A review of literature on the syndrome of arthrogryposis and palatoschisis (S.A.P.) in Charolais cattle 1976–1979

Twenty or so papers concerning S.A.P. have been published since 1976 and can be added to the 49 already included in a descriptive bibliography published in 1976. Important information on the syndrome has been added: the age of the embryo at first appearance has been determined (about 3.5 months). An identifiable anomaly affects the nervous system at the level of the motor end plaque, followed by a disorganisation of muscle tissue. The anomaly presents similarities with a hereditary condition in the mouse known as muscular dysgenesis (mdg). The frequency of the syndrome in purebred Charolais in France as well as in Canada has been reported at 0.5 p. 100 among newborn calves. The gene frequency is q = 0.20 and penetrance in homozygotes is 0.15 and 0.08 in males and females respectively. It has been demonstrated that penetrance may appear to be complete as a result of differences in the probabilities of affected calves being reported depending on the numbers occuring in individual herds or sire groups. It is also pointed out that breeding experiments using animals already identified as carriers could result in elevated estimates of penetrance. Two methods of detecting carrier bulls have been applied: using a test herd of carrier females as in Canada or in the normal course of progeny performance testing pure bred beef cattle as in France. In each case only a small number of bulls can be tested compared with the number required to meet the needs of the breed. Total eradication of calf losses by S.A.P. is not only theoretically impossible but could even be undesirable, at least from an economic point of view since heterozygous females may be sufficiently more prolific to more than compensate for the low losses resulting from the presence of the gene in the population. Nevertheless, national associations of Charolais breeders have other concerns than those associated with the genetics of calf losses, namely commercial considerations.Depuis 1976 une vingtaine d’articles se sont ajoutés aux 49 déjà cotés dans une bibliographie signalétique publiée en 1976. Des progrès importants dans la description du syndrome sont notés : l’âge d’apparition chez l’embryon est déterminé (autour de 3 mois et demi); l’anomalie de départ frappe le système nerveux au niveau de la plaque motrice. Il s’ensuit une désorganisation du muscle. L’anomalie est fort semblable à une affection héréditaire de la Souris, la muscular dysgenesis (mdg). La fréquence de l’anomalie en race Charolaise pure, aussi bien en France qu’au Canada, s’établit à 0,5 p. 100 des veaux naissant. La fréquence du gène serait q = 0,20 et les pénétrances chez les homozygotes respectivement 0,15 chez les mâles et 0,09 chez les femelles. On a expliqué que, dans certains cas, la pénétrance peut paraître totale à cause de différences dans les probabilités d’enregistrement des fratries selon le nombre d’anormaux apparus, et que, dans le cas de croisements à partir d’animaux porteurs détectés d’après leur descendance, une certaine sélection a pu jouer pour augmenter cette pénétrance. Deux méthodes de détection des mâles porteurs du gène ont été expérimentées : au Canada, à l’aide d’un troupeau expérimental de femelles porteuses, en France, dans le cadre du testage viande en race pure. Dans les deux cas, un nombre infime de taureaux a pu être testé par rapport aux besoins de la race. L’éradication de la tare, matériellement impossible, semble également théoriquement inutile, du moins économiquement parlant car les femelles hétérozygotes pourraient être plus prolifiques, ce qui compenserait, et au-delà, les faibles pertes dues à la présence du gène dans la population. Cependant, les associations peuvent tenir compte d’autres considérations que des considérations purement économiques et génétiques pour orienter leur action, en particulier des considérations commerciales. Pour conclure, il est souhaitable que l’on continue de repérer les veaux S.A.P. d’une manière routinière pour éviter de confondre avec d’autres possibles anomalies. Les études sur les manifestations à tous les niveaux et sur l’étiologie pure de l’anomalie sont également préconisées. On aimerait également avoir des précisions supplémentaires sur l’avantage de prolificité des femelles hétérozygotes

Ovine pedomics : the first study of the ovine foot 16S rRNA-based microbiome

We report the first study of the bacterial microbiome of ovine interdigital skin based on 16S rRNA by pyrosequencing and conventional cloning with Sanger-sequencing. Three flocks were selected, one a flock with no signs of footrot or interdigital dermatitis, a second flock with interdigital dermatitis alone and a third flock with both interdigital dermatitis and footrot. The sheep were classified as having either healthy interdigital skin (H), interdigital dermatitis (ID) or virulent footrot (VFR). The ovine interdigital skin bacterial community varied significantly by flock and clinical condition. The diversity and richness of operational taxonomic units was greater in tissue from sheep with ID than H or VFR affected sheep. Actinobacteria, Bacteriodetes, Firmicutes and Proteobacteria were the most abundant phyla comprising 25 genera. Peptostreptococcus, Corynebacterium and Staphylococcus were associated with H, ID and VFR respectively. Sequences of Dichelobacter nodosus, the causal agent of ovine footrot, were not amplified due to mismatches in the 16S rRNA universal forward primer (27F). A specific real time PCR assay was used to demonstrate the presence of D. nodosus which was detected in all samples including the flock with no signs of ID or VFR. Sheep with ID had significantly higher numbers of D. nodosus (104-109 cells/g tissue) than those with H or VFR feet

Type Ia Supernovae as Stellar Endpoints and Cosmological Tools

Empirically, Type Ia supernovae are the most useful, precise, and mature tools for determining astronomical distances. Acting as calibrated candles they revealed the presence of dark energy and are being used to measure its properties. However, the nature of the SN Ia explosion, and the progenitors involved, have remained elusive, even after seven decades of research. But now new large surveys are bringing about a paradigm shift --- we can finally compare samples of hundreds of supernovae to isolate critical variables. As a result of this, and advances in modeling, breakthroughs in understanding all aspects of SNe Ia are finally starting to happen.Comment: Invited review for Nature Communications. Final published version. Shortened, update

The Role of Individual Variables, Organizational Variables and Moral Intensity Dimensions in Libyan Management Accountants’ Ethical Decision Making

This study investigates the association of a broad set of variables with the ethical decision making of management accountants in Libya. Adopting a cross-sectional methodology, a questionnaire including four different ethical scenarios was used to gather data from 229 participants. For each scenario, ethical decision making was examined in terms of the recognition, judgment and intention stages of Rest’s model. A significant relationship was found between ethical recognition and ethical judgment and also between ethical judgment and ethical intention, but ethical recognition did not significantly predict ethical intention—thus providing support for Rest’s model. Organizational variables, age and educational level yielded few significant results. The lack of significance for codes of ethics might reflect their relative lack of development in Libya, in which case Libyan companies should pay attention to their content and how they are supported, especially in the light of the under-development of the accounting profession in Libya. Few significant results were also found for gender, but where they were found, males showed more ethical characteristics than females. This unusual result reinforces the dangers of gender stereotyping in business. Personal moral philosophy and moral intensity dimensions were generally found to be significant predictors of the three stages of ethical decision making studied. One implication of this is to give more attention to ethics in accounting education, making the connections between accounting practice and (in Libya) Islam. Overall, this study not only adds to the available empirical evidence on factors affecting ethical decision making, notably examining three stages of Rest’s model, but also offers rare insights into the ethical views of practising management accountants and provides a benchmark for future studies of ethical decision making in Muslim majority countries and other parts of the developing world

Mammographic density adds accuracy to both the Tyrer-Cuzick and Gail breast cancer risk models in a prospective UK screening cohort

This work was supported by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and Genesis Breast Cancer Prevention Appeal (references GA10-033 and GA13-006). This article presents independent research funded by the NIHR under its Programme Grants for Applied Research (grant RP-PG-0707-10031). The views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the NHS, the NIHR or the Department of Health. The authors also acknowledge the support of Medical Research Council Health eResearch Centre grant MR/K006665/1

The Evolution of Compact Binary Star Systems

We review the formation and evolution of compact binary stars consisting of white dwarfs (WDs), neutron stars (NSs), and black holes (BHs). Binary NSs and BHs are thought to be the primary astrophysical sources of gravitational waves (GWs) within the frequency band of ground-based detectors, while compact binaries of WDs are important sources of GWs at lower frequencies to be covered by space interferometers (LISA). Major uncertainties in the current understanding of properties of NSs and BHs most relevant to the GW studies are discussed, including the treatment of the natal kicks which compact stellar remnants acquire during the core collapse of massive stars and the common envelope phase of binary evolution. We discuss the coalescence rates of binary NSs and BHs and prospects for their detections, the formation and evolution of binary WDs and their observational manifestations. Special attention is given to AM CVn-stars -- compact binaries in which the Roche lobe is filled by another WD or a low-mass partially degenerate helium-star, as these stars are thought to be the best LISA verification binary GW sources.Comment: 105 pages, 18 figure

African Americans, Gentrification, and Neoliberal Urbanization: the Case of Fort Greene, Brooklyn

This article examines the gentrification of Fort Greene, which is located in the western part of black Brooklyn, one of the largest contiguous black urban areas in the USA. Between the late 1960s and 2003, gentrification in Fort Greene followed the patterns discovered by scholars of black neighborhoods; the gentrifying agents were almost exclusively black and gentrification as a process was largely bottom-up because entities interested in the production of space were mostly not involved. Since 2003, this has changed. Whites have been moving to Fort Greene in large numbers and will soon represent the numerical majority. Public and private interventions in and around Fort Greene have created a new top-down version of gentrification, which is facilitating this white influx. Existing black residential and commercial tenants are replaced and displaced in the name of urban economic development

Multi-messenger observations of a binary neutron star merger

On 2017 August 17 a binary neutron star coalescence candidate (later designated GW170817) with merger time 12:41:04 UTC was observed through gravitational waves by the Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo detectors. The Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor independently detected a gamma-ray burst (GRB 170817A) with a time delay of ~1.7 s with respect to the merger time. From the gravitational-wave signal, the source was initially localized to a sky region of 31 deg2 at a luminosity distance of 40+8-8 Mpc and with component masses consistent with neutron stars. The component masses were later measured to be in the range 0.86 to 2.26 Mo. An extensive observing campaign was launched across the electromagnetic spectrum leading to the discovery of a bright optical transient (SSS17a, now with the IAU identification of AT 2017gfo) in NGC 4993 (at ~40 Mpc) less than 11 hours after the merger by the One- Meter, Two Hemisphere (1M2H) team using the 1 m Swope Telescope. The optical transient was independently detected by multiple teams within an hour. Subsequent observations targeted the object and its environment. Early ultraviolet observations revealed a blue transient that faded within 48 hours. Optical and infrared observations showed a redward evolution over ~10 days. Following early non-detections, X-ray and radio emission were discovered at the transient’s position ~9 and ~16 days, respectively, after the merger. Both the X-ray and radio emission likely arise from a physical process that is distinct from the one that generates the UV/optical/near-infrared emission. No ultra-high-energy gamma-rays and no neutrino candidates consistent with the source were found in follow-up searches. These observations support the hypothesis that GW170817 was produced by the merger of two neutron stars in NGC4993 followed by a short gamma-ray burst (GRB 170817A) and a kilonova/macronova powered by the radioactive decay of r-process nuclei synthesized in the ejecta

Sucrose in the concentrated solution or the supercooled “state” : a review of caramelisation reactions and physical behaviour

Sucrose is probably one of the most studied molecules by food scientists, since it plays an important role as an ingredient or preserving agent in many formulations and technological processes. When sucrose is present in a product with a concentration near or greater than the saturation point—i.e. in the supercooled state—it possesses high potentialities for the food industry in areas as different as pastry industry, dairy and frozen desserts or films and coatings production. This paper presents a review on critical issues and research on highly concentrated sucrose solutions—mainly, on sucrose thermal degradation and relaxation behaviour in such solutions. The reviewed works allow identifying several issues with great potential for contributing to significant advances in Food Science and Technology.Authors are grateful for the valuable discussions with Teresa S. Brandao and Rosiane Lopes da Cunha during this research. Author M. A. C. Quintas acknowledges the financial support of her research by FCT grant SFRH/BPD/41715/2007