (≤1,300 m) between 16 and 13 ka. These data suggest gradual ice sheet thinning of 200 m initiated at ~20 ka followed by more rapid surface lowering of 1,000 m approximately coincident with Bølling‐Allerød warming.
Variability in Io's Volcanism on Timescales of Periodic Orbital Changes
Authors: de Kleer Katherine , Nimmo Francis , Kite Edwin 
Published: May 2019

AbstractThe widespread volcanism on the Jovian moon Io is powered by tidal heating, yet we lack a deep understanding of how this distinctive heating process affects the locations, timing, or intensities of Io's eruptions. We show that the quasiperiodic behavior of the volcano Loki Patera in 1987–2018 matches the timescales for the evolution of Io's eccentricity and semimajor axis (~480 and ~460 days). If this orbital forcing is driving Loki Patera's variability, a low‐pass geophysical filter such as poroelastic flow, or a resonant amplification of Io's wobble, could account for the importance of these long‐period orbital variations despite their small amplitudes. The peak volcanic response is predicted to roughly coincide with Io's maximum eccentricity, consistent with the observations. High‐cadence observations over the next several years have the potential to conclusively discriminate between orbital versus geophysical control of Loki Patera's variability.