Use of faeces as an alternative inoculum to caecal content to study in vitro feed digestibility in domesticated ostriches (Struthio camelus var. domesticus)

In order to find an alternative source of inoculum to caecal content for studying the in vitro feed digestibility in domesticated ostriches (Struthio camelus var. domesticus), caecal content and faeces of 4 male birds were used as inocula for an in vitro gas production trial. 2. About 1 g of each of 5 substrates (maize silage, CS; alfalfa hay, AH; barley, BG; soybean meal, SM; beet pulp, BP) was weighed, in quadruplicate per inoculum, in 120 ml flasks; 75 ml of anaerobic medium and 4ml of reducing solution were added and flasks were kept at 39C. Caecal content and faeces were diluted respectively 1 : 2 (CI) and 1 : 4 (FI) with an anaerobic medium and were injected into the respective flasks (10 ml). 3. Gas production was recorded 22 times up to 120 h of incubation and fermentation characteristics (for instance, degraded organic matter, OMd; potential gas production, A; maximum fermentation rate, Rmax; time at which it is reached, Tmax; pH; volatile fatty acid, VFA; ammonia) were studied for each inoculum and substrate. 4. CI and FI showed significant differences in Tmax (1637 vs 1847 h, respectively), propionic (1647 vs 1207 mmoles/l) and butyric acid (650 vs 798 mmoles/l) and ammonia concentration (1718 vs 1995 mmoles/l). The substrates, according to their chemical composition, showed different fermentation characteristics. However, the regression equations able to estimate some fermentation characteristics of the caecum from those of faeces were statistically significant and showed R2-values ranging from 087 to 099. 5. The differences in fermentation pathways of the two inocula did not appear to influence the rate and extent of OM digestion. Faecal fermentation predicted rates and extent of OM digestion by caecal fermentation in ostriches; consequently, the faeces could be considered as an alternative to caecal content to study feed digestibility in the species, although there is a need to undertake further research. INTRODUCTION To obtain a useful feed value, it is necessary to determine digestibility specifically for ostriches, where the nutritive value of feeds used for diet formulation is very often erroneously determined using poultry. The ostrich caecum provides a suitable environment for the fermentation of dietary fibre. Feed digestibility of ostriches in vivo has been determine

A Fast and Efficient Incremental Approach toward Dynamic Community Detection

Community detection is a discovery tool used by network scientists to analyze the structure of real-world networks. It seeks to identify natural divisions that may exist in the input networks that partition the vertices into coherent modules (or communities). While this problem space is rich with efficient algorithms and software, most of this literature caters to the static use-case where the underlying network does not change. However, many emerging real-world use-cases give rise to a need to incorporate dynamic graphs as inputs. In this paper, we present a fast and efficient incremental approach toward dynamic community detection. The key contribution is a generic technique called $\Delta-screening$, which examines the most recent batch of changes made to an input graph and selects a subset of vertices to reevaluate for potential community (re)assignment. This technique can be incorporated into any of the community detection methods that use modularity as its objective function for clustering. For demonstration purposes, we incorporated the technique into two well-known community detection tools. Our experiments demonstrate that our new incremental approach is able to generate performance speedups without compromising on the output quality (despite its heuristic nature). For instance, on a real-world network with 63M temporal edges (over 12 time steps), our approach was able to complete in 1056 seconds, yielding a 3x speedup over a baseline implementation. In addition to demonstrating the performance benefits, we also show how to use our approach to delineate appropriate intervals of temporal resolutions at which to analyze an input network

Harmful and Beneficial Role of ROS

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are an unavoidable byproduct of oxygen metabolism and their cellular concentrations are determined by the balance between their rates of production and their rates of clearance by various antioxidant compounds and enzymes. For a long time ROS were thought to cause exclusively toxic effects which were associated with various pathologies, including carcinogenesis, neurodegeneration, atherosclerosis, diabetes, and aging. However, to date, it is known that while prolonged exposure to high ROS concentrations may lead to various disorders, low ROS concentrations exert beneficial effects regulating cell signaling cascades

Abdominopelvic post-irradiation morphea in a prostate cancer patient: the first case of an under recognized condition

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Some lessons learned from engaging in WaSH participatory action research in Melanesian informal settlements

In Melanesian countries there has been a large flux of people from rural to urban and peri-urban areas, resulting an in increased number living in informal settlements. These settlements often lack connections to mains water and sewerage lines and formal solid waste collection. Our project used a participatory action research (PAR) approach to work in partnership with informal settlement communities and enabling actors to achieve the self-determined WaSH conditions which participants felt would improve the well-being of those living in informal settlements. Because the PAR approach encourages reflection and adaptation, we learned lessons that were incorporated into the design of ongoing and future processes, and this paper presents five such lessons which we judge to be of practical use for WaSH enabling actors

What makes medical students better listeners?

Diagnosing heart conditions by auscultation is an important clinical skill commonly learnt by medical students. Clinical proficiency for this skill is in decline [1], and new teaching methods are needed. Successful discrimination of heartbeat sounds is believed to benefit mainly from acoustical training [2]. From recent studies of auditory training [3,4] we hypothesized that semantic representations outside the auditory cortex contribute to diagnostic accuracy in cardiac auscultation. To test this hypothesis, we analysed auditory evoked potentials (AEPs) which were recorded from medical students while they diagnosed quadruplets of heartbeat cycles. The comparison of trials with correct (Hits) versus incorrect diagnosis (Misses) revealed a significant difference in brain activity at 280-310 ms after the onset of the second cycle within the left middle frontal gyrus (MFG) and the right prefrontal cortex. This timing and locus suggest that semantic rather than acoustic representations contribute critically to auscultation skills. Thus, teaching auscultation should emphasize the link between the heartbeat sound and its meaning. Beyond cardiac auscultation, this issue is of interest for all fields where subtle but complex perceptual differences identify items in a well-known semantic context

Linear theory of nonlocal transport in a magnetized plasma

A system of nonlocal electron-transport equations for small perturbations in a magnetized plasma is derived using the systematic closure procedure of V. Yu. Bychenkov et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 75, 4405 (1995). Solution to the linearized kinetic equation with a Landau collision operator is obtained in the diffusive approximation. The Fourier components of the longitudinal, oblique, and transversal electron fluxes are found in an explicit form for quasistatic conditions in terms of the generalized forces: the gradients of density and temperature, and the electric field. The full set of nonlocal transport coefficients is given and discussed. Nonlocality of transport enhances electron fluxes across magnetic field above the values given by strongly collisional local theory. Dispersion and damping of magnetohydrodynamic waves in weakly collisional plasmas is discussed. Nonlocal transport theory is applied to the problem of temperature relaxation across the magnetic field in a laser hot spot.Comment: 27 pages, 13 figure

Giant melanoma of the abdomen: case report and revision of the published cases.

Malignant melanoma presenting as a giant cutaneous mass is rarely observed in clinical practice. A few patients with giant melanoma have been reported, Herein, we document our experience with a patient with giant cutaneous melanoma of the abdomen and review the features of previously reported individuals

A tool for evaluating geothermal power exploitability and its application to Ischia, Southern Italy

The paper proposes a method to evaluate the potential for electric power production at any site of possible geothermal interest. Accounting for geological data of the reservoirs, the method allows the computation of the available electrical power of the investigated site. Electrical energy production from geothermal sources is realized through different techniques, such as single flash and double flash, dry steam, and binary ORC plants. The technique chosen to be the most productive is determined by analyzing a specific range of geofluid properties, mainly temperature and pressure. Moreover, each plant typology has a global efficiency that may be correlated to geofluid enthalpy by empiric relations available in literature. The proposed evaluation method brings together all these correlations, yielding the power availability from a geosource, once its temperature and pressure are known. The method takes as input the geofluid available flow rate, its pressure, temperature and non-condensable gas content. It defines the best plant option from these parameters, calculates its global efficiency and finally returns the actual available power. For sites of geothermic interest, such as the volcanic island of Ischia in Southern Italy, the results of the application of this new method clearly highlight the most suitable zones for power plants installations