Responses of lactating Holstein cows to chilled drinking water in high ambient temperatures

In Experiment 1, 12 lactating Holstein cows were provided drinking water of either 10.6 or 27.0 degrees C for 24 h/d in a changeover design to examine the effects of water temperature on feed intake, water intake, respiration rate, rectal temperature, plasma thyroid hormone concentration, and milk yield. The 1st wk of each 3-wk treatment period was for adjustment and the next 2 wk were comparison periods. Least squares means for DM intake as a percentage of body weight were 3.68 and 3.57 for 10.6 and 27.0 degrees C treatment groups. Water intakes in liters per kilogram of dry feed consumed as a percentage of body weight were 21.3 and 20.3. Respiration rates were 70.5 and 81.0 breaths per minute; rectal temperatures were 39.7 and 39.9 degrees C, Triiodothyronine averaged .88 and .75 ng/ml; thyroxine, 42.4 and 39.2 ng/ml; cortisol, 3.03 and 2.06 ng/ml; and progesterone in milk, 4.58 and 3.15 ng/ml for the 10.6 and 27.0 degrees C treatment groups. Milk yield averaged 25.9 and 24.7 kg/d and FCM averaged 25.6 and 23.6 kg/d, respectively. In Experiment 2, 24 cows given a choice of chilled or warm water showed a clear preference (about 98%) for the warm water. If cows are given chilled water of 10 degrees C continuously, no warm drinking water should be available. Chilled drinking water lowered respiration rates and body temperatures and increased feed intake and milk yield.     

Rapid response: care of burn victims

1. The occupational health nurse must understand the prehospital principles for treatment of burn victims. This understanding promotes appropriate burn management which can impact mortality and morbidity. 2. The most important concept in emergency management of burn victims is scene safety, the nurse's safety, and ultimately, the victim's safety. 3. All burn victims need to be managed as trauma victims with a primary and secondary survey to rapidly determine life threatening problems and whether other injuries are present. 4. Familiarity with the structures and functions of the skin is imperative to understand the pathophysiology and consequences of burn injuries.     

Reproductive hormones associated with normal and abnormal changes in ovarian follicles in postpartum dairy cows.

Concentrations of reproductive hormones and ovarian changes were monitored every 4 days during the postpartum period in 35 dairy cows. The cows were classified as either control (22 cows) or cystic (13 cows) based on per rectum examination of the ovaries. Control cows were detected with a corpus luteum after the first postpartum ovulation while in cystic cows, ovarian follicles of at least 2.5 cm in diameter persisted in the absence of a corpus luteum for at least 14 days. The mean postpartum interval to the first follicle 1.5 to 2.0 cm in diameter was about 16 days for both groups. Ovulation was detected earlier postpartum for cows in the control group (18.4 +/- 1.7 days) than for cows in the cystic group (36.3 +/- 2.7 days). Luteinizing hormone in plasma increased during the early postpartum period (days 1 to 10) for both groups, but mean concentrations of luteinizing hormone, progesterone, and estradiol-17 beta in plasma were not different between groups then or on days -8, -4, or 0 (day of the first postpartum follicle 1.5 to 2.0 cm in diameter). During this period (days -8 to 0), estradiol-17 beta and luteinizing hormone in plasma were correlated positively, but regression coefficients differed between groups. These results suggest a partial hypothalamic and/or pituitary failure in releasing pituitary luteinizing hormone as a cause for postpartum ovarian cysts.     

An efficient evolutionary algorithm to optimize the Choquet integral

Information fusion is an essential part of nearly all systems whose goal is to derive decisions from multiple sources. Often, a fusion solution has parameters and the goal is to learn them from data. Herein, we propose efficient evolutionary algorithm (EA) operators to facilitate learning the Choquet integral (ChI). Whereas many EAs provide a way to solve complex, unconstrained optimization tasks, most tend to perform relatively poor in light of constraints. Recently, a few EA-based approaches to optimizing the ChI have appeared. Namely, these methods focus on fixing the values of variables so conditions are met or feasible candidate pairs are identified for steps such as crossover. Herein, we introduce a new set of transparent operators that are guaranteed to naturally preserve constraints, thus eliminating the need to resort to costly evaluations and fixing of constraint violations. In particular, our method scales well to large numbers of inequality constraints, something that prior work does not. The proposed algorithm, coined efficient ChI genetic algorithm (ECGA), is evaluated on several synthetic data sets and it is compared with state-of-the-art algorithms. In particular, we show benefits in terms of solutions found and the time it takes to find such an answer.     

Computer controlled isotope ratio measurements and data analysis

The computer control system for tandem accelerator mass spectrometry measurements at the University of Rochester is described. Special emphasis is given to the statistical methods used in the data analysis.     

The effects of low‐temperature potato storage and washing and soaking pre‐treatments on the acrylamide content of French fries

BACKGROUND: Since the discovery in 2002 of acrylamide in a wide range of foods, there has been much work done to explore mechanisms of formation and to reduce acrylamide in commercial products. This study aimed to investigate simple measures which could be used to reduce acrylamide formation in home‐cooked French fries, using potatoes from three cultivars stored under controlled conditions and sampled at three time points. RESULTS: The reducing sugar content for all three cultivars increased during storage, which led to increased acrylamide levels in the French fries. Washing and soaking (30 min or 2 h) raw French fries before cooking led to reductions in acrylamide of up to 23, 38 and 48% respectively. Pre‐treated fries were lighter in colour after cooking than the corresponding controls. CONCLUSION: Pre‐treatments such as soaking or washing raw French fries in water reduce acrylamide and colour formation in the final product when cooking is stopped at a texture‐determined endpoint. Copyright © 2008 Society of Chemical Industry