Comparative potential of white and red clover to modify the milk fatty acid profile of cows fed ryegrass‐based diets from zero‐grazing and silage systems

BACKGROUND: Two experiments were conducted to compare the effects of white and red clover on the fatty acid composition of milk fat from cows fed ryegrass‐based diets. In experiment 1, fresh ryegrass was mixed with white or red clover (60/40, on a dry matter (DM) basis). Experiment 2 involved similar mixed diets in ensiled form, and one ryegrass‐silage diet without the addition of clover. RESULTS: Total DM intake, milk yield and milk fat content were not affected by dietary treatments. Feeding freshly cut white versus red clover supplemented diets resulted in a higher proportion of n‐3 fatty acids, especially α‐linolenic acid, in milk fat. Addition of any clover silage to ryegrass silage increased the proportions of n‐3 fatty acids in milk fat, and reduced the proportions of conjugated linoleic acids (CLA), including C18:2 c9t11, and C18:1cis isomers. The n‐6/n‐3 ratio was elevated compared to the diet not supplemented with clover. CONCLUSION: White clover seemed to be slightly superior to red clover supplementation, but the effects of clover supplementation as such were generally larger than that of clover type. However, a higher concentration of n‐3 fatty acids with clover supplementation coincided with a lower concentration of CLA in the milk fat. Copyright © 2007 Society of Chemical Industry     

Maternal folate supply and sex influence gene‐specific DNA methylation in the fetal gut

Scope : Epidemiological evidence supports the developmental origins of health and disease hypothesis that developmental under/over‐nutrition increases adulthood disease risk. Epigenetic markings are one potential mechanism mediating these effects. Altered folate supply may influence methyl group availability for DNA methylation. We reported low folate supply in utero was associated with reduced global DNA methylation in the murine small intestine of adult offspring. We hypothesised that aberrant methylation would be observed during early development. Methods and results : Female C57BL/6J mice were fed diets containing 2 mg folic acid/kg or 0.4 mg folic acid/kg 4 wk before mating and during pregnancy. At 17.5 day gestation, gene methylation in fetal gut was analysed by Pyrosequencing^®. Low folate reduced overall methylation of Slc394a by 3.4% (p=0.038) but did not affect Esr1 or Igf2 differentially methylated region (DMR) 1. There were sex‐specific differences in Slc394a and Esr1 methylation (2.4% higher in females (p=0.002); 4% higher in males (p=0.0014), respectively). Conclusion : This is the first study reporting causal effects of maternal folate depletion on gene‐specific methylation in fetal gut. These observations support reports that altered methyl donor intake during development affects DNA methylation in the offspring. The consequences of epigenetic changes for health throughout the life course remain to be investigated.     

Consistency,availability, and partition tolerance in blockchain: a survey on the consensus mechanism over peer-to-peer networking

Annals of Telecommunications - Blockchain is a disruptive technology that relies on the distributed nature of the peer-to-peer network while performing an agreement, or consensus, a mechanism to...     

A naturalistic decision-making perspective on anaesthetists’ rule-related behaviour

As a widely recognised feature of work activity, procedural violations have been of considerable interest to human factors specialists, and several models have been proposed to aid in understanding their occurrence. A common feature of these models is that they depict violations as being, to a greater or lesser extent, intentional; therefore, rule-related behaviour could be reconceptualised as an exercise in decision-making. In this paper, we examine anaesthetists’ use of rules from the perspective of naturalistic decision-making. Doing so suggests that their rule-related behaviour is a product of the extent to which following a rule is consistent with other principles that guide their decision-making. Observational and interview data from 23 consultant anaesthetists indicated the presence of three such principles: “doing the right thing”; “doing what works in the circumstances”; and “using one’s skills and expertise”. Hence, rule-related behaviour in this setting is better understood as a form of situated action than as the following or breaking of rules per se. We discuss the implications of this view for understanding why violations occur, and how to address them.     

Predictive mapping of powerful owl (Ninox strenua) breeding sites using Geographical Information Systems (GIS) in urban Melbourne, Australia

Urban expansion is a principal process threatening biodiversity globally. It is predicted that over half of the world's population will reside in urban centres by 2010. If we are to conserve biodiversity, a shift in perspective from traditional ecological studies based in natural environments, to studies based in less natural environments is paramount. To effectively conserve species which occur in urban environments, comprehensive analysis is necessary to determine the processes that are driving this urban usage. Geographical Information Systems (GIS) technology provides a valuable tool for efficient spatial analysis and predictive mapping of species distributions.This study used GIS to analyze current breeding sites for the powerful owl, a vulnerable top order predator in urban Melbourne, Australia. GIS analysis suggests that a number of ecological attributes were influencing powerful owl usage of urban environments. Using these ecological attributes, predictive mapping was undertaken, which identified a number of potential breeding sites for powerful owls within urbanized Melbourne.Urban environments are traditionally perceived as “the wastelands” of natural environments, however, this study demonstrates that they have the potential to support apex predators, an important finding for the management of rare and threatened species.     

Factors influencing critical flux in membrane filtration of activated sludge

Membrane filtration of biomass is usually accompanied by significant flux decline due to cake‐layer formation and fouling. Crossflow filtration with flux controlled by pumping the permeate can produce stable fluxes if a ‘critical flux’ is not exceeded. Below critical flux the transmembrane pressure is typically very low and increases linearly with imposed flux. Above the critical flux the transmembrane pressure rises rapidly signifying cake‐layer formation which is usually accompanied by a continued rise in transmembrane pressure and/or a drop in delivered flux. A range of microfiltration and ultrafiltration membranes with pore sizes from 0.22 to 0.65 µm and molecular weight cut‐off of 100 kDa was used. The feed was an activated sludge mixed liquor with concentration in the range of 3–10 g dm⁻³. The results show that the critical flux depends on feed concentration and crossflow velocity, being higher for higher crossflow velocity or lower feed concentration. Critical flux was also dependent on membrane type, being lower for hydrophobic membranes. Although the transmembrane pressure was higher for the larger pore size membrane, no significant difference in critical flux was observed among different pore size membranes. © 1999 Society of Chemical Industry     

Cross-cultural differences in driving skills: a comparison of six countries

The first aim of the present study was to investigate the applicability of the two-factor structure (perceptual-motor skills by 11 items, e.g., "fluent driving"; safety skills by 9 items, e.g., "conforming to the speed limits") of the Driver Skill Inventory (DSI) among British, Dutch, Finnish, Greek, Iranian, and Turkish drivers. It was also hypothesized that the combination of self reported high ratings of perceptual-motor skills and low ratings of safety skills creates a serious risk for dangerous driving and road accident involvement. The second aim of this study was, therefore, to investigate this asymmetric relationship between perceptual-motor and safety skills in traffic penalties and accident involvement. Two hundred and forty two drivers were chosen from each of the six countries, matched for age and sex. The results of exploratory factor analyses together with target rotation showed that the two-factor structure of DSI found in "safe" Northern and Western European countries were highly congruent. However, the safety skills factor of DSI in Greece, Iran, and Turkey was relatively incongruent in spite of high factor similarity found in perceptual-motor skills. The asymmetric relationship between perceptual-motor and safety skills on traffic penalties was found in Finland and Turkey. A negative relationship between safety skills and the number of accidents was found both in Greece and Iran while a positive relationship between perceptual-motor skills and the number of accidents was found only in Iran.     

Interpixel crosstalk in Teledyne Imaging Sensors H4RG-10 detectors

Complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS)-hybrid arrays have become competitive optical detectors for use in ground- and space-based astronomy. Interpixel capacitance (IPC) is one source of error that appears in most CMOS arrays. In this paper, we use a single-pixel-reset method to model IPC. We combine this IPC model with a model for charge diffusion to estimate the total crosstalk on H4RG-10 arrays. Finally, we compare our model results to 55Fe data obtained using an astrometric camera built to test the H4RG-10 B0 generation detectors.